The sacred bride episode 36

The Sacred Bride
Written by Bunmi B. Gabriel
Segment 36
Leila
‘…a rude boy
To tell me something sweet
Same time got his hands
Up on my body
I wanna get high
When he take it low-low
Let me feel strong
When I’m taking control
I’ve been looking for my shawty
So come and get it if you got it
All my girls ’round the world
I know you know what I mean
I get a little s€×y when I’m lonely
One thing on my mind
I know what I need
All my girls ’round the world
Hands up and sing it with me
‘Cause everything I got
You know it’s all me
Even though a man
Ain’t some…’ The ringing of my phone shattered my beautiful sleep. I reached forward for it with a huff and swiped the answer icon without looking at the disturber. I put the phone to my ear and gro-ned out a greeting.
‘Good morning,’
‘You need to get a job lazy ass,’ Bernice’s sweet voice said disapprovingly from the other side of the phone. ‘It’s good AFTERNOON mommy two,’ she exaggerated. ‘Get your ass up, I have bad news to deliver.’
‘Bad news this early? Must I hear it?’ I whined.
‘It’s about Bloom,’ I sat up instantly, drowsiness completely gone. ‘An annoying person commented on the viral pictures of Alisdair and Bloom at the boutique, she made it known that Bloom’s marriage to Alisdair is a freaking one year contract. She made it clear that the pictures and videos of them together are all for show, he have never touched her and they are not the perfect couple like everyone see them as. It was easy to believe because how can Alisdair suddenly care about a woman? Laugh and feel free because of one. Many who had doubts agreed and reposted the screenshot pictures. Arrange marriages are normal in the business world but you know jealous people will never let such opportunity to slip pass them. The insults on Bloom being a hypocrite and so many are very disturbing and that will hurt her.’
I laughed dryly. ‘You said she?’
‘Odyn tracked the person, guess who?’
‘Just f-cking give me a name!’
‘Uncle Barry’s daughter, Dayton.’
‘Cousin Dayton?’ I sneered. ‘That jealous thing?’
‘Yup! The very same one,’ she popped. ‘I’m going to fix the comment, like counter her but I need special assist. I already called that blogger cousin of your boyfriend’s, she said I should hold on while she do her thing first. Don’t know what she will do but I will wait for her instruction. You handle our beautiful cousin, okay?’
‘With pleasure,’ I smirked. I hung up and shut my eyes to check on Bloom. ‘With one connection, with one mind, let me see through thy eyes and hear through thy ears.’ I opened my eyes and I could see what she was seeing; she was staring at a ant. I chuckled.
‘…you can do it, come on…’ She cheered for the ant. I laughed and shook my head. ‘Huh? Leila, what are you doing in my head?’
‘What are you doing staring at an ant?’
‘The dude broke his legs, I’m encouraging him to move on.’
‘Question, how do you know it’s a dude? And follow up if I may, why are you even staring and cheering for it?’ I asked puzzledly.
‘I’m jobless,’
‘What happened?’
‘Alisdair seized my phone, unplugged all the televisions and snapped at me to stay away from social media. It’s because Uncle Barry called me last night because of the viral pictures, cursed me and then this morning, Uncle Gill blasted me with his own. Alis got so furious he seized everything so I won’t see. I’m so bored Leila, so freaking… Hey, is that a pregnant spider?’
‘Seriously?’ I laughed.
‘I’m noticing everything that passes my eyes,’ she wasn’t aware, that’s good.
‘Good, I’ll check on you later.’
‘Leila, I know what you are up to, don’t hurt our uncles because they insulted me.’
‘No promises,’ I hung up and switched off my phone and smirked. You’ll forgive me Bloom, I’ll definitely hurt them.
~~ Alisdair ~~
I drummed my fingers as I waited for my call to be attended to; I was calling the president, the one person I have to wait on. The call connected, I rolled my eyes. ‘Sorry to keep you waiting Mr. Kendrick, the president will attend to you now.’
‘Uhm,’ I tapped my index finger on my phone screen patiently. A small chuckle came from the other side, I rolled my eyes again.
‘Alis darling!’ He chirped. ‘What a pleasant surprise,’ he said buoyantly.
‘Good afternoon sir, I should be sorry for not checking on you or Martha for a while now.’
‘Ah! Busy with the new lady I see,’ he said teasingly and laughed at it even though I don’t get the joke. ‘When I was your age, I had some fine cuteness in me that got the lassies swooning.’
‘I thought when you were my age, your father was shaving your head and forcing you into the military?’ I asked chucklingly, reminding him of his last lie.
‘Oh, it w…hey! I missed your wedding, how did it go? Hope Martha did a good job in representing me?’
