Diane sat on the couch, her legs crossed, her hands wrapped around a glass of wine and her eyes staring into nothingness. Tired of looking at nothing in particular, she reached out and took the magazine lying on the dining. She began to skim through it.
It was around eleven in the midnight. Everyone had gone to sleep. Everyone meant Malvika, Natasha, Jenny and the maids. Nicholas and Ashley were not back from their date yet.
Diane had slept around eight in the night, after dinner. She woke up two hours later, around ten p.m. She had rolled around on her bed, browsed on her phone, went through her social media pages- F******k, I*******m, twitter- every single thing and she was still bored. She had left her phone on the bed and came downstairs, dressed in only her robe, to get a glass of wine.
Then, she sat on the couch, currently going through a magazine.
The door suddenly opened and Nicholas staggered in. Diane looked up and studied his appearance with a blank look on her face. His hair was dishevelled and the black jacket he wore on top of his white shirt while leaving the house was no where to be found. His shirt was unbuttoned and not tucked in properly. Lipstick marks were all over his face. Diane shook her head. She could not ignore the fact that seeing him had left a bitter taste in her mouth and a pang of sadness and jealousy in her.
Nicholas stopped short and looked at her. “Why are you downstairs at this time? Why aren’t you sleeping? Waiting for me?” he asked.
At first, she thought he was serious and wanted to tell him off. Then, she saw the teasing smile playing on his lips. Diane’s lips cracked in a smile. “You wish.”
He slumped into the nearest couch and began to pull of his shoes. “But seriously, why are you awake? It’s like what? Ten?”
“Eleven,” Diane corrected.
“Yeah, whatever. You aren’t answering my question,” he said impatiently.
“I already slept. I slept around eight and woke up at ten,” Diane informed him. “Then, I couldn’t sleep again. So, I came downstairs for a drink.”
Nicholas' gaze landed on the glass in her hand. “I see.”
Diane closed the magazine, dumped it back on the table and uncrossed her legs. “I take it that your date went well.”
Nicholas shrugged. “Kinda. Not exactly.”
Diane’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. She hadn’t expected him to reply her. She expected him to yell at her or ignore her and walk away. “Nicholas,” she called cautiously. “Are you okay?”
Nicholas frowned. “Kinda. Not exactly."
Diane's lips twisted. She stared at him in surprise. Well, if he was talking to her, she might just take the chance. “So, how did the date go?”
He shrugged. He slipped further into the couch, hanging his arm over the arm-rest. “It was okay, I guess. We went to a restaurant. One of those expensive restaurants. Ashley really loves expensive food.”
“She loves expensive food? Isn’t that just interesting?” Diane mused.
“I don’t know,” Nicholas replies, shrugging his shoulders. “She loves anything expensive.”
“Wow.” She was silent for a while. Then in a small, slow voice, she asked, “Why do you love her?"
Nicholas turned his head to look directly at her for the first time. He sat up suddenly, his eyes glaring at Diane with anger and hatred. “It’s none of your business,” he replied harshly, standing up.
Diane flinched from the suddenly hostility in his voice. She frowned in confusion “But…..what’s wrong? We were just talking peacefully….”
“Shut up!” he spat at her angrily. His chest was heaving as he breathed heavily.
“What?” Diane’s frown deepened.
“You better know your place in this house and don’t you dare try to make any foolish conversation with me again!” he screamed, the veins in his head bulging.
‘What the hell?’ Diane thought. “Nicholas….”
“Don’t call my name,” he yelled.
Tears pooled in Diane’s eyes. She sniffed and dabbed on the tears with the back of her palm. “Sorry,” she whispered.
Nicholas stop short as soon as he saw her cleaning the tears in her eyes. He felt a pang of guilt hit his conscience and his face softened. He shook his head thoroughly, managed to give her a very stern look, then, stormed up the stairs.
