~Recap" My God! What did we do to deserve all these from you? What was our offense?" Richard questioned in disbelief."I'm sorry I don't know, I was just following the instructions given to me.""Who instructed you?""Bella. Bella Jonathan did.""What!""Yes, Bella. Everything was Bella's plan, I only helped her to carry out the plan.""What!" They exclaimed in unison."No, this is not true. Impossible! I don't believe any of this. Why will Bella even do this to me?" Stella questioned, refusing to believe what Tochukwu just divulged. Richard did not find it hard to speculate, he has a gut feeling against Tochukwu right from time and he was aware of the obsessed love Bella has for him, but he never think Bella could take it to this extent.No! This is outrageous.""I see no reason why I should lie, the last thing I can do right now is to uncover the truth. And yes, this is true, you deserve to know the truth. I don't know Bella personally, not until she contacted me about this busi
Truly, the past few months have been hard on Richard and his family but their tenacious zeal to save their union was enough to keep them out of the arduous phase. Although his wife was battling with an incurable malady, Richard never changed his attitude, he stuck to his vow, giving her affection, care, and compassion. It was the only thing he could do to save his dear wife from the hands of the lethal disease. Getting this kind of tenderness from Richard was more than enough for Stella to encompass this phase and get on her feet. He makes sure she visits the hospital whenever she has an appointment, goes for antiretroviral therapy, and takes the prescribed drugs. Their marriage was getting back to life, full of bliss and happiness just like it, was before the mishap launched.The vicious ally that infiltrated their life, whirled it through anguish, turmoils, and travail. Bella Jonathan was finally out of their life. If everything has gone according to the way Stella planned, th
Chapter 1Title: Ugly past. "What! How could you do that? Richard, I won't accept this claptrap." Stella seethed in rage as she got out of bed, pacing up and down. "Babe calm down, we can sort this out without shouting at the top of our voice, remember the kids are in their room." Richard cautioned but Stella was not ready to hear that sermon, she was ready to let all hell break loose that morning. "Richard, I'm not going to take that. Never! You of all people knew what I passed through in the hands of this man. The pains, the suffering, and the emotional trauma. He's presently getting his retribution in double folds and you expect me of all people to come to his aid?" she asked in a tone of sarcasm."You must be joking! There is no place for a monster here. I reiterate no place!Let him rot there, he deserves whatever he's passing through now." she sneered letting out an annoying hiss. "Babe, this man is your dad. I know that man has hurt you beyond rehabilitation but it's
Chapter 2Title: Love life Stella glanced at the wall clock placed firmly against the wall in her office, it ticked 4'o clock. She exhaled quietly; time to go home.After placing the documents on her table in the right order, she picked up her bag and walked out of the office. "Shade, please don't forget to forward Mrs. Johnson's number to me. I need to speak to her directly, I don't like the way she keeps postponing the delivery date. We're running out of stock." "Ok ma, I will do that right away. " Shade, her Assistant replied. "Yeah, see you tomorrow." "Ma'am, let me help you with your bag." One of her sales girls offered. She flashed her an endearing smile and replied. "No, there is no need for that. Thank you." "Okay ma, good night." "Yeah, take care," Stella responded as she walked out of the supermarket and head towards the parking lot where she parked her car. As she hopped inside the car and turned on the ignition, the car jerked back to life and she drov
Chapter 3"Maria, how do I look?" Bella asked as she presented herself in front of her cousin, Maria."You look dazzling and fulgurant." She uttered in a flirty manner, blowing her a kiss."Uh! You could have just said, you look presentable. Not everyone understands your big and unnecessary grammar."Bella snorted."Get yourself a dictionary and start learning new words." She replied with a sarcastic gesture, moving her head dramatically."Anyway, good luck on your first day at Golden Ville.""Thank you, I hope you will have a great day too," Bella replied as they walked out of their apartment. **** Bella headed towards the park, where she would be boarding a cab to her workplace. "Oh God, it's my first day at work I don't want to be late. I can remember how I used to scold our staff whenever they came late to work. Gosh! I don't want that kind of embarrassment." She murmured inwardly as she paced up and down hoping to stop a cab. The ride from her place to Golden Ville was abou
Chapter 4"Whoops! This is saddening." Richard murmured as he fixed his gaze at Bella with a pathetic look."We were left with no other choice than to sell our company off in other to settle all the bills on our neck. My dad has been in Coma since the incident, he's in a vegetative state. The doctor even suggests that we let him go since he is not recuperating but I don't want that, I want to see my dad again, I want him to see that we can get back to our feet. I want him..." her voice trailed off as hot tears dribbled down her cheeks."It's okay Bella, cry no more. With your pertinacity and avidity, I believe you can get back to your feet." He reassured."To be candid, we all know it's not possible. I mean how do we get our company back? How do we get John Bee's Company back allocated with 10 branches in the US? How? What about our properties? Our reliable business associate? We lost everything, I was left with no choice but to leave the U.S and come stay with Maria, my c
