Chapter 36
Becky settled herself under the sheets the following day after breakfast. Colin had left for New York at eight in the morning and she was already missing him. She remembered the paperback she brought with her and left the bed to get it. She had already read four chapters of it and it was interesting.
The story was about an undergrad named Helen, who was about to get married to an older rich man out of her will. Her family had been struggling financially for years and her father was more than happy when his boss’s younger brother, who just got back from overseas, demanded the girl’s hand in marriage.
She didn’t want to marry him, because she was in love with someone else, Tommy, but her parents insisted she must. They insisted that it was her duty as their first child and only daughter to help out the family.Text © 2024 NôvelDrama.Org.
She had no other choice than to break up with her boyfriend, who was also a student at the university she was attending.
But the two of them were finding it difficult to let go of their feelings for each other.
Becky settled back into bed, pulled the covers above her belly and started reading and started reading from chapter five.
Helen stood behind the door and asked, “who is that?” after another knock on the door.
“It’s me, Tommy.”
It was her ex.
“Tommy?” she exhaled sharply. “What are you doing here?”
“I want to see you,” he said.
Helen leaned against the door. “Please go away, I beg you,” she muttered gently.
“I won’t go until I see you,” he shouted. “We need to talk.”
“Please go away,” she raised her voice higher. “There is nothing to talk about, just go.”
“I’m going to create a scene here,” he threatened. “If you don’t open the door now.”
There were long moments of silence, then she turned the key in the lock and opened the door.
“So you are really going to marry your sugar daddy?” He shut the door and gave her a once-over. “You are leaving me to marry that old man?”
“He’s not my sugar daddy,” she retorted in a gentle voice. “Stop saying that.”
“You can still walk away, Helen,” he held her hand. “Please, don’t do this to me. Don’t do this to us, babe.”
“I can’t do that,” she took her hand away from his grip. “I can’t. I owe it to my parents to follow this through.” Her wedding was just in a week.
“Tommy, I am deeply sorry. “Yes, I betrayed you,” she sighed. “But this is beyond my power. I am only performing a responsibility.” Her heart was bleeding as she spoke.
“How do you want me to cope without you?” he faced the window with his hands in his jeans trouser pockets. “You have thrown me off balance. I don’t know how to continue with my life without you.”
Life had been so horrible for Tommy since the day Helen came back from home and told him she had agreed to go ahead with the marriage..
“Tommy, I think you should leave now, and you should stop coming here.” She forced her voice to come out as hard as possible. “My decision stands. Leave!”
“You are asking me to leave, Helen?” He turned to look at her, anger blazing in his eyes. “Okay, I will leave, but I want you to know that I will never forgive you. You dumped me for an old man, just because he’s rich!”
He walked to the door and stepped out. He banged the door so hard Helen had to hold on to the couch.
Her phone pinged for a WhatsApp message. She went to pick it up from the dining table. It was Darin, her husband-to-be. She clicked on the new message to read.
“Tosyn says she’s been calling you. Please call her. She said she needed to talk to you about the details.”
As usual, he ended the message with several heart emojis.
Helen rolled her eyes at the message and dropped the phone back on the dining table.
Tosyn was their wedding planner. Helen had refused to pick up her call for over four hours.
The phone started ringing. It was Tosyn calling again. Helen just stared at the phone until it rang out.
When it started ringing the second time, she snatched it off the table, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath twice before she swiped across the phone screen.
“Hello, Tosyn.”
“Hi, Helen.”
She could hear the relief in the wedding planner’s voice.
“I have been calling you, but you were not picking up. I had to call Mr. Oduwole.”
“Is there any problem?” Helen snapped.
“Yes, yes please,” Tosyn replied. “It’s your mom,” she sighed. “She is insisting that twelve people will be at the top table. That is six other people apart from you and your parents.”
“Do whatever she wants,” Helen told Tosyn. It did not bother her whether twenty or thirty people sat at the top table. Please.”
“But it’s your wedding,” the other lady said. “You can’t allow your mom to dictate everything.”
“And I am telling you now that you should do whatever my mom wants,” Helen snapped again. She scoffed, “Tosyn, please, let’s not start the lectures again!” She hissed and disconnected her line.
She was already feeling the onset of a headache, so she lay on the three-seater couch by the window to get some fresh air. Her phone started ringing again, but she didn’t make any move to pick it. She lay there for over one hour until Jane came back from her lecturer boyfriend’s house.
“Are you okay?” She placed her bag on the sofa and went to sit beside Helen. “Darin called me. He’s so worried. He said you haven’t been picking up his calls and that of the wedding planner.”
“I just spoke with Tosyn,” Helen said. “I don’t want to speak with Darin now.
“No, no,” Jane raised a finger and shook her head. “I am going to pick up your phone and dial his number.” She walked to where Helen’s phone was and picked it up. “And you will speak with him now.”
“I said I will call him when I am ready to talk to him,” Helen insisted.
Jane didn’t even listen. She was already dialing Darin’s number.