CHAPTER 3✍️
I woke up in an unfamiliar place; the ceiling was far different from the ones in my room. “Where the hell am I?” I asked myself. I tried getting up, and that was when I saw the bed I was lying on. “I’m in a freaking hospital.” The door creaked. I looked up to see what was wrong, and I saw Lizzy walk in with a man that looked like, he’s in his late forties and yes, he was with a stethoscope on his neck. “Yeah, how great. Lizzy brought me to a fucking hospital.” “Hey, Starr, right? How’re you feeling?” the doctor asked, his voice gentle. I hesitantly answered, “I feel good doctor,” please can you give me and my friend a moment together? It’s really urgent. I need to speak with her. The doctor nodded sympathetically. “Of course, I’ll give you some privacy. But just for a minute, okay?” As soon as the doctor left, I turned to Lizzy, my voice low and urgent. “Why the hell did you bring me to a hospital, Lizzy? You know how much I hate hospitals, it smells, It makes me so scared and want to throw up. You really want to scare me and add to my problems?” I added, trying to keep my tone light despite the growing unease in my chest. Lizzy’s expression turned serious, her eyes locked on mine. “You fainted, Starr. You scared the hell out of me. I didn’t know what else to do.” I frowned, trying to remember. “Fainted? What do you mean? I just….. I don’t know, I felt dizzy or something.” Lizzy’s grip on my hand tightened. “Don’t worry, I’m here and everything will be fine. You don’t have to be scared. And the doctor also said your intake of alcohol was too much, it’s filled on your system and it isn’t good for your condition, but he didn’t say the condition. I didn’t know how to respond, so I gave a simple answer. “Condition? What’s he talking about?” I freaked out. “I don’t know, Starr, he didn’t say. He only mentioned he’d say it when you wake up.” “Well, tell him to come In” I quickly said, cause at that point I was so scared to the teeth.” The doctor walked in, with an expression plastered on his face, and trust me, that expression made me so scared that I began to panic. The look on his face made me know that there was something wrong, even if he tried covering it up with a smile.“Okay, ladies, let’s take a look at your test results, shall we?” The expression of the doctor turned sympathetic., as he began. “You’ve hyperthyroidism.” Immediately, he said that word. My brain and my system stopped working for a minute. I felt I had been punched in the gut, my breath knocked out of me. I didn’t hear anything else he was saying; I only saw his mouth moving. It was as if time had frozen, and all I could think was, “What? How? Why?” I forced myself to calm down, taking a few deep breaths, and focused on the doctor’s words. “It’s caused by stress and anxiety, Alcohol Consumption, Genetics pre-deposition and Hormonal Imbalance,” He continued. I felt a lump form in my throat as I processed the diagnosis. “So, it’s not just one thing, it’s a combination of everything,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. The doctor nodded, his eyes filled with empathy. “Yes, unfortunately, it’s a complex combination. And it won’t kill you if you’re on proper medications. But it will trigger intense symptoms like, Fatigue, memory loss, weight loss, panic attack, and slow conception. But don’t worry, we can manage it with medications. I took a deep breath, trying to absorb the information. “Okay, thank you, doctor.” And trust me, the only one that got my attention was the last one, a slow conception. Oh my God, was that why I couldn’t conceive? All this while I’ve been in darkness, I’ve been suffering, unaware of the underlying sickness that had been ravaging my body. I have been sick. Without a doubt, I know I’ve lost Charles forever. There’s definitely no way he’d ever come back to me. I’m doomed!! I and Charles had been trying to conceive for months, cause he said that’s the only way his mother would allow me to be his wife, even though I was more capable in other things like taking care of our bills, He insisted, that his mother needed to be sure that, the person he’s getting married to would be able to give her multiple grandkids as she was only able to give birth to Charles. “Fuck!!!….my life is over, and I should have known that was a lie, he had no intention of settling down with me, he didn’t love me enough to bear with me,” I banged my hands on the table. I tried so hard to get pregnant, I just didn’t understand why it was taking so much time for me to conceive. Other women get pregnant effortlessly. Why is mine so difficult? Why am I begging my body to cooperate? I always said that to myself, but I didn’t know I was walking around in a medical condition. Which man would want to be with a woman with fertility issues? I’d never find any other man that would love with this condition. “Why me?” I questioned myself. Indeed, I’m CURSED!!! I said again with tears streaming down my face furiously. I felt a lump in my throat as Lizzy’s eyes locked onto mine, filled with concern. The doctor went to my bedside trying to set up an IV bag, but I cared less. A phone made a beeping sound, and I turned to face Lizzy. She stood up and walked to where she kept our phones. I had even forgotten I had a phone till she said, “Starr, it’s yours that made that beep sound. I think you’ve got a message.” I unlocked my phone, and I saw it was a message from Charles. My mind raced quickly as I was about to press open. What does he want to say to me? I thought to myself, What else? It must be an apology or something. I pressed open, and I got the most shocking message ever. I quickly scrolled through the messages, my heart sank. “You’re invited to my wedding,” I read the message, accompanied by a formal invitation card with a photo of Charles and his bride to be. She looked exactly like the woman he was in bed with. Oh, I get it now. He already had it planned out, and I was just a money-making machine to give them a better future. My world crumbled around me, and I stared blankly at my screen, my mind racing with questions. How could he do this to me? Didn’t our relationship mean anything to him? Really, a wedding?!!!I closed the bedroom door behind me and headed straight for the bathroom. My hands trembled as I turned the lock and leaned against the sink. The fluorescent light hummed above, its harsh glow reflecting my red-rimmed eyes in the mirror.Kenzie’s voice still echoed in my head like a cruel refrain—pretender… no good for him… I’d rather die than let my brother marry you.The words dug under my skin, sharp as broken glass. I wanted to scream, to throw something, to tear her words out of my memory, but I just gripped the edge of the sink until my knuckles turned white.I didn’t even realize how much time had passed until I heard the soft knock.