Anne Of all times to get faults, the taxi chose today. I slipped out of the back seat, threw cash to the driver, and sped off on foot. As I dashed on the sidewalk of the busy road, I could hear Pamela’s voice in my head, yelling my name. I remember my heart sinking into my stomach at the urgency in her voice. I’d thought something might have happened to Makayla or Joan, but when she told me, the news was grave all the same. Earlier that day, I woke up to a gnawing pain in my belly, which got worse as the day progressed. I informed mum, and she took me to our gynecologist immediately. I didn’t charge my phone the previous day, after Joan played games with it, running down my battery, so my phone died on our way to the hospital. I got tired of running real quick, screeched to a stop, and bent over with my hands on my upper knees to catch my breath. My breathing came in gasps and pants as if my lungs were about to explode. The blistering sun scorched my skin, making me sweat profusel
Anne “Anne!” “Anne!” I heard Pamela and Andrew yell my name as they maneuvered through the crowd and made their way toward me. I just left the counter and was making my way out amidst pitiful stares, gasps, and whispers, when I heard their familiar voices. I dragged my dejected self towards them, trying really hard to hold back the tears that choked me. Pam got to me first and wrapped her arms around me. “I’m so sorry, Anne,” she sobbed. “I couldn’t get hold of you again. Your mum said she couldn’t find you!… Anne, he has left!” Pam cried. I couldn’t speak. I only held on to her and allowed the tears to fall freely from my eyes. Andrew got to us and stood there with a sad expression on his face. “I’m sorry, Anne,” he apologized, taking a step toward me. I shook my head vigorously, which was a way of informing him it wasn’t his fault. It was all mine. If only I’d charged my phone, we would have probably been in another reality. “Anne!” We all turned to see my mum rushing tow
Anne I made Andrew swear to secrecy. After loads of argument, he grudgingly agreed not to tell anyone. “I don’t want anyone accepting me because of my pregnancy, or having anyone take my baby away from me,” I’d told him during our arguments. For a whole year, Andrew became the father to my child and husband I never had. He felt it was his responsibility to care for me and my child until I decided to tell everyone. At first, I thought it was a great burden to him and had tried to dissuade him from coming over more often than not, but he vehemently refused. He didn’t need to tell me why. I simply saw how he was with my baby. As soon as he arrives, with loads of baby stuff that’ll last us a whole year, he’d only greet everyone, go over to the sink and wash his hands, then spend the whole-time carrying Lucia. The joy and contentment in his face held no bounds. He would sit on a rocking chair, hold Lucia against his chest, and tell her childhood stories of Vincent and himself. Sometim
Vincent I sprang up from the bed, panting profusely as sweat dripped like rain down my forehead, neck, shoulders, my entire body. It happened again. I had what I suspected to be a nightmare yet again. The worst thing was, I don’t remember anything once I wake up. All I knew was that my experiences when I wake up include difficulty breathing at first, then profuse sweating, later gasps for air, tightness of the chest, and multiple dark holes in my mind’s eye. I tried meditating, taking prescribed drugs, exercising, and a lot of activities just to get a glimpse of what makes me jumpy in my dreams, but nothing worked. I sighed deeply, then turned, stretched out my hand, and took the glass of water on the bedside table. I took several gulps to dampen my patched throat, then laid back on the bed and shut my eyes. “Honey! Arya is here!” My mum yelled from downstairs. I sighed again and opened my tired eyes. It’d always been like this. I get so tired whenever I woke up like this. I fee
Vincent “This was a lovely dinner, Rebecca,” Arya complemented, helping mum clear the table. “Yea! It was scrumptious. I’d love to have your recipes!” Arya’s mum added, smiling widely at my mum. ”Thank you so much,” she replied to both of them, then to Arya’s mum, she said, “I would be delighted to put you through,” mirroring Mrs. Chopra’s smile. “Son, why don’t we go somewhere and have a glass of wine or two? Such delicacy requires rich fluid to revere it,” Mr. Chopra bellowed, darting eyes to everyone around the table to see their reaction to what he considered humorous. Well, everyone laughed along, nodding their heads in agreement. I stood up and nodded my head courtly, then gestured for him to follow me. “Oh yes, sure,” he replied, and followed my lead. There on the balcony, I brought out two wine glasses and the wine they’d brought with them, placed everything on the table, took the wine and popped it, then poured it into the glasses. I could feel him watching my every mov
Vincent I stood there and watched her try to digest what I’d told her. She wasn’t giving anything away, so I didn’t know if I should say something to cheer her up or just let her come to terms with it. “Why? Why now?” she finally asked, still with no expression. I was going to respond to her questions, but she cut me off. “I thought we were good. We’d discussed this, Vincent,” she said, taking multiple steps toward me. “Arya, please understand, this won’t end well,” I adjured. She didn’t respond for a while. She simply stood there and stared at the floor. “Arya?” I called out gently. “Yeah, I get you,” she responded in a shaky voice. “But what I don’t get is why you’d willingly let go of what we have for something you’d probably never get back,” she stated, looking up at me. “Arya…” “No, listen…” she said, covering the small distance separating us and grabbing my face in her palms. “I get I asked for too much, or maybe I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did yesterday when we
Vincent ‘What the heck did I agree to?!’ I internally yelled at myself as I walked out of the airport with my luggage. My talk with Arya, in no way, ended the way I’d imagined. It, rather, took a whole new turn, spiraling me out of control. I made a freaking promise! Was I high? Did she inject me with a brain jumbling drug? No! but I still agreed to marry her. “He has just three months to live,” she’d said in bitter tears. I wasn’t expecting that at all. “I thought I could fool him by bringing any random guy and making him believe he was the one. I couldn’t fool the old man. He saw right through me, Vincent,” she’d said. “I pondered on how to fulfill my dad’s happiness, but I always came out short, not until I met you, Vincent.” I’d been shocked, transfixed, brain dead when she said all that. Her dad dying was huge enough. The implications were enormous. “Why is that? How many opinions has he gotten? How many doctors have confirmed this?” I asked, really concerned about her dad
Anne My heart made dangerous palpitations as I walked slowly towards Vincent’s porch. I’d been running earlier but as soon as I saw the door in view, I’d screeched to a stop when I realized I didn’t know what I’d say when I got there, nor who I’d introduce myself as. Andrew, from the studio, had called to inform me that Vincent’s plane had landed. “How, where, when?” I’d asked like a crazy person. “I don’t know. He said it was sort of an emergency,” he’d informed me. “I’m heading to the house now. I’ll meet you there, he’d said before hanging up.” I was excited, anxious, nervous, and every synonym that could describe my sweaty hands, rapid heartbeat, and gasping. I’d shuffled around the room, rummaging through my wardrobe for a pair of trousers and shoes to slip on, but with the way my body was reacting, I kept tripping and falling. It didn’t deter me. Eventually, I found the things I was looking for and sped out of the room. “Where do you think you’re going?” my mum had querie