CHAPTER FIVE
"I need you to make sure My mother, Shannelle and Danielle have no contact with Adele for this entire day. Keep a close on them until the wedding is over. Am I understood?"
Jamal asked the four guards standing before him in his bedroom.
That day was his wedding day with Adele and he didn't want anything to go wrong or happen to her. His mother and sister have been bitter towards Adele the entire week and he was scared that they would do something to her, so the only way he could think of, was to keep them supervised.
The only person he trusted with Adele at that moment was his grandmother, so he told her to stay with Adele until everything was over.
"Yes, Sir!"
"I swear if anything goes wrong, I will make your lives miserable. So if you know what is good for you, you will go out there and do your job like you are supposed to." He warned in a deadly tone and the four men looked at each other nervously because they knew he wasn't bluffing.
Jamal Dominick was not the type to give empty threats. If he tells you he will make your life miserable, then indeed he will make your life miserable!
"You are dismissed"
The four men left the bedroom and he walked over to his mirror stand to inspect himself.
He never knew the day was ever going to come when he would marry Adele.
He first saw Adele eighteen years ago when he was nine years old. The family was having dinner when his grandma walked in with Adele in her arms. He could never forget how white and pale she looked. Her clothes were torn all over and her hair totally disheveled. She was crying in his grandmother's arms and he had felt really bad for her.
He had stepped down from his seat to go and comfort her, but his mother stopped him.
He remembered the heated argument his mother had with grandmother over Adele. His mother demanded Adele to be returned to where she came from, but grandma refused. In the end, grandma won and Adele stayed.
They lived together for five years and during that time, he tried to get close to Adele, but his mother would not let him. She would punish him every-time she caught him playing with Adele and even though he was still a little boy, he started growing some resentment for his mother.
When Grandma saw that the drama in the house were beginning to affect Adele psychologically, she sent her to England to live with her sister and she only came home for short holidays.
Still, they could not get close because of his mother.
He found out he was in love with Adele when he was twenty years-old and he had kept that secret with him for seven years.
He was the one who told Grandma to force Adele to come back home after college and he was the one who suggested the arranged marriage to grandma.
She was more than happy to get them together, so she accepted to act like it was all her arrangement.
He had no idea how he was going to tell Adele all that in person, but he know he would someday.
The most important thing was that she was going to be his wife and nobody could stop that from happening.
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"Grandma, I'm really scared. Do you think this is the right thing to do?" Adele asked frightened. She was in her bedroom with Grandma and a few designers and make-up artists that had been hired to make her look pretty.
She couldn't even sleep all night because she kept thinking about the marriage and all the things that could go wrong if that marriage did not work.
"Why do you ask?"
"Grandma, Jamal and I hardly know each other"
"What do you mean by that? You two have known each other almost all your lives!" Grandma said in a careless tone.
"I mean personally. Grandma do you know that it was until last week that Jamal and I had a proper conversation ever since I came back from England? Granny, he doesn't love me and I don't…"
"You two will learn to love each other. Jamal is a good man and you are a good woman. You two are good for each other. Now, stop being such a crybaby and be strong. Stop worrying about unimportant things on your wedding day" Grandma cautioned and Adele pouted her lips as she turned to look at herself in the mirror.
The person she saw in the mirror did not look like her at all. She had stressed on the fact that she did not want too much make-up, but the make-up artists seemed to have done the exact opposite.
Her face was caked up in layers and layers of make-up and she felt like telling her to wipe it off and do another one, but she did not want to act like a spoiled brat.
Nevertheless, she looked really stunning in the make-up and she could only hope that Jamal would be impressed.
"He asked me to keep the marriage a secret. Why do you think he said that?" She asked, looking at Grandma once more.
"Jamal has his reasons for saying that and I trust that they very good reasons"
"Good reasons? What if it's because he is ashamed of me?"
"You talk a lot of nonsensical things at times Adele. Now shut your mouth and put these shoes on. It's almost time"
Grandma cut her off as she assisted her in putting on her silver heels.
Every thing she had on her body had been ordered from France and they all looked so expensive.
Part of her was nervous about the marriage, but another bad was happy about the whole arrangement.
In the end, she had mixed feelings and she could only hope that things would go well.
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Everything happened so fast.
It was just a simple wedding involving only the members of the household, but Adele was shocked on how sophisticated it was.
Throughout the day, she dared not to meet the gazes of both her mother and sister-in-law because she knew how they hated what was going on. But they seemed to have no choice.
