Vivian’s POVThe morning began with a busy routine, unexpectedly. That morning, customers had trooped in like bees to a flower, and it had been the first time since I got here that this was happening.“Our tables are all occupied,” Jane whispered behind me happily. I startled, because I hadn’t seen or heard her walk up to me. I didn’t even know that she was also watched at the wonderment of it. We had served almost all of the coffees in the shop that morning, and it wasn’t even 10am yet. “Oh, yes,” I whispered in return and kept quiet after I had recovered from my shock. Then I faced the small crowd that had gathered in the shop, ignoring Jane.She had slept off in my room the other night after we talked about our relationships and how it ended deeply. Actually, she had begun to cry profusely about Ted leaving her, and I had consoled her until she fell asleep, but by morning, I had returned to giving her my cold shoulders. I wanted her to still know that I did not want the so-called f
Vivian’s POV“Well, you would have to get there to find out,” had been Leo’s wife’s response to my question.As I got dressed to leave the room that day for my antenatal registration, I reminisced on her response. She gave me a note to her cousin, so that it be easier for me when I got there, and she also promised to call him on my behalf and inform him that I was coming. “I just hope and pray that they are not as strict and formal as the last hospital I used,” I said to myself. “Otherwise, you would be toast, Vivian,” I told myself.The last thing I needed right now was to get there and be told that Syrus needed to be present in order to be able to register or carryout my antenatal process. I strongly did not want Syrus to be involved in the process. I didn’t want him to be in the first place, and if the first hospital hadn’t insisted, I would have done it successfully without him, but their protocols would not be broken.“Damn hospitals and their bloody protocols,” I spat.It was po
Vivian’s POVI got scanned and registered for antenatal procedure right after my answer that Syrus was dead. A part of me began to feel guilty and uncomfortable about such a huge lie. This was the first time I was doing something as outrageous as this, and I felt almost terribly sick, but after I was able to successfully register, I felt less guilty and bad.After one of the nurses was done with attending to me and registering me, I went back to Ken’s office, because they had been asked to redirect me back to him after I was done.“How did it go?” He asked me after I entered into his office and sat down across from him.“It went well, thank you,” I responded.Then I noticed that he was staring at me with sympathetic and sad eyes. He did not have this look on his face before I went for the antenatal registration, and I suddenly began to feel uncomfortable.“How do you feel doing this alone?” Ken asked. “Um…” I cleared my throat and shift uncomfortably on my seat. I had no idea that h
Vivian’s POVI woke up a little later than usual. It wasn’t my off day, so that means I would have to go and wait tables. It was a good thing that Jane hadn’t shown up at my door. It was a huge relief.Also, Dan’s text message left me worried, even though I had turned off my phone right after without texting him back, or calling.“What could he have wanted to tell me?” I asked myself as I got dressed for work. There was absolutely nothing I wanted from my former place of work. He fired me without explanations and at the worst time of my life, so I wasn’t even interested in hearing what he had to say. There were a lot of wrong things happening at the moment, and now that I had found a place that felt discreet, safe and secure to me, I just did not want to deal with anything else in my life for now. Besides, talking to Dan might put me in the spot where I didn’t want to be; seen.I grabbed my new pair of Jean trousers, baggy t-shirt, tied my hair into a rough ponytail and hurried out of
Vivian’s POVAll through the day’s work, I kept thinking that Jane would show up, but she didn’t, which really got me worried and concerned, but I didn’t come to work with my phone; I never do, otherwise I would have called her to find out why she was absent.After the day’s work, I packed up all the tables and chairs, changed the sign to ‘close’, and sat down waiting for Lori and Leo. Both of them had been worried about Jane’s absence, but by late afternoon, they had gone somewhere together, and I didn’t want to retire to bed without seeing them.While I waited, a young giggling and happy couple sauntered into the coffee shop.“Hi, you work here, right?” The man, who seemed to be in his late twenties asked me.“Yes, but we are closed for the day,” I said.He then turned to his girlfriend who poured her lips in disappointment. “I told you they were closed, but you insisted on checking even after seeing the sign,” he teased her.“It’s your fault! If you hadn’t kept me up, we would’ve be
Vivian’s POV“I wasn’t thinking about anyone,” I insisted weakly.“And that is okay,” Leo said, nudging his wife. “We were just messing with you?” He assured me with a smile. The atmosphere became better all of a sudden. “Jane didn’t show up today?” Leo asked, worried.“No, she didn’t,” I told them. It was such a worrisome thing, coming from Jane.Leo and Lori were equally very worried. “I know she is a wild girl who doesn’t care much about anything else, but this is so unlike her. Jane has never missed a day before,” Lori said worriedly.I stood there staring at them, speechless, because I did not know what to say. Her absence had bugged me all day. In truth, the thing I missed about Jane was having someone else who shared the work with me rather than doing it all alone, because I never enjoyed being disturbed by her, especially during work hours.“Did she speak to you about not coming today?” Leo asked me.I shook my head. “No, she didn’t,” I answered.“Did you see her again afte
