The room would have been as quiet as a graveyard if not for the clang of cutlery against plate as Ariella ate. She was alone in the dining room and because it was such a big and empty house, every little sound she made echoed back to her.The maids had retired for the day, and she was left alone with Maria, who was bustling about in the kitchen and trying to make her the evil tea she said was good for pregnant women. The thought of drinking the said tea before going to bed made Ariella shudder in disgust and wish she could run away and never return to the house. Being pregnant was already hard enough, why must she drink such tea?Ariella jumped on her seat, the fork she was holding slipped from her hand and made a thumping sound on the plate when she heard a deep and familiar masculine voice coming from the kitchen and Maria greeting him.She whirled around on her seat just in time to see Kelvin walking into the room. Her eyes widened in shock, and she had to blink a few times to make
She should have kept quiet and not go at him like that but Ariella had gone too far to stop now. “Why did you suddenly decide to come back home? Are you here to visit and would be returning to wherever it was that you have been sleeping in the past few weeks?”Kelvin recovered quickly from his shock, “Are you sure that you are okay?”“Yes, I am. Stop trying to gaslight me and just answer my question.” Ariella could not help but snap at him.“Hey,” Kelvin called in concern as he squeezed her hand underneath his but she wiggled the hand, causing him to release her. “Don’t get yourself worked up over nothing. I’m not trying to gaslight you, I’m just making sure that you are okay.”“I’m fine. I just need answers.” Ariella gave a deep sigh, “Your refusal to answer me has already told me what I need to know. You only came back because your mother asked you too.”“Yes, I came back because she marched into my office threatening to have my head if I don’t return home to keep my pregnant wife
“I’m sorry I made suggestions about you leaving the country.” Kelvin told her with a little sigh.Ariella looked surprised, she had not expected Kelvin to apologize to her. She thought he would try to force his opinion on her or even manipulate her into doing exactly as he wanted, the same way he went to meet her mother at the hospital when she refused to sign that contract with him.Ariella caught a movement at the door from the side of her eyes and knew that it was Maria since the other workers in the house had retired for the night. She gave a low groan as she dropped back on her seat with slumped shoulders. “There are many things at stake here so you will find a solution.” Her voice was firm. She was not offering a suggestion but giving a command.She was in this situation because she has been dragged into a stupid lovers game by Hannah. Ariella hoped that this would be the last of them.“I will find a solution soon.” Kelvin agreed with a deep sigh. He was grateful that she was g
“I have a friend of mine who has been looking everywhere for me. I’ve been hiding from her, but I won’t be able to do that forever because once she is free from her current jobs, she could go look for my mother at the hospital and would find out about my marriage to you. It cannot be avoided, and I also want to be the one to break the news to her.” Ariella explained to Kelvin after they were done eating.She needed his permission to tell Mariam about them because she could not avoid her friend forever. Mariam would hate her if her mother was the one to break the news and not her. She would still hate her for hiding everything and sleeping with Kelvin for money, but she knew that Mariam would forgive and support her. She needed a friend at this point in her life and Mariam was the only genuine person left. She would keep her secret for her. Ariella trusted Mariam with her life. They’ve come a long way.“Is she in the industry too?” Kelvin asked as he gracefully wiped his mouth with a
Ariella spent the next few hours watching a movie on her phone, just to keep herself busy, as she waited for Mariam to clear her schedule and send her the location they would meet. When the text message came a few hours later, she quickly dressed up and left the house.She did not want Kelvin’s driver to drive her at first, but she changed her mind. Since Mariam did not know where she was, she picked a place that was far from Kelvin’s house but closer to Ariella’s, thinking that she may be at home and that location would save her some cab money. Ariella was touched at the gesture.Ariella was sure that Mariam would scream and immediately begin to hound her for answers if she were to see her in this car, but she was already going to tell her friend everything, no need to stress herself by taking the train or paying a high fee for a cab.Mariam was just paying a taxi driver when Kelvin’s driver pulled up in front of the small restaurant. Ariella’s thought about Mariam seeing her getting
Ariella's heart immediately began to this fast against her chest. She had not expected Mariam to immediately notice that she's added weight and even say that she was pregnant. She did not bother to make any moves to refute the accusation when she knew that it was true, and she already intended to tell Mariam about it.Just that in the next second, Mariam smiled and took back her words.“I was just joking, you don't have to go pale. I know you are not pregnant since you refused to get a boyfriend and turned down every man that approaches you.” Mariam snorted before she continued, “Maybe you are no longer exercising, and you are eating too much because you left your agency. But you know that it would be difficult for you to get back in shape if you want to join another agency tomorrow, right? You are piling up troubles for yourself.”Seeing that Mariam was already living quickly from the only opening she had to tell her what was going on in her life, Ariella stopped her with a confessio