‘She did a overly good job, wouldn’t let my wife be with stories of my suppose “childhood” the ones she never saw.’ I said frowningly, remembering how she made Bloom sit with her and told Bloom made up embarrassing stories. I did not break my leg when I was ten and the pain didn’t make me poop on myself.
He laughed, hitting his table like he always do. ‘Ah! I know how Martha get with her habit of making up stories to fill in on all she missed. I bet she told your lady that break a leg history,’
‘And the sleepwalking drama,’ I huffed. He laughed once more and snorted at the end.
‘I’m sure your mother would have loved to be there,’
‘She was,’
‘I’m talking about Alyssa, not Hailey.’ I frowned.
‘I don’t have any mother named Alyssa, all I know is I have a foster mother named Hailey Snapper ‘
‘Don’t you think it’s time to forgive your dead folks? They would need…’
‘Sir, remember when you graduated from my university with second class and I can now freely talk to you without going roboto?’ I asked smirkingly.
‘Ah, I get the memo, lip close.’ You are probably wondering my relationsh¡p with him; his wife, Martha, was my grandmother’s younger sister. Martha is years younger than my grandmother and quite younger than her age. She marrying a vibrant retired military general made things better for their old life. You won’t believe they are running their seventies and eighties.
‘I’m sorry sir,’
‘Cut the sir thing, we have agreed on General Commander Sir,’ he’s never serious with me.
‘Okay General Sir,’ I laughed.
‘You forgot to add Commander,’
‘Oh God, please let me tell you the main reason I called,’ I said between my laugh.
‘I knew you wouldn’t call for no reason, but do you remember the day I first met your grand aunt? The sky was sky-blue-pink and coated with milky clouds…’
‘Sir,’ I laughed, covering my face with my palm. He was using Aunt Martha’s dreamy tone. ‘Please, be serious for six minutes, please.’
‘Six, got it. Now what is it Alisdair?’
‘The contract of the Wellington I had to sing for you to approve,’ I said with an eye roll.
‘Such wonderful live performance,’ he said smugly, I knew he was nodding his head. ‘Don’t worry, I already approved it, just need one more stamp.’
‘Have you?’ I asked knowingly.
‘I have, believe me. I did not sleep over it like I do few times. If you know the matter of works I’m forced to attend to everyday, you will pity this old man. After my tenor runs out, I’m quitting and becoming a farmer.’
I laughed again. ‘Please, terminate the contract.’
‘Why?’
‘I asked you to look into it for the sake of my wife, to make her happy. The same ungrateful people have turned her happy world upsidedown, so I must turn theirs.’
‘I respect and trust your judgement so I will conclude you know what you are doing.’
‘Please, permanently decline it before the end of today,’
‘I haven’t even approved it,’ he murmured. ‘Sure, I will gladly do so,’ he said raucously. ‘If I remember.’
‘This is the part where you give me conditions, what is it?’
‘Dinner with the family, Martha have been rehearsing on how to ask you without receiving that deep no of yours. I hereby use this as a platform to express her words…’
‘Here we go,’
‘My dearest Alisdair, comma…’ I chuckled. ‘It is with great expectations that I dictate this letter to you, another comma – Or was it full stop? Skip the punctuations. – As you know! You are the only surviving blood related offspring of my darling older sister. Your mother, her daughter is dead and you are all that is left of her lineage. I am grateful for my children, grandchildren and now great grandchildren, but I also wish that you as my blood relative could spend more time with your only family as well.
I am aware that one of these days, your workaholism will kill you, but I still plea that you find time to visit us more often, get to know your cousins and grand cousins better. We all wish to be close to you, even if you are belligerent and a little bit of a misanthropist. Spend more time with us…’
‘I spent Christmas dinner with your loud family, my ears almost bled to death.’ I interjected.
‘They weren’t loud, you just saw them as loud because you are always searching for excuses to go back to work. Two, you only came because your foster mother dragged you there and three, that was almost five years ago.’ He stated unenthusiastically.
‘I attended your last granddaughter’s wedding,’ I said with a snap of my fingers.
‘Who attends a wedding reception for ten minutes and leaves?’
‘I always attend your anniversaries,’
‘In the spirit or with your doppelganger?’ He scoffed sarcastically.
‘I send gifts,’ I whined.
‘Alisdair, we are old people who can die anytime from now. It will break our heart if you don’t start behaving like a human. At least, send your wife over to be close to the family, would ya?’
‘How about you pay attention to the invitations I sent y’all,’
‘Public meeting and private family dinner is different Alis, you know that. I’m doing this for Martha, bring or I kidnap her.’ He threatened playfully.
‘President Elmer Audler kidnaps Alisdair Kendrick’s wife to please First Lady Martha, that headline doesn’t sound right.’ I said with a small chuckle.