Vivian’s POVI definitely freaked out!I opened my mouth to scream; it was obvious that Jane had been murdered, and my first instinct had been to scream, but the picture on her made me stop. Ted’s face was there. Manny’s face was there. My face was there. The picture was taken a few months before I chose Syrus over my family, so we were all easily recognizable. If I screamed now, and the cops arrived, it would definitely put me in a more complicated situation. I stood there, scared, speechless, stunned, clueless.I should have acted faster, I know, but this was the absolute first time I was being in this situation and space. I was so dazed that I did not even realize that Ken had entered the room.“Heck!” He almost yelled.I turned to him with pleading eyes, asking him not to scream.“What happened here?” He asked.“I don’t know. I walked in and saw her this way,” I told Ken.“This is incriminating, Vivian. Is she still alive?” Ken asked. He could not exactly tell because I was block
Vivian’s POVKen did not have the chance to respond before the cops barged into Jane’s room, so I did not know if he agreed to what I had pleaded with him for or not.“We are from the police department, and we got a call from Doctor Ken about a murder crime,” one of the cops said.I looked at Ken briefly, shocked. I didn’t know that he had placed a call through eventually. This very well shows that I cannot trust him at all. My heart began to thump rapidly.I was done for.The other cops began to wrap up Jane’s body in a big leather bag. I looked at them, and I began to shiver. Jane was dead. The same person with whom I had waited tables at the coffee shop for days, spent time together at a club, and shared a night at my room was dead and gone, just like that. Then I began to feel horribly bad and guilty for pushing her away after her several attempts to get close to me. It dawned on me that she could have been murdered by the drug lord, although I wasn’t certain, because I did not kn
Vivian’s POV“Today, we have gathered in holy matrimony to join two love birds, whose love could not be altered with the wave of time; Marie and Vale,” the priest started beautifully.I couldn’t stop smiling as I watched Marie and Mr. Vale, dressed to perfection: Marie in a white flowery down and Mr. Vale in black pair suits. Nancy wasn’t present, because she wasn’t invited, which was understandably so, even though they had all resolved things amicably. However, Bonnie, easy to forgive now that her mother had asked her to, was in attendance. Actually, she had flown in some days before, just so that she could have moments with her father too. I noticed that she was nice to me as well, and she even brought gifts for the triplets who would be coming to the world any time soon.Bonnie sat behind Syrus and I, squealing in delight.“This is the most beautiful wedding I have ever attended!” Bonnie whispered happily, but her voice was loud enough for us to hear her.Then Syrus turned to her
Vivian’s POVI sat on the patio just resting and thinking yet again about everything that had happened. This time around, my thoughts weren’t exactly filled with bitterness or anger or sadness. A lot had happened since Diana showed up here and hugged me. She had confessed that she was deeply hurt and begrudged, but after carefully thinking about it, and of course, discussing it with Marie, she had come to the realization that her brother had fooled her for years. While she had struggled and worked hard to achieve everything she had achieved, Leon had chosen to go through the illegal and seemingly wrong path, and she knew that he would have to face the consequences of his actions. Our conversation also brought me to the same resolution with Ted, and the rest of my family.The trial was held about three days ago. I couldn’t attend, because my due date was gradually drawing near, and deep down, I didn’t want to see Ted’s face and break down all over again. The drug lord, his men, along
Vivian’s POVEverything seemed to be happening in such a rush that it was all too much for me to handle. Syrus’s reappearance and his conscious efforts to win back my forgiveness and affection was also overwhelming.He had lived with Mr. Vale and Marie for over a week now, and he had not stopped persisting. Initially, I thought that he would have given up and run back to his company as he always did, but he hadn’t…yet. Syrus kept trying by words and in actions to prove that he was truly sorry, and I maintained the cold shoulders I gave to him, but still, he refused to relent. Syrus had been ordering flowers and notes for me every single day without fail. According to him, he wasn’t trying to buy my love and forgiveness with gifts, because he knew that I wasn’t that kind of woman, but flowers only indicated his genuineness and love for me, which was even why he wasn’t including any other gift. Also, his determination to restore his broken relationship with his father was evident, and
