Nicklaus stopped by a nearby pharmacy and walked in with Tiana;
''Do you have the morning after pills? '' Tiana asked, as they stood in front of the counter;
''Yes Ma'am, '' the female pharmacist, replied; peeking at Nicklaus who was standing beside her;
''How many days has it been ma'am; '' the woman asked as her eyes turned back to Tiana,
''Um, four days? ''
''Alright. '' the woman nodded and left, after a few minutes, she returned with a pack of tablets;
''This would do. '' She said passing it across the counter to Tiana.
''Add some pregnancy test strips too; '' she said, although she was going to take the drugs, it was best to be on the safe side.
''And ten boxes of condom.'' Nicklaus added immediately and a thick blush flushed Tiana's cheeks, her eyes widened in shock, she instantly felt people's gazes on her body;
'Ten!' Couldn't he have said two or even five, jeez!
The woman smiled at them with a knowing nod, and Tiana felt like fainting, okay, she just got married but she still felt her cheeks heat up with the way Nicklaus had said it;
The drive back home was a little quiet, Nicklaus stopped at a five-star restaurant and they had lunch before going back home.
Quickly Tiana took the medication as prescribed and she lay down to rest; Nicklaus lay in bed with her for a while before he went to his study to continue with work.
Tiana woke up by half-past four and she turned on the bed but did not see him. She let out a light yawn and stretched herself on the bed, a sweet smile stretched her lips when her eyes fell on the ring on her finger; it still felt like a dream, but then it was fuckin' real, she was married!
She leaped out of the bed, in Nicklaus's shirt again, and went to look for him.
''Hubby… '' she called and a light chuckle left her lips when she heard herself; damn! She couldn't believe she was saying that;
''Hubby! '' she increased her pitch as she pushed open the study room and saw him sitting at that office table, he was talking to some persons on his laptop and Tiana knew he was in a conference meeting;
Nicklaus peeked up at her when he saw the door open and he smiled; Tiana pouted, crossing her hands in front of her;
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtTch, he was so relaxed earlier as though he had nothing to do, but here he was, busy in a meeting;
Nicklaus's gaze sleeked down her body as she leaned on her hips; he felt his throat tighten.
The members of the board paused as they watched their boss stare ahead with a smile on his lips;
Since they had known him, Nicklaus Howells never smiled, does he perhaps, have a woman? They wondered in their mind, but none could say it out loud; Tiana, not wanting to distract him, waved at him, and closed the door quietly;
She walked to the floor to ceiling mirror and stared at her reflection, a smile stretched her lips as she realized she was strangely excitingly beautiful, maybe because she was married now?
She grinned and suddenly her eyes widened;
Lord! She hasn't told Gwen yet!
She had not talked with her for a while now and it had actually skipped her mind by how fast things turned out. Quickly she walked to the bed and took her phone from the drawer by the bedside;
She tapped on Gwen's Whatsapp and took a picture of her ring and sent it;
'Guess what, little sister…, she texted with an excited smiley emoji'
Gwen wasn't online, so she quickly called her;
''Sister! Finally, she called! For a moment, I thought you had forgotten me… '' Gwen laughed over the phone and Tiana chuckled; she could hear some voices on the phone and she knew Gwen was with some friends.
''haha, sorry dear, I've been caught up with some stuff lately, how are you? ''
Gwen smiled; ''I'm good, very good. What about you? ''
''Everything is fine, Gwen, go check my message on Whatsapp. ''
Gwen's brows creased, she was at a birthday party, but it had not started properly yet, so she could talk;
''What is in there? '' She queried;
''Oh go and check it already, call me back when you're done. '' Tiana giggled and ended the call immediately; she smiled as she stared at her phone waiting for Gwen's call to come in. As expected, in less than a minute, her phone buzzed in her palm;
''TIANA! IS THAT A RING! ARE YOU ENGAGED?!'' Gwen screamed, making Tiana pull the phone away from her ear, laughing loudly;
''Uhm, yeah, I am, '' She replied, her hand playing with her hair, there was no need telling her that they were married already since they had not done the wedding proper.
