Broken vows(completed)

Changes

Martina wore her bright red lipstick and did some touches to her face. Her beautiful light skin tone glowed like the sun, as she stood to look at her appearance in the mirror. She held her hair up in a ponytail, and combed the sides to make it look perfect. She wore a white flowery, sleeveless dress, which moved down to her knee. She picked her bag and walked out the bedroom.

When she got downstairs, her husband was already in the living room, working on his laptop. It was a Saturday and Fred had decided to stay away from work. He was usually at work on Saturday to supervise the other workers but today, he wanted to spend more time with his son.

" I am off to work", she announced and rushed towards the door.

" Martina, wait! I thought we discussed that both of us will be home this weekend to spend more time with our son. So, why are you going to work?" Fred asked, getting up to stand behind Martina.

" I remembered I had ordered some goods from Dubai which were arriving today. Sorry, I must have forgotten to tell you", she said, turning to face him.

" Martina, I feel like you have been distant with me lately, what's wrong?" Fred asked, looking concerned.

" I guess work has been taking my time. I feel stressed out", Martina said.

" But that is why you have your employees. They can take care of that for you. They always have. So, why do you want to be there for this one?" Fred asked again.

" Fred, why all these questions. These ones require my attention, that's why I need to be there to make sure everything is going well. I will see you later", she said and walked out, closing the door behind her.

Fred tried to call her back, but she was already gone. Martina had changed in the past two weeks. She hardly stayed at home. And she always came home late. This new change in Martina worried Fred but anytime he brought it up, Martina will make some excuse not to talk about it. And she just did the same thing.

Fred, then decided to call Linda. If there is anyone who could speak to Martina, Linda was the right person. He picked his phone from the centre table and dialled her number.

" Hello, Fred. How are you doing?" Linda answered after the second ring.

" Hello Linda. I am fine, what about you?" Fred said.

" I am good too. So to what do I owe the pleasure of hearing your voice this morning?" Linda joked.

" I really need to talk to you. Can you come to the house later, that is if you are not busy?"

" Sure. I will be there at 10am. I hope everything is fine though?" she asked worriedly.

" Yes, don't worry. I will be expecting you. Bye", Fred said and hanged up.

Linda arrived at Fred's house at exactly ten. She was a friend of the family and therefore did not need to be treated like a stranger. She put her bag beside the chair as she sat down. Fred sat down on the opposite chair.

" Fred, so what did you want to talk about?" Linda asked.

" It's- Martina. I don't know what to say, but, she has changed", Fred began.

" Changed? How do you mean?" Linda frowned.

" You see, for the past two weeks, Martina no longer comes home early. She leaves home very early too. She hardly has time for me and our son. She does not even talk to me like she used to. I don't know, I feel like I am loosing my wife, Linda. Have you also noticed anything off about her?" Fred narrated.

" To be frank with you, it's been three weeks since I last saw Martina. She was at my shop and we talked, that's it. After that, I never saw her again. We do talk on phone though. Surprisingly, I have not seen anything odd about her behavior", Linda explained.

Fred sighed aloud. " She left early this morning as well. Even when I had told her about my plans of us staying home to spend more time with each other. I don't get what is going on".

" Okay. I will try to talk to her. I am sure she will be able to open up to me if there is any problem. Don't worry, maybe it might be just work related", Linda said, trying to console Fred.

" Please do. I am really worried".

" I will. Where is Junior? I thought I will find him here", Linda looked around.

" He is out playing with his friends. I'm sure he is around somewhere. Let me go call him", Fred said and got up.

Linda held his hand. " Don't worry, allow the boy to play. Can I make something for you for lunch, then?"

" That will be nice. Can I help you? You know I am equally good in the kitchen, right?" Fred winked.

Linda just laughed and got up. She headed straight for the kitchen with Fred following right after her. She made rice and chicken stew. When she was done, Fred helped her bring the food to the dinning table. Junior ran inside, looking dirty. He saw Linda and ran to hug her, but Fred quickly stopped him.

" Go wash your hands, junior! And where were you?" Fred had a look of disgust on his face.

" I was playing football with Kevin, Francis and Isaac", he answered, looking at his father innocently.

" On second thought, let me just get you under the showers. You look too dirty for my liking", Fred said and led him to the bathroom.

" But auntie Linda is here. Please daa, let me hug her first", Junior pouted.

" No way... Go get a bath first, then you can come and hug your aunt as long as you want", Fred said.

On hearing that, Junior ran upstairs to his room to take his bath while Linda finished serving their food. He quickly came down, wearing fresh clothes, then joined his father and Linda to eat lunch.

Linda washed the plates and cleaned them. Fred continued with what he was doing on his laptop while Linda and Junior watched TV. Junior fell asleep in the middle of a program they were watching and Linda offered to take him to his room. After she was done, she decided to leave.

" I should get going now", She said.

" Thank you so much for everything. I am happy you came when I called", Fred said.

" Oh don't worry. You are my friend. I will do anything for you", she said and picked her bag.

" Did you bring your car? I can give you a ride home", Fred offered.

" Thank you. But I can just get a taxi at the junction. My car is with the mechanic and it will be brought to me tomorrow. Besides, I don't think it is a good idea to leave Junior alone on his own", Linda said and started heading towards the door.

Fred walked with her out till they were out of the house. He made sure to get a taxi for her. Then said good bye to her when she sat in. He turned back and walked back to his house.