All Chapters of COMING ALIVE: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Serena decided to stay away for a while, when she saw that he did not bother to come after her even though she sat on their porch for a while.She wouldn’t go back. No, she wouldn’t go back inside to beg him. She was not wrong. She deserved to live her own life too, even though she was married, right? He was the selfish one. Serena thought to herself over and over again as she trekked to her mother’s place that evening.“Mother should be able to talk some sense into him. Or at least talk to his parents so they could talk some sense into him. How I wish Dad were still alive.” She thought on her way to her mother’s place.Her dad had been her best friend before she met Amara in college. He was her confidant.She loved her mum, of course, but her dad had been the person she always waited for on their porch to come home. She would squeal and jump as he parked his car before she launched herself on him the moment he got out. He was the one who taught her a lot of things even when her mother

Serena looked at Mathew as he sat up in bed, grumbling about someone waking him up at this ungodly hour when he had a lot to do at the office in the morning. She was about to say she was sorry again when he looked at her like she was a nuisance and said, “That is childish, Serena, and I have told you before. I don’t expect you to keep making me repeat one thing over and over like you are a kid, you know.”Serena was not so taken aback by his words. He could be grumpy when one disturbed his sleep, and she had done so because she knew if she lost her courage now, she might not be able to do it again later. Not that he would patiently listen to her anyway. Now was the right time.“I am sorry,” she said softly.Mathew sighed and looked at her face. “It is not as if I want to complain or anything. It is just that I have work to do. I understand that you might not get that since you only stay at home and all, but I have to work. I have to fight for my promotion, and that means I have to have

“Ser!”Serena looked up in the direction where the sound was coming from. She smiled as she saw Amara running to her as her husband told her to calm down and tried to catch up with her while holding their toddler.He tried to carry the girl, but she cried, “Daddy, walk!”Bo had no choice but to let her walk, as he kept his hand on hers to guide the toddler after her mother, who paid her husband no heed as she continued to run toward her friend.A run would have been used liberally regarding what Amara was doing though. Waddling was more the term.Amara was heavily pregnant.“Sweetheart, Serena is just right there. Take it easy”, Bo called, exasperated as he looked down at his daughter, who had the same temper as her mother and would not take it kindly if he ignored her request and carried her.He really shouldn’t have let Amara run.“I will take it easy when I die,” Amara called back at him.Serena laughed as she stood up to go meet Amara halfway. She knew her friend wouldn’t trade her

“To see your face, of course." Amara piped in response."Do you see how beautiful you are? You are a damn gorgeous woman, sexy in fact. You know I would kill to have amazing hair like yours. Instead, all I have is this mop of dishwater hair,” Amara said as she grabbed a handful of her hair for emphasis.“You know your hair looks amazing. You are just saying that,” Serena said in a miffed tone as she collected her ribbon back.Amara sighed, then she smiled. “Yes, I admit that. Moreover, Bo loves it, his ash-blonde hair coupled with mine seems to be what gave Tanya her platinum blond hair. I swear I can already picture how much of a fashion diva that girl will be.”Serena tucked her hair beneath her ears and briefly pondered packing her hair back up into a bun.“If she ended up as one, she would have gotten it from you. At least the diva part,” she said cheekily.“Hey, I can be fashionable too,” Amara said in protest, then grinned as she remembered all her makeover flops in college.Sere

“You know I wouldn’t want to disrespect you or anything” Serena rolled her eyes in the vanity mirror after ensuring Mathew couldn’t see her as she heard that sentence.He was somewhere behind her, and was not looking straight at the mirror.She wondered briefly how she had gotten used to the fact that every single insult he doled out to her these days started with that sentence.He seemed to be taking his time as she was sure he was checking her out before he delivered whatever the special was for this evening. “But you look like a tart”“Well,” she thought. “That was a new one,” she thought.She doubted if he had ever called her a promiscuous woman before, maybe something close but not directly like that.She held on tightly to the hurt that lanced through her and turned to face him with a smile.The smile slipped when she saw the derisive look he had on his face.No, she would come out of this unscathed. He wouldn’t rattle her confidence.Hadn’t she given herself a pep talk to learn