James' father stood up from the couch, and hurried to me. His eyes were broadened. He moved his lips, but he was unable to say anything. I tightened my fist, gulped, resisting the itch to cry.
"My dear, you want to… get married to my son?" he questioned.
I nodded, wearing a stern look. "Yes. I'm not just accepting the proposal. I want it to be done as soon as possible. If you want it to happen in two days, so be it," I announced.
He gaped. "Two days? Wow, that's great! I don't mind at all. I can—"
"Woah, woah." James walked to us. He held his hand up, wrinkling his face as if he was irritated. "I'm the one getting married. Two days is too short for me. It doesn't even… make any sense."
I turned to him. "If you prolong it, I might have no choice but to change my mind."
"No, no. That won't happen." His dad stood in front of
"Mrs. Harper, please, calm down. I'm trying my best," I pleaded with my parents' doctor over the phone."My dear…" Her breath was shaky, and she sounded so tired. "I understand this. It's just that this is quite disturbing. Once again, she suffered a cardiac arrest. This time around, it really, really felt like it would kill her."I raked my fingers into my hair, trying to hold back my tears. "Please, I need you to understand that I'm trying my best. In forty eight hours, I'll settle the bills. She'll be fine, I promise.""Okay." She sighed again. "Hope so. Anyway, take care of yourself. Bye for now.""Bye," I added, and swiped my finger past my phone screen to hang up the call. Keeping the phone in my pocket, I turned to Vicki who had her back on me, as she stared at her reflection through the rectangular shaped mirror that was hung on the wall. "Are you really going to say nothing?" I
After spending my day at James' place, I had come home to take some time to relax. Well, probably because Vicki was very annoyed, she hadn't come home with me. I had tried calling her a couple of times, but her phone wasn't going through. She had switched it off, I guessed.Closing the cupboards in the kitchen, I headed to the living room. Settling to sit on the couch, I threw my back against it, closed my eyes, and inhaled hard. Trying to get rid of my crazy thoughts, I tapped my feet against the floor. But, too bad for me, these thoughts were overwhelming. They weren't leaving my head.Particularly, it was the lips. James' lips. How they had grabbed mine. How he had kissed me as if I was his; as if I didn't have a boyfriend. It hurt so much."Ow!" I yelped and flinched when the knock on the door cut me off my thoughts.Running my fingers into my hair, I sighed, standing up t
In less than twenty four hours, my marriage with James would be finalized. My name would change to Serene Robert. Anytime I felt bad about it, I convinced myself that things would eventually work out fine. After all, my parents would survive. They would be alive to see their grandchildren. Of course, I wasn't planning to let James touch me yet. However, I had to make some plans, whether or not they were good ones."Your dress will arrive by ten." Sherri pressed the tip of her pen against her lip, sucking her teeth, as she glued her eyes to the to-do list in her hand. She sighed, staring up at me. "Will go and get the cake ready. In the meantime, you can do whatever you wanna. You can take a nap or something."A weak smile formed on my lips. Smiling was all I could do for now. I was tired of crying. "Sherri," I called, my voice low and scattered. "Will you be able to take care of Ryan? How'd you help him get rid of the heartbreak? Are y
He remained silent. He was obviously shocked.I looked away, slipped on my jacket, trying to act like I wasn't remorseful in any way. "I know you're surprised. But, please, accept this. I wanna move on."After a while of staying silent, he threw his head back, and burst out laughing. I let my tears go down my throat, curled up my hands in a fist, waiting for his next reaction. He was laughing, I understood that. He was only trying to be hopeful."Are you this crazy?" Done laughing, he put his hands in the pocket of his pants, smirking at me. "What's with this sudden joke? Alright, I get it. We've not been so good these days, so you're like, trying to pull my legs."I scoffed. "This is just the problem. How can you claim you love someone, and never know how to study the person's body language or emotions?""Don't start with this again." He rolled his eyes. 
Finally, the day had come. I had been counting the hours until my marriage to him. Now was the time. The time for a turn around in my life. Only a few minutes left. This felt so unreal. Everytime I thought about it, the fear jerked in my chest. I just wanted it to happen already. I wanted to be convinced that I had accepted my fate.Sitting on the chair in front of this huge mirror in James' dressing room, I stared at my reflection via it. I looked so beautiful, as beautiful as an angel. But, the smile was missing. The great makeup on my face couldn't hide my weariness. I felt quite depressed. Yes, I deserved to feel this way."Hey, friend." Sherri walked to me. She stood behind me, put her hands on my shoulders, smiling at me via the mirror. "Hm… see who looks cute? It's good that Ryan wouldn't be coming around. If he was, he would definitely stare at you all through the wedding. That'd make James jealous."
Ryan°°°°°°I knew it. I just knew it. I knew I shouldn't have fallen in love.Love was stupid, annoying, gross, vile, filthy, and every other bad words it could be called. I fell in love at thirty, and almost at the age of thirty two, the love betrayed me. This had always been my fear. A fear that came to reality.This hurt. So much.Why would Serene do this to me? Our love felt so real. Day by day, I fell in love with her even more. In the best ways, I made her feel special. People said it wasn't only about buying gifts and spending money on one's lover, so I tried my best to always make her feel special.Why would she deceive me? Why would she ditch me? Couldn't she have given me a second chance? What else did she want? I had tried my best, hadn't I?Walking into my kitchen, feeling so frustrated
The officer cleared her throat for a second time, and started, "From the footage we got, we weren't able to see the vehicle's number plate properly. But, we were able to scrutinize the picture of the vehicle, as much as we could. Only two days ago, one of our experts suggested that we took a survey. We went around the town, in search of a vehicle salesperson. The vehicle seemed pretty new, so we guessed that it was bought only a few days before the day of the incident."Serene sobbed from behind. She kept quivering, and though I didn't appreciate that, I wasn't ready to comfort her. Right now, she seemed disgusting. It hurt that I couldn't contain this ruckus. It was her fault."So, what happened?" She asked the officer, her voice low and scattered."With the help of an old salesman, we found out that his retired coworker still sold vehicles, though that is pretty illegal. We visited his friend, and gently as
Life could be boring when one was alone and jobless. As expected, yeah, I had lost my job. Last two nights, James had called me over the phone, and had cursed me so badly. I was pretty sure he hadn't dared to call Ryan. Ryan, on the other hand, was missing. Goodness knew what was up with him. He didn't even care to call and ask about me or my parents. Well, he had probably left forever. Though I wasn't ready to, I guessed I would have no choice but to move on."Hey, aunty!" I flinched on hearing that voice. With a small smile hanging on my lips, I turned to my tiny nephew who ran towards me."David." I put him on my lap, pecked him on the forehead, and tweaked his cheek. "How're you, my love? Did you have fun at the park?""Yes, I did.""Happy Birthday in advance." I smiled widely at him. "My sweetie's gonna be four.""Yes! I'll be a big boy!" He rejoiced, throwing hi