Clarisse's eyes flickered, moving slowly on the bed, her eyes opened to see the white ceiling, and the smell around was familiar, she looked around to see the drip being passed to her.
" You're in the hospital", she heard a feminine voice say, " Fainting around on the street like a homeless cat, I don't know what rumor you're trying to spread, that we're maltreating you?", Bree said irritatedly. Clarisse turned to look at her, she was the only one present with her in the dimly lit hospital room. Bree wanted to say something when the doctor came in. " How are you feeling? Mrs Arthur?". Mrs Arthur? That sounds odd and a reminder she's married to the Arthur's family which she doesn't like. " Can..you...just call me... Clarisse?", Her weak voice said, " Oh, okay, how are you feeling? Clarisse?", " Weak, I feel so weak", " That's understandable, you've shown all symptoms of Malnutrition and that's not good considering the position you were in?", " Position? What position?", Bree asked moving closer to them, " Umm, guess Miss Clarisse did not tell you", the doctor looked from her to Clarisse and gave her a gesture asking if he should tell her which Clarisse nodded slightly. " Okay...Miss Clarisse was pregnant?", " Pregnant?", " Yeah, four weeks pregnant". Bree scoffed and eyed her feeling disgust, " I'm not sure if I'm to believe whatever you're saying or if I should assume my suspicion was right, you were seeing someone while married to my brother, then seeing you outside is probably him throwing you out of the house, no wonder he gave me the divorce papers for you to sign, you're such a shameless whore", " Umm, calm down, this should be discussed some other time cause that's not what she needs right now", " Who cares about what she needs right now", Bree scoffed. Clarisse swallowed hard, she blinked back the tears that threatened to fall and turned to the doctor weakly, " Doctor, how's my baby?", " Bastard baby", Bree mumbled, " Well... that's what I was about to inform you, I'm sorry to say but due to the undernutrition and some trauma, you lost the baby", " What?", " I'm sorry", " I didn't...get what you say", " I'm so sorry, but.. you lost the baby", " Are...are you sure? You should check again.... probably the scanning machine had some error", " I'm sorry". Clarisse fell back to the bed, breathing hard with her mouth while the doctor left to give her some space. " Here are the divorce papers, Victor asked me to give you cause he doesn't want to ever see your disgusting face and you need to sign them now cause I'm leaving", she said but everything she said was inaudible to Clarisse's ears. She was no longer in the world, her body and soul felt heavy with grief. The loss of her baby was like a black hole in her heart, an emptiness that seemed to consume her from the inside out. She stared blankly at the ceiling, feeling the silence that was like a shroud, wrapping itself around her and cutting her off from the world. She wanted to scream and rage, to let loose the anger and sorrow that was eating away at her soul. But she was too exhausted, too defeated, and too broken to do anything but lay and suffer in the darkness of her grief. She was a ghost of her former self, a shadow of the woman she once was. Getting impatient and irritated for waiting any longer, she dragged her to sign the papers before leaving, on her way out, she called Victor and informed him that she had gotten the task done. Victor told Alice and also informed her to go get Clarisse who was still in the hospital. They took her away even though the doctor was against it saying she needed more rest but Alice could not wait to get everything over with, she hated to keep thinking there might still be a probability that she'd marry a disabled man. Clarisse's heart skipped hard the moment she stepped her foot back into the house she had desperately gotten away from, but it was from hell to hell, she couldn't lift her head till she got to the living room, staring blankly with no expression on her face, standing in the presence of Ferdinand and his wife. The maids had begun to gather around in the corner, surprised to see Clarisse and curious at what was going on. " Clarisse? What's she doing here?", Maid 1 said, " Beat me, but I have a bad feeling about this", Maid 2 said, " I thought you'd have some manners now that you're married, but you still don't know how to greet your elders", " She's divorced, Mum", Alice said not looking away from her phone, " I wonder what your mother spent her days doing while she was alive that you lack all morals and discipline, you couldn't even keep your marriage? You're such a failure", " Your incompetency is for the best, you're getting married in a few days". And once again, the maids gasped in shock. Clarisse finally looked up, her eyes were red and swollen, lost all the lives in them. " Married?", " Yes you're getting married, you should start teaching her the ethics of marriage that she lacks, she can't mess up this opportunity for me", Ferdinand said, " Of course, Honey, I'll teach her some lessons that'll be