As soon as he left, the tears in Diane’s eyes rolled down her cheeks. She buried her head in her palm and cried into it. She had never felt so hurt before.
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Nicholas strolled down the stairs in his pyjamas. It was an early morning and he wanted to make it to the set as early as possible. He suddenly halted as his gaze stopped at Diane sleeping on the sofa. He stood for a while wondering what to do. He frowned when he realized that she was in a sitting position and her head was dropping. Wasn’t she uncomfortable? He thought.
He studied her sleepy expression, noticing how her mouth curved in a pout; her eyelashes fluttering intermittently and her long wavy hair covering a part of her face. He had to admit that she was beautiful. Just as he was about to move closer to her, he heard a voice behind him. “Staring at my sister while she sleeps? So creepy.”
He turned and saw Malvika staring at him. “I wasn’t staring at her.”
“Really? You were admiring her beauty then?” Malvika asked, walking towards him.
He scoffed. “Beauty? sister is as ugly as a monkey.” He moved away from her and headed to the table. He picked a cup and a jug.
Malvika watched as he began to pour the content of the jug into the cup. “Of course you would choose the most common, lamest and dumbest comparison."
Nicholas shrugged, raising the cup to his mouth.
“Why didn’t you wake her up? You want her to break her neck?” Malvika asked.
“Did I ask her to sleep that way? Whatever happens to her is none of my business.”
“Asshole,” Malvika muttered. She tapped Diane’s arm and whispered softly. “Di?”
Diane’s eyes fluttered open. Her eyes widened as they met that of Malvika. She stared at Malvika. “Malvi? What’s wrong?”
“Did you sleep in the living room last night?”
Her gaze met Nicholas’ and she quickly averted it. “Yes. I didn’t realize when I slept off. I must have been so tired.”
“Won’t you go prepare for work?” Malvika asked calmly.
“Of course,” Diane said, standing up from the chair. “Thanks, Malvi. Where is Natasha?"
“Still sleeping. You know how she is.”
Diane smiled and all Nicholas could think of was how beautiful her round small lips were. “Of course, I know.” She turned to Nicholas and greeted in a small voice, “Good morning.” Without waiting for an answer, she walked upstairs.
Nicholas stared at her retreating figure, surprised that she even noticed him and greeted him.
“Don’t be surprised,” Malvika said calmly. “That’s just how my sister is.”
“What?” Nicholas asked.
“I know something happened last night. You yelled at her. And you are surprised that she actually noticed your existence or that she greeted you. Get used to it.”
“I don’t care if she greets me or not,” Nicholas said in a hard voice.
“Of course you don’t.” Malvika folded her arms. “You know, Diane has this thought that as the elder sibling, she has to protect us always. And she does, in her own best way. But the fact is that we are more protective of her than she is of us.”
Nicholas dropped the cup on the table. “And, pray, tell me why I’m so lucky to know this little secret?” he asked in the most sarcastic manner.
Malvika smiled. “Because, I heard you yelling at her last night. The next time you do something like that, I’ll castrate you. And I mean it."
Nicholas flinched at her hard voice and the steel look in her eyes. He scoffed. “Psst. You are just bluffing. There is nothing you can do.”
“Really? You try me,” she said with the creepiest smile and walked away.
Nicholas released the breath he didn’t even realize he had been holding. Gosh, Diane’s younger sisters were so scary and annoying.
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Diane sat in her office going through some files. She relaxed into her seat and raised the file open scanning through it with her eyes. There was a knock on the door. “Come in,” Diane said.
The door opened and Jayden stepped in. “Hi.”
Diane looked up and smiled. “Oh Hi, Jayden.” Jayden had been frequenting her office after the first time they met and they were actually becoming good friends.
He closed the door behind him and walked towards the table. He plopped into a seat. “What’s up?”
“I’m good,” Diane replied, dropping the file on the table.
“What are you doing?” Jayden asked, stretching his neck a little to peer into the files on the table.