“Starr?” Seven’s voice came through the door, calm but laced with worry. “Are you okay?”I froze, staring at my reflection. Did I look okay? My mascara smudged beneath my eyes said otherwise.I turned slowly, facing the door, though he couldn’t see me. My voice cracked as I spoke:“Why didn’t you tell me… that you had sweet sex with Tina? Kenzie’s
The kitchen went utterly still after Catherine’s sharp words.Her voice, though small, carried a weight that silenced everyone.“Stop talking to her like that, Kenzie. You don’t get to treat her that way. She doesn’t deserve it.”Kenzie blinked, clearly surprised. For once, she had no quick comeback. The smugness slipped from her face, leaving only tight lips and a hard stare. Catherine, tiny but unyielding, stood her ground, her eyes blazing with quiet defiance.I let the silence linger for a moment before slowly turning to face Kenzie’s friend. She still sat perched on her stool, smirking as if she’d already won. My chest rose and fell, but when I spoke, my voice was steady, and sharper than glass.“You know what?” I said, meeting her eyes without flinching. “I’m not even going to argue about what happened in the past. Yeah… maybe you had something with Seven. Maybe it was good.”Her smirk widened as if she thought I was surrendering.“But here’s the truth,” I went on, my words cutt
My breathing became a little more obvious, almost embarrassingly loud in the quiet room, as I stared directly into his face. My eyes couldn’t seem to stay in one place—flickering restlessly from his dark, unreadable gaze to the shape of his lips and back again, like I was searching for an answer in either one.“The hell, yes, Seven. Yes, I was jealous, and I’m not even trying to hide it.”The words tumbled out of my mouth before I could soften them, blunt and sharp like they’d been waiting all night to escape.He didn’t respond immediately. Instead, he leaned forward and stole a kiss from me—swift and purposeful, as if his lips alone could shush me, could erase my mood with that familiar taste of him.But I wasn’t having it. Not this time. I pulled back slightly, my chest still rising and falling faster than it should.“How long have you known her for?”That question came out of nowhere, or maybe it had been simmering under my skin since last night, but it flew out before I could stop
My small hands roamed lazily over my face, rubbing as if I could erase the blazing sunlight stabbing through the curtains.The heat pressed down on my skin like I’d been set in an oven — each ray baking me alive until I felt like a sun-toasted cake.With a groggy squint, I rolled deeper into the bed, stretching my arm across to feel for Seven.Empty.The absence hit me hard. My heart kicked into a sprint, pounding so loud I could hear it in my ears. What’s the time? I panicked. Shit. Did I oversleep?I tossed the duvet off and swung my legs down in one quick motion — that’s when the small side door creaked open.My head whipped toward it, and my heartbeat stumbled before trying to calm itself.Seven stood there, taking in the way I sat frozen at the edge of the bed, my nightie wrinkled and my face damp with sweat. I probably looked like I’d just seen a ghost.“Hey, babe… you okay?” His voice was easy, but his eyes were already scanning me.I swallowed hard, realizing I’d been holding
All eyes shifted to where I stood and I instantly felt an icy shiver rush down my spine. I was fucking embarrassed.Slowly, I lowered my butt and placed it on the couch at exactly the spot where I sat, before I cowardly stood up to greet her.I took my gaze from my trembling fingers to meet their throbbing eyes. His mother flashed a wide smile at me and blinked her eyes and shook her head.She was trying to tell me not to take it to heart, and I understood, but I still felt ashamed, so I just nodded and shifted my eyes to meet Seven.He was talking to his sister very lowly, but she was smiling so I don’t know if he was scolding her or not. But I felt he was, because she turned around, glanced at me briefly and shrugged her shoulders before taking her eyes back to meet him.Her friend hesitantly went close to seven and stretched her hands to have a shake. Though Seven hesitated but eventually stretched himself to shake her, but she didn’t make it brief.She held onto him and started as
Deliberately, I sucked in my teeth for the tenth time in a row. I suddenly felt it was becoming a habit for today.I was currently in my room, parking up a mini bag with some clothes in it. Today was Friday, and I came back a little early from work because our flight was supposed to be at 5pm.And it was already 3:30pm. The week literally ran fast because I was praying so hard for it to. Damn! I literally haven’t been sleeping well because I could think of is meeting his whole family and them liking me.Seven already pre-informed them and they’re making it something for the whole family to come together.His elder brother and his sisters were going to be present. So I literally had to pick out some of my best clothes to look more presentable and not stupid or…. Uh… should say naïve?My ringing phone jolted me out of my reverie and, quickly, I darted my feet to the table five feet away from me. Picking up my phone, I swiped the right part, taking it to the pickup part.“Hey.” I breathe