TIES

Chapter 3

I woke up feeling sharp pains by the left side of my head.

My body temperature was high. I felt like I was about to have a fever. My head was pounding. I rolled from one side of the bed to the other. My breath was so shallow. Maggie woke up and was devastated to see me in such terrifying condition. She felt my body temperature and was so scared at the hotness of my body.

Immediately, she got off the bed and went to get a bowl of cold water and a piece of cloths which she soaked into the water and used to clean my body. I felt a bit relieved and didn’t know when I dozed off again.

The alarm on my bedside woke me up at 7a.m. Lazily, I searched for it with my hands and stopped it. I still felt weakness all over my body even though the fever had subsided.

I heard footsteps approaching my room; I shut my eyes and pretended like I was asleep. All I wanted to do was to stay to myself. Just me, in the room, alone. My mum walked into the room with Maggie. She touched my body, feeling my temperature;

“Her temperature is down now” she said.

“Yes. I had to clean her body yesterday night. It was so severe” Maggie said.

“Hmmmm…thank you very much, Maggie. Let me make you breakfast before you leave” my mum said.

“Next time, Mrs. Sarah. I need to rush to work now” Maggie said.

She was a badass fashion designer, and a TV presenter in Chicago Daily Times. She was the opposite of me. So lively and fun to be around with. She was a very good communicator. She would always say that her hobby was talking. She could talk all day and still not get tired of doing so. Reason she had opted into becoming a TV presenter.

She was strong-willed and a great visionary. Petite in size and light-skinned with a chubby body,

She was still packing her stuffs into a small travel bag she had taken from my mum when my mum walked in with a lunch pack in her hands.

“Take, eat them at work. I added your favorite brownies in there too” my mum said as she gave her the launch pack.

Soon, they both left the room and I was once again to myself in the now quiet room. I got up from the bed and searched around for my phone. The last time I had seen it was yesterday, just before my supposed wedding. While I searched for it, I came across several gifts Ethan had gotten for me. The pair of silver shoes he had gotten for me on my 23rd birthday. That was the very first gift I received from him. The long red dress I wore the very day I proposed to him. My feelings started rushing back at me as the moments I had with him started flashing back at me. I remembered each moment like it was yesterday. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I kept searching for the phone. I went over to my vanity-table only to see my phone there. I also saw Ethan’s book. On one of my deliveries, I went to his shelf just to view his collections and know what type of books he had there. I also loved to read a lot. That was when the book caught my attention. THE UGLY PRINCE was the title. The storylines were exactly the same thing that happened to me. The lady in the book also got dumped on her big day but hers was better because the prince came back, searching for her. And they got married. I stood there wishing the same thing would happen to me. Only if he would come back to me, I would forgive him, for our son and the love I had for him.

Tear rushed down my face uncontrollable. My emotions were gradually having the best part of me. I sat over the mirror and cried. My room was littered with tissue papers I had used to wipe my nose. I went over to the door and locked it. I wouldn’t want my mum to walk in and start asking me lots of questions. I just wanted to be by myself. The major source of my happiness was gone. Living felt so hard and useless.

I picked up my phone and scrolled through it. I could see our pictures. Those were moments I cherished a lot. Overwhelmed with my emotions I threw the phone at the wall and cried bitterly, throwing my stuffs away and shattering any object close to me. The noise attracted my mum’s attention as she ran to the room but it was already locked.

“Stephanie!... Open up the door, please” she said hitting hard on the door.

I ignored her and sat on the floor there, with my knees wrapped together I cried and cried till the strength left in me were gone. It was going to take a very long time for me to get over him.

“Stephanie, please open up the door” my mum banged harder on the door.

“Is this how you’re just going to lock yourself up in the room all day? Come on Stephanie, you are better than this. Where is that strong lady in you? Trust me, you will be shocked at how fast you will get over Ethan only if you get back to your feet” She continued.

Infuriated by nothing exactly, I said something I wished I had not said to her. I reminded her that she wasn’t my real mum, and she had no right to speak to me that way. I accused her of being the reason why I was in this dilemma. If she had not constantly made me to go give him food in his apartment. If she had not gotten so close to him, maybe I wouldn’t I have fallen deeply in love with him the way I had. She was the one that brought us together.

Don’t ever call me! You aren’t even my mum. So you have no right to tell me how to feel” I felt regret as those words left my mouth.

At that moment, all I wanted was to take those words back. She didn’t deserve it. She had been the only person that had stayed by my side since my parents left me. But, it was already too late as I heard her footsteps thunder away from the door in a rush. I sat there in regrets, wishing I had not said those to her.

I stared at my phone screensaver. It was a picture of I and Ethan. We had taken that picture the first time we went to the beach together. It held a lot of good memories. That was also the very first time we had a quality time together.

I dialed his number again but it still wasn’t reachable.

“Ethan, I love you so much. Maybe I was being so persuasive, I’m sorry about that. Just come home. Don’t worry; I won’t get mad at you. Please, call me when you get this” I sent him a voice message.

But it wasn’t enough. I sent him troops of messages. Letting him know of how much I still cherished him and didn’t want to lose him. I sent him lots of messages on i********:, f*******:, WeChat but all I got was dead silence. I called him over and over again. I sent a lot of voice messages to him but got no response. I laid down there with my phone in my hands crying until I dozed off only to get woken up by a loud bang on my door.

“Stephanie, please open up the door. Will you?” It was Maggie. I guess my mum had called her when she perceived that she wasn’t going to tune me into opening up the door.

I had not realized how fast time had ticked away when I heard Maggie say that it was 4 p.m, and I still had not eaten anything since the previous day.

“Maggie, please stop doing this to yourself. You just have to be strong not just for yourself and Mrs. Sarah but also for the baby. If you really do love him, then you wouldn’t want to get the baby harmed, right? Just get up from there, please” Maggie said.

She was right. The baby was the only part of Ethan I had now. I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to keep him, the child. Slowly, I got up and walked towards the door to open it. I saw my mum standing there with Maggie.

“I’m sorry mum. I’m sorry for saying those words to you earlier” I hugged her and sobbed.

Yes, I still felt the hurt and pain within me yet, strangely, I felt a sign of hope. Maybe he was going to come back one day like the ugly prince did to his betrothed. Maybe this was going to be a happily ever after.