Chapter Seventeen

Joyce sat with Leah and Cecilia who were chatting and laughing. She seemed not to be on good mood. Leah noticed her half hearted smile and moody attitude and put her arm around her shoulders.

        "What's wrong,Joyce? You look unhappy," Leah asked.

         Cecilia guessed it was because of the argument she told her about and thus asked,"Did James refuse to apologize to you? Did he hurt you again? We can deal with your boyfriend for you, "Cecilia declared.

              Joyce was tired of lying and deceiving these friendly and kind hearted women. She decided to say the truth. She had to tell them. But she didn't want to look so cheap to them. She made up her mind and a tear fell from one eye.

            She looked at them one after the other. She was sitting between them. "James and I..... We.....," she paused and wiped her flowing tears. "We're not what.....you think," she confessed in a whisper and sobbed.

          The two women exchanged glances,trying to figure out what she meant.   "You mean — You're not lovers?" Leah guessed with skepticism in her tone.

        Joyce nodded her reply in tears as she couldn't form a word at that moment cause of the sudden lump in her throat.

           "Goodness! How...... I mean,then why did you make us believe you are?" Cecilia asked with concern and pity.

         Joyce had thought they would get extremely angry at her for deceiving them but that wasn't the case,they didn't seem angry at all,and she was glad with that. "I didn't want to hurt his mother. I understand James' situation too,so — so I agreed to act as his girlfriend. Now, it's getting out of hand. I seem to be —," a sob that emerged from her throat stopped her from going further.

         "Falling in love with him?" Leah decided to fill in her gap.

        "Oh,dear! It's not easy. You even sleep in the same room. We totally understand you." Cecilia's voice was soothing,then she hugged her.

       "What to do now? Does he know about your feelings?" That was Leah's question.

        "Do you think he feels the same?" Cecilia added hers.

        Joyce shook her head. "I don't know. I can't say," Joyce said and sat upright but her gaze stilled as she saw the person with James. "Vivian?" She called and the two women with her followed her eyes and saw the woman in question clinging to James as they were strolling down the compound. He did not seem to mind the closeness either.

          Leah got furious. She rose up in anger in an attempt to go to them,probably to get them separated but Joyce hindered her.

          "Let them be," Joyce uttered.

         "Why? You're here crying because of him she he's there enjoying such intimacy," Cecilia interjected. Joyce became happy that moment. There were people ho cared about her feelings and respected them. She smiled broadly and teased. "You sure will be jealous wives."

         "Of course," they replied in unison.

         Joyce shook her head. "Thank you for your concern but let them be. Besides, James doesn't seem to be inconvenient, does he?" She smiled as if she was not hurt a bit while the truth was that the lesion on her heart kept bleeding profusely. And it was painful. She should have known better. James couldn't love ladies like her.

        "You mean — they..... H might love her?" Leah was obviously angry and sorry for Joyce at the same time.

         "I don't know," Joyce confessed. "I knew them to be friends," she added.

         Leah angrily had her seat and had her arms round Joyce. Cecilia copied the practice and they all smiled and changed topic,chatting on something else.

       Joyce willingly contributed and laughed to funny things they said. For that moment, the bleeding in her heart ceased. She felt so excited within.

★★★

         "Why didn't you tell me about your mother's birthday? I was hurt,you know?" Vivian said to James,clinging to his arms. Her fiance broke up with her recently,so she decided to come back to James with the hope that he would accept her cause he had asked her out before. Why wouldn't he,anyway? He was still single.

       They had their seat  on a long bench in the compound and started talking.

        "I'm sorry. I had a lot of things going on my mind, so, I could not tell you.  It skipped my mind," James said,not smiling as he surveyed the compound as if it was his first time there. Then,he saw who he was looking for. A smile graced his lips as he saw her smile which made his heart skipped a beat.

         "What brings you here?" James asked, looking at her.

        "To confess." Vivian's voice was low and emotional like it was meant for him to understand her just by the sound of her voice.

          "Confess?" James was confused. What could she wanted to confess about that could make her so serious?

      "James, I..... I really like you. So much." She was holding his gaze as she professed her love for him.

          James smiled,taking it with levity. "I like you too. You're a good friend."

        "But I want to be more than that, James. I want to be your wife. I want us to get married."