Thankfully, Mariam did not jump to her feet again, so Ariella was not scared that she would scream out loud and attract attention once more. Mariam just went frozen in shock that after a few seconds, Ariella began to get scared that she had shocked her friend into a frozen state and would need to have her rushed to the hospital.“Mariam,” Ariella leaned across the table to whisper her friend's name while she threw a risky glance around to see if anyone was watching them, and no one was.She knew that the news she had just dropped was too much. She should have explained everything from the beginning to lessen the blow instead of answering her friend’s questions, but it was too late. She had shocked Mariam into becoming an ice block.“Mariam!” She stretched her hand and tall her friend on the face, softly, sighing in relief when Mariam snapped out of the haze she had fallen into.Arielle relaxed back on her seat. “Welcome back to earth.” In another situation, what she said would have b
“Yes, I do now.” Ariel responded with a sigh as she wiggled her fingers together.“What happened that night after the both of you discovered your identities?”“He was furious and accused me of being a gold digger and a bad friend who was trying to snatch her friend’s boyfriend. Nothing I said that night to defend myself got in his head. He ended up throwing some wad of cash at me, and it was funny how it was the exact amount I needed for my mother’s surgery. No matter how much pride I had and the amount of humiliation it brought, I still bent and picked the money then I left. Hannah, who said she did not have money to lend me and that her bank was having issues, sent me money when I got to the hospital.”“You know that you wouldn’t have had to go through all of these if you had just given me a call, right?” Mariam still looked angry.“I already made the mistake, there is no way to go back in the past and correct it. I can only move on.”“So you found out that you were pregnant and we
“So how was it?” Mariam's excited voice came from the other end of the phone. “How did the dinner go?”“Uhm, everything went well,” There was a voice in Ariella’s head asking her to tell Mariam everything that happened during the dinner with Kelvin’s family but another voice was asking her to say nothing. Mariam would hate Kelvin and since Marin was someone who hated pretending, Kelvin would begin to suspect that something was wrong. She did not want him to know that she knew everything he was doing. Her first thought in the toilet after Jade spilled everything to her had been to run away but she has neither the energy nor the resources to run off and stay hidden. Kelvin will find her within a day. She could not disappear without telling Mariam too and Mariam will be the first person Kelvin will go to if she goes missing. She won’t be putting her friend in such a position. She will have to think of another plan.After much struggle, she went with the most dominant voice which was th
Ariella has been staring at Kelvin’s card that was lying in the middle of her bed since forever. She was contemplating if she should do what was on her mind or if she should try to find a new hobby so she won’t be bored out of her mind.Being home and alone have made her thoughts run wild. She realized that there was nothing she liked doing in her free time and that was mostly because she’s never had free time since her father died.When her father was alive, she hung out with her friends but the said friends now wanted nothing to do with her, not after they nearly got in trouble a couple of times because of her.She could not really blame them. It was not fun to be chased around by loan sharks because you were friends with a girl whose father could not borrow from the banks so he decided to go to loan sharks instead.Ariella has never liked reading but that was okay, she could start now that she was free. She knew how to draw a little, maybe she could buy a sketchbook and pencil cray
Kelvin shoved his hand inside the breast pocket of his suit and produced a black card which he stretched out to her. “What? What’s that?” Ariana croaked out, staring at the black card that was lying on his palm as if she did not know what it was. “It is my card. You can use it to get anything you want while I’m away,” “I can leave the house?” Arielle asked, still staring at the card. “Why?” Kelvin asked in surprise, “I’ve never stopped you before,” “But…” Yeah, right. He has never stopped her from going out before but she would like to think that he would stop her now after that accident. Was he not supposed to be scared that something bad could happen to both her and the baby? Seems like she was deluding herself when she thought that he cared about the baby. Maybe… no, she was not going to think about anything. “But what?” He asked with raised brows. “Uhn… nothing,” Arielle shook her head. Kelvin stared at her for a few minutes as if hoping she would change her mind and
