~
“Because I had no choice, I wasn't gonna repeat my mother's mistakes. I wasn't gonna let my daughter grow up without a father, with no one to love or care for her if I was gone. I didn't want her to get bullied at school because she didn't have a dad like other kids. I didn't want her to look at me one day and ask; Mummy where's my dad?”
Aramide said as she locked eyes with Tania's blurry eyes.
“why is that so hard to understand?” Aramide asked
“Because I can't relate Aramide. Your uncle stole that right from me. I can't have kids, so how would I know how it feels to be a mother huh?”
~
Daniel breathed as he sat beside Mercedes' hospital bed. He ran his hands through his hair and stared at the woman. His breath hitched and he bit his lip as tears threatened to spill from his eyes. Mercedes didn't deserve this. She had no reason to be entangled in their mess, yet here s
~ “Oh it isn't, I know who planned that accident. Who ruined my life and took Dared away from us.” Aramide informed her. “Wait what? Who was it?” Tania asked as she stared at Aramide intently. “Are you sure you want to find out?” Aramide asked as she stood up. “ Cause this is gonna hurt. A lot.” “Who was it? Speak up already Aramide!” Tania yelled. “Bola Hampson Dante.” ~ “Why are you hellbent on blaming Bola for everything?" Tania spat. “Bola was the one who planned everything. She is the mastermind behind this whole madness.” Aramide explained as she sat down. “Bola might not be the kindest or sweetest person in the world but she isn't a traitor.” Tania defended Aramide chuckled. “I'm
~“I don't understand you Aramide"“Your goal shouldn't be to understand me. You need to focus on remembering everywhere that woman may be. While I— I will make a plan so big, Bola's conspiracies will be shrunk” Aramide announcedThis time. The player was going to get played. Now that Aramide had Tania on her side, a lot of things would be done easier.~Aramide groaned as she walked out of the warehouse. The sun was up in the skies and she could not wait to get some rest— it was no secret though that she was as far from rest as the sun was from her. She ran her hands through her head and walked to her car, the door had been held open for her.Aramide was in the car and struggled to control her thoughts. Her mind kept wandering back to Tania.FLASHBACK“Because I had no choice, I wasn
Daniel ran his hands over his face as he placed about the room. He tried his absolute best to focus on anything but Mercedes' cries. of course, he failed miserably. He could still remember how she wrapped her hands around herself and cried. She sobbed. Letting her emotions rack through her skin like she sobs that escaped her bruised lips. She had been bitting them for a while now. Mercedes had dried tear tracks on her face that were renewed by the ones that we're currently rolling down her cheeks. It had been five hours. Five hours since he was dragged out of there because of her panic attack. Daniel paused and walked down the halls towards the exit. His fists were folded by his sides. His fingers dug into his nails. He kept his face blank. Void of Al the emotions that were threatening to break the walls he had sworn would protect him until now. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't breathe at all. But he had to be strong right? He was
“I haven't been in the hospital for hours, but Daniel's with her, I could call him and ask—" She began but the moment she saw Efrain she said “Or Efrain could call him and ask. They are great buddies may I add” She said as she headed into the house leaving the two men behind. she would talk to Efrain later then. What she needed to do is get some fresh air and breathe. The past few days had been a hurricane. Aramide ran up the stairs into her room. She got some wine from her bar and took it out and poured a little into a glass. She reached out and drank a shot. Her goal wasn't to get drunk, no. She just wanted to get some rest, and over the years, a few shots of vodka or whiskey seemed to do the trick. ************** “I just called Daniel. You know… to ask how stuff is with Mercedes?” Efrain’s voice filled Aramide’s ears. She stood up from where she had been resting, her eye strained at the man as she tried to
~ “But what if we don’t? What if Bola wins? What if I’m not strong enough to stop her? What if right now she’s hurting someone and I can’t do anything to save them? What if I lose?” “Look at me,” Efrain said as he locked eyes with Aramide. “ I will never let you lose.” He said. They stared at each other for a few minutes, their noses touching. “thank you,” Aramide said as she pulled away “but right now, words aren’t enough to save the people I love” ~ Bola smiled as her car finally pulled up to its destination. She was grinning ear to ear. This was going to be fun. definitely. She slowly got down from her car as her other workers pulled up. They were armed to the teeth with guns and bullets. She adjusted her clothes but not her wide grin. This, this was going to teach Aramide a thing or two about messi
