Mara's POV
A cold night always brought an angel to cuddle up inside my arms like her life depended on me. We had so many cold stormy nights and they always sent her flying into my arms because she was scared of storms, thunder, darkness; my little darling: my Marisa. It was the same cold night that had plagued her little heart with an illness; she had contracted pneumonia when we were kicked out of our home and had to spend a series of nights out in the cold, on the streets. We squatted in dek allies, under bridges, in places no human being should ever find their self in. We ate from trash cans, left overs and some days nothing at all. On a cold night she had started coughing and burning up while I was out in the world looking for a means for us to survive. On a cold night, I had gone through the ga badge cans by a pharmacy to get something, anything that could help her. It was on a cold night that I ran in and out of stores, homes, work places, pleading,
I thought she was going to die. I thought my chances at fatherhood had been shattered. I had never been so scared in my entire life. While we drove back to the hospital, Issa and my wife did everything they could to keep her warm; she was freezing under that rain. Sophia had even taken off her own blazer to cover her up. I could see her continually throwing dirty glances at me through the rear mirror. At some point she had to ask me something to calm her spirit.Meanwhile, I had my own questions crawling through my mind, like; how did she not feel she was slowly killing herself? How did she forget she was carrying a child? How could she have been so reckless? To say I was mad, at her, would be an understatement. I was enraged. But even so, I was scared. If anything was to happen to her, or my baby, my last hope of having a child of my own; my own flesh and blood, all would have been lost.We reached the hospital and immediately she was
Life at the Shenko's mansion was life. The kind of life I hadn't been given in my lifetime. I wasn't always a homeless street kid or squatter. There had been a time in my life when I had a full family, a roof over my head, food on my table, warm cloths on my skin, laughter in my home, and money in my wallet. But then, from one day to another, in the blink of an eye, everything came crumbling down. I couldn't understand why or how, but things changed drastically for everyone around me. I lost my family, my home, my dreams, my friends, my hopes and aspirations; everything evaporated just like that. I had no idea how hard things were about to get for me.Being in Jared Shenko's house reminded me of all I had forgotten about; like what having a good home cooked meal on the table felt and looked like.Did I say a meal? No!They were like ten different stuff on this table and it was only still breakfast. Mr.
"But is she going to be OK?" "She'll be fine. It's just normal. All these are as a result of pregnancy hormones. The may be pregnancy induced cravings coming along too. But for now, you just have to understand that her body now only works with the baby's demands; he is little in there but she would only have what it wants; and as for the fainting, she only fainted because her system is weak. You just find something she can eat and not throw up, then let have her rest, like a lot of rest.""Thank you Andrew.""You're welcome Mr. Shenko! And call me anytime anything goes wrong. And Dora, please make sure she takes her vitamins. Her body needs them.""I will."I wasn't awake. But I could hear them
The food tasting thing started pretty great; you know, with the heavenly scent, all the flavours to die for. But eight different dishes later, I felt like I would die if I tried another. Everything looked and smelled great but tasted like shit. My stomach churned as the fowl smell of puke filled the air. I had thrown up so much so that I doubted there was be any liquid left in my body. Jared made sure I drank a lot of water every time I emptied my guts. We'd been at it for almost three hours; I was starving but couldn't eat anything. I was tired and I was exhausted."I'm starting to think this baby hates me," I couldn't control the tears that washed down my face. It was frustrating to not being able to eat anything and still be hungry; plus the nausea which wasn't a very pleasant feeling. I wasn't the only one frustrated. He wouldn't say anything but I could see it in his eyes. He was tired and a little pissed. The veins that stood on his forehead, abou
I had been upstairs, exploring through my new lifestyle and I heard Sophia's laughter down stairs. It sounded like she had been really amused by something or someone. I was going to go down and snoop but stopped halfway on the stairs, sat down and watched as Jared served his wife a bowl of the food he had made for me. I watched as Sophia lifted a spoon to her lips with an impassive look on her face, then scrunched up her nose in disgust;"This taste horrible! It's bitter.""What? No way! After all the delicacies we had her try, she found my cooking to be the best. She almost emptied the whole pot." Mr. Shenko defended his dish in amusement causing Sophia as well to jolt into simultaneous laughter. Their voices echoed throughout the mansion, "I'm about to open a world's first class noodle soup only restaurant you know!""Oh really now? So try it then, Mr. World chef." Sophia mocked back at him,
Weeks had gone by with me trying to lock myself out of the life of Jared Shenko, inside his on house. My feelings for him were growing and as they did, I slowly came to the realisation of what was possible and what was impossible. Jared Shenko was happily married. He loved his wife so much he hurt. Even if I was there, he never failed nor faltered in the way he demonstrated his love for her; they never failed to demonstrate their love for each other. It was not like I was important to him or anything, or I had some issues with their explicit display of affection. I wasn't his ex girlfriend or at least a concubine. I was just his surrogate. Some times, it would hurt; a lot! so I started keeping my distance. I used to think I was done! Finished with feelings and emotions but I still couldn't understand what this man had on me the drove me to the brink of the sanity I already lost.I was four months in now and my bump was still tiny; visi
Sophia's POVFor the very first time, I saw more to this girl than I had depicted of her.Vulnerability!! So much vulnerability!By no way was it her fault that she had almost lost the baby! But I couldn't do anything either when Jared was angry; he was like a an angry lion in the wild. I just very silently watched as he lashed out his exaggerated anger and frustration on the poor girl."The only reason I let you come into my home was so that child would be safe. Safe!!! And what did you do? You compromised that!!!" He yelled at her; more like over her. She just sat there and tears washed her cheeks; not a word was uttered. It was as if she wasn't even with us. She looked completely out of the situation. She kind of reminded me of myself when I was going through almost the same thing, except I had wilfully gotten rid of my own
As I stepped out that room, I felt the world fall on my shoulders and its weight was just too much for me to bare. I felt like I was the center of everything wrong and right at the same time. For years now I have had to struggle with the weight on, hoping one day it'll go away. But it never did. It had only gotten worse; with every related word anyone said; I felt it, every related mistake Jared made; I felt it. I loved him too much to even hate him even just the smallest bit of any faults he made. But that aside, I needed to find one of his mistakes. She was carrying something I couldn't give him, and if warming up to her was all what it took to make him a complete happy man, I was willing to make that sacrifice. I was willing to befriend her, for him. I would give my life for Jared.I ran outside to find Maraïda's figure disappearing towards the garden."Maraïda! Maraïda!" I called as I followed her, "Maraïda wait?"