Liana was in a bad mood and when she was like this, she went on a shopping spree. This was her therapy, it took her mind off stress to browse in high-end stores and shop till she dropped.
She picked up her phone and made a conference call with her girls since she had no gig on her schedule. “ Get ready girls, we are going shopping”.
Liana was an only child born to a university professor in one of the leading universities in the country and her mother was an assistant manager in a leading insurance company.
Even though they were termed as middle class, Liana had caught on earlier in life to mingle with the rich in society and imitate them. This, coupled with her parent’s spoiling her turned her into an arrogant snob who expected the world to revolve around her.
She had always had her eyes set on Richard Wayne, the wealthiest bachelor in town, and did everything possible to catch his eye. One great advantage of this relationship was that money was never a problem for her and she could purchase anything, anytime she wanted to without breaking a nail because Richard provided for her every need.
Megan had just finalized taking stock of the packages that had arrived in the morning and was going through the pre-ordered list. Some clients preferred ordering straight from the catalog and having their packages delivered to their homes.
Liana sauntered into the store with her two friends in tow. The two ladies had their hands full of packages from the various stores that they had already visited but they were not complaining. Shopping with Liana meant getting freebies as they would not use a cent of their money to buy things.
She knew that there was a limited edition wristwatch that had just arrived that morning and she wanted it because there were only three of such in that season.
At that moment, Megan was the only attendant that was free and got up to serve the client only to see Liana.
“Good morning and how may I help you?” this was her workplace and she had to act professionally regardless of who it was.
“Well, look who's here”, Liana said as she sat on the couch.
“Do you know her?” one of her friends asked. She looked like a lap dog who wanted to please her mistress.
"Aah, she is just a nobody"
“You” Liana pointed a finger at her. “First of all get us some fresh orange juice. All this walking has gotten us parched” she said, a large sneer on her face.
Megan turned to one of the hostesses that were free and gave her the order. It was not part of her job description to get drinks for clients.
“I asked you to do it so why as you ordering someone else?” Liana always felt that Megan was an eyesore since she stuck on to Rich and refused to grant him a divorce.
“I am sorry Miss but I am here to help you with your order so feel free to go through our catalog and let me know if anything interests you.” She was trying to be as patient as she could, not wanting to ruin her job.
Liana lifted her nose in the air. “This thing doesn’t seem to know her place,” she told her friends. She then flipped the catalog to the page where the wristwatch was and pointed at it.
“Get me this and hurry up cause I don’t have all day”
Megan looked at the watch and shook her head. “I am sorry but this watch was pre-ordered and has already been packaged to be delivered to the buyer”.
“What kind of a stupid attendant are you? I want this watch and I want it now.” She said loudly, bringing attention to them.
“Please select something else as what you are asking for is impossible” Megan was losing her calm.
The hostess had already brought the glasses of juice and handed them to them. Standing up with the glass in hand, she poured the contents on Megan and before she could recover from the shock, a hard slap landed on her face.
“Do you need me to teach you your job, you useless piece of shit?” she screamed at Megan. She had been longing to slap her for a very long time and she now had a chance to vent her frustration.
“What is wrong with you? Why did you slap me?” Megan was holding her cheek as dregs of juice ran down her face.
The shop had come to a standstill with the other shoppers and attendants looking on. None of the attendants could step forth to help their co-worker cause they all knew that Liana was a famous model and nobody could mess with her.
“And I will slap you again if you don’t get me the wristwatch,” Liana said and with a huff went back to seat with her friends who were still in shock. They knew that Liana had a hot temper but that did not justify her snapping at the attendant who was only doing her job.
“Liana, that is too much, she is only doing her job,” one of them said.
“I don’t care. I get what I want so she had better know that”.
Megan snapped. She took a glass of water from a passing hostess and poured the contents on Liana who was too shocked to dodge.
“If you ever dare to lay a hand on me again, I will rip your face off,” she said menacingly, making Liana freeze.
She had never seen this side of Megan and thought that she was just a mousy woman who knew nothing but to cling to Richard.
“You….you just wait and see,” she said as she took out her phone.
"Babe, I need you right now." She sobbed into the phone
Rich who had just come from seating in the conference room felt a headache coming up. Liana knew that they were supposed to be seen less in public together until Megan agreed to grant him a divorce so what did she get herself into now?
"What is wrong? I am just coming from a meeting now so I will send one of my bodyguards."
Liana heard this and started wailing loudly, shocking everyone present.
" I am being bullied so I need you here right now" she yelled as she gave the address of the store and hung up.
