secrets of marriage

Rescued

He regained his composure and looked intently at the theme which was displaying Angie vividly on the screen for all to see. She was wearing her college uniform which fitted her perfectly revealing her curvaceous body standing in front of a lab. For a moment the whole room was silent. A quick survey around revealed most board members savoring the look and their Adams apple could be seen moving up and down.

Majeed could feel a knot tightened around his neck. he loosened his tie a bit but the heat rising within him was unfathomable. He cleared his throat drawing all the hungry eyes away from the screen. He made a final comment that the picture could not be used as it draws people attention to the picture blurring the main reason for the theme. Max was disappointed, he took the drive and went back to his seat. His boss had spoken and that was final. After the comment, there was silence in the meeting room because their boss never paid attention to such things. The meeting came to an end and the board dispersed. Max was held back by his boss. He was asked to sit closer to him so they could have a discussion. Majeed asked Max about his relationship with Angie. Max was baffled because from the first time he came to this company till date, his boss never asked of his health let alone his relationships. All conversations were about business and profits.

Max told him they were mere friends. Majeed responded good. From Max's perspective, from what he knew about his boss, Angie did not pass for a woman who suited his taste. He thought it was because he brought up Angie's picture during the meeting that was why his boss was curious so he did not think further about it. Majeed was called to his office by his secretary to meet an acquaintance hence their meeting was cut short.

Majeed was well known for his notorious womanizing but since he met Angie in that hotel room, he never went out with any other woman. As he was having a meeting with Max, his secretary came round to inform him Ms Hana Brown was waiting for him in his office so he ended the meeting with Max. As he stepped into his office, he saw Hana, sitting on the couch, dressed elegantly with rosy lipsticks matching her dress. She looked sexy and attractive. He was captivated by her looks so he got closer and began fondling with her breast. he wished he could have her there and then but as he studied her face, he knew he had seen some resemblance with Angie. The mere thought of her sent his heart racing and he stopped in his tracks. Hana's hand was all over him. she tried unbuttoning his shirt but was stopped by Majeed. Hana was disappointed because that was her third visit and the previous ones he was so gentle with her. Even though Hana had known him for a month now, their relationship was merely an acquaintance and she was trying her possible best so they could move to the next level. She took her handbag and left the office. After she had left, Majeed slumped into his chair and closed his eyes. he could not believe himself for letting a woman off the hook which was unlike him. His secretary came knocking on the door, bringing him back to reality. Documents of the project was placed on his table and he began glancing through to make sure the changes raised at the meeting was effected.

Meanwhile, after the meeting, Max went to look for Angie in her Aunt's house but he met Margarita and her Aunt instead. He was offered a seat and given a lemon drink. After he was done, he asked of Angie from her aunt but he was told Angie moved out of the house a week ago and they had no idea where she was. Max thanked them for the hospitality and left them. He tried calling her phone she recently had but the line was unreachable.

Meanwhile Angie went back to college to complete her final exams and before she left, she had a fight with her aunt who was insisting Angie forgo college and find a job to do so she could support the bastard child of hers. And if she refused her advise then she was no longer regarded as part of the Brown's family. She was determined to complete college hence she severed ties with her only family left, packed the few belongings she had and left for school.

The final exams was approaching so was her abdomen getting bigger and bigger. Her uniform was getting tighter on her. wherever she passed on campus, she was the object of ridicule. Tears were her food day and night until the D-Day for the exams. Before the exams, a colleague of hers who always despised her came to give her a paper so they could cheat in the upcoming final exams but she rejected the idea after all as the adage goes "first fool no be fool but second fool na ibi big fool".

All desks were arranged neatly and packed in rolls separately. This day was a dangerous day in the life of every candidate where all the hardwork from start of college to completion was assessed in a day. Candidates numbers were called out one after the other until it got to Angie's turn. Number 1002 was called out and she went to her seat. As the last candidate, the exam begun. Today was Accounting paper which was her major and last paper as a student. She put in all her maximum effort. The bell was rung to bring the examination to an end.

As others were jubilating, Angie was thinking about where to lay her head till her baby was born. She walked to her former teacher for assistance since she was her favorite student back in college but to her disappointment, the teacher turned her away with excuses that her children would be back from school soon and she would be a bad example for them. She had no one to look for help. Besides her aunt, the only adopted family she knew of was her best friend Suzzy's parents who were middle income earners.And the death of Suzzy was a big blow to them as she was their only daughter and hope. She left campus not knowing where she was headed.

