One week later Vincent I shot through the traffic, dodging vehicles and people and jumping over obstacles in my way. My mind was reeling; my heart pounding against my ribs. It was hardly from this mad dash but the thought of my brother. Thoughts of our childhood days kept flashing in my head. Flashes of him running towards me with his little arms spread out and a huge smile on his face after I fought off bullies that were pestering him. Flashes of me pushing him on a swing while he giggled in delight. Flashes of him hiding behind my back after stealing a cookie from the kitchen. Tears welled up in my eyes. I gritted my teeth due to the painful clench in my heart. Looking ahead, I could see the crowd gathered around the accident. Police cars and two ambulances were already at the scene, moving people away to get to the victims. On reaching there, I pushed roughly against people to get to my brother, earning myself angry grunts from people. Their voices were like distant echoes
Vincent As if in slow motion, I saw her run into the hospital, eyes wide and roaming all over the place. Her friend was with her. They ran to meet a nurse and inquired about something. When the nurse pointed in my direction, I saw her eyes move to face me, worry and fear written all over her face. I saw her run in the same slow motion towards where I knelt on the floor. I was seeing everything in slow motion now. I felt relief wash over me. Anny was here now. I don’t know who called her but she was here now. On reaching me, she fell on her knees and wrapped her arms around me, holding me so tightly. She didn’t ask me anything. She just held on to me as if protecting me from the pain I was feeling within. “It’s my fault, Anny, “ I whispered to her. She shushed me and kept holding on to me. I knew she was so scared from the rapid thumping of her heart and her fidgeting hands, but she was trying to stay strong for me. This lady who had grown to mean so much to me was feeling like
Anne “Anny, please eat something. You’re going to harm yourself,” Pamela urged worriedly. She was sitting on my bed with a tray of food on her lap. “Anny, please!!!” I sighed weakly, then slowly rose from the bed. With a sad smile on my face, I extended my hand and carried the tray on Pamela’s lap, then began taking tiny bites from what could have been a delicious food if not for my foul mood. It’s been five days. Five whole days since my unpleasant surprises. First was Andrew’s accident, then breaking up with Vincent. I was a total wreck. A huge bag of debris I was. The guy I’d grown to love and cherish was fighting for his life, while the man I was in love with decided to cut ties with me. All through the night, I had cried my eyes out. I kept asking my ceiling when Andrew got back, and why he got into an accident on his bike. He was supposed to come back the next day, wasn’t he? Was he coming to surprise me that day? Was that why Vincent decided to end things? Did he blame me fo
Anne She stood up from where she sat and walked straight to Vincent. She grabbed his elbow and dragged him towards her seat. “You left with dad to see the doctor. Next thing, we couldn’t find you or dad," she said. ‘Dad? Is she like their sister or something?’ I thought as I walked towards Andrew with Pamela in tow. “Anny dear,” Andrew’s mother Rebecca called out when she saw me. Her eyes were puffy from crying. She had no makeup on, so I could see small wrinkles and the slight eye bags on her beautiful face. She wore her hair in a messy bun and had on a loosely fitted gown. My heart reached out to how fragile she looked just sitting there, worrying about her son. She stood up, came over to me, and hugged me tightly. “I’m glad you’re here. Andrew has been asking after you since he woke up,” she said, leading me closer to Andrew who was asleep now. “They gave him something for the pain. It made him pass out, but he’ll soon come to.” “Oh, Okay,” I said with a small smile and a n
Anne “Did you fire that lady,“ I asked Vincent in incredulity. He didn’t respond. He just stared at my head. “Why would you do that?” I had passed the reception area on my way to Andrew’s room when I noticed a different face behind the counter. At first, I had thought they had shifts or something like that but when I saw Jack, the security man flirtatiously introducing himself to the lady, I knew instantly that she was new. I was sad. It’s likely the lady got fired or left cause of me. I didn’t like that idea at all. I was going to confront Vincent whenever I saw him. Fortunately, as I came out of the elevator, I saw him stepping out of Andrew’s room. Yea, I was pretty nervous but I wasn’t going to let that stop me. “Do you enjoy being treated like crap?” was his response to my question. “Excuse me?” “Well do you?” “No,” I answered. “Good,” he said calmly then moved past me. “That doesn’t explain why she was fired. She was only following orders,” I said after his retreating
Anne “Dinner is ready ma’am,” the lady that showed me to my room announced when I opened the door. “Please call me Anne, okay?” “Alright ma’am, sorry…Anne,” she stuttered, then smiled bashfully at me. I smiled back at her before she turned and left. I had already had my bath and was just sitting on the bed waiting for Pamela who should have arrived ages ago. I could have gone out, or even try to look around the house but I wasn’t feeling like it. The enthusiasm I had earlier had been extinguished because of Pam’s absence. I had tried calling her but she wasn’t picking. I felt so out of place. After trying Pam’s number, a final time, I let out a frustrated sigh, stood up, and headed out to dinner in a foreign environment. “Anny!” came that dreaded beautiful voice that had haunted my subconscious for a while now. She was coming out of the opposite room, dressed in a midthigh, flowery gown that accentuated her long slender legs. She had on pink ropy sandals that made her feet look
