(Lily's POV)
After emptying my bowel, I flushed the closet and washed my tiny fingers under the warm water cascading down the sink. I sashayed out of the toilet to my towel rack and I grabbed one of the towels and wiped off the freckles of water that settled on my hand.
"I have to be fast with this packing," I mumbled beneath my breath when my hazel eyeballs drifted to the clothes piled on the bed. I threw the towel back onto its rack and darted to my king-sized bed.
I heaved a sigh of exhaustion as I continued to fold the tons of new clothes into my traveling bag. I used my salary to purchase all of them after resigning from my teaching job two weeks ago.
After some minutes of packing, I bawled when I came across some crazy transparent patterns that were sewn inside three of the most expensive black gowns I had bought.
It was their thick textures and the durabilities that had drawn them to me and I did not even think twice or check them thoroughly before I paid for them
"Why didn't I check them thoroughly when I was buying them? I should have opened my eyes," I whined as my fingers clenched into a fist.
My heart capsized and I felt numb at the moment because I knew I could be disqualified if I wore these at the monastery. I decided to start my nun training three weeks ago and my application to undergo an aspirancy for two months has been accepted.
I was looking forward to doing my best to qualify and become the nun I had desired to be but wearing these kinds of gowns would only deduct my points and my potential of being one.
I hopped on my bed with a heavy heart and I suspended the clothes over the traveling bag, pondering about what I could do to make them wearable and modest. Because, apart from the aspirancy, I could not just let three thousand dollars go to waste!
I tossed the gowns in fury to God knows where and I continued to fold and arrange the rest into the bag. After some minutes of hard work, streaks of sweat began to trickle down my soft cheeks and I switched on the air conditioner.
Then, I decided to take a break and engage in what I love doing most in order to relax my brain. Funnily, reading books was one of the two things that would relax my head and the second one was slumber.
I sprinted to my reading table and clutched one of the books in my hands titled "Sisters: Catholic Nuns and the Making of America” by one of my favorite authors, John J. Fialka.
I fell in love with the book and I could not wait to finish it since I started. I opened the page I had stopped and I grew lost in my reading world when the ringing tone of my phone jolted me back into reality.
"Who could be calling me this late?" I thought as I dipped my hand into my jogger's pocket and I almost hissed when I removed it and discovered the call dialer was no one but Austin. I exhaled and dropped my phone on the table till it finished ringing.
He called again and again and again and after seconds of hesitation, I resorted to picking up his call. I knew I was going to hear the same story all over again.
"Lily, please listen to me. I truly love you. I can not do without you. Please, reconsider me. I would never hurt you. It was never my intention in the first place," Austin lamented over the phone.
This was what he did every day. He would call me and then persuade me to accept him after what happened three years ago. I should have blocked him since that time but I just could not bring myself to do it.
Somehow, I still felt for him a spark of love that always ignited in my heart whenever I saw his calls, but I would rather become a nun where I would be free from heartbreaks than believe in love again. Love is nothing but a hurtful feeling!
"You should understand this, Austin, I do not love you. Like, I have stopped loving you and our love ended the very day you chose to cheat on me with my best friend and I caught you," I fired at him but he was used to it. This was the same thing I used to respond to him.
"But mine has not ended, baby. It was not intentional and I still sink in rues for waiting for you to arrive that day. Zoe was the devil who drugged me into making out with her. I would never cheat on you. Trust me. I love you," he responded in a croaked voice. I guessed he was about to wail and it was hurting me a bit.
I cursed the day I met Zoe, she was my best friend and she even disapproved of Austin when I first introduced him to her not knowing that she had been secretly hitting on him.
"Austin, I want you to start your love life afresh. I will be becoming a nun in two days and I want you to forget about me."
"What?! Since when have you been planning this, Lily? Please talk to me!"
I ignored his questions and proceeded to talk. "Austin, you should stop calling me. More so, Dad will be very mad at me if he figures out that you and I still talk. By the way, I am in the middle of something so I have to go now," I concluded as I rushed my words and struck the red button.
I flung my phone on the soft bed and I couldn't help but feel a scintilla of depression. I truly loved Austin and the craziest part was that I still do, even if it was not as pronounced as it was then.
Suddenly, I began to recite my mantra. I recited it any time I felt that sadness creeping into my heart.
"I refuse to be distracted. I refuse to be distracted," I uttered as I dropped the book and rose to my feet, and proceeded to fold the rest of the clothes.
After I was done packing my clothes and other necessities, I knew there was something left I had not added and after racking my brain, I remembered that it was my new books. Dad got those four books for me on my 24th birthday which was last month.
They were books written about the nuns' lifestyles and I was so ecstatic when I laid my hands on them. I have not started to read them because I still have some other books to finish and I did not have much spare time.
I searched every nook and cranny of my room for these books but I found nothing. Then my mind flashed back to the day I had left them in my dad's private study and without wasting much time, I took my phone and headed to his study.
