"Daddy we miss you." The twins said in unison over FaceTime that evening. It was morning over in LA."I miss you too buddies," I sighed, relieved to see their faces."When are you coming back?" Damon was the first to ask.It had only been a few days days and they were already asking when I was going to return. I didn't want to disappoint them so I just said I was going to be back very soon."Baby? Where's my princess?" I asked Ariana and she brought the phone closer only for me to see Ava with her eyes closed, one hand in her hair pleasurably scratching her scalp and with her mouth busy sucking every ounce of milk out of her mother's breast. "Ava say hi to daddy." Ariana nudged her but she didn't even budge, that girl was just too engrossed in whatever she was doing."I'm so jealous." I admitted just as Ariana covered it up with her nursing apron. "How was your day?" She asked."It was productive. How was yours?""Great." She shrugged with one shoulder."Been seeing some content onl
I had an attitude all through the workday. It was midday, Damien had been away for a week and half and he had the audacity to go a day without talking to me. And even when I tried reaching him, he was not picking up. In fact, he was offline. Having a 'talk' with Claire had her avoiding me in the office and that made me so fulfilled. I had had enough of drama and I did not sugarcoat words when I spoke to her about her obnoxious attitude. I called her out on her obvious attempt to compete with me over my husband, she blatantly denied it and I warned her to let it be true cause I had my ways of handling such people (even if I didn't)."Is there a problem Alfred?" I asked him when he had been quiet and staring at me for longer than a minute since he entered my office."We have a problem." He said, gulping afterwards."Not another scandalous piece of content please?" I groaned, running my fingers through my hair."It's not that actually." "Then what is it?" I asked with a head tilt."So
I rushed into the sick bay section of the school after being barely able to drive within the speed limit."What happened?""He fell off the swing ma'am." Damon's teacher answered me."Where's my son?" I asked, searching around."This way." She nervously said, leading me to the room they had him in."Mommy!" Darian ran into my arms the moment he saw me. "Hey baby." I kissed him on his cheeks and put him down as I spotted Damon on the bed with a bandage around his head and seemed to be asleep. I stared at the red patch of blood, examining it before I saw the dislocated arm that had been wrapped with a bunch of bandages as well."Oh my baby." I couldn't help but sob. I was so confused at this point. Was I supposed to call Damien? Or Mom, Tracy and Aiden? I was so overwhelmed.To my surprise, mom came in shortly after. "They called the house and Ma Rosa called me. She didn't want to make you panic at work." She told me.I went into her arms for comfort. I loved being a mom but seeing my
"You should have consulted me at least." I said when she told me about how she fired the nannies."What do you mean? They neglected their responsibilities and I took the best decision." Of course she was not going to understand my point."I'm not disputing that but you could have at least let me know before taking such a rash decision." I reasoned. "So when you fire people it's not a rash decision but for me it is?" She fumed. Okay this was going sideways.I sighed, "Ariana don't start. This is not about me.""Pray tell, what is it about?" Her glare was a furious one. I gulped."I'm saying you firing both of them out of nowhere is just unnecessary.""Did you even listen to what I said??" Her voice had gone up a notch."I did." I said with a single nod.She shook her head in disagreement. "No, I don't think you did. These persons neglected your kids, our kids. Not only did they disrespect my authority as one of their employers, they put my children at risk.""Our children." I correcte
~Weeks on~It was Valentine's day. And for the first time in years, my man wasn't with me to celebrate it. How unfair that his flight had to be delayed due to some unexpected weather storm. It had been a month and I was already tired of missing him. Most of all, I was tired of the kids asking when he was coming back. I had said 'soon' so much that they replied it before me whenever they asked. Damien had better be back soon before chaos would be begin.I looked up when I heard a knock on my door. "Come in." I said without looking up from my system. I assumed it was one of the staff with their usual requests for approval on certain ideas."Delivery for Mrs Kingston." I heard.Glancing up, I gasped at the gigantic bouquet Damien sent me. I thought of how to carry it as I got on my feet. Picking the card out from the bunch of roses, the staff who had their phones out made me read it aloud. 'To the woman who has made my life complete, turned my world upside down and still fixed it with a
I looked at the time with a clenched jaw as I walked around the room dancing around with Ava's head laying on my shoulders as she fought with sleep. It was past 9pm. I had put the boys in bed, they had school the next day and had been asking for their mom too so I made them sleep on time even when they wanted to stay awake so bad. Ariana wasn't back for whatever reason and I had called and texted her so many times since work hours were over. I was beginning to get worried until I tracked her ring and vehicle on my system and saw that she was on the move. Didn't seem like her car was hijacked or anything cause I would have been reached out to by now. Pacing the room calmly, hoping for Ava to finally fall asleep so I could take her to the nursery, I waited for Ariana, visibly enraged at her misconduct. Few minutes later, my daughter was finally asleep and I laid her in the cot in her nursery. I was just coming out of the room when I heard Ariana's footsteps. She jumped as soon as her
