(Ben)
Chapter Seven
Skye
Dark red, the dark red color was almost as beautiful as the bright. The color represented emotions as dark as it's look. Anger, wrath, rage, ....it didn't coat me slowly, instead the anger, the wrath, spread like a disease, like wildfire and consumed I, Melvin and my sister.
Skye was up before Melvin the following morning, she quickly got out of bed, picked up her phone by the bedside and walked out of the bedroom sans clothes.
She unlocked her phone and saved the voice note she'd recorded during the affairs of the night. She trimmed the file and saved it to her google drive. Thinking about the events of the night, she smiled.
Who knew success was so easy? She quickly messaged Cherry. 'When are you coming home?' she texted and waited for a reply. Then she texted Olivia 'Call me when you have time, I have news for you' she texted with a huge smile on her face.
Cherry replied her message 'I'm coming back by twelve, tell Melvin we have to see the marriage counselor today' Cherry texted. Skye frowned, there won't be any marriage anymore. She'd make sure of it was ruined.
Melvin woke up with a throbbing headache, he groaned as he sat up. What the hell had happened last night? he couldn't remember. He remembered Skye, dinner and chamomile, he couldn't remember the rest.
Skye walked into the room wrapped in her night robe now. "Cherry will be back in a few hours, get dressed. You don't want her to know we did the dirty last night, I'd like it to be a surprise." Skye said in a cool voice.
Melvin squinted to be sure it was really Skye who was talking. She sounded different but most importantly, what the hell was she talking about?
"What are you talking about?" Melvin asked. Skye sighed and walked closer to him. "Look around you sweetheart, what do you think?" She said with sarcasm.
Melvin looked around, the first thing he noticed were the clothes on the floor. The clothes he'd worn the previous day and the dress Skye had been wearing last night. His eyes fell to his sides, wondering why their clothes were on the bed. It couldn't be, he couldn't have....his eyes finally settled on the patch of blood on the bed.
Melvin shot out of the bed as if it burned him. "What the hell happened last night?" he asked glaring at Skye. "What do you think happened Melvin? You weren't satisfied with the older sister, so you forced the younger one to bed" Skye shouted.
Melvin shook his head "I didn't, I couldn't have raped you. It's not possible" Melvin said. Skye smiled "Well, explain what happened" she said.
Melvin looked around him wondering if he was being pranked, if she was joking or something. Then he saw the mug close to the bed. "You...you drugged me....." he said surprised.
"Did I, well prove it!" Skye said. Melvin shook his head. "You drugged me, that's why you wanted me to have dinner with you, that's why you brought me a drink..... you drugged me. " Melvin ran his hand through his hair frustrated.
"I have to tell Cherry, she has to know the kind of devil she has for a sister" Melvin said.
Skye chuckled "Yes, let's tell Cherry. Let's tell Cherry how we had dinner, how you asked me to bring you a mug of tea before I went to bed. How you forced me into bed as usual" Skye said.
"As usual, what are you talking about? I have never touched you and I would never have touched you if you hadn't drugged me" Melvin yelled at her.
"You don't have proof, but I do" Skye said clicking on the 'play' icon on her phone's screen. Melvin's eyes widened when he heard the sound that followed.
There were other grunts and sounds coming from him in the background but he heard the words loud and clear. 'Melvin... Stop... Please...stop hurting me. Stop...why do you always do this' it was Skye's voice playing and she really did sound like he had raped her.
Skye shook her head "Who do you think Cherry will believe? Oh and Melvin, there is a backup file for this audio saved somewhere you can never find it. You can delete this audio, smash the phone but I'll still be able to retrieve the audio. So don't bother trying" Skye said smiling.
"You all thought I was stupid, stupid, dumb highschool girl. Well guess what? When you want to disarm people, the lesser they think you know, the better for you" Skye said moving to the bed.
"I suggest you hide the sheets" Skye said sitting on the bed. "What do you want from me, what do you want?" Melvin asked.
"I want you....don't tell me you haven't noticed. I love you, I've always loved you" Skye pouted.
"You've gone mad, you're crazy. I love your sister, I love Cherry" Melvin hissed.
"Not anymore, you can't love Cherry because you'll be marrying me" Skye said. Melvin laughed long and hard, then he stopped and hit himself furiously.
"Melvin Bamidele Fadeyi, you're dreaming. Wake up, please wake up. This is one terrible dream" he muttered to himself.
But he was already awake and this was no dream or nightmare, it was very real. His fiancee's straight from hell little sister was sitting on his bed, tormenting him.
Skye sighed "You'll learn to love me, when we get married and start having children" Skye said rubbing her tummy.
"Are you insane, are you psycho? I'm never getting married to you, neither am I having children with you. Crazy bîtch!" Melvin yelled at her.
Skye got up and faced him "Trust me you don't want me to go crazy on you. We either do this the easy way, you tell Cherry nicely that you no longer want her and that you're in love with me. There is also the hard way in which I send this voice note to every important person in your life and have you arrested and sued for sexual abuse. Think about it carefully, you'll lose your job, your friends, you'll destroy your family's dignified name. Think about the blogs that will eat up the news of Melvin Fadeyi being a rapist!" Skye yelled back.
Melvin remained silent "I would rather kill myself before I marry you, I will commit suicide" he said.
Skye scoffed lightly and nodded, "Alright, I'm guessing we're doing this the hard way" she unlocked her phone.
"What are you doing?" he asked her moving closer. "Sending the voice note to 'Expose Lagos', you know that popular blog concerned with all the happenings in this city. After sending this and a long note to accompany it to their mail, I'll call Teddy, Cherry and Louisa. Hell, I'll even call my father. That's what you want right?" she asked.
