Damien on the other hand was having a peaceful time of his life. All he did was follow Joana everywhere and protect her. It had been a month and he had noticed a few things.
Apart from being surrounded by riches, she had no man in her life. Well, one man, her ex-boyfriend has continued to be a pain in both of their lives.
Joana had said she blocked him but he kept loading up her phone with other people's numbers and threatening her. He was nothing but obsessive and overprotective.
Sometimes it led to Joana crying most times that would require Damien to soothe her. They slowly began getting close. He got to know a few things about her. Her likes, her dislikes but they kept it professional. Damien was there to work and he concentrated on that.
It was a Saturday morning, and Damien was busy working his way around the kitchen. He recently began cooking because he did not want Joana to spend money just for a meal when the money could save them a bunch just by cooking it at home.
Because he stayed with Rebecca, he was able to learn how to cook. The first few months of his marriage to Rebecca, he was idle. He had sent applications to various companies and some had rejected him immediately while others had not called him back so he chose to help around the house.
Rebecca's mother was nice then and even when he wanted to help, she had issues with it but Damien insisted. She taught him how to prepare a few dishes and so did Rebecca after he pestered her to teach him.
Their attitude only changed a few months ago after the managerial position was offered to Rebecca. Being in the kitchen always brought back those memories but he knew nothing was going to come out of it so he pushed it back, time and time again.
Today was no different. The moment when he had messed up the eggs and made the kitchen smoke filled his mind. Rebecca and her family had laughed at him when they saw how confused he looked.
It took a while for him to join them too in laughing but he felt extremely bad about it and quickly learnt and did not mess it up again. There was no pressure from the family then but he pushed himself.
Damien shook his head as he stirred the eggs with his other hand holding the frying pan. In a minute, he took it out of the fire and poured it in two plates one bigger than the other.
After he toasted some bread and served breakfast. He got into the living room where Joana was taking her morning coffee while working on her laptop.
“Breakfast is ready," he said with a smile as he cleaned his hands with a towel
“You know you are not being paid for this part right?" she joked, getting on her feet
“Well, I'm not complaining, am I?"
They got to the dining and Joana took the smaller one. “No," Damien said and exchanged the plates, giving her the more filled plate
“You know I don't eat much, Damien"
“And I'll help you overcome that," he said
“It's not a disease" she smiled
“Could be" he took a seat
He did not start though. He watched her eat for some time and then she caught him. “What?" she asked
“Is it good?" he asked
She nodded. “Your cooking is Damy. You can even run a restaurant doing it" she said
Even though he appreciated her compliment, Damien knew it would be impossible for him to cook for a restaurant. He was not that good. He only cooked for a few months. After he got the designer job, he rarely cooked anymore.
Now, he doubted he still had the little knowledge he had gathered from the teachings he got. He was lucky she liked it.
They are silent for some time. Damien was a fast eater, unlike Joana who took her time to crunch every piece of food that for into her mouth. He finished first and washed his dish.
“Let me go take a bath. I'll be back" he said receiving a nod from Joana who was seemingly enjoying her meal
Damien rushed up the stairs into his room.
He spent ten minutes in the shower and stepping out with just his boxers, he heard commotion downstairs.
Quickly, he tossed his towel on the bed and dashed out of the room.
“Leave Gabriel" Joana's voice echoed
Just hearing that name, Damien flared up. He was tired of hearing that name. With each passing day, that was all he heard and it was not even of good light.
This Gabriel of a person always made Joana cry and he was tired of it. Damien was ready to beat the living daylight out of him once he got down the stairs.
Joana was enjoying her meal when the young man appeared out of nowhere in the kitchen. She guessed it was the spare key he had when they were still dating and he refused to leave continually bugging her.
Not only did he do that, but he beat her when she disagreed with him. She trembled when she first spotted him but remembering that Damien was just upstairs, she was bold enough to stand him.
She walked out of the kitchen and began asking him to leave. “Baby, c'mon. It was just a little hit. There were no bruises this time" Gaberial said
“Leabe Gaberiel. Our relationship was over months ago" she said
“But the marriage failed, did it not?" he mocked
“I said leave!" she pointed at the door
He took a step forward. “Did you just yell at me?" his voice threatening
“She did and you will have to heed her words" Damien said matching down the stairs
Gabe laughed. Damien got down and stood beside Joana. “Did he touch you?" he asked and Joana shook her head but looked frightened a bit
“Leave young man," Damien said
“And who are you, twerp?"
