Caroline had a boyfriend by the name of Nick. The two had met a year ago while attending a party in the nearby market. Caroline had gone there together with Belindah and Vicky. While Belindah and Vicky sang on stage, Caroline was sitting by the table all to herself, sipping a soda when Nick approached her. The two had spent that night talking to each other and had found out that they liked one another. From that day the two became love birds and met regularly whenever possible. Caroline developed great feelings for him and loved him wholeheartedly. Nick proved to be a caring man as she stepped in to help Caroline in the huge burden she carried for her family.
Together with her younger brother, Hilkah, they lived in a rental flat at Goki market alongside their not-so- strict parents. Their father was a renowned alcoholic while their ailing mother did little to signify her existence. She had suffered a stroke on her right side which was now completely paralyzed. Hilkah was only but a cheeky teenager who had recently discovered the pleasure of the boys gang and he seldom stayed at home. Caroline was, by fate, the sole breadwinner of the family. Yet she was only twenty.
Most of the time she was overwhelmed but she never gave up. Working like a horse to provide for the family needs often times took her moments of being happy away. If it were not for friends like Belindah and Vicky, she could have succumbed to depression. Additionally, the coming of Nick into her life brought with it a great beam of hope and happiness.
Apart from being the best of friends, Vicky and Caroline were close cousins. The two always spent time together helping one another. They had all things in common and held their girl talks between themselves. They shared and kept each others' little secrets. The bond between the two young ladies was unmistakably strong. One could even say one girl was an extension of the other's body because of how close the two were. If a person went to Vicky's place and could not find her, he would definitely find her at Caroline's house. Where one girl was found the other must be around too.
Caroline had told Vicky all about her new found love with Nick, how he treated her as a queen. Even at times the two went together to see Nick. They would sit together, tell stories over some drinks and snacks. They would go to the theaters as a team and Nick would escort them home. He always gave them much money to meet their needs, as he always said.
Then something had happened. It was almost a year into their relationship when Nick started loosing interest in Caroline. He seemed to have other thoughts about her. Caroline noticed that her boyfriend at times behaved strangely. He seemed not to like her company much as before. He did not give her the attention she used to receive from him. She observed all these without a murmur. She did not know exactly what Nick intended or planned as far as their relationship was concerned but she devoted her love to him.
When the situation overwhelmed her heart, she decided to open up to her best friend, Vicky.
"I don't know what's wrong with him, nowadays! He has just changed completely," she lamented. Vicky listened silently for a long time then asked her.
"Have you wondered if maybe you are the reason why he is behaving so?"
"Me! how?" A perturbed Caroline asked. "I do everything he asks of me! He is the only guy in my life. He was the first and he will be all there is!" She was almost coming to the tears and Vicky thought it would be better to change her line of thought. But something inside her told her to press on a little bit.
"Still you might not be giving him enough! May be sex is not all that he cares for! He needs something more, something which you are not providing!" she stubbornly went on.
"And what do you think it is that he is looking for?" Caroline was getting enraged.
" How am I suppose to know. you are his girlfriend you should know." she had said with an air of carelessness. "May be your failure to recognize his need is the reason why he is looking for it somewhere else!'
The finality with which Vicky said those words pierced straight into Caroline's heart. She could not take it anymore. Many thoughts flashed through her mind within a fraction of a second. She imagined that Vicky had gone behind her back and was dating her boyfriend. She saw in her wild mind that Vicky had spoken ill of her to the love of her life. She felt as if her best friend had laid bare all her weaknesses to the only man who mattered the most in her life. She, therefore, decided to act. Springing up like a wounded lioness, Caroline went for Vicky's hair.
She had intended to grab her and roll her to the ground. Vicky had then let out a horrifying scream and terror had flooded her face. Caroline stopped in mid air. She had not expected that response from Vicky. Clearly taken aback, she stood their panting. Vicky looked at her friend with wide eyes full of shock. It was the first time the two had argued. And yet they were almost tearing each other to death. Vicky had then walked away from Caroline, ignoring all her calls and pleas and apologies.
The two young ladies slowly started drifting apart, without any further arguments or fights. A certain kind of coldness started building in between them. Belindah had noticed this and with great effort tried to bring them to talk things over. It took a long time and tactics but eventually Belindah brought them together. The reconciliation had just happened recently and the two seemed to have buried the hatchet. They began doing things together as at first. That is why the three had planned to go to town to look for a studio where they could produce a song, originally composed by Vicky but loved by all the three of them.
Then, some few days before they went looking for a studio in town, without any prior warning, Nick had made a proposal of marriage to Caroline. Caroline could not believe her eyes and ears.
Nick had sent her a message asking her if she was willing to get married to him she should meet him at a nearby resort in a week's time. She was to go their alone, and not to inform even Vicky or Belindah. She had found it so hard to contain the secret within herself, but she convinced herself that she would keep it that way because her lifetime happiness depended on it.
Then the day of their meeting finally arrived.