"You could beat the eggs and butter. Later we'll pour the mixture into it." Geneva said over her shoulder to Nicholas who had been standing behind her since they came into the kitchen to prepare a cake. It has been days since the embarrassing incidents had taken place and having gone to the grocery store earlier today, she decided they would make a cake together. After all, Nicholas did owe her a wedding cake. He was the reason why she had been terrified and forgotten all about one of the best parts of a wedding - the cake!Geneva added powdered milk to the big bowl with the flour in it. Just then, something jumped out of nowhere and into the plate beside the bowl while crashing a China ware to the floor. Geneva flung the bowl in fright and jumped unto Nicholas, wrapping her hands and legs around him. Not once in that giant leap of hers did she consider the both of them falling because of the sudden impact of her weight. After a few seconds when she came back to her senses, she r
"Damn, Geneva, must you drop a bomb every time you call? And I mean every single time you call?" Sharon screamed at her, very much awake now. "Don't go yelling at me like it's intentional." Geneva yelled back. "This call does not seem any bit unintentional to me." Sharon yelled too. "Sharon," Geneva heaved a sigh and said, "I need someone to talk to and not to train my lung capacity with." "I'm seriously concerned for you, une fille. I just finished a plate of ice cream, endangering my waistline even though I have a date tomorrow with Louis." "With Louis Martin? The French guy… oh, so that's what's up with your accent." Sharon had this irritating habit of changing her accent whenever she dated a foreign guy. "My love life rocks; yours suck." Sharon stated in a dejected tone. They both sighed. "Sharon, you are officially the worst person on earth to seek comfort to the mind and heart from." Sharon giggled before countering. "Who says I am? You'll see the wonders I'll perform to
"...Geneva won't you reconsider your stay?" She rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to chastise her father but closed it when she heard a deep voice chuckling. With her eyes shifting to his location, she groaned inwardly at the embarrassment her parents were suffering her with in front of her husband! Why is he giving me his attention now that I don't need it? Geneva chewed Nicholas up in her mind. James noticed her shifty, unfocused eyes, so he went to where he suspected her gaze was repeatedly landing. He fisted his hands and stood three inches away from Nicholas thundering, "where are you, daughter-robber? Come out this minute." "Dad, what are you doing?" Geneva asked, alarmed. "Scaring the person you are trying to hide." He snarled. Two men, intimidating in their own way were in the small living room with one bellowing stupid things at the other. One had a stupid expression on his face while the other had on, an unreadable expression. "Dad, if anything, I'm the one scare
Geneva looked in the mirror, patting her cheeks with pride and satisfaction. Who knew she could perfectly blend the colours of her makeup to give a pale result. She looked sick and that was what she wanted. Today, she would be pretending to be sick! Blame it all on Nicholas who doesn't touch her unless totally necessary. Pfft, what a husband material. It was time for breakfast. Nicholas should be through with his early morning episodes by now. Geneva stood up to look for him. She tied her twist-out at the very top of her head so that their giant locks would fall onto her forehead like very dense fringes. She pulled on the wide neckline of her short and loose dress to come down her shoulder. 'Tie up your hair, expose the neck. Let him take a bite from the yummy chocolate island. Wink, wink.' A stupid song Sharon always sang played on in Geneva's head. Geneva shook her head and continued telling herself, "No way! I'm not trying to seduce Nicholas. I'm most definitely, absolutely
They were preparing dinner together. Geneva planned on making a local dish from her home country - Jellof rice and salad. So, as Nicholas turned his back to her so as to wash the cabbage, she looked up from the onion she was slicing and tried to gossip a little with Mickey who was perched on the counter at a corner. "Tch, he says I resemble you." Geneva whispered. "He's the one who is as difficult to read as you. Disappearing and appearing when it pleases him and don't even get me started on the air of mystery surrounding him. So much like you, don't you think so too?" The rat squeak-snarled then jumped on Geneva making her cut her finger by accident. It broke another Chinaware and with its rump in the air, scurried away. The rat was still bearing grudges against her! But why was it angry at her? She did entirely nothing wrong. It can't be. The both of us are competing for Nicholas' attention? Is the rat a Minnie or worse, Camille? Geneva shook her head at her internal monologue
Chapter NineteenA dark aura was surrounding Nicholas. She'd never seen him so distant, brewing, like a storm. So angered. Wave after wave of dark emotions swept by. His face was so dark, Geneva could not read it.At all.She searched for words to say, words that could dissolve the heavy tension."Nicholas Loic Murray," that deep voice sounded far away. "Ah, I remember now."Just like that, the warm and cozy evening turned as cold as a winter night. Silence danced in the atmosphere. Geneva did not know what to say. Even if she did know what to say at this moment, she was very sure that expressing it in words was going to be a struggle. For the first time since Geneva had met Nicholas, she saw herself feeling deeply sad for him. She couldn't begin to imagine what Nicholas must have been through in the three years he had been stuck in this house with little or no hope of making it out. How lost he must have been. Going by the news they had just watched, it was undeniable that Nichola
