Aurora sat on her bed. Sebastian's words still disturbed her but she had some things to get done. "Aurora." Her mother's disinterested voice came over the line. "Evening, mum," she greeted, lifting her legs onto the bed. "Are you in your right senses now?" "I miss Ezekiel," she said instead of answering, "he was a cute little child, my little brother and I loved him so much." She took in a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling. "He was my son too. It's not nice for you to keep remembering the past. It's all gone. Focus on the here and now." "The past is just as important as the present if it has not been fully understood. Mum, I know we haven't been on the best terms but can you promise to at least be truthful to me?" "What's wrong?" "I need an answer," she sighed, biting her lip. "Of course, of course. Is something wrong?" "Are the Grazias and Deusdedits really enemies?" She dropped the bombshell. "Why..." Cecilia started then scoffed, "of course. Long before I got marri
Sebastian stared at the DNA reports in his hand. It was real, it was all true and this made the brother Aurora hated him for, his brother. Ezekiel Elliott Grazia was also his brother and maybe, just maybe, he had been killed by his own father. He sighed, placing the papers in his drawer. He ventured into the shower and emerged minutes later, ready for bed. Shot. The little boy had been shot and allowed to bleed to death. He didn't think the gory image could ever get out of his head. The brother he never knew. * Sunday morning, Aurora rang Sebastian's doorbell. It took him a while to answer. He looked like he just got out of bed. "I go for the morning Mass every Sunday," she said quickly, seeing his confused face, "since you are here, I thought I might invite you." He looked her up and down. "You are all set, I'm not," he pointed out the obvious, rubbing his sleepy eyes. "You have thirty minutes. I thought of that so I came earlier," she answered, smiling widely. He stared at
An hour after Mass, she was back in his apartment, whipping up a healthy coffee smoothie for them. He didn't help, simply stood by the door and watched her. The doorbell rang and he left to answer it. She breathed out a sigh of relief. He made her nervous. He was still the same Sebastian she remembered from six years ago but he was a bit distant and cold and though she didn't want to admit it, it made him more attractive. She couldn't find herself thinking of any other man so much. "Who's at home with you? Rora?" Zik's voice filtered in. "Yeah," Sebastian answered, "she's only helping to make a smoothie. She'll leave soon." She smiled wryly. She emerged from the kitchen minutes later. "Smoothie ready," She announced cheerily, setting down a tray on a side stool. She handed the two men a cup each and took one for herself. "Are you alright?" She queried, seeing Zik's distressed face. He finished his smoothie halfway before dropping the bombshell. "I got a girl pregnant." * Sebas
Aurora sat on her bed, fuming. No wonder he had not bothered to give her a call, he was busy getting fooled by a seductress of a woman. Her chest heaved up and down in anger. No one cared! No one cared about her at all! She screamed, kicking off her shoes and throwing them at the wall. Sebastian barely looked her in the eye, he didn't even care! No one cared! Not ever since she was a child. Her mother was too stuck up in her head with her selfish ambitions; her father was always busy; Princess cared for a while and disappeared when things got too harsh; Cynthia and Daniel didn't even think of her as a friend and the two people she finally held onto, the two people she finally thought were there to stay, they had finally revealed their true colours. She bowed her head and cried. She felt so useless, so unwanted. Every day, she felt like she was searching for something, for someone and she could never feel that satisfaction she yearned for, that unconditional love she pined for. She cri
Where did you find her?" Sebastian inquired at once, taking Aurora from the bodyguard he had watching her. "I think somebody has eyes on you both," the burly man answered, "I was caught up with something else and I didn't notice her leave her house and go to a bar..." "A bar!" "I'm sorry," the bodyguard bowed, "I received a text on my phone telling me to go pick her up. I was able to get her in time. She wasn't touched or harmed." Sebastian was infuriated. He fisted his hands, glaring daggers at the bodyguard. His heart pounded in his chest and he didn't know who to pour out his anger on. "I'll take it from here," he dismissed the bodyguard and carried her up the stairs. One thing kept recurring in his mind. Whoever was stalking them knew he had someone watching her, he even had the bodyguard's cell phone number. How was he supposed to keep her safe? He laid her on his bed and pulled off her shoes. She reeked of alcohol. Her face was not the least bit peaceful and she kept whimp
Sebastian stared at the note that had been put in his mail. 'What shall you do about Cecilia Grazia?' He tore it up and threw it in the waste bin. Cecilia was Aurora's mother and Aurora was the woman he loved and who was currently carrying his child. He would never harm the only family she had. Zik had not called since the Sunday he visited. After the incident, in the evening, both he and Aurora had gone to see a priest for confession and he had registered himself for the baptism class. She said she would get a pregnancy kit in preparation but she had not called him since they parted ways at her doorstep, for over a week. He paced about his bedroom. He was restless. The previous night, he had slept off in an excited state and when he woke up in the morning, he had expected to see her lying next to him. He ran a hand through his hair. He could still smell her, still feel her, still touch her. It was like she was living in his head, constantly near him. He blew out a breath. His hea