Bola had to go to extreme measures to protect her family. Her world. She didn't have a child, so she needed to get one and who better to use than the emo sister Mercedes. The one who had nothing to wrote about concerning her life. It wasn't hard to get her drugged. It was pretty easy compared to all the things that Bola had been forced to do over the years, then an artificial insemination process later, Bola was ready to carry the fake baby bump, while a surrogate mother did the rest. After all the effort and strife, did Aramide think, that's she would let her take Cole away from her, of course not! She needed Cole by her side forever, even if she had to pretend to care about Aramide for a while, it was worth it. Bola had done everything. Everything to impress Cole as make him fall in love with her but Cole was obsessed with Aramide! Bola could not wrap her head around what made Aramide so special? Wh
The car finally came to a halt. The men held their tongues with their breaths caught between their crooked teeth, their hands were glued to the trigger on the guns that were within their grip. Each person’s face was even more blank, to them, this was nothing more than they had been informed; a mission, and yes, blood was going to be spilled here and there, but it was what they signed up for right? This was what they wanted and they were good at what they did. Bola finally breathed. Her gaze was steeled as she boreholes into the building in front of her, the drive here had been a rollercoaster of too many emotions she was not open to talking about right now, not even wither self, a small hungry smile spread across her face and rested at the curves of her lips. “Tell them to get ready” she ordered the man behind the wheels from her place at the back seat. The man who seemed to be in his mid-forties merely nodded and gave a thu
“I see you finally decided to come down,” Cole said the moment he saw Aramide walking down the stairs with Efrain trailing behind her. They both looked drained and stress, Aramide looked like she could collapse at any moment, and Efrain? Well, Efrain looked like he was barely hanging on. “It seems like you were waiting, what is it? Did something go wrong?” Aramide deadpanned as she stared at him with a blank expression on her stressed features, her forehead creased and the edge of her lips curled downwards. Her hands were loose by her side as she casually walked into the sitting room and sat on the nearest chair to the exit. Neither men spoke or tried to do anything during this time, it almost felt like their limbs weren’t working, on one hand, Efrain had never thought he would meet this side of Aramide, the side that was dominated by the personality of ariel she portrayed. On the other side, Cole was still finding it hard to accep
“I never imagined things would end like this mom,” Aracely’s hands traced the table as she stared at the mirror. She was in her mother’s dressing room getting ready and the brown-haired girl was almost sure that she was going to fall into the nearest bed and doze off. Aracely had no one else to blame but herself though. The nineteen-year-old knew that it was a horrible idea to go out partying all night yesterday which was Christmas, knowing fully well her parents’ wedding was today. “You still took stunning” Aramide commented as she finished up on her makeup. Aracely bit her lip and smiled. The brown-haired girl pulled her mother’s chair back and knelt in front of the woman. “I’ve never told you this but…” she paused. Her breath hitched and her eyes watered with fresh tears. “Thank you” Aracely breathed. Aramide’s eyes glistened with emotion but before she could speak, Aracely took the woman’s hands into hers, “Thank you so much for being my mother for –“ “Aracely, what’s g
“I didn’t believe it when I heard it.” Aracely said when she caught the reflection of a brown haired boy with green eyes at the familiar lake. Her fingers tugged on her white gown as she struggled to breath through her tears and the warm feeling in her chest. She took a step forward and ignored the pain that shot up in her foot when she hit a small rock. She could remember the night she had found this place.Or better still that she had fallen off.She had just left her home for fresh air after her small argument with Latifa- Latifa. Aracely still struggled to accept that she was gone. They had spent their best years together, struggling through the twisted maze they called life. Aracely knew Latifa didn’t deserve to die, no one did. But she was dead. She got she got straight to the head no freaking questioned asked and why? Because she was related to Aracely. Aracely grew up understanding the meaning of l
“You did it,” Bola whispered as she stumbled back, a bit of blood escaped her lips as her hands went to her stomach which had blood rushing out of it. At this point, everyone had frozen and Aramide let the gun fall out of her hands as tears filled her eyes “ I knew you had it in you.” Bola said as she fell. Aramide’s hands covered her lips as her feet remained glued to the ground. She felt someone hold her from behind and it was then she realized from the strong scent of lavender that it was Cole. Tears filled Aramide’s eyes and she couldn’t tell if it was tears of relief or sorrow, she finally regained control of her limbs and walked over to Bola. She knelt in front of her and said “I’ll never understand how and why you did this? I’ll never be able to accept that you have always been like this…” “A monster?” Bola replied hoarsely as a tear rolled down her cheeks, she was laid on the ground her