useful for her", Patricia said sweetly rubbing her husband's chest, " and you, get back to work and wait for my call", she dismissed her. Clarisse walked away to the backyard where she collapsed on the floor, the feeling of being an outcast didn't hurt her, but the feeling of being a failure, she failed to protect her baby, she failed to protect her mother's name, and it hurts so bad that it was suffocating. Her pain was compounded by their callousness, and she wondered if she would ever be able to heal the wounds that ran so deep, she wept silent tears of despair, longing for the baby she had lost and the life she had dreamed of having, her mind drifting between the past and the present, reliving the pain of her miscarriage over and over again. " Clarisse", she heard Abby's voice and looked up to see Abby and the oldest maid in the house. They were also crying, they squatted beside her, embracing her and crying with her. " I'm sorry, we're sorry". Why are they apologizing, they didn't do anything wrong, it's not them who should be apologizing. " We should have told you", Abby said amidst tears, " That?", " That he was a monster, I'm sorry", " What do you mean?". Abby broke the hug and sniffled, " Didn't you divorce him because you found out he once raped someone?", " Huh? Ho", Clarisse's mouth hunged open, unable to laugh or cry or just keep staring, " You all knew but me?", " I'm sorry", the oldest maid said feeling ashamed of herself. " You didn't do anything wrong, I didn't even know I'm not his first", " What?!", They exclaimed and she nodded. Abby covered her mouth weeping profusely while Clarisse just kept looking blank. " But that's not what hurt", she said with tears finding their way out of her eyes freely, " I thought I finally had a companion, someone that I would love and will love me, but they took her away also", she looked at her belly finding it hard that she's no longer there. " You were pregnant?", The oldest maid whispered, she felt pity for her, she once lost a child so she could relate to the pain but there were no amount of words that could console her. They drew her into their arms, smoothened her hair with their hands, patted her back, and told her that, she was going to be fine. But she doubted it.One of the maids looked around mindfully before entering the Lamborghini car, slamming the door carefully, she bowed after sitting beside the woman reeking of wealth and authority, sitting next to her in a privilege she might never get in her lifetime again." Good afternoon, Ma'am"," Good afternoon, how's it?"," They've changed the woman your son is getting married to"," What?! What do you mean by that?"," Apparently, their biological daughter turned down the proposal of marrying your son, ma'am".Sharon scoffed and laughed, " I'm damn sure it's because of the rumors, no offense, that makes it perfect, I was never in support anyways, thanks for your hard work"," But"," But?"," Yes ma'am, he's still going to marry from their family"," What do you mean?"," I told you they've changed the daughter he's marrying"," Oh yeah, I forgot you said that which other daughter do they have?"," Mr. Ferdinand's brother's daughter, he's her new father since her parents died"," From the inf
" Huh? What happened to your dress?", Ashley was surprised to see her mother's dress changed, " but I must say, this one looks better and more beautiful, who's did it for you?", She asked admiring the dress," My daughter in law"," No way!", She chuckled, " wow! Can't believe that big head's wife-to-be will be someone with a skill, a nice skill"," I was surprised too", she relaxed back on the couch, dropping her purse beside her and kicking the heels off. A maid quickly came forward to pack it and take it to the room where it belonged." But why is your mood sour, is she not beautiful? don't worry, your son is a heavenly god, his handsomeness alone is enough so worry not, they won't give you ugly grandchildren"," It's not that"," Then what is it?"," I was angry when I saw her"," Why?"," The way she looks broke my heart into pieces, I was so angry that I wanted to yell at her and ask why is she not taking care of herself"," I don't understand"," I don't know, what did that fam
" Hi laws", Patricia waved at Sharon but she rolled her eyes in disgust. She whispered to her daughter, "Had I known I'd have come and pick her up by myself and doll her up, what is this?", she said referring to the lonely lady at the alter," I can tell immediately she's not their daughter, their daughter is not even present here"," I don't care if she's present or not, I'm very angry right now", she whispered.Clarisse stood at the altar, stood blankly at the flower in her hand. Not like she's throwing it to anyone, who would want to catch a flower from a woman like her, a woman who's getting married to another man just in few days after her divorce? She sighed dejectedly, trying hard not to listen to the murmurs, though there was nothing new, it just hit differently. She knows they're laughing and pointing at her oversized wedding gown, and her oversized heels and probably also gossiping about her divorce and shamelessness. Her eyes welled up in tears, why is her life full of p
