“What are you two whispering to yourselves,” Desmond asked suspiciously when he noticed that the voices had become low.
“Nothing!” Samantha and Kiandra answered at the same time and this just made him more suspicious but luckily he didn’t push it.Samantha sighed and rolled her eyes. Having a dad who was in the military was a hassle at times and this time was one of those times as she knew that he would surely keep an eye on them.The rest of the ride was silent as the two girls didn’t want to risk Desmond hearing them. Immediately they arrived at their house, Kiandra was immediately ushered into the dining room.Samantha knew that Kiandra's mother would have starved her and so, she had asked her grandmother to prepare something for her.“Hello Nana,” Kiandra greeted the elderly woman as she took her seat.“Oh you poor child, look at your state,” Nana complained as she started dishing out Kiandra’s food. “I’m not going to allow you to return to that woman, not even if you cry and beg me.”Kiandra nodded but she was not really listening as her attention was focused on the mouth-watering dishes in front of her. Nana had always been a really good cook and so she knew the food was going to be really good.“The food is really good Nana,” Kiandra complimented as soon as she tasted the food.“I’m glad you like it,” Nana replied. “Now eat up and don’t leave anything on the plate,” she said and Kiandra nodded. Samantha came into the room and her grandmother immediately dished out her dinner.If there was one thing Nana hated, it was a hungry child and so she always made sure that they were well fed whenever they were with her.“So are you ready to party and have fun tomorrow?” Samantha asked Kiandra after her grandmother had left.“What about your dad?” Kiandra asked. She knew that Samantha’s dad was a bit strict when it came to all of these things and so he wouldn’t approve of what Samantha had in mind.“He is leaving tomorrow morning for a classified mission,” Samantha answered.“Oh,” Kiandra mumbled. Since Samantha's dad was a top high-ranking official in the Army, he was usually deployed to oversee some really important missions which he couldn't discuss with anyone.When Samantha was younger and her dad was always away it was usually her grandmother that would take care of Samantha as her mom was dead.“How long will he be gone for?” Kiandra asked.“About one to two months,” Samantha answered.“But he has to be back in time to see us off for college,” Kiandra stated.“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Desmond’s voice came from behind them. They turned and saw him being held by the ear by his mother-in-law.This made the two girls laugh as it was a funny sight no matter how many times they would see it. Nana always hated it when one always skipped their meals and this was what she always did to Desmond as he would always try to skip his meals due to how busy he was.Desmond finally had his seat and his Nana let go of his ear. “Besides, do you know what I love about the college you two are going to?” he asked.“What?!” Samantha and Kiandra asked in unison.“It is just an hour drive from here which means I’ll be visiting a lot,” Desmond said.“Please don’t!” Samantha pleaded with her father as she knew that the latter would surely embarrass her.“Too bad I’ve already made up my mind,” Desmond shrugged.“Ahhh!” Samantha groaned as she knew that there was no way she would be able to change her father’s mind.Kiandra shook her head and continued eating. Dinner was so much fun with everyone laughing and Desmond talking about the things he would do to embarrass his daughter.Kiandra looked at the family and she bit her lips to control her tears as she felt a bit jealous of Samantha.The only thing missing from her friend's family was her mother and yet she didn’t feel it as the remaining two spoiled her with so much love and affection.Meanwhile, she had a mother who hated her for being born for her decision to get intimate with an unknown man who she had never mentioned to Kiandra.Life was indeed not balanced.Her mother was not the best mother to her but she promised herself that when she had a family of her own she would be a good mother to them.****“Well that was tiring,” Liam slumped back in his chair as soon as the last person walked out of the room.“You didn’t even do anything,” Lucas said, rolling his eyes at how Liam was behaving.“No, I had to sit here for four hours straight listening to presentations as well as reports and that is more than tiring to do,” Liam argued.He then picked up his phone on the table and started searching for something. “What are you searching for?” Lucas asked curiously.“The club where I’m going to be tomorrow night,” Liam answered and Lucas immediately got up. “Oh look, the hotel’s club is going to be having a party tomorrow,” he stated.“Hey, are you going to be coming?” Liam asked even though he could already tell what his answer was going to be.“No!” Lucas immediately answered and he left the room.