The sound of children's laughter struck a contrast to the gloom of the hospital, Emma Taylor sat on her hospital bed looking out of the window mind lost in thought.
A cold wind blew in a ginkgo leaf through the window and Emma stretched out her arm hoping it would land on it, but It instead it fell to the ground.
A figure walks past her and shuts the window before slowly turning to Emma. "The cold is not good for you." Viviana Taylor said her voice laced with concern as she daintily held Emma's face. "Oh my little Emma, you are still pretty." She added with a faint loving voice which earned her a soft chuckle from Emma. Viviana rose while putting on a stern expression, hands on her hips. "I won't forgive you if you leave me, you have to live a long life with me."
Emma smiled. "Thank you, for being there for me despite our differences. I got unlucky in my marriage but I'm glad to have you with me."
Viviana pulled up a nearby chair and sat across from Emma. "Why would you say that? Micheal is a great husband." Emma's gaze shifted. "He is cheating on me." She said nonchalantly, trying her best to hide the pain in her eyes.
"What?" Viviana exclaimed.
"He texted "I love you" then deleted it right away. I'm sure he sent it by mistake." Emma said.
"Don't get sensitive." Viviana tried to advise Emma, but her mind was elsewhere. "Do you want me to talk to him?" Viviana added.
"Forget it, I just need you mom." Emma answered.
"I only need you too, just think happy thoughts my little Emma. Okay? Now lay down you need your rest." Viviana said as she eased Emma to sleep.
Being diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor has made Emma's sleep shorter than usual. After twenty minutes she rowed herself from sleep only to overhear her mother Viviana on the phone with someone else.
"I knew you were stupid, but I didn't think that you could be that stupid. If you want to lazy around the least you can do is not let Emma find out, now I have to convince her that she is paranoid." Viviana spoke with venom.
Emma tightened her fist as she realized that her mother who she thought had gotten past their differences was still ty the old shrew she knew. She wondered when she last felt happy, and what went wrong along the way.
She waited till Viviana left her side before she picked up her cell to dial Micheal's number but all she got was a busy line. Emma struggled out of bed and made her way out of the hospital knowing that if she couldn't reach her husband he was most likely to be home.
She hailed a cab and told the cabbie her destination. During the car ride, she pondered on what went wrong, after her marriage to Micheal his company went bankrupt so she poured in most of her savings, even selling some of the shares in her own company to get her husband out of the clutches of debtors.
Not long after that her sister ousted her from her own company using terms like mismanagement of company funds to convince the board of directors.
It was around that time that her mother came to her and proposed that they both bury the hatchet.
"Ma'am, we are here." The cabbie said drawing Emma down to earth. She paid the cabbie and stepped out of the cab. It was a short walk to the door of the home she shared with Micheal but she became aware of a different car in the driveway.
Emma found the front door open and let herself in. As she made her way through the house giggles could be heard from the bedroom. Emma found the bedroom door ajar and peered in. No matter how nonchalant she may have tried to act finding out that the one she loved was fooling around with someone else in their marriage bed tire at her heart.
She fell to her knees with a thud that made the occupants of the room aware that they were not alone.
Micheal was shocked at being caught as did the girl but very quickly they schooled their expressions Micheal's one of indifference and his paramour's a smirk.
"Aren't you supposed to be in a hospital bed or something?" Micheal nonchalantly asked, unconcerned that he had been caught.
"Babe, what? Is she sick?" The paramour asked Micheal with a smitten look. Before Micheal could answer her Emma rose from the ground with strength she did not know she had as fury burned her very being.
She picked up the nearest thing she could find which was an ornament vase a gift from her wedding with Micheal and threw it at them. The paramour shrieked and Micheal dove in to protect her as the vase shattered on the wall behind them. Both rushed to their feet half-naked as Emma had another vase in hand.
They rushed past her and headed to the living room with Emma on their tail. Only for Emma to feel dizzy at the doorway to the living room. Emma leaned on the wall for support as the vase slipped from her hands, The paramour took this as an opportunity to strike back.
"You stupid bitch, always thinking that you are better than us huh why don't you just die!" The paramour ended her sentence with a slap on Emma's face.
"Tell me about it, I took out an insurance policy on her life months ago when I found out she was diagnosed with a brain tumor but the bitch just won't die." Micheal spoke with a scowl.
"Bastard! After everything, after all I sacrificed, This is how you repay me? You will bare the consequences!" Emma said with clenched teeth as she sprang and grabbed the paramour's hair and went wild with it.
"Micheal!" The paramour shrieked in pain.
Micheal rushed in to help but Emma managed to land a slap on his face, an action that made Micheal squeeze his face in anger.
Micheal dragged Emma off the paramour and shook her, before throwing her across the room with a shout. "Bitch just die!"
Emma heard the glass shatter before the pain engulfed her. Surrounded by the shattered glass of the centerpiece table Emma struggled to speak and move but couldn't do either as her body slowly got cold and numb. Above her stood her husband and his paramour looking down at her coldly.
Slowly the darkness embraced her and pulled her, but she struggled and fought against the pull as hard as she could but all her senses were lost, filled with fear of the unknown all she could do was struggle against the pull till finally, it let up. She finally accepted the fate that'll she no longer be more and her eyes slowly closed, a painful tear trickling the side of her face.
Poor Emma..
She was just 22 years of age..
She never experienced love..
And was even deceived into transferring her whole funds.
...
Emma suddenly opened her eyes to find herself in a familiar conference room with everyone looking at her. The shock was not a strong enough expression of what Emma felt. She rubbed her forehead as she tried to make sense of what was going on.
"Miss Taylor?" A voice uttered by her side making Emma frown. She looked around at everyone in the conference room and was for a moment utterly speechless. How did she get here?
Wasn't she just.. This must be a dream.
"Miss Taylor, we're yet to get your response on the contract, should we tell the other party we agr-"
"Excuse me." Emma spoke before absentmindedly standing up and walking out of the conference room. She found her car parked where it usually was. Emma put her hands in her pants pocket and found the keys to the car.
After a short drive to her apartment, she took a bath and then looked at herself in the mirror as she tried to find a logical explanation for what she was going through.
The closest she could come to was rebirth, like in those novels she read as a kid. She quickly brought out her phone from her pocket and a frown immediately settled between her brows. It was 12th of August 2021, 5 months before her engagement with Micheal, how was this even possible?
She's already married to him!
Still very confused, Emma quickly surfed the internet and her fingers ran themselves through her hair seeing that the internet was giving her just one answer to what she was currently facing.
She had recantated.
As she was coming to terms with her situation her doorbell suddenly began to ring repeatedly. She tried to ignore it but it just kept going off. Emma went to the door and opened it to find someone with his back to her, hastily trying to pick up the bouquet of flowers that had fallen from his hands.
"Oh sorry, let me just pick these up real quick babe."
Emma suddenly froze, her palms tightening by her sides. She knew this voice all too well..