           He was not in the least shocked at her words.  He had somehow knew she was going to say something like that someday. He sat up and faced her properly, which flexed the muscles in his upper arms. "Do I have to remind you that you made it clear to me that you don't want us to be more than friends when I asked you to go out with me? So,how could you —" The rest of his words went straight into Vivian's mouth as she lunged forward and connected their gobs.

         Without second thought,he pushed her away from him gently, afraid of letting her fall of the bench,but hard enough to know she was rejected. His eyes strayed to where he saw Joyce earlier and saw her glaring at him. She had obviously witnessed the scene. He watched as she rose to her feet and scampered into the house.

        He faced Vivian furiously. "I'm really sorry but we can't be more than friends. How could you do that? Aren't you ashamed?"

          "No,I'm not,because I love you."

          "Well,I don't. What you did earlier is a giveaway to who you really are. So shameless." He gave his reply and scatted.

        "Do you have someone already?" She asked as she watched him go away.

         "None of your business," he replied and ran inside the house to look for Joyce. He had to explain what she saw.

         Joyce was not in the living room where some of the members her,including his brothers' wives. He found he inside, sitting on one side of the bed. He locked the door as he went to bend before her.

      Was she crying? No,but she refused to look at him. "Joyce, don't get us wrong. Sh was not in her right mind," James pleaded which made her face him angrily.

       "James,I'm not against you dating her since we're not but I see that next time,you wouldn't do that where your family would see. I mean,for the remaining hours we're going to spend before we leave tomorrow," she suggested.

        "Joyce —," James called but she lay on the bed,turned her back to him,cover herself up and bid him goodnight.

      "It's too early to say that. It's not even dinner time yet. Can we sort things out?" He was pleading but she wasn't yielding.

        Her phone started ringing. "No,thanks," she answered, before picking up the call of her mother. It's been more than twenty four hours that she had spoken to them.

        "Hello,,." She put the phone in her ear.

       "My dear,your father and I were so worried about you. We thought something bad has happened to you," her mother sounded worried. Mothers can overreact at times but you wouldn't blame them,especially when the child in question was an only and trouble making child. You would forced to start thinking if the child has caused trouble and in prison.

       James listened as they talked but said nothing.

       "Mum,how could you have thought of that? Such a dirty mind." She laughed and her mother did the same. "Well,mum, I'm okay here. Nothing is wrong with your daughter and just so you may know, I didn't cause any trouble. His families are friendly. I like them. I like their house too. It's big. His parents are kind hearted but his mum is a bit too.....too......," she paused and looked at James. He didn't seem to mind. Not that she cared anyway. She always say her mind regardless of anything.

          "Too what?" Her mother urged impatiently.

         Joyce changed her mind. "Never mind. She's old. It was her seventieth birthday but she's still agile and strong, just like you, mum." She smiled broadly. She suddenly missed her mother.

         "Alright, my daughter. Don't talk much. How is James? I want to talk to him," her mother said.

       Instantly, James stared at her,stretching her palm forward to collect the phone but was disappointed as she shrugged and replied, "He's fine,mum. No need to talk to him. He's not with me anyway."

            "Joyce!" He called aloud.

         "Is that not him?" Felicia asked.

        Joyce frowned. "No,mum. It's someone else. See you tomorrow. My regards to dad and tell him that......"

       "Let me talk to her,Joyce," James demanded but she refused,taking the phone away from her ear and his reach.

         He climbed the bed and reached for the phone but his hand couldn't reach. He used his left hand to pin her right hand to the bed while the other hand of his was stretched out to collect the phone.

        Joyce held her breath. He was so intimately pressed against her. Their gaze met and stilled. She opened her gob to protest but he covered it with his and devoured it hungrily. She struggled beneath him and punched him with her but he soon pinned it down.

            He didn't let her go until she could no longer resist the temptation but respond eagerly to his actions. He was getting more impatient and started undressing her while she returned the favor till they were almost nude. 

         She got her hands busy with his back as he supported his weight with his elbows on either side of her before he rolled on one side and started feeling every part of her and then, BOOM!

    Knock! Knock!!

         There was an attempt to open the door but fortunately for them,it was locked which made the knocker voiced out. "James?" Vivian's voice was heard.

        They let go of each other and got dressed. Joyce stayed behind while he went out to meet the INTRUDER. Vivian, the joy killer.

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      So,Jaycers( I have combined Ja from James and yce from Joyce),what do you think of this chapter? Feel free to let me know your thoughts in the comment section.