Syrus’s POVSyrus discovered that his father’s house was not as big as the mansion he grew up in, but it was a very homely and cozy bungalow. The moment he entered, he felt more at home and at peace more than he had ever been.“I will show you to your room,” Marie told Syrus as she led him to a room beside the room that Vivian was staying in.When they got into the room, Syrus was impressed at the neatness and warmth of the room.“Thank you, Marie,” Syrus told her deeply.“I am going to make some pasta and we will all eat at the dining table, so use this chance to rest and freshen up,” Marie said politely.She was about leaving when Syrus stopped her. “Do you think she will ever forgive me and talk to me?” Syrus asked.After he had made himself known as the extra traveller, he noticed that Vivian went cold. She had vehemently refused to share a seat with Syrus in the plane even though Mr. Vale had intentionally arranged the ticket in that format. Syrus could not deny that the hostili
Vivian’s POVBelinda and I hurried to the airport, because after all she had told me, I was afraid that Georgia might somehow know that I was in the city, and she would find a way to hurt me. I was heavily pregnant now, and if anything happened, I did not even have the strength to fight or defend myself.“I will come with you and wait for your employers until they get here. If anything were to happen, I don’t want you to ever have to face her alone,” Belinda said firmly when I tried to dissuade her from going with me to the airport.It wasn’t until we got to the airport safely that I became less worried. Also, even though I had wanted Belinda to return to her apartment initially, I was very grateful to have her here with me. We were able to get a safe place to sit and wait where the cops were always watching and patrolling about.“Do you want me to get you anything from the cafeteria?” Belinda asked when she noticed how weak and tired I was after we sat down.“No, I am fine. I was jus
Syrus’s POVSyrus drove home like a lunatic. He could barely wait to confront his mother for everything he just heard. His entire being was boiling with anger and rage.For years, his mother had lied to both him and Bonnie, and she had made them hate their father unjustly. More so, they had grown up without their father’s love and affection all because of her selfish and greedy desires! His mother was just as cruel and cunning as Georgia; there was literally no difference between them, and now, Syrus understood why she chose Georgia over Vivian. For all Syrus knew, evil always aligned with evil.“Damn, I have been such a fool to let Georgia, my mother, and the company come in between what Vivian and I shared,” Syrus said to himself painfully and regrettably.He wanted exactly what he saw between his father and Marie; love, loyalty, friendship, and companionship, and he did not want to enjoy that only when he was old. He had all that with Vivian, but he had ruined it. To Syrus, he beli
Georgia’s POVGeorgia was frantic. Things were getting out of hand. Syrus had been unreachable for hours since today, and she did not know what to do.“I cannot lose,” Georgia told herself as she paced about in her apartment. She had come too far to lose. She had done too much to lose now.“What do I do? I can’t let Syrus win over me,” Georgia said.As she was pacing about and thinking, Ken knocked on her door. Georgia answered it, but she was irritated. Ken was gradually becoming a nuisance to her; why would he keep showing up at her apartment?“You can’t just come in here whenever you like, Ken,” Georgia berated him.He hardly even gave her enough time to think things through and decide on what she wanted to do. “Why not?” Ken asked, making Georgia more disgusted. “We are a bound team now, remember?” Ken said.“You have your apartment, and I have mine. Stay at yours unless it is exceptionally necessary for crying out loud,” Georgia told Ken.She did not even bother masking her ann
Syrus’s POVAll these years, Syrus had felt horribly sorry for his mother, being that he felt that she was unjustly abandoned, but from what Vale said, it meant that his mother swindled and manipulated her way into his life.Syrus shook his head; he did not want to believe that about the woman he had loved, adored, and respected all his life.“That cannot be true,” Syrus argued.“Do you think that after all these years I would lie to you?” Vale asked. “The years I spent being married to Nancy were the worst years of my life. I tried to love her, but I just couldn’t. She knew I was in love with someone else. She knew that I would never love her, but she refused to let me go. I know that you might not like the sound of this, but I went as far as taking a secret DNA test on you, because I wanted to find every reason to leave,” Vale said as tears streamed down his face in sadness and regret.Syrus’s heart was shattered beyond words. He had no idea that the story between his parents was de
Syrus’s POVSyrus walked over to where Mr. Vale sat solemnly, backing him. Marie stood behind Syrus, urging him to go to Mr. Vale.People had left the cemetery now, and they had all moved to Anderson’s house, or most of them, for the next batch of the funeral celebration. Syrus’s plan had been to pay his last respect here at the cemetery, then he would return home, but everything changed, including his plans. More so, Syrus could not believe that he let his father’s mistress, the woman he hated so much talk him into listening to Mr. Vale, something he had equally vowed that he would never do. Syrus swallowed hard, the words finding it difficult to come out from his throat. “Vale?” Marie called softly, since Syrus was taking too much time in talking, and with how sad Vale was, he was not likely going to turn around even in the next one hour.“I was counting on this opportunity, Marie, and I have lost it,” Vale said, his voice dripping with sadness and regret.Marie knew that if truly