‘Who will know I did it?’ He laughed. ‘Come on Alisdair, for Martha?’
‘For now, she can’t come, not until after the party. She have been feeling sick lately…’
‘Tell Martha this, and she will pack into your house, better keep your big mouth shut.’
‘Kettle,’ I laughed.
‘I won’t be there, I have work to do but Martha will. It was nice taking a break to laugh, haven’t had that for weeks. You should call more often Alis, or rather, visit more often.’
‘I will try sir,’
‘How’s Hailey? Her sickness?’
‘She’s coping. I haven’t seen her since I got back, she insist I obey her wish and spend more time with my wife.’
‘We all want a Alisdair junior,’
‘Trust me, a baby is the last thing we need now.’
‘Why? Afraid her love will be diverted?’
‘Beyond that, I still need to go but I promise to improve on my bad behavior,’ I paused and smirked. ‘If I remember.’
‘Oui!’ I hung up and laughed, I really should call him more often. I haven’t checked on mamaw for a while now. Bloom’s issues have occupied my mind. I picked up my phone and dialed her number. I waited patiently until she picked up.
‘I’m alive today,’ she said sarcastically. ‘What do you want Alisdair?’
‘Checking on you,’
‘Now you do. If I was to be dead, I would be dead. Don’t call me again.’ She hung up, she’s such a rude creep.
‘Recorded, I tried.’ I dropped the phone and sighed, I miss Bloom.
~ Narrative ~
Dayton stared at her feet with regret; her father was raging and yelling at the top of his voice while her uncle backed him up. Her mother’s rant and their words didn’t matter to her, not at all. What was paining her was how everything backfired in her face. She had always been one of Alisdair’s admires, obsess one. When she heard Bloom was going to marry him under a contract, she was bitter but said nothing since she would die anyways. Then she was seeing videos and pictures of them and the last one at the boutique, snapped all her sense of reasoning.
She commented and was proud of the outcome, not until a wh0le Kristal Briceno replied her with a post on her blog. She posted a screenshot of her comment and made the caption the biggest insult of her life. Kristal had fans, they turned on her but she was glad it was an anonymous account; at least not until Bernice replied to her hate words with her own account. Bernice Wellington actually replied, she never speaks.
“I don’t know why you can’t get over your immature jealousy, will you keep going until it kills you? I know this so called anonymous account is yours Dayton, I know what you are trying to do. Whether you like it or not, whether anyone believes it or not, Alisdair Kendrick is in love with and married to my sister. There is nothing anyone’s opinion will do to change that because she remains the one with the ring, the one in his house, the one bearing his last name and the one he flaunts.
Jealous women sees this as an opportunity? It’s not, not a single bit. You will post, comment, curse but everything will die in a week or two and she still remains the wife while you all struggle to be his foot match. As for you Dayton, it is very disappointing that you can stoop so low to slander your own cousin’s name because of a worthless jealousy. Get this into your heads y’all! Bloom Kendrick is the wife, the one getting k-ssed in these photos, not you! Mind your own man and business and ask yourself why the f-ck Alis would pretend for the press. Have anyone ever been able to question his private life? What can they do, flog him because he’s k-ssing a girl? Get back to your lives people!”
The painful part of the comment was the reality in it, the f-cking truth. Since her identity was exposed, you can imagine the kind of messages she has received and now, her uncles, dad and mother were yelling at her. Leila’s father, Alessandro did more pacing than talking.
‘…losing the contract is one thing but losing Bloom is bad. We need to find a way to get her out of Alisdair’s hold before it’s too late like Velásquez warned.’ Barry said in a panic.
‘You can’t, Alis will kill you.’ Alessandro sighed.
‘Mind you Alessandro, Bloom is Alis our responsibility because her death is important to us, for our wealth. Forget the contract, she is more important.’ Gill said nonchalantly.
‘Of course you will say that, she is not one of your useless daughters, you don’t care.’ Alessandro scoffed.
‘It is what it is, Bloom or Leila will eventually die.’
Leila who had been sitting there unseen, watching them thunder useless words while boiling in anger growled, such nonchalance over her sister’s death. Her eyes turned black as it zoned on the two men that insulted her beloved, that dare to forget Leila Nyx Wellington still exist. They both cried out in pain; falling to their knees and holding their heads, black veins forcefully growing along the surface of their faces to the crown of their heads.
‘Leila,’ Alessandro gasped. His terrified eyes scanned the place for his angry daughter but was met with only river of fog and shadows, flowing into the walls. Incessant and horrific cackles and scre-ms blared into their ears, setting them on panic mode. ‘Leila, you are hurting them.’
