Chapter 104: ONE OF ONE
Fay reigned in her excitent tightly by twisting her hand together, as she sat beside the matriarch in her moving car.
After convincing both Marilyn and Alice to keep her date with the matriarch a secret, she had grabbed her purse and joined the older woman on what she hoped was a good adventure.
She hadn’t seen Ace in two days. Who knew if he was going around town with his baby mama to be.
Okay, she knew that thought was borne out of jealousy she wasn’t supposed to be feeling, but she couldn’t help it.
At least, she had not cried in a while. Ten hours exactly.
She was actually going strong until she thought of everything that had happened so far, and broke down in the bathroom.
But that was the last ti, she vowed; knowing deep down, she was just lying to herself.
"Tell
Fay, how has life been with Ace? His mother told
about a possible Reign King pregnancy. How do you feel about that?"
Marilyn and Alice had avoided asking her questions on why Reign had stord into the house the other day. aning, this was the first ti anyone had asked her how she felt about the situation. Well, aside that day Ace tried to posture like he cared about her feelings.
"It’s hard to wrap my head around, to be honest. But I’m not surprised. They loved each other even before I ca into the picture. Whatever I have with Ace is strictly transactional. He knows that, and all he’s done is act on it."
"But do you know that?" Her mind asked the silent part.
She’d be the first to admit that for a while there, she had totally forgotten about the contract, and really imagined herself as Ace’s wife.
It didn’t take long for the bubble to burst, and now she was back to reality.
In the real world, people don’t fall in love with people of the lower class. It just didn’t happen. She was simply being foolish to think it was possible.
The matriarch hid a knowing smile as she observed the avalanche of expressions on the beautiful girl’s face. "Who told you Ace was in love with Reign?" She quizzed.
"They dated right? People don’t date people they don’t love. Except their na is Gabriel," she blurted out before she could stop herself.
Instantly biting her lips as pure horror flashed across her face, she lowered her head in sha.
The matriarch chuckled in utter fascination. "Is Gabriel an ex, Fay?" She probed gently.
Fay didn’t know why she felt like opening up. But as she opened her mouth, she just kept on speaking. "He was. We t as kids when I began staying in my aunt’s house. We were very close. Together with my other friend, Leighton. When Leighton left, he beca my solace. I thought I had found my safe space, so we dated until he left the country. With Ace’s help, I later learnt he never loved . He only saw
as a burden," she explained.
"He’s a loser, like the kids say."
That brought a smile to Fay’s face as she lifted her head up a little. "Maybe I was too clingy. I would call him to yap about my day, because I genuinely felt he was interested in . I didn’t know I was chasing him away."
"Nonsense! I wasn’t even much of a talker myself, but my husband would make
tell him about my day. I got so used to it, I told him even about the speck of dust that touched my dress. That was how interested he was in . Don’t bla yourself for the shortcomings of others. If you’re going to survive in this ruthless world Fay, that’s your very first lesson."
The car pulled to a stop, and the matriarch touched Fay’s arm.
"Let’s forget about your nonchalant ex. He’s in the past now. What I’m about to show you is your future. Are you ready?"
Fay did a quick internal evaluation, making sure she was in the right headspace to continue this adventure. Shifting all thoughts of Gabriel and his broken promises to the side, she nodded. "I’m ready."
"Excellent!"
One after the other, they alighted from the car.
The matriarch led Fay towards the building that spanned across a thousand acres.
When they stopped in front of the abandoned land, Fay gasped.
"It’s huge!" She said, clutching invisible pearls.
"Oh it is. There’s a whole forest in it now, because of lack of proper maintenance, but this used to be Glam. Common, let’s go into the compound."
A man approached them as they took a step forward. The matriarch introduced him as Giovanni, the man who was in charge of repairing the building.
"Nice to et you," Fay said, stretching her hand to the older handso gentleman.
He grabbed her hand, and brought it to his lips. "You are stunning!" He said, and kissed it.
"You better be careful now, Giovanni. She’s Ace’s wife."
The smile swiftly faded from his eyes. "I’m sorry Mrs, if I caused you any discomfort. I don’t want to be accosted by your husband." He moved back, and raised his hand up in surrender.
Fay was secretly amused at the swift change. A lot of people really feared Ace, and she wondered why.
"You’re wondering? Don’t you fear him too?" Her voices which appeared at the oddest hours, appeared.
"Not now," she muttered under her breath as they continued into the compound.
The mont her foot grazed the grasses in the compound, her body shuddered.
She stood frozen, as her dream the other day catapulted into the surface of her mind.
The little girl running in the garden with her mother was also running in this compound. She still couldn’t see their faces, but she could tell by their outline that it was them.
Suddenly, she saw a vision of the building. She could swear she had never been here before, so how could she vividly see it?
"Fay?" She felt a hand on her arms, and jerked out of head.
Slowly, she turned to the older woman. "What happened to the fountain?" She asked, then blinked, snapping out of whatever it was that had overco her.
"Sorry," she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "I was just carried away."
The matriarch didn’t stop looking at her strangely. Not even when Giovanni called her attention to a part of the building that needed to be completely taken down and rebuilt.
She was going over to him, but her eyes rested on Fay, who looked so invested in the wildflowers that had blood in the midst of weeds.
"Why do you keep looking at her, like that?" Giovanni asked.
"Gio, she asked
about the fountain. Rember? The one that used to be at the end there?" She pointed just before the turn.
His eyes narrowed, as he suddenly saw her reasoning. "Are you sure you didn’t ntion it to her? Maybe you just forgot you did." He shrugged.
"I didn’t, Gio. I only told her that there used to be Glam. We’ve not discussed it. I don’t think she discussed it with Ace either. There’s sothing missing, Gio. I’ve felt it since the very first ti I saw her," she whispered, as she stared at the girl playing with wildflowers, from the corner of her eyes.
"Like what? All I can say is she slls amazing, and is insanely gorgeous. What else?"
"I can’t explain it, Gio. It just feels like I’ve seen her before. I just can’t explain it."
"Common mama, I think you’re being too—"
"Can I get so of these wildflowers, please?" Fay scread at the top of her voice, interrupting the duo.
"Sure love. Take whatever you want," Gio replied in a voice equally as loud as hers, so she could hear him.
"What does she need wildflowers for?"
"Do you perceive my fragrance?"
"Have you forgotten I begged you to tell
where you got it, back at the eting? Since you blatantly refused to respond to my request, I made it a mission not to complint its fragrance anymore," Giovanni said.
She smiled. He was so eccentric and fluid. That was why she appreciated him. Also the fact that he didn’t act like she was older than him by over three decades, or that she was the literal matriarch of an empire. None of those facts intimidated or stopped him from speaking his mind.
"Fine. She made it for . I didn’t tell anyone because apparently, she doesn’t want to monetize her skills. She uses those flowers to make fragrances."
"Wow," he muttered. "You need to convince her to sell. My marketing senses are tingling right now." He flexed his fingers.
"One step at a ti Gio. When I’m done with Fay Atticus, the world would bow to her feet."
"Why her?" He asked.
"Because Gio, she’s one of one."
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