After a brief silence, Damien blurred out, “I'm her boyfriend" he said pulling Joana close by the waist
Damien grabbed his blazer from the bed and put it on. His eyes caught the file on the bedside table and for the twentieth time since he woke up, he had been ignoring it.Again, he took his eyes away and turned around to face the mirror. He had on a black shirt under the blazer matched with black, bogus trousers.He stared at himself in the mirror, frustration in his eyes as he sighed. Briefly, he shut his eyes to control himself. For a moment, he felt hurt but he forced a smile on his face to hide it.Raising his hand, he read the time on the wristwatch. He was ten minutes late for work already. But despite that, there was not an ounce of giddiness to get to work.The past week has been hell for the young Damien. Some work-related but most of it from his dear wife. He spun around and was about to pick up his bag when he instead picked up the file on the bedside drawer.This was a week since this file was given to him to sign. It was heartbreaking when his wife of four years chose to h
Damien's body shook with shock as he spotted his wife on their boss. She was not just fitted on him but they were having an intimate moment in the office with the door half open.The flower and the letter he had on him fell to the floor. Tears rolled down his eyes. It was weak of him to cry, he knew that. His ego kept telling him not to shed tears but his heart felt like it was being squeezed.That was his wife in their having sex with another man. Intimate actions like that were meant for husband and wife, for both of them.For six months, they had not gotten intimate and they had no children either. Did all this start six months ago before Damien found out?He held his chest as he bent over and picked up the flower and the letter. One last glance, he walked away from their wiping off the tears with his handkerchief.While walking out of there, not once did he look back. His focus was in front of him and nothing more. His in-laws had urged him for so long to divorce her and give her
Damien felt his throat turn dry after Rebecca ended the call on him. He stared at the screen for a minute before it dawned on him that his wife had suddenly changed and did not care about him in any way. At least not anymore.He placed his phone in his pocket as he slowly found his way to the kitchen. It took a minute to get there. Opening the fridge, he got out a bottle of water and grabbed a cup. He uncapped it and turned it over to pour the content into the glass. “And who said you could drink our bottle of water?” Justin, Rebecca’s younger brother said“I’m thirsty” he said, not wanting to argue with them“You are thirsty for water and not for wealth” The mother appeared next“I just need water mum” Damien said“Oh, you shut up, fool. Who is your mother? This would be the last time you would open that mouth and call me your mother. Do you look as miserable as you right now?” she snapped at him“I’ll place it back” he forced a smileHe spun around cocking the bottle. Justin snatch
“Uncle, it’s just for some time, promise” Damien pleaded“I’m sorry, Damien. You chose your coat” With that his uncle stepped back into the house leaving the young man standing outside without a means to get a placeDamien had nothing with him, extra clothes, money, food and not even a place to stay. In a blink of an eye, Damien had nothing. He had no wife or family. They all turned their backs on him. He did not blame his uncle for turning him awayDamien’s father had a strong hold on everyone in the family. If anyone went against him, they should be ready to take the consequences of their actions. A clear example was Damien himself.His father's wrath was not spared from him after he went against his bidding. With nowhere else to go, Damien wandered around until he got to one of the city’s bridges and took position under it. It was early in the afternoon and the sun was at its peak so he had to take refuge under the bridge.Sitting there idle for a few minutes led to him feeling sle
“Babe, please” Rebecca pleadedShe was with Alex in his office. It was a new day and a few hours after Damien’s arrest. At first, she let Damien be arrested as that might teach him a lesson not to interfere in her matters again. However, she thought his arrest would only last for the night.When morning came, she asked Alex if he had released Damien but he replied that he had not. Alex had said he would release him later but after a few hours, he told Rebecca he changed his mind.He wanted Damien to rot in jail for all he did so he was moving Damien from detention to prison. He deserved it. But Rebecca kept on pleading with him to change his mind. “Please, baby. You know how his poor people behave. They always feel entitled” she said“And that’s why he needs to stay in there. Prison is the best place for him”“No, Baby. Please, just release him. I promise he will not bother us again. I’ll make sure of that” she said playing with her index finger on his chestAlex thought for a little
It was finally official that Damien had nothing. His wife was gone. She went to be with another man. Her family threw him out of the house.His uncle could not take him in be his father and his father did not also want him back. Damien left the mansion dejected. There was not a single idea of how to go about his life.He could not even start up something. Not a penny was with him, there was no roof over his head. It was slowly turning dark indicating the close of the day.This was the second day of him being homeless. Damien wandered around for a while until he decided to find refuge in a nearby church.He walked in with his hands in his pockets then took a seat at the last row of the bench. His eyes were glued to Mother Mary who was at the front, close to the altar.There was no one in the church except him. The plan was simple, he would stay in the church until he got something to do or at least a better place to stay.He did not even have friends he could call to help him at this p
“Hey," the lady said and looked away from him, wiping her face with her handDamien stood awkwardly for some time before he sat beside her. “I could not help but notice you were in a bad mood," he saidHe kept his distance so as not to scare her away. One thing a crying lady would not want was to feel threatened at her lowest emotional point. It worked when he dealt with his sister, mother and Rebecca so he believed so to be true.“What? You want to mock me?" she snapped at himDamien shook his head. “No, no. Everyone can break down once in a while. It's normal. I just thought you needed someone to speak to. You know, listen to you" he saidShe studied his face for a while then looked away. “I'm Damien" he placed his hand on his chest“So what now? I should tell you my name so you could question my weakness"“I can never do that. You can choose not to tell me your name. It's your choice. I won't force you"They both turned silent as she began to sob, her chest rising and falling. “I…
They had just stepped out of the male boutique where Joana spared no expense in getting him any clothes she thought would be good for him.Damien did not try to make a choice. He was not planning on having a choice when someone was helping him. Though at the back of his mind, he wondered what he was going to do with the clothes since he had nowhere to stay.Surely, Joana was not going to give him a place to stay because he coaxed her when she was down. He could not be walking down the road with nice clothes but empty pockets.But Joana had other plans and she asked the question after they had placed the bags in the back seat. Damien froze because he was not expecting it.“I'll pay you a thousand a month, plus a room in my house and meals every day" she added to her questionThat was an offer of a lifetime for him right now. He did not have a job anyway so he accepted. “I accept," he saidIn his head, he was taking a billion somersaults because now he did not have to worry about a roof