LOGINIVY“Why is he taking so much time? Where has he gone?” I asked myself as I began to feel too lonely in the cabin.I even dozed off after forcing those half-cooked vegetables down my throat, and now that I was up, he still wasn’t back.“Who just leaves without telling anyone where they are going to?” I grumbled to myself.There was no one to answer the questions in my head and I didn’t have the answers myself. I thought of going out to check, but then I recalled that he asked...no, firmly instructed me not to go out of the cabin.The doors were locked.Not sure of what to do, I got up and began to walk around.From the window, I could tell that it was getting dark outside.“I can’t believe I am going to spend the night here...and maybe many other nights,” I muttered to myself.Tears gathered in my eyes almost immediately.This wasn’t the plan and I wasn’t happy about it.Yes, I was curious to meet and know the man who gave birth to me, but it didn’t mean that I was ready to live with
ALEXA“Alexa, you still haven’t decorated the nursery,” Noelle told me hours later.It was almost evening now and soon enough, Lora would be back with dinner. It felt as though eating was the only thing I did now, and sleeping as well, and I could tell that my stomach was an inch bigger every passing hour.Standing in front of the mirror some minutes ago, I saw a completely different person.“I know,” I responded.I had woken up from my third nap in the day and had come out of the room to look for Noelle, only to find her in the baby’s room, staring at everything that had been bought but yet to be unpacked and arranged.“Why not?” Noelle asked. “These things have been here for God knows how long,” she added.“I know that, Noelle,” I repeated.“Then why haven’t you decorated?” Noelle asked me, and almost immediately, her tone softened. “Are you too heavy to do it?” She asked me further with deeper concern.“No, Noelle, that’s not it,” I responded.“Then what has been stopping you?” Noe
IVYA plate of chopped vegetables landed in front of me. With the way Jack threw it, everything almost spilled out of the plate.I stared at it in horror.“What the heck is this?” I asked him.“Lunch,” he responded stiffly.Since I got here, the only thing I had taken was water and I was surprised that he had chosen to serve me with this.“I can’t eat these!” I said with utter dissatisfaction. “They are not even well cooked,” I added.He turned and glared at me.“Well, that’s all you can get here, Ivy,” he said with a sneer.“Don’t you have anything else like a real food?” I asked him with horror.There was no way I could feed on these and be satisfied. They didn’t even look enticing.They almost reminded me of the poor food that was being served at the mental home, only that these were vegetables and not real food.My stomach was already rumbling with hunger.I hadn’t had anything good to eat the entire day and I was beginning to feel it in my stomach. If I was still in Gloria’s apar
ALEXALora served Noelle and me lunch and we both ate in silence. I noticed that Noelle had been sober and dull.Since the last conversation we had, she hadn’t said much. It just seemed like she was walking around the house carrying a badge of sadness.I appreciated the fact that she was here, but then again, I preferred it when Noelle was her lively and bubbly self.“Have you heard anything from Nelson?” I asked Noelle, breaking the long silence between us.We were almost done eating anyway.Noelle shook her head sadly.“Have you tried to call him?” I asked her further.“Several times, but it keeps going to voicemail,” Noelle responded.I could feel the deep sadness in the sound of her voice and I felt for her. It was obvious that she really loved Nelson and was looking forward to ending up with him.For the first time, I was seeing Noelle broken by a love that seemed to be going through its own challenges.Noelle never understood what it had felt like to be in a situation like this.
MARKThe first thing I did when I woke up was to check the time; it was almost mid-morning.“Shit!” I muttered in exasperation.I hadn’t realized that I had slept this late.My cell phone was still switched off because I couldn’t get a charger for it last night. I couldn’t sleep until the early hours of this morning. I stayed awake thinking about Alexa, and all that Gina had told me, and of course, my child.I didn’t know when I dozed off.“The blizzard!” I said as realization dawned on me.I scrambled out of the bed and hurried to the window, and to my greatest relief, the weather seemed clear enough. It was very different from yesterday, and that meant that the blizzard was gone.“Thank goodness!” I said to myself.Without bothering to freshen up, I hurried to the front door, wondering why in heaven’s name no one thought to wake me up.I should have been in Paris by now.Anyway, as I got to the door and yanked it open, there was Gina with my breakfast.“Good morning, Mr. Mark,” she
IVY“What are you talking about?” I asked him.And he sighed heavily.“The Mafia gang came back to hunt me, Ivy. They thought that now that I was no longer a member, I wasn’t useful to them and they didn’t want me to betray them,” he answered mournfully.“Were you ever going to betray them?” I asked him and he shook his head slowly.“It’s just how they operate, Ivy,” he said. “I would have protected you with my life, Ivy, and I was doing everything possible to ensure that you had everything you wanted, but when danger came, I didn’t have a choice. To keep you, I needed to go away,” he continued. “Clara didn’t make it easy for me. I could have kept in touch, but she refused. She knew that I had to make the sacrifice, but as soon as I left, she made it impossible to keep in touch and know how you were faring. I couldn’t send money for your upkeep. It was about four years later that I realized that all the birthday cards I was sending weren’t being delivered,” he added extensively.His w
IVYI stayed away from everyone and starved myself for days because the dawn of every new day reminded me of the battle I had lost.For weeks, I gave in to a beast just so that I could plan an escape, only for him to take a transfer from the mental home completely.Doctor Lionel was never coming ba
ALEXA“Everything is set for your party,” Noelle said, much to my relief.She had selflessly and willingly taken on the job of my personal assistant, making sure that everything was falling into place easily.“Why do I sense that there is a but in that statement?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.I cou
MARK“How does the invitation make you feel?” Vector asked me.Well, Vector was a friend of mine. My best friend, in fact, but that did not mean that I would tell him everything, or exactly how I felt.I was a man of great pride, and that was because it was a common trait in the Ronaldo lineage.“Yo
ALEXA“Noelle, I finally know what I want to do now,” I said to Noelle during breakfast.After the encounter with Mark, and oh, I did hide details of it from Noelle when I returned, and thankfully, because of the signed papers, Noelle didn’t prod me much or asked for every single detail. I intentio







