THE TWIN BROTHERS

Maridiya wakes up, startled. She’s currently living in her fiancé’s apartment. Well, this arrangement was done by both families with the aim of pushing the two to form a bond as soon as possible for marriage. Mari is the only child of her parents. A heiress to great wealth. Half-African, having all the meat and weight at the right places… Caramel skinned with thick hair… Unfortunately, her parents are pushing for a grandchild…claiming they don’t want to die early without grandchildren. “We are growing old”, they claim… It’s not like she doesn’t love her fiancé. She does, but here lies the problem that Cassimire, her fiancé disdains her. He has a woman outside and does not hide that fact. At times, he has that much of audacity to bring the woman into his space, with Mari around. It hurts every single time, but what can she say or do to change him or make him see how much he hurts her. What can she do that she has not already? Mari rushes downstairs to see Cassi, drunk and very much unaware of his surroundings. She rushes downstairs to support him… “What happened to you?”, she cries as she struggles to support him… he just leans in and keeps whispering a name… “Lisa”… Mari hears the name and drops him immediately. “Ouch!”, he winced as he lands on the floor. He makes an attempt to get on his feet but keeps failing. This tedious act clears his fuzzy mind temporarily. He looks up, now noticing her… “Hey!” He shouts at her, “What the f**k are u doing standing there? Help me up!” Mari was fed up… She would most definitely not die because of love… “Is it me you are shouting at?” She lowers herself to his level and calmly asks. Cassi frowns at her, speechless. “No, is it me?” She asks again. Cassi, now feeling unsure, remains silent. Straightening up, she turns to leave. “N-no” She turns around with a huge grin, “Did you just say something?” “…” Cassi fumes “f**k off” “Sure”, Mari bounces off, hips swaying, Cassi speechless. The next morning, Cassi enters the kitchen to see Mari cooking breakfast. Soft music humming through the speakers and the woman swaying along with it… “Da da da…. Oh, oh, oh…… yieeeee ye yeahhh” she then fists her palms before her and shakes her body as the music accelerates… Mari was in cloud 5, unaware of his presence, she dances around and shakes her body, using the back of the spatula as her microphone. The moment she twirled to continue with her dance steps, her eyes comes into contact with a pair of blue ones. There, she felt the existence of her ever pumping heart. She blushed, whether out of embarrassment or shyness… she knew not. “Cassimire” she greets… “Does my kitchen look like a dance room?” “Is there a law against movement of body in a kitchen?” “My kitchen, my rules” “My body my rules” “Maridiya” “Cassimire” Mari turns her attention back to the porridge she was making. “I have something to tell you” he enters the kitchen and takes a seat by the kitchen island. Mari nods, indicating he should continue. “Look at me” he grunts. “ Would looking at you send the information into my head? I’m listening with my ear”, Mari reply, not bothering to turn. “You are unbelievable”, he rolls his eyes, making himself comfortable on the stool.. Maridiya goes silent for a while and asked, “Was I supposed to laugh or something? Anything today? Usually, you’ll run off to work very early because you claim my color hurts your eye. And came back late cus u assume… something I don’t know” Ignoring her, he went straight to the point. “Lisa would be spending some few days here” “As what?” She mumbled but was still heard. “As my girlfriend, Maridiya. You already know her. I love her, not you, a pathetic excuse of a childhood fiancée” he warns sternly “Besides, this is my apartment, and u most definitely don’t have a say here… do u understand? Don’t cause any problem for her and don’t dare say a word about it to my parents” With that, he leaves… As usual, Mari sits, takes her breakfast alone, cleans up and leaves… “Hey, mommy”, she greeted through the phone as braids her hair into two big cornrows. “My baby girl” my mommy coos “ how are you doing?” “ I’m good, mama, yourself?” “Still alive…how is my in law, Cassi?” “He’s good mama” Mari chuckles “Mama, can I come over for some days?” “To do what?” Her mother was quick to ask. For a moment, Mari felt like she was adopted and that, they are hiding their real child somewhere. “Everything is fine here. No one is dead, everyone is alive, just waiting for that one person to give good news” “Aw, Mama’ Mari’s heart hurt ‘Mama, please” “ No way, hun. Not happening” “Is papa there?”, asks Mari in a small voice, now fixing her edges. Her mom chuckles, “Oh, your Pa is very much here and willingly agrees with me hun… so don’t waste your time. Well, that’s it for now. Take care of yourself, I’ll text you later. Bye hun” With that, her mama cuts the call… Mari sighs… Not long after, there was a knock on her door.