She clicked her phone to check the time and she was surprised to see that the time was already seven pm.
"Where are you going?" She heard Jamal ask.
They were both in the hallway where their bedrooms were located and she was walking towards her room.
"I'm… going to my bedroom" she told him as she pointed over to the door.
"On our wedding night?" He asked and adrenaline washed all over her body.
Wedding night.
How come she had not thought of that all day?
"I'm… I…" she stuttered "I… I'm just going to change my clothes." She lied smoothly.
She wasn't going to take her clothes. Now that he had mentioned it, she was just going to get into that room and lock herself up till the next day.
"You don't have to do that, your clothes have already been transferred to my bedroom" He reported as calmly as usual.
"What?"
"Do you want to see before you believe?" He asked with a raised brow and Diana stood there dumbfounded. She looked at her room door and back to him several times before deciding to follow him to his bedroom to see for herself.
When she got there, she was awestruck by the sight of the bedroom.
It was just as big as hers and had the same form, but it looked more sophisticated because of how everything in it had been arranged.
She gaped at the couches in the sitting area, to the king-sized bed located at the center of the room.
The mighty smart TV that hung on the wall awed her to the core and the most amazing thing was his wall at the side of the room that was made of glass. It gave him an amazing view of the garden in the mansion.
After ogling, she came back to her senses and walked straight into the closet to check if indeed her clothes were in there and behold, they were there, neatly arranged. Even her mirror stand and make-up table had been transferred there too.
"Do you now believe me?" He asked walking towards her and when he noticed that she took a step backwards, he stopped at a safe distance and looked at her.
The last thing he wanted was to scare her.
"Isn't this the moment you say thank you to me? I saved you a lot of stress."
"Thank you very much" She responded with a gloomy look at Jamal and was not pleased at all.
He hated the fact that he was making her uncomfortable, but he had to do what he was doing.
"Take your bath and rest. I'll be spending the night in my study" He announced as he turned to leave.
"In… in your study?" Adele asked, confused.
"Yeah, I didn't go to the office all day. I have a lot of work piled up and I have to get done with them before tomorrow "
"Oh… ok"
She felt sorry that he had to work all night, but she was relieved that nothing would be happening between them.
She needed more time to get herself acquainted with him before sleeping with him.
"Congratulations, Mrs. Jamal King" he congratulated with a cheerful smile before walking out of the bedroom.
Adele stood on the spot, shocked to the bone, not because he had addressed her as Mrs. Jamal King, but because he had just genuinely smiled at her.
That was the first time she saw him smile in ages.
CHAPTER SIXThe sound of Adele's alarm rudely woke her up from her sleep. With her eyes still closed, she stretched her right hand to her nightstand and blindly searched for her phone. When she found it, she quickly picked it up and sat up alright to turn off the alarm.On days like that, she wanted to shoot the phone at the wall, but she could not because it had been a gift from sone unknown person a few months ago.The phone arrived at her work place in a parcel with no name or address on it. There was just a simple note on it which had read:"If you break the screen, I will be disappointed"She was terrified for two reasons.First, the phone was her dream phone, Samsung Galaxy S 22 ultra. It was the latest phone in town and she was saving up to buy it. It terrified her that person chose to buy her dream phone. She wondered how he or she knew that.Second, she had the habit of breaking the screens of her phones. She also wondered how come the person knew that was a habit of hers.
