CHAPTER 27

Everywhere was noisy with juicy

entertainment gossips ranging from

Najiba's wedding to Chris's fainting to

Na'ima's non-appearance at the

wedding, Jay's upcoming concert, and

so on.

While all these were going on, Candace

went missing. Jade could not contact

Chris as she saw the news about Chris

fainting at Najiba's reception. She, Cody,

and Candace's husband has been

searching for her everywhere without

any luck. The police have been notified

but they said that they can't do anything

until the person has been declared

missing for twenty-four hours because

she is a grown woman and there is no

evidence that she is missing.

Jade had to go pick up Candace's

daughter and brought her to her home

so that she can have people around

her. Candace's parents have been

notified and her mum is very tensed.

Candace has never been one to leave

home without telling anybody. She

was never known to be reckless and

that's the reason everyone is worried

about her right now. She has been

missing since last night until this

afternoon nobody has heard anything

from her or seen her anywhere. The

last time she was seen was yesterday

afternoon when she told her husband

that she will be going to the hospital

for her monthly checkup.

 Everyone has been trying to reach

her on her mobile phone, but it is

powered off. At first, it was ringing

when they called and a few minutes

later when they tried again it was

powered off. Her father was so mad

at the town's police that he had to call

their boss and immediately they were

dispatched to go and look for her.

Jade felt so bad for her friends as it

has been from one misfortune to the

other for them. Chris is struggling with

conspiracies and imbalanced love life

and right now she's at the hospital and

no one has any idea of what is wrong

with her. Candace on the other hand

has gone missing leaving her daughter

behind and her mother right now is a

wreck. "When will all this trouble end?

Is it a crime for one to live in peace?

I've seen people who are living their

lives in peace but when it comes to

us it seems peace is far away from us.

The moment one problem is ending,

another is springing up." Jade was

speaking to herself as she had a

flashback of how Candace has not

been herself for a few weeks now.

 she noticed that Candice has been

spacing out for a while and each time

she asked her what the matter is she

always says that it's nothing and that

she is fine. "Jade you always worry a

lot and that is not good. I am not

thinking about anything I just have

some projects right now without just

been thinking of how to complete

them. I don't know why your mind

always thinks bad. or are you afraid

that Rita will come after you again?"

These were the words Candice said to

Jade the last time Jade asked her

about why she has been moody.

 Amongst the three friends, Candace

has always been known to keep secrets

and this is making Jade blame herself

for not trying harder to know what was

wrong with Candace. She walked up to

candace's husband and said "what has

been going on between you and my

friend? The police are asking questions

and I will tell them everything that I

know. I will tell them that my friend has

not been happy for a few weeks now

and she has been moody and spacing

out almost all the time. What did you

do to her?" Candace's husband was

disappointed in Jade as he looked at

her and said,  "I am disappointed in you

and I'm very sure that your friend will

also be disappointed if she hears you

say words like this. I know that people

will suspect me and some will even

blame me for her disappearance but

if anyone had told me that you will be

amongst those people, I wouldn't have

believed even in a million years. I have

a clear conscience and I'm not afraid of

 interrogations or being investigated.

Do you think that you can be more

worried about my wife than me? I love

my wife and I'm also very worried that

she is missing." Jade really felt

embarrassed after what she has just

said to her friend's husband "I am sorry

for being a jerk. I wasn't just thinking

clearly because I was scared. Richard, I

am scared. I have known Candace and

Chris since when we were teenagers and

we have always known that the only

impulsive one amongst us is Chris.

Candace is even quieter than I am.

She has always been the only reasonable

and most patient one amongst us." As

Jade was speaking, her voice began to

break.

Candice's mother walked up to Richard

looking distraught and she said "if I ever come to know that you have a hand in this I will make sure that you disappear from the face of this earth. I love you like a son and my daughter loves you too but right now, I don't know who to trust anymore. She has been gone since yesterday and not even a call demanding ransom so that we can at least know that she was kidnapped for money. Please just tell me if anything happened between the two of you and mistakenly, she hit her head on the wall and she died. I just want to know where my daughter is and what has happened to her."

There was confusion everywhere and Candace's husband was already tired of people pointing accusing fingers at him. Their daughter kept asking him when her mum will come back home and he has no answer for her. He sat on the sofa looking frustrated and worried. His eyes looked like he has not slept since the previous night.

The police were interrogating him, his wife's family and friends were also interrogating him. If only this nightmare could just fade away and bring back Candace from wherever it is she has gone to. Candace's father came in and her mother looked at him with so much fear in her eyes. She took a deep breath of relief when her husband shook his head at her. She has been scared since her husband and some police officers left. Since they were notified of their daughter's disappearance, they have been calling different hospitals and checking out morgues. So when her husband came in and gave her the news that her daughter was not found in any hospital or morgue, that gave her new hope.

