Ariella's heart jumped to her mouth and she began to feel like bending over to puke her guts, but she swallowed thickly and stepped back.“What’s wrong?” Mariam asked, trying to look over Ariella’s shoulder into the room, but Ariella shut the door and turned around to face her with a pale face.“My mom is not here,” Ariella shook her head before she was hurrying over to doctor Mitchell’s office.She cursed her breath while fighting the urge to lift her head, and scream loudly to the heavens when she bumped into a nurse. Why did she keep bumping into people today of all days? Just like she did with Maria, Ariella grabbed the nurse’s hand quickly to prevent her from falling to the ground.“I’m so sorry about that,” Ariella apologized and just because she knew that she was not supposed to be running around in the hospital, she decided to ask about her mother. She has met this nurse in her mother’s room a couple of times so maybe the nurse would understand why she was in a hurry and migh
Arialla stood, still as a rock as she watched the men close her mother’s casket for one final time and began to slowly lower it into Mother Earth. She was never going to see her mother again, the thought was supposed to bring tears to her eyes but she was numb.It’s been two weeks since her mother decided to give up on fighting for her life. Her mother finally decided to choose peace over the constant pain, drugs and emergency ward’s visits. After doctor Mitchell broke the news of her mother’s death to her, Ariella collapsed and if not for Kelvin who was standing behind her at that time and stopped her fall, she might have broken her skull.She was unconscious for a day and spent the following week on the hospital’s bed because she went into shock and nearly lost her baby.Arialla wished that she did. She wished that it was the baby that was gone and not her mother. Why would the baby be here in the first place and not her mother when she only got the baby from trying to save her mot
Kelvin had this deer caught in the headlights look for a few seconds, and then it was gone. If not that Ariella had all her attention fixed on him, she would have missed it.“Uhhm,” Kelvin cleared his throat before he moved from where he was standing with Mariam down to where Ariella was. “I came up with a decision early this week, but of course I will need your yes in it.”“What decision?” From the little she has heard from their discussion, she had an idea, but she would rather not be faster than her shadow.“I want you to go out of the country for a little while. Get some fresh air and be away from the city, and it’s chaos for a while. You can—”“Can what? Come back anytime I want?” Ariella interrupted him, “We’ve spoken about this before and I made it known to you that…”“And you made it known that you won’t be leaving, but that was before. Before your mother died. It’s for your own good. For your mental health.”“I’m fine,” Ariella responded through gritted teeth.“I never said y
“Hey, Ariella. You promised that we’ll check this place out any time we come by. We have to do it today,” Mariam was bouncing on her feet excitedly as she looked at Ariella with expectation.“I…Mariam, you know that we cannot…”“Come on, Ariella,” Mariam groaned, “Don’t get started on me about how this place looks so expensive and it would be wrong to keep using Kelvin’s money on expensive things.”“Well, you took the words right out of my mouth,” Arialla said as she spun around to keep walking.“Hey, hey,” Mariam grabbed Ariella’s forearm to stop her, “You promised me, remember?”Ariella placed her free hand on her forehead. She could already feel an oncoming headache. Mariam was not one to give up easily. How the hell did they even walk right through this place? Right. Mariam tricked her into it and because Ariella had forgotten about this place and her promise, she walked right into the trap.“Look, you’ve got to stop feeling guilty about spending Kelvin’s money, he’s your husband
Since they went out for a walk in the evening and ended up having a lengthy discussion in the restaurant where Mariam did not hold back from ordering almost everything on the menu, it was a very long list, it was nighttime before they could set out to the house kelvin rented for them for their vacation. The same house that Mariam had been trying to convince Ariella was not a rented one. “You really don’t feel like throwing up?” Arielle asked Mariam for the umpteenth time since they left the restaurant and began to go home.She’s never seen Mariam eat this much before. They were both models who had to eat little to keep fit and maintain their shapes and stature. Ariella only started eating more because of her pregnancy, but Mariam was not pregnant so it was scary the amount of food she swallowed today.“I do not feel like throwing up. How many times have I got to tell you to stop worrying about me? I’m fine. Their food was just too delicious, I could not help myself.”“And I told you
“You are here?” Ariella asked in a breathy voice as her heart, which had begun to race after she heard that someone broke into the house, slowed down.She was already painting different scenarios in her head of whom the person might be and what they would want. Ariella was already thinking of the expression on Kelvin’s face when he would say, “I told you so,”.He’s tried to employ a bodyguard to watch them, but she refused, saying if she were to go on a vacation and enjoy it then she wouldn't want anyone watching her every move. She could take care of herself, she was a grown woman. Those words would come back to bite her in the butt.To say that she was surprised to see Kelvin here was an understatement. Since they got here he has not visited, and she did not want him here, Gladys had done so only once, and it was the first time Ariella refused to go for therapy.She wondered why he was here and hoped that it was not for something bad. She would end it well if she got another bad new
“Oh my God,” Ariella gasped as tears filled her eyes. “I’m so sorry,” now she felt like the devil for asking him what he knows about grief and for also making him think back to the past. “No need for an apology. Listen to what I’m going to tell you. Pay close attention.”Ariella nodded eagerly then Kelvin continued.“While all of this was happening, my mother was mourning the loss of her husband and trying to find a solution for her only child who was at the verge of madness. When I realized this, I wanted to be well just for my mother, but it never happened. I went to therapy and still nothing, I nearly had to be sent to the psychiatrist. It wasn’t until I opened up one day and told her therapist that I blamed myself for my father's death that she told him if I wanted to be well, I needed to forgive myself. “She said that it was the first step. She made me understand that I could not have known that he was going to die that day. We always went to get ice cream at exactly that time
Arialla groaned as she sat up on her bed and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. A loud scream left her mouth when she raised her head and saw a tall figure leaning against her door. She abruptly slammed her mouth shut when she realized that it was Kelvin standing there.“What a lovely way to greet me.” Kelvin told her with a smirk, “Morning to you too,”Ariella patted her chest with her hand, “Good morning. I did not expect to see you there,”“I was not expecting to see myself here either,” he pushed himself off her door and walked to stand over her by the bed, “I wanted to check up on you before I leave this morning.”“Huh?”“Huh,”“Why are you being so sarcastic this morning?” Ariella could not help but ask. She felt like he was coming for her throat. She’s not seen him since that night they took a walk by the beach, and it’s been two days. According to Mariam, he was always up before her and she was always in bed by the time he got back.“Am I?” He jerked his chin at the w