As Angie was wandering on the street not knowing where to go, a car honked from behind, she turned to the sound and realized it was Max. She picked up pace to avoid him but he kept driving slowly behind her signaling for her to stop. As she could no longer keep up the pace, she stopped. Max picked her up after the initial disagreement was settled and drove her to his home.

Max had a luxurious apartment with several guest rooms. He had a cook who used to be his nanny but because the previous cooks were secret spies from other agencies who needed information from the Smith companies, Max was used as a target. Since their cover was blown, he never accepted any again until Angie came along. As they got to his home, Max requested Angie to stay in the main apartment where he lived but she rejected it outright so a guest room was arranged for her to live in. There were six maids in the house in charge of laundry and cleaning. These maids were in their early thirties and forties. The youngest of the maids by name Josey was madly in love with her boss and had tried on countless occasions to attract his attention to no avail. She always prayed her boss never found any woman. Angie was the only woman he had brought to the house who was also pregnant. This arose speculations from the maids, they believed Angie to be Max's woman. Josey in particular was very rude to her after noticing she had no ring on the finger.

Max was a bachelor whose parents and siblings were in the United States. Even though they were well to do, their income level was way beneath the Smiths. He was the only male in the family and the youngest so his family adored and pampered him. He completed his studies abroad, came back to his hometown and was currently working for the Smiths. He was in his early thirties, well built and had his own handsomeness. Even though his family was well to do, he wanted to become independent, that came he, working for the Smiths. He wanted the experience and also to set up his own company in the future. When he got to the country, he met Carlos at the airport and since they were from the same hometown, they became acquaintances and it was through that, Carlos invited him to his birthday party where he got to know Angie.

A new day had come. Angie was still lying in bed sleeping, she was very tired from the previous stress. She was awoken by a knock on the door, she got up from the bed and went to open the door. She saw Vivian, the only cook in the house standing at the door with breakfast for her. she held the door for Vivian to come in. As she entered the room, she placed the breakfast on the table and mentioned to her that it was Max who requested she brought her breakfast to her. She was touched by his generosity but before she could say anything, Vivian continued to inform her that Max really cared for her because she was the first woman she had seen Max had brought home. she went on to say that Max never allowed anyone in the house to eat in his or her room and she was the first. After Vivian had had her say, she stood up, patted Angie on the back and told her to contact her via the intercom in the house if she needed anything. She walked out of her room but when she got to her door, she turned back because she almost forgot to tell Angie Max had instructed her to send her for shopping since his schedule was tight to do so. After that she went back to the main apartment to continue with her chores.

Angie could not contain her tears, since she lost her mum, she could not remember when she last went for shopping and now even though she was pregnant, someone else was taking care of her. when she recalled that the baby was not Max's, she felt guilty. She went to wash down after Vivian had left and changed into new clothes which was too tight for a pregnant woman but that was all she got. She took her breakfast and walked out on the pavement leading to the main apartment. As she was walking with her hands supporting her waist, she saw Josey coming from the opposite direction. They met at some point, Angie greeted her but she snubbed at her. Angie did not take it to heart and left the place. when she got to the main apartment she saw Vivian in the kitchen almost done with cleaning the utensils. She went to the kitchen to help her out but Vivian insisted she remained at the hall which she obliged. Vivian dressed up, took the bank card given her this morning for Angie's shopping and they left for the mall using the Mercedes Benz packed at the garage. There was less traffic on the road so they got to the mall earlier than expected.

They got down from the Benz and walked into the dresses section of the mall. those dresses were beautiful and the least price was hundred dollars. Angie could not believe these dresses were so costly than those by the roadside. She walked to Vivian and told her that they should leave for the roadside ones. Vivian could not contain her laughter, after teasing her for a while she held her hand and gently said she was worth more than these dresses because the balance on the credit card given her was more than 10million dollars. Angie opened her mouth in surprise and she could not utter a word since she was left dumbfounded.

Vivian held her hand and walked her to the next section of the dresses which were unique and beautiful made by renowned fashionista. Angie tried to take some of the dresses off the hangers but was stopped by an attendant who said those dresses came in sizes and as unique as they were, those dresses cannot be tried on before being purchased but if she wanted, there was a sample in the dressing room which the owner made for trying on. Angie and vivian followed her to the female dressing room but as they got to the door, Angie bumped into Hana.

