"Welcome back." The voice said to her as soon as she opened her eyes, looking around to take in her environment. The blurry face, smiling down at her, became clearer. "Must have been hard coming out of La la Land, huh? Let's play." She said. Janelle shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut. This must have been a big dream she would probably come out from.
As if reading her thought, Candace chuckled. "Oh no, sugar. You aren’t dreaming."
"It was all you? Everything that happened was all you?" Janelle's voice finally came back.
"Ah, thank God. You still have that smartness in you. At least Harvard wasn't a waste." Janelle looked up at her.
Candace scoffed. "You can imagine. You even had to attend Harvard and I had to attend a boarding school in Nigeria. Who does that? If he didn't want me to be noticed, he should have taken me abroad, but a far different school from yours. No
“What do you mean she's missing?" Candace said over the phone. "I'm sure I spoke with her yesterday over the phone."Tara sighed. "Candy, I'm as confused as you are. I wish I had spoken to her too. What could have happened to her?""Wait. . .Nana said she left the house in a haste, right?" Candace asked. "Have they checked with James or Denzel? That's the only place she would be when something happened to her.""Denzel hadn't seen her either. He is as shocked as we both are."Candace raised an eyebrow, smirked and turned to look at the bleeding Janelle in front of her. The lady looked weak and could probably pass out any minute, but she won't allow it. "Wow. That's very odd." She said. Janelle slowly raised her head to look at Candace. The phone call was on speaker so Janelle could here how much everyone was searching for her. "Tara!" Janell
Denzel sighed when he turned and half expected it to be someone his heart had been thinking of in a few days now. It happening to be James."Bonaparte, please." He said to the bartender who gave his most polite smile and turned to the lined up drinks on the shelf. James glanced at his cousin who silently ignored him and sipped his share of wine as though he were alone. None of them had spoken to each other since their awful fight and not like Denzel wanted it to be that way, but when James was acting like the big baby, the only solution was to let him be. "This is getting way too old, don't you think?" Denzel asked. James glanced at him, after receiving the glass of wine from the bartender with a nod. "Well, that depends."Denzel turned to him. "On what?" James shrugged."Listen, bruv this whole thing is too. . . We are w
"Candace, what are you doing?" James asked. And for the first time, she saw fear in his eyes. The truth was obvious and it irritated the hell out of her."Oh, shut up, James." Candace said. "Don't act like you care about what I do with my life. Didn't you tell me yourself that you don't care?""Candace, we can talk about this like civilized people. Just let her go.""Civilized? What's the first thing you know about being civil? Nothing! You, James. You caused all of this. It could have been easy. All you had to do was love me, but you went ahead and put a ring on her finger!" The Detective gave his colleagues a sign to lay low. Candace turned from them to Tara, standing beside Seyi, using him for a shield. "You. I knew I should have slit your throat an hour ago. I knew there was something odd about you going upstairs to ease yourself.""But yo
Candace turned to the bars from where she sat, looking out the small cut out window at the top of the small jail room. The window one could never see through no matter how tall you are. As if she would want to escape anytime soon. But the thought that Janelle was still alive and her mother was well again, gave her the urge to throw up. It wasn't like she wanted to receive visitors at all. But somehow, everyone seemed to be visiting her today of all days, as if each person wanted to be sure she was already behind bars or escaped. "What are you doing here? To be sure your daughter was living the life you always wanted?" She said to her mother, few hours ago when she came to visit. "You show up after so many years and it has to be at my lowly prison. How convenient, mother." She said, laying emphasis on the word 'mother'.Ireti shook her head
Janelle smiled at herself in the mirror, looking so pleased with her appearance and her beauty. She was a beauty to behold. Her friends will be thrilled by her news. A twenty four year old fashion designer and top of her class, going to school abroad was never a problem especially when she was an only child. And mostly when her parents were so rich, they even knew the governor in person. She had everything she wanted, because she was a very pampered child who had even the greatest friends in the world. Janelle looked up and returned the hearty smile her nanny gave. Nana Clara was the best mother figure when her parents were never around. Nana Clara had always been there for her from when she was a baby, up until now. The woman was never married and so took Janelle as a child she never had. "How do I look, Nana?"Janelle's said, displaying her perfect set of teeth to the old lady
Denzel walked outside and spotted Janelle standing by the pool. Arms folded and staring at nothing in particular. He still couldn't understand why she would go on with this charade. She might be his cousin's fiancée, but he still knew her to her finger prints. She tried to sound excited in announcing her engagement but she wasn't such a good actress. She must have sensed his presence because she turned around and smiled. He walked up to her, handing her a glass of wine. "Tell me you're not a witch."She chuckled. "I am not a witch.""How did you know I was standing there?"She rolled her eyes. "I always know."He chuckled. "Wow. So, it's been finally decided, huh?"She sighed. "Yeah. I'm finally engaged to James Morgan. I'm getting married to him in two weeks."She said and laughed.He turned to her, watching quietly while sipping his wine as she wh
"Hello. Denzel speaking."The bold and authoritative voice of Denzel came in through the receiver, bringing Janelle to a jolt."Hey, Dee. What's up?" She nervously shifted on her seat and looked at Candace who sat beside her at the exclusive restaurant. There was a brief silence and Janelle was holding her breath like she was waiting for another shoe to drop."Jay? What's up? What happened to your phone? Did you change you number?""No. This is Candy's.""Oh, okay. So, are you alright?""Yeah, I'm good. How are you?"He was silent. And he does that whenever he's trying to figure out something about her attitude. Janelle held her breath again, hoping he won't notice how nervous she was."Is this about last night?"Great. There goes my shabby pretense. She thought with a sigh."Yes, it is. I'm so sorry I acted like that. You know I won't have, if I were in my right senses."He chuckled. "I
Janelle scolded herself as she drove home that night. She couldn't believe she was angry. At what exactly? She had never been jealous of Denzel's numerous girlfriends before and Denzel has many. Tara's presence came as a shock to her, she told herself. Tara don't even tell her she was back from Benin. And Denzel was dating her? She felt hurt but couldn't understand why."Ugh! He's your fiancée's cousin, not your boyfriend, Silly."She told herself. And she acted like a love sick bitch. HerHer cellphone rang and she rolled her eyes at the caller ID, then picked up."Hey, Tara. Done cooking?""Hey, Babe. You just left like the speed of light. Where are you?" She asked."On my way home. What's up?""Come over to out usual spot."She sighed. "Okay. On my way." She made a turn after hanging up.°°°"What?!" Candace exclaimed a