''WTF! HOW DID YOU KEEP THIS FROM ME!'' Gwen exclaimed, ''WHO IS HE? WHO IS THE PERSON?''
Tiana smiled; knowing that she was about to sound unbelievable; ''Uh… Nicklaus… '' she shut her eyes, waiting for Gwen's outburst;
There was a moment of silence on the other side before Gwen asked; ''you're kidding me right? ''
''No, I'm not kidding, we're engaged. ''
''How, how did it happen, I thought you guys broke up? When did you get together? ''
''We got together last week when we found out that everything was a misunderstanding, it's a long story, will brief you when you come back home; and then yesterday, he asked me to marry him. ''
''Oh my Jesus! Tiana! You're getting married! For real! '' Gwen exclaimed making Tiana laugh out loud. That was Gwen, she was way dramatic.
''When is the wedding? I'm gonna be your chief bride's maid, you know that right? ''
''Yeah, of course, no-one is taking that from you. '' Tiana laughed; ''but it's not happening immediately though, you know it's a very big family wedding, so there are a lot of preparations to be made; '' Tiana didn't want to tell her all the stuff happening, it was better to keep it away from her for now, telling her about it, would just make her worry unnecessarily.
''Oh, that's true, but, YOU'RE FUCKIN' GETTING MARRIED! I'M SO SO HAPPY FOR YOU TIANA!'' Gwen screamed again making Tiana laugh.
They talked about other random things before Tiana ended the call.
''Who was that? '' Katy, Gwen's friend, who was a fashion icon and was at the birthday party too, asked when she heard her excited screams.
Gwen who was almost pale with rage instantly forced a smile to her face;
''Oh, that was my sister; she is getting married; ''
Katy smiled brightly; ''Wow, that's good news! '' she exclaimed and she glanced at the phone in Gwen's hands, and her eyes fell on the picture of a hand with a ring;
''Oh, is that hers? ''
Gwen glanced down at her screen and realized that she had mistakenly tapped on her Whatsapp icon, she swallowed painfully;
''Yeah... it is,'' she replied, trying to keep her calm, but the rage inside of her was burning terribly;
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm''Holy Mezus! '' Katy's eyes widened as she stared at the rare blue 9.6-carat diamond ring; ''who is her fiancé? ''
She turned to Gwen, who's brows were creased with confusion now;
''Um, is there anything wrong with the ring? ''
''Wrong? You must be kidding me! there's only one of that ring in the world and it cost $10 million dollars girl, a whooping 15million dollars! Her fiancé must be stinkingly wealthy to get that for her.''
She was a fashion icon, so she knew a little about rings;
Gwen's eyes widened and she felt her face drain of the remaining color in it; ''10… 10 what? ''
''10 million dollars! Who is she getting married to? '' Katy asked inquisitively, ''Wow, the man must love her a little too much to get her that ring!''
To think she was not raged enough, a simple engagement ring on her sister's hand could last someone a lifetime, Gwen found it hard to breathe, she instantly stood up from the couch she was sitting on;
''Um, I don't think she would want it to go public yet, haha, excuse me for a second. '' Unable to take it any longer, Gwen turned and walked out speedily from the hall.
She couldn't breathe until she was outside, suddenly her body felt too hot and she panted heavily;
How was she moving far away from her reach? How was this happening?
She was here, working so hard to be the best, so then she could compete with her, but Tiana was never in the competition, to begin with, no matter how much she tried, she was never up to compete with her.
"Ha! '' Gwen exclaimed, her hand gripping her chest so hard that she felt her fingers dig into her skin,
People like Nicklaus didn't fall for people from their class, except in fiction, but this one in a lifetime opportunity came and she let it slip out of her hands?
Gwen quaked, gritting her teeth painfully; she would never be up to her level, not to talk of being greater.
Finally, she had lost to her.
For the first time, Gwen felt tears well up in her eyes. All her life she had always been the best, and she had gotten used to winning every single time, this was the first time she had actually lost and it tore her into shreds.
The pain was unbearable.
…
''Hubby, let's go swim in the pool… '' That was the first thing Nicklaus heard as he walked into the room. When he heard her call him that earlier, he couldn't help the smile that tugged on his lips, he loved the sound of it on her lips.