"Let's see where your bravado will take you now" she looked up at Megan who had a sinking feeling.
If Liana had called Rich to her rescue then she was done for.
“Kneel and apologize right now!” Rich shouted at her.Megan looked at her husband, her lips lopsided in sadness. As soon as he had walked into the store, Liana rushed and threw herself at him, crying pitifully. Her shoulders were shaking as she racked in sobs causing Rich to feel a tear in his heart.“What happened? Why are you crying?” He asked tenderly, not understanding what the drama was all about.Liana turned in his arms and pointed a shaky finger at Megan. “She hit me and splashed water on me”Oooh this woman, Megan thought as she looked aghast at them. Liana had started it all but was now making it seem like she was the one who was attacked.“Then she slapped me and humiliated me in front of everyone calling me a bitch and a husband snatcher” she wailed. “Rich, tell her that we are just friends and nothing is going on between us.”Liana twisted things so that people could have a negative impression of Megan. She did not want to expose her affair with Rich but also wanted Rich
“Resign from your job!”Those were the words that greeted Megan as soon as she went through the door. She had had a long day at work and after picking Benny up from school and taking him to the park as usual, all she wanted was a warm bath before helping Benny with his assignment.The embarrassment that Liana had caused at her workplace lingered on her mind and right now seeing her seated next to Beth while holding her hand as if she had been greatly aggrieved made Megan to scoff inwardly.“Mother, I had asked of your permission before looking for a job and you were only with it. Why change now?” she knew that Liana had give to whine to her.“If all you want a reason to resign then I want you here, in the house to help me around. As you can see, I am still grieving my husband and I can’t be left alone in the house.”Megan felt that this was the lamest excuse that she ever heard. It had been months since father passed away and mother had even started attending social functions, acting
It was late at night when Megan finally made her way downstairs to the kitchen. She needed some salve to apply on her knee as it was already swollen.After heating some water, she used it in a small basin and by use of a face towel, gently massaged the swollen area while applying the ointment. It was so painful, she had to grit her teeth to stop the tears from cascading down her face.She heard the main door open and guessed that Rich was back home. As she was hoping that he would head to his room, she saw a silhouette by the kitchen door.Rich had just got home and checked the living room but his wife was not there. Ever since she started working, she no longer waited on him with a hot meal like she used to. He had even stopped having dinner with Liana just so he could come back to the meals and her company and was always irritating by not finding her.As he was about to go up to his room, he saw the kitchen was lit and headed there, thinking that maybe Megan was preparing his meal.
Lying prostrate on his bed, Rich stared at the ceiling in the dark. Megan's words still rang clear in his head, the guilt banging back and forth. Was he really about to take his wife by force? He loathed Megan but never in his wildest dreams did he think that he would be capable of such a despicable act against her.Megan in the other room was curled up in bed, her teeth firmly biting into the bedsheet as tears soaked her pillow. Her heart was been torn apart by pain but she did not want her pitiful cries to wake up her son who was peacefully sleeping on the bed next to hers.“Why is life so unfair to me?” she asked herself as her mind drifted to the past.*****Benny who was still a toddler was at his grandparents for the weekend. She was in the kitchen busy putting the final touches for dinner.It was their third wedding anniversary and she wanted to surprise her husband with a romantic dinner. She wanted the weekend to be a memorable one, wanting to reignite the fire that they once
She had to stay in the hospital for two weeks. After Dan left, she eventually crawled to where her phone was and called her Dad who rushed over. Seeing his daughter in that state, he drove her to the hospital then reported the incident at the police station.Dan was arrested while on his way to work. His lawyer came to see Megan to convince her to drop the charges, claiming that Dan was too drunk to realize what he was doing.Megan, feeling sorry that her beloved husband was locked up, went behind her father’s back and dropped the charges. For the next few months, Dan was the perfect dotting husband, rushing home after work to take care of his wife. The home was once again the perfect life that Megan had sacrificed her life for, the cheating incident totally forgotten.Her father was so mad at her. He had never wanted his daughter to get married to Dan in the first place, feeling that he was not worthy of her. She had graduated first in her class and even had an accolade.He thought t
Liana needed drastic measures to get on Megan’s nerves. She called her best friends and asked them to meet up in the afternoon. Megan had just got off work and was walking to the parking lot. It was a hot summer afternoon and she was planning on giving Benny his favorite ice cream as a treat for earning stars in his school assignment. Benny was not just an obedient boy but was so well disciplined and industrious despite the chaos in his young life. He had watched his father humiliate his mother and sometimes even physically abuse her.There were times that he would try to stand up for his mother when things got physical but due to his young age, he also ended up getting a slap or two from his father. Many a night, he would curl up in bed with his mother trying to give her comfort after such incidents occurred.His young mind could not understand why his family was so different from others as he would often see his classmates being picked up by their fathers whereas for him it was on
Rich had just come from a meeting with his shareholders. They still had doubts about his leadership and felt that he was deviating from the path that his Dad had set. Already he was accepting collaboration with companies that his father had rejected to work with in his time because of their substandard work. Rich was more interested in enlarging the company and not thinking in the aspect of whether they would make profits or losses.One shareholder had walked out vowing to sell his shares because he wanted nothing to do with the company if Rich took on the latest project. This project would end up bringing a huge loss for the company but Rich refused to see reason.Taking some painkillers from his desk drawer, he poured some wine into a glass and was about to take it when his assistant knocked on the door.“Sir, we have a problem,” he said as he came him holding his phone.“Please deal with whatever it is. I don’t want to hear it” Rich said as he swirled the chair to face the window.
