Love, Lies and Billionaires

Just as she bent to get some water on her face, she felt arms wrap around her waist. She shrieked and turned around sharply, splashing water all over herself and the intruder.

“Let go of me, you freak,” she said, struggling to free herself. Unfortunately, there was no one else in the bathroom to witness it.

“Don’t fight it, Maren,” the male voice warned. His arms tightly fastened around her.

“That’s what you do now? You stalk me? Hmm?”

“I was already here, alright? I saw you walk in with your new friend, and I just couldn’t resist this,” he confessed, referring to her entire body.

Maren resisted the urge to let out the red, which threatened to appear on her cheeks. “Don’t you have better things to do, William? I mean, you have Irene…”

Before she could say another word, he pushed them back with his lips and she melted in his arms, letting him press her body closer to himself.

‘You really shouldn’t be doing this… but it’s William. We never actually separated…he made a fool of you…but this feels so good…but Alexander…’

“Stop!” she joggled him away from herself. This time, she caught him off guard, so he let go quite easily. “Stop it William. You need to stop this.”

“Why?” He asked, like the reason wasn’t as obvious as human existence.

“Because I’m married to Alexander!”

William scoffed. “You both need to drop the act. It’s so obvious the marriage was arranged. He doesn’t love you and you also don’t love him, Maren. Be truthful to yourself.”

“Don’t say that!” she ran her fingers through her hair. “You can’t say that!” The tempo of her voice rose. “William, you made a fool of me. You dumped me! You blindly gave up your support for me, William!” Her eyes were not red with fury.

“I’ve realised my mistake, Maren, and I’m back to you. You do not need Alexander. He’s a greedy asshole!”

“Where were you when I needed you, William? I faced disgrace and mockery after her breakup was all over the news. My company completely crashed when you withdrew your assistance…” she paused and sucked in her tears.

“Where were you when Nathan was born, when he wouldn’t stop asking me about his father? Alexander brought me out of all of those things and you didn’t. So it should be none of your business how things go on between us, alright?”

“Okay look…

There was a loud banging on the bathroom door. “Is everything alright in there?” A voice asked from the other side.

None of them answered. Maren just stared at him like she was plotting the perfect way to take his head off his neck.

“You know we can talk this out, just like the old times.”

“No, I am not speaking to you about this anymore. Leave me and Nathan alone” she walked angrily towards the door, unbolted it and shot him a murderous look before turning the handle.

“Ma’am, are you okay?” The worker who was at the door asked on seeing Maren’s demeanour, worry written on her face.

“I’m fine,” Maren replied quickly, and walked past her. She walked straight to the booth where Nella sat despite the sea of eyes which were glued to her body. Apparently, the worker had drawn attention to the bathroom with her loud knocking.

“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Maren said as soon as she got to the booth.

“What the fuck happened in there?”

*****

“Now, isn’t this nice?” Mrs Sharppe asked as she dug her gloved hands further into the soil. The warm afternoon breeze blew the few strands of hair that weren’t tucked into her bun, into her mouth as she spoke. She smiled as she worked.

Maren, on the other hand, worked with the cutters as she trimmed the low hedges which made up the mini maze in the garden. “You know I never really like gardening, Mom. It’s a dirty sport. ”

“It’s not a sport, Maren, it’s a hobby, and it’s relaxing, you know”

“Whatever”, she groaned. Handling the cutter with more force.

“Quit fooling around with that thing, young lady. Get over here and touch some soil,” her mom ordered as she threw some flower seeds in the hole she had dug and covered it up.

Maren rolled her eyes and put the cutter away and slipped on some gloves before joining her mom, who was crouched on the ground.

“You don’t learn a hobby, Maren. It comes naturally, but in this case, you’re going to learn to garden and make it your hobby, alright?” her mom said. A hint of tease in her tone.

“What do fun about inhaling weed and dipping your fingers into possible dung infested dirt, anyway?” Maren asked, refusing to give in to her mom’s words.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

“Well, it wasn’t interesting to me at the first instance, but I began doing it when your father started acting up. He’d leave me worried for days without communication and instead of clouding my mind with different thoughts, I dug the ground and fed it some seeds,” she said and paused.

“It felt like I was burying some of my thoughts along with the seeds, sometimes. What I’m trying to say is it would be really nice if you’d get yourself a hobby to get some stress out sometimes,” her mom finally said.

“I’ll think about it, Mom. I just…”

“Someone is here to see you, Mrs. Blackwood,” a maid said, standing at the mouth of the garden.

“Who is it?” Maren asked, keeping her eyes on the soil she was tilling.

“Ma’am”

Maren raised her head at the sound of the voice. Her mom followed suit. They both slowly rose up from where they were crouched, their gaze set upon the being who just walked in.

“Louise, what’s wrong?” judging from the fear and worry on Louise’s face, it was obvious something was terribly wrong.

The young secretary slowly walked towards Maren, who already had her gloves off and stretched forward a brown envelope. She half snatched it from her and hurriedly pulled out the paper from the already open envelope.

Boldly written on the paper was: “I’M COMING FOR YOU!!”