FATED BOND

Daisy’s POV

The first two months I spent living with Nina was amazing. Nina got me a new phone when I told her I left my phone in New York.

I tried calling her grandmother Nina but she wouldn’t let me. She said she isn’t old enough to be a grandmother.

On Maria’s birthday, I cried the moment I woke up. I missed her badly and I wondered how she was faring. I knew she would be dead worried about me. I loved and I missed her, notwithstanding her craziness.

I remembered I went along to Las Vegas with the two books she gave me and I quickly went to get them.

My baby bump was bigger and I still had less than four months to go. Nina said we would go shopping for the baby things and also decorate the nursery the following month.

Anytime Nina was out, I always chatted with Nadia, the house help. She was my best friend and she was already anticipating my birth.

Nadia was an African-American and I told her my mother was a black woman and was probably from Africa. She laughed and said Africans believe that black Americans are actually from Africa and that they were brought into America through slavery before each of the countries in Africa were liberated. I told her we were sisters then and she laughed.

I was about to lie on the bed to read the book that smells and reminds me of Maria, when Nadia came in with a glass of orange juice and a piece of cake. My cravings for orange juice since the beginning of the fourth month of my pregnancy was out of the world.

“Oh, Goodness! Nadia”, I said in gratitude as I took the tray from her. “You’re God-sent and I love you.”

She chuckled in response and I quickly took a bite of the cake and sipped the orange juice.

“I’m thinking of going to a party tonight but I don’t know if Nina would permit me”, Nadia uttered, sitting beside me on the bed.

“Party? What sort of party is it?” I questioned, enjoying the heavenly taste of the cake.

Nadia was a good cook and an amazing baker. I was planning to learn from her because she has great culinary skills but I was always too lazy to join her in the kitchen to start learning.

“I’m living a boring life, Daisy. I want to get wild even if it’s just for a night.”

“Uhm! I won’t advise that. In fact, I would advise you to get rid of the mentality of getting wild.”

“You don’t get it”, there was a frown on her face. She looked like a child who had been deprived of her candy. She was a brown-skinned girl with beautiful eyes and black silky hair. She was a beautiful lady, no doubt.

“I don’t even have a boyfriend. I need to feel loved”, she added.

“Nina loves you like a daughter and I love you like a sister. Talking from experience, I know that mentality is enough to land you in trouble.”

“Trouble?” She looked puzzled. Then she laughed. “What sort of trouble can going to a party possibly land me?”

I finished up the cake and gulped down the remaining content of the orange juice to wash it down and I replied to her, “Trouble like this”, I pointed my index finger at my protruding belly. “Getting pregnant.”

She smiled. “I really wish for that type of trouble. I don’t want to die a virgin”, she facepalmed herself as I shrieked in laughter.

“Are you truly a virgin?” Her face was still covered as she nodded.

“Waw!”

“At 24”, she put in, dropping her hand and sighing sadly.

“Don’t worry, the right man will come soon. I’m just 16 and pregnant. This baby means a lot to me more than life itself. I left home so I won’t put the baby’s life in jeopardy.”Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

“Are you hearing from the father?”

“Sadly, no and I don’t care. This is a beautiful gift he has offered me and I really appreciate him for that.”

“You two broke up?” She inquired of me.

“Nope.”

“You are still together, then?”

“Nope.”

“Nope?”

“Yeah. We never dated. It was a one-night stand at our graduation party, which explains why I am advising you not to get wild”, I rested my head on the headboard, with a smile on my face.

I continued. “I wanted to get wild and this is the result of that.”

She looked thoughtful for a while. I felt like taking another juice. “Nadia, can I get more juice, please?” I asked with a baby face.

“No. It’s finished.”

“Please”, I begged, knowing it was just a lie.

She looked at my pouted face and said, “Fine. Let me go get it for you but that means you won’t have orange juice during dinner”, she informed me.

“Agreed”, I grinned widely. She took the tray and disappeared out of the room.

I belched and rubbed my belly, still smiling. I closed my eyes, enjoying the feeling of my hand on my belly that seemed to be moving when a picture of a pair of blue-eyed flashed and I opened my eyes immediately.