‘Annoying brute,” Liam muttered under his breath and he returned his attention back to making plans for the next day.After Lucas left the conference room, he headed straight to his hotel room and started going through some files.Halfway through, he received a text message from a number he never expected would text him again after what had happened between them.He picked up his phone and his face contorted into a frown upon reading the message. Was this girl crazy or foolishly confident?He immediately dialed a number and the person picked up on the third ring. “What?!” Liam answered in irritation.“Lola texted me,” Lucas told Liam. There was silence for some time and then the next thing Lucas heard was a beep indicating that the line had been disconnected.“Is he being serious,’ Lucas asked in disbelief, shocked that Liam had disconnected the call. Just as he was still processing what had happened, he heard a knock on his door.He got up to check who it was and he saw that it was Liam. Not wasting a second, he opened the door and let Liam into the room.“Did you just say that Lola texted you?” Liam asked Lucas and the latter nodded in agreement.“Show me the text,” Liam demanded and Lucas handed over his phone to Liam so he could read the text."Oh wow," he exclaimed after reading the text. "You have to go and see her," he said after he was done reading the text."Are you crazy or something?" Lucas flared up. "Why would I go to see her?" He asked."Well I want to know what she wants to say after cheating on you," Liam shrugged casually. "You never confronted her and I'm in for the drama.""Besides, this would be a good opportunity for you to finally take revenge on her," he suggested and Lucas' eyes shone with delight upon hearing Liam's suggestion.If there was one thing he lived for, that was taking revenge on people in the most unexpected ways and he'd be a fool not to take advantage of this opportunity."Fine I'll go," he said and Liam's lips broke into a devious smile as he knew that he would soon get some entertainment in his life.****"Happy eighteenth birthday, Kia," she heard Samantha say to her.Her eyes slowly fluttered open and she sat up trying to get herself to adjust to the light."Kia!" Samantha jumped excitedly on the bed, jolting Kiandra awake. "Finally, you're eighteen.""It's my birthday but yet you seem to be more excited than me," Kiandra chuckled as she sat up."Here you go," Samantha said, handing over a small bag to her.Kiandra took the bag from Samantha and her mouth fell open when she saw what was in it. It was a new cell phone.Back when she lived with her mother, the latter refused to get her a phone as she considered it a waste of money."Samantha, this phone is really expensive, how did you…?" Kiandra probed."Well, I saved up some money and dad pitched in and added the rest," Samantha explained."Oh thank you!" Kiandra exclaimed and she hugged Samantha. "You're the best!""Of course I am,” Samantha agreed. "Finally we get to do a lot of stuff together. Speaking of which, we are going to a club tonight.""No we can't, your dad won't like it," Kiandra pointed out. She also didn't feel too inclined to go to the club and she didn't have any problems in using Samantha's dad as an excuse."Well, my dad leaves for the important mission in an hour which means that we get to be all by ourselves," Samantha informed Kiandra."So stop trying to look for excuses and cheer up, we can finally get drunk together," she said and winked at Kiandra."You're impossible," Kiandra muttered under her breath. Out of the two of them, Samantha was the outspoken one. If it was up to Kiandra, she would have stayed home and slept the entire day not caring if it was her birthday or not.However, she also knew that Samantha wasn’t going to let that happen. Kiandra already dreaded going to the club where there was going to be loud music blasting in her ears but she couldn’t refuse Samantha who just wanted to cheer her up.“I know,” Samantha responded.“Get out, I want to get some sleep. If you don’t want me passing out at the club, then don’t disturb me during my nap,” Kiandra then kicked Samantha off the bed which caused the latter to swear at her.“Close the door on your way out,” Kiandra mumbled sheepishly as she got herself tucked in.“One of these days, I’m going to kill you,” Samantha muttered under her breath as she left the room so that Kiandra could get rest as she needed it after everything that had happened to her.****Lucas looked through his tablet as he was reading the report of the day that his secretary had sent him. “You know, one of these days, you’re going to kill yourself if you keep on overworking,” he heard Liam who was beside him say to him.They were currently in Lucas’ room and they had both gotten dressed to head down to the club when Lucas got an email from his secretary which he decided to open; an action which left Liam fumbling.“You are finally going to a club to have fun after a long time, forget about work for tonight,” Liam requested of Lucas.