"Did I cheat on you with several men?" she asked taking a deep suck of her breath, his silence was a stroke on her chest. Her feet leaped on their stance as she walked toward the car, opened the car, and searched her purse for her phone. On finding her phone, she searched the media, the woman had meansuresometing about her affairs being public.
Her hands trembled slightly, scrolling through pages on her phone. Kamara in one swift snatched the phone from her grip causing her a short flinch. Her hands chased his in an attempt to snatch it back but were to no avail as his figure stood inches above hers.
"Give me my phone?" she demanded, her voice low but laced with anger. She was running out of patience, all she wanted was to discover what was happening, was her sister a home wrecker, a cheater?
Who was her sister?
"Give me my phone" she scolded the stubborn ears, he shoved in the hands of his guard Bullet who stood behind in watch of their little show.
"I'll give it to you after you get treated by a doctor" Without warning, he bent down and, with surprising ease, wrapped his strong arms around her waist. Kenita's eyes widened, barely having time to react before Kamara hoisted her up, effortlessly draping her across his broad shoulder like she weighed nothing more than a sack of flour.
Her legs dangled in the air, arms flailing slightly as she clutched at his shirt for balance. " put me down!" she protested through fits of slaps on his back, her voice a mix of surprise and fury.
"Let me down" Her hands continued to slam his back and shoulders but the man stood firm and relentless to all her kicks of resistance.
"Stay still or you'll fall," he said shifting her slightly to adjust his grip, one arm securely held her legs while the other rested against her lower back.
With a quick shove of her body in the car, he shut the door and headed for the driver's seat. At the drop of a hat they were in a hospital and Krnita was being treated by a doctor.
"You be fine in a week," said the muscular doctor, he gently placed her ankle down while noting a prescription. "Don't put much pressure on your foot also be sure to apply the paste on it" he said gesturing to her bruised neck.
"Thank you" the word flatly came out, her mind still occupied on figuring out the true character of her sister. With the recent events, she was beginning to know that her sister wasn't the same as she knew her.
Right outside, Kamara excused himself after a call promoted on his phone. Being an important call of secrecy, he walked out for some minutes leaving Kenita inside.
"I don't care how you do it, just make sure that all news about her is blocked. I want it wiped out and also be sure to find me the one that leaked the photo" he ordered the person at the other end. His morning was disrupted when he saw the news of his wife being in a scandal relationship, of course, he wasn't in shock at the news he was disturbed by it being on the media.
He had long discovered his wife's affairs and being a man of his type, he was rather focused on his reputation and status than caring about his cheating wife.
"Have it known that any media company that televises my wife will be ruined" and he meant it. He had once canceled a director of AYV media for daring to public his wife's numerous affairs.
Perhaps he was being a fool to protect an unfaithful wife like her, he just couldn't help but care about her, and no matter how he tried to deny the truth he adored her, to a point where he couldn't comprehend why.
Inside, the sterile scent of the hospital clung to the air as she sat in the uncomfortable chair in the waiting room. absently she watched the muted TV flickering above, her thoughts were far away until the sudden shift in the TV's headlines snapped her back to the present.
A photo of her flashed across the screen.
She froze, her blood running cold as she recognized the image of herself in an intimate position with someone who was not her husband. The words "Affair Exposed" and "Scandal" blared in bold letters beneath the images, though she could barely hear the sound. She stared in shock, her body stiffening as the reality of the situation hit her like a punch to the gut.
"How?" her hands gripped the sides of the chair, knuckles white, as her chest tightened. The room around her seemed to blur, the hospital's hum of activity suddenly distant and far away. She wanted to look away, to turn off the TV, but her gaze was locked on the screen, drawn in by the nightmare unfolding before her eyes. The newscasters' voices, though muted, animatedly discussed her private life for the world to hear.
"My goodness, you just can't trust young girls of these days," an elder said in disgust
"Hey, look, that's her" another called to the attention of her friend beside her. Soon all gaze fell on her, suffocating her of air.
She could feel the walls closing in as the weight of the scandal pressed down on her.
"How shameless, and she dared accuse her husband of cheating"
"It's always the guilty ones that accuse the other of their acts"
"And there I was supporting her, thinking she is the victim"
The voices came flogging her in thousands of guilts, her face crumbled on her face, and a desire for the ground to split and swallow her erupted in her mind.
And just as she felt her soul vanishing her body from all the scolds of voices, a warm touch laid on her ears, shielding them from the words of others. "You don't have to hide your face, am with you" the voice whispered. She raised her head to meet the dark eyes that warmly stared at her. His hands smoothly picked her up from the chair carried her weight in his arms and walked out, shutting the lips of all the whisperers.
"Don't you hate me?" her voice rang out digitally, her body shaken at the truth of her sister's unfaithfulness, registering more guilt like it was her act. Her eyes stared at the man who had shown nothing but kindness towards her, wondering what was wrong with him.
