내 첫 사랑 che cha sarang - Varaidzo Melissa Chidzuu (english readers txt) 📗

caught said that before he was found mysteriously dead in his holding cell the next morning. On the day of his mother’s wedding, the villain delivered his headless corpse as a wedding gift and when she saw it she instantly lost her mind,” she sniveled. “Everyone was worried about Alice, the whole country mourned with her. But nobody thought about me, not a single soul. I was lost with no direction and I became autistic and kept to myself wishing I could die. Until I met Jonathan, he listened to me and dragged me out of the hole I was helplessly sinking into. He opened my eyes, he taught me to breathe again but he could not heal my heart because…” she whispered. “And when I look at you…” she broke into a sob. “Nyarai…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…” Abdul said to Dr Reynolds surprise, how did he know her name? “Abdul how did you…?”

“I’m so sorry Dr Reynolds, I really am,” he said hurriedly. Avoiding any further dialogue he stood up and quickly walked away.

 

David felt worried about Monica as he made a cup of herbal tea for her. He could not help thinking of what a mess she was when he opened the door. It was only a miracle that she had safely driven to the Langley residence in her state.

As he carried the cup into the living room, he found her stretched out on the long couch; sniveling and wiping away her tears with small balls of tissue paper which she threw thoughtlessly on the floor. Her nose was bright red; so were her eyes which had become sore. She did not seem to acknowledge his presence as he laid down the tea on the coffee table in front of her. Slowly sitting down on the armchair next to the window he watched her every move. He had felt responsible for her the moment August was gone.

“Monica, come here,” he stretched out his arms to Monica who quickly walked over to him and sat on his lap. “Oh David!” she cried bitterly in his arms. “Hush now…It’s going to be okay,” he whispered as she rested her head on his shoulder. “That girl wasn’t his sister after all; I can’t believe I was stupid all this time. I supported him and that prostitute. He lied to me and I believed him because I thought he was going to change and…,” she burst into tears again. That Barbers boy, how wrong he had been about him and now he had broken little Monica’s heart whilst her father had asked him to warn her about him because he knew she always listened to him.

David embraced Monica and let her cry her heart out as she drenched his shirt with her tears. There was nothing he could say except rock her like a tiny little baby. “I’m sorry David; I shouldn’t have attacked you like that. I guess I’m too old now to be sitting on people’s laps,” Monica quickly stood up apologized all of a sudden. “I don’t want to cause a controversy between you and Charlotte. Who knows what she’d think if she saw me in your arms and seated on your lap,” she ridiculed herself with a nervous laugh as she resumed to her previous seat.

“Charlotte’s just a friend and she’s not biased towards assumptions. Don’t worry yourself, even if you’re thirty you’ll still have a place on the very same lap you used to sit on when you were six. For the record, it’s not like I’m going to get married or that sort of thing. It’s way past my bed time, too late for the sand man to give me a ticket to dream land,” David assured her. “How could you say such a thing David? How would Charlotte feel if she walked in and heard you say that? Besides; you are thirty-eight and that’s quite young considering the fact that my mother got married at forty. You are still…”

“You’re still naïve Monica, love doesn’t work that way. I don’t love Charlotte; neither did I promise to put a ring on her finger. She just comes around and we chat about our lives and many things. She only helps me get over Emily,” he explained. “Emily? How come I’ve never heard of her?” Monica sounded intrigued. “August knew her. She was the love of my life but my parents wouldn’t allow me to marry her because they were aristocrats and racists. We dated for three years and I even arranged for a secret wedding but my mother found out and caused some havoc. I stood firm with my decision but it was so hard for Emily to bear that one day she committed suicide. She must have known that she wasn’t coming back when she told me she was going to take sometime off in the rural areas. Her body was found floating in the river. But even though, I couldn’t believe she was gone for sometime until it hit me like a rude awakening. By then, my life was already over because my soul had died the moment I lost my dear Emily.”

 

Alice smiled at Josh as he sat next to her bed holding her hand. How she wished she was not so sick so that she could give him more as his wife than to be so helpless. She blamed herself for losing her mind; it was an uttermost act of selfishness she believed. These moments of sanity are what she held onto like gold, during these hours she could be in touch with the man of her dreams Joshua Winters.

