Immediately Valeria left, she tried hard to stop the tears from rolling down her eyes. The audacity from that Andrea girl was so rude and it was even a shame on her.
"James caused this. James caused all of this!" She hasn't been looking at where she was going, and it wasn't until the man before her yelled before she realized she had bumped into him. "Oh sorry," she apologized, then went on her way.
She wasn't herself. "You son of a b--" a notification alert sounded but she ignored. She was too angry to be checking her social media now. She needed to head home first, then sit with James to have another conversation.
Unfortunately for her plan, James was nowhere to be found. Valeria couldn't recall James mentioning that he would be leaving the house. Where could he had gone to?
She picked up her phone and began to dial his number. The call only rang through for like five times now, but he didn't pick up! Immediately, Valeria began to be scared. "What if something is wrong with him? Why isn't he picking up?"
She remained like that for several minutes, still trying to dial his number. She left him a couple of text messages too but all to no avail. Her palm was sweaty now and she couldn't even slow her heartbeat!
"Why won't you pick up, James!" She had called her sister to call James in case she could reach him, and as well called all of her in laws, but neither of them picked her call.
The notification that had appeared on her phone minutes ago was still there on the top of her screen. She decided to check it out and what she saw was not what she had been expecting at all.
Through gritted teeth, she muttered under her breath. "Oh you son of a bitch!"
***
James didn't really like the way his wife had spoken to him, and even though he was the one who had been at fault, she could have still paid him some respect! Because of this anger in him, the moment he saw his wife all dressed up and was leaving, he too picked up an outfit and went out.
He was at his family house and sure enough after some arguments and a little fight, they made up. Desiree was still angry at him that he let Andrea speak rudly to her and their mother.
He knew Andrea was a brat, so he had quickly apologized to his sister.
They took some family pictures and posted it while they were still in their merry state. At the back of his mind, he feared Valeria must have seen the post maybe and that was why she'd been calling him. But it still didn't change his mind.
"That woman has been calling left and right. Her sister called too! You should be heading home already." Desiree said to James.
"Yes that's right. Let's be frank, you hurt the poor woman. We don't want her storming in here putting up a little drama." His mother said too.
James sighed. "I will, but not until we empty this bottle." He said and they all roared into a loud cheer.
The bottle of beers before them was more than ten! And now they'd just started to drink a new one.
"But look," Desiree said, reeking already of alcohol. Her words were slow and dawdy. "This bottle is new. We're never going to finish it in time!"
"Sister, you underestimate us." James chorted. He was half as drunk as Desiree, even though he drank the least of the beers. Desiree was a very good drinker as she drank more than half of the bottles that had now been emptied.
They continued dawdling and talking in a slow toned manner when the door swung opened with force.
Valeria's kick must have damaged the lock because Desiree was very certain she had locked the doors.
She walked in staring at them all like she was a predator ready to hunt its prey.
Neither of them could deny the terror that choked their throat as perplexed gazes were alternated.
Then James' mother spoke up. "How dare you? You ruined the door!"
Valeria shot the woman a cold gaze. "Sorry mother." In her voice, every attempt of hiding the pretense that coated her apology was destroyed with the murderous look in her eyes. "I'm here for James." She said.
James instantly stood up, held her by her arm and led her outside. Neither Desiree or her mother said another word because all they could do was stare.
***
"Honey, you've been awfully calm all through the ride home. Is everything okay?" James said the moment they stepped inside.
"I've been calm? Why the hell weren't you picking your calls!"
"Honestly, because of this new version of you." James said, then began to head up the stairs. But Valeria ran towards him like a mad woman and stood in his front.
"What do you mean by that? I was fucking worried, James. And you saw my calls, all of you did. And neither of you returned it!"
"You think you have the right to be bossy now. Because of a little flaw of mine. One tiny mistake that I made. What do you think you'll gain if we actually divorced? Huh?"
"A tiny mistake? It costed you your family, James!"
"But it didn't! I'm still here. My kids are still here!" He took one pitiful glance at her. "You on the other hand... If you still wish to be the mother of your kids, you better behave well. Else, you'd be shocked to see that after our divorce, I'll be the one raising the kids! And they'll have another woman as mom."
A hot slap landed on his cheeks. He felt his face flustered hot from the pain. "How dare you!" James roared.
Valeria hadn't meant to be violent. But James had no right to threaten her like that. "Those are MY kids you're talking about. I am their only mother and I'll raise them even after our divorce!"
"With which money? I feed you, Val." James was sounding so different now... So evil... But for some reason, he just didn't care. "You have no money whatsoever. Will you run to meet your sister? What money does she have? Who will you run to for help? No friends. No family. You'll regret it, Valeria. And so, if I were you, I would try my best not to make your husband mad because if you don't do so? I'm the one who's going to be bringing those divorce papers to you."
"Daddy!" Little Jose said as soon as Mylene brought them in. Luckily, he hadn't heard of their argument. Neither of them had.
Hot tears were streaming down Valeria's eyes now, even as she tried to hide them.
"Mommy? Are you crying?" Jose said as he stood in front of both of his parents.
"No no, she isn't." James said. "Something got into her eyes, right mommy?" He brought his gaze to meet hers.
Through gritted teeth, Valeria managed to reply. "Yes, my love. Mommy's fine."
"Why don't you all come with me." James said, and both his kids went upstairs with him.
Mylene didn't greet him because she never really liked James.
When it was just the two of them, Valeria couldn't stop the river of tears that had now filled her eyes. She narrated everything to Mylene and how he had just threatened her right now.
"That jerk! How can he say something like that." Mylene cursed.
She didn't leave Jose out her story, and Mylene seemed to have been only interested in that part. "So this hot billionaire is chasing you?"
"Chasing me? Of course not! He only wants me to work for him." Valeria said as she wiped the last drop of tears from her eyes. They seemed to have stopped now.
"Whatever sis, just say yes already!"
"James doesn't want that. Besides, it'll be too awkward working in the same company as James..."
Her phone rang, but she didn't care to see who was calling.
"Oh come on sis. Who cares what James says now."
"I do. I don't want to loose my kids. I guess I need to forget everything that has happened now and just focus on being a good wife."
"You mean, bring a slave? James clearly doesn't appreciate you anymore."
The phone rang again.
"Even though. He's still my husband and--"
"Won't you pick up your phone?" Mylene asked.
Valeria then realised maybe she should check who had been calling her. The caller had not been one Valeria was expecting at all.
She picked up and said. "Hello?"
Then her eyes widened and she mouthed to Mylene, "Jose. He's the one calling!"