Chapter 3

"No, no!" Ronica fervently shouted. "You don't have to stress yourself by flying all the way."

"Something's always coming up, I'm sick of it," the voice protested.

"Just give me a few more days to sort myself out. Please don't ask what it is. Just be patient for me, please."

The voice begrudgingly agreed eventually. "Call me immediately you have a change of heart. Don't even hesitate."

"I won't," she pledged.

As if on cue, James entered the room the same time she was ending the call. His eyes curiously strayed to her phone but he did not ask. Ronica sensed that he was in a hurry, what with how he was bouncing on the balls of his feet. Of course. He couldn't wait to be reunited with Mona. She grunted with disappointment and disgust. She did not even know why he bothered showing up here. He had nothing to prove to her, did he?

"I have to go baby shopping with Mona. Get yourself discharged and wait for me at home." Just like that, he was off once again without even waiting for a response.

She did not want to be immediately discharged however. She had a sense that James had changed all the locks at the villa and that the possibility of him trapping her inside was too high.

So as not to raise any premature suspicions on his part, Ronica paid for the two days worth of hospital bills with his card. As far as he was concerned, she was already home. She knew he wasn't going to call to confirm.

She spent seven more days at the hospital. James never made it home even once during that period. On social media, she kept seeing videos and pictures of his romantic affair with Mona. He took Monq to the most romantic spots across the country and spoiled her rotten with his misdirected affection.

Finally, Ronica made the decision to go home before her secret contact would make good on his resolve to come get her out of this hellhole himself. James had posted another picture with him and Mona on a beach at sunrise, passionately kissing.

Ronica left a sarcastic comment on the picture wishing him a happy life with his mistress. She received quick replies from other profiles.

#aren't you his actual wife?

#wait, for real? The woman in the picture is not his wife???

#why is he doting on another woman?

Ronica's phone buzzed. It was James. She did not want to answer but her phone incessantly rang.

"Delete your comment," was the first thing he said to her after seven whole days of unexplained silence.

"Why should I when I am truly happy for you?" She retorted.

"Since you want to continue to be childish, I am blocking you from all my social media platforms." He abruptly cut the call. It wasn't like she cared what he did with his social media. She checked herself out of the hospital with her own money.

On her way out, she passed the OBGYN department and spotted James doting on Mona. All the nurses were praising him for his masculine attentiveness. At least she knew now where James' priorities truly lay.

***

In their fifth year of marriage, Ronica had gotten pregnant. James told her to abort it because he wasn't ready.

"It's alright James. We… we are married after all. I'll carry the pregnancy to term alone and even raise our baby alone for when you eventually come around. When our baby finally arrives, I'm sure you'll have a change of heart." She had naively thought it was just his nerves. How very wrong she was!

"Are you deaf or do you no longer speak English? It's too early for us to have a child!"

"But James, we've been married for five years."

"I don't care. I'll call the family doctor right now. He will take care of this."

She snatched the phone from him. "If you don't want the baby, I do. I've already told your father and he is excited. Maybe you should be the one to tell him you want an abortion and see what he says."

Darkness flashed in James' eyes. His sixty five year old father, Patrick Simmons, who oversaw the family business, was a conventional man who could disinherit James just for thinking about abortion. Feeling victorious, Ronica turned her back to walk down the staircase. She had underestimated how vindictive James had gotten.

A hand— his hand, pushed her from behind. She lurched, losing her breath and balance as she fell.

She lost the baby. Patrick never truly forgave her for her carelessness on the stairs. He had no idea it was his own son's fault.

***

"Ronica!" Mona calling her with her fake sweetness brought her out of my reminisce. She watched James' face contort upon seeing her.

"Did you follow us?" he snapped.

She scoffed. "You are not that important."

"Wait," James said before she could turn on her heels and leave. A flicker of jealousy flashed through Mona's eyes, her grip on his arm tightened. She was a viper protecting her territory. Ronica could sense the warning for her to back off in Mona's eyes. "Since you are already here somehow, ride home with us. You claim I'm not that important but you got discharged seven days ago. What else would you be doing here if not following us?"

"I truly wasn't following you," she said with a firm voice of steel.

"Quit your petty lies already," James mocked her.

"Jimmy boo, I'm sure she can find her own way home," Mona suggested.

"It's a limousine Mona bunny. We will have the back to ourselves. She can wedge herself in the front with the driver and bodyguard."

All the way to the villa which Ronica no longer considered home, she cramped up in front of the spacious car. While Mona would not stop moaning as she fucked Ronica's husband in the backseat. Only a black thin layer of curtain blocked them from view.