Whatever was holding Alethia at the door, she couldn't say. She'd lost herself to the moment as she maintained aimless gaze on Ethan, and it didn't occur to her that she had to make any kind of movement at the moment.Several thoughts avalanches into her head. She could feel a spasm of emotion flooding into her heart, but she wasn't certain of anything. She wanted to speak, to tell him anything that could save her situation. But her gut stutter in her throat.Alethia knew of her vulnerability in front of this man, and though it was one of the many things she wanted to hide from him, she felt she'd been caught off guard. And if Ethan hadn't lended him a hand, she would have fallen as she staggered back from weakened knees."Are you okay?" Ethan asked, holding her by her right elbow.Alethia raised her head to peer into his eyes. His blue eyes were clouded with worries, and for a moment Alethia felt his sincerity. But that was enough to gear her back to reality.She pulled her hand away
"Olivia!" Alethia exclaimed. She swallowed hard and adjusted her dress as she found her stance. The tall blonde blinked her large eyes at both Alethia and Ethan, apparently too stunned to say more."What are you doing here?" Alethia whispered, clutching at the edge of her friend's dress. The girl beats Alethia's hand away and turns to face her."Alethia, start talking!" She said in a whisper, then glimpsed at Ethan. "Who's this fine stud?" "Olivia, no…""What?" She moved closer to Ethan and extended a hand. "Hi, I'm Olivia."Ethan took her hand reluctantly. Obviously, letting go won't be on his terms. Olivia tried to show all she's got, twisting and wiggling, but Ethan was too tense to be interested. Whoever the hell this girl was, she'd just caught him and Alethia together on the couch, and that didn't look good. "Olivia?" Emily said as she emerged from her room. "Aleth didn't tell me you were coming.""Oh, I didn't tell her I would come. This was supposed to be a surprise," she ey
Alethia almost brushed her teeth to bleed. She could feel her anger coming from every angle, and she was angry at everything. She raised her head to look into the bathroom mirror. Her eyes were crimson yet and she felt itchy in her eyeballs. Her hair was disheveled and she felt like she was losing her mind suit.She wasn't sure how and when she fell asleep, probably at midnight, but the pain at the back of her neck relayed that she didn't sleep in a proper position. Alethia spit out the paste in her mouth and rinsed it. She splashed water on her face and used the towel to press her face gently.She moved out of the bathroom and into her room, then walked to sit into the armchair which overlooked the neighborhood through her window. It was Saturday, or like Alethia remembered Olivia always saying, 'sat-your-day.' In Olivia's sense, it meant a work free day when you have to sit in and enjoy your weekend.Alethia sighed heavily. She looked out the window and wondered what in particular
Alethia woke by 2:00 p.m. with a kind of headache that seemed to hold her forehead captive. The last time she remembered having such a headache was when she'd drank for the first time -- courtesy of Olivia. Now, she wasn't sure if it was because the whiskey was cheap, or because alcohol wasn't her thing, just as she wasn't sure if the slap from her mom was the cause of this headache. She wasn't the type to sleep during the day anyway. So, maybe the slap brought some side effects after all.She took some time to think about the slap and the rundown of the situation that led to that. She reckoned she could have held her frustrations in because as her mom had said, It wasn't in Alethia's place to meddle in her mom's sexual life. Alethia sighed heavily. She thought about Ethan quickly and decided not to even think about him -- or so she thought. She couldn't stop thinking about what Ethan must think of her now. She'd made a fool of herself, and now she wasn't sure how to face him again w
Alethia came into the living room where Ethan and Olivia sat laughing over whatever conversation they were having before she came down from her room. They both stopped and looked at her in unison, both going stiff as if they had been discussing her before her presence.Olivia cleared her throat and sat right, smiling at Alethia. Alethia looked at her discerningly, then mouthed:"You conniving bitch…"Olivia winked at her and then turned towards Ethan. "So, Ethan, what do you think of Aleth as a stepdaughter?"Alethia's eyes suddenly pooped out of their sockets in surprise."Oliv…" Olivia shushed her with a finger in the air, not particularly looking at her. Olivia's scrutinizing eyes were on Ethan.Ethan breathed discomfortingly. He adjusted and drew back a bit to lessen the suffocation, but Olivia drew closer, still staring at him."Well…" he scratched his right brow and glimpsed at Alethia. Alethia swallowed hard -- somehow she had become interested in wanting to know what Ethan tho
"Hey, honey." Alethia swore she heard Ethan's voice in her head. A gentle and caressing hand cupped her cheek and felt the smoothness of her skin. She recognized the hand, and it wasn't Ethan's."Mom?""Good morning, dear," Emily said. She was smiling so wide as if she'd practiced it to warm up to Alethia that morning. Ethan had convinced her that she had to make an apology to Alethia that morning, and his idea of an apology with the highest probability of being accepted was the one made early in the morning."What are you doing here?" Alethia said. She strained as she rose from the bed and sat on it, then she drew her knees to her chest so that her blanket was crumpled within her arms. "How was your night?" Emily said, forcing the smile again. By now her lips were aching, so she let them relax a bit, then cleared her throat as she adjusted where she sat at the edge of the bed.Alethia squinted her eyes severally, then brushed a hand over it to keep her awake. She'd gone to bed late
