BETWEEN LIES AND LOVE

EPISODE 1

Frank’s car slowly rolled into the compound, the engine's hum cutting through the quiet evening. Julius, the gateman who opened the gate for him to enter, immediately noticed something unusual—a woman, a stranger, was seated next to his boss while the girlfriend is around. He looked in the direction of Dorothy and showed a puzzled expression. Dorothy is unmoved. She is already expecting the visitor. Who was this woman? And why was she with my boss, Julius asked himself?

As the car came to a halt, Frank stepped out with an authoritarian look. He walked around to the passenger side and opened the door with a deliberate slowness. "Come on out," he said arrogantly, not looking at the poor woman as she stepped out of the car.

Vivian emerged hesitantly; her eyes wide open with surprise as she took in the grandeur of the house before her. She had never been in such a beautiful place, and her surprise was evident in the way she tried to take it all in. But her gaze quickly shifted to a woman, who stood on the porch, with her posture rigid, sharp eyes and a stern look.

Vivian’s instinct was to greet this beautiful woman warmly, to make a good impression, so she moved forward with a shy, yet eager smile, arms outstretched for a hug. But as she approached, Dorothy took an instinctive step back, eyeing the woman’s ragged clothes and disheveled appearance with suspicion. How could Frank stoop so low to such a village girl? She said to herself, with a disgusting look at her.

"Must you hug everybody?" Frank’s voice cut through the awkwardness like a whip, startling both women. He stepped between them; his face contorted with a sudden anger that caught Vivian off guard. "Can you just take your bag out of my sight? Stupid!" he barked; his words laced with an unexpected cruelty.

Vivian halted, her arms dropping to her sides as she stared at Frank, trying to understand the venom in his voice. The sting of his words made her feel less, insignificant, and she struggled to hold back her tears. But she wasn’t one to let a man’s temper reduce her to nothing. She forced a smile with her soft and seductive voice, "I only wanted to hug her because she’s beautiful."

Vivian stood there, her eyes wide with shock and hurt. She was just a naïve girl from a remote part of the country, embattled in a situation far beyond her control. “I did not mean to cause any trouble,” she whispered with a trembling voice.

“Stupid!” Frank snapped, turning away from her as if the sight of her made his anger boil even more.

Frank faced Dorothy, attempting to defuse the tension. “Babe, please. I’m really sorry for the embarrassment. If it weren’t for my parents insisting that she stay here until the baby is born, this wouldn’t even be an issue.” Dorothy glanced at Vivian, her expression softening slightly. “If you’re not okay with this arrangement, I'd take her to the nearest hotel right now.”

Dorothy gave her a scrutinizing look, the gears in her mind already turning. Frank had been distant since his one-night stand during the road construction project, but now he was burdened with the consequence—a pregnancy that threatened to unravel everything. His father was adamant: the child must not be left in the village, and Vivian, as the mother, was to be kept close until the birth.

At first, Dorothy had felt uneasy about the arrangement, but seeing the naïve girl standing before her—a mere pawn in this twisted game—she began to formulate a plan. Vivian was a blank canvas, and Dorothy had no intentions of letting her escape this situation without gaining something for herself.

“No, that’s okay. She can stay here,” Dorothy quickly replied, looking at Vivian with a wicked smile.

Frank blinked, caught off guard. "Stay here?" he repeated; his confusion evident in the way his voice wavered.

Dorothy nodded, her eyes locking onto his. There was no hesitation in her gaze, only a quiet, determined resolve. "Oh yes, stay here," she replied, each word deliberate, measured. She took a step closer to Frank, her voice lowering but losing none of its firmness. "She’ll be useful around here. Listen, Babe, I’ve made my decision and its final and irrevocable. I won’t allow someone from nowhere to reap where they did not sow. This is my home. I belong here, I made this home and I’m not going anywhere."

Her words hung in the air, heavy with lots of meaning. Frank felt a chill run down his spine and was shocked. The Dorothy standing before him wasn’t the soft beautiful woman he thought he ever knew. There was a new steel in her, an authority that made him both uneasy and... possibly admiring? He wasn’t sure how to feel. Excited or afraid, "Baby, are you sure that’s a good idea?" he asked again, his voice softening, hoping to reach the part of her that would reconsider her decision.

Dorothy didn’t flinch. She slanted her head slightly, a little, confident smile playing on her lips. "It’s more than a good idea," she said, her tone cool and controlled. "I’m fully in charge of this home, Babe, and I’ll make sure everything is under my control." She didn’t wait for his response. Instead, she turned on her heel, her posture regal, as if the very air around her had shifted in deference to her will.

Dorothy paused at the door, looking back at Vivian, who had been standing quietly and shyly, almost a forgotten figure in the shadow of Dorothy’s dominance. "You," Dorothy called out, her voice sharp and direct. "Go to the trunk and bring your bags inside."