Chapter 5"Thanks for the food ma'am. It's luscious, I enjoyed every bit of it." Bella commended as she picked up the wiper to tidy her mouth."I'm glad you did.""Let me help you with that." Bella offered as she watched Richard packing the already used plates."Oh! Don't bother." He said with a smile."Woah, you must be hardworking," Stella uttered as they moved to the living room."You think so?" Bella asked with a mischievous grin."Yeah.""Well, I guess your assumptions are wrong. Bella is a lazy Ass." Bella said chuckling."Ha, I doubt that. Are you trying to say this gesture you've been showing is just a facade?"Stella asked menacingly with a lopsided grin."may-be." Bella shrugged with an impish smile. After Richard was done washing, he walked out of the kitchen to join them in the living room. "Hey ladies, it seems I'm missing out on something. I can hear your laughter in the kitchen." He said as he slumped onto the closest armchair. "It's nothing, we're just trying to brin
Chapter 6 Bella pondered over the crazy idea that was popping up in her head and let out a sly grin as she rocked back on the swivel chair. "I have got to give it a try." She mussitated and brought out her small makeup kit in her bag, applied a retouch on her face, and combed her long artificial fixed hair to make sure it wasn't ruffled. "Yeah, I think I have that killer look renewed again," she winked as she adjusted her dress. She walked out of her office elegantly with her high-pointed heel shoe hitting the tiled floor with no mercy. She placed a soft knock on the door as she got to Mr. Richard's office. "Come in." His voice came from the other end of the room. She exhaled quietly as she twitched the door knob. She met him sitting behind his desk with his eyes glued to his laptop. "Hi, Good afternoon." She said trying to avert his attention from what he was doing. And just as she expected, he shifted his gaze away from his laptop. "Hi, Bella goo
Truly, the past few months have been hard on Richard and his family but their tenacious zeal to save their union was enough to keep them out of the arduous phase. Although his wife was battling with an incurable malady, Richard never changed his attitude, he stuck to his vow, giving her affection, care, and compassion. It was the only thing he could do to save his dear wife from the hands of the lethal disease. Getting this kind of tenderness from Richard was more than enough for Stella to encompass this phase and get on her feet. He makes sure she visits the hospital whenever she has an appointment, goes for antiretroviral therapy, and takes the prescribed drugs. Their marriage was getting back to life, full of bliss and happiness just like it, was before the mishap launched.The vicious ally that infiltrated their life, whirled it through anguish, turmoils, and travail. Bella Jonathan was finally out of their life. If everything has gone according to the way Stella planned, th
~Recap" My God! What did we do to deserve all these from you? What was our offense?" Richard questioned in disbelief."I'm sorry I don't know, I was just following the instructions given to me.""Who instructed you?""Bella. Bella Jonathan did.""What!""Yes, Bella. Everything was Bella's plan, I only helped her to carry out the plan.""What!" They exclaimed in unison."No, this is not true. Impossible! I don't believe any of this. Why will Bella even do this to me?" Stella questioned, refusing to believe what Tochukwu just divulged. Richard did not find it hard to speculate, he has a gut feeling against Tochukwu right from time and he was aware of the obsessed love Bella has for him, but he never think Bella could take it to this extent.No! This is outrageous.""I see no reason why I should lie, the last thing I can do right now is to uncover the truth. And yes, this is true, you deserve to know the truth. I don't know Bella personally, not until she contacted me about this busi
The news hit them like a huge bomb, it was too complex to take in. Of course, they had their doubt and were strongly against such news that it was far from being possible. They went to another standard Hospital just to confirm the uncanny revelation but unfortunately, the result was the same.Richard and the kids were compelled to conduct the test just to clear all their doubts but strangely, they tested Negative which means Stella is the only one with the deadly disease. How she contracted the virus was baffling at first, but after different investigations were made, it was traced back to the one-night stand she had with Tochukwu, which revealed that she got the deadly transmitted disease from him. "Ha! All this misfortune for ten minutes pleasure? I'm doomed!" Stella lamented biting her fingers in regret, wishing she could change back the hand of time to amend things. It was hard for her to accept the fact that she was truly an HIV patient, never in her wildest dreams has she e