“Working,” Diane said in a 'duh' tone.
“Yeah, obviously,” he replied, relaxing into the seat. “We had a short break at work, so, I thought I should come and say hi,” he replied.
“Why, thanks. That’s very thoughtful of you,” Diane said.
He nodded, rubbing his chin. “Will you like to step out for a while?”
“I would love to,” Diane said with a beam. “But I’m not sure I should leave this whole ass of work and step out.”
“Ouch. And I was really looking forward to it,” Jayden said. “I guess some other time, then.”
“Yeah. Or how about you go get something for both of us to eat and we can both eat lunch here.”
“That’s an awesome idea. Of course.” Jayden stood up. “So what should I get?”
“I would just love tacos please,” Diane said. “You could also…..” she was interrupted by the ringing of her phone. She held up a finger. “Sorry, I need to take this,” she said, picking up her phone. “Hello?”
Jayden watched as her eyes widened. “What?!” she yelled. Her hands grew weak and her phone dropped on the table with a clatter.
Slowly, she placed her arm on the table and dropped her face into her palms, massaging her temple.
Jayden put forth his hand and touched her shoulder. “Diane, what’s wrong?”
She looked up, her eyes already brimming with tears and slowly broke the news to him.
©️INIOLUWA
CHAPTER 5Diane sat on the chair in the ward, tears streaming down her eyes. Her cheeks were puffy and wet and her eyes were red. She supported her chin with her palm and sobbed silently.Malvika sat on the bed. Tears rolled down her eye but she didn’t cry our loud neither did she sob. She just stared into space. Her hands were folded on her laps. The tears flowed freely but not a sound came out from her mouth.Natasha, on the other hand, was throwing a tantrum. She screamed loudly, tears rolling down her eyes. She pulled her hair, jumped and wailed loudly. She was breathing hard, yet she didn’t stop crying. She panted as she screamed, wailed and cried. She breathed hard. Balls of sweat rolled down from her face. Snot ran down her nose but she was too busy crying to even bother to wipe it off.Jayden held Natasha who just shrugged him off, pushed him violently and continued her mourning. Unsure of what to do, he walked towards Diane and took h
Diane raised her hand and struck him across his face. The impact of the slap made Nicholas whip his head to the other side. Ashley and Jenny jumped from their seats and hurried towards him.“Don’t you dare ask me where we are coming from?!” Diane yelled. She held his shirt and pulled him roughly. Malvika and Natasha tried to hold her and pull her back but she shoved them aside roughly. “You really want to know?! You really want to know where we are coming from?!” She yelled, tears rolling down her eyes.“Hey!” Ashley said, attempting to shove her. “Get away from him!”“Stay out of this!” Diane barked and Ashley flinched, steeping back in shock and fright.Nicholas held Diane’s wrist. “What is wrong with you?” he yelled.“Well, why you were having fun with Ashley, I was busy watching my fathe
Natasha hurried down the stairs, dressed in her school uniform and with her bag slanted across her shoulders. Her feet made loud noises on the floor as she practically flew down the stairs. On getting to the bottom of the stairs, she halted and stared around her curiously, her gaze landing on Ashley and Jenny who were on the couch. Natasha furrowed her eyebrows. 'Where is Jenny?’ she muttered to herself, moving towards the dining table. One of Nicholas’ maids, Mina, walked out of the kitchen holding a plate and a jug in her hand. As she headed towards Ashley, Natasha stopped her. “Hi Mina. Have you seen my sister this morning?” “Which one?” Mina asked. “Diane. I’ve checked her room and she isn’t there. I wonder where she might be.” “No, I haven’t seen her this morning.” Natasha nodded uneasily and moved to the dining table to sit. Her mind was really disturbed, making her unable to eat. She waited for a while.