"No... just stop please, Skye. Don't do this, I'll give you anything you want. Don't destroy my grandfather's legacy, if you do this, my entire family will be affected" Melvin closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
Skye sighed "Fine, I want the ring on Cherry's finger. I want her gone, I want you to give me everything you promised her" She said walking over to him.
"I can't do that, I can't give you any of that. Cherry is your sister. She loves you, she'd never hurt you like this, don't you love her?" Melvin asked with tears in his eyes.
"I love Cherry, but I love you more. So in the end, I pick you over Cherry" Skye said and kissed his lips.
Louisa's eyes were still red and swollen when she walked into the living room the following morning. Cherry was seated on the couch watching a reality show on TV.
"Hey... are you okay?" Cherry asked when she saw her friend. "I'm okay, I'm glad you're here. What would I do without you?" Louisa asked.
"A lot but thanks for flattering me, honestly I didn't do much. Come and sit, let's talk. Stop bottling those feelings and let it out" Cherry said.
Louisa nodded and went to sit beside Cherry. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have dragged you here. I just didn't know what to do anymore, besides....you're the only who would understand" Louisa sniffed placing her head on Cherry's shoulder.
"What happened?" Cherry asked curiously, Louisa couldn't talk about anything yesterday, she'd just cried through out the entire day.
"I told you already, I stupidly went to confront him again. I couldn't help it, I love him" Louisa sniffed.
"I understand, it's that way for us women. When we love, we love with everything we own and it's hard to let go. I don't know what I'd do if Melvin suddenly stopped loving me" Cherry said.
Louisa nodded "He kicked me out, said he wanted nothing more to do with me" Louisa continued.
Cherry frowned "Seriously? I have a bone to pick with that guy, he had no right to. He shouldn't have, look... let Teddy go. He doesn't deserve a woman who loves him like you do" Cherry hissed.
"I want to but it's hard. I'll try, I'll let him go. I'll move on with my life. I just hope that maybe one day, I'll stop loving him" Louisa said.
"Sweetheart you need to get over him. And the best way to get over one guy is with another. Look for someone else, how about Ben. He's a great guy" Cherry said.
Louisa rolled her eyes "For crying out loud, stop trying to pair me with a guy who had a flipping crush on you through out his teenage years" Louisa hissed.
"That was years ago, besides I've always been with Melvin. " Cherry said.
Louisa shook her head "Ben is gone anyway so just forget about us trying to hook up" Louisa said.
"What do you mean gone, Has he gone back to the states or did you chase him away" Cherry asked with a teasing note in her voice.
"No, he got his dream job at Abuja. He likes to photograph nature and wildlife instead of women" Louisa said.
"Aww, see why you should have tied him down sooner" Cherry said.
Louisa scoffed but said nothing else. "So where is Skye, why didn't you come with her?" Louisa asked.
"I just wanted us to be alone together, she's at home with Melvin" Cherry said. Louisa stiffened but said nothing.
There was no way Skye could seduce Melvin right? The girl didn't have the balls or brains for it so there was absolutely nothing to worry about. Louisa thought.
"That reminds me Lou, there is something I'd like to ask you" Cherry said. "Mmm, what's that?" Louisa asked.
"That night you said some strange things, something about enemies or devils behind me, what were you talking about?" Cherry asked.
Louisa sighed, she couldn't tell Cherry that her sister was something else entirely. Cherry loved Skye, she would never believe anyone who slandered her sister.
"I was just acting up, said nonsense. It meant nothing, aren't you hungry. Let me order breakfast" Louisa said swiftly closing the topic.
"Don't you ever cook?" Cherry asked. Louisa scoffed "Extremely rich and Classy girls don't bother with the affairs of the kitchen" Louisa said playfully causing Cherry to chuckle. That was the same excuse Louisa gave all the time.
"Theodore.... Is that you?" His mother murmured weakly. "Yes. It's me. How are you doing ma?" he asked softly.
"Mmm I smell something fresh, did you bring me flowers again?" she asked.
Teddy smiled "Yes, I brought you flowers" he said sitting beside her.
She smiled and reached out for him "You always spoil me everytime, are those white roses....my favorite?" she asked. She couldn't see him or the flowers, she'd lost her sight some years back.
"Yes, I brought your favorite" Teddy said taking her hand. His mother sighed and tried to feel him with her hand, after a few minutes she stopped and frowned.
"You're not growing fat Teddy, are you eating well?" she asked concerned for her only child.
"Yes ma....I'm eating well. I just work out a lot you know.... to lose the weight" Teddy smiled.
"Well stop working out and stop tying yourself down with work also. How are you going to get a woman if you work and work all the time?" she asked.
"I don't want a woman ma. You're the only woman I want in my life" Teddy said.
"I want grandchildren, you need a woman. A wife to look after you, how about that girl you used to tell me about? What's her name again?" his mother asked.
Teddy cleared his throat thinking about the girl who had now become a woman.
"Louisa, we're no longer together" Teddy frowned and dropped the flowers beside his mother.
"Why, did she stop loving you and finally got married to someone else?" his mother asked curiously.
"No ma" he replied. "Did you stop loving her then?" she asked.
"No....we're still in love with each other ma. We just can't be together, it's complicated" Teddy said closing his eyes.
He hoped his mother wouldn't ask why because it was very complicated and he didn't know how to get out of that kind of complication. Which was why he stayed far away from Louisa and asked her to do the same.