“Shit”, I cursed under my breath.

The last time I thought of him was two month ago. I tried not to think of him because I was angry with him. I realized as the days passed by that I never meant a thing to him. I felt used. He impregnated me without bothering to search for me.

“Did you inform him of your pregnancy?” My subconscious asked me.

“Of course not, but he ought to find a way to contact me. I thought what we shared that night meant a lot to him but now I realize it didn’t. I was stupid”, I soliloquized angrily.

“You know what?” Nadia came back with another glass of orange juice. She stopped in her tracks as I raised my head up to look at her. “What the hell happened to you just now?”

“What?” I questioned with ignorance.

“You are crying”, she told me and I felt my wet cheeks at that instant.

“I miss him” I uttered and embraced her when she was within reach.

“Who?”

“The father of my baby. And I’m mad at him.”

“Oh, Daisy!” She muttered, rubbing her hand over my back.

“He was a great lover?” She grinned and winked at me when I pulled away from the hug, wiping the tears on my face. I laughed as my face went red. So I decided to change the topic.

“I miss dad, too. We were supposed to go to Hawaii on a vacation. I am supposed to be in Oxford University by now but unfortunately, here I am. In my pyjamas, sleeping all day with my swollen feet, big belly and big nose”, I spread my hand out, feeling pathetic.

I saw the sympathetic look on Nadia’s face, I couldn’t hold back my tears anymore.

She consoled me, pulling me to herself and patting my back again. My big belly was in between us, restricting me from hugging her tightly.

“My dad died because of my pregnancy, Nadia”, I was still crying.

“What?” She exclaimed.

“My stepmom found out I was pregnant even before I got to know. She called dad to inform him on his way home from the office to give me our trip tickets when she announced the sad news to him. He expected much from me, Nadia and he was disappointed. He got an attack while driving and lost control of the steering.”

I killed him with my carelessness”, I burst into fresh tears.

“Come on, Daisy. Don’t be silly. Why do you want to put the blame on yourself when it’s so clear that is what your step mom wants?”

I stared at her dumbfounded. “What does she want?”

“How did she know you are pregnant?” She asked.

“She said from experience”, I replied.

“How sure are you that she didn’t pay the guy to seduce you? Or were you raped?”

“No, she can’t possibly do that. Besides, I think he is from a well-to-do family.”

“How do you know that?”

“He said something about going to school in England and a vacation in India.”

“Oh!” She muttered. Nina’s son schools in China, he just graduated from high school too.”

“I thought her son was a grown-up?”

“No. He’s just 20.”

“Oh! 20? And he just graduated from high school?”

“Yeah.”

“What about his father?” I asked out of curiosity.

“He’s an Indian”, she answered.

“Waw!”

“Back to our former conversation, I think your step mom did that on purpose.”

“Did what?”

She rolled her eyes. “He called your dad on purpose.”

“I don’t believe that.”

“You don’t?” She peered at me. “You think everyone has a good heart like you? Don’t be childish. Think like a grown-up. You will soon be a mother.”

I didn’t know why I was denying that. That was my exact thoughts too when the incident happened. I blame Aunt Susana for it but hearing it from Nadia was something else.

“What will she gain from doing that?” I demanded from her. Nadia shrugged.

Then I recalled the day I barged in on her and Mike. It looked like they have been having an affair for a while with the way they were chatting and laughing together.

“Could it be that she wanted dad dead all along? I thought she was just a gold digger, I never knew she was also a cheat and a murderer”, I asserted, after a moment of silence between Nadia and I.

“She was my mom’s friend.”

“Before your mom died?” I nodded. “And she married your dad?” I nodded again.

“What the hell! Why do I hate her already?” Her face was scrunched up in disgust?

I laughed. “She’s a bitch. I caught her in bed with my dad’s accountant and that prompted her to send me away.”

“Are you serious?” Nadia’s eyes widened.

“You see my point now? There is a high possibility that she killed your dad. She has a lot of benefit from his death.”

I thought deeply about what Nadia said and I began to feel sad again. It was glaring to the eyes that dad’s death was planned.