Any man in the state would be furious, he would be in a rage to have his wife disrespect him like that.
"I don't" he answered, he did feel rage and sometimes a tingling feeling of disgust whenever he laid eyes on her.
That day was like no other, he was just about to drop their daughter to school when suddenly a photo popped on the screen of the phone in his hands, he scrolled to view and for a split second, he didn't understand what he was seeing, it's his wife, but she was with someone else. Her face was familiar, her smile unmistakable, but the man beside her wasn't him. They're close, too close, their bodies leaning into each other with an intimacy that made his heart clench.
His breath caught in his throat, and his hand freezes mid-scroll. Time seemed to slow down as he stared at the image, his mind refusing to accept what his eyes were seeing.
Anger flared next, hot and uncontrollable. His jaw clenched, and his hand tightened around the phone as his body tensed. A flash of rage courses through him, sharp and searing. He wanted to throw the phone and smash the image away, but he couldn't stop staring. The betrayal was etched into every angle of that photo, and it cut deeper than any wound he'd ever felt.
"But I cheated, shouldn't you hate me or best question me?" Kenita asked a mix of concern and curiosity sat in her mind. She knows had it been her in his place she would have been hurt, broken, and enraged in the flames of hell. But he seemed rather calm and untaken by the news.
"I was mad, at some point I despised your reflection but I have let it all go. It all matters of the past" he said, he wasn't a saint and he wasn't claiming it. There were still traces of his hurt every night but he knew carrying such hate wouldn't help and yes he rejected every advice of divorce not because he still loved her but rather because it was profitable to him.
"Then you must be the first man to forgive his wife after cheating on him with several men," she said saying that something was wrong, there was no such thing as a good man, certainly his calmness was in disguise.
"That's why you took my phone, so I wouldn't see the news" Actually yes, he hoped to return her phone till he cleared every news about her.
"What I want to know is why though, why go through all the troubles to protect your cheating wife?" Kamara's eyes darted away, his thoughts waved around on what to say.
Why was he protecting her? why didn't he want her to get hurt from seeing the news?
"Like I said that was in the past, it was a mistake and you won't repeat it" his tone grew hard at the end of his words.
All he wanted was a perfect family and he was going to have one, willing or not.
***
Getting the news about Kenita's attack, David called to inquire about her since he couldn't come in person.
"I'm doing okay, I've already been treated" she faintly said to her worried friend who didn't stop giving her a headache with his repeated questions. "David I said am fine now stop passing me off" she weakly scolded.
"You saw the news?" of course she did and she hadn't gotten rest since then, her heart was still weighed with her sister's wrongdoings. She never thought she was capable of things like that, she have always been loving and caring, not once had she seen her hurt an animal less say her fellow human.
But again had been twenty years since they last stayed in one room, perhaps the years had changed her, yet a question of what could have led to her sister being a changed person?
What happened during those years?
"What about Sarah?" she evaded to another question. Wanting to know more she had requested he dig into Sarah.
"I've found where her family stays, she has a husband and daughter who are hospitalized" David informed, after his digging he got the location of where her husband was staying and the hospital where their daughter was admitted.
"Good" A sign of relief bridged her lips. It might have been her sister's mistakes and wrongdoings but she intended to make up for everything, that way her sister would have a peaceful rest.
***
Back at his company, Kamara confronted Beth on the leak of his wife's intimate photos with another man, certain only she could have access to photos he had long wiped from the face of media.
"I said I didn't do it, why won't you trust me?" Beth's voice scolded, pacing her legs back and forth while her eyes tried to look confident. Of course, she leaked the images and had reporters exhibit the scandalous affairs, all in hopes of getting Kamara to divorce her from pressure.
"Don't let me find out that you are behind this, because I promise you, I'll make you pay" he coldly stated with darkened eyes. Beth's feet slowly stepped back as his hand raised only to have him place it in his pocket.
"Believe me even your father won't be able to save you from me" he certainly wouldn't either way. And yes she was no fool, the sim she used to contact the reporters had longed to be cut to pieces and burnt so she wouldn't be traced back to her.
"Why would I hurt you, I care about you" her voice waved out in a tender and tearful manner.
"You better hope for your sake that your hands are clean or else" his family was one thing he valued the most, to him a perfect family meant everything, and would not let anyone take that from him.
"I swear I know nothing about it" With fingers crossed at her back she spoke the oaths, fragile her throat forced for saliva as Kamara's posture straightened up and walked out the door of his office.
"Thank goodness" A sigh of relief came out of her lips, and her hands rushed to her chest as she pleased herself for the great acting.
"You know he going to figure that you are behind it," Kelvin said after a stalk in her office, being out at the door spying on their conversation. He gently pacers his steps and leans his Weight on the table set at the center end of her office.