Stella's entire body was in the blaze as several thoughts ran through her head. To say she was confused would be an understatement; one voice was supporting the idea, the other was defying, and another one was taking both sides. Her heart kept thumping with great ounce as if she was having a heart seizure. Yet, a rain of hot tears gushed down heavily from her eyes. Without giving it a second thought, she darted back and scampered to where her father was sitting. Went down on her knees, hugged his legs, and placed her head on his knees."Father, I'm sorry.""I'm so..rry.""I'm sorry." This was the only sentence that escaped Stella's lip."No, Stella. Please forgive me, I have wronged you, wreak havoc on your life, and caused you pain. I don't know if there is still space in your heart for you to set me free?" Mr. Busari voiced, with tears trickling down his cheeks.They remained in that position, pouring out their encaged emotions. The only sound that could be heard was Stella's huf
As Stella stepped out of the car, she stood transfixed on a point contemplating whether she was making the right decision. Coming to the house that haunted her does not seem like a good idea but then, Richard stood his ground reiterating that if she was not ready to come there then definitely he was not going to discuss anything with her again even though he was fully aware of the pains this vicinage caused her. "Well, I'm ready to do anything to save my marriage and if it means coming to this place then I am ready.""I have got to try this, without further ado," she muttered and with that, she walked towards the gate. After pressing the doorbell, a few seconds later the door creaked open revealing a young lady probably In her early thirties."Hi, good morning.""Oh! Miss Stella, Good evening, ma." the lady greeted with a smile plastered on her face. "Yes, ma'am, please, is Richard in? I mean Mr. Jacob?""No, ma'am, he's not back from work but you can wait for him.""Ugh! Is this
They waited eagerly at the reception for the doctor to step out of the ward where Janice was been treated. Stella sat down at the far edge of the chair, her head dropped down in sorrow. Richard was pacing around, while Bella just froze to a point not knowing what to do. They were all on tenterhooks.After several minutes of waiting restively, the doctor walked out making all of them jolt out of their worry land. "Doctor, how is my baby?" Stella was the first to throw the question at him."Hmm, we thank God, she's stable for now," he replied simply."Oh! Thank you, Jesus." Stella exclaimed jumping up in relief."For now?" Richard questioned as he reasoned on the doctor's reply."Yeah, thank God she was brought here quickly before the matter got worse, she lost a lot of blood as a result of the shock she went through. Right now, we need to donate blood to her.""Doctor, I'm available."Stella volunteered, stepping forward."But, you're pregnant, ma'am. You're not eligible." The d
"I am sorry about the news, sir." Bella blurted, breaking the deafening silence between them as they were riding back home in Richard's car. "What news?" He befuddled."About the scandal that surfaced last night, I mean about your family..." "Oh!" He murmured in a low voice. "Yeah, it's sad and those mendacious bloggers have made a compulsive, heart-rending story out of it. They're the sole reason why this is trending.""That's not even the problem, I wonder who has been prying into our family matter and then taking it over to social media. This is not the kind of life I want for myself, I cannot even walk freely; you'd see them pointing at me and saying all sorts of filthy things. Honestly, I'm tired, confused, and..." He complained with a frustrating hiss."I am so sorry about this, sir, It's sad that your family is going through this tough phase." "To be honest, I still find this hard to believe because I never expect Stella to engage in such an immoral act considering her stat
The following day, Richard was in his office busy sorting out his work that afternoon when a knock came through on his door."Come in," he ushered."Good afternoon, sir," Bella greeted immediately as she stepped in. "Oh, Bella! I never knew you came to work today, I thought your manager gave you leave?" He asked quite surprised because she just lost her father."Yes, she did sir, but I don't want to stay at home. I am not used to that kind of lifestyle and staying alone will make me start thinking of uncanny things.""Yeah, I think you're right. Hope you're doing well.""Yes, sir, I'm fine.""Hmm, it's lunchtime already, I guess you're busy, sir?" she asked with a slight grin. "Erhm, not really, I'm just trying to round up with this." "So, would you like to have lunch with me?" "Sure, this work can wait." He said getting up on his feet as they both walked out to his office and headed to the cafeteria. And that was how their friendship sprang up again, Bella goes to his office mos
Everyone who came to the burial rite was dressed in black outfits as they came to mourn with Bella over the death of her father.Just a few of her colleagues at work and Maria's long distant family were there. Bella looked awful and miserable, her eyes were puffy and swollen as a result of too many tears running out of her eyes. She couldn't stop the tears from flowing, as she watched them place him six feet below. She strode forward, clutched the shovel, and pour little sand on it. "Accept my heartfelt condolences," Richard muttered as he walked towards her occupying the sit beside her. Maria stood up and excused them. "Thank you, sir." She muttered sniffing."Please that's enough, cry no more. Life is a bale of tears and losing our loved ones is part of life right?" "Yeah, it's," she replied simply with a nod."Well, life has been like that to me right from time; life keeps snatching things so dear to me. Now my only hope is gone, I don't know how I will scale through this..."