CHAPTER TWO: AUDREY II

“Are you okay, honey?” Mrs Henandez asked as she walked up to her, “is the air conditioning a bit chilly for you?”

This was the first time Audrey was finding herself in a plane, it was supposed to be a thing of joy but she didn’t even know how she felt, it was just….just too weird.

“Of course not ma’am” Audrey nodded in the negative,

“It's just so hard to believe that I am on the plane right now?”

A soft laugh resonated out of her throat as she sat beside the lady,

“Why don’t you think of this as your honeymoon? I

mean you got married to the man of every girls dreams, isn’t this like hitting the jackpot

Audrey scoffed but didn’t say anything, if Nathan was every girl's dream then she didn’t want him.

She looked out of the window and her mind drifted off to a certain someone, the boy she loved. Jakes and her have been more like causal friends since they could probably remember and one thing led to another and she fell in love with him, maybe it was because he was more like the only friend she knew but here she was, he didn’t even know she got married. What kind of a joke was Destiny trying to make out of her?

“Why did Vanessa run away though?” Audrey finally asked the question that was on her mind, “from what I know she loved Nathan so much so why?”

“That snake” the woman beside her hissed, “I will not forgive her for the humiliation she caused my family”

“That’s my twin sister we are talking about here and remember we literally have the same face” Audrey spat out,even if Vanessa was a nutcase she still loved her sister.

“Believe me when I say you are nothing like your sister Audrey” the old lady grabbed a gentle hold on her hand, “Vanessa is ambitious and sly whereas you are calm and kind. So much difference”

Without saying anything, the newly wed girl looked around and she didn’t find her man anywhere which made her much more suspicious of the lady beside her.

“Where is Nathan?”

“Oh, Nathan? He must be sleeping somewhere like a log of wood”

Audrey could feel the insincerity from the lady’s voice, it seemed like she was hiding something from her.

“But….”

This time the old lady interrupted her.

“You should take some rest buttercup, we still have a long way to go and you wouldn’t want to be tired when we get there” and just like that, Mrs Henandez stood up and walked away much to the consternation of Audrey. She felt like a lot of secrets were lurking and she didn’t even know what to do. On one hand was her mother in law who was acting like a creep and her so-called husband who was nowhere to be found.

Looking down on herself, she realized she was no longer dressed in the heavy gown and she sighed. Now she was putting on a pair of trousers and a casual T-shirt while her purple hair was pulled back in a messy bun.

Audrey has always been the lover of the Color Purple and it was her signature look for all times and luckily it was a private plane, she could operate her phone in flight safety mode.

The news of Vanessa’s wedding was already spreading fast on the internet which made her feel all giddy, everyone must be thinking Vanessa was under that veil but who would have thought it was actually Audrey.

At this point, she felt like crying because technically her whole life was over. She was a married woman now and this has become the biggest reality of her life, this was it. Audrey was married and she was married to the ugly Nathan Hernandez.

Audrey didn’t know for how long she was lost in her train of thoughts until she felt a hand on her shoulder and she turned to see the air hostess with a bright smile on her face.

“You should fasten your seatbelt ma’am, we are about to land”

Audrey looked out of the window again and couldn’t even pinpoint where she was, she sighed in frustration.

“Can you tell me where we are? I mean the country”

The smile on the hostess mouth widened, “it is not in my place to tell you ma’am but I can assure you that it is a beautiful place”

“Hmmm” Audrey nodded and turned her attention from her, what was she expecting anyway? It was not like the hostess would tell her because she asked right?

****

The drive to their destination was one of the longest journeys in her life and the fact that the place was mostly covered in green made her want to lose her senses.

No landmarks to even show where she was, was this another country that was not even in the world map? All this was driving Audrey nuts and she kept sighing.

“Welcome to the rice island” Mrs Henandez voice filtered into her ear and the lady turned to her with an expression laced with confusion.

“Rice island?”

“Of course, this is a private island owned by my son. Isn’t it beautiful?”

This time Audrey looked around and nodded at the sight before her, it was indeed beautiful but creepy.

“You all live on this island?”

“Only Nathan does”

“I thought he owns Avanti, how does he run his business from here?”

The lady beside her smiled, “you should ask your husband when you see him okay? I can’t answer all the questions for you”

“Yeah, sure”

Audrey turned her attention back on the road but her heart was in turmoil. Why was this woman acting so suspicious? Was there a lot of secrets to be revealed? And the name rice island was very weird. Who even came up with such a bizarre name?

“We don’t farm rice on the island by the way” the old lady announced and Audrey nodded, she was not surprised at all.

****

A lot of workers were all standing in opposite directions from each other as the black Bentley drove into the compound and they all bowed when they saw Mrs Henandez and Audrey climb out of the car.

Audrey’s mouth hung open in awe as she saw the extravagance in front of her, she thought these kinds of houses existed in movies or technically the green screen but here she was.

Its extravagance and magnificence was on another level, whoever architected the house was too good to even be in this world.

“Greetings ma’am” the workers bowed to them and Audrey nodded to them while Mrs Henandez just continued walking, she didn’t bother to spare any of them a glance.

“Welcome, Mrs Henandez” the butler who was by the door also bowed, “it is nice to have you here again”

“This is Vanessa and she is Nathan’s girlfriend”

Audrey could see a look of shock flash across the man’s face when he heard the sound of girlfriend, he must be expecting more from Nathan’s girlfriend right?

“Hello sir” Audrey greeted.

“Welcome to your home, ma’am” the butler bowed again and Audrey felt weird. This man was old enough to be her father.

“Where is my son?”

“Upstairs ma’am”

“Let’s go honey”

Now Audrey could feel it, when did Nathan get back so quickly and he was already upstairs. Did he use another plane that was faster?

“I thought we left together with Nathan? How come he is in his room?”

“Oh buttercup” the old lady chuckled, “patience is a virtue, I tell you”

Audrey gulped but didn’t say anything again and when Mrs Henandez threw the door of her son’s room open, Audrey felt her whole world come to a standstill.