Like all marriages, even theirs had its challenges. Tiana and David occasionally had disagreements, but they always made an effort to resolve their issues before going to bed. However, David began to feel disconnected from his wife, even though Tiana was content with their relationship. Concerned that he wasn't contributing enough, David decided to plan fun activities for them to enjoy together, especially on weekends.
"Tiana, this breakfast is delicious!" Tiana exclaimed with excitement as she savored her meal.
"Thank you. I just developed this recipe. We should go out today and do something fun," David suggested.
"What do you have in mind?" she inquired.
"I've heard karaoke is a popular option for dates these days."
"I'm not a great singer," she replied hesitantly.
"That's even more reason to give it a try. Come on, it'll be fun," David insisted.
"Alright! Let's go out and have the most fun we can possibly have," she eagerly agreed.
"Now you're talking. We can also visit that famous sushi restaurant everyone is talking about," he suggested.
After a delightful breakfast, the couple got ready for their weekend date. Before heading to the Karaoke bar, they decided to make the most of their day by visiting the park, going on a mountain hike, and enjoying lunch at the renowned sushi place. As the day grew darker, they decided to make their final stop at the Karaoke bar to sing their hearts out. However, little did they know that fate had a different plan for their evening.
Upon entering the Karaoke bar, they noticed a man named Bruce, known for his bad behavior and violent tendencies, accompanied by two girls. Bruce interrupted Tiana and David's duet, arrogantly ordering them to leave. To their surprise, it turned out that Bruce and Tiana knew each other.
"Hey, aren't you that smart pants Tiana from high school? It's you, isn't it?" Bruce taunted Tiana, pointing at her.
"I don't know what you're talking about. Let's go, David!" Tiana nervously responded, tightly gripping David's hand.
"You don't remember me? It's me, Bruce! This girl used to be so weird. She always acted like she was a princess or something," Bruce continued, provokingly.
As Bruce and his friends laughed at Tiana, David's anger reached its peak. He wanted to retaliate against Bruce for his disrespectful behavior but didn't want to expose that side of himself in front of Tiana. In his mind, he contemplated various ways to deal with Bruce.
"I don't mind a hyped toe-toe confrontation between two men, but out of respect for the ladies present, I'll turn a blind eye to your insults if you kindly leave us alone and let us enjoy the rest of our night," David firmly addressed Bruce.
"Wow! Quite the gentleman you found, Tiana the princess! Is that what you royals do these days? Look down on people by taking their tough? Huh? Your Highness," Bruce continued to mock, bowing and referring to Tiana as "Your Highness," while his friends laughed.
Unable to bear the humiliation any longer, David was on the verge of resorting to violence when Tiana intervened, pulling him away and urging him to leave. And so, their date ended on that bitter note. They returned home, and David did his best to comfort his wife, but Tiana was deeply affected by the painful memories stirred up by Bruce's presence.
David's focus shifted to seeking retribution against Bruce. He decided to confront Bruce and give him a stern warning, just as he had done with Linda. The following day, David returned to the bar to learn Bruce's address from the bartender.
It was around 7 AM and Bruce was still hangover from his drinking the other night. Upon hearing a knock on his door, he opened it thinking it was the delivery man with the soup he ordered that morning. He opened the door while all tipsy and turned back telling the supposed delivery man to put the soup on the table and leave. The man entered his apartment and closed the door behind him. Bruce got confused by that even though he was not in his right mind.
"What are you doing? Wait I know you, aren't you that man from yesterday? What are you doing here?" Bruce freaked out by the sight of David
"Calm down Bruce, calm down! How was your night. Did you party fine, had a good time with the girls?" David said sounding like a twisted person
"I don't know what shit you are cooking up here, whatever it is I am not interested. Just get out of my apartment before I call the police!" He said
"That's no way to treat your guests. And I took the liberty to visit you this early in the morning." He picked up a knife and repeated the knife story he told Linda the other day. Bruce having dealt with many criminals in his life was not intimidated by the story.