"Hey baby." I said as soon as I got into the room, taking off my shoes in the process. "Hey mama." He came over and kissed me deeply. "How was your day?" I asked when we pulled apart. "Great. But you abandoned me." He pouted, unpinning my hair, just so he could let it down and brush through it with his fingers. "You didn't see my message on time?" I asked in surprise. "I didn't actually. I already found my way to your office and Claire told me you already left." My smile dropped at the mention of Claire. "How nice of her to be the one to inform you of my absence." I sarcastically said. "Why do you have a problem with this girl?" He questioned. "I don't have a problem with anyone." I muttered, leaving his arms to make my way to the closet and take off my clothes so I could take a bath. He followed me closely. "She told me everything that happened while I was away." He said in an accusatory tone. I turned around and scowled. "What did she tell you?" "Did you accuse her of tryi
"Hey babe. Where are you? I need you here, there's a bit of a problem." I dropped the voicemail, trying to not sound annoyed even though I was. It was another Wednesday. Ariana was off to church and was unavailable when I needed her. Inasmuch as she seemed so happy to be free to practice her faith, the last couple of weeks had us drifting apart. We hardly spent time together. The whole issue with Cheryl was stretching longer with the authorities and though I was trying to do my best to help from behind the scenes, the case was a tough one. Cheryl had called, crying heavily and it had me destabilized even when I tried to assure her that everything was going to be alright. I paced the room for a bit, deep in thought over how to sort out the situation at hand. Out of habit, I rubbed my palm all over my face while I dialed Ariana's phone once again. It still went to voicemail. Letting out a frustrated growl, I was so close to smashing my phone when the door came open and she walked in.
There was something about weddings that always made Ariana fuzzy on the inside. The scent of flowers, topnotch catering, the cascading white decor or just the feel of love in the air. Love that she had experienced bountifully and was drunk with it. Looking back at the year before, she remembered how hard it was to settle back into their 1% of the 1% kind of life. In all honestly, she had missed the simplicity for the past year, ever since they had to move out from what Damien thought was a rich neighborhood but not for the wealthy which they were again. On the bright side, he had sold the old house where their journey started and all its memories - the sweet and bitter ones alike - were now things of the past that they would savor in their hearts for the rest of their lives. Her one worry had been how their relationship with their creator would be when Damien went back to his workaholic ways. Pleasantly surprised, she saw that the revelation of Christ had reverently dawned on him and
~~~~Damien~~~~~ It was a Sunday afternoon. We were back from church after the service turned into a celebration when Ariana and I went up to give our testimony - our story. Coming back home, my heart swelled with gratitude. Looking back, I never would have thought that life would take me through all that and I would come out strong. It was not until we got to our home and approached the gates that the smiles on the faces of my wife and I dropped. We had an unexpected visitor. "Congratulations." He said as we met eye to eye. "Thank you." I uttered, eyeing him surreptitiously. "Ariana." He nodded in her direction, courteously. "Aiden." She returned and breezed past us, taking the kids who were innocently excited to see him with her. "Can I come in?" He gestured towards the house and though I wanted to say no, I was in too much of a good mood to. "Come on in." I led the way into the living room, seeing as Ariana was on halfway up as the led the children to their room. "Have a
It came faster than lightning. One month passed like it had been just a week. We were back in the courtroom and even with the air condition that cooled the room, my hands were clammy with sweat as I held on Damien's hand. I was nervous, but strangely, he was so calm. Looking up at his chiseled face, I sighed, resting my head on his shoulder while he held me close. "It's going to be fine. We got this babe," He assured me in a whisper. I nodded, praying in my heart that this was the truth and that we would come out victorious.I sat up and saw Gerald and Damien's siblings walk in, some were courteous enough to say hi, which I responded to. I watched them sit on the other side while Gerald looked in our direction and sneered. Damien gave him a hard glare before looking away.The proceeding started and a different judge walked in. Instinctively, I turned to Damien and it seemed he was as surprised as I was. Gerald shifted in his seat uncomfortably.Soon, our lawyers were up, briefing t
