CHAPTER 6

It wasn't wrong for her to continue with Martins and let go of her love for Philip but she thought it a betrayal for her to do so. She had never kissed a guy before and she didn't want Martins to be the first person to experience it.

The only person she wanted was Philip but as Martins kissed her, she realized that he wanted her as much as she wanted Philip.

"Will you ever love me as you love Philip?" He said after he withdrew his lips from hers. He looked into her eyes and she couldn't reply to that question. He already knew the answer so he withdrew from her and sat down on the sofa.

"I hope you are not trying to play with my feelings, I am not someone you can use to forget another person" he said and she was hurt.

"I still love him" those words from Enya broke Martins' heart.

He never thought he could be so heartbroken and hurt. "Then you can as well leave. Maybe when you really want to be with me, you will let me know" he said.

She got up from the sofa and walked out of his house in tears. She was so stupid for allowing him to go off the edge and by doing that, she hurt him. Olivia was wrong this time about Martins. He was different, he didn't want her body, he wanted her to love him. He wanted a relationship.

Philip had heard that someone had survived gunshots and that person was from the same location where Grand had taken Sandra captive. Philip went to the address of the hospital and asked if a person named Grand Foxx had been hospitalized there, he said he was a friend of Grand and they checked the records and told him the room number.

When he entered the room, he saw Grand lying on the hospital bed with his eyes closed. He could hear but he couldn't speak or open his eyes. Philip sat down on a chair beside the bed and brought out a mini-knife.

"I really want to kill you for coming back to our lives again but I can't do it now. It would be cowardly...get well soon." He said and got up from the chair pocketing the knife then he walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. Grand was not the kind of person that died easily out of a gunshot so Philip wanted to use a new method.

Some days later, Philip came out of a coffee shop and saw Enya walking in. Their eyes locked into each other for a moment but Enya was the first to break the connection and she walked into the shop without talking to him.

She didn't want to run madly about him again after what he had said to her that last day that she visited him. It had been almost two weeks since the exam ended that they hadn't communicated with each other and a week after she had that experience with Martins, she began to avoid Philip.

She sat down at a table and coffee was given to her. Philip had not spoken with her for weeks and he hardly saw her, he didn't want to walk out now that he had seen her and so he walked in and sat on a chair at the same table where he was facing Enya.

"You don't like coffee. What changed?" He asked and she drank the coffee without answering his questions.

"You are not particularly good at giving someone a silent treatment either."

"At least I should try to do the things that I don't like doing, just for a change don't you think so?" Philip took the coffee away from where she kept it and he drank it.

"How about we talk now?"

"You can't talk to me whenever you want to and ignore me whenever you want to."

"You are right about that, at least you said your mind today."

"I say my mind every day." "You actually think you used to say your mind.....but you don't."

"Well, I have changed. You won't be able to put up with me any longer and besides, you were not able to put up with me before."

"You look cute when you defend yourself."

"Don't tell me what I look like. I don't need you to tell me anything about myself."

"You are looking for an apology aren't you?" Philip smiled as he watched Enya turn her face away from him. She was indeed cute.

"Okay then, I am sorry for speaking to you that way." He said but she didn't look at him.

"How about Martins?" He asked and Enya turned to look at him and he smiled. He finally got her attention.

"You didn't finish your apology." she said.

"Let's go out for a walk. You look lonely." he said as he stood up and paid for her coffee.

She reluctantly stood up and walked outside the shop with him. The weather was very chilly and they had worn their anti-cold clothes but Enya had forgotten to wear her cold-resistant gloves. She slid her hands into Philip's hands and Philip squeezed her hand a little to warm it. He pretended not to know but he didn't let go of her hand.

"I'm sorry for how I spoke to you that day." he said turning to look at her.

"I accept your apology this time but next time, you will have to kneel down.....and the both of us know that you hate kneeling down."

"Since you know this much about me why don't you change to be someone like me. It would be good to have a girl who loves what I love."