I know you deserve a lot more," he began, "and I wish I could give you a lot more. Maybe our feelings have not gotten to this stage yet, maybe you have never thought of doing this with me but.. Aurora," he took a deep breath, "I think I love you, I think I'm falling in love with you and I... I have never worried so much about any other woman or thought so much about any other woman. I want to do this with you. I cannot leave you to go through this phase without assuring you of my presence, of security. Please." Tears were rolling down her cheeks and she made no effort to stop it. The silver studded ring glittered and God help her, she was so tempted to say the word. "Sebastian," she whimpered. "I know, I know," he nodded, "but love would grow along the way. If you have never thought of doing this with me, if you don't want to, you don't have to say yes but Rora, if you feel even the tiniest bit of love for me, if you want some future with me, I beg you..." His lips trembled, his lim
Sebastian inserted the flash drive into its port in his PC then they sat back against the sofa to watch. It was a CCTV footage. "Of my home," Aurora gasped, leaning forward. It was a chaotic scene. Several armed men shot at each other in her living room, the living room she had played in so many times as a child. There was a figure hiding in a corner. "Ezekiel," Sebastian murmured, seeing Aurora's frozen posture. He was snuggled to the wall, shivering. Cecilia sneaked in, hiding from the rain of bullets coming some metres away from the terrified boy. She picked Ezekiel up roughly, hugged him tightly to herself then let him go. Aurora's eyes followed Cecilia's hasty movements out of the living room and when she looked back at her little brother, she let out a sharp scream. Sebastian was astonished. "It can't be true," he muttered, playing back the scene. Aurora watched with wide eyes. It played again. Cecilia picked up Ezekiel roughly and hugged him to herself. When she let go and
The next two days, they spent letting the fire burn. No one was satiated yet, no one could stop them, no worries could bother them. On the third day, they finally stepped out to get some cool evening air and some groceries. "Everything feels different, better," she spoke as they walked into a store together, their rented car parked outside. They were in Tanzania. They rented a lone beach house which required a twenty minutes drive to get into town. It was perfect, just what they wanted. "And why is that?" He teased as they perused through shelves, hands locked. "Because we are finally finally together and my expectations of you in bed was superseded..." "Isabella!" He whisper shouted, wide eyes fixed on her. She laughed, pressing a quick kiss to his agape mouth. "What?" She asked with a smile, "do I not get to compliment my husband's bedroom skills?" He shook his head, looking around to make sure no one heard. He looked back at her, "Isabel, seriously?" "We should expect a baby
"I think you have done really well for your first week. You should be able to do things without supervision now... I guess that's the person that's been picking you up since you first arrived. Your boyfriend?"Isabel's lips twitched. "My fiancee," she answered with a smile. "Oh, wow, that's great. When's the wedding?" Isabel opened her mouth to reply just as Ezekiel rounded the car with a big smile in her direction. "What?" She heard Irene gasp but her mind was clouded with too much love for it to register. Her legs carried her across the road to him. "I love you," she mumbled as he enclosed her in a hug. "I think our engagement is making both of us jelly," he laughed, kissing her cheek, "I didn't even realize I was smiling so wide." She kissed him lightly and stepped back a little. Oh heavens, she laughed internally, remembering she abandoned her supervisor. "Irene?" She heard Ezekiel mumble. She turned around, seeing the dazed look on Irene's face. "Don't tell me..." she mu
Ezekiel whirled laughing Isabel around. She was clad in a purple graduation gown, her cap hanging loosely in her right hand."I'm dizzy," she forced out between laughs, holding unto him tightly. He set her down on her feet and kissed her loudly."How does it feel?" He asked, beaming."I don't know," she laughed, "you are rubbing your excitement all over me and I don't even know how I feel.""Exactly," Lily intervened, "you are acting like you have never experienced a convocation before. Get off her."His entire family came to celebrate her, his cousin and his beauty wife included, with their baby."She's not your girlfriend, Lily, mind your business," Ezekiel eyed her playfully.They moved off to a little spot they set out for a picnic and they spent the rest of the day being happy for her. The group stayed an extra day before leaving. It was just two of them left now.When their relationship was a year old, they sat down for a serious conversation. They rented a beach house for the w
