I woke up at my usual time and found Damien awake but was checking stocks on his phone like a typical businessman. "Good morning." I bade and sat up. "Morning babe. How was your sleep?" "It was good." I answered groggily and glanced at my father who seemed to be sleeping peacefully before I went to the bathroom. Minutes into doing my business, I heard a ruckus and I rushed out to see what was going on. Medical personnel had crowded the once empty room, surrounding my father and even when I asked what was going on, no one answered me. They usherred me outside to meet with Damien who mirrored the concerned look on my face. "What's going on? Damien, what happened?" I asked frantically looking back and forth between him and whatever was going on in the room via the window. "I don't know a lot about medicine but I think his heart failed." He said slowly. I clasped my hand over my mouth trying to hold myself together. 'He's fine. Everything's fine.' I told myself over and over whil
Third Person's POV; Loss. It's one of the most difficult things to deal with. It's proof of how ephemeral this world really is. It slices into your heart and takes a piece that can never be recovered. It creates a vacuum that never actually gets filled. It is said that people never get over the loss of a loved one, they just adapt to the pain over time. The consequences of loss are lasting especially when there is a constant reminder of that loved one. But, life must go on. A week had passed since the unfortunate happening in Ariana's life and she had been pulling the strong front even when everyone saw through her. Her husband and his family had been blessings indeed. They came through for her in more ways than she expected. The last few days, she did not have to lift a finger and everything was set up for her father's funeral. She was grateful that she did not have to go through the stress of taking decisions in such a trying time. It was so hard to come to terms with the fact
Ariana's POV; "Babe, let's not argue over this." Damien said with a frustrated sigh. "My mind's made up." I said, propping my feet up on the bedstead. "Why don't you want to come back with us?" I glanced at him who was seated on the stool in front of my vanity mirror. "I just need some more time here." "How long?" He asked. "I don't know." I shrugged. "You've been here for close to two months." He pointed out like I didn't already know that. "Yes. And now I don't feel like going back to LA anymore." He stood up and placed his arms across his broad chest, posing like he was thinking of how to put his words properly so they wouldn't sound offensive. "Ariana, we're married." He began."Yeah, so?" "We've been away from each other since the year began." He pointed out."Uh huh?" Where's this going? I found myself thinking. "We didn't agree on a long distance marriage and it's raising lots of questions." He said."Questions like?" I asked. "Questions like, 'are things okay bet
Damien's POV; I sat still on my seat pondering on what my wife had just said. Did she just threaten me with a possible divorce? I shook my head. She had got to be kidding if she thought I'd let her go just like that. We still had over six months to remain married and I believed that everything would be back to normal long before then. Or, so I thought. Anyways, I gave her some space and by that I mean, I let her be until our flight landed in LA. As usual, she had her face to the car window and did not utter a word to me until we arrived at the villa. Everyone else had arrived before us and were most probably resting in their various rooms so we went ahead to do same. I heaved a sigh, happy that I was finally back home after nearly two months of being away. I had not been here since the year began because even when I left Italy, I went straight to New York to surprise Ariana on Valentine's day. I looked around and saw that everything was spick-and-span just as expected. Barely
It was a pretty long flight and as usual I just wanted to sleep for a really long time after we touched down.Rome truly is a beautiful place. I saw that when we drove far down into the city headed straight for Damien's resort.The place was a jaw dropping sight. I expected no less for a man who went all out on everything.The large expanse of land that had been finely crafted and sculpted to perfection had me wondering how they pulled it off in a space of six months. This should have taken years to set up."You like what you see?" He asked, placing his hands on my shoulders as we walked around the place after we were well rested."I don't know how to express it in words." I said breathlessly as I looked up at the glittery ceilings."It's amazing." I said for lack of a better word to describe it."I love the effect it has on you." He smirked. I smiled up at him."This project is a huge success. I'm happy for you."
Guests trooped in from all over the place and from our room in the penthouse suite, I saw the huge crowd that waited for us outside, they looked so small from up here. I stared at myself in the mirror. I couldn't believe it was me because I looked so fierce and feisty with the smokey eyeshadow and red lipstick, my cheeks were well highlighted. My sleek ponytail stood tightly behind my head even as my finely laid edges crowned my creamy face. I stared at the form hugging black V-neck sequin dress and rubbed my hands over the material. It shone so brightly in the dark. Damien had it picked out for me because he was going to wear something similar. Speaking of him, he had been away since the fall out that afternoon. The make over team had been doing their magic on me and I did not have time to think about him up until now. I knew after tonight it was going to be a rollercoaster of emotions for all of us. But I didn't want that to bother me. "Don't let anybody see through you." I said
"When are we going back to LA?" I heard her speak to me for the first time that morning.I paused for a second and stared at her. She was seated in a lotus position on the bed. "We'll be leaving tonight." I said. I wanted everything to die down before we went back home. The news of Aleena's pregnancy must have been heard by everyone back home because Aiden was calling to confirm.That woman had some nerve though! She went live on I*******m and announced her pregnancy and when someone asked about the child's father, she casually spewed out that it was me. She had not told me beforehand because she knew I would not let her say anything to anyone if I heard it first so she put me in a tight position. My PR team was working on cleaning up the mess the scandal had made but it was going to be difficult because Aleena was a famous model and she had been linked to me on several occasions so her story was believable. But no matter what, I was going to get the truth out of her. "Okay." She
Our altercation was far from over and we had successfully created a scene that everyone around had gathered to see. "Well, if you weren't depriving him of his marital rights, he wouldn't have come to me." She yelled from the terrace where mom held her to keep her away from me. Lucky for her because she would be crying her eyes out due to pain if she was next to me."My sex life with my husband is none of your business!" I got even more agitated at the thought of what she insinuated.My non-existent sex life with him, that is. I thought."Yeah right. You're unable to satisfy him, your curves are useless!" She spewed."That's it!" I snapped.I forced myself out of Ma Rosa's arms and marched towards the terrace to give the slut a much deserved beating. I was almost there but someone's strong arms pulled me back. I thrashed around, hoping he would let me go but he held on tighter."Damien let me go!" I screamed while my legs were fluttering up in the air."Ariana calm down!" He yelled ba