"Mmmm.....I would give anything to be someone you would love. Sometimes, it's not that easy to accept love especially when it comes from someone who shows how much she loves you. It feels like she's stalking you." Enya said. Philip said nothing else about the topic and he diverted to another topic.

Philip walked her to her house where he let go of her hand.

"Good night." She said and he nodded. He watched her as she walked towards her door but then she turned back and approached him, then she hugged him. He held her close to her and she felt the warmth of his body.

"I love you so much, Philip. I just wish you can see it, I am willing to risk anything to be with you." she said with tears. She didn't want to leave him.

"I'll call you when I get home." He said as they withdrew from each other.

"Good night." He said and she nodded walking away from him as she entered her house and closed the door behind her.

Sandra called Philip and told him about Claudia. She said that their mother was sick and it was getting worse.

"When did it start?" He asked.

"Last week, we tried all we could to contain the sickness but she is still getting worse"

"What was the diagnosis?"

"Food poisoning"

"Food poisoning?"

"Dad has arrested all the servants in the house, he suspects that they tried to kill mom." Philip hung up and dressed up properly before going out. He had to see how his mother was doing and find out the root cause of what happened to her.

When he got to the house, he went straight to the room where she was kept. Her body was getting red and her face was swelling. It was a very bad sight but Philip still got near and tears ran down his eyes.

"Tell me who the person is." he said. He knew that his mother was hiding something from her.

"I used to sleep with someone when I go to his house. I was tired of living with your father and all his problems. Your father never cared for me as Henry cared." She replied with tears.

Philip withdrew from her and turned his face away from her.

"If your father knows, he will never forgive me or talk to me."

"You used to sleep with someone else!"

"I went to his house last night and I ate there. He must have poisoned the food."

"Why would he do that?"

"I don't know."

"Where is he now?"

"He must have run away from his home." she replied.

Philip sat down on a chair and sighed. "What did the doctors say?"

"I won't live for more than a week. No cure was found." It was really pitiful to see his mother like that yet she was still on the wrong side. He suspected that something was wrong between her and the man she was sleeping with but he didn't want to think about that now. They had to find a cure for his mother or she would die and he wouldn't be able to bear it. He loved his mother more than anything in the world.

He left the room and sat down on the sofa with his hand covering his face.

"What did she tell you?" Paul asked.

"She only confessed something that she had been hiding about her life.....what do we do about her condition?"

"Nothing. The doctor said that her situation has gotten worse even with the drugs that he recommended." "She won't die will she?"

"Stop acting weak Philip, she is going to live." Philip sighed and turned to look at Sandra who was very quiet. She was miserable and he could say nothing that could console her.

Philip had seen the results of the last semester's exams. He did well and once again he came out as the top student in the course. Enya's result was also okay, she passed without carryovers.

"I wish I knew how to be as intelligent as Philip, his father does not appreciate him but my father would appreciate me if I told him of my results." Enya said to Olivia.

"You are still obsessed over that guy?!"

"Come on Olivia give me a break. What do you expect from me? To just forget about him?"

"That's your problem, Enya you always want to act like a fool. Philip doesn't love you, the earlier you realize it, the better for you."

"Then so be it, it doesn't matter if he leaves me or not, the fact is that I love him and he cares for me too"

"You are such a blind girl" Olivia said as she walked out on Enya. She had endured enough of Enya's obsession with Philip.

Meanwhile, Enya stayed on her seat with a sigh, was it really true that Philip didn't really love her? She knew Philip as a secretive person, so the fact was that you would know what he was thinking or feeling until you asked him.

"I hope you didn't leave any trail? That bastard is good at tracking details instead of people" Richie said to Henry.

"He won't find me don't worry." Henry replied.

"Now he knows that his family is not as innocent as they look."

"I made sure to find a poison with little or no cure. She may die in some days' time."

"When that happens, I will be present at her burial" Richie said with a sigh of victory. He was going to make Philip's life a living hell.

"I am going to bring him out of that shell which he has used to hide himself. Enya is going to see the person she loves dearly killing someone." He didn't smile but he knew that victory was going to be on his side.

