CHAPTER 13

It would've been a beautiful day if his mood was good. But it wasn't, so the day wasn't a good one either. He had woken up at his usual time that morning, stretching with a smile only to realize the person he was stretching towards wasn't there. Memories of their fight came back to him like a slap in the face, thus ruining his morning the same way they had been doing so for the past three months. She had kicked him out of the house and not even allowed him to get close to their children. No matter how many times he had tried or how stealthy he had been, she would always make sure he didn't set foot near their house. She had even hired a gatekeeper to deny anybody she didn't announce entry. He was tired of living in an apartment. He was lonely, bored, grumpy and wasn't eating well. He didn't know how they had started fighting, she had just woken up one day and decided to stop putting up with him and let him out. He didn't know why, and apparently, the kids had no idea either. He decided he would visit his kids today after work, whether she likes it or not. So he stood up and got dressed and ready to leave.

After the visit from her sister, Angelica had been restless. She paced back and forth relentlessly and wondered whether Zoey was right. She had been out of touch with Mark for almost half a year. He had just cut her off as if they were nothing. She had been furious, even attacked him at his apartment, but he had ignored her and even called for security when she had grabbed onto his shirt. She had decided to let him be, but then he had gotten her pregnant. She had no plans of raising the child alone, and neither did she plan on aborting it. He was going to take care of the child, whether or not he liked it. Determined, and irritated that she had to face him again, she dressed up, left her house, got into her car and left the compound. A pair of eyes followed her car and waited till she was a good distance off before driving up into gear and following her. Sara had been on her way to Angelica's house, ready to rip out her hair and destroy her life when she saw her lock up her place. Sensing the necessity of patience at that very moment, she stayed still and watched her. She was dressed well as if she had an important meeting to attend. So she would follow her and find out whatever it is she was planning.

Thirty minutes into her journey, she noticed the car that had been following her since she left home. she had seen it on her way out and hadn't paid much attention to it, but now that she was sure the person was following her, she was going to find out who. Noticing a Cafe Javas upfront, she decided to stop in for a coffee and sit near the window in hopes of seeing who it was that was following her. So she used the roadside parking and waited for her stalker and coffee to arrive, whichever came first. When she saw the car continue instead of stopping, she was relieved. It had scared her that she was being followed, but now she could continue with her mission with one less thing to worry about. She sat back and drank her coffee while revising her speech and making up responses for each of the different scenarios that she imagined would happen. She knew he would ignore her since he had done it more than once, so she had to come up with a way of making sure he listened to her. She would act like she too didn't care about his opinion and voice out her own, whether he liked it or not. She knew he was married, but she also knew that it was an arranged marriage. Deep down, she wanted him to divorce his wife and go with her, but she knew she would be riling two influential families against her, and she couldn't risk it until she had his full support. However, judging from previous conversations with him, she knew he didn't want to risk it either. So she had decided to just stick with being his mistress. She could handle all the shame-facing and the abuses, as long as she knew he would come to her every week and stay with her. But now he had cut her off and was acting as if he didn't know her. She would use this pregnancy to reel him in and when she did, he would stay with her, and she would make sure of it.

The moment she saw her changing lanes like an indecisive teenager, she knew what she was up to. "So you realized, huh? Okay, let's see just how smart you are." she pulled up her windows and continued driving until she couldn't see the Café sign in her rear-view mirror. Then she parked by the roadside and threw on double indicators to act like something was wrong with the car. She cut the engine and waited for her victim to get out of the Café. All the while she kept her eyes on her rear-view mirror and waited patiently for her to get out. After 25 minutes, she saw her get out and get back into her car. This time she waited until she was almost out of sight and kept about four or five cars between them. When she saw where Angelica branched off to and entered, she let out a cry of frustration and banged on her steering wheel till the sides of her palms turned red. She was angry, but couldn't do anything. She could sit and watch whether they would come out together. She was still fixing her eyes to make sure they didn't look like she had been crying when she saw Angelica come out of the building rather fast and not quite happily. When she saw the security guards standing at the entrance, as if daring her to come back in, she smiled. "So I'm not the only one who didn't get what she wanted? How amusing!" she sat back and watched the spectacle unfold from across the street. It looked like Angelica had been thrown out of the building. She got into her car and gripped her steering wheel so hard it could've been ripped right off if it wasn't hers. Then she took a big swig of a cup of coffee that was in the car and drove away. Sara was happy with what she had just watched. She too pulled out and went back the way she had come into the café Angelica had used to distract her, ordered herself a wonderful lunch and invited her best friend to come over so that they could celebrate.