Sebastian was just bringing the car around when Isabel and Aurora walked out of the airport."You must be Isabel," the man she recognized as Ezekiel's cousin spoke when he got to them."Yes," she replied with a warm smile, watching how he casually put an arm around Aurora's waist and kissed her hair, "it's nice to meet you."They shook hands. They definitely had good genes in their family. Ezekiel was her boyfriend, the man she loved but she couldn't confidently say he was more handsome than his cousin."Ezekiel is bringing the luggage, we can wait in the car. You don't mind, Isabel?""Of course not, he left me with the luggage in the first place," she answered with a roll of her eyes. Their little group chuckled and they moved to the car. Sebastian hovered over his fiancee as they chatted heartily about school, life, and anything else. Ezekiel arrived soon and Sebastian assisted him in getting the luggage into the trunk.Aurora and Sebastian's wedding was a week away so the atmospher
Ezekiel knew that there was a Supreme Being helping him to restrain himself because it was a miracle he didn't lose control after what she just said. Was she so oblivious that men were easily triggered sexually or was she doing it on purpose? She worked at a bar, she had to know."Your body belongs to you," he said slowly, blowing out a breath, "and to the God who made you. If we are married, you can say that but your body will belong to me and mine will belong to you only because we chose to let it be so. Do you understand?"She clicked her tongue, laying her head on his chest. "Let's get married then, you won't have any excuse to deny me what I want.""Oh heavens," he laughed in disbelief but somewhere deep within him, he began to consider it.*Weeks flew by and Isabel didn't think she had ever lived life so happily before. She woke up happy and blushing, she was much more interested in her boring classes because he always praised her when she performed well in the tutoring session
When she awoke bright early the next morning, he was still asleep and she was late for class. She stood at the entrance to his hospital room at a loss for what to do. She could rush to class and return after school to take care of him or she could stay and be with him throughout the day. She wanted to do the latter as she was the cause of his accident but on further reflection, she decided to choose the former, he'd prefer that.Ezekiel trudged into his apartment, burdened with a load of emotions. Drugs, really?"Stan found me, he sent me threat notes and has been stalking us."Was that true? He sighed, lowering himself unto a fur-covered couch. He didn't even know what to believe. What was her deal? Was it just the aftermath of the rape incident? It scared him that she would go as far as drugging him, how much damage did the incident cause her?If Stan was secretly stalking them then she wasn't safe. The police needed to be alerted and they needed to move away from town for some time
"Are you mad at me?"Isabel said nothing instead she focused on stabbing the potatoes on her plate."Have I ever refused you anything?"She blinked, thinking of an answer to his question though she didn't plan to reply, she discovered he always did what she asked and did more except for a few nos here and there but... He was always there."No," she answered curtly, guilt nagging at her. "Then you must know I have a very good reason for refusing you this one thing. Trust me, Isabel, please."She stared at her meal, fighting with her emotions. She thought of the drugged wine."Ezekiel," she began, looking up. Her eyes widened in horror seeing him bring down his glass from his lips."What?" He questioned, cleaning his mouth with a serviette.She opened her mouth and shut it. "I drugged your wine," she croaked out."What?" His eyes bulged out and he looked into his glass, "what are you talking about?"She kept silent, staring at him with wide eyes. He stared at her, his eye size matching
She was awfully alert the next day, constantly looking back and sideways, being suspicious of every male she came across, staying in open places where there were a lot of people. She didn't realize she was so on edge and tensed up until Ezekiel came to her at the cafe and she almost stabbed him with a fork.He dodged, his eyes wide. "Watsup!? Do you want to kill me!?"She sighed, her tense shoulders falling. The fork landed with a clattering sound on the table."I am sorry. I was... I thought it was someone else," she said apologetically.He raised a brow, sitting next to her, "is someone stalking you?""Don't worry about it," she sighed again and relaxed back in her seat. His presence was immensely comforting. She didn't know whether to be pleased or irritated, he was her boyfriend now."You could really have stabbed me if I didn't have quick reflexes. You wanted to harm the person. Why? What's going on?" He inquired.She kept silent. Why was she keeping it a secret?"Isabel..."She
"You're my girlfriend now," he murmured into her hair, "so you can't cheat on me ever again, you hear? You can't go kissing another man or letting another man touch you because you feel like getting down with someone. You are mine now and I'll tell you, I am very possessive and I get easily jealous."She blinked. What did she just do?"You forgot the second part," she mumbled, not sure of what she was feeling."No, it isn't enough to make me sleep with you."She groaned, surprisingly not feeling annoyed. "Why?" She whined."It only makes me want to protect you more, keep you clean and pure. I'll be your god and I'll keep you away from any filth," he replied.She fought the smile that crawled its way up her cheek. He pulled away a little and looked at her with so much tenderness, she felt she could melt from it."Do you still feel like getting down with me?" He asked, smiling.She shook her head."Good," he grinned, "I'll call your father now and tell him you're safe with me. I'll call