Alice groaned covering her ears with the pillow and tried falling deep asleep back and just as she was successfully sleeping back, her phone rang out again with the ringing tone that sounded so noisy." Ugh!!", She groaned loudly and sat up with anger ready to blast whosoever was calling her with insults, " Dani?", She called the name showing on her phone screen out and picked up the call." what's it?", She said tried to suppress her outburst." oh my goodness! Congratulations baby!".Dani's voice was clouded with excitement that makes Alice even more pissed." Congratulations for what?"," c'mon...stop feigning to be pissed, I know you're very happy right now and I'm actually pissed that you keep such a thing from us, me especially, but I guess you just wanted it to be surprising, anyways... I'm so so so... happy for you right now to even be pissed, but I still am", she said and laughed.She felt so happy for Alice that her heart could not contain it but Alice was just confused at a
" who's that?", One of the maids asked Ally as she went back to her duty." just some men", she replied not giving the maid much attention," Oh, some men are already coming to look for you...tell me, is that your new crush?", the maid teased Ally but she wasn't anything, " he is good looking though","You should get back to work, he's not my crush or anything", she replied coldly." tsk, you're no fun", she pouted her mouth and left her.Ally resumed back to what she was doing but her mind was feeling unsettled, disturbed, and guilty." I shouldn't have said that much", she said and sighed, falling back on her butt and scolding herself. She had just told a total stranger things she felt like she shouldn't and that was because she was so angry at that moment that she couldn't caution herself. A few minutes ago" Who are you?"," I'm her friend"," Clarisse does not have any friends"," she does now, I'm her new friend but I feel like I don't know anything about her, she constantly zon
Christian frowned and said in a deep and vibrant tone that made Clarisse's heart skip so hard," and why would my woman do that?"." huh?".' did I hear that right?, He's been acting crazy since the wedding, I'm not Alice, who's his woman?', Clarisse said in her mind as she looked up at him, meeting his gray eyes.Their eyes met and Chris felt his heart skip, her blue ocean eyes were so beautiful and drowning but at the same time, held lots of emotions." I'm doing that because I know it isn't me you want to be here and I understand that", she said looking away. She's sure Patricia can't just send her off to a good man so this is what she's thinking it is." What makes you think it's another woman I want here?"," because I know it definitely can't be me", she said like she was so sure puzzling Chris and thinking if he was missing something." I don't know what you're thinking princess..."," Clarisse, that's my name", she said feeling uneasy about him calling her princess, nothing is
Clarisse followed Sharon as she went into another section, she watched Sharon who was immersed in a joy-suffused atmosphere as they embarked on a journey to find the perfect wedding dress for her. She felt strange and her heart ached, it made her imagine what the moment would be like if her mother was alive, she was feeling motherly love and it hurt, eyes were glued on Sharon but she was seeing her mother's face.Sharon browsed through the collection of dresses, trying to find the perfect dress for Clarisse, the one she was wearing was making her angry, she wanted her to look their best, and make this day a memorable one for her, and she was controlling herself so hard not to hug the fragile and lean looking Clarisse. Now that she's married to her son, she's likewise excited that she has one more daughter so she wants her daughter's wedding to be such a memorable one and after she found out that her real parents are there, she already assumed the role of a mother belongs to her now."
Clarisse sighed and she relaxed back and took a deep breath.' is he after my death? This is the second time I've been in a helicopter in just a day. Clarisse cried in her mind, she had thought of the worst scenario that could happen and she was feeling so tired and hungry and the situation was not helping matters. They are finally done with taking pictures that took so long and now going to only heaven knows.She clenched her gown and relaxed back, trying to steady her breath and not panic and it worked, she soon felt relaxed, and gradually she began to feel the cool gentle breeze on her skin and face, it was no longer noisy, rather the atmosphere seemed quiet and peaceful.Have they arrived?She opened her eyes to see if they had arrived but her eyes were opened to see a breathtaking and serene environment, it was so beautiful and was full of nature, she could see the birds flying, the trees had blossomed wonderfully and the floor was covered in different kinds of flowers that make