FATED BOND

Daisy’s POV

I got to aunt Vanessa’s house to meet the greatest shock of my life. She had moved out according to her neighbor. She moved out years ago.

Aunt Vanessa and I communicated when I was in high school but I couldn’t remember the last time I got her mail. Is it three or four years? I asked.

I got her address from the emails she usually sends. I made a huge mistake by not calling to inform her that I was coming.

I was knocking on her front door when a neighbor of hers informed me of her absence. I asked him for her new address and he said he didn’t have it.

I was left with no choice but to call her as I walked back down the avenue to the street. Her phone was unreachable and I almost cried out in frustration.

Where do I go from here? I was damn hungry and exhausted. I was also tired of dragging my single box.

I’m in deep shit, I muttered.

I decided to take a cab to the nearest hotel after trying to think of what to do.

By tomorrow, I will look for a solution. I soliloquized and stood patiently by the roadside. It was 1 pm already and the sun was out. No cabs were forthcoming and it increased my frustration.

I sat down on a bench after a while and 20 minutes later, I saw a cab approaching. I stood up sharply and flagged it down.

There was a nice-looking woman in the cab. She was looking sophisticated and in a hurry, the cabman came down to help me with my box. I entered the car and he drove off.

We drove in silence for a while before he asked me, “Young lady, where do you want to drop?”

I was about to answer when the woman cut in. “Can you please drop me off first? I’m in a hurry.”

“Miss?” The driver peered at me trying to see if I was ok with it.

“It’s ok. I’m in no hurry”, I said and related my head to the seat. The cool air from the car was making me sleepy and I knew I would definitely fall asleep if I closed my eyes for long.

“Sorry young lady. My car broke down and I’m in a hurry”, the woman explained with an apologetic smile.

“It’s ok, mom”, I said unconsciously.

“Mom?”

“Oh! Sorry. I mean madam. I’m not in a hurry, it’s just that I’m a bit tired.”

She scrutinized me for a while in silence as her eyes fell on my baby bump. “You just came into Las Vegas?”

“Yes. All the way from New York.”

“Wao! How is New York?”

“New York is fine.”

“I miss staying there. My boy schools there too but he graduated a few weeks ago.”

“Uhmm”, I muttered, trying to stop myself from telling her I just graduated from high school too.

“So you came to visit your mother?” She probed with curiosity written all over her.

I was about to answer when I saw a policeman waving his hand behind the car, shouting out to the cabman to stop. I was curious to know the reason for the yelling and before I could say anything, I saw an oncoming vehicle. It was speeding.

Then I realized the yelling was meant to warn the cabman of the incoming danger. Behind the vehicle was another Peugeot car and it seemed to be after the vehicle.

The cabman saw it too at that instant but before he could get control of the car, the vehicle was just a few distances away. He tried to divert to the other lane, looking back to see if there were no vehicles behind him.

“Watch out”, I yelled as he quickly watched his front but before he could do anything again, it collided with the vehicle.

I screamed and held on to the woman beside me. She held me tightly as I screamed some more, putting my hands on my baby bump like it would fall down any minute.

The car stumbled, bouncing the woman and me. It came to a stop and my breathing ceased. I wanted to say something as I saw the blood gushing out of the driver’s head.

When I found my voice, I screamed out and long and fell onto the woman’s lap. I heard the sound of the siren before I passed out.

****

Nina’s POV

The young lady reminded me of Damien’s twin sister. I lost her an hour after her birth.

When the accident happened, I was scared shit myself but I had to hide my fears because of the poor little girl. The police came to our rescue and before I could pull out, the young lady had lost consciousness.

The driver was bleeding from the head and we were informed that he was dead. I was scared that the young lady was going to die too, so I hastened the policeman assigned to drive us to the hospital.

We rushed her to the hospital as I kept staring at her pale face. I rubbed my hand over her baby bump, muttering assuring words to the baby.

When I first saw her come into the cab, the instant my eyes fell on her stomach, I was curious to hear her story. I watched her carefully and I could see the hidden fears, unshed tears, pain, hurt, and loss in her eyes.

My curiosity worked well for my writing career.

I was a writer, one of the best-selling authors in America. I kept a low profile and I was known by my name. Nina Gomez.

I was from the Philippines but my mother was an American. I was born in America. I took up my mother’s writing legacy and I had always wished Damien would do the same. But Damien had no interest whatsoever in taking up the legacy. He thinks writing is a woman’s job.

I write from my imaginations, from what happens in society and around me and I love it when I get to write people’s stories, the true-life story of anyone who is willing to share them with me.

Writing makes me feel fulfilled. It gives me joy and hope. It satisfies me. Writing was the reason why I never got married.

I wrote my story- how I got pregnant from a one-night stand with an Indian man and how we later got married.

But the marriage never happened in reality. I left the story hanging and I’ve been unable to publish it. It reminded me of where I have failed. I never regretted having sex with Amar. I never regretted it because I loved him and I loved the kids we produced.

I gave birth to a set of twins but lost the other baby an hour after her birth. I had planned to name her Debby. But it never happened.

I hoped to summon up the courage to publish the book one day. That will be the day I will finally overcome my fears. Fears that stopped me from accepting the numerous proposals I was getting from many suitors.

One day, I muttered. Just one day, I’d overcome that fear.