Vivian hesitated, her eyes flicking nervously between Frank and Dorothy. The power dynamic had shifted immediately. Not Frank, but Dorothy is now in charge of the house, and she wasn’t sure where she stood in this new hierarchy of power. She nodded quickly, more out of fear than obedience, and hurried to the car, fumbling with the trunk as she retrieved her belongings and rushed inside.

As Dorothy disappeared into the mansion, her presence still lingering in the air like an electric charge, Frank felt a knot tighten in his stomach. This was a side of Dorothy he had never seen in the last few years of their relationship—a side that made him question everything he thought he knew about her. And as Vivian struggled with her bags, casting furtive glances at him, Frank realized that he was no longer the one in control. Dorothy had taken over, and he could only watch as she steered their lives in a direction he hadn’t anticipated.

The mansion, which once felt like his domain, now seemed like a foreign land, as if it had suddenly become hers. The question gnawed at him: What would happen next? The uncertainty was terrifying, and yet, a small part of him was drawn to this new, formidable Dorothy. But at what cost?

Frank slumped into the armchair, feeling exhausted after the whole drama. The events of the day had left him exhausted and disturbed, his mind a chaotic mess of frustration and confusion. The house, once his sanctuary, now felt like a prison yard—each corner filled with echoes of a life that was spiraling out of his control.

The silence of the night was immediately interrupted by a faint, hesitant knock. Frank’s head snapped up, his heart skipping a little bit as he turned towards the sound. It came from the direction of the room assigned to Vivian earlier in the day. A surge of irritation shot through him, and he forced himself up from the chair, the tiredness in his limbs replaced by a simmering anger.

He walked down the room, his footsteps heavy on the hardwood floor, and angrily flung open Vivian’s door without hesitation. She stood there, her posture timid, eyes wide with fear and confusion—perhaps a misguided sense of hope.

"What do you want?" Frank snarled, his voice harsh and unforgiving. "Can’t you sleep? Why are you knocking like that?" His words were rapid-fire, each question laced with an anger that seemed to grow with every syllable.

Vivian flinched, shrinking back under the force of his tirade. "I’m sorry, fine Brother," she whispered, her voice trembling but carrying an undertone of innocence. "Your tone... it scares me a lot." She hesitated, choosing her next words carefully, as if afraid they might trigger another outburst. "The nurses and doctor... they told me that we should... do that thing you did to make me pregnant. They said it would help me have an easy and safe delivery. It’s not my words, it’s advice from them."

Vivian’s attempt at explaining her reason for disturbing him was punctuated with a shy, almost childlike smile, as if she believed this would soften his anger. But Frank’s reaction was anything but gentle. His eyes darkened, and he took a step closer, his presence towering over her, radiating contempt.

"You and the doctor are both very stupid," he hissed, each word dripping with venom. "Do you really think that me and you—" he spat the words out as if they were poison, "—will ever have anything in common again? You must be out of your mind." His voice rose, the anger in his tone sharp and cutting. "Now, get the hell out of my sight!"

Vivian recoiled as if she had been slapped, her earlier smile vanishing, replaced by a look of hurt and confusion. She didn’t understand why he was so cruel, why the man she once thought cared for her was now treating her like dirt beneath his feet.

Before she could utter a response, another voice cut through the tension. "Why are you yelling, Babe?" Dorothy’s tone was calm, almost soothing and seductive, but there was a coldness beneath her words that sent a shiver down Frank’s spine. She had been watching from the shadows for quite a while, and now she stepped forward, her presence like a shadow that loomed over both of them. "Stop, babe, it’s too late for this," she chided gently, but her eyes held a dangerous glint. "Don’t waste your energy on such a naive girl. She’s not worth the stress."

Dorothy moved closer to Frank, her hand reaching out to touch his arm, her fingers trailing lightly over his skin in a way that both soothed and commanded. "Come to bed babe," she whispered, her voice low and filled with an authority that left no room for any more argument. "I need you right by my side."

Frank felt the tension drain from him as Dorothy’s presence enveloped him, her calmness pulling him away from the storm of emotions that had threatened to consume him earlier. He glanced back at Vivian, who stood frozen, her eyes downcast, before turning away without a word. Dorothy’s hold on him was too tight and irresistible.

As they walked away together, Dorothy’s arm slipping around his waist, Frank couldn’t shake the lingering unease in his gut. About the way Dorothy had taken control of the situation, how effortlessly she had diffused his anger, left him unsettled. He used to be the one in charge of their relationship earlier, but things have changed overnight.

Vivian, left alone in the dimly lit room, watched them disappear back to his room. Tears began to slip down her cheek, her heart aching with the realization that she was truly a stranger in this house. She was fully trapped in a situation she wouldn’t have asked for, and with no one to turn to for help. The night stretched on, the silence returning, but this time, it felt suffocating, as if the very walls were closing in around her.