The two girls, Caroline and Belinda stared at the girl showering in the bathroom. Vicky was oblivious of their presence. She sang as she showered not knowing how angry her watchers were. Caroline was boiling. She had expected to come and catch them red-handed in the act while in the sitting room. She couldn't believe that her best friend could surely do this to her.
"Where is he?" Caroline turned to Belinda in a low but harsh voice, speaking through gritted teeth. Belinda pulled her away from the bathroom so that she could talk to her freely.
"Where is he? You said you saw him here with her, why is she alone?" she was fuming, feeling irritated.
"Relax, my dear, I am not sick in the head! I saw the two of them caressing here on this coach." Belinda insisted and even added her own imaginations. She was going to say whatever it will take to make Caroline believe her.
Belinda would not let anything discredit her. She was all too positive that Nick was in that house. She persisted in her persuasion on Caroline.
"Caro I assure you the two were together!"
"But now they are not!" she said harshly, "What's the evidence to back up your claims? Or were you making a fool out of me?" Caroline had lost all her patience and started going back to the bathroom. Belinda caught her hands and would not let go.
"Leave me alone! Let me go and ask her!" She demanded. But Belinda could not let her.
"Wait, going there is a bad idea. Listen, I think these two are playing games on us. Maybe they were in the bedroom and after…you know what…she left him there and went to wash in the bathroom. Let us check the bedroom first." Belinda said and Caroline felt like she was making some sense. So they tip-toed to the bedroom which was next to the bathroom where Vicky was bathing.
Just as the two were about to open the bedroom door, Belinda in front followed by Caroline, Vicky came out of the bathroom at that very moment and her eyes landed on the two. Within a fraction of a second, Vicky processed the scene before her eyes and she was left puzzled. She realized that the two were in what looked like some form of mischief then are caught right in the act. Imagine the embarrassment!
"Caro! You are back already!" Vicky shouted in surprise but also to break the moment of awkward silence that had suddenly descended when she opened the door to the bathroom and caught them sneaking on her. "oh aw!" was all she could manage.
"Belinda!! You two were planning to scare me, right?" Vicky asked, now in a joking manner. Belinda saw an opportunity she could at least grasp and use to defend themselves for their actions. She decided to go with her story.
"Yes Vicky! We noticed you were at the bathroom and we wanted to hide inside your room here so that when you came in we would scare you! Hahaha! Lucky you got us earlier, right Caro?"
"Oh yes! We would have given you the scare of a lifetime then laugh at your screaming, hahahaha!" and they all stated laughing. Meanwhile Belinda who was nearest the door to the bedroom did not want to move away for she hoped that her theory was right. She looked at Caroline and tried to pass a message to her, telling her that come what may she must enter that room.
Caroline got her message but she was having her own doubts.
She looked at Vicky scrutinizing her every behavior, attitude, body language and the manner she spoke, to see if there was anything new in either of them. What surprised her and contributed to her thinking that Belinda was wrong, was the courage and positive attitude with which Vicky carried herself. Caroline expected that a person who had committed such a betrayal would now be cowering in guilt and be shame faced. But that was not the case here. Vicky was all too dry-eyed and unshaken by anything whatsoever! Caroline hesitated, should she ask Vicky to open the door so they could finally catch her, or should they force their way in?
Belinda looked at her again and seemed to read her thoughts. Because she could not speak out loudly, she tried to speak with her eyes again, "Don't be fooled Caroline! Your man is inside this room, probably hiding. Open it! Open it!" But all these were just in Belinda's thoughts, outside no words were spoken loudly except for the exchanging of looks. Vicky noticed and said to them about it.
"What's wrong with you guys? You know you two are acting strangely!" seeing that the two exchanged looks again she just shrugged her shoulder, dismissed their mannerisms and, though unknown to herself, dropped another bombshell on them by inviting them into the same room.
"Hey guys, come on in! I need to get dressed or else I will catch some cold standing here with nothing but a towel." She said as she looked at herself for a moment, "come in girls and assist me pick a dress please!" This caught them in total unawares. Neither Belinda nor Caroline had expected this! They had thought Vicky would refuse them from entering her room because she was hiding Nick there. But, instead, what does she say? "Come on in guys!"
In her head Caroline said, "Belinda you are a fool, you made me doubt my friend. My Nick cannot be in there and then Vicky invites us just like that into the same room!" As she thought about this, Belinda on the other hand was thinking, "This girl is taking us to be fools. She's only putting up a charade of a show so that we don't question her! What a pity! Today you will have no way of escaping. Wait until I enter this room!" Then she moved aside as Vicky came in first, followed by Caroline. Belinda leaned closer to Caroline's ears and whispered as she passed to enter the room.
"No matter where she hides him, we'll surely find him," she whispered. Caroline just looked at her and entered what was now Vicky's bedroom. Ever since Vicky moved in with them both girls had their own rooms, though in the first few months they had been sharing one room.
When the girls entered the room, both Belinda's and Caroline's mouth fell wide open in surprise. Their eyes almost popped out of their sockets as they stared on Vicky's bed.
Lying there on Vicky's bed, in purple and pink colors, the favorite colors of most girls, Vicky being among them, were two knee-high dresses. No doubt they belonged to Vicky, but Caroline had never seen her wearing them before.
"Oh! Before I forget, Caro, Nick was here today. He came looking for you!" Vicky interrupted their moment of dazzling surprise.
"What!" Caroline reacted, "Nick came here today without my knowledge, at what time and where is he?" she had been waiting for this moment. Vicky looked at her surprised, she had known she would be surprised but not in this way. This was unlike her, something must be wrong, Vicky thought, but on the outside she remained calm and said to her friend;
"Relax darling. He said he will be back by four this afternoon so you should be back by then!" she said referring to her intended outing today with her younger brother Hilkah to their grandmother's.
