My beautiful wife, named Sophia Estella Shenko though sometimes I call her Mia as in my cara mia. She had been my pillar and shield through some pretty rough moments of my life. I met her when I was eight. We lived practically next door to each other. We had practically nothing in comment but quickly, became a weird duo of best friends.
During our teenage years, she and I would pretend to be gay: first to stop a lot of mongers from spreading unpleasant rumours about our relationship and second, to get an opportunity in finding the perfect match for each other.
Stupid? I
know!But it was a fun exercise that kept us both very engage in each others life. So much so that we became each others perfect match unknowingly. We knew so much about each other, respected very well our differences, knew each other's biggest weakness, and toughest strengths. We truly compli
I remember one time when Sophia had been cheated on by a guy she was seeing. We were in high school and I was a very problematic child. Back in the day, all it'll ever take was dust to enter her eye for me to punch someone, anyone in the gut for sweeping dust her way. She'd left school without telling me. I went crazy looking for her. I had no idea why she'd disappeared but I had a bad feeling she was in trouble. After hours of searching, I found her by a stream, soaking under the rain. At first I thought she had gone crazy. But she hadn't. She had been crying under the rain to hide her tears.She said the rain washes away her pain as soon as the left her eyes. She told me about her heartbreak, she poured her heart out to me. One minute I was listening to her, and the next I was fuming in anger. I felt her pain almost as if it was mine; like right inside of me. I wanted to bash the face of the idiot. But more than that I wanted to hug her, cuddle her under
Mara's POVA cold night always brought an angel to cuddle up inside my arms like her life depended on me. We had so many cold stormy nights and they always sent her flying into my arms because she was scared of storms, thunder, darkness; my little darling: my Marisa. It was the same cold night that had plagued her little heart with an illness; she had contracted pneumonia when we were kicked out of our home and had to spend a series of nights out in the cold, on the streets. We squatted in dek allies, under bridges, in places no human being should ever find their self in. We ate from trash cans, left overs and some days nothing at all. On a cold night she had started coughing and burning up while I was out in the world looking for a means for us to survive. On a cold night, I had gone through the ga badge cans by a pharmacy to get something, anything that could help her. It was on a cold night that I ran in and out of stores, homes, work places, pleading,
I thought she was going to die. I thought my chances at fatherhood had been shattered. I had never been so scared in my entire life. While we drove back to the hospital, Issa and my wife did everything they could to keep her warm; she was freezing under that rain. Sophia had even taken off her own blazer to cover her up. I could see her continually throwing dirty glances at me through the rear mirror. At some point she had to ask me something to calm her spirit.Meanwhile, I had my own questions crawling through my mind, like; how did she not feel she was slowly killing herself? How did she forget she was carrying a child? How could she have been so reckless? To say I was mad, at her, would be an understatement. I was enraged. But even so, I was scared. If anything was to happen to her, or my baby, my last hope of having a child of my own; my own flesh and blood, all would have been lost.We reached the hospital and immediately she was
Life at the Shenko's mansion was life. The kind of life I hadn't been given in my lifetime. I wasn't always a homeless street kid or squatter. There had been a time in my life when I had a full family, a roof over my head, food on my table, warm cloths on my skin, laughter in my home, and money in my wallet. But then, from one day to another, in the blink of an eye, everything came crumbling down. I couldn't understand why or how, but things changed drastically for everyone around me. I lost my family, my home, my dreams, my friends, my hopes and aspirations; everything evaporated just like that. I had no idea how hard things were about to get for me.Being in Jared Shenko's house reminded me of all I had forgotten about; like what having a good home cooked meal on the table felt and looked like.Did I say a meal? No!They were like ten different stuff on this table and it was only still breakfast. Mr.