“I’m only going to the club to hear what my ex-girlfriend who cheated on me wants to say,” Lucas corrected. “Once I hear the bullshit she has to say, I’m out of there.”“Sometimes I wonder how I have been able to put up with you for twenty three years,” Liam muttered under his breath and he rolled his eyes.“Well, if you want to keep on killing yourself slowly, you do that, I’m leaving,” he stated and stood up.Lucas didn’t bother to reply to him and he didn’t try to stop Liam from leaving as the latter would come crawling back to him soon.He finished reading the report ten minutes later and he headed out of his room. “Finally you’re done,” Liam said when he saw Lucas come out of his room.Just as Lucas had predicted, Liam didn’t really head to the club without him. “Let’s go,” Lucas said and the two men finally got on their way.They arrived at the club five minutes later. They were immediately ushered in as they didn’t have to wait like the others as this was their club.“Remember the rule, don’t drink anything offered to you by her,” Liam reminded Lucas and the latter gave him a ‘duh’ look as if he didn’t need to be told.Growing up in the spotlight, there were a lot of women who wanted to get into their beds so they could secure their future and these women didn’t mind going to extreme lengths which included spiking their drinks and sleeping with them.Just as they were walking forward, Lucas noticed a woman who was coming with her back toward him. Was she so drunk not to realize that she was walking backward? He asked himself.Just as she got close to him, she turned and intended to run. However, as she was close to him, she bumped into his chest and lost her balance.Not wanting to fall, she grabbed hold of anything she could lay her hands on. This turned out to be his shirt. For someone who hated being touched without his permission, this made Lucas irritated.Not caring about the woman, he removed his shirt from her grip and she fell on her bum. “Awwww,” she cried and shot a glare at him, one that didn’t faze him in the slightest.*****The time Kiandra had been hoping would never come finally came. It was nighttime and she and Samantha had snuck out of the latter’s house as they didn't want Nana to know that they were out of the house. She was now in line, waiting to get admitted into the club. Behind her were Samantha and Samantha’s boyfriend; a self-absorbed jerk which Kiandra was forced to tolerate as he was dating her best friend.“Yo, Kiandra, why are you so stiff? We are going to a club and not to a war,” Tate, Samantha’s boyfriend, jabbed at her. And it reminded Kiandra of why she hated him so much. The guy was one of the most popular guys in their high school and she was on the bottom of the popularity chain.No one would even know her if not that she was friends with Samantha, whom everyone knew. The jerk didn’t hesitate to always bully her whenever Samantha wasn’t around, just for the fun of it.“Stop it, Tate,” Samantha warned and Tate apologized.After what felt like years to Kiandra, she finally got i
****After Liam dragged him away, he headed straight to the private section where he saw Lola waiting for him while Liam went to have some fun with a brunette he noticed.Lola was the girl he dated in college and it wasn’t out of love but a necessity to keep his family from arranging a marriage to the girl of their choice. Being from an influential family, they would want him to marry a woman who was also from an influential family, so they could gain more power.Lola had no idea of this, as she thought the great Lucas Valencia actually had feelings for her. Everything was going smoothly until he found out that she was cheating on him.He, who had been looking for an excuse to call the whole sham off, immediately took advantage of the opportunity and broke up with Lola.He was the kind of person who didn’t look back once he was done with something and so; he didn’t bother to look back at Lola ever since, until tonight. The only reason he was here was because he was bored and he neede
****As soon as Kiandra managed to make it out of the hotel, she was faced with the reality that she didn’t have any money or phone as it was in a bag which she had left with Samantha.“Umm, excuse me, can I use your phone?” she asked a passerby. Thankfully, the person was nice enough to give Kiandra their phone.She and Samantha had mastered each other’s number in case of situations like this. She quickly dialed her best friend’s number, and the latter picked up on the second ring.“Hello Sammy, it’s me, Kia,” Kiandra informed her friend.“Kia!” Samantha exclaimed. “Where the hell have you been? I have been worried sick about you. I’m already headed to the police…”“Sammy, you can talk to me when you see me face to face. I’m at the hotel where the club is, please, come and pick me up,” Kiandra requested.