Hey look where you are going fatty, this was the statement Hana made as she held her abdomen from the pain. Angie was infuriated by her comment since it was Hana's mistake in the first place and she could have hurt her and her baby. How dared she to insult her. Angie turned round to see the skinny who dared provoke her, only to meet Hana's eyes. She couldn't utter a word because the very person insulting her was also her cousin who used to bully her a lot.

Hana decided to make a scene out of this since she believed her cousin was too broke to even afford roadside let alone coming to this mall. She started wailing calling on the attendants to throw this riff-raff from the mall.

As this scene was ongoing, Majeed was in the men's changing room trying on some suits for a date with Hana later in the evening.

He heard the commotion outside and from the noise he could tell it was coming from his to be fiancee. He went out and saw Hana wailing, pointing her hands at Angie for causing her pain. Majeed looked at where she was pointing only to meet Angie's gaze. His heart skipped a beat, from their last encounter at the police station, he had not seen Angie in person. He was shocked and infuriated at the same time to see her pregnant. He looked at her disdainfully and took Hana's hand comforting her and they left from there.

Angie could not bring herself to cry. she could not describe what she was feeling inside. since her last encounter with him she tried calling him once but failed, since then she didn't contact him again. She didn't know whether to follow Majeed outside so she could tell him she was carrying his baby. but on second thought she stopped because what Max was doing for her was more than enough for her and her baby. She decided to introduce Max as her baby's dad when she starts growing up. She also saw the disappointment and disdain Majeed had for her.

Vivian comforted her. even though she knew less about Angie, from the small interaction, she could tell Angie, Hana and Majeed knew each other. she did not want to probe further until Angie was ready to tell her by herself. They bought some dresses and then left the mall to where their car was packed and sped off. Angie was moody throughout their journey back home and she went straight to her room not speaking to anyone.

she locked her door, went to bed and started sobbing, before she knew it she had fallen asleep. when she woke up, it was already evening time.

Majeed came back from work and after changing into some shorts, he decided to check up on Angie in her room since he had not seen her the whole day but he was told she was sleeping so he decided to wait and visit her later when she woke up. When Angie woke up, it was already dinner, she walked to the main apartment because she didn't want to stress Vivian too much. She took her seat at the opposite end of Max whilst the other house helps took their own seats. Josey sat on the seat next to Max on his right. Josey was wearing tight clothes revealing some parts of her breast and abdomen. she winked at Max before taking her seat but Max's attention was all on Angie. Josey felt insulted because she was ignored and Max seems getting far and far from her reach and the drift seems to be increasing since Angie joined the household. As they were waiting for the food to be served, Josey brought up the idea that Angie should introduce herself to them since she was a new member of the family.

Angie was caught off guard by this sudden request but she maintained her composure looking to Max for rescue so Max made a brief introduction in herstead. Max knew a thing or two about her but he wanted to know more but that wasn't the right time to ask her. After the introduction, they went ahead to eat. Josey was the most disappointed by the introduction because Max never made mention of whether Angie was her fiancee or not and before she could ask, Vivian chipped in that dinner was ready and table manners was to be observed. Angie was very grateful to Vivian and Max for rescuing her.

During the dinner, Josey pretended to have abdominal ache so she could draw Max attention to herself but Vivian rather went to her so she could help her to her room. Josey was fuming inside and she knew Vivian would be her nemesis.

After Vivian had helped Josey to her room, she called the family doctor to see her and some painkillers was prescribed for her even though he found nothing wrong with her.

After dinner, Max escorted Angie back to her room and asked if she could be his woman for the night party his company was having. Angie could not turn him down since he had been a pillar of support for her when she had no one. He went to dress up so he could leave Angie to also dress up. he wore his wine tuxedo which matched well with his skin and shoes. he went downstairs to where the car was packed waiting for Angie.

After Max left her room, Angie took a quick shower, looked through the dresses she had bought with Vivian earlier on and put on a long v- neck blue dress with flair and diamond earrings to match with. She walked to where the car was packed and saw Max standing besides it. when Max saw Angie coming, he could not afford to blink twice, she was looking so beautiful as if coming out from a painting. He knew right there and then that he wants to make her his but he did not know how to go about it so she doesn't feel being taken advantage of. As she came along, Max opened the door for her and they sped off to the party venue.