"But is she going to be OK?" "She'll be fine. It's just normal. All these are as a result of pregnancy hormones. The may be pregnancy induced cravings coming along too. But for now, you just have to understand that her body now only works with the baby's demands; he is little in there but she would only have what it wants; and as for the fainting, she only fainted because her system is weak. You just find something she can eat and not throw up, then let have her rest, like a lot of rest.""Thank you Andrew.""You're welcome Mr. Shenko! And call me anytime anything goes wrong. And Dora, please make sure she takes her vitamins. Her body needs them.""I will."I wasn't awake. But I could hear them
The food tasting thing started pretty great; you know, with the heavenly scent, all the flavours to die for. But eight different dishes later, I felt like I would die if I tried another. Everything looked and smelled great but tasted like shit. My stomach churned as the fowl smell of puke filled the air. I had thrown up so much so that I doubted there was be any liquid left in my body. Jared made sure I drank a lot of water every time I emptied my guts. We'd been at it for almost three hours; I was starving but couldn't eat anything. I was tired and I was exhausted."I'm starting to think this baby hates me," I couldn't control the tears that washed down my face. It was frustrating to not being able to eat anything and still be hungry; plus the nausea which wasn't a very pleasant feeling. I wasn't the only one frustrated. He wouldn't say anything but I could see it in his eyes. He was tired and a little pissed. The veins that stood on his forehead, abou
I had been upstairs, exploring through my new lifestyle and I heard Sophia's laughter down stairs. It sounded like she had been really amused by something or someone. I was going to go down and snoop but stopped halfway on the stairs, sat down and watched as Jared served his wife a bowl of the food he had made for me. I watched as Sophia lifted a spoon to her lips with an impassive look on her face, then scrunched up her nose in disgust;"This taste horrible! It's bitter.""What? No way! After all the delicacies we had her try, she found my cooking to be the best. She almost emptied the whole pot." Mr. Shenko defended his dish in amusement causing Sophia as well to jolt into simultaneous laughter. Their voices echoed throughout the mansion, "I'm about to open a world's first class noodle soup only restaurant you know!""Oh really now? So try it then, Mr. World chef." Sophia mocked back at him,
Weeks had gone by with me trying to lock myself out of the life of Jared Shenko, inside his on house. My feelings for him were growing and as they did, I slowly came to the realisation of what was possible and what was impossible. Jared Shenko was happily married. He loved his wife so much he hurt. Even if I was there, he never failed nor faltered in the way he demonstrated his love for her; they never failed to demonstrate their love for each other. It was not like I was important to him or anything, or I had some issues with their explicit display of affection. I wasn't his ex girlfriend or at least a concubine. I was just his surrogate. Some times, it would hurt; a lot! so I started keeping my distance. I used to think I was done! Finished with feelings and emotions but I still couldn't understand what this man had on me the drove me to the brink of the sanity I already lost.I was four months in now and my bump was still tiny; visi
(Ten years later) A five years old little girl in pink ballerina getup is dancing and twirling happily in the middle of a huge living room. Her bright blue eyes are filled with excitement as she jumps about. She stops and runs to the foot of a flight of stairs, "Mummy hurry up! I'm going to miss my show if we are late," her little voice yells, "I'm coming, I'm coming! Gosh! You're so feisty today. And it's the school's show not yours," a woman with similar blue eyes walks majestically down the stairs. Her blonde curls are bouncing just above her shoulders. Her slender fingers are grazing the walls as she steadies herself on each step she takes, while her other hand lays steadily on her already huge bump. She's heavily pregnant. "Where are your stuff?" "Already in the car! Now move a little bit faster!" "Is your father already here?"
"What did you do then?""You ask as if you don't already know,""I do! But I still want to hear it,""Alright alright! I'll finish it then.I became so confused. I didn't know what to do. I admitted I wasn't in good terms with Maraïda but I could've never wished her death. I had so much on my hand that I became traumatized: on one hand I had Maraïda; she only needed help, love and care, she still had a good chance in life; On the other hand you, innocent! Knowing nothing about what was happening, just wanting to be out and free. Then there was your father in the air, I didn't know if he was ever waking up. It was hard. But I had to be strong for all of you. Then I remembered something. There was a time when Maraïda and Jared had a fight. I remembered promising your mother that day to be a good mother to you. But I also made her another promise...(Flashback