"What are you here?" questioned Beth in an instant of his audacity to March in her office without her consent, and was he eavesdropping on their conversation? The man really didn't have shame.
"Am here to caution you on your acts" he informed snapping his fingers with the pen in between. "Leaking out the photo isn't going to affect her alone, Kamara will be affected as well, and at the end of the day you won't get the result you so desperately want" quite enough, she did need his advice or words of concerns, she knew what she was doing. With a roll of her eyes, she snubbed her shoulders at him and walked past him to her chair behind the table.
"When I need nerds' advice I'll be sure to call you but till then please leave my office" she demanded and without a second protest he was out the door.
Having understood them both, he knew better than to speak the donkey in you moving, it has to be spanked before it heeds. He just feared her obsession with Kamara was getting out of control and she might harm herself while hurting others.
***
Right there and then, Kenita was in front the family of Sarah at a hospital that looked a century old even though it was recently built, the floors were broken while the walls were lined with cracks that pleaded to be fixed. The smell of trash mixed with the smell of the hospital sent an uncomfort to all.
Her hands trembled slightly as she clasped them together in front of her. Her face is pale, her eyes red-rimmed from hours spent stressful. She swallowed hard before speaking, her voice soft but weighed down by guilt.
"I don't know if my words can ever mean enough," she began, her gaze dropping to the floor, "but I am so, so sorry for the pain I've caused your family." Her voice cracks slightly.
"Dont apologize to me, an apology to the one you did wrong," a round-figured man said, his voice harsh and sharp "Because of you my wife lost her job and was framed causing her to get no job" The man's words were like a bacteria in her flesh, eating her up every second.
And sure he was right, her sister didn't only ruin his wife's life but their family as a whole, and since she was in the shoes of she was to take all the blame for her.
"You're right", she took a deep breath before continuing. "What I did was unforgivable. I can't take it back, and I'll carry this for the rest of my life. But I want you to know that I wish I could undo everything but I can't, I can only promise that I'll spend every day trying to be better, trying to make up for the hurt I've caused you and your family. Even if it's never enough." She pauses, her voice faltering again.
"We don't need your fake apology" the man rants out, his mind still fixed on the humiliating scene, his mother-in-law in desperation went to the ST company to plead with Kemidia to forgive her daughter and let her out of jail.
Dressed in humble, worn clothes, his mother-in-law crumbled on her kneels at the request of Kemidia, "Your daughter was disrespectful and dared to challenge me, I'd to teach her some lesson, to show her where she belongs" she stated "but if you go on your kneels I might consider redrawing my case" she demanded giving less care that the eyes of others were at them. She was more intrigued to show her power and a warning to others who might want to go against her.
Evading all thoughts of her age and the audience in whispers, she folded her feet and stabbed her kneel on the cold solid tiles, her face streaked with tears, her hands clasped tightly as she pleaded desperately, her voice cracking.
"Please forgive my daughter, she was wrong and stupid to have disrespected you"
The mother-in-law wept as she slammed her forehead on the floor in repeat, her voice trembled out to every word pleaded out. Yet Kemidia's posture was stiffened and unyielding, her face cold and unmoved, eyes sharp with disdain as she looked down at the woman old enough to mother her with an air of superiority.
"Please forgive my daughter" She continued to slam her head as she begged, her body trembled, offering everything she had for her daughter's forgiveness. She was poor and had no power to protect her child, the only help she could offer was to give in to Kemidia's request.
Kemidia remained silent for a moment, her lips curling into a faint, mocking smile as she lazily tapped her jeweled fingers on her folded arms, pleased at the power she held over the desperate woman. "I'm sorry but I don't feel your sincerity" She cruelly started dragging her feet over the poor woman and walking away on her red heels.
"You want me to forgive you, then you have to kneel as well" Sarah's mother demanded from Kenita, her heart raging within on every second of her presence. Her face reminded her of her body being dragged out by the guards Kemida sent, brutally dumped outside the building premises as the eyes of passers-by stared at her. Her hands clenched at the bitter memories of seeing her daughter locked behind bars for a crime she didn't commit.
"Go down on your knees and l might consider forgiving you" she rephrased Kemidias words. Without a second thought, Kenita went on her knees and lowered her head to her mother's feet. She understood her pain, her sister did her wrong and caused their family great harm, and she was willing to do anything to make up for her wrongs.
"I'm sorry, please forgive me"
Sarah's mother's eyes shut as she tried to console the hurt in her heart, because, her daughter had to confess to a crime she did not commit to save her granddaughter who was in need of a heart transplant. A few days ago someone offered their family a huge sum, in return Sarah had to confess to the police that she hired Abdul to sabotage the car brakes, even thou she had no hands in it.