Joan’s POV'Beep, beep, beep’I heard noises in the room; it was familiar, and with the scent that made my belly purge, I could already tell I was in a hospital, and Fred was going to be by my side, like he always was.He held my hands, then bent his head. "Fred,” I called to gain access to my fingers, and then he woke up. A sad smile played on his lips as he looked at me.“You were so stressed out; the doctor said it’s as a result of shock, and your blood pressure is high too,” he said, then kissed my knuckles. From his chin down, I saw the mark of Sophia's palm on his face, and it brought back memories.“What are we going to do now?" I asked.“I haven’t heard a single threat from her, so we might be cool to some point, but I can't trust her silence. I know her too well to know she doesn’t stay quiet, so she’s definitely plotting something; we just have to know what it is so we can avoid it."With that being said, the doctor came in, and I was given some medications. Fred took me bac
Joan’s POVI needed to do something about all this. What if mom finally found out that I was lying? She would never trust me again, and that’s for sure; she might disown me; she would never believe whatever I told her. What if she already knew the truth and just wanted to confirm if I would tell her the truth?Panic aroused my heart as I thought even more about everything. I had to call Fred; I needed him to tell me how we were going to go about all this. If we were going to tell mom just like he had suggested, it could never be too late, or maybe it was.All these options weighed on my mind, and I didn’t know how to process them. Fred wasn’t picking up; maybe he was sleeping; maybe he wasn't; was he in trouble?Too panicked to actually sit and think I walked out of the room; the car Max gave me was parked outside my lodge; I haven't given much thought to it, but getting a cab?I thought about the ridicule and how much chaos I was going to cause the moment I stepped out of the house,
Fredericks POVWaking up close to her was divine; she had the face of a beauty goddess, and her slow snore teased my senses as I patted my head resting on my chest. All this while, I couldn’t tell her how scared I was about all this happening.Mom was going offline, so she and Max, Sophia, were quiet with the news. From the news that had been spreading, there were just mere blog pictures of our photos taken, and I hoped it was the same pictures Mom had seen that made her question Joan.She should have called me, but she didn't. I suspected something was wrong, but I couldn’t put my fingers on it, and staring down at Joan, she looked so peaceful, compared to when we had arrived, when we feared almost the same thing.‘Losing each other’Aside from that, we were immune to other threats we had faced; it was always about how we were fighting from the surface or trying to stay disclosed to the eyes of everyone, but now I would finally summon the courage to say it and own it. What if we were
Fredericks POV“Joan!"Mom yelled as she barged into the room, her bug-like eyes fixed on us. She closed the door behind us. "What the hell is going on here?” Joan rushed, then covered her bare chest with her hands.“We can explain.”“Explain what!”She took the pillow from my head, then smacked me with it, yelling on the bed. She pulled Joan closer.“What are you doing on the bed with your brother, huh? I asked you; I called you and asked you, What did you tell me?”“I am sorry, mom. I am sorry. I didn’t mean it." Joan was already choked up in tears and couldn’t talk; I had to step in to save her.“It’s not what you think that was why we came home. Joan told me all that had happened, and we chose to come home to tell you personally about our relationship,” she glared at me, not withstanding to hold the hatred that lingered in her heart. Just by staring at her, I could pick up the little details on her face.She was tired and sick, must have lost quite a few pounds, and was using make
Joan’s POVI knew mom wouldn’t talk to me after all this. I shouldn’t have lied to her; then I would have avoided all this before now; she wouldn’t be so embarrassed of me. Everything paralysed me; it was just mind-wrecking, and I couldn’t look her in the eye and tell her that I was sorry.It would have been better if she had seen it through her phone rather than catching both of us in the act. I felt filthy and too embarrassed to follow her, and thank goodness Fred did that on my behalf.He had already left the room. When I came out of the bathroom, I dressed and wrapped myself up in the corner, waiting for the final judgement, but it never rrived. Instead, J Jones walked into my room, his hands wrapped around his chest. He just stood at the door, looking at me.I had expected he would say something, but he didn't; he just sat down there. Like some statue, I hated his face; it made me nauseous, and the memories made me weak and bitter."It seems it came to light now, and everyone kno
Joan’s POVIt was the next morning, a day to face my fears. I braced myself with all kinds of pep talk before I went to sleep, but now?Facing the multitude of people who could do anything but stare at me right now, my courage had slipped beneath my feet; I just couldn’t hold on to the truth anymore.All thanks to Maisy and Daisy, who stood by me, I would have lost track of my stance and fallen multiple times, but they were always engaging me in short conversations and making me think of other things, which included my new car that had now been returned.Or Max, for whom I haven't seen his brake light since our last encounter; he just knew the car was returned, and he didn’t call me or text me. I just wanted to tell him that I don’t need such luxury anymore, but it was hard with all this going on; there were still some images online about it, so it wasn’t easy to just say whatever.I had to pipe low and observe all that was going on.Well, this morning, Fred and I had a little morning
Joan’s povStill fixed on the image on the screen, my thoughts disorganised. At that moment, it didn’t look like a passed video, which only confirmed mom was in that condition; maybe it was framed up and he just wanted to ruin my day.U dailed mom's number, but it went straight to voice messages; it was declined. My first thoughts were that she must have been pissed; that was the only reason she would decline it so fast, but the reason wasn’t convincing enough.There wasn’t a way I would be comfortable here if he kept on pressuring me into sleeping with him; it was way better being at home than being here. Somehow, he had succeeded in making my decisions sour.‘Thirty minutes to think and arrive at the location; a minute late would incur a penalty’ he sent again. My heart squeezed to the anger and fraud that loomed over me. It was definitely going to be the last time. I can't, I can't!I will tell everyone about how he makes me do things. I will go to the police, and they will take h
Joan’s POVThe day went as he planned, and now he sat opposite me, his hands on his chest and his eyes closed, a gentle smile on his face. It was the third time, and for a second, it felt unending.The familiar sense of irritation engulfed me, and to top my frustration, I saw Mom's phone beside him. He flew all the way to Detroit with her phone, and she didn’t say anything. That meant he knew we were calling her all along, and he didn’t bother to give her the phone.Jones was more cunning than I had even imagined; he was the devil I knew. And the angel that I didn’t know yet—I just couldn’t get myself to believe how deep he had already gotten into mom's head or the condition she was in.I didn’t get to see mom last time I went home; it was as though she was trying to avoid me, but she spoke with Fred. I wanted to see it as the resentment she felt towards me sleeping with Fred, but if she could look him in the eyes and not me, then something was definitely wrong.Still seated on the be