 Chris finally woke up feeling refreshed and better. She looked around and was not surprised that the first person she saw was Doja. He smiled at her and said "hey princess, how was your beauty sleep? Please remain in bed, the doctor said that you are not allowed to get up now. "Chris tried to speak but her throat felt dry then she pointed at the jug of water on the table. After drinking some water, she was able to tell Doja that she wanted to use the toilet. He came forward and suddenly carried her to the toilet and said, you are my princess and you don't need to step your feet on the ground, your Highness. Please use me as your human rug whenever you feel like it." Chris didn't know what to say as she just woke up and was not ready for this drama. She looked at him and said "can I have some privacy at least? "He chuckled and walked away. Even though he didn't say anything, within him, he was saying "I wonder what you're hiding away from me? The this you are hiding is something that my eyes have seen, my mouth has tasted, my hands have touched and even my cock has entered." 

 Although Doja was being all cocky with Chris, he was still shaken within as he didn't know how to tell her about the pregnancy because his greatest fear right now is Chris going away with his child and him never finding them. He knows that she is that impulsive when it comes to decision making and he really wants her to have this child even though he knows that that is a selfish wish because Chris also has her career to pursue.

Na'ima flew back to London the next day after Najba's wedding, to meet her mother because she has now agreed that her mother was right. Najiba is too crafty and intelligent for Na'ima alone to handle. Na'ima now knows that the only person who can help her to remain in her husband's house is her mother because najeba and her mother, have teamed up to do her harm and they have shown her a little of their mercilessness. Na'ima has always thought that her mother was evil but after meeting Najiba and her mother, she now knows that those two are eviler than her mother.

As soon as Na'ima entered the house, she ran into her mother's arms and began to cry. "Mum help me, please. I'm sorry for doubting and blaming you for everything. Mum those two want to end my career and marriage and they are succeeding already. I don't know what will happen between Zahid and me after his honeymoon with that fox." Her mother said and said, "why don't we leave Zahid out of this for now and focus on better things. I would like us to work on your anger first because whether we agree or not, your father is right about you having a nasty temper. Your enemy wants to make you angry so that you can make a wrong move. So you have to learn to be very patient and not respond to everything that people say because you are not mad. Sometimes it saves you a lot of stress when you just smile and walk away from unnecessary fights." Na'ima was thinking within herself as she has learned first-hand, that experience is the best teacher but most times, it is better to learn from other means than to let experience teach you because most times, the lessons that we learn from experience are very hard and some people end up dying with them.

The next thing that Na'ima has in mind to do, is to appear in public as a sweetheart. She wants to apologize to everybody that she has ever offended and embrace Najiba and the other wives. She wants to pretend to turn a new leaf so that by the time she and her mother strike, nobody will suspect them. She intends to make her first trip to Saudi Arabia to meet up with the other wives and apologize to them for her behavior in the past. Her mother has also advised her to take very nice pictures with them for the internet. Because right now, everyone is thinking that Najiba is the most intelligent person amongst the wives as she is ready to accept everybody as they are and give them their due respect.

Sarah finally decided to visit the Richards since they arrived from the United States. Mrs. Richards was very happy to see her goddaughter happy and also in good health. She was happy that all the words that Temi said to Sarah did not push the poor girl into depression because such hurtful words can really get to people in different ways. "How have you been Sarah? I've been worried about you since the day your mum said you left because you were sad about all the words that Temi said to you. I don't want you to be sad or be angry at her. You've not had children yet, so you really can't understand how she's feeling. Losing a child comes with a pain that no one ever prays to experience. Your mother can understand that pain too and that's the reason why even though she's angry at Temi, she is not taking it to heart. People deal with pain and grief differently and Temi's way of dealing with her grief is by apportioning blames on others." Sarah held unto Mrs. Richard's hands and said, "even though Samantha and I never saw eye-to-eye, God knows I never hated her or wished her evil. We never really liked each other because we don't move in the same circles and I expected her mother to understand that, but she just put all the blame on me. Godmother, sometimes when I think back to that day, I used to wish I never knew this family because if I wasn't close to this family, nobody would have accused me of murder." Mrs. Richards held on to Sarah and said don't say that my dear you are one of the best things that ever happened to this family. You are very impulsive and you are so spoilt that you make me shout all the time. Without you in this family, how would I have been exercising my vocal cords? I never had a daughter but having you around the house, never made me feel for once that I do not have a daughter because you were almost always in this house that sometimes I forget that someone else is your mother. So I don't want you to ever regret being close to this family and do not let anyone intimidate you into thinking that you are not a member of this family because you are my goddaughter and Jamil's younger sister." Sarah smiled and hugged her godmother as she said "thank you godmother for always accepting me as I am and never scolding me for my mischief as a child. I love you." Mrs. Richards also smiled at Sarah as she couldn't believe that someone will be so unreasonable as to accuse such a sweet girl like Sarah of murder.

 The doctor came into the world to check up on Chris and also, explain certain things to her. "How are you feeling young lady?" Chris smiled at the doctor said I'm fine I feel better than yesterday. The older man smiled back at her and said "well that's good to hear because you have been starving and overworking yourself." Chris immediately put up a defense by arguing with the doctor "I have not been starving myself I've only been on a diet because of my job. When the doctor was done with the checkups, he looked directly at her and said, "then I guess your job will have to take a break for now because you need to take very good care of yourself as the little one in there is also depending on you."

Chris kept looking at the doctor even when he was done talking because all she could hear right now is a buzz. Her brain could not grasp the meaning of "little one."