Morning came faster than Kelvin anticipated it. He got out of bed, took a shower and forced himself to eat. His only goal was to be strong for his wife. He sent Amara a text message before leaving the house. For now, she would have to handle things in his absence.
The drive to the hospital was the fastest ride of his life. A nurse attended to him with a smile. Leila was fine and awake, she had asked after him this morning. His grin was dampened by the fact he had to give up their child for his wife’s life but he managed to rein in his emotions and followed behind the nurse.
Peeping through the glass, he smiled at his sleeping wife. He didn’t want to be the one to tell her about the baby. The nurse left him alone and he went inside.
His need to be closer to her took over his senses and he crawled into the bed to be with her. Her eyes fluttered open. Leila smiled and his heart stopped.
“Baby,” he murmured over and over ag
Leila’s heart was crushing. Her heart was breaking and the broken pieces were breaking all over again. What did she do? Was it because she got pregnant? They both wanted the baby. He told her he wanted a son.The door opened after she was tucked in bed. The broken pieces of her heart broke into tinier pieces when her parents, instead of Kelvin, walked in. Her mother came over to her side and hugged her tight.“What happened?” her mother asked. Her father had not said a word. He wasn’t a man of so many words.“I don’t know.” She stared at her nails. She had chewed them out of impatience. “I told him I was pregnant and he started acting strange. I don’t know.”“The nurse told us he has been coming everyday.”“I know,” Leila murmured. Her mother sank into the chair her father pulled out for her and Leila threw him a smile. The nurses on duty tol
“I don’t understand,” her mother answered.Leila didn’t understand either. She had a baby before the accident and now Kelvin was saying there was no longer a baby. She wiped the tears falling down to her cheeks. How could the baby be gone? She didn’t get the chance to meet their child or tell Kelvin about it.“He killed my baby,” she said but the voice sounded like it belonged to someone else instead of her. She pulled her knees up to her chest and rocked herself. “Kelvin killed my baby. My husband killed my baby.” “How?” her father asked. Leila stared up at him with tears in her eyes. He sounded like he didn’t believe her. She was not lying. “I mean, how’s that possible?”Closing her eyes, she pushed a pillow under her head and pulled the comforter over her body. She needed to be alone. “They asked him to pick, he picked me.”
It hurt. It hurt too much.Kelvin couldn’t describe the pain effectively but all he knew was that he wanted it to end. If this was a phase, it was taking too long to pass. Leila was silent in the car as they drove back home. He knew what she had gone to get. He had seen it when she dropped it on her lap. A pregnancy kit. She was only setting herself up for more pain and heartbreak but he didn’t know how to stop her. The baby was gone. They lost their first child.Did she think he wasn’t hurting too? He was the one who made the choice. He would live with that forever.They got home and she dashed upstairs without waiting for him. Kelvin delayed to follow her. He knew what to expect and he didn’t want to be there when she realised he had been telling the truth all along.After about ten minutes, he decided to go up. It was better to face the situation now, once and for all. His ascent to their apartment was sl
Work was only a means to pass time. Kelvin had lost the zeal to work but he continued at it. He missed the random texts from his wife before she bursts into his office. He missed their office fucks. Their lunch time together. The stolen losses on the corridor.Amara sent him an email, the long awaited email and instead of joy, he felt despair. They had been waiting for approval to visit London and finalise the plans for Tech Valley new branch. His fingers shook in trepidation. This would have been a good time for him and Leila to travel to London so he could show her some of the beauties in that city without his parents’ interruption but she wasn’t even talking to him.The most he got out of her was a grunt and murmurs of approval each time he brought her meal. He had learned to cook pasta because of her. When Kelvin had served her a plate full of pasta that was golden brown because he had taken it off the pot too late, she had eaten it all up without
Plans to leave the country were already in place for Kelvin and his assistant. Amara was readying everything they would need on Saturday. They went over the briefs together, he wouldn’t be back here in a while. Not for two months. That was the biggest reason he wanted to go with Leila. But with the way she had been treating him, he was beginning to look forward to being away from her. Being away from this depressing place.“Sir? I think that’s all.”Kelvin looked up from the file he was holding at the sound of Amara’s voice. She closed the thick folder she had been working on and excused herself. In the silence that ensued, his thoughts came back to haunt him. He shoved the file under the one Amara left and ran his fingers through his messy hair.What if he got her a car to replace the one Leila lost? Would that help? At least she would have a means of transportation when he was gone, far away from her like she wan
Leila ignored the doorbells and knocks like she had been doing since she decided to live at home. They would go away if she ignored them, the same way Kelvin also left. Sometimes, her silence didn’t work on him but her words did. The knocks persisted. She rolled onto her back and let out an angry, frustrated growl.She felt like shit. She felt like shit for losing her baby. She felt like shit for hitting Kelvin.Oh, God. She shoved a fist into her mouth. She hit Kelvin. She hit her husband. But he deserved it. He thought he could earn her forgiveness with his stupid gifts. If she wanted a phone or a car, she would get one for herself. Now that she had ruined the one he bought for her, she had no intention of getting a new one. She was tired of the outside world bothering her.She was tired of Kelvin bothering her but her heart had skipped when evening passed and he didn’t bring her dinner. This morning was the same thing. He didn’t let her know
Leila felt clean and brand new after her bath. Her mother didn’t bath her but she had stayed behind like she didn’t trust Leila to do it right. Putting on the first gown she saw, she crawled into the bed, grateful for her mother who climbed in right after her. Her eyes were heavy with tiredness but she couldn’t sleep. She needed Kelvin. She didn’t know what she would tell him. For now, his presence would be enough for her.“Have you eaten?” her mother asked. They were both on the bed, facing each other. Leila didn’t want to worry her mother anymore so she nodded. Speaking might give her away. “What did you eat, Leila?”“Noodles.”Her mother laughed. She smoothed the pillows she was resting her head on and poked Leila’s nose. “That’s still your favourite, isn’t it?” Leila nodded. As a teen, they had tried once to stop her from eating noodles but it didn&rsq
For a while after her mother left, Leila could only hear her words playing over and over again in her head.Don’t lock him out.She already did. But she could fix it. She would fix it.Where was he?It was a few minutes past nine and Kelvin was nowhere to be found. He didn’t pick her calls or reply to her texts. A call to Amara informed her he was not at work. They both left the office early today. Leila didn’t let her fear show as she thanked the woman. She ended the call and made her way to the kitchen.Yam pottage was his favourite so she got to making it. She was in the process of peeling the yam when she heard the sound of the door opening. Leila froze.Should she go to welcome him or wait for him to show up? She decided on waiting for him to check on her in the kitchen and if he didn’t, she would go to the room.Minutes later, when the yam was boiled and Kelvin had not showed