chapter 5

Regina's mouth was agape as she thought her ears was playing tricks on her. She looked at Lillian and back at his Mrs Nola, it took her seconds to finally find her lost voice.

"You.." she said as she was clueless on what to say. "Yes, I want to adopt you as my daughter" Mrs Nola said and she smiled at Regina. Tears of joy started pouring from her eyes.

"Don't be a cry baby, Regina," Lilian said, mocking her while they all laughed. Regina held Mrs Nola and hugged her tightly. Mrs Nola looked down at her and she was glad.

She had always wanted to make Regina happy and this was the best choice of her life. She gave her warmth to Regina to make her feel loved and at peace with herself.

"Mum, thank you" Regina finally said and looked up at her face. "I never got to call someone mom, all my life and here you are, thank you" she said and sniffed a little.

*****

A month later

" Good morning, Regina." Lilian said as she walked in the ward. "Good morning, Doctor," Lilian replied.

" You've healed very well and so far there have been no complications, you'll be discharged soon." Lilian said smiling, Regina was really lucky to have survived and as a doctor it warmed her heart.

" Thank you very much, Lilian. Words can't express how grateful I am for all you've done, please thank Jack on my behalf." Regina replied smiling and Lilian replied with a soft smile and left the ward.

Mrs Nola came in a few minutes later holding a tray which contained Regina's breakfast. " Good morning my love, how are you doing today? I brought your favorite- pancakes and apple juice." Mrs Nola said and Regina's eyes lit up in happiness.

" Doctor Lilian came in today, she said I'll soon be discharged." Regina said as she stuffed her mouth with the pancakes.

" I know, she told me on my way here."

" Mrs Nola, I have nowhere to go. I used to stay with my boyfriend but he's now with another." Regina said while crying stiffly.

" I told you I want to adopt you, you're always welcome to stay with me."

" Thank you Mrs Nola"

" It's mother, Regina"

" Oh, thank you mum"

"You're welcome, always."

****

At the Bright's house

Lilian had moved into the house and Besse wasn't happy about it. Her plans wouldn't be able to go smoothly with Lilian living in the house. Lilian looked a lot like her mother and Besse tried hard to make Mr Bright forget about her but Lilian was a constant reminder of her mother.

Lilian was seated in the living room, watching television. She was on her weekly leave and she intended to use every single second to rest appropriately. Her afternoon siesta was cut short when Besse walked I'm the room with a fake smile plastered on her face.

" Good afternoon Lilian, how are you?" Besse said while trying to mask her disdain for Lilian.

" Oh please, drop the act. I know my presence threatens you"

" I don't understand what you're trying to say, Lily. I'm glad that you're here"

Only one person called her Lily and that was her mother, Lilian was very annoyed that Besse had the guts to call her that.

Lilian turned her head and said, " Don't you ever call me Lily, my name's Lilian. If you can't call me that, don't bother to call me." Besse knew better than to reply so she just walked away.

**** At Jack's mansion

Jack sat in his large living room, sipping wine and going through his documents. Ever since his mother died, he saw no reason to stay in his father's house anymore so he decided to get his own mansion. The mansion was worth over twenty million dollars, he didn't even bother to negotiate with the agent, he.just paid right away.

The mansion consists of four large bedrooms, two living rooms, a large garage, a huge Jacuzzi and a large kitchen.

He was interrupting with the buzzing of his phone, he picked it up and looked at it, it was his media manager, Priscilla. " What does she want now?" Jack thought to himself as he accepted the call.

"Good morning, Mr Jack"

"Good morning, I hope you have something very important to say to me because I'm very busy"

" Please check Daily news.com, I've sent the link to you"

" What's all this about? Since when have I cared about what the media has to say about me?"

" Please check, they said some terrible things about you, they said you're gay."

Jack couldn't help but chuckle a little, this is the funniest thing he has heard today.

"I know you're not gay, with that tool in between your legs. I can't wait for you to come to the office, I've missed you…"

Jack didn't wait to hear what Priscilla had to say before he ended the call. That's why he didn't deal with women, once they have a taste they'll keep disturbing you, Jack said to himself.

Out of curiosity, he clicked the link that Priscilla sent to him. He was shocked at what he saw, the sub heading read " JACK BRIGHT, THE CEO OF BRIGHT COMPANIES IS GAY"

The content of the article was full of bullshit, Jack frowned deeply as he continued reading the nonsense that was published to the public.

He called his attorney and asked him to file a case against Daily news for defamation. They were really going to pay for this, Jack thought as he grinned wickedly to himself.

*** A week later at Mrs Nolan's house

" Goodbye dear, take care of yourself. I'll be back after my morning shift." Mrs Nolan said as she left the house. It was a two bedroom apartment with a little kitchen and a small living room. Although it was small, it was perfect to Regina, she was grateful for the little she had.

Mrs Nolan had been treating Regina like her own daughter, she helped Regina move from the hospital to her home. Since she couldn't do anything stressful due to her recent heart surgery, Mrs Nolan did all the work at home.

Regina was left at home, feeling bored she decided to open her social media account. She hadn't been active for a long while, out of curiosity, she looked up Peter's profile and saw his elaborate wedding with Vivian Oscar. The wedding looked very elaborate and expensive, she knew that Peter couldn't afford all of this and Vivian's family was responsible for everything.

As she looked at the pictures, she couldn't help but shed a tear. Vivian looked very beautiful, her plump breasts threatening to pop out of the dress, her dress was long and beautiful. Vivian was everything she couldn't be, she was rich, had connections and very pretty also. No wonder Peter couldn't resist her, she didn't blame him at all, she was just plain Jane.

Regina checked her notifications and saw a friend request from Lilian Bright, she accepted it and sent a message to her and Lilian responded almost immediately.

"Hello, Regina"

"Good day doctor"

"Oh please, call me Lilian"

"Okay, Lilian"

" Would you like to further your education?"

"Yes! I'd love to"

" One of my father's friends is offering scholarship to the less privileged but the University is in Australia, I could talk to him on your behalf "

" Thank you very much, Lilian. I don't mind if it's in Australia, I'll talk to mother about it"

" It's nothing, really"

Regina smiled happily to herself as Lilian shared the goodnews with her, she couldn't wait to tell Mrs Nola about this recent development.

Regina had stopped schooling a long time ago due to lack of funds but with this scholarship, she could start a new life and maybe even get a white collar job. Little did she know that this opportunity would open many doors for her.