Two days later, Megan was summoned to the living room. She had not fully recovered from the attack so Logan had given her some days off to attend to her wounds. During that time, she had locked herself in her room to avoid the family and had organized for the maid assigned to her to take Benny to school and pick him up in the afternoon.As she came down the steps, the first person she saw was a disheveled Liana, hanging on to Rich's hand like she was an undetachable part of his arm. With unkempt hair and a haggard face, she looked like she had just been snatched from the pits of hell. Megan sighed, knowing that the drama was about to unfold.Beth, the matriarch sat on her seat, a rocking chair that had been gifted by her late husband on her birthday last year. The chair was custom-made for her and had a therapeutic massage control for her neck and back. Cindy who always had her headset on was lying, relaxed on the sofa next to her mother. Thankfully Buckley and Aaron were missing, ma
Megan was frantically swimming in murky waters as her son was struggling to stay afloat. The strong waves were hindering her progress as she shouted for Benny to hold on.The eerie night was not making vision easy. Her heart was pounding as she shouted for help but not a single soul was in sight. The dark, starless clouds spelled doom but she was determined to save her son or go under with him.She could hear Benny’s pitiful voice as he cried out to her and with her last reserve, she kicked forward and reached for his hands. Just as she reached out to grab his tiny hand, a mighty wave swept them apart and Benny went under.Megan screamed and tried to fight but strong hands held her down. She could faintly hear somebody calling her name but she was scratching and kicking widely, unwilling to accept that her little boy had drowned.“Megan, wake up!” a voice commanded and cold water splashed on her face. Coughing, she struggled to breath as she sat up from the bed.“Benny, Benny……” she f
Logan held Megan’s hand to calm her down and turned towards the gossiping women. “Mrs. Smith, your son is a drug addict who is doing time for driving under the influence and endangering the lives of pedestrians. Did you not bribe the judge so that he could have a reduced sentence instead of serving ten years in jail?”“Miss Eunice, you are a kept mistress and the only reason why the man is with you is that you gave birth to his son. In fact, his wife is very ready to take the boy away from you just so that you stop pestering her husband”“And you, Mrs. Zilper, you still owe 2 million in gambling debts at the Owen Casino. It would give me great pleasure to see them collect the debt. I am sure the neighbors would be treated to a great show if this happens.”The women looked aghast at the young man standing before them. He had literally stripped them naked in front of Megan who was still new in the neighborhood and knew nothing about their dirty deeds.Logan on the hand stood calmly bef
The air was filled with children’s laughter as they ran in the garden, the bright sunny afternoon kissing their chubby cheeks. Their flushed happy faces showed the energy that they were using as their parents and guardians sat in the shade.Tents were erected by the sides to shade them as they watched over their kids. On the table were punch bowls and bottled water so that the children would not dehydrate. A variety of snacks also filled the tables for them to have bites in between the games.It was a red and black themed party red decoration paper swung softly from the trees while on the plants hung wool-made cobwebs giving it a spidery look.The birthday boy was clad in a Spiderman outfit, his face hidden behind the mask. Located sparingly in the garden were Spiderman action figures because it was Benny’s wish to have such a party. Megan had gone all out to give her son the birthday party of his choice and she was happy to see that it had turned out well. She remembered when Benny
Benny skipped along while holding his Aunt's hand as they strolled in the mall. The last time that he was here, his grandfather had taken him for a movie and hot cocoa treat. Winter was just beginning then and his grandfather was still in good health.Megan needed to get a new set of clothes for Benny whose birthday was coming up and he had specifically asked for a Spiderman birthday concept. He may be mature for his age but he was still a child after all.As they got to the children’s store, Benny ran ahead in excitement as Megan hurried to catch up with him. Cindy looked at mother and son and a gentle laugh escaped her lips. Just as she was about to enter the store, she heard her name called out and turned to see who it was.Liana was on a shopping spree with her minions who never seemed to leave her side. She was still mad at Rich for ignoring her for almost a week and had decided to exhaust the funds on the card that he had given her to pacify her anger. She was coming out of an
