CHAPTER TWO

The bus did not arrive early and I decided to walk home and clear my head on the way. Soon, I was in front of the mansion and I felt that familiar yet uncomfortable pull in my chest.

Home was not a place of peace for me, I should be happy I was leaving.

“Lana!” I heard a voice and turned towards it. It was Hermione and beside her was my luggage. She held a wide smile on her face and if a stranger watched the scene, they would think she was too happy to see me and not the other way around.

I frowned. “Why – my luggage.” I stammered, walking up to meet her.

“Cat got your tongue?” Hermione laughed. Her laugh was creaky, like there was something stuck in her throat and it choked her. I hated it and I usually found myself hoping she actually choked.

“Why is my luggage out here?” I demanded, throwing arrows at her with my eyes. She seemed unfazed.

“You’re over! You and my brother are over. It’s time for you to leave.”

The news was here already? I thought. Typical. I was going to reply, smack her in the face with my words – because I couldn’t bring myself to indulge in a physical battle with her – when Andre appeared behind her.

His eyes were cold. Colder than they had been during the five years I spent as his wife and his jaws were clenched. His lips - those lips which were the first thing I saw when I looked at him, the part of his body which always had me aroused - were drawn into a thin line.

“You should leave.” His voice was authoritative, deep with no trace of emotion.

Was this really the man I had spent the past five years of my life with? I could barely recognize him. What was it actually? That had blinded me so much into falling in love with him that I lost all sense of responsibility?

“B – but…” I stammered.

“B – but leave, Lana. Your stay here is overdue. Leave before mother comes home and sees you here.”

I walked up to him, determined to draw some sort of emotion from him. I touched his face softly and looked into his eyes and I thought I saw him draw a deep breath which he did not release. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Hermione's Bewildered gaze lingering on us and ignoring her.

“Andre, can we talk inside?” I said softly.

I saw Andre look helplessly to where Hermione stood and I touched his hand lightly.

“Fine, come in.” he stated. “But this better be short.”

I did not think to rejoice that I still had some effect on him. The right thing for us was to be apart just as he wanted, I had no feelings for this man anymore but I had to make sure of something.

We didn’t go up to our room when Andre stopped. “We can talk here, Lana.”

Fine by me, I thought. I went close to him, till our bodies touched and I felt Andre tense. “I want to know, Andre, if these past five years have meant nothing to you.”

I saw him clench his teeth as if biting down on words. His eyes raved over my face and I could swear that for one moment, I saw pain and regret but it was gone in an instant. He released his clenched jaw, bent his back until his lips were only inches away from mine.

Hot, ragged breath fanned my neck, and for a moment, I forgot the papers I just signed. I forgot the past five years and memory took me back to the first night Andre had me. It had been blissful the way he cradled me, touched me with care like I would disappear if not.

“You wish, Lana.” I heard him say and quickly shot my eyes open. I did not know I had closed them in the first place.

I was embarrassed - to have let my walls fall and then, upset. I slapped him. It was a resounding meeting of my palm with his face which shocked me as much as it did him.

Andre was leaving, he turned his back on me and he was leaving. Was this all five years amounted to? Couldn’t he grow a conscience, if he never had one and think of all I had sacrificed for him?

He didn’t react to the slap, for the first time since a long time, he was going to be a gentleman and walk away. My eyes are spinning and so were my legs just as I had shot forward to hold on to Andre and before I knew it, I was falling to the floor, sinking in darkness.

When I came to, I was in a hospital and a nurse was by my bedside. I tried to sit but groaned in pain and fell back to the bed. My head felt like an earthquake had taken place on it.

The nurse rushed to my side.

“How do you feel?” she asked.

“Like an elephant.” I answered, trying to be sarcastic.

The nurse smiled. “Well, you should feel that way. Your body and mind are in a lot of stress and with your situation, you should learn to take it easy.”

“What do you mean? First of all, how did I get here?”

“Oh. A man rushed you here but he rushed out almost immediately.” She winked at me. “And I assume that’s your husband?”

I blushed. “Sort of.”

“He should be proud. Having you as a wife and really happy now that you both are expecting.”

My ears rang and I jumped from the bed.

“What?!” I shouted.

The nurse flinched, but she was quick to check herself.

“What do you mean expecting?” I fired.

The nurse looked around, as if asking for help. When her attention turned back to me, she composed as we could.

“You’re pregnant.” I fell back. My life was over. This couldn’t be happening at the wrong time. How could I be pregnant? I thought back to the last time Andre and I had been intimate and it was about… my eyes strayed to the nurse.

“How long gone?”

“Five weeks and two days.”

S**t, I cursed. How could I have been so stupid not to use precautions?

Another Lady – who I assumed to be a nurse – walked in and whispered into the ears of my assigned nurse. Once she left, I saw her turn to me with a foreign look on her face.

“What is it?” I queried.

Her lips pursed. “It seems something arrived for you.”

My face furrowed in confusion. “What?”

“A luggage.”

I smiled lamely at the nurse. “I am single.” I announced suddenly not knowing why I did it. “This child is just mine, whoever brought me here is a stranger to me.”

She nodded but did not look at me strangely. A moment later, I was alone to myself to digest the sudden news and think of the way forward.

I left the hospital hours later after getting tons of advice on the pregnancy journey; things to do and not to do.

I had made sure I swore the nurse to secrecy. Begging her to keep my secret from anyone who came prying and she had given me her assurance.

I left immediately, with nowhere to go and no one to turn to. My luggage was all the property I had and it made me think of my lawyer. Surely, he must have something for me. I brought out my phone and began to dial his number when I thought better of it.

We had lost touch for the longest of times. In fact, it has been me who had begun to give him space. I had been too ashamed to face him after foolishly losing everything and I stopped to take his calls or return them.

How could I face him now in my present situation? What should I say to him? Where do I hide my shame?

I was a disgrace to my family and my father would roll in his grave if he heard of all the things I did with the company and my life.

I had been walking around for so long that I did not know when my legs took me to my lawyer’s house. It was a cozy home, on the edge of the estate; still as pristine as it was the first time my father brought me here.

The memory was fresh in my head and a smile made its way to my face as I thought of it. Sanders had been at the door with a smile on his face, ready to welcome us in as our car drove in. He and my father had been very good friends and their jobs did not stop them from having fun once in a while.

Sanders’ wife, a lovely, petite lady in her mid-forties had met us together with Sanders and later the adults talked over barbecue while I tried to stuff as much food as my mouth could carry into it.

That moment had been nothing out of the ordinary, but seeing this house again brought it up. I turned away, noticing the tears that began to drop from my eyes.

I was leaving when I heard a voice calling my name.

“Lana!” I looked back, not recognizing the voice.

Sanders’ wife was standing at the door of her house, just as her husband stood that day. But she looked older, wiser. Her arms wrapped around her small form and she offered me a small smile.

“Come on, child.” She said, raising her voice a little. Once I began to approach her, she opened her arms to hug me and I almost ran into it, hungry for the comfort it provided.