“Monica,” she wanted to see her daughter all of a sudden. Where the hell was she when she needed her? “She’s at David’s house, she’s learning how to play the violin so that she can come and play for you sometime sweetheart,” Joshua gently stroked her hair. “Did she go to school today?” she struggled to pull the words out of herself. “Yes, Monica’s very serious about her studies. She works really hard and is the top of her class,” Josh smiled when he noticed the proud look on Alice’s face. “And church?” she took a tight grip of his wrist. “She went there yesterday, I’ll go with her next time so that we can both pray for you,” he promised. “Did she talk to the pastor?” she asked desperately to Josh’s surprise. The medication must have been slowly wearing off. “Sweetheart, are you okay? I think I should call the nurse now,” Josh stood up. “No Joshua; don’t call him! I’m not mad,” she pleaded.

Why didn’t anyone take her seriously when she mentioned spiritual help? How she hated those tormenting spirits which drove her crazy. She had once asked Monica to ask the pastor of her church to pray for her but she always shrugged off the idea not taking her seriously as usual. Alice felt upset, in fact she did not feel like talking to Josh any more. He would probably laugh at the idea of evil spirits but she did not blame him because she could have done the same thing if she had not landed in the situation she was in.

“Alice, would you like to go outside for some fresh air?” Josh interrupted her thoughts all of a sudden. Beside him stood the mean little nurse who only pretended to be nice to her whilst her husband was there otherwise she was thick skinned. “It’s okay darling,” Josh noticed the look on her face. “It’s only going to be the two of us. Miss Huni is only going to help you out of bed,” he assured her with a smiled. The little nurse smiled at her too but she would not be fooled.

 

August lay down on his bed and thought deeply as tears streamed down his face. “So mom has been in a mad house for eleven years because she believes I’m dead and Nyarai is engaged. Nyarai…” more tears invaded his eyes as his heart ached at the echo of the words in his mind. “Nyarai is going to get married,” he kept on reminding himself.

“No, I must stop her. I love her and I can’t lose her…” August heard himself say out loud. “But then I can’t be selfish enough to ruin her engagement to Jonathan. I can’t walk out of her life and expect her to welcome me back with open arms after all the pain she’s been through. I can’t ruin Jon’s efforts of making her happy. As much as I love her, I’m dead to her and some bad memory which she’d rather forget,” he sighed. “May be in our next lives nothing will set us apart. But until then; it was good to hear your voice again after eleven years. I’m proud that you turned up the way you should have. What we had was special but God had his reasons and despite that I’ll always treasure you in my heart and I wish you all the smiles you missed because of me Nyarai… My first love.”

 

Chapter ten

“Why did you do it?” Shuvai asked Alan as he held her close. “What do you mean?” Alan kissed her tenderly on the cheek. “I found out what you did,” she made him freeze for a brief moment. “I don’t understand,” Alan sounded puzzled. “Do you still remember that plastic surgery operation that did not happen when the anesthetist drugged me? A few seconds before I got knocked out I thought I noticed Dr Mangwiro in the room. Anyway afterwards I woke up feeling some excruciating pain in my tummy and the anesthetist told me that I was having side effects from the drug that they used and that he’d give me some medication for the pain. Well deep inside I felt that something was missing in me and suspected that there was more to the pain but I had no tangible evidence,” she spoke in a gentle voice but her tone was intimidating.

Alan felt embarrassed all of a sudden and wished the earth would swallow him. Why did she have to bring the matter to the sheets after such a passionate evening? Or was she just feeling sentimental attempting to pull their souls together? No; this was an interrogation which needed people to be in their clothes and not laying naked in bed.

“Alan, do you have anything to say?” Shuvai continued in the same icy tone. “When did you find out?” Alan tried to stand his ground. He was not yet ready to show that he was scared. “When I saw Dr Mangwiro again,” she looked fiercely into his eyes. “At first, I thought that I was being paranoid because he was probably passing by till I decided to investigate and put my mind to rest. First I visited this gynecologist who broke the news to me but I left upset because I was doubtful and did not want to believe her. I thought of what the anesthetist had told me and went over to ask Dr Mangwiro who did some lab tests on me and told me that there were some complications with my womb due to my last delivery and advised me not to get pregnant again. Skeptical again I went to this obstetrician who told me the same thing, Dr Fredrick the German doctor was the third,” Shuvai explained with a heavy heart.

Alan could not help being remorseful, he just did not know how important the baby was to her. Josh was correct about the doctors but he had missed the point all the same. “I’m so sorry Shuvai. I really am,” he apologized to his wife who had tears sliding down her face. “But why Alan, why did you do this to me?” she demanded hurt. “You could have told me instead of going behind my back and making me look like a fool in front of all those doctors when I told them that they were wrong!”

“It was