If only I had known…
(Lily's POV)I waited impatiently as I knocked twice on the metallic door of his private study but I got no response. I knocked again and after a while, I decided to go back to my room and come back the following morning. I was about to take the second step when I tilted my neck and halted in my tracks. My eyes had hovered around the knob of the door and I found out it was sort of twisted.The only reason the knob could be like that was that the door was not locked and that meant that my dad was inside. But I have been knocking. It was really unusual for Dad to leave the door unlocked unless he was in there. We had dinner two hours ago and he apprised me that he was coming here to finish one of his projects. I also told him I was going to pack my clothes but he didn't reply to me after that. He only nodded which was unlike him and I went to my room.Could it be that he has drifted off into Dreamland because he sometimes spent his night there, or could he be in the restroom? My dad h
(Jack's POV)I rested my spines on the headboard of my master bedroom as I quaffed down an alcoholic drink, watching my male Personal Assistant run some programs on my new software. I had ordered him to follow me to my mansion after our normal working hours and he had no choice but to heed because he knew what I could do to him if he defied my order. "Drrz drrz…!" his phone kept ringing. He surreptitiously keeked at me and I gave him a withering stare. He shut his mouth instantly when I saw he was about to talk.I gulped the alcohol but I decided not to swallow it. I wanted to teach him a lesson so dropped the bottle of alcohol on its designated gray and dawdled toward him. "I apologize, sir, it was my wife, sir," he shivered and fear outlined on his face as he jolted upright. That was what I loved to see on people's faces. Fear! I spat a portion of the alcohol on his face and drizzled the rest all over his body. "Aaaouch!" he yelled when the alcohol penetrated his eyes and I smir
(Lily's POV)Throughout midnight at the railway station, my heart capsized like the Titanic ship and I wept profusely. How could my biological father do this to me without thinking about my feelings? Did I not mean anything to him?I wished Mum was alive, she would not have accepted that her daughter was traded just because of her husband's company. The thought of how she and my siblings died clouded me again and my tears rekindled.My phone vibrated in my pocket and this was going to be the third time my phone would be ringing. I shove my hands into my pocket with the intention to pull it out and fling it to God knows where. I just wanted to be alone.Not until I saw that it was not thrice that I had received the call but it was the eighteenth time and the calls were from the same unknown number. I was skeptical to pick at first but then, I remembered when mum used to tell me not to pick unknown numbers but you could if the caller called many times. It meant that something one did n
(Jack’s Pov)If not that I want an heir, I wouldn’t have had anything to do with a poor brat like her, “Lily? Horrible name”. Jane should have done better with her choice of a wife for me, even if it was a contract marriage, I deserve better.She better gives me beautiful children because I wouldn’t take ugly children from her, I can’t let go of what her father owes me and she pays me back with ugly-looking children.I don’t know why but my face began to turn red thinking about the whole thing, I never wanted to have anything to do with people below my standard but on second thought, I decided to see it as a beneficial kind of marriage that it is, she gives me an heir and I throw her out to the street where she belongs. Poor thing.All these poor people, I said as I emptied the half-full bottle of whiskey in front of me into a glass cup. As if the rage was too much to handle sitting down, I stood up and moved around my room, I wasn’t seeing everything in my room the same way again.Wh
(Lily’s Pov)I can’t believe I’m about to get married to a total stranger and to think that it was the ruthless Jack. I saw my world crumbling before me and I couldn’t do anything to help myself. I sat in my father’s study room, face-palmed myself, and cried to myself.I know how much I despise Austin but at this point in my life, I would prefer to get married to ten Austins to getting married to one Jack.“What does he take me for”?“do I look like a toilet roll he can purchase and discard after making use of it”If not for my dad, I wouldn’t be doing this, I should probably be on my way to the monastery where I would be trained to become a nun.I stood up and dragged myself sluggishly around the house, each place I got to the house reminded me of the precious moments I shared with my dad, the walls were decorated with pictures of us, the ones we had taken from when I was a child until now that I’m grown.My father has been a wonderful dad, he never let me lack anything, and my happi
(Lily’s Pov)I stepped out of the house feeling all refreshed. Just in front of our building, I was lucky enough to see a taxi that just dropped off a passenger.I know I’m beautiful but the way the taxi driver looked at me in admiration made me feel embarrassed even when I was supposed to be happy.“Hello pretty, at your service” the dark skinned and well looking young man who sat on a driver’s seat in the taxi said to me.Not all of these taxi drivers were kind enough to compliment their passengers, some would insult you or charge you more than what you’re supposed to pay if they had the chance., so I was a bit surprised when the young man complimented me.“I’m going to City Hospital’ I said not looking at his face and pointing to the direction that led to the City Hospital.“Hop in ma’am” He opened the door for me and gave me a “go ahead and enter” gesture with his head. That was quite strange.I couldn’t remember the last time I boarded a taxi, it has been ages, Mum drove me to sc
Lily’s Pov)As I walked gently and quietly down the hospital’s building and heading to the ward where my dad was, my heartbeat increased, it dawned on me that my life was about to change forever, even though it wasn’t a good one but I didn’t care that much since it was for my father, I can do anything to get him on his feet again.As I approached the staircase I held the bag I used in loading the food very tight and was extra careful on how I walked on the slippery well tiled floor. City Hospital is one of the best in town and it’s beautiful environment speaks for it, and when it comes to life supporting machines, they have everything any good Hospital should have. In our family, City Hospital does it for us.Soon, I got to my father’s room and as I opened the door I saw a fair, slim and lanky nurse attending to him, I stayed aside and watched them until she was done getting every information and doing every checkup she needed to do.“I’m done ma’am” the nurse said putting her record
(Lily’s Pov)It’s already 5am in the morning and all I had in my mind was signing the contract and paying for the hospital bills, I can’t remember sleeping in the night, I was filled with so much anxiety, it was like the longest night of my life, I watched my Dad sleep so peacefully, each time I looked at him, I went close to him and put a finger close to his nose just to make sure he was still breathing since I didn’t hear him snore as usual. My dad is such a chronic snorer that one would hear him snore even in the next room, so it gave me great concern when I didn’t hear him snore all through the night.The day was getting brighter and the hospital was filled with sounds of patients and guardians greeting each other and praying, the cry of children wasn’t exempted, there was a particular kid who didn’t allow the whole ward rest in the night, he kept on crying out of pain and I wished he could get well that night but wishes aren’t horses.I got prepared and woke my dad up to tell him