In the third person's POV(10 years later)A blonde woman in a light knee length red floral dress is leaning on a silver - ish pink Range Rover sports. She looks in a hurry; checking on her Gucci watch after every two seconds,"Ellie! Hurry up young lady, we haven't got all day." She keeps staring impatiently at the doors of the flower shop and checking her watch,"Dang it Ellie, come on! We're going to be late for the day. We still have so much to do."A little girl comes out of the shop with a big bouquet of roses obscuring her entire face. Her long blonde hair is dangling from behind her white lace dress paired with a pair of pink flats. Someone follows from behind her with another bunch of flowers, way too big for her hands. The lady in front of the car turns to the little girl, with her blue eyes popping out I surprise,"Ellie! When you said you were getting flowers, I didn
Jared's POVIt all became as clear as day to me when I watched Cassidy's video. I felt like a storm rain had just washed down on me. All this time, Maraïda played me; she made a fool of me, while I sympathized with her sneakiness. I watch with horror as she cut her own self and smudge the blood all over her thighs; as she pretended to scream; as she fake fainted!I was a such a terrible state that day and to think she was just mocking me."Why Maraïda? Why did you do all of this to me? Why did you ruin my life? Why? What did I ever do to you?" She started crying. Her fake tears just made me angrier. I was standing on a bridge between life and death, trying to control my temper, in order not to seriously hurt her."You've been playing me for a fool all this time! I lost everything! I lost my wife because of you!" I yelled harshly at her. She shrieked to a corner of the kitchen, not being able to look at
Maraïda's POVOne phone call had turned into him driving off without even telling me where he was going. I waited for almost four hours in my room. I decided to run down stairs for a glass of water. I was a few feet away from the kitchen entrance when I heard one of the maids talking,"This really sucks. This house was a lot livelier with Madame Sophia around." The first maid said,"Yeah. Everything changed when that woman, that surrogate got here," she wore a disgusted scowl on her face, "Hey, don't talk about miss Maraïda like that. You know she's the new lady of the house now," another maid added,"New lady my foot! That woman is a sneaky bitch! She just wants to replace Madame Sophia in Mr. Shenko's life." The second maid with the scowl repeated,"Cassidy!!!" The head maid, I remember was called Fatou, scolded her, "Stop! What ever happens in our superiors lives is none of
Jared's POVThey were already a good number of questions running through my mind while I drove through the gates of the house. That Joseph guy had set my already disrupted peace of mind in absolute chaos. Maraïda was already eight months in and I wasn't ready for anything or anyone that could jeopardize her health; mentally or physically. My daughter's life mattered more to me than anything. I was not about to jeopardize it for something that might not even matter.I had just pulled up in the driveway when three maids rushed out to take the bags, I helped Maraïda out,"Aren't you coming?" She asked,"Go on ahead, I'll make a call first. Help her in would you?" I motion one of the maids. Once they'd disappeared behind the doors, I brought my phone and a card, tapped on the numbers, he picked
Maraïda's POVJared had become more engaging in everything concerning the baby. We'd taking another maternity visit together, and we were as well shopping together. It was during one the shopping sprees that I had run into Sophia. Jared had stayed back in the shop to complete the payments. I didn't want them to meet each other under any circumstances. I knew for one Jared still loved and wanted Sophia back and also she was likely to take him back because she seemed to love him more than herself. I had witnessed it. I couldn't take such a chance! So by all means possible I had to make her leave; and as fast as possible.I did make her leave. But she had the last word;"...just like you're trying to have my husband. But let me remind you this Maraïda;
Sophia's POVThis particular phase of my life was like a repeated phase. Some kind of déjà vu. The first time I remember like it was yesterday though it's been years; it was when I left Jared, to go away, far away with the pregnancy he wasn't ready for. I was broken, wrecked and utterly disgraced. I felt so embarrassed thinking in was growing feelings for him when he wasn't even an ounce bit interested in me or having a family. I still don't remember how I survived without him, because I became so stressed; extremely stressed that I had to rely on crack. I hated it so much but I went into drinking and drugs: careless of what effect it might have had on me or my baby. Consequently, I had a miscarriage. That was how it went down. I lost my baby! The only one I was ever going to get. Because the cleansing process caused me fertility. My reproductive organs had suffered the highest as the drugs, alcohol and all that burned my womb so bad that the doctors said I was lucky to
Jared's POVI had been in the office all day, like I had been lately, knee deep into my work. Sometimes I wished I could just stay in the office and work all through. But that was not how it worked. I had to go back to my home which didn't feel like it anymore. I got home but she wasn't home. No one had any idea about her whereabouts, she hadn't said a thing to me either.It took everything humane that I had in me not break down the main doors of the house when I heard a car pull up in the yard. How could she still have the guts to leave this house without my knowledge or permission? We had already agreed, she couldn't leave without my knowledge! And now she was demanding I let her be the mother of my child! None of this was ever part of the deal! All I wanted was my child and my wife. But I had lost my wife. Sophia wasn't even answering my calls or replying my messag