With the speed of light, her hands set to work. They dug through her stationery and textbooks in a frenzy, to fish out the locket she hoped was still in her drawer.Luck was with her. Bringing it out, she wanted to hold it against her chest and begin a torrent of sad siren wails but her thumb accidentally wiped across the dust of layer on it.Instead of the previously carved words that she knew of, new ones had taken its place. An address to be precise was boldly written - 65 Elim Villa.Geneva flagged a taxi and was there after a long six hour drive. She paid the taximan and stepped out with her heart pounding fervently.Even without looking at the address, Geneva had spotted the tall building in her dream and knew that it had got to be the number 65th house that the locket in her purse indicated.The building was deserted along with other buildings around it. When she had looked up this villa on the net, it showed pictures of its bubbly and lively nature three years ago, before all
It took Geneva another six hours to return home. So being, it was already late and Geneva was too drained to make it to any police station.And so, she had to wait till the next day. That was a bad idea because she almost had a nervous breakdown waiting for dawn. As soon as it was, she flagged a taxi and off she went to the Central City Police Station. It was all over the news the previous night that due to the great attention directed towards the 'Mrs.Juiette Murray's murder case', by the media, the case was legally reopened. Due to this fact, it was quite easy for Geneva to be granted an audience with the detective in charge of of the murder case, upon request. Twisting the truth a little bit too much, she said she was a person with a mighty thrive for justice to be upheld and so, she had bravely gone into the crime scene in the villa and had gotten an evidence written by the murderer herself. Detective Hubert Lefebvre, a man in his late 40's, regarded her suspiciously through th
Flinging her insecurities through the window, Geneva got to action. He'd seen all of her before, like why was she scared? She hastily dragged the duvet off their body and straddled Nicholas. Jo's eyes snapped open in surprise but when his jaw hung open a bit at the sight of her apparel, Geneva had to bite her lip trying to stifle a giggle. For the first time in a while, Geneva got to see his hair free from any gel holding them stiffly into place. His sift dark unruly short curls that were neat at the same time were a little damp and begged for her caress. She reached forward and tugged at that single stubborn curl on his forehead, then started yanking at it for no reason, maybe just to spite Nicholas. She truly was the troublesome one here. Because Nicholas wasn't saying or doing anything, just watching her play with his hair, Geneva soon got bored. She turned on the light and laid back down on the bed muttering, "Can't sleep without the light." Lies, and they both knew it bu
Nicholas' lips thinned in suspicion. "You mean the wine?" "What do you think?" Travis asked smugly. Nicholas had known the minute the man came in an all dark coloured cloth, kept his head down and stayed in the dark corners of every room, staring at Geneva in a way Nicholas didn't appreciate. He had known that the man had something up his sleeve. And now, the man smirked into the rim of the glass of wine, not bothering to hide the shimmer of an awful dark lust for his wife. Nicholas felt like punching him in the gut and making Travis or whatever his name was puke his soul out. The fingers Nicholas wrapped around his glass tightened and loosened intermittently, an outward picture of his rational and irrational self, struggling. He did not always feel like this for any other person. Infact, the only person who could be the reason behind him questioning his desires and on coming action was Geneva. And now, this person from nowhere was making a snarky remark about taking his wife and
"Make sure you don't make a move on Nicholas on your wedding night." "What?" Geneva shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She had spent so long waiting for the wedding night and Sharon was telling her this? Unbelievable. "Listen girl." Sharon's tight Jean clad fitted to her curvy form and she took a few steps to Geneva and sat beside her. "Don't you want to hear him say lovely cheesy things to you, even once?" "I do, I mean he does… sometimes, not nearly enough times as I'd wish for but you know," Geneva shrugged, "Nicholas is not the type of person –––" "Don't you want him to show you just how much he wants you? Make him make the move for once?" "But," Geneva's hair began to itch with nerves. She couldn't believe she was listening to marriage advice from her green haired friend –Yep, Sharon had dyed it green this time –that was in the middle of a lover's quarrel with her boyfriend. "But Nicholas is… Nicholas won't do a thing unless I do." "Shhh, young lady," Sharon brought out a