"Why didn't Nick wait for Caroline?" Belinda asked staring at Vicky.
"I thought he was going to, in fact he was here for quite some time. You just missed him by a whisker because since he left it was barely ten minutes and you two arrived!" Vicky explained, wondering why suddenly Nick's coming and going away was such a big deal.
"And you are only telling me now! You could have told me the moment I arrived! I would have gone after him." Caroline said, obviously sounding agitated and offended. But Vicky thought of it, she was in the bathroom showering while these others might have been anywhere in the house. she only knew they were in the house when she had come out of the bathrooms. Then they had confused her with he charade they tried to put up when he had caught them sneaking around. but before Vicky could answer, a question was thrown her way.
"And Nick gave you these dresses?" Belinda asked.
"Oh No! These are my clothes which I bought when we went shopping with Caroline some weeks ago. It is only that I have never worn them, for my own reasons!" Vicky replied, deciding to keep somethings like illnesses private. she thought she would silence Belinda with that,
"So you choose to wear them today after spending time with Nick here all alone!" Belinda continued to hammer. That statement hit Vicky like a bombshell detonating underneath her feet. It pierced right into her heart, dividing her into two, and she almost crumbled. But no! The words implied something that she had never allowed in her thoughts. Let alone to intend to do it. That would be suicidal. Why would Belinda ever think of her as capable of such?
"What are you insinuating Belinda?" Vicky asked, already reaching her boiling tempers.
"No it is just a question! You are the one who said Nick has been here and that he had stayed for quite some time," Belinda added.
"What has, me wearing my own clothes got anything to do with Nick's coming and going?" Vicky did not back. She felt thoroughly offended.
"Why would you ever think of me as a betrayer? Do I look to you like a boyfriend snatcher?" Vicky faced it off with Belinda, but she opted to keep her mouth shut, sensing that she had pushed Vicky to her farthest limits.
"Enough with that," Caroline chipped in, "These are her clothes, we bought them together at the market a few weeks ago, I remember now." Caroline said as she sat on Vicky's bed. She seemed tired all of a sudden.
"But why didn't you tell me immediately, Vicky?" she asked and tears welled up in her eyes. Vicky looked at her and wondered what she should say. She sat down next to her and placed her hands around Caroline's shoulders. She was about to start speaking to her words of comfort when Caroline asked;
"Vicky, would you tell me exactly what you did with Nick all the while in the sitting room. Tell me everything, do not leave out even a single detail, from the moment you welcomed him in up to the moment he left."
Although she had sounded so calm and composed, Caroline spoke this words with a lot of seriousness and bitterness could also be detected. Vicky too noticed this. But more than that she took note of the meaning behind every word that she spoke. She saw mistrust in those words, she saw anger and malice. She detected a bitterness that seemed to have suddenly grown and was quickly spreading its roots deeper and deeper. She wondered what had happened to Caroline to make her change this much.
Instead of answering her, Vicky chose to reflect on all the happenings of that day. She recalled that she had been fantasizing about her man and her version of the man she wanted was not even close to Nick's type. She wondered what made her two dear friends reach a point of her betraying them.
"I am sorry Caroline. I have nothing to say. Just know that I will never betray you. You are my sister and my friend, you have stood with me and helped a great deal. In whichever way you may feel offended by me, please forgive me."
Vicky said this and went to her wardrobe and got dressed. Belinda signaled Caroline and the two went out silently to the sitting room.
Caroline and Belinda had gone for the entire of that afternoon. Vicky had stayed locked up in her room for most of the hours that day. She reflected on the conversation they had had with Caroline and Belinda. It still pained her that Caroline did not trust her, a person whom she had learnt with in the same school, a person whom was family and confidant to her.
Vicky looked for a pen and paper and wrote some messages on them then left the house. When Caroline came in the evening Vicky was not there, she assumed at first that she had gone out and would certainly be back. As time went by and darkness descended, and Vicky had not returned, Caroline got worried. Ever since she joined her in this home, Vicky had never slept outside that home. Caroline looked everywhere for her but to no avail, she went into her room to see if she can find anything of value to aid in their search for Vicky
Then she found it. It was a piece of paper with Vicky's handwriting. They were but two sentences. she had written addressed to Caroline, her best friend and cousin who was more than a sister. She said, "I will never be able to repay your goodness, accept my thanks. We will meet again, maybe after this break." And she had signed out. Upon reading this, Caroline felt a cold shiver going down her spines. She felt a certain kind of sadness which she couldn't explain. She felt like she had failed her friend.
However, on the other hand she wanted to have this break so as 'to think things out' as Belinda had told her to do. She wanted to interview her conscious and see if she would be able to 'put up' with a friend whom had stabbed him at the back, going by Belinda's theorem.
"I will find out in my own!' Caroline decided.
Vicky left for her home and arrived there in good health. As usual she carried gifts for her young brothers. Gloria was so happy to see her daughter once again. She found that her mother had expanded her grocery to now include a retail shop. Gloria thanked her daughter for being of great help financially to have seen her risen to that level.
Vicky remembered that her name almost got soiled because of love, because of a man who was loved by her friend. "People protect what is there's even if it is die for," Vicky thought, "I will have one guy too who will love me eternally. Such, I would also protect with my life." It is such thoughts and optimism that kept her going even when things seemed to be against you.
Until then, Vicky decided to keep a low profile snd continued with some business ventures as she waited for the day of break-through. She was doing well, better in fact.
Unknown to her, Edmund was waiting for her, to make her love blossom and glamour to the entire world.