Aliyah took a deep breath as she glanced up at Ben. It was now the supposed day of the reunion and by some miracle, Ben had agreed to let her go. Perhaps, whatever his grandfather said made him change his mind at lastThese past few days, the way Aliyah prayed, she probably didn't think she'd had prayed that much all her life, and to think it was nothing but to get the privilege to go out of the house when she wasn't a 13-year-old that needed constant watch— How the mighty had fallen. Nevertheless, it was a thing of joy for her that he somehow ended up letting her off, though there was a tinge of hesitation in his eyes, which seemed to point to his total district of her. The way Ben warned her, it felt like she was sworn to a secret brotherhood, that it might cost her her life if she spilled valuable and well-kept info to her friends, he warned her clearly that they could lead to dire consequences if she tried to pull a fast one on him and she knew better than to doubt the raving lu
Anxiety crept into the cracks in her heart, she hadn't seen her friends in quite a while. And for some reason she felt a sudden hesitation, but then she went on. Aliyah took a deep breath as she stepped into the club which Clarice had told her the reunion would take place. Her eyes scanned around the surroundings and for a while, she hesitated to step in as the poor music wasn't pleasing to her ears—nor were the shouts of people partying or even the strong stench of alcohol that hit her nostrils. For a while she stood by the door, unsure of where to head to—Clarice didn't give her the room number so she was uncertain about where they might be right now, and she also didn't have a phone to call and ask her about it. Her gaze traveled around the crowd again and this time, she decided to step in. A large body collided with Aliyah and it had her staggering and almost falling but she was quick to stand straight and regain herself. The man that had mistakenly hit her didn't bother t
"Where did you say you are heading to ma'am?" the taxi driver's voice pulled her out of her reverie. Aliyah seemed lost for a while when she realized that she didn't know the address to Ben's house and the time he had given her to return home was already thirty minutes ago— the chauffeur was supposed to come pick her up but she couldn't wait till then. Looking up, her gaze wandered around and her heart dropped when she couldn't tell where she was.She wanted to be as far away from them as possible, she hadn't felt this insulted in a long while and it hurt even more knowing that they were from people she thought were her friends even her cousin was part of it. "Can you just take me to any bar close by?" Back at the club, minutes after Aliyah left, Clarice face palmed herself as she finally made the trio before her calm down "I'm for real disappointed at how you guys behaved. I can't even find Aliyah anymore and don't know how to get to her," she cursed as she stood up from he
After painstakingly searching around for a while, Ben drove to the front of a nearby bar and there she was staggering in her wake, embarrassingly drunk to a stupor, as she tried to keep herself from falling. He took a quick look again and noticed three shady-looking guys standing close to where the exit was with one of them pointing towards a lady's direction to his friends.As soon as started down the path out the door, they followed suit with obvious intentions and Ben cursed under his breath. “Hey there, beautiful lady," the first man said as he walked closer to where Aliyah was barely standing without falling over, she wasn't paying attention until one of the men grabbed her by the shoulder.“Hey, we're talking to you, " the second man said with an evil grin sweeping across his face.Although she was drunk, Aliyah was a sensitive person especially when touched, and without warning she turned swiftly and slammed her heavy bag across the face of the man who had just touched her, m
Aliyah's eyes flickered open slowly and for a while, she had to shut them back before opening them again and slowly adjusting to the bright light piercing through the windows. She tried to grasp her bearing and her brows creased as she realized that she was tucked in on her bed. Aaahh! She felt a sharp pang on her head like she had been hit by a truck, not remembering much of what had transpired the night before. Her eyes darted across the space before her gaze fell on her hands, still surprised about how she ended up there. The last thing she could clearly remember was when the taxi driver dropped her off at the bar and she walked in— and how she had been attacked, after that, she had no memory of whatever occurred, not aware of how she got home, into her room and even on her bed, it didn't seem like something Ben would do, but other than him there was no one around last night with her.With a wince, she stood up and strode into the bathroom, turning the faucet on and splashing
By the time Aliyah arrived at the mansion, she stepped out of the car and was greeted with the sight of Cecile watering the flowers in the garden—her brow creased cause Cecile didn't seem like the type to want to work around the house, looking up Aliyah saw Mr. Vawn standing by the balcony and staring down—she smiled at him with a nod of acknowledgment and he smiled back also before she walked over to where Cecile was."Didn't think you were the type to volunteer to do house chores," Aliyah muttered and was welcomed with a sharp glare directed at her."Why are you here today? Again?" Cecile asked, her face twisted into a frown."Your cooking lessons start today, and that's why I'm here. Depending on how eager you are to learn, we could get on with this as quickly as we can and have nothing to do with one another. So when you are done with watering the fl—" Before Aliyah could complete her sentence, Cecile interrupted her with a scowl."I never said I'm ready to learn under you, talk m
After hours of lecturing and nagging with Cecile on things to do and things to not do while cooking, Aliyah finally left. She spent up to four hours at Mr. Vawn's place but was unable to see him throughout the time there—the butler had informed her that the Old master was busy and wouldn't be able to meet her till she cokes the next day.She couldn't wait to get home and narrate the whole thing Aliyah released a breath and closed her eyes as the car drove down the busy street, she was able to teach Cecile up to three meals along with how to boil eggs which they had a problem with at first. Cecile wasn't interested when they just started, but she ended up getting the hang of things and seeming more excited about everything they did. Aliyah wasn't expecting that excited gleam in Cecile's eyes—but seeing it made her want to teach the young lass more—hopeful, that the remaining days she had with Cecile would be as therapeutic as the first.Cecile's demeanor became more lax as they
Her heart dropped as he said those words she tried to consider all she had done that would have led to this, and although she was unsettled she was even more eager for Ben to pick up the phone and then he finally did.His brows creased into a frown and Aliyah's skin crawled with fear as his eyes flicked back at her in obvious disdain. "I've decided that rather than making Aliyah come around every day, Cecile would come over instead and stay there for a while."Ben's brows creased into a frown, he had not been okay about leaving Aliyah around his Grandfather and sister, but now his sister, whom he wants on the best of terms with, was coming over to stay here, they would butt heads day in and day out. and as much as he could handle things he didn't like the hassle it would cause. he immediately opened up."I'm not sure she'd want that and I don't think that's a good idea," Ben stated in disapproval—growing furious at something Aliyah knew nothing of but was curious about."Well, she a