Her lips had swollen, but the slight pain she was feeling in them seemed to be the essence of the pleasure. Ethan was a good kisser, she admitted. He knew when to thrust his tongue and how to make use of it so that she enjoyed every bit of the kiss. When he let go of her lips and began to kiss her neck, it suddenly occurred to Alethia that her mom was present. But it was strange that she felt okay about it as if Alethia was supposed to share Emily's man anyway.Alethia frowned. She tried to wrap her head around a single reason why her mom should be okay with her making out with Ethan in her presence, but the only thing she could place her hands on was that…Is she dreaming?Suddenly, the visuals began to cave in, and everything began to disappear, abandoning Alethia to deal with whatever consequences there would be if the scenario had been real. But it wasn't, and now she wasn't even sure of anything."Aleth?" Ethan called again. This time, Emily startled out of her trance and stared
He wanted to reach out to her to touch her face, caress her cheeks, and draw her close to himself. He knew she could only feel the passion that was swelling in him if only she was within the embrace of those hands that kept numb at his sides as if everything moral in the world was urging him to keep still.Ethan was just standing there, staring at her who'd channeled all her efforts into restraining herself from looking at him. He swallowed."Aleth?" He managed to say. Alethia sighed softly. She should have left him be while he was fast asleep, now he'd woken the lion and she had to work out a way to escape from its claws. She turned to look at him, holding herself in a way that suggested that she wasn't fazed by the unceasing awkwardness between them. But she only had to look at his face to lose her composure again."Have you had breakfast?" Ethan said. That seemed like a perfect escape, but Alethia was rather surprised by the sudden change of topic. She looked at him for a while bef
It's been two months, five days, and eleven hours since Alethia moved in with Ethan. Two months, five days, and eleven hours of carrying more than just his love and the excitement that had known no rest.Alethia leaned on him and took a deep breath to relax her body which had begun to feel heavy just recently. They were sitting on the large couch in the living room, facing the expanse of glass that opened to the garden. The sun was setting ahead, the songbirds chirped with excitement in the garden--Alethia took a deep breath again. Then she reckoned that, while others had dreamt of a life like her own, she was living it. "Are you okay?" Ethan demanded."I'm fine, love," she said."Should I get you more water?" he asked, then he attempted to get up from the couch, but Alethia held him down."I'm fine, my love," she said. Then she picked up the glass cup of water on the ottoman upholstered in red in front of the couch. She drank and returned the cup. "See? I'm okay with this.""But I
Ethan adjusted to sit properly. "I'm sorry, Emily. I know I should have told you earlier, but-" Emily interrupted."But you didn't, Ethan. You wouldn't have told me if you hadn't mistakenly picked up your call that day, while you, Segun, and Olivia discussed it."Ethan breathed deeply. "I'm sorry."Emily chortled. "Are you? I just can't believe you had gone for my daughter while we were together.""I've loved Alethia longer than I've stayed in this house for," he said and raised his head to look at Emily. She was looking at him strangely, confused, to say the least. "Yes, I met Alethia before you introduced us."Emily scoffed. "I see you're trying to meander your way around this, heh?" "No, I'm not. It's the truth. I surmise she'd left home that night, I helped her out, we felt a connection, and though we didn't express it then. It never left."Emily swallowed. Of course, she remembered the night when Alethia packed her bags and left the house--Emily had been so devastated, more so b
...but Alethia approached him. She moved closer so that the space left between them was so small that it could pass through the eye of a needle, not caring that he was holding his breath and trying so hard not to look at her. She swallowed the saliva that suddenly welled in her mouth, then she held him by his arms stiffened like a rock, and stood on her toes as she placed her lips lightly on his.He didn't respond. He didn't even as much as lower his gaze to look at her. But Alethia knew she'd be able to break him. Firstly she settled back on her feet and took a deep breath, then she stood on her toes again and pressed her lips on his, persistently. She could feel him going numb the more he tried to hold his wit in place, but his lips twitched now, and though he held back immediately, his hands had attempted for her waist. Alethia pressed her body closely to him so that his knees broke and he slumped on the bedside table. He looked sharply into her eyes now, while she held back for
