第一章

Alicia opened her eyes and smiled as the memory of the other night floated through her mind. Everything she had heard about wedding nights was indeed true-it was truly special.  She inhaled and rubbed the tip of her right finger around her fourth right finger to feel the diamond on her finger.  She smiled satisfactorily before turning to her side only to realize he wasn’t by her side.

She sighed.

“Daniel?” she called out but there was no response. He wondered where he could have gone to. She rose to a sitting position while looking for her phone which she found tucked away under the pillow.

A message came in from Daniel almost at once-“Hey babe. Didn’t want to wake you up cos I didn’t want to see the look on your face when I tell you that I have to leave, will be back tomorrow. I promise. Business issue came up and I had to see to it. I will be back before you know it. Do forgive me. I promise to make it up to you.”

“Are you kidding? It is our honeymoon!” she said aloud to herself but he was no longer online as she could see.

This was unbelievable. She sighed and hissed in disappointment. She would have to stay in this mansion lake house, alone.

“Not cool, Daniel,” she muttered and stood up from the bed.

**

Finding the kitchen was not so difficult; she made a cup of tea for herself before walking out of the house.

She sat at the porch while taking her tea. She was really angry with everything, especially with Daniel who had to just leave. He was right, if he had woken her up to tell her he had to leave on business, she would have screamed. They had decided to come here just to be away from the world and now…

She sighed. He was a rich man, he would be definitely busy. He had told her he was a busy man, right from time. Right from when they started….

FLASHBACK

Alicia drove into the parking lot and checked her time, it was just minutes past seven. She looked around but couldn’t see any of her friends where they had asked her to come.

She sighed and dialed Faith’s number for what could have been the hundredth time but it was still switched off.  She climbed out of the car and walked towards the address she was given. It was a hotel quite alright but what was she doing there?

She shook her head but proceeded nonetheless. When she got to the receptionist, she asked for the room number as she had been told.

The lady attended to her politely and she took to the direction. She had had a long day and the only thing she needed right now as to go home and talk to Daniel before sleeping. Yet, Faith had told her this was urgent.

When she got to room 4B, she inserted the key into the keyhole but it didn’t open. She frowned, the key had the number as the door. She was confused. She tried Faith’s number and then her other friends, switched off. While she kept on battling with  the door, it sprang open immediately with a chorus of “Happy Birthday!” from everyone in the room.

At first, she was so shocked she couldn’t breathe but then, her friends rallied around her and embraced her.

“Sorry darling,” said Camil. “We scared you, didn’t we?”

“I hate you all,” she replied as she walked in.  The cake was in Lydia’s hands. There were some of her co-workers and even there was Fabian. What the hell was he doing there?

“Happy birthday, Alicia,” Fabian said to her as he walked closer to her.

“Thank you,” she said as dryly as she could before walking away from him.

The party was not so much but it was all she needed to see how much her friends cared about her. They later made it a pool-side party and partied through the night.

Some minutes later, Alicia pulled Faith to one side…

“What is he doing here?” she asked, referring to Fabian.

“You mean Fabian?” asked Faith.

“Of course, who else?”

“He organized this whole thing you know? Without him, we couldn’t have thrown this party.”

Alicia’s heart sank as she heard this. “Why would you do such a thing? I am not interested in this guy, don’t you just get it?”

“Just try to get to know him okay?” snapped Faith, drinking her wine just in time as Daniel’s whatsapp voice call came in.

“Your ghost man is calling,” Faith said, walking away from her as she drank from her cup.

“Hey babe,” Alicia said, talking to Daniel.

“Hey love, what’s going on? That place seems noisy.”

“My friends threw me a birthday party,” she replied, smiling and walking towards the other end of the pool side.

“Aw! That is so sweet. How I wish I could be there,” he said.

“I wish you are so not far away. If only I could at least see your face…” she said sadly.

“I know love; the network here in Ivory Coast is terrible. I promise to do something about it, as a birthday gift. If I were to be in town, I would have ordered you a gift but I couldn’t.”

“Well, we shall do all those when you are around. When I can finally hold you close to me and kiss you…”

“Excuse me, Alicia,” said a voice behind her.

Alicia turned to see Fabian while she was still on Daniel’s call.

“Yes, Fabian, what is it?” she asked still holding the phone to her ear.

“I just..i thought, we could talk,” he stuttered.

“Sorry, I’m on a call, and you really shouldn’t have thrown this party…I do not know how much you are making, but do not waste it on a lady who is not going to be yours. I have a boyfriend,” she said and walked away…

**

PRESENT DAY

She checked the time and realized she had spent close to thirty minutes sitting outside. Her tea had run cold. She sighed and stood up but stopped as there was a ring at the gate.

She frowned. They didn’t have a visitor. There were no houses around and no one knew where they were, not even her friends. It was a perfect getaway honeymoon.

“Who is there?” she asked aloud but there was no response. She inhaled a deep breath as she walked towards the gate….