2024-03-04 19:37:35It 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 point. The few people he had met in college were not really close to him. In fact, he did not build any relationship with them.
Two reasons why that happened were that firstly, he kept his family background low-key. He knew how people could be once they found out he was from a rich family. He would just be surrounded by people who did not really care about him but his family's money.
Secondly, Rebecca. Damien's mind back in college had only Rebecca in it. He did not look at other girls and when he was meant to mingle with people, he would instead go stay with Rebecca.
He let out a sigh as he sank onto the bench. His eyes still on Mother Mary he slowly was about to go to sleep. Since the day he saw Rebecca and Alex making out, not a single sleep has met his eyes.
Just when he thought he would take a small nap, the doors opened and a crying lady came into view. Her blonde hair was packed in a ponytail with scattered edges.
She had on a simple attire as she matched to the forward. The lady took one of the benches at the far left of where Damien sat. His eyes remained on her as she placed both hands on her face sobbing.
Damien wondered what could be making a beautiful lady like that cry. She was not holding herself back. The lady was pouring out all her emotions. It seemed she did not notice Damien's presence.
At first, he ignored her and chose to wallow in his pain and suffering. The main issue at hand was to find a way out of his joblessness because he resigned from his job because of embarrassment. And it was not like Alex was going to take him back anyway.
In addition to his joblessness, he was homeless. Two things a man should never be. Looking back, was he ever a man after he left his father's abode in pursuit of love that stabbed him in the back?
The love was meant to blossom. It was meant to make his life better but his life was anything but better. It was worse. Was he not homeless and jobless even with Rebecca?
Her family home was not his. They were just there in the meantime. For the job he had in R****h Align, it was a laugh. His pay was ten dollars every month.
That was not even enough to carry out anything with his life. Yes, he was not doing much in the company. He only answered an employee in the company and nothing more.
Most times, he was an errand boy. He ran errands for most of the employees in the company. Damien took it thinking there might be an increase, well, they gave him an increase. A five-dollar increase but could he complain? No.
He had no credentials for better pay so he had to suck it up and do as they say. For everything, clothes, shoes, soap, body cream, anything that pertains to him, it was provided by Rebecca.
Her pay was what ran the home. Her mother was not working neither was Justin. All he did was squander money here and there on gambling and other stupid things.
Was he even going to recover from all that had happened in a space of forty-eight hours? He doubted it greatly.
The lady's sobbing caught his attention again. He looked away but seeing how she was crying her lungs out he felt moved. Reluctantly, he got up from the bench he was sitting on and walked up to where the lady sat.
“Hey" he greeted softly
The lady sniffled and turned to him, her sea-green eyes duller than his.
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“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…
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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
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It has been three days since Rebecca finally settled down with her boss, Mr. Alex. The days leading up to their marriage and the three days after their marriage were bliss.Alex was all that family was looking for. He did everything they wanted and needed. Money was not the issue with him. Alex did not mind spending it on Rebecca's family and even Rebecca.He showered her gifts. Every day, Rebecca got new things. Clothes, shoes, new gadgets, anything she ever wanted. For her mother and brother, they got money every single time.Alex gave them all they needed. He bought them properties. He furnished the buildings for them. It was a dream come true for the family.Rebecca's mother would always make side comments about Damien. It was either 'If you had stayed with that fool, we would not have gotten to this point' or 'Glad the poverty that man brought left with him' and many more thingsRebecca said nothing. Even though she did not fully agree with what she said. Damien was a good person
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Damien knew he was not meant to say that. He acted out of impulse. He was just tired of seeing this annoying little man called Gabe. Damien saw him as nothing but annoying. Could he not get the memo? Joanna was done with him. If she wanted to continue with him, then Damien would have thought Joanna had gone crazy and did not value herself.He stiffened a little the moment he realized what he had done. Not only did he just call himself Joanna's boyfriend, but he pulled her closer to him. This was his boss. His saviour. The one person who made sure he did not die on the streets of New York with nothing on him aside from the clothes he had on.His mind travelled to several things at once. What if she denied him? What if she fires him? What if she sent him out of the house because of this? The thought made him more tense. He bit his tongue, cursing at himself for making this terrible mistake. Joanna definitely would not be happy about this.Joanna placed her hand on his chest. Yes, it too