‘Why should I stop?’ All shadows chorused with her voice, making it sound like a terror musical. ‘I must remind them why I am Bloom’s keeper, remind them that I don’t give a f-ck who they are to me when it concerns Bloom.’
‘Leila, please…’
‘Make me,’ she hissed. She raised her left hand and clenched it into a fist; the men fell down completely, jerking violently and holding their throats as they struggled for air. Their wh0le body was an artwork of black ripping veins, their cries did nothing to push sympathy on their predator.
‘Bloom wouldn’t want this…’
‘Don’t you dare speak of what Bloom would want for you know nothing!’ She snapped, her voice coming out like thunder from everywhere. She flickered to his sight and allowed him see her monstrous face. ‘You have no right to because you know nothing! All you ever cared about was remaining wealthy, influential, never what would make her happy, how she felt. She grew up believing she will die, grew up in silent depression but you never cared!
Alisdair is all she wants, Alisdair is all she needs to remain happy and I will stop at nothing until she gets that happiness she deserves. Now shut your mouth up before I do to you what I am doing to them.’ She snapped. Without wasting time, she flickered to Dayton and sank her index claws into her temples. Her poison slipped into her brain, causing the thoughtless girl so much pain.
‘Leila, she’s your…’
‘Live in terror
Your fears an everlasting error
Your reality shall be a twist
As you drown in thy sleeping death.’ Without another words said, she floated away with the speed of the wind.
🌺🍀 Bloom 🍀🌺
I have never been this bored in my life, to the extent of counting spoons and plates. Since I married Alis, he and Naomi had always done the cooking but boredom pushed me to prepare a feast for Alisdair. Since I was done, I leaned on the kitchen island and used my eyes to count everything in the kitchen. The wind carried a new scent to me, Alisdair’s.
‘Yes!’
‘Pumpkin!’ He shouted. He told me that aside from sunrise and sunset, when I look at him, I remind him of pumpkins. ‘Wifey!’ He shrieked when he literally hopped into the kitchen. I laughed and furrowed a brow.
‘What is up with you?’ I laughed.
‘Give daddy a big hug,’ he hugged me from behind and muffled something. ‘I miss you,’
‘I missed you,’ I corrected.
‘I miss you,’ he repeated. ‘I did something bad to your family,’
‘Don’t wanna know, how was work?’
‘Fine,’ he sighed, pushing my hair to the left side of my neck. ‘My new secretary is trying.’
‘I made dinner, a feast. Can I have my phone back?’
‘Tomorrow,’ he said softly, planting open mouthed k-sses on my neck.
‘Ticklish,’ I giggled. Alis gently slipped my off the kimono jacket I was wearing, k-ssing the top of my shoulder slowly. Once the jacket was down around my feet, his fingers slid beneath my b-ra strap. My body quivered as I tried to stable my heart and cool the fear. Something about his k-ss and the work of his fingers made my body stood on edge, like his true motive was known. The power radiating from him had changed, Argider.
His hand slowly removed my b-ra, dropping it to the floor with the rest of my clothing. His mouth never left my shoulders and neck, trying hærd to calm my quivering body. I held my breath and shut my eyes; it’s just another forepl-y, nothing else serious. Deep down I was afraid of the pain I was going to feel, it was freaking me out. Seeing as I wasn’t going to relax and accept his distraction, he sighed.
‘I’m not deflowering you yet, just cutting off the first connection so don’t freak out.’
‘I can’t,’ I whimpered. He spun me around instantly and crashed his l-ips on mine, the perfect distraction. My hands went around his neck to his hair in a blink of an eye. I k-ssed him back with much enthusiasm, not until I felt a sharp squeeze in my brain. I pushed away from him to see my hair falling to the floor like a snow shower. I reeled back dizzily but he wasn’t done.
Alis grabbed me again, kept me tight in his arms and used the scissors in his hand to cut my hair off piece by piece. I couldn’t scre-m, couldn’t breathe, but the pain was beyond what I could fathom. My brain felt like it was being pounded and blended at the same time and my throat felt like I swallowed pins and needles. I dug my nails into the arm caging me, unable to do anything as I watched my hair fall through my blurry black and white vision.
He didn’t cut it to the root, to my mid back but the pain from each cut isn’t something I will wish my enemies. ‘Done,’ he whispered and dropped the scissors. I stood with mouth open, frozen on my s₱0t. He wore me my jacket and gathered the hair while I remained in pause mode. He looked at me with sad eyes before stepping on the fire bin peddle and dropping every last strand of my hair into the flame.
That was when all hell let lose on me.
The fire that exploded in my head made me try to scre-m but the needles in my throat kept the voice from coming out. I slipped to the floor; I couldn’t cry, couldn’t scre-m, couldn’t move! With no other option, I slumped into unconsciousness.
To be continued