THE SURPRISE

"Amanda..." The girl beside me said. I glanced at her and noticed how sophisticated she was dressed. She was clearly one of the wealthy people invited to the party. She had long blonde hair that reached her waist and a pretty face attached to it.

Only the rich can afford to be this reckless. If a regular person attended an event like this, they would be busy going around, talking to people, and trying to get new connections. You would think it was the same for the wealthy. It wasn't. Most of them already seemed to know each other from Adam.

"Whatever you heard down there was nothing. Let's keep that between us." Jasmine suddenly said with a smile. "You wouldn't want to make your life more miserable than it is by telling everyone, would you?"

"Interesting..." I said as I walked slowly towards her. I was tired of all these threats I had been receiving lately. I had been pushed to the wall and if I didn't stand up for myself, all these rich folks would think it's alright to threaten people with a smile. "The fact that you think you can threaten me after being compromised like that is truly interesting. Let me remind you, Jasmine Hudson..."

Yes, I knew her entire name. Who didn't? She was a popular supermodel. There was a time when every guy on the entire planet went crazy for her. They still were. "...you are the one with a lot to lose here. One word to the paparazzi and you're done for. So, instead of being an entitled bitch, you better apologize and maybe I'll reconsider monetizing your downfall." I said as I glared at her. We were both of the same height and body shape except that I was effortlessly more curvy than she would ever be. If I wanted to be a model, I could but I decided to make use of my brain instead.

Jasmine was first astonished that someone spoke back at her. She quickly composed herself. "You better not do anything foolish or I will —"

"You will what? What do you think you can do to me?" I was high in adrenaline so I spoke as I felt.

Suddenly, Ethan appeared with a serious look on his face. "Enough of this nonsense! Just because you married my brother doesn't mean you have the right to bully my fiancee. " He said. He gently wrapped his arms around Jasmine and immediately she turned into a crying mess. "Are you alright babe? Did she hurt you?" He inquired as he caressed her like she was fragile.

"She is your fiancee?" I asked without needing an answer. Jasmine who had been crying fake tears on Ethan's chest suddenly turned to face me with a glare. "Interesting..." I smiled, looking back at Jasmine. I didn't have to tell the paparazzi to ruin her life. All I had to do was expose her affair to her 'fiance'.

" Babe, let's leave this lunatic." She said between sniffs to Ethan, urging him to leave but he was adamant about being the hero in shining amour and dealing with me 'the bully'.

"No, Jaz. If we don't cut those wings of hers that are sprouting, she will continue bullying you." Ethan truly believed his fiancee was harmless and I was the bully so he threatened me. Not like he was the first to do that anyway. "If I see you anywhere close to my fiancee, I will save my mother the stress and personally make sure you end up like your predecessors."

"That is no way to speak to a lady." I heard a familiar voice say. It was Austin. My jaw almost touched the ground in shock. What was he doing here? How did he get invited to this party? He looked so different from the quiet, calm guy I knew back in Nigeria. He was dressed in a tailored suit that pronounced his muscular frame. I had to check again if I wasn't hallucinating my close friend out of loneliness. When he came close to where I stood and I perceived the familiar scent of his perfume, I was sure it was him in the flesh.

"Threaten her one more time and I will make you my patient." Austin's family owned a hospital in America but I have never been so interested in their specialization until then. Austin stood in front of me with a protective stance and glared at Ethan. He was taller than Ethan so Ethan was left stretching his neck to glare back at him.

"Let us leave babe. These lunatics aren't worth our time." Ethan said before leaving with his 'fiancee'. When they left I could not help but laugh.

"What does your hospital here specialize in?" I just had to ask between laughter.

"The question is who? We run a rehabilitation clinic mostly for the wealthy drug addicts. " He said with a smile. "I am not surprised they tried to threaten you."

"You would be surprised by the number of people that have done that to me this evening." I laughed it out because it's crazy how they all did that so consistently. "What are you doing here? I thought you were in Nigeria."

"Surprise!" He exclaimed playfully. "When you told me you were travelling here I told my dad I would represent our company here." He explained.

"That is why you said you would visit me," I muttered in realization. Now it all made sense.

"Imagine my surprise when you told me Mr. Greystone was your patient." He said in excitement as he hugged me. "The coincidence is alarming."

I hugged him back. The scent of him reminded me of home. Strangely, I missed home, the dramatic mother I had, my tattletale of a sister, and the normalcy of living in Nigeria. I had only been away for over twelve hours and I wished I could go back. Working in a foreign country wasn't the way I had hoped.

Instead of the freedom I thought it would offer, it gave me a large dose of trickery into modern slavery. Without realizing it, I hugged Austin tighter. Tears were brimming in my eyes and I fought to hold it back.

"Amanda, are you alright?" He asked in concern as he pulled away to see my tear-stricken face. "What happened?" He asked the one question that I could not answer entirely, the one question that had all the tears I had been struggling to hold back to rush out.

"Austin, nothing is the way I expected it to be." That was all I could say. I could not tell him the details about the documents I signed. "I feel like I have gotten myself mixed up in a fight that has nothing to do with me." I managed to say. Austin held me firmly in his warm embrace, caressing my back like he had done when broke up with my ex-fiancee back home. I wonder how his reaction would be when he found out that I was married to my patient within a few days of ending my engagement with Nonso.

"It's alright, Amanda. I'm here. You're not alone in this." When he said that, I believed it. He was my only friend and the only one I truly knew in that mansion. " You are better off than the new wife Mr. Greystone married. " He said jokingly to ease the tension but I immediately got tense because of what he said.

"I heard Mr. Greystone arranged this party for his new wife. I pity whoever that poor girl is." He continued. "Legally, she is his third wife and only God knows how long she will last. "

"What happened to his previous wives?" I asked out of curiosity. I needed to know how the other therapist had ended their agreement with Mr Greystone without healing him.

"I don't know exactly. All I heard was that they died mysteriously. There are many rumours y'know but that was the official statement. Some say they were sold off in an unknown country as prostitutes, some say they died from poison. I even heard a rumour that one of them was eaten alive by his dogs mistakenly for dinner one night like that. Crazy, right? There are so many theories but no one knows what truly happened to them. All we know is he has a new wife now. Have you met her?" He asked me.

I could not answer. I didn't know how to tell him without explaining all that had happened. I pulled away a little to gather myself together. "Let us leave. I am beginning to catch a cold. " I said, trying to avoid the question. Immediately I said that I heard A very familiar voice say threateningly.

"Step away from my wife."

I looked over Austin's shoulder to see if was Mr Greystone. He walked towards me and held me by the waist. Austin pulled away and stepped back a little from shock. He could not believe what he had heard. I could see the confusion in his eyes as he looked between me and Mr Greystone, then finally, Mr Greystone.

"Your wife?" He asked to clarify. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he hoped he had heard wrongly.

"Are you simply deaf or just playing dumb?" Mr. Greystones held me protectively as he glared at Austin. "She is my wife."

I knew trouble was brewing as the tension between men grew. Austin was not in love with me. That would have been a ridiculous idea at that time. He was simply worried that I was the poor girl Mr Greystone was married to. He knew of my history in Nigeria and knew how emotionally unprepared I was when we last saw each other. And more importantly, he knew I would never willingly get married without informing my parents or performing the traditional rites for marriage.

Just as I thought earlier, it was ridiculous for me to get married to a stranger I had just met. This wasn't a movie or some novel. It was real life with real people.

Austin looked at me with confusion in his eyes before asking, "When did you get married?"