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The shock was quite evident on Damien's face as his fist almost collided with Joanna's face when she stepped in between him and Gabe. Damien wanted to teach Gabe a lesson and for some time, he lost his sense of reasoning. All he could think about was the things he had gone through over a month ago.It has been that long but it still has a great effect on him. He still felt the pain of it. He still could not take the memories away from his mind. What was crazier was he loved Rebecca still. But he should not. Rebecca cheated on him, insulted him and her family did the same.Just when he thought things would go smoothly, Gabe came out of nowhere and began degrading him, opening wounds that had yet to heal completely. Joanna could see how aggressive Damien was as he beat up Gabe. She was happy that there was someone to defend her.No one was open to doing so. Maybe because she brought it upon herself. She was meant to leave Gabe a long time ago. She did not have the mental energy to tell
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Damien's heart fell to the ground as he stared at Joanna who stood at the door but before he could even move, her body headed for the floor. He rushed over quickly and was able to stop her from hitting the ground. “Joanna” he called, tapping her face a little to get her to open her eyesShe did but she was quick to close it again. He called out to her again, tapping her cheeks but this time she was not responsive so he had to carry her to the couch. There, he laid her down gently then squatted at her side, calling out to her. Still, she did not respond. He went into the kitchen, got a glass of water and sprinkled some on her face.“Shit” he cursed, as he gripped his hairQuickly, he placed the glass down and took out his phone. On second thought, he decided to drive her to the hospital. He had no one he could call to come over that fast and ambulances cost a lot of money. He carried her again, grabbed the keys from the coffee table and rushed out of the house.He laid her at the back
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The doctor nodded. “He is unconscious, but he is responding to treatment,” the doctor replied to Joanna. It was a relief to everyone to hear that news. No one wanted to lose Damien for any reason, especially when it came to the situation with the business. Everyone was aware of the threat that came with him taking on the position of the CEO and they understood that situations like this were going to arise. However, they thought they would be able to handle it if it came to that, but they did not see this attack coming. It will be a great loss to them if Damian died. Joanna surely would not be able to handle his death if it had come to that. They all sighed with relief. “Can we see him?” Joanna asked quickly. “Not right now. The nurses are currently carrying out some final touches,” the doctor said, and they all nodded. Eliza hugged Joanna, who had tears rolling down her eyes. She was relieved to hear that Damien was okay. They stayed in the hospital for some time as they waited fo
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That action was not something he planned to do. Damien carried it out without thinking of the next step. The moment he pulled the trigger at Mr Blue, he rushed off the chair, heading for nowhere in particular. The warehouse was not completely lit, so he could not see every part of the warehouse except from where he was sitting. He rushed over to the only pillar he saw and then hid behind it. He knew he could not be completely invisible to them, but he had to be sharp in his dealings. He was not going to sign off on everything that his father had worked for to someone who did not know how tough it was to build an empire such as the Alfredo company. Damien peeped out from the pillar, so he could see what was happening. To his surprise, none of them were moving to even come to him. It felt like they did not mind that he was about to leave their crutches. He knew he could not be happy just yet. He dabbed his body, trying to figure out where his phone was. It then occurred to him that hi
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Sarah quickly requested for a bottle of water so she could splash it on Joanna. The moment Joanna came to, she instantly began crying because of the situation they had found themselves in. Mr. and Mrs. Alfredo came into the office and saw Joanna in that state. They quickly helped her up and took her into Damien's office so they could have some time on their own. In a matter of minutes, Joanna was in a messy state.She had not thought something like this would happen and so soon. She kept asking what they were going to do now. Mr Alfredo was making calls to everyone that he knew could help, which also included the police. They needed everyone to help find the CEO of the company. Mrs Alfredo was vested with trying to calm Joanna down, and so did Sarah. After what felt like an hour, Joanna spoke. “I need to call my father,” she said and immediately began searching for her phone. None of them stopped her because they needed everyone. Mr Alfredo did not know who might do this. One person