Alethia was staring blankly at the TV. She could barely make out what the presenter was saying, and what relevance the game show was supposed to have with her state of mind. But Olivia had promised that it was necessary, at least to distract Alethia's mind for a while. She looked at Olivia who was sitting opposite. Olivia eyes were fixed on the TV, and she was grinning as if she was the one who needed the moment the most. At a point, she laughed, and then she instinctively turned to look at Alethia, only to raise a brow at Alethia's indifference."Are you okay?" she asked. Alethia shrugged. "Isn't it obvious that I just about exist?""You can live a little as well."She dragged a breath. "You know I find no interest in anything these days. But I'll be fine, okay?"Olivia glimpsed at the TV and sighed wearily. Then she got to her feet and came over to sit beside Alethia. "Should we go out?" Alethia chuckled. "I don't think my mom would love that. She brought you here to babysit me,
Chapter Fifty-sevenThe days didn't just roll away as they should, they dragged slower than a snail, creating longings and weariness as if to punish Ethan, and by the time it was a week, he was regretting his decision to stay away, and because he couldn't just crawl out of nowhere and appear in front of Alethia as if he hadn't made her worry for days. As if he hadn't put her through so much that he could feel would have been unbearable for her. Ethan breathed deeply on one of those beds that wouldn't stop creaking with his weight. He'd rented a room at a remote place to make it impossible for anyone to locate him. The room was small, though it contained three beds and usually gave access to three people at a time, as its purpose was only for people who needed to pass the night. Ethan had had to rent the room all to himself, and the bad condition of the room was a way to punish himself. But he'd learned to make do with the ceiling painted in white because each time he stared at it, ev
"Alethia, stop!" Olivia appealed, halting immediately as she got to the last step of the stairs. Apart from the obvious, that the situation was escalating beyond what Alethia might be able to handle afterward, Olivia could feel it in her bones that the danger that loomed above was only hanging loosely and waiting for either Alethia or her mom to cut the tiny rope which was barely holding it in place. But Alethia was too annoyed to stop, and her legs were too ahead of her as if their purpose at that moment was to get her out of the house, away from her mom so that she wouldn't consider going back to do what the evil voice in her head whispered the moment she felt the torrent of her mom's hand on her face. Her hair had bristled when the disaster landed on her face. She would have treated her mom like any other woman, had reality not put them in the same house. And had she not called her 'mom' even in the heat of the dissension? She jerked the door to herself and thundered out of the h
Alethia heard a sharp sound, prompting her fingers away from the keyboard of her laptop as she looked at the door immediately. What was that? She thought as she hesitated to look back at what she was doing on her computer. The sound had been light to be that of thunder, but it had been loud enough to shake something in her for worries. She got out of bed and removed her glasses, then she dropped them blindly on the bedside table. She approached the door gently, taking her time should the sound come again and it was nothing. But nothing came. All she could hear when she got closer to the door was the spiteful voice of her mom. Alethia opened the door and came out. She'd just closed the door behind her and turned around when she saw Ethan crouched, his face clouded with persistent hysteria like that of a man whose glory days had come to an end."Ethan?" she said and headed down the stairs immediately. Emily turned around and stood in her way."Aleth, go back to your room.""No, Mom,"
"But first, is Alethia okay?" Segun chuckled. "Of course, that's what you're more concerned about.""She's my friend.""And she created this mess.""No! She didn't," Olivia said and sat right, facing Segun. "She didn't ask for this, okay? Ethan should have handled this better."Ethan scoffed. "Excuse me, I'm here.""No," Segun defended. "Ethan here is the victim. Do you know how hard it is to navigate your feelings for two women?"Olivia laughed. "Who asked him to fall in love with two women? A mother and daughter at that. This wouldn't have happened if he had just stuck to the mother alone."Segun chuckled in disbelief. He drank from his coffee and cleared his throat. "How about the fact that Aleth was in love with him and wanted him for herself as well?"Olivia looked sharply at Ethan. He looked back at Segun and scoffed. "That was supposed to be a secret."Segun shrugged. "You left me with no choice.""Of course, I didn't," she said and reclined in the chair, then sighed in resigna
If anything, the silence that held them in that frozen moment spoke what was more apparent--'stunned'. Alethia's impulsiveness has never been more heart-wrenching than when Emily looked at Ethan's face and saw that should she decide to press further on the allegation, he didn't seem like he was going to deny it. It was true after all--he was cheating on her. She breathed deeply and bit her lower lip. Emily reckoned that she'd have preferred that Ethan had cheated on her by sleeping with just a random woman to having fallen in love with someone else. She wouldn't have decided how they move further from there by his momentarily carnal desire, which she considered only biological for him to satisfy. But how does she move on knowing that Ethan has fallen out of love with her?She looked at his face again, this time looking for a hint of remorse, but rather she met a screaming guilt that made it impossible for him to raise his lashes and look outright at her. Ethan took in a huge gasp o