Chapter 4

Josephine stared at her small bag with her eyes dull. There were lots of things going on through her mind and they were things like; what could he possibly be doing right now? What happened after she left the party? Did it end or...did it continue? Did everyone pretend not to care or they didn’t really care? What would happen to her wedding? And then she blamed herself. She blamed herself for walking out of the house, for not querying Brian. Why did he do what he did? Was there a fault he saw in her or was she not attracted to him enough? Were all the years they have both spent together a lie? Did he never love her? 

But then, she should have known Maya better. She is a traitor and she should have known that she was always attracted to Brian for some reasons she didn’t know but had decided to ignore it since she was confident that she would get married to Brian. But that confidence broke when she saw them in bed together.

She opened her bag and brought out her phone. She stared at the blank screen for seconds before powering it on. When the booting was completed, it went to her home screen and just then, messages started coming in, just as she had expected.

Her hand shook slightly as she swiped down to check the notifications. No messages from Brian or Maya. She felt her chest tightened and wanted to cry, but she held it in and took her lower lips in. She scrolled back and saw a message from Matilda and she tapped on it.

It read, “Jose, where are you? We looked for you but we couldn’t find you. By we, I mean Gabriel and I. We just want to make sure you are safe. I know you are probably mad at me but I never wanted this for you from the start. We might not be really close to each other but you are still my friend and I feel bad that this happened to you. Actually, I am happy that this happened. If it didn’t, you would never know that Brian has been cheating on you with Maya. I didn’t tell you about it but I tried. I sent signs and I thought you would understand what I’ve been trying to pass to you but you didn’t. I am not sending this to you because I want to be on your good side. I just want you to know that I was never a part of it. Neither did Gabriel. Where are you Jose? We need to talk. If you are reading this message, please respond.”

After reading the message Matilda sent, somewhere in her heart, she was glad that at least someone cares about her. But another part of her doubt if she could trust her words. She read the message again and she saw that there was no harm in it. She was just worried about her. She brought her finger forward and typed on the keyboard, “I’m fine.”

She let out a deep sigh through her nose and was about turning her phone off when she saw Matilda’s message pop up. She tapped on it and read in her mind,

“Thank goodness. Can you come over to my place? Or just tell me where you are, I’ll come pick you up right now.”

Josephine used the corner of her eyes to look at Lucas and she saw that he was not looking at her.

“I can’t,” she typed and sent it.

“I think it is best you come. There is something you must know.” 

Josephine shook her head lightly and sent, “I don’t want to see anyone, not anytime soon. Whatever you want to say to me, just tell me here.”

She saw Matilda typing and then she waited some seconds before she saw that she had stopped typing. She was about to press the back button when she saw her message.

“Brian is getting married to Maya in your place.”

Josephine let out a soft gasp almost immediately and a pained expression appeared on her face. A tear escaped her eyes and she shut her eyes. Her heart ache and she clutched her hand tightly. When she opened them, it fell on her hand and she noticed that she was still wearing the ring Brian had given to her. Feeling hurt and angered, she removed the ring from her finger, but before she could attempt to throw it out the little opening of the window, Lucas caught her hand and snatched it from her.

She looked at him and her expression suddenly changed to that of a frown, sending him a glare.

Lucas chuckled lightly, his lips curving up a bit and he stared at the diamond ring, as if admiring it. He had been watching Josephine and had pretended like he was not looking at her when she had looked at him through the corner of her eye.

“That belongs to me,” Josephine said with a frown on her face, feeling annoyed at his action.

“That was before you were about to throw it out the window,” came Lucas response and Josephine clenched her teeth inwardly.

“You know,” he continued, “I am rather surprised as to why you would want to throw something so valuable away and not to talk of the fact that it is made from my company. You could have pawn it and repay me back.”

Josephine eyes rose a bit and she almost gasped. How could she have forgotten that Brian had gotten the ring from the devil’s company? And now that she realized it, she came to know that the ring was expensive. Lucas was right, she thought and agreed with his word for the first time. She could have pawn it and look for an apartment to rent before deciding what to do with her life. And as for repaying Lucas, she could just buy a fake replica of the rug and disappear from his sight after that. She bit her inner cheek and cursed herself inwardly for being oblivious.

Seeing him dip her engagement ring inside his pocket, she tried to look for ways to retrieve it back and she started by lying through her teeth.

“I wasn’t trying to throw it away. Why would I throw away something so beautiful and expensive?” she said and saw his amused expression before she continued, “I wanted to see it glow under the sun but the windows were all up and you thought I was going to throw it away when you saw me raise my hand up.”

Lucas grinned, revealing his fangs and he relaxed his body in such a way where he was now facing Josephine.

“I don’t think it is something you should value,” he said to her.

He is right, Josephine thought. It is not something she should value anymore, but she needed the money.

“How much does it cost?” she asked him, wanting to know the price that Brian had bought it.

“Why?” Lucas asked.

“I’m just curious,” Josephine replied and waited for him to talk.

“It’s about fifty eight thousand dollars.”

“What!” Josephine half-screamed as her eyes went wide immediately. “Fif-fifty eight thousand dollars?” she repeated and Lucas nodded.

“Why would he spend so much money on just an engagement ring? He couldn’t even sponsor the money for the wedding so how come?” Josephine said, wondering why Brian would squander money on a ring when he could not fund the wedding. 

She spent a fortune on it and she planned it all. She had to pay with her hard earned money and now, he was going to get married to Maya after everything. That ring was her fortune right now, she thought.

“Are you talking about your fiancé?” Lucas asked and she realized she had said it aloud.

“That is none of your concern. Now give it back,” she said, referring to the ring.

Lucas gave a sly smile and said, “Come get it.”