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Joanna stayed home for a few hours without doing anything. There was nothing work-related that she could do either, so she was just bored at home. She tried to watch a few movies and series, but it did not keep her mind occupied. For some strange reason, she felt really restless and could not pinpoint where the problem was coming from. She sent a message to Damien, and all seemed well from his side. She even called her father, asking him if everything was okay and he was a hundred percent positive that everything was okay. It troubled her a lot and after being bored and restless for a very long time; she called her friend Sarah. Sarah was more than happy to hear from her and even invited her to come over to her studio. Joanna quickly obliged, as it was a way to get out of the house. The bodyguard which Damien had put in place tried to follow her but she stopped him as she did not want to have him following her. She was fine and certainly; she wasn't going anywhere that would seem u
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Damien frowned. Why would his mother so readily want to give Joanna her ring? It was hers. He still remembered how she was when it came to this ring of hers. She cherished it and rarely allowed anyone to touch it if that person was not his father.“But it's yours. Joanna would need to keep it after” Damien tried to reason with his mother, but she seemed not to mind. She smiled.“I do not mind if she takes it. I actually want her to. It's an Alfredo heirloom. Your father's mother gave it to me after our engagement ceremony, but I don't want that for Joanna. I want you to propose to her with this,” Mrs. Alfredo said. Damien nodded, understanding what his mother had planned. However, he shut the box, then handed the box back to his mother with a smile. Mrs. Alfredo looked shocked at this. “You don't want to use it?” she asked, sounding upset.“I really want you to,” Mrs Alfredo added “Mum, I know, but not right now. I cannot propose to Joanna right now. But I will. Once I am ready, I w
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Joanna and Damien snapped their heads to the door, with their eyes wide. Eliza's eyes matched with theirs before turning around. “I'm so sorry. Sorry,” she said as she walked out the door, shutting it behind her.Joanna turned to Damien, and Damien tried to kiss her again. “Damien” she called out to him with a tease“What?” he acted as though he did not know what she was talking about and still tried to kiss herJoanna tried to stand, but he held her down. “Just one more,” Damien pleaded. Joanna smiled before kissing him. They were about to sink in when Joanna quickly got up.“Eliza would be waiting outside,” Joanna said, unable to contain her smileJoanna adjusted her dress, and so did Damien for his suit. “You can come in now, Eliza,” Damien said once Joanna was seated across from the table with her legs crossedEliza opened the door slowly, poking her head into the office and darting her eyes around. She wanted to be sure that nothing was going on inside the office anymore. She had
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Mr. Blue knew he had made a big mistake. He needed this job. Unfortunately, he did not have much going on in his life, which was all the more reason he wanted to be the CEO of the company. It has been his dream.He glanced around the room. Hoping that someone would stand up for him. They could not really side with Damien, who they had only known for two weeks over him they had known for years, right? They could not just abandon him, right?He glanced at the only man on the board who had defended him moments ago, but the man quickly averted his gaze. Mr Blue just got fired, and he did not want to also get fired. He needed the job. Damien just proved to them he would work hard and far to get all of them to act right.He was not his father who would keep them because they were of value. Now there were people who would readily take their position and were more competent than them, even though they lack the experience. Mr Blue, seeing that no one was going to stand up for him, stood up.“Y
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Damien worked into the office with a stern expression on his face. Every staff knew not to mess with him at this very moment or else they stand a chance to get fired.Just by mere looking at him, they knew something was up. Those who feared and did not fear him before now did. He was in no mood to play with anyone. Even Joanna tried to cheer him up, but he was really upset. She only successfully cheered him up when she was around. But from the moment he stepped out of the house heading for the office, the frown he had kept aside reappeared. Most people thought Damien was soft, but he was not.Yes, for a while he has been away from the business, but that does not mean he does not know how to play his cards very well. Those men thought they could mess with him but failed to understand that he got some traits from his father and he was going to utilize it very well. The meeting was scheduled for one o'clock, so for now, he was in his office attending to other documentation. He took up
