Hospital

Aurora stared at her husband like he had lost his mind. A strong wave of anger flushed every excitement that filled her veins minutes ago. when she stepped through the door. 

"Why does she have to stay here?" Aurora asked. She didn't care how she sounded. As long as this lady in booty shorts wasn't her husband's family, she wasn't comfortable with her staying there. Aurora was looking forward to fixing her breaking marriage but with this lady in her house, she didn't want to think of the possibilities of what might happen.

"My cousin is getting married by the weekend. Juliet's parents aren't in the country at the moment, she landed today and you know she's not based in the country, she stays in England so she asked to stay here so she can come with us to the party." 

Aurora was enraged. Her brows knitted on her forehead. "Your cousin's getting married by the weekend, and this is how I'm finding out?" Anyone listening to Aurora would know she was visibly hurt but Damian wasn't thinking straight.

"I was going to tell you when I returned today." 

"What about last night? Why didn't you tell me? Where were you going?" Aurora raised her voice.

"What exactly is your problem? Why are you trying to start an argument out of nothing." Damian retorted.

"Out of nothing? Damian, I don't understand you. Don't I have a right to be angry? You brought someone to our home without calling me, texting me, or informing me ahead. And she just shows up and you expect me to bond with her the minute I see her or what?" 

Maybe it was the frustration of all Damian had been doing recently that was making Aurora's blood boil and she didn't even care about how she sounded.

"Hey, babe, I'm sorry about that. I don't mean to cause any commotion in your marriage, please forgive me." Juliet stepped forward and took Aurora's hand against her will.

Aurora looked at the lady who was her husband's so-called 'Best friend' with disgust. Of course, she'd heard about the lady when she got hitched to her husband, and later on in their marriage, she'd heard about her occasionally. But she'd never met her in person and didn't want to.

"I would like you to stay out of my business, I'm talking to my husband, I don't know you," Aurora stated, glaring at the lady. Though the trouble in her voice was heard.

"Okay. Fine." Juliet raised her hand, feigning innocence. "I'll leave you too to handle your issues. But I told him to tell you and he said you wouldn't mind," Even if the last sentence wasn't necessary, Juliet was enjoying the show she just had to add a little bit of fire before leaving.

Once the guest room door shut Aurora turned back to her husband, her eyes oozing pure rage. "Did you tell her that?" 

"Tell her what?" 

"That I won't be mad if you didn't inform me beforehand?" Aurora's voice was laced with disbelief.

"Do you realize you're disgracing me? Look at how you spoke to my Best friend? I told her you are a decent and drama-free woman and you had to prove me wrong." 

"How would your friend feel if her ex husband brought me to their house unannounced and gave me a room without her permission?" 

"You're taking this too far," 

"No. I'm not, I want you to see this from where I see it. That's wrong." 

"Okay, I'm wrong, then what?" Damian was silly and infuriating. 

"Damian, you're…" 

"Enough of your drama!" Damian cut Aurora off harshly, the undercurrent of his tone could tell anyone in the room that he was aggravated. "This house is my house. I own it, I do whatever I want with it. Do you understand? Stop interrogating me. She's not living here forever, it's just for a week." 

Damian gave Aurora one last resentful stare before leaving the room. 

If Aurora knew anything about her husband, she knew that he was someone who didn't take things he prioritized for granted. He always made sure to acknowledge and care for them.

'Could it be that my husband has fallen out of love with me?' Aurora asked herself. 'Or am I overreacting?' 

Hours into the day, there was still tension in the house. Her husband had taken his Best Friend on a house tour while she was alone in the room. He didn't go back to work.

She slipped the pregnancy result under the bed. She told herself she wouldn't break the news to him in the night when he came to bed. However, after what happened in the afternoon, she didn't know what her husband's reaction would be to finding out she was pregnant because he'd been behaving strangely lately and it's been eating Aurora up.

She decided she was going to make dinner for her husband. His Best Friend would eat whatever she liked but she was not going to cook for her. If she didn't have any ulterior motives she didn't understand why a woman would wear such a dress around her best friend knowing he was married.

She went into the kitchen. Their cook, Samantha, was stunned when she saw her put on an apron. "Mrs. Caldwell, what are you doing?" 

"I want to make dinner for my husband," Aurora replied, the words resounded in her ears as she said them, it felt like she was telling herself, reminding herself that she was still wedded to this man. This man was still hers no matter what she was facing.

"No. Please I can't let you, the boss gave us strict instructions not to let you do any chores that'll stress you." She dropped the knife she was using to slice cabbage and walked closer to Aurora who was setting a pot on the fire. 

"This is not stressful, I'm doing it willingly l, no one forced me to," Aurora said to the cook.

"I know but…I might lose this job." 

Aurora stopped and turned to the woman, "You will not. Please carry on, I'm the same as you, that I'm Damian's wife means nothing." 

Aurora faced major depression the loss of her child, Damian wasn't there for most of it. Aurora did her best in concealing it but it was telling on her. She became detached, ate less, and talked less.

But those maids that usually came to check on her noticed it and called Damian's attention. He employed therapists to come to spend time with Aurora. And after months they stopped coming, they said Aurora was fine. But that was a lie, she wasn't, she just knew how to conceal it. She had someone to live for. That person was the one who gave her the courage to push on.

After one hour of collaboration with the maid, Dinner was ready. They'd made a variety of dishes, from steak to grilled chicken, to fries and salad. 

Aurora took off the apron and went to the back of the house where she suspected her husband would still be–though a part of her wanted to be disappointed, but as she stepped onto the patio, she saw them sitting beside each other. Discussion.

Aurora ignored Juliet and went to meet her husband. "Sweetheart, I made dinner. Come and eat." Aurora said. Stretching out a hand to pull him up. Though she was fearing he would swat her hand away.

Damian stared at her for a full beat, breathed in, and took her hanging hand. 

The couple started heading inside and Juliet joined too. Aurora pretended to not be affected by Juliet's behavior.

When they got inside, Aurora drew out a chair for her husband, after he sat she sat beside him. Juliet took the empty beside Damian. 

"These chickens look spicy, can I take one?" Juliet asked, staring into Damian's food.

"Of course. Have as much as you want?" Juliet lowered her neck to take the chicken, she knew Aurora was looking at her so she stylishly gave her middle finger.

Aurora was pissed. She knew this girl was doing this on purpose, to hurt her, to make her mad. But she couldn't say anything, the last thing she wanted now was to quarrel with her husband.

Juliet threw one of the chicken wings in her mouth and she didn't chew for up to thirty seconds before she started choking.

Aurora thought she was pretending until she saw her cough out blood.

Damian shifted closer to her patting her, making her lean against him. But her coughing became extreme.

"What did you put in the chicken?" Damian barked, looking at Aurora whose face had been flushed with confusion. "Call the ambulance. Now." 

Aurora blinked back her confusion, moving her legs to get help. 

•°

At the waiting room outside the hospital, Aurora was lost. Trying to piece together the puzzle of what happened back in the house. Juliet was giving her the middle finger one minute and the next she was choking out blood. How did it happen? 

On the other hand, Damian had not spoken a word to her. But it was obvious that he was angry and Aurora couldn't initiate any conversation as she kept praying in her mind that nothing would happen to Juliet.

The Doctor came out of the room and Damian sprang up from his seat like a catapult. 

"Doctor, how is she?" He asked. 

"She's okay now. We've been able to spot the poison and…" 

"Poison?" Both couples exclaimed in unison.