Nicholas came out of the bathroom, a towel tied around his waist. He looked at Ashley’s sleeping figure on the bed, shook his head and smiled fondly. Careful not to make a noise or disturb her, he treaded slowly towards the dressing table and picked up his body cream. He spread out his palm and pressed out the cream.After rubbing cream all over his body, he hurriedly wore his jeans trousers and shirts. He picked up his hair cream from the table and pressed out the cream. He stared at it with a puzzled look on his face. It looked oddly strange. Then he, shrugged and rubbed it all over his hair.He pressed more into his hands and rubbed all over his hair. He was so engrossed in rubbing the cream all over his hair that he did not realize the transformation that was taking place on his head, neither did he bother to check the mirror.Once he was done, he tapped Ashley. “Hey babe.”Her eyes fluttered open. She closed them back
“Malvika!” Natasha yelled. “Nicholas has left the house. Now, we need to figure out what to do! Gosh!” She shouted in agitation, pacing around the room. She sat down and stood up again, unable to stay in a place.“Seriously, you guys should not have done this,” Diane said.“Just stop blaming us and help us think of a way out!” Natasha exclaimed.“You guys, calm down,” Malvika said in a calm tone, totally unbothered. “It’s not such a big deal. So, what if he finds out? Who cares? What can he do to us, anyway?”“You’ve forgotten that we are living under his roof; he can do absolutely anything to us. Besides, Mina is involved in this plan; she helped us get the spare key to Nicholas’ room and she was watching the door for us while we carried out the prank. We can’t let her lose her job.” Natasha replied, a panic-stricken look on her face.
It was evening and Natasha was sitting on the couch, her legs folded with a bowl of popcorn on her thighs. Her gaze was wholly concentrated on the television as she occasionally reached into the bowl to throw an handful of popcorn into her mouth. Diane was at the dining table at the far end of the living room. A couple of files were spread out in front of her. Her head was buried into them as she tried to sort them out. Malvika descended the stairs and walked towards Natasha. She slumped into the seat. “Hey,” she muttered. Natasha simply gave her a nod and turned back to the television. Malvika reached out a hand and dipped them into the bowl. She packed an handful of popcorn and threw them into her mouth. Natasha turned to glare at her. “Thief.” Malvika rolled her eyes. “Is Nicholas back?” she asked. “No. Where is Jenny?” “I don’t know. Somewhere in her room, maybe,” Malvika replied. The doorbell
Once again, Diane was in the conference room with the shareholders of the company. She rocked her chair as she stared into the faces of the men sitting before her. It seemed so unbelievable that she would be heading a meeting consisting of about five smart, rich, wealthy and powerful people. She rocked her chair slowly, her face grim and unsmiling. “Well?” She broke the tense silence. “What should we do?” “We should invest in the cement company,” Derrick Hale said – for the umpeeteenth time- coldly and harshly. “I don’t see any reason to invest into junk foods.” “The only reason why you want to invest in the cement company is because it happens to be one of the companies you also invest in,” Edward McClain said to Derrick Hale, giving him terrible eyes. “What is wrong with that?” Derrick Hale spat out vexedly. “Everything is wrong with it,” Jasper Harrington said with a narrowed look. “Mr. Hale seems to have forgotten that we do
Diane walked into the restaurant, her arm hooked into Jayden’s. They stopped at the entrance for a while, surveying the restaurant. “Wow, this place is actually beautiful.”Jayden tightened his hold on Diane. “Yeah, it is,” he replied softly, staring down to look at her face. Diane looked up at him and gave him one of those beautiful smiles that melted his heart away. “Come on let’s get our seat.”As they moved, a water intercepted them. “Good afternoon, sir, ma. How may we help you?”“Good afternoon. I made a reservation under the name Jayden Hale.”The waiter flopped through a pad. Then, he raised his head and smiled. “Of course. Come this way,” he said, turning to walk. Jayden and Diane followed him without complaint. He took them to a seat beside the window. “Here is your seat, Sir and Ma,” he stated.Diane gave him a smile. “Thank you.”