Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now

Back at Chelsea's house, Lola continued to cry out her eyes until it began to hurt. Every attempt made by Chelsea to console her only fueled her grief. The memory of watching Brian cry like a child for the first time because of her infidelity bruised her soul.

Amid heartbreaking tears, Lola narrated all that transpired back at her home to Chelsea. She shook with so much anguish when she spoke about Brain's shattered reaction.

"Brian called me a slut, Chelsea. For the first time in our marriage, he took sides with his family and address me as a slut." Lola wept harder.

"Shh..." Chelsea pulled her into her arms and soothed her tenderly like a nursing mother. You are not a slut. You were raped and infected by your heartless boss. And I promise you, we will sue him in court for this injustice."

"How am I going to continue with life? How am I going to carry another man's child in my womb? Ian has taken everything away from me. He has ruined me." Lola wailed uncontrollably in her bestie's arms.

After a few minutes of draining her tears gland, Lola slowly relaxed in her friend's motherly embrace, while occasionally sobbing and sniffing.

The rugged floor was littered with used tissue paper as Lola's reddened nose kept running like a tap. In her currently pitiful state, she perfectly illustrated the song, 'Heaven knows I'm miserable now.'

"Rosemary was right!" Lola sniffed, blowing her nose loudly into another folded tissue paper. "I'm a useless and heartless woman. I shouldn't have kept any secrets from Brian. I should have confessed to my crime. I don't deserve Brian's love or forgiveness. I don't deserve anyone's love."

"Stop this, Lola! Stop beating yourself up." Chelsea rebuked her friend harshly.

"You're not a useless woman. You are a brave, hardworking, loving and compassionate woman. In fact, you are a hero. What do you think would have happened to Brian if you had confessed to him earlier? Who knows, he may have died out of jealousy. You did the right thing keeping the truth away from him."

"If I did the right thing like you claimed, then why am I suffering." Lola resumed weeping.

Chelsea's heart sank.

"Life is so unfair, Lola. It's somehow pries on the best of us. But you know what, we will get through this together. You are a good woman and I'm sure things will work out at the right time.

"I don't want things to remain like this." Lola pulled herself away from Chelsea's choking embrace. "I just want my husband back. I want my family back."

"Family!" Chelsea arched her brows in disgust.

"What family?! Is it the ones that almost beat you up into a pulp?" Chelsea sneered.

"Rosemary and that whole wretched family should be thankful to have a wife like you. God knows I won't tolerate one-quarter of the nonsense you swallow in that marriage. If I were in your shoes, I would choke the living daylight out of Rosemary and her ungrateful daughter."

"Don't talk like that, Chelsea. They are my family." Lola wiped the tears streaming down her face with the back of her hand. "I'll be nothing without them."

"Really!" Chelsea tilted her head to the side to take a good look at her naive friend.

"You must be kidding me, Lola. After all, they've done to you, you still defend them?! Come on, sweetie, wake up from your slumber. Those people are leeches. They should be thrown behind bars for what they did to you. Take a good look at your pretty face."

Chelsea touched Lola's swollen lips, causing the latter to whimper in pain.

The fresh blood-clotted cut on Lola's swollen upper lips inflicted by Rosemary, left an ugly mark on her face. This cut was nothing compared to the several reddened palm prints on her face.

It was as though her pretty face was used as the perfect canvas for palm print artwork.

"I deserved it." Lola coughed a mixture of thick saliva mingled with blood, into the tissue paper.

"Nooo..." Chelsea stroked Lola's hair tenderly. "No one deserves to be treated this way. Not even a criminal. What you did is nothing short of being a noble wife. You saved your husband's life even though it cost you a lot of pain. The Hart family owe you their gratitude and not disdain. What they did to you today showed that they are ruthless, ungrateful vultures."

Lola sobbed quietly but didn't say anything.

"If my memory serves me right, wasn't it Rosemary who instructed you to do anything you can to get the money? You were able to arrange more than a million dollars in less than twenty hours. Why didn't she interrogate you back then? Why didn't you reject the money? Oh...how I hate that woman's hypocrisy and selfishness."

Chelsea spoke with so much conceited rage in her voice.

"Moreover, all I see is someone trying to sabotage your marriage. By the way, how did Brian and others find out about our visit to Glove Clinic? I was extremely cautious in our movement."

"I have no idea." Lola leaned back on the couch and rested her banging head while staring blankly at the conventional ceiling.

"Something tells me that Rosemary or any of the Hart family members set us up." Chelsea thought out loud. "They must have hired a private investigator to trail us."

"But how can I be HIV positive?" Lola placed both hands on her forehead, batting her wet lashes to push back her tears. "Does that mean Ian also has HIV?"

"That prick..." Chelsea hissed out loud. "I can't believe he forced himself on you without using protection. Who does that? Something tells me he did intentionally to destroy your reputation."

"You think...." Lola resumed crying, as bitterness and rage slowly ate into her shattered heart.

Just then, Chelsea's phone started ringing.

When she checked the caller ID, she hissed before receiving the call.

"Raquel, you better have a good reason for disturbing me."