Anne It was as if the closer he got, the darker my surrounding became. I shot my eyes up and darted it around the table, with the hope of finding an empty chair aside from the one beside me. It was to no avail. The feeling that encased me when he slid in beside me wasn’t a bad one per se, it’s just that it was something I was trying really hard to suppress and forgo. His woody scent engulfed me, spiraling me down memory lane, right down to where he had his arms around me, and his tongue down my throat. I bowed my head trying to conceal my heated face. “Let’s share grace.” ‘Wait, what!’ I exclaimed in my head, shooting my head back up and around the table, just to see hands connecting. It felt like a scene in a movie where multiple doors are banging shut simultaneously, and I needed to get out before the final door closes, locking me in with the looming disaster. In this case, I didn’t make it out because just then, he slowly raised his hand and kept the back of his palm on the tab
Anne A chilling breeze of mortification washed down from my head to the tip of my toes. I could recognize that deep icy voice from anywhere. ‘God! Why him of all people?’ I slowly turned and locked eyes with Dr. Sawyer who was leaning with his back on the rails of the balcony. As if the devil had not done enough, next to him stood Vincent whose jaws were still wide open from what I guessed to be shock. Another wave of shame washed over me, rooting me to the spot. I should’ve opened my mouth and tended an apology, but my lips were frozen shut. My throat suddenly felt patched. I didn’t know if I could survive the huge embarrassment. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to survive. All I wanted to do was disappear from the face of the earth or crawl into a dark hollow pit, never to be seen or heard from again. They were probably having a quality father-son time with the bottle of champagne and two glasses before my unpleasant interruption. Dr. Sawyer downed his glass in one swift move, then
Anne I felt a hand slip into my PJs and began walking its magic there. A moan escaped my lips as sensual pressure built in my core. I was lying on our king-sized bed with white sheets and a duvet, in our large bedroom. I’m too sleepy or maybe lazy to describe it. Just take this though, the walls are white. The side tables holding up the bedside lamps are also white but with golden designs along the edges, matching that of the bed frame, which has extra huge golden spirals on the tall headrest just above my pillow. By the corner, a long wooden cabinet that holds several drawers is attached to the wall. On top of the cabinet are different figurines and sculptures, then close to it is a magnificent white dressing table that houses my very few beauty products, and an equally magnificent mirror with the same golden design on its edges. There are two walk-in closets on opposite sides of the room. One is for Vincent and the other, mine. A second door closer to my closet lead to the bathroo
Vincent The heavens grumbled like an old giant before I began feeling splatters of droplets on me. I glanced up at the skies and smiled. It was as if it knew how I felt inside. It was a thunderous feeling. I sped past cars on Andrew’s bike, squinting to see clearly as the rain had begun pouring with reckless abandon. How didn’t I see it? How could one be so close, yet so far away?! I felt what I felt, but I just couldn’t see what I was supposed to see, simply because of amnesia. Now it’s all coming back to me! Like a waterfall crashing against the oceans, my memories came flooding in. “I’m coming, Anne. Just wait, okay? I’m coming,” I breathed, maneuvering through the impending hold-up that the rain caused. ‘Slow down you dumb-a**’ my mind warned. I listened to it and went slower till I was off the traffic and onto the small road leading to Anny’s. My heart pounded against my chest as I neared her apartment. The gate that’d had been there when I rented the place for her was un
Vincent Arya made it sound like I had the best of times with her. She may be right because the feelings I had for her couldn’t have been created by mere moments. We must have gone through thick and thin for me to have realized what I had and cherish it. Arya made me to almost desire to stay back and savage the little I could from all we had left. I couldn’t. Because I was hurt. I lost my memory. I couldn’t remember any of my time with her, or even her face, yet I couldn’t get myself to make love to any other woman. She had all the knowledge. She knew all the bits and pieces of our trials and tribulations, but the moment I step out of the picture, she finds solace in the arms of my brother. Now, she has a baby for him. I couldn’t live with that. Her love for me didn’t nearly match the way I felt for her. I couldn’t fight when she’d already given up a year ago. Why didn’t she come after me? Why didn’t she make plans to make me remember slowly? She only comfortably devised plans