“I’ll be there in twenty minutes,” Samantha said, and she hung up. “Thank you,” Kiandra said to the passerby and they left. She then made her way over to a bench, and she sat on it w
Samantha stood up immediately after she said this and she headed to the store to get a pregnancy test. She did so as fast as she could and she returned to Kiandra.“Here, I bought two, so we can be sure,” she said, handing over the packages to Kiandra. “Now go use it!” she urged her friend.Kiandra felt her heart pounding in her chest as she walked into the bathroom. She desperately prayed to be wrong about being pregnant.She couldn’t even take care of herself. How was she supposed to take care of a baby? There was no way she would be a good mother to the child. On getting to the toilet, she tore open the packet and followed the instructions written on it. Meanwhile,.Samantha anxiously waited for Kiandra to come out and tell her what was happening. The door opened after ten minutes, and Kiandra came out. Samantha quickly rushed to her. “Well, what did it say?” she asked.“That I’m pregnant,” Kiandra answered in a distant voice as she was still trying to come to terms with reality,
Samantha quickly rushed to Kiandra who had lost consciousness and she froze when she noticed blood coming from Kiandra’s legs. Samantha got out of her shock and she rushed to the phone to call an ambulance. After speaking with the officials, she rushed back to Kiandra. “Everything will be fine. The paramedics will be here soon. Just hold on,” she said, even though Kiandra couldn’t hear her…****“It’s been a week already, why haven’t you woken up?” Kiandra heard Samantha say to her. What was her friend rambling all about? She wondered as she opened her eyes.“Kiandra, oh my God, you’re finally awake,” she heard Samantha squeal. “Hold on, let me get the doctor,” she said and ran out of the room. There was silence after and Kiandra tried to sit up.The door opened once again and Kiandra heard footsteps approaching the bed where she was laying on. “Please don’t move,” she heard a doctor say and he started to check her vitals.“What happened?” she asked in a hoarse voice.“You were unco
“So, what do you want to do when we get home?” Kiandra engaged her daughter as she started to walk out of the airport.“Do you want to see our new house?” Kiandra continued to speak even though there was no response from Zendaya.“Taxi!” Kiandra flagged the car down.“Park,” she heard her daughter say after they entered the taxi. The voice was like a whisper, and it was as though she was compelled to speak.People who didn’t know Zendaya would think she was mute, but she wasn’t. She just only spoke whenever her mother was around, as she felt most comfortable with Kiandra.“You just got there. Don’t you want to rest?” Kiandra asked, and Zendaya shook her hand.“I want to go to the park,” she repeated. "Not now, honey, you'll go some other time," Kiandra told Zendaya before giving the driver instructions on where to take them.When they got to her apartment, Zendaya entered and immediately went to lie on the couch and she sighed loudly. Kiandra rolled her eyes as she could tell that
****“Where are we going?” Liam asked Lucas for the umpteenth time. The latter had called him over to the parking lot of their company only for Lucas to drag him into his car.“We are going to see someone,” Lucas finally answered.“Who?” Liam probed.“Justin Gerano,” Lucas answered, and he stepped on the accelerator."Ahhh!" Liam groaned as the beef between Lucas and Justin wasn't something he wanted to be a part of.The two men were egotistical idiots who were always trying to triumph over one another. Liam sighed as if it was his fault for introducing them to one another that fateful night in the bar.What had started out as a celebration turned out to be a competition as someone dared the two men to see who would pass out from drinking too much alcohol. It was a statement made as a joke but for Lucas and Justin who viewed everything as a competition, they didn't take it the same way.The end result was that both men had to be carried to their cars after consuming about six bottles
After leaving the park and boarding a taxi, Kiandra finally had the chance to examine her daughter for any injuries. To her relief, apart from Zendaya’s clothes which were soiled in the sand, there were no injuries sustained.Her daughter had a low immunity which meant that it wouldn't have been pleasant if she had sustained a cut which got infected.“I was only gone for ten minutes, so what happened?” She inquired from her daughter. It was still baffling to her as to how Zendaya ended up in Lucas' hold especially considering the fact that Zendaya didn't like to associate herself with strangers.Zendaya didn’t answer her mother’s question. Instead, she crossed her hands and with a frown on her face, she said. “I don’t like Jayden,” she pouted.“The young boy?” Kiandra probed and Zendaya nodded. “Do you want to tell me what he did?”“No.” Zendaya shook her head and Kiandra decided not to push it as she didn’t want her daughter to get further upset. The rest of the ride was silent until