The first thing Aramide noticed as she walked down the aisle was Aracely’s wide smile, her daughter looked so pretty. She was wearing a short pink gown and had a white bow on her brown hair, it was tied in a ponytail, the wedding was to take place in the garden and Aramide had to admit that Mercedes had done a great job with the decorations, the aisle had been designed with roses, not too far ahead. Efrain stood by one of the two pillars that held up the small space where the couple was to stand under. The chairs that were set in the garden were white, the scent of thick lavender filled the air, it was Aracely’s favorite scent and Aramide could vaguely remember that the scent lingered on Cole too. Aramide mirrored the smile on her daughter’s face, she was holding hands with someone – Cole. Aramide wasn’t sure she remembered when they had gotten together, but over the past two months, they had gotten closer. Ar
Aramide sighed as she stared into the mirror, she was dressed in a white gown and had a beautiful tiara on her newly styled hair. Her hands traced the jewelry on her neck and rested on the space between the jewelry and her off-shoulder dress – where the amulet rested. The one that bound her to her daughter for so many years. It had been a few months since Daniel died. Since he was buried and since Aracely had broken down in pain. The first few months had been horrible, Aracely barely ate or moved around, she was confined to the four walls of her room. Mercedes was devastated. She refused to look or even speak to Aramide. She blamed the brown-skinned woman for her brother’s death and she wasn’t wrong, to be honest. She was right. Aramide could still visualize the compounded images or Mercedes’ eyes with dark circles and her lips pursed into a line. Cole’s deep stares and sighs. The way his hands slowly ran through his
Bola groaned as she slowly opened her eyes, well, one eye. The thick smell of smoke filled her nostrils and she scrunched it up. She bit her lip as she glanced around, she knew something was wrong, yet she hadn’t been able to pinpoint what it was. She could recall going over the hospital that Aramide had been in to get Cole back. That man knew too many of her secrets and now, Aramide knew then too, she could also recall that Aramide had refused to let her take Cole. An argument ensued and things got a bit bloody from there, but how did this happen though? Had she been caught? Was she in prison? She desperately needed answers now. The blonde woman looked around from her place on the bed, she was slowly becoming aware of everything around her, the small night lamp beside the bed, the fact that the w
Aramide let out a shuddered breath as she walked towards the coffin in front of her. The coffin that had Daniel inside. She traced her hands over it and her eyes filled with tears all over again. it had been a few days already. They had all stalled the burial because Aracely insisted that she wanted to be there and deep down everyone was scared and reluctant to say goodbye. Nevertheless, they were all here now. The loss had always been a pain in the neck. Death? death never knocked — It never warned you — It never gave notice and it didn't even barge in. It came like a thief and it stole. it stole someone's life— someone's peace of mind — someone's source of happiness, someone's brother, sister, mother, father, daughter, son. Today Aramide had to say goodbye to someone who always wanted her to stay. She bit her lip. You only really know what you had till you lose it. till a
Bola grunted in pain as she continued down the sidewalk, stumbling into things as she struggled to see with only one eye open. She dragged herself across the ground as she tried not to fall unconscious. One of her hands was over her eyes with a cloth — trying to control the bleeding. Bola was sure that if she survived this—she would make Aramide pay for all the pain she was going through and the fact that she may lose her eye. After everything Aramide had taken from her, now, she wanted to steal her eyesight too? the woman was despicable in Bola's opinion. Bola knew that the probability of her surviving this was very slim. Yes, she had managed to escape before the cops arrived, but that didn't mean that there wasn't this lingering fear of what would happen if she got caught. The last thing she needed was to end up in a maximum prison cell for Daniel. That man wasn't w
“What's going on? Why is no one speaking up?” Aracely asked with worry etched on her features. She had just woken up, her hands clawed on the sheets as she tried to stabilize herself. It was obvious she was still weak and probably disoriented as well with the way her eyes navigated around the room, curiously breaking through her face like wrinkles. “It's not—" Mercedes tried but Aramide cut her off. “You need to be strong Aracely.” Aramide said as she walked over to her and held her hand, a smile spread across the girl's face. ”You are here,” She sighed in relief as her eyes filled with tears, they weren't of sorrow — yet. Aracely reached out for her mother and squeezed the woman's hands tight “What about Daniel? Where is he?" Aracely asked she tried to find him in the occupied room but Aramide was blocking her view. “He didn't come with? Did he go get something? Is he talking to s