Rival wives
1188 Words
Rival wives
Narrator:
In the busy town of Rivora, life moved with its own rhythm. People took their culture seriously market women shouting prices, children running around barefoot, men discussing business at every corner. It was a town where everyone knew everyone, and no matter where you turned, there was always a story waiting to be told.
But one name always stood out in Rivora Mayor Victor Castillo.
He was a respected businessman, a man of honour in public, someone people looked up to. But if you asked the townspeople about him, they would smile knowingly. Because behind all that respect, Mayor Victor had a weakness. He loved women. And not just beautiful women he loved women who could cook. To him, food was love, and a woman who knew her way around the kitchen could win his heart easily.
On this particular day, Mayor Victor returned home with a young woman by his side. She was his new wife. This was nothing strange in the Castillo household he had brought Rosa into the family the same way, and later Maria. And now, here was yet another bride.
Rosa, heavily pregnant, stepped out quickly to greet her husband. Her smile stretched wide, showing all her thirty two teeth as she rushed to collect his bag. “You are welcome, my husband,” she said sweetly, even waving at the new wife. Inside her heart, though, she was not greeting she was mocking Maria.
Maria, also pregnant, stood with her arms crossed, her face burning with anger. She had always thought she would be the last wife, the favourite, the one to close the chapter. But here stood another woman, and her pride could not take it.
Mayor Victor, blind to all this tension, walked inside with his new bride, treating her like a fragile egg.
The moment he was gone, Rosa’s sweet smile broke into loud laughter. “Some people have been replaced!” she shouted, her words sharp as knives.
Maria hissed and turned away, but before she could step inside, Rosa screamed suddenly.
“Ahhh! My waist! My stomach!”
Her labour had begun. She cried out in pain as the house scattered in confusion. Maria stood still, watching coldly, jealousy burning hotter than worry. When the Mayor rushed back out, he wasted no time. Rosa was taken to the hospital immediately.
Narrator:
Now, you must understand something. In the Castillo household, there was no peace. Rosa and Maria were always at each other’s throats. Every little thing was a competition who dressed better, who cooked better, who did everything first . And now, Rosa going into labour felt like a battle Maria was not ready to lose.
She thought quickly. “I cannot let Rosa’s child be older than mine,” she whispered to herself. Without wasting time, she packed her bag and followed them to the hospital.
At the hospital, Maria walked straight to the doctor. “I want to deliver my baby today,” she demanded.
When Mayor was invited into the doctor's office he was shocked. “Maria, you are not in labour. Why force it?” he argued.
But Maria was stubborn. Her voice was sharp, her face determined. “I said I will deliver today. That’s final.”
The doctor hesitated. It wasn’t safe, but Maria’s due date was near, and he knew the kind of woman she was. After much pressure, the Mayor reluctantly signed the papers. The doctor agreed to induce Maria, even though it wasn’t the natural time yet.
And so, while Rosa struggled through natural labour pains, Maria also prepared herself to bring her baby into the world not out of readiness, but out of rivalry.
Narrator:
That was the Castillo household for you a home full of fights, pride, and jealousy. A house where even childbirth was not about love, but about winning. And that day in Rivora, as life in town went on, no one knew that this battle of wives would one day grow into something much bigger.
Narrator:
Maria got her way in the hospital. The doctors induced her, and now she was in labour, just like Rosa.
It was pure chaos for Mayor Victor. He ran from one ward to another, his fine suit already rumpled, his face drenched in sweat. Nurses called him at every corner.
“Mr. Victor! Your wife Rosa wants to see you immediately!” one shouted.
Before he could even turn, another nurse came running from the opposite direction.
“Mr. Victor, hurry! Your wife Maria says she will not push until you enter her ward!”
The poor man staggered in confusion, his shoes squeaking on the hospital tiles. He held his head, stammering.
“Ermm… ermm… okay, I am… I am coming. Yes, yes, wait… oh no, which way now?”
Another nurse tugged his sleeve.
“This way, Mr. Victor!”
“No, sir, this way please!” another insisted.
“Ehh! Heeeyyyy!” Victor shouted, throwing his hands in the air. “Do you people want to kill me today?!”
The hospital corridor filled with laughter from some of the nurses, but for Victor, it was no joke. His wives were at war even in childbirth, and he was caught in the middle.
Finally, after hours of shouting, screaming, and running, the cries of babies filled the air. Both women had delivered safely. Rosa had a beautiful baby girl, and she named her Lina. Maria also had a baby girl, and she called her Anna.
When the nurses brought the babies to their mothers to nurse, something unusual happened.
The moment Lina let out her first soft cry, Anna followed with a louder wail. When Lina calmed down for a second, Anna started again, louder, as if to say, “I can shout more than you!”
Soon, the two babies were crying together, their voices bouncing off the hospital walls.
The nurses tried to calm them. One carried Lina and rocked her gently, but Anna raised her voice again, and Lina refused to be left behind she opened her mouth and screamed louder.
It was as if they were already in competition, just like their mothers.
One nurse shook her head and muttered, “Ah, these Castillo children… they already know the war they were born into.”
The scene was almost funny. The babies were tiny, their fists waving in the air, yet the noise they made shook the whole ward. Rosa, tired but smiling weakly
The Mayor stood in the middle of both beds, his eyes moving from one wife to the other, then to the two screaming babies. He rubbed his forehead slowly and sighed.
“God help me in this house…”
Narrator:
And so, the Castillo household welcomed two baby girls on the same day Lina and Anna. Born into rivalry, born into noise, born into a battle that had started long before they even took their first breath.
But little did anyone know, the cries of these two daughters were only the beginning of a war that would one day shake all of Rivora.
- Writer
