Chapter 2

Alexander saw the cab that his uncle had ordered for him to use to the airport pulling into the compound. Breaking his gaze from the car as it drove inside, he attempted calling Ivy, but unfortunately, her line was unreachable.

"Alex, you gotta leave now if you want to make it in time to the airport," his uncle said as he walked into the room that Alex had decided to stay in. He could feel his heart breaking but he knew that Ivy would understand and support him like she used to. He just had to get in touch with her.

He followed his uncle as the man walked out of the house. Placing him in the car, they waved at him as the car drove off. Distress became a friend of Alex as he tried severally to reach Ivy but to no avail. As he walked down the passage that led to the airplane, he tried her number again and when she didn't pick up, his heartbeat became fast and he immediately knew that something was wrong.

***

Alex sat on the comfortable chair that the first-class ticket offered, but the chair did no justice in calming him down. He sent a silent prayer to Heaven and with shaky hands, tried Ivy's number again.

"I'm sorry sir, but you will have to switch off your phone as we are about to take off," the air hostess said gently.

"Okay," Alexander responded as he placed the phone into his pocket, looked out the window, and prayed that Ivy would be okay.

*****

The air grazed Jasmine's skin like a lover's touch as she stepped out of her company's building to be meet with the lovely evening weather. She had always felt a connection with nature and appreciated it more than her mother perceived was normal. She stood outside for a few minutes and soaked in the evening breeze which led her to remember her love, Alexander.

She had missed him for such a long time and finally, they would be united. She had pictured how lovely their dinner date would be. Even when she was not a fashionista, she had picked out a beautiful dress to wear for the special occasion. Her face fell when she realized that she would have to wait another day before she could see him. Her mind came up with ridiculous speculations when she hadn't heard from him since he last called and she needed to silence the voices in her head.

With a smile on her face at the thought of hearing his deep masculine voice that sent shivers down her spine again, she pulled out her phone. Without looking through her notifications bar, she went ahead to place a call to him but was unable to because the device showed that she had no signal.

Confused and slightly irritated, her eyes finally moved to the notification bar and she noticed that her phone was on flight mode.

"Shit!" She swore under her breath. She was certain that Alexander must have tried calling her like a thousand times. She immediately turned it off, and as soon as she had a signal on her phone, she rushed to call Alexander, but it wasn't connecting.

Out of frustration and hurry, Jasmine tried it again. After a few minutes of trying and getting the same response, the cool breeze could no longer soothe her raging emotions.

She stood and watched as her co-workers began leaving the office one after the other and decided within herself that the best option would be to go back home and have a goodnight's rest.

"Jasmine, do you need a ride?" One of her co-workers offered.

"No, thank you. I will just take a taxi. Have a lovely evening, Mr. Stevens." Jasmine didn't wait for a response from him. She knew that he was nothing but bad news and only had one aim. To get into her pants, and it would be over her dead body that she would allow that happened.

Jasmine ordered a car, gave the man the address, and they were off. Halfway into her apartment street, the car broke down. Jasmine who had relaxed in the back seat became aware of her surroundings.

"What's going on?" She asked the man who appeared less confused than she was.

"I think I may have run out of gas. I'm so sorry ma."

Jasmine looked at her time.

Thirty minutes past eight

She blamed her boss for keeping her in the office past working hours. They had a lot to tidy up in the office and she made sure that everyone worked extra hard to meet up with the client's needs.

"Oh, that's okay. My place isn't that far from here, I will just walk the remaining blocks." Picking up her phone, she tried Alexander's number again but to her disappointment, it was still unreachable. She stepped out of the car and started the short walk back to her apartment whilst trying to reach Alexander.

She had her phone on her ears when she noticed a set of rough-looking men walking towards her. Out of fear, she quickly returned her phone to her bag, kept her head low, and tried to walk past them. Luck was not on her side because as she was about to walk past them, she was intercepted and in a split second, they had surrounded her.

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here." Jasmine could smell alcohol in their breath as they moved closer to her.

"Please, I don't want any trouble," Jasmine said as she tried to avoid making any contact with their bodies. She looked scarily around her, praying that anybody would come to her rescue. Her heart began pounding so loud that she was afraid they would hear it, it wouldn't have mattered if they did because the hairs that stood on the back of her hand were visible even in the dead of the night.

"Well, we don't want any trouble either, so just give us the bag," the man whom Jasmine believed to be the leader said. Jasmine hugged her bag closer to her and took a stand to fight for it. The men must have realized that they were spending too much time on her because they yanked the bag from her shoulders.

"No, please!" Jasmine cried and held on to one of their hands before they could run away. With tears forming in her eyes and shaking knees that almost touched the ground, she pleaded with them. "Please, you can take everything from that bag but please let me keep the phone. I beg of you."

"But the phone is the most important thing and it's exactly what we are looking for," the leader of the gang said and ripped Jasmine's hand from his. Before Jasmine could make another plea, they had run away into the dead of the night.

The image of the thieves running away became blurry to Jasmine's eyes as she shut them severally to clear the tear that was starting to form. The realization that she will not be able to reach Alex through the night brought the tears back to her eyes but she blinked them away.

She walked sluggishly towards the family-styled house that Alexander had rented for only her. She opened the gate and walked into the compound and the sight of suitcases was what the moonlight allowed her to see.

"What? I wasn't expecting anyone. Whose bags are these?" She whispered to herself as she walked closer to the bags. Upon reaching the bags, she noticed that they looked exactly like the ones she owned. Out of confusion, Jasmine bent down to open one of the bags and while feasting her eyes on the content, she realized that they were in fact her clothes. Jasmine stood for a second and wondered how her clothes and all her belongings would have gotten to be outside her apartment. She knew that Alexander had paid the rent for two years and she had only been living there for six months, so under what conditions would her landlord have to evict her?

Amid her confusion, she could hear the thunderstorms rumbling in the sky and she knew that it was about to rain. She rushed to her door and tried to open it while hoping that her landlord hadn't changed the locks. The lock refused to budge even after Jasmine had tried it over and over again.

"Fuck!" She screamed out. She needed an explanation and an explanation she would get. She rushed to the back of the building where she knew that her landlord lived and knocked restlessly on the door. Jasmine wasn't having the best of her day and her feelings were running wild. All she wanted was a nice good night's rest and not the series of bad events that have been happening to her.

She watched as her landlord came out of his house, he had a sober look on his face.

"Good evening, Jasmine."

"Good evening. Sir. Why are my things outside? I know that I've covered my rent for two years and I haven't even lived here for more than six months, so why are you evicting me?"

"I'm sorry, Jasmine. There is nothing I can do about it." The man looked sympathetic and his eyes were pitiful.

"At least tell me what it is that I've done wrong."

"I'm sorry. I can't do anything. I will forward the balance of the rent to your account. Have a goodnight, Jasmine," he said as he closed the door, leaving a confused Jasmine standing under the rain that had started to pour.

Jasmine raised her hands to knock on the door again but decided against it. She walked sluggishly back to her house. The rain helped drain the tears that she finally allowed to fall down her eyes. She sat on the stairs that led to the house while refusing to give in to her tired body desires. She held her body tight, hoping that Alex was around to comfort her.

******

Alexander could hear the sound of traffic and he immediately knew that he was in the city. He wasted no time in giving Ivy a call and was still met with no response. He could feel his fist forming at the idea of not knowing what had happened to her.

"Fuck!" The uncertainty of the situation made Alexander scream and when he turned his head, he saw two men running toward him.