Anne The knock on the door made me jerk and involuntarily drop the scissors outside the bathtub. Andrew couldn’t have been back so early, and definitely won’t be knocking gently. Pamela wouldn’t too. Who could be knocking? My dead heart arose and, like a diver, dipped into the pit of my stomach as the thought of Vincent being the one at the door entered my head. It couldn’t be, could it? He should be in the airport now if he wasn’t on the plane already. I didn’t really care to check the time since Andrew left. Is It possible that Andrew had talked Vincent out of leaving? That’ll be if he saw him on time. I didn’t want to ignite my hope only to watch it explode in my face yet again. I’d wanted to wait a bit to see if the caller would go away, but then the knocking would wake Lucia, who’d begin crying and wake my mother. That thought made me hurriedly step out of the bathtub. My legs were wobbly from all the fear and trepidation of what I’d decided to do. I gingerly put one foot i
Anne I carefully carried sleeping Lucia and placed her on the duplicate cot in my mum’s room. I slowly and noiselessly stepped back and out of a room, throwing a glance at my mum, who was snoring lightly on her bed. I then switched off the light and shut the door behind me. Finally, the time has come. I made sure I locked all the doors for the night before heading to my room. Pamela had come earlier and suggested staying with me till Andrew comes or calls. Andrew must have called her to come. Well, I refused all her persistence and almost got angry at her stubbornness. She’d grudgingly accepted to leave. In my room, I took out a pen and scribbled down a few thoughts of mine. I hadn’t time to write a full epistle because I was hurting badly. If I did have the time, I would have written long notes to every one of the people I know who would be hurt by my actions. I’d wanted to live for Lucia, but seeing her face, eyes and long hair reminded me so much of him. One would think that wo
Vincent “We need to talk, Arya,” I said, watching her enter the parlor. She stretched her mouth into a thin line, nodding her head in agreement. “We’re finally having the talk,” she said, removing her jacket and dropping it on the couch alongside her bag. “Alright, I’m ready,” she said, after sitting down on the couch opposite mine. Silence engulfed us for minutes. It was as if we both knew where all this was headed. “Arya, I’m sorry,” I began. “I thought I could do it, but I can’t. It would be a total mess marrying me in this state. You guys were right, I’ve not healed entirely, and I shouldn’t have come back here…” I had my eyes on her the entire time, gauging her reaction. She simply looked back at me without a flinch. “Arya, let’s call off the wedding,” I conferred. She didn’t respond or divulge any emotion that showed how she felt about what I said. After what felt like ages, she inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, then cleared her throat. “It’s sad. Honestly, I prayed it w
Andrew My brother has been ignoring me ever since I took him to see Anne a day ago. I don’t know what he was thinking, but for him to be acting this way, his thoughts weren’t in our favor. Anne had gone there to meet with him that same day while I’d gone straight to the studio. I was going to call Anne and ask how it transpired, but we finished so late at night and I was so exhausted that I passed out immediately my head touched my pillow back at our family house. The next day, I called Anne, but she didn’t answer. I called Vincent, but he, too, ignored my calls. So, after my recording session, I’d gone to Vincent’s but when I saw my mum’s car parked in front of the house, I made a U-turn and headed for Anne’s apartment instead. It was a sunny afternoon. I got there and met her coiled up on her bed, crying her eyes out once again. Racheal and Pam were there trying to make her eat her food. “You’ll make Rachael miss her doctor’s appointment, Anne,” Pam had warned. That was the only
Vincent Mum had threatened to take Anne’s baby away from her. She’d told me how she'd contacted her lawyers and had every paperwork done so that once Arya and I leave, the real work starts. “No, mum,” I’d refused. “Son, that our grandchild there. She cannot live in the slums,” she’d argued. “I’ve been there, mum. It’s not a slum, and Andrew is more than capable of caring for that child,” I countered. I was hurting real bad. I felt like I was drowning… it was overwhelming. Having these massive conflicting emotions, then having to stick up for what I believed was right, was slowly killing me. “Son, she has to pay for what she’d done to us! She cannot go scot-free. My husband and I, for over a year, have had no meaningful conversation because of her. He’d gone rigid around me,” she said in tears. “He’d not touched me for over a year because of that witch, Vincent,” she divulged bitterly. “She created a rift between your brother and yourself in the past, now, a much bigger one by hav
Vincent ‘Anne.’ I guess that’s her real name. It actually rang a bell. I remember pronouncing that name, and it must have meant so much to me because whenever I called it out, which I was doing often since that time with Arya in the kitchen, I felt a cacophony of emotions attack me. There was peace, followed by fear, then agitation, trepidation, fury, and what have you? It was strange. Her name held so much power, yet I couldn’t still remember. It was frustrating! “Have you booked the tickets, Vin?” mum asked from where she sat on the couch. She’d come around right after Arya left the house. Arya has been giving me the silent treatment ever since I mistakenly called her the name that tormented my subconscious, the day before. “Yes, mum,” I replied grudgingly from the dining table where I was getting some reading done. “Have you heard from dad?” I asked. “No, hun, but don’t you worry, he would be available for the wedding. I just received his clothes from his tailor. We’ll be tr