I was so relieved when Aiden covered up for me. My heart was legit beating so fast even when I was not guilty of anything. I could tell Ariana had her doubts about what just happened, but she was seriously being unnecessarily paranoid. "Babe?" I called out to her even after she had muttered a half hearted 'good night'. "Hmm. Damien good night, I have shopping to do tomorrow." She arranged her side of the bed and slid in. "I know that but I just want to spend some time with you." I followed, pulling her close to me. "We were out all evening, we've spent more than enough time together." "Come on babe, don't be so mad at me." I kissed her shoulder blade. "Who says I'm mad?" "You're acting like it." I stated. I mean it was as clear as day that she was upset, she did not have to try so hard to deny it. She gave me a pointed look. "Damien I'm tired and I want to sleep." Taking my hands off her, I said, "Fine. Good night." "Night." ~~~ "Off to shop?" I came down and met them ready
"Heyyyy." I met Tracy walking in with her kids as soon as I got downstairs. I squatted just so Sky, Aaron and Tia could run into my arms. They were the cutest bunch and so full of energy. "Hey hot mama." She teased me as always as I gave her hug. "Oh please, we all know you're the hot one." I said right back. I turned to the kids. "Your uncle and aunts are in the playroom with your cousins. No running on the stairs!" I exclaimed as they took off. Tracy shook her head as we watched them do the opposite of what I just said. "Do they ever listen?" "Kids...? Never." I answered and we both laughed. "I'm guessing you came as soon as you heard they had arrived." I said. She nodded, "Absolutely. Mom is hurrying back as we speak." "I'm sure." I let out a laugh. Who wouldn't be excited to see all their family members in one place after a long time? "Congrats on your new job by the way." She nudged my arm. "Thank you." I smiled. "I'm sure you'll ace it." She said with an assured smile."
"Hello Mr and Mrs KIngston." She grinned a little too wide for my liking. "Hi Claire, wasn't expecting you." I said copying her grin that slowly dropped. Damien gave me a subtle nudge but I was unmoved. "Claire welcome. Thanks for honoring my invite." He said. "I wouldn't miss it for anything." She had her smile on again. Ugh. "Of course you wouldn't." I coughed out. "Are you okay?" She asked in 'concern'. "Yeah I'm great. Enjoy the party." I gave her a subtle sendoff but she did not seem to get my message. She just stood there after giving me an appreciative nod. "Let me show you around." Damien offered out of nowhere and it took a lot to not express my shock. "Oh I wouldn't want to be a bother. It's your party." She said, glancing at me in between her words. "It's your first time in my home, of course I would make such a sacrifice." He smiled at her and took her hand right in front of me. Damien placed a halfhearted kiss on my left temple before walking off with this woman.
"Ma Rosa I don't want to talk about it." I said without glancing up from my screen as I heard the door of my home office come open. "How did you know it was me?" "I've known you for as long as I can remember. You're the only one who's bold enough to want to talk to me when I'm mad." I told her plainly. "Hmm," She sighed and took her seat. "What's going on with both of you?" "You saw it. Ariana does not respect me. She flouts my orders and does whatever she feels like!" "Do not raise your voice at me young man." "Sorry." I muttered. "Damien, Ariana is your wife..." "Yes, I know that." "She's not your employee. You don't 'order' your spouse or command them to do your bidding." "I'm her husband and she has to listen to me especially when I have her best interest at heart." "You know you don't listen to her either." "I do." She shook her head. "You don't. You hear her words, see her actions but you do not listen to either of them." "I don't understand." I really didn't. "Ha
"Aunt Karla." I smiled as soon as her face popped up on my screen. "Querido." She grinned. (My darling.) "Feliz Navidad." I said. (Merry Christmas.) "Merry Christmas. How are you doing?" "I'm well. How are you?" I sighed, sitting up carefully. "I'm good." "Where's Damien?" She asked as usual. "He went out, he'll probably be back soon." "If I'm reading my time correctly. It's kinda late over there." I took a quick glance at the digital clock placed by my side of the bed. It was past 8pm almost 9pm, in fact. I had to call him but then with everything that went on in the morning, calling him felt off. "Boys! Come say hi to Nonna!" I beckoned on them as they did their thing on the balcony. They rushed and practically grabbed my phone just to see Aunt Karla's face. Topic changed so smoothly. Good one Ariana, I gave myself and imaginary pat on the back. I picked Ava as I got on my feet. "Darian, Damon, do not break my phone!" I yelled. "Let them talk to me!" Aunt Karla defended
"Happy new year!" I screamed with everyone excitedly as we counted down to 12am on the 1st of January. Fireworks went up in that moment as we hugged one another, jumping around in excitement. It was a new beginning, a new era, an unfolding of a new chapter in each and every of our lives. It was beautiful to see everyone together, all alive to celebrate the new year. This was the biggest blessing. As at 2am, Damien and I were still up, talking about our plans for the year as we usually did every year. The kids were all asleep in our room while we sat in the balcony, having a great conversation when I remembered something. "You never told me where you were on Christmas day." I said as soon as it came to mind. He was quiet for a little over a minute. "That was last year babe." He joked and I laughed heartily. "I know but I just want to know where you were."I said. "I went out to clear my head."He answered vaguely. "I know that but where? You came home quite late, spending nearly ha
Controlling myself was not going to be an easy task but I was ready to do anything to keep her happy. We were fine again and I really wished things could just remain that way. No more fights this year was one of things I put in as a new year resolution and more than anything, I wanted that box to be ticked. "Babe!" She yelled for me. "Yeah?" I answered, putting everything I was doing aside to meet her in the closet. "What do you think of this dress?" "Spin." I told her and she did. Damn! I exclaimed in thought in as she turned around slowly. Now that was what I called a luscious behind. "It's beautiful, but," "But what?" "It's showing a bit too much of your curves. I don't want anyone drooling over my wife, you're mine." I pulled her close as our lips touched briefly. "I'm yours, that's exactly why you do not have to worry about anything." She said, arranging my collar. I agreed after a bit of contemplation, then I raised her hand. "Don't take this off and make sure it's visib
Sure you must be wondering how I found out about him and Claire being together on Christmas day. It's pretty simple. She told me herself. I was so stunned when she walked towards me as I was about to enter my new office for the first time. Damien said it was a surprise and didn't let me see it while it was being set up. "Hello Mrs Kingston." I couldn't hide my surprise. "Hi Claire. How are you?" I said out of courtesy. "Great. How are you?" She grinned. "I'm good. What are you doing here?" I had to ask. I thought she worked in another department. "Oh I work here now. I'm an IT expert and I'm also pretty good at manipulating algorithms to give our social media content a much needed boost." She said with a little too much enthusiasm. "Hmm. Nice. I had no idea of this until today," I admitted with a blank face even though I was boiling on the inside. "Oh really? That's probably HR's fault. They said we needed some older hands to help with the new department and they slotted my nam
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