The court proceedings had begun. Damien had gone all out to get the best lawyer he could find for this case. There was no backing down on his part and the media was ready to feast on this frenzy with its juicy details. I followed each and every headline, every blog post and read through comments back to back. I had people messaging me to ask if the news was true but I decided to keep mute until it was all done and over with.As I sat in that courtroom, silently watching as they battled for justice, I could not help but feel a sense of trepidation in spite of how I was supposed to hold on to hope and faith that things were going to turn in our favor.The sneer on the judge's face when the plaintiff spoke was worse when Damien got into the box for questioning. Gerald was relaxed and even had a cocky stance as he watched with a smirk anytime my eyes trailed over to him. I smelled a rat. I would not put it past him to have bribed the judge."This case is hereby adjourned until the 20th o
"She's what?!!!" I dropped my phone in reflex when I heard him yell from the balcony. Quickly, I got on my feet and rushed to meet him over the phone looking like he had seen a ghost. "What happened?" I asked as he limply dropped the phone. It took him a while to respond to me. "My mom is dead." "What?!" I screamed, clasping my palms over my mouth. "What happened to her?" I managed to ask as the tears started to stream down my face. "Aleena says she was found dead in her room. I smell foul play." He frowned deeply. In the next instant, he rushed out of the room and I followed him closely. "Carina?" She looked up from the boys who seemed to have fallen in love with her personality ever since she began living with us. "I need you to check the CCTV footage thoroughly. I think Gerald killed my mom." "Jeez!" She exclaimed, getting up to head to the room where the computers were while I ushered the children upstairs so they would not have to hear any of this. I came back down a
She looked different. Very different from the last time I saw her over seven years ago. "Damien," she walked over and hugged me, I limply returned it. "It's so nice to see you. Thank you for gracing my invitation, I thought you wouldn't even respond to me." She said, more excited to see me than I was to see her. I nodded slowly, "Well, here I am.""You're not going to ask how I'm doing. You're still mad at me?" She gasped."I'm not mad at you, just suspicious that you would reach out to me for the first time in years and now of all times." I said honestly."I heard everything that happened and I'm so sorry." "How did you hear?" I asked."Your mother.""You're still in contact with her." That was a statement."I saw her at an event a couple of weeks ago when I came back to LA.""Hmmm."Aleena sighed sadly and her face stiff with lots of plastic surgery hardly moved. "She's very unhappy Damien," "Serves her right." I muttered."Gerald treats her like trash.""She deserves it." I said
"You got a cake?" I asked, swabbing a piece of icing with my index finger as he set the white colored buttercream cake with cherry toppings on the kitchen island."Oooh yummy." I moaned, savoring the taste. "What's the occasion?" I asked, going into his arms as he pulled me close. "Kiss me first," he placed me on the island and placed his lips on mine before I could respond. "It's a peace offering." He finally answered my question when he let me go. "Peace offering? What did you do?" I asked, squinting my eyes in suspicion as he looked away in guilt, muttering something under his breath. "Babe, speak up." I said, tapping on his strong arms that held me in place in case I wanted to walk out. He definitely had done something that would really upset me. "I invited Claire over," He managed to say after a while of probing.I was shocked. "You did what? I thought you were just going to speak to her and that's it?""I want to see her when she works.""So she's going to stay here?" Now I
"You had one job, both of you! And all you can say is that they were good to you?!" She sighed in exasperation. "Dad, they were good to us. Why would we want to do that to them?" "You let Gerald win!" "At least now you're not caught up in their mess. It's now a family issue." "You made me lose out on a lot of money." "Aren't you wealthy enough? You framed my husband and put him in jail just for me to destroy someone who has never done any wrong to you!" She screamed in annoyance. "Shut up!" He said and coughed loudly. Cheryl wished he would just die already. "I regret having you as my daughter," he said to spite her. "Trust me, I wish I had died as a baby." She said and hung up. "That was so brave of you." Leon said, hugging her from behind. "I wish I had done this earlier." She sighed. For too long, she had hidden in the fear of losing her father's support but now she had learnt to be content with her husband's earnings. "We need to do something to help Damien and Ariana." S
I dabbed the blending foam over my cheeks one more time, staring at the finished look in the mirror with as satisfied smile on my face. I was still good at this makeup thing despite doing without it after so long. Damien went out of his way to stock up on my makeup products. I was so shocked that he got the shades right. It was such a pleasant surprise. Things were coming together. With the help of someone in church, through Pastor Anderson, he was able to secure a remote job in a tech startup that paid quite a sum. We had carved out a home office for him in what used to be our guest room and whenever he was in there, he was not to be disturbed. I shut my eyes as I sprayed the setting spray over my face, completing the look and waiting for it to marinate as I set up the tripod and camera I was going to use for my video. "Oh my goodness Mama Mia," Damien came in just then and I blushed as he showered me with compliments. "You are delectably gorgeous. The most beautiful woman to wa