Getting out of the Shell

Mandy woke up early on Saturday morning, she had a program of going to visit Natasha her friend that day. Natasha had phoned her the previous day inviting her to go and see her at her place. Natasha was a sweet lady, toned skin complexion with dark hair, not fat nor thin just medium sized very humble and down to earth though she had those good qualities in her, she still had one bad element in her which was gossiping.

 She never wanted any news to slide without knowing about it. Natasha loved her family and husband so much, though her husband Danny was not so much into her, he neither returned his love to her.

But despite all this, She probably did everything in her power to stand by him through thick or thin, no matter how strong the storm became, she never let go of him, she stood firm just to keep her marriage going in short , it was because of her perseverance that their marriage existed.

Mandy knew, for Natasha to call her for a visit it's either she wanted to catch up or maybe something had gone wrong with her.

Before she rushed to the bathroom she called her helper Nana. Nana a middle aged lady good enough to be her mother who took care of her ever since she was young, she  took care of her more than her mother did. Mandy's mother was a very  busy business lady who never had hardly had time for her poor child but only had time to run the family business. She ended up loving Nana more than her own mother. Besides being fond  of Nana, She loved her father so dearly, he always spoiled her with whatever she wanted and she was always the apple of her father's eye.

 When Mandy decided to shift to stay on her own her father backed her up, this made her mother cross and this made her parents to have big quarrell over the same issue because her father supported her all the through the shifting topic. After her mother had calmed down, she sent Nana to go and leave with her, hence objecting and coming out strong not wanting to let her go and start a life of her own. Mandy continued persuading her mother, at last, she accepted and told her that she would only allow her to go if she took Nana along to stay with her, she was caught up in the middle and had no choice but to agree to her mother's conditions.

"Nana! Nana!" She called out loud.

When Nana heard how loud Mandy called her name, she stormed out of the kitchen and went running to see why she called out that way.

"Ms Mandy is anything in the matter?"

"No why do you ask Nana?"

"Because of the way you screamed out my name?"

"Sorry Nana if I startled you, I didn't mean to. Both you and I  know you've a hearing problem that's why I called you that way." Mandy answered with a soft voice.

"It's okay, what  can I do for you Ms?"

"Nana how many times have I stopped you from being formal with me? Anyway forget about it that's not what I called you for, please prepare me a heavy breakfast remember my favourite." They said the sentence together  two slices of toast bread, one boiled egg and bacon."

"Anything else Ms Mandy?"

" Add a glass of juice please."

"Okay, please excuse me."

"Go ahead."

Mandy went to the bathroom , while bathing she kept wondering why Holmer had called for an emergency dinner, she never expected it simply because she was to the Idea of oftenly going out twice in month which was normally the first week and last week of the month.

Though it was an arranged thing between Holmer and her, lately, she had started growing fond of him after a long time. Mandy always opposed the idea of being betrothed to him, but her mother and father convinced her that he was a gentleman who  was very matured and different from other young men that they saw. Besides that, for the sake of their business relationship that was held between the two families forced her to agree. She couldn't refuse any longer instead she accepted and started looking for those qualities that her parents saw in him.

After doing what her parents had wished for, her heart was torn into pieces, she cried for not being her choice but her parents, therefore it was for this reason that she vowed never to work nor have anything to do with her parents company but to go out there and hustle for someone else's company some in order to be independent and fend for herself.

Mandy couldn't deny the fact that her parents were right and their match pairing was perfect. Holmer really was handsome and a strong man full of life and hardworking, he had all the qualities that a woman needed in a man. Tall and huge with fair skin, blue eyes and dark hair which was neatly shaved, he always smelled fresh, the perfume that he usually wore kind of hypnotized her. Above all that, what really turned her on was his hoarse voice, his strong arms and his thin lips. She really liked the way he looked whenever he was serious. Moreover, he never pushed her to do what she disdained and with this, she fell madly in love with him and he won her heart over.

Though she became fond of him, she felt it inside her that Holmer never felt the same way as she did, she sense it with the way he interacted with her, in the five years of their relationship, she has only been kissed twice, aside from that, there has never been a day they acted like normal couples did. Just by thinking about it made her tremble, such that her body became filled out with goosebumps and little did she know tears were already streaming down her face, her parents and Holmer's parents had no idea of how suffocating being in this relationship was. And what hurt her the most was, she completely no one to confide in but herself. She ended up blaming herself for accepting to be in a one sided relationship and she had to play along the hard way by keep up appearances.

Mandy paced out of the bathroom, went to her bedroom. Applied body lotion and tied up her blonde hair into a messy bun,  did a little make to lift up her face. Walked to the wardrobe and pulled out a black ripped skinny jeans and matched it up with white sleeveless pollneck body top, grabbed a pair of white converse put them on. Got her clutch bag and checked if everything that a lady needs was there. Before walking out, she wore a sweet smelling perfume and took her phone, a wrist watch from the dressing table and paced out.

When she reached the dining room, she found her breakfast ready , she sat down to eat. While she was eating Nana come across and asked," Ms Mandy today it's your day off but you woke up are you perhaps going somewhere?"

"Yes Nana, do remember Natasha?"

"Yes."

"I'm going to her place to see her she called me yesterday saying she has missed me, but before I go to her place I will stopped by the supermarket so that I buy some groceries."

"What time will you be back home?"

"Nana please stop with your questions I'm not a child anymore."

"I need to give answers to the madam incase she calls."

"Alright, alright Nana I won't argue with you anymore, I'll be back before you know it, she replied. I have to come and prepare myself,  I'm going out with Holmer  this evening, but don't bother to leave lunch for me I'll just eat light food when I come."

After conversing with Nana, Mandy paced out of the house, went to the garage, sat in the car and started the  engine. When Peter the gardener who was about in his early thirties saw Mandy driving towards gate he rushed and opened the gate wide to for her to drive out of the yard.

Before going to Natasha's place she stopped over at Pantry Pride supermarket , she bought some groceries that they had run out of. Also bought a few things for Natasha and her three children. She strolled out of the supermarket, got in her car and drove off to Natasha's place in ittawa. Before she reached Natasha's place, her phone vibrated, she parked her car to the side to check who had sent her a message, it was Holmer  reminding her about the dinner date. Mandy never replied to the message but just smiled and drove off.