If he couldn't kill Philip then he was going to take away everything from Philip one by one.

Enya had called Philip different times but he wasn't picking up his calls. He was also not in his house, for a moment she thought that Philip was trying to avoid her again yet, it didn't seem common for Philip not to be at home and his car was not there also.

On her way home, she saw a car stop by her and when the windows rolled down, it was Martins.

"Tired of walking?" He asked and Enya smiled as she got into the car.

"Thanks." Soon he drove the car off.

"I hope everything is alright. You look worried."

"Nothing serious....how have you been?"

"Very fine. Just got back from seeing my mother. She keeps disturbing me and comparing me to other boys who have girlfriends."

"She wants a girl beside you."

"Funny that you should say it that way, she sees it like I am old enough to marry." Enya laughed at Martins' thoughts.

"How have you been Enya?" He asked after some moments of silence between them.

"I won't lie.....it had been a bumpy week. My boss won't let me rest especially now that she knows that I am on holidays."

"She might be obsessed with you. She is right to feel that way about you, there is no one who wouldn't feel that way about you."

"Martins....."

"It's okay Enya. I can wait for you...I won't stop loving you." He said.

Enya blushed at his words, she wished Philip would say the same to her. She didn't want to feel the way she was feeling for Martins now but she felt her emotions rise as he stopped at her house. She wanted to get out of the car and control her feelings but she couldn't.

She drew her face closer to him and kissed him then she withdrew as fast as she could and got out of the car to avoid further emotions.

Meanwhile, Philip had parked his car somewhere on the other side of the road and he was surprised to see Martins dropping stopping at Enya's house. When he rolled down his glass, he saw Martins and Enya inside the car kissing.

For a moment he thought it was a joke but it was true. Philip had to calm himself down, it wouldn't do him any good to be jealous of Enya. She could date whoever she wanted to date or love whoever she wanted to love and he wouldn't care at all. Yet, as he watched Enya come out of Martins' car he felt his heart break into a thousand pieces.

As bold as he was he would have gone to confront her or scold her for kissing Martins in his car, it would be childlike for him to do such a thing. His father had already warned him about exposing his feelings and making himself too obvious for everyone to see. He watched as Enya entered her house and Martins drove away, Philip knew that it was certainly not the first time that they had kissed.

Paul was in his office when Sandra called him and told him that Claudia was unconscious. He called Philip and told him what Sandra has said. Within minutes, Philip arrived there and called the ambulance it wasn't long before they came.

In the hospital, Sandra rested her head on Philip's shoulder because she was tired and sleepy while Philip held her close to him so that she could sleep comfortably. The doctor came out after attending to Claudia and told Philip that she was swelling up with blood when they brought her but she was fine now. The doctor also said that he wasn't sure if she was going to live longer than two days.

Philip's knees weakened on hearing the news. His mind wandered around the fact that he was about to lose his mother and there was nothing he could do to prevent it. He had always known what to do to prevent a situation from becoming worse than before but he saw that today, he had no control over this type of situation. It was definitely beyond him.

As he drove Sandra home that night, he thought of so many things but Sandra's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Mom was cheating on dad.....and he knew." She said.

Philip turned to her in surprise and pulled the car to a stop beside the road.

"He knew?"

"Yes. He kept quiet and watched her come back late every Friday."

"When did she start cheating?"

"A month ago, I don't know whether she met some random guy from a bar or something.....she just started sleeping with someone she barely knew"

"Did dad know who she was cheating with?"

"I don't know, he never told me....he kept things to himself and endured her unfaithfulness." She said.

Philip rested his head backward on the seat and sighed. "That's why he was always so angry whenever he saw Enya or heard about her. Mom did not start cheating a month ago. She must have started sleeping with other men when we were young."

"He kept everything to himself for so long and poured it out on your friendship with Enya." Sandra said with tears.

Their mother was the person who turned their father into a bitter personality that he couldn't stand women. Philip felt pity for his father, he didn't blame him for acting the way he acted towards what their mother was doing. He never quarreled with her or told her about his grievances and now it was too late.