"Get into the car, quick!" Rita hurried her daughter and with a scowl on her face, shunned James who wanted to join them at the tiny backseat of the uber. James did something that resembled a ridiculous pout and trudged to the passenger's seat. Geneva's parents had woken earlier than she had expected, breezed through the bathroom in preparation and dragged her out, ignoring any of her opinion on having Nicholas over for dinner. This was mainly Geneva's strategy to have her parents calm down before then but once they had their minds made up on something, it was kind of hard to change that. Rita kept on persuading the young uber driver to speed up despite his obvious efforts to and James replied with a grunt, "Yeah, our daughter's future is kinda in your smallish hands." Typically said like her father, a man who felt the need to intimidate every living man in his sight, that allowed him. To prevent her parents from pressuring the fidgeting young man into colliding with something,
"Geneva sweetie!" Rita greeted heartily, "Been so worried, you've been so distant. I almost thought you'd make me go this week without hearing from you." "Yeah, about that mum." Geneva's inside churned with the thought of what she was about to say. "I don't know why I let your father talk me into refraining from calling you too often." Rita continued in a loud voice as the background on her side was noisy. "I'm in a saloon having my hair done, sweetie, that explains the noise! Just pointing that out before you ask." "Wait, mum, I––" "Hang on." Geneva could hear her mother's muffled voice whisper yelling at someone, "Not the red wig Rochelle, red always makes you look like a rag doll. No offense." "None taken. Not when we both know you look like an ill sewer rat in it." A voice, probably Rochelle's, hit back earning barks of laughter and snickers from a few women in the saloon and the two in question. Geneva was beside herself with worry and didn't have time for her mother and he
"Come on in," said Mr. Lu with a wide smile as he welcomed them both. "You're right on time, Lia is just getting done setting the table." Geneva took off her coat and hung it right beside Nicholas'. The room was very small and warm unlike the weather outside. It was a mass of creamy white and golden. The cushions appeared antique and matched neatly with the marbled wall. Mrs. Lu walked out from the kitchen with bottles of drinks which she carefully set on the dining table and turned to their guests with a smile. With her greying hair tied low and away from her face except the few strands that refused to give up on the woman's face, her smile brightened her features, helping her petite figure make her look younger. The Lu's were looking happy and content. It showed every time Geneva visited. "Geneva, good to see you." Mrs. Lu gently grabbed Geneva's arm and eagerly dragged her to the dining table offering her a seat. The woman was so dainty and small down to the soft voice which sh
Geneva was a bundle of nerves. She was feeling too awkward to notice Nicholas who was squinting his eyes and rubbing at his nape in slight embarrassment. Geneva was busy dealing with her nervous self by stuffing herself with cake. That was until she choked on it. She quickly downed a glass of beer to stop her coughing fit, biting her lips more embarrassed now than before. "That's enough Geneva." Nicholas was already by her side as he grabbed her hand to stop her from gulping more glasses of the alcohol. Geneva made a disgusted face at the bitter taste in her mouth. They both stayed silent, making the atmosphere even more uncomfortable for Geneva. She stood up saying, "I'm not hungry anymore. I'd rather go sleep whoa—" Nicholas' strong arms reached out and wrapped her in a warm embrace to break her fall. He blinked and asked her in an unbelieving voice, "Are you drunk already?" "Hah?" With her fingers covering her mouth, Geneva succeeded at stopping a very unladylike belch that c
Geneva felt someone blowing air onto her lashes and cheeks. She sleepily wiped that area only to have her fingers wrapped in slender and much longer ones. Then the person continued blowing unto her face making her finally open up her tired eyes. The bright light had her making weird faces before she heard Nicholas telling her that the movie was over. They stood to join the people that were already filtering out. "Do you want to go on a short stroll!?" He asked when they made it outside. Geneva nodded happily. The night was still young for them to start going back home. And this gave her ample opportunity to think about how to propose to him. Uh oh! I don't have a ring with me, she suddenly realized. Dang it! She kicked the snow in childish annoyance. Nicholas stopped and tilted his head to look at her. "Will you be free this Thursday?" he asked. "Uhh," She thought for a while. "Not really sure. Yeah, why?" Curiosity showed on her face making it appear extremely cute to Nichola
"We would sure love to, Mr.Lu." Nicholas ended the call with his former driver and put his phone back into his suit pocket.Mr.Lu had relayed to Nicholas how pleased both he and his wife would be to have them over someday for dinner.Nicholas shut the car door and headed upstairs to shower and have a change of clothes. He had long since taken over his father's company and other properties too. He had insisted on moving from the small house both he and Geneva shared, to his family's home, endangering his life to her naked wrath.Geneva just could not understand why he refused to back down but she seriously suspected that sharing a bed with her at night might be a part of the reason.She had been too baffled that time and had almost taken Nicholas to the hospital to have a rundown of his vitality and sexual vigour.Being a gentleman was one of the things Geneva loved about Nicholas but this was simply too much!When he was still in his ghost form, he acted like he couldn't rest asleep w