"So what, you saying you'll cut me or something? Stop your bullshit and leave my house!" He said to David. David was surprised with Bruce's reaction and had no idea what he was to do next. Suddenly his eyes landed on a picture, Bruce put on his desk. It appeared to be a family photo of Bruce, a girl probably his wife and a child. A young girl. So he came up with another idea, if direct threats wouldn't work on him, what about threatening him with his family. So picked up the picture and slowly started shinning the frame
"Lovely picture. Wife and child I assume?" He said
"Put that down, it's none of your business." Bruce exclaimed
"Looking at the state of this place! I presume she moved out and took the kid with her. Probably divorced you because of your drinking problems." David continued. Seeing someone threatening him with his family a coward as he was even he couldn't condone such menacing conduct.
"You don't know anything?" he yelled at David.
"Yes I don't know what happened. But I do know the love a man has for his children. A pathetic man like you, she must be the only good thing you've achieved to offer to this world of ours. She must be your treasure. The reason you wake up in the morning. There is a saying that everyman has his own kingdom, it's the reason why men can't rule themselves. Treachery and killings will always follow them behind. This picture right here represents that, the kingdom you've managed to build with hard work and sacrifices. You put it right next to your bed to remind yourself every morning of your great achievement. You wouldn't want someone to bring down the kingdom you spent years building in one day, would you?" David was serious as he was threatening Bruce with his family
"You are crazy! Are you threatening to kill my family now?" Bruce exclaimed, while fearing that David might actually kill his wife and daughter
"I see you are not all stupid. I'll give you up to today. Come to my house and apologize on your knees to Tiana. What will happen if you don't? I'll leave that to your imagination."
He gave Bruce his home address and then left the apartment. Bruce was totally confounded by what he witnessed that morning, that his hangover was immediately vaporized from the shock. Bruce confused and indecisive about what to do next, remembered the look on David's face when he was threatening him. He knew for sure that the man wasn't bluffing with his threats. So he put his ego aside for the sake of his little girl, and decided that he'd go later that day and apologize to Tiana.
It was getting dark in the afternoon around 6pm when Bruce arrived at their house. Tiana opened the door with David by her side. She was surprised when she saw Bruce standing outside in decent cloths. She asked him why he came to her house
"I come in peace. I was hoping to speak with you about something." He replied. He was well dressed and calm as he spoke. Tiana knew something was different about him and felt it was safe to speak to him. David on the hand knew exactly why Bruce was acting the way he was.
"I'll leave you two to speak." He said. And then he pretended as if he went to his room but hid behind the wall in the sitting room to eavesdrop on their conversation.
Immediately after David left, Bruce fell down on his knees, Tiana was surprised and for a moment she thought he came to mock her just like he always did back in primary school and then at her own house.
"What are you doing?" She irritatedly asked him
"I am sorry. I am so sorry for bullying you all those years at school and for what I said yesterday at the bar. I really regret what I did, I hope you can forgive me!" He said
"Wow! Am surprised. I appreciate you apologizing for that, but there is really no need for you to kneel down like this. Come on get up!" She said as she tried helping Bruce stand up
"Please! Just say you'll forgive me. Am sorry, am so sorry." He continued crying out with tears falling down his eyes. Tiana held his arms and helped him stand up.
"Alright, alright I forgive you. we are cool." She said. Bruce was happy to hear Tiana say she finally forgave him. The way he apologized showed how sincerely he regretted bullying Tiana back in school.