CHAPTER SEVENJamal did not come back home for the rest of the week and he did not call again. For the first three days, Adel stayed up late, hoping that he would return, but he did not. She later gave up waiting for him and decided to stop over thinking about him or the fact that they were married.There were times when she stared at her phone and contemplated where to call him, but she decided against her better judgement not to do so. She didn't even have the audacity to ring his phone.Grandma, whose presence made her feel better was not around. She had to travel to England for an urgent matter.Adele did her best to avoid Aliya and Shannelle because she new they would only makes matters worse for her with her words. That was a house she was supposed to be able to call home, but she could not.When she was adopted, she was brought to that house and lived in it for five years before relocating to England. Even now that she was married, she was living in that house, but surprising
CHAPTER EIGHT."Come to my office after dinner, I need to speak with you." Jamal’s words echoed in Adele’s mind as she made her way to his office.She could not help but wonder why he wanted to see her all of a sudden. There was this tingly feeling in her heart that she could not understand. For some odd reason, she thought he summoned her to actually appreciate her for the delicious meal she cooked.When she got to the door, she knocked on it and almost immediately, Jamal’s voice came through, signalling her to open the door. She opened the door, hoping to see Jamal smiling at her, but she was surprised to meet a very angry looking version of Jamal.Terror overcame her as she walked into the bedroom and closed the door behind her.He was leaning on his desk with his arms crossed and as she approached him, he looked up at her with blood red eyes."Sit down, Adele."He ordered and Adele immediately complied. As she did that, he extended his arm towards her with his ipad in it."Tell
CHAPTER NINE.Jamal and Adele went to bed without settling the dispute. Adele made sure to spend a lot of time in the closet and when Jamal got tired of waiting for her to come out, he went to bed.He did not apologise.When she woke up the next morning, he was long gone and she was even more frustrated than when she went to bed. He had wronged her and she knew she had all right to be mad at him, but she felt like she was being dramatic."Maybe I should just let it go." She thought as she stepped down from the bed and walked into the bathroom so she could prepare for work.When she was done preparing, she went downstairs to leave for work but to her greatest dismay, she met both her mother and sister-in-law in the living room.She wondered if they had nothing doing, especially, Shannelle. She was always at home doing nothing and waited for the the slightest opportunity to pick fight with her."Petty!" She whispered to herself as she descended the staircase. "Good morning to you" She
CHAPTER TEN"Good morning Mr. Franck '' Adele greeted as she walked into her superior's office. She wanted to ask him about the article to be sure that it had truly been canceled."Good morning Adele. I hope I'm safe" He inquired, looking up at Adele and that made her laugh."Why do you say that?""Because you never come into my office or anyone else's office in the morning. You always just crawl into that hole of yours called your office and shut everyone out for the entire day " Mr. Franck explained and the accuracy of his words made Adele feel very guilty.That was what she did everyday of her life.She only got out of her office when she wanted to get something from a colleague, when she was going out for lunch or when she was going for an outdoor work."Well Mr. Franck, I promise everything is alright. I just came to get some clarifications about something, if that…is okay with you" She explained and her voice died down towards the end of her statement."Of course Adele, go ah
CHAPTER ELEVEN.When Adele opened the door to their bedroom, she was beyond relieved to see Jamal seated on the bed, making a phone call. Probably a business phone call. She let out a quiet sigh as she stepped into the bedroom and closed the door behind her.He was just the person she wanted to see.Before they got married, he had told her to keep her identity as his wife a secret from outsiders, but he never gave her an explanation. At first, she did not think about it because she had no idea how difficult keeping that kind of information would be.That morning, her boss had asked about her identity and she had managed to brush it up, but she knew she would not be able to do so when her other colleagues would begin to wonder aloud.Grandma Devon had also asked her not to tell anyone she was related to that family as well, but she never gave her any explanation. She wanted to know why."Good evening Jamal" She greeted calmly and walked further into the bedroom. Jamal, who had ended t
CHAPTER TWELVE."I see you as my family."Adele and Jamal did not speak another word to each other after that sentence. She walked over to the sitting area where she read her book until she felt sleepy and went to bed, while Jamal worked almost the entire night as usual. When she woke up the next morning, he was nowhere to be found on the bed."Of course he left for…" Her words were cut short by the sound of the bathroom room door opening. She turned to look and her eyes almost fell off from their sockets when she saw Jamal walking out of the bathroom, with just his towel tied around his waist. His chest was bare and his eight packs were screaming "touch me!". There was steam flying all over his body and the way the water droplets trickled down his well toned muscles and apps made her swallow dryly.His hair was wet and ruffled and a few wet strands fell down his forehead almost concealing his left eye brow.He was smoking hot…He looked like a Greek god.She could not believe she was
CHAPTER THIRTEEN.That morning, when Adele arrived at her work place, she was met with the surprise of her life. She was introduced to an editor whom she knew personally from England. He was an ex-boyfriend from college.They were in the same department in school, but he was her senior by one year. His name was Henry and he was the first guy she had ever had feelings for. They had dated for a period of one year, before he suddenly called off the relationship after he graduated, because he had to travel back to his home city and a long distance relationship was not something he liked.They had broken up on very bad terms, so they didn't even attempt to talk to each other all morning even though they were working together. She was no longer in love with the man and she was sure about that, but seeing him made her sad.Because they had all worked tediously all morning, their superior suggested they all went out for lunch and they did just that. Henry and Adele were still acting indiffere