"Please Megan, just let me accompany you to the mall. I just want to spend the afternoon with little Benny.”Cindy was pleading with her sister-in-law who was still wary of her. She was trying everything possible to show Megan that she had changed her perspective toward her but who could blame Megan?Cindy was always the one who stuck up for Rich and Liana and even went as far as humiliating her in public whenever she was with Liana and they happened to meet Megan.The last time that this had occurred, Megan was running an errand for Logan. She had gone shopping for his partner’s special brand of perfume and met them in the mall. As soon as they saw her, they approached her, Cindy sneering at her.“Well, well, so what do we have here?” she said grabbing the bottle of perfume from Megan's hand as she was about to pay for it.“Give that back”, Megan stretched her hand to take it back but Liana stepped forward and in the process, Megan’s hand accidentally brushed on her blouse. Without
Liana sat in her room fuming. Things were not going her way and she hated that. In the time that Megan was away, she had tried all means to get Rich to ask her to move in with him. She had even hinted at spending the night on the evening of Megan’s return but Rich still sent her away with the promise that soon, things would fall into place and she would have her rightful place by his side. She had boasted to her friends how she had her boyfriend in the palm of her hands, ready to grant her every wish but her desire was never granted, causing her some humiliation. She needed to come up with a plan that would push Megan away for good.Her head was pounding as she remembered how she had tried to coax Rich into going for a romantic getaway just so she could show Megan her worth because she thought that trampling on her dignity by openly having an affair with her husband was a sure way of chasing Megan out of the mansion.Rich, not moved mumbled about how he was up to his neck in collabor
Megan stood looking out of the window overlooking the crisp gentle river. It had been two weeks since she went back to the Wayne residence and so far things had been quiet, like the calmness of the river outside. Beth never bothered with her and rarely spoke a sentence to her while Rich assumed that she didn't exist in that house.Back in the countryside, Logan had tried to convince her to move in with him. He lived in a huge five-bedroom mansionette but only one of them was occupied. His master bedroom covered the whole second floor holding a huge jacuzzi, a small bar, and a walk-in closet.Three guest rooms were on the first floor, all of them master bedrooms, and an extra bedroom was on the ground floor where the housekeeper lived.Logan had enough space to accommodate Megan and her son and he was even willing to change schools for Benny and enroll him in the nearby private school. This would have worked well for Megan but she had never been one to take the easy way out. Moreover,
Mr. Wayne requested a meeting with Megan. He had his own personal reasons for this deal and she was the right person who could help him and of course it came with perks that would be beneficial to her and her family.He had watched Megan grow up cause Bill had worked for him for so many years and in his heart, he had always thought to pair her up with his son who seemed to be running amok by the day.A quite lady who was not up to recognition from the society would make the perfect wife to his son who unfortunately had linked up with a super model that he really despised. He had seen through Liana a long time ago and there was no way that he would ever allow a pretentious gold digger into the family.“All I need is for you to marry my son and I shall take care of the rest.” He said to convince her. "Benny will be well taken care of and there is nothing that you not your family shall lack”. He knew why she was hesitant. After all, who did not know about his son’s character.Megan, stil
Megan sat on the swing in the backyard, her slender feet barely touching the ground. She swayed slowly as she kept an eye on her son who was running around after Betty the goat with their family dog barking after them.It was a clear Sunday afternoon and they had just come from church because her religious parents always believed in joining the fellowship at the local church. Meeting the townspeople again after months of being away was refreshing. They were the most loving and caring people who never judged and accepted people as they were. This was why it was easy for her to return home after her first divorce. She wondered if they would still welcome her back after a second divorce.Already a sweet-smelling aroma of baked bread and roast meat wafted out of the kitchen window to signify that mother was almost done with lunch. It was a family tradition for mother to handle lunch preparation alone for the family every Sunday where she set a menu that had been handed down from a line of