"Really?" He said in surprise
"Yes, it'll be hard to forget all those horrible memories. But seeing you apologizing to me like this will really help in doing that. I appreciate you coming down in person to do this. It must have been difficult for a man with pride like yourself to kneel down and apologize to me. If you don't mind me asking, what made you do this?" She asked
"I was married once. Funny right! I didn't know how precious the gift I had until I lost it. I was an alcoholic, deep in debts and always took out my anger on my wife. I don't blame her for leaving me. But want to do better for my daughter. I stopped gambling and I am working on my drinking problem. Running into you that day brought back memories from back then when we were kids. The way I treated you made me think about my daughter, it occurred to me that if someone bullied her like I did to you in school, there is no telling what I would do to them. The moment I thought about that I decided to come and apologize to you right away." He said
"Well, thank you. apology accepted." She replied
"You have a wonderful husband, please just tell him I apologized and that we are cool now." Bruce continued
"Alright! Am sure your daughter would be very proud of the man you've become." She said
"Thanks, have a good night."
After Bruce apologized, David thought he'd move on from the horrors of that night at the bar. But his fury was yet fully vanquished. Whenever he closed his eyes he pictured the two girls with Bruce laughing at him and his wife. Tiana had moved on but he just couldn't forget the incident. At least not until the two girls paid for making a mockery of his wife. So he did his research and found out where they lived. But he didn't know how exactly he was going to exact his revenge on them.
After a long critical thinking, he finally came to a solution. Tiana was sleeping around 11 PM when he sneaked out of the house. The two best friends worked at the bar attending to guests for cash. He knew the only time he'd exact his revenge was when they were alone together heading home. His plan was to beat them harshly with a whip to teach them a lesson. But the only flaw to his plan was that he couldn't handle both of them alone at the same time. That day was fortuitous for him because luckily one of the girls, Vanessa decided to end the shift early and was heading home alone leaving her friend Sara behind.
So he followed her behind while wearing a black mask with a big thick whip in his hands. She was walking in the dark narrow road when she sensed that someone was following her behind. She looked around everywhere but there was no one around to ask for help. She was about to start running when he closed in on her and pushed her to the ground. She then started screaming for help. He pressed one of his foot on her leg and then he began whipping her back with all his mighty.
"Come on now! Laugh! Laugh at me like you did! Laugh! Laugh!" He continued screaming while whipping her.
After five minutes of continuous whipping, she no longer had any strength to scream. Realizing he had probably done enough as the whip he had was completely ruined, he stopped and stood beside her hyperventilating
"Many forms of punishments have come and gone throughout history. But a good fresh whipping has thrived, because it always works. Behave immodesty and smirkily in front of others again, and I'll do something worse next time, got it!" He said to her. But the poor girl was about to pass out from the exquisite pain
Vanessa was breeding from her back and he stood there threatening her. Her friend Sara clocked out early from work too and was going home when she saw someone was being beaten. She approached and saw that it was Vanessa. Upon realizing that someone was hurting her friend, she picked up a brick nearby and hit David's head. It just rained earlier that day so the brick was soft and smashed into pieces when she hit him. He turned around, and a skirmish arose between the two. She put up a hard fight before he began choking her. She managed to remove the mask off his face. Vanessa became conscious of what was happening. She stood up and began pulling David off of her friend Sara whom he was choking. David was a very strong man. No matter how hard they tried they couldn't even budge him. It was as though he was suddenly possessed and turned to a monster. After a while Sara suddenly stopped moving. Vanessa noticed something was wrong and fell back down from the shock.
"You killed her!" She said, while shaking from the horrific sight. She took a glimpse of his face, then hurriedly stood up and started running away from the man.
Once David began doing something, he never gave up half way until he saw the end of it. Surprisingly even to him, looking at a dead body triggered no guilty response from his senses. If anything, he felt a certain thrill row down his spine as he stood up with a sense of achievement. He turned around and saw Vanesa freeing. After realizing she took a glimpse at his face, he started chasing her. He was about to catch up to her when she luckily came across two men, who were getting off from work at a nearby store.
She was gasping as she explained to them that a man was trying to kill her. David saw the two men and knew the situation had changed. So turned around and went back home before his wife woke up and realized he was gone. To make a perfect alibi in case things went south