During the period of her accident, Maria’s younger sister was sick so Kelvin let her leave to take care of her sister. Maria took just a few weeks off but her sister did not recover, Kelvin then asked her to stay with her sister until anytime she recovers. Maria was not back until now.With Mariam who had traveled to another state to walk the runway, Gladys and Kelvin who had gone back to bury themselves in work, Ariella was left to her own devices.Before Kelvin left for work this morning, he went to Ariella’s room in search of her. His lips widened in a smile when he met her still buried under the covers with only her face out but with her eyes wide open.“Not ready to get up yet?” He asked as he dropped on the bed and reached out a hand to push her hair back from her face.Ariella grumbled something unintelligible under her breath as she turned her face into his hand that was now cupping her cheek. Her action made the smile on Kelvin’s face increase.It did not use to be like this
“So how was it?” Mariam's excited voice came from the other end of the phone. “How did the dinner go?”“Uhm, everything went well,” There was a voice in Ariella’s head asking her to tell Mariam everything that happened during the dinner with Kelvin’s family but another voice was asking her to say nothing. Mariam would hate Kelvin and since Marin was someone who hated pretending, Kelvin would begin to suspect that something was wrong. She did not want him to know that she knew everything he was doing. Her first thought in the toilet after Jade spilled everything to her had been to run away but she has neither the energy nor the resources to run off and stay hidden. Kelvin will find her within a day. She could not disappear without telling Mariam too and Mariam will be the first person Kelvin will go to if she goes missing. She won’t be putting her friend in such a position. She will have to think of another plan.After much struggle, she went with the most dominant voice which was th
After Jade said her piece and walked out, Arielle felt so shaky she had to walk back into the toilet and sit on the toilet seat because she felt like if she remained standing for even a second more, she would drop to the floor in a heap.Arielle massaged her forehead with her hand, she could feel an oncoming headache. Who was it that anytime she thought the worse has passed, more will come?When Judy had said she shouldn’t be called if news about her pregnancy got out,Arielle did not take it to heart because she’d already told herself that she was ready for anything and everything that would happen. She was not going to hide anymore because it won’t help her in the long run. She could not live all her life in hiding because of something she never wanted to happen. Hannah was the one who is supposed to go into hiding and not her.Arielle thought that everything was moving well now but Jade telling her all these things made her know that she was living in a fantasy she created with he
After using the toilet which was a little hard for Ariella to find even after the whole directions Gladys gave to her, she sighed in relief and stepped out to wash her hand. She has been holding back her pee since she got here and the whole issue from Judy and Jade just made everything worse.As she was washing her hand, she heard the bathroom door opening and raised her head and stared into the mirror to see who was behind her. She cursed in her head when she saw who was walking inside and she immediately had a flashback of when she was in the bathroom of that hotel abroad and Hannah walked in. She just knew that Jade being here was bad.Ariella looked down and washed her hand properly before reaching out to wipe her hand with toilet paper.“You know, Kelvin would never fall in love with you,” Jade said as she came to stand beside Ariella. “I do not care about how you managed to climb onto his bed and get yourself pregnant but Kelvin will never settle for someone like you when he onc
The way everybody’s character was taking a three sixty degrees turn was giving Ariella a whiplash. First it was Judy who was acting nice then later turning into a vicious snake and now, it was Kelvin who had been acting like he was not there but was now defending her.“I asked you to get out, Jade,” Kelvin said again, his voice was calm but Ariella could hear the underlying anger.“You can’t send her away,” Judy snapped.“Oh yes, I can and I’m asking her to leave now,” Kelvin took his eyes from Judy and placed them on Jade who flinched and ducked her head in fear.She reached out with shaky hands and clutched her mother’s hand, “Mommy,” Judy turned to Alexander, her face red with anger, “Dad, better do something,”“Jade should leave. This meeting was supposed to be for the adults only but I let her stay because I thought she would be reasonable and would comport herself, I thought wrong.” “What is wrong in what she has said? She is just trying to make us know the type of person we
“So how far along are you, Ariella?” Alexander, Kelvin’s grandfather asked once they were all seated and ready to have dinner.“Ehh, six months,” Ariella answered with a small smile on her face.Alexander beamed at her, “That’s wonderful. In a few more months we will be getting a mini version of Kelvin. How I wish that my son, Kelvin’s father, Hunter was here to see his first grandchild but no, someone just had to kill him off at such a young age,”If Ariella noticed the way Gladys and Kelvin stiffened beside her, she said nothing and acted like she did not notice anything.Everything was moving well so far. Kelvin’s family was cool. His two uncles and his auntie were here and they have been nice to her so far. Kelvin’s aunty’s first daughter, Jade was here too but she has not said a word. No matter how her mother poked her to greet Ariella, she stubbornly refused and kept her mouth shut. She kept glaring at Ariella.Alexander showed his excitement about having a great grandchild but