Meribella (Dear Mermaid) Chapter 37

BY BLESSING SILVER

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Bella emerged from the room, clad in one of patty’s finest dress that fitted her perfectly, her feet had patty’s fur slippers. She sighted Patty at the other side of the room, packing stuffs into her workbag.. She turned and saw her then smiled.
“I’m off to the shop Bella, you–
“I’ll just brush my hair and join you in the driveway” Bella said.
“No Bella,” Patty moved to her “even though I have no idea to what happened to you last night, I don’t think you’re strong enough to work” she said.
“But—
“No buts Bel,” she placed a calm palm on her shoulder “if you’re worried about your payment then don’t worry coz I’ll pay you. Just take today as your off day and if you get better tomorrow you can resume” Patty said and Bella almost cried out at the love.
“Thank you Patty. I’m really grateful”
“That’s what friends are for” she said and they hugged.
Patty took out an iPad from her box, punched somethings into it then gave it to Bella. “That’s a GPS just in case this place becomes boring to you and you feel like taking a walk. You can go anywhere, this device will bring you back here” she said to Bella then directed her on the usage.
“Thanks” Bella said.
“Hey, if you keep saying that I’d begin to think we’re strangers” she said and Bella laughed before they hugged again and disgengaged.
“I’ll go now, you can help yourself to any dish if you get hungry. Take care okay” she said, pecked Bella on both cheeks, smiled and walked out of the house.
Bella sighed and walked to a sitter chair, thoughts of Maurice flocked into her head and she shook it off; she needs a distraction to get those heartbreaking thoughts away from her head. Bella grabbed the nearby TV remote and switched channels on the TV to music, she tuned it to the loudest and in a little time she started loving the song- Flashlight by Jessy-J.
She started moving her head to the rhythms and it helped a lot in distracting her from Maurice.. The song stopped and another started, she kept listening until the program ended and she sighed. She drifted her mind to yesterday incident and how Raymond had been such a good friend. She needed to call him because right now she needed a friend and Raymond was just the right one because somehow he distracts her from her troubles. Bella frowned when she realized she hadn’t taken her phone from Maurice’s place.. She was too heartbroken to think of something like that; she just needed to get out of that house.
Bella checked the time ⌚2:47⌚ it says, she went to the kitchen and gulped in a cup of milk; not feeling unnecessarily hungry, she washed the cup and left it in the drain board before moving back to the living room, she grabbed the iPad from where she had left it, operated the GPS and searched for a nearby street, turned off the television and walked out of the house, the phone in her hand.
Bella got out of the gate and started walking on the streets and looking around the slight hustling and bustling going on.. She watched as children played in a corner and she waved back at an old man who waved at her before turning back to the newspaper on his lap. Bella continued walking and she felt the rush of the breezy wave flushing her hair, she put the iPad between her arm and packed her hair in a French plait. She walked for close to two hours, having fun watching everything before she came across a sea, just in front. She walked to it and watched as other people played on the dry sand and watched the sea.. Some were running in and out of the shallow side of the sea and throwing water at themselves.. Bella smiled before walking closer to it, she sat on the sand, a bit farther from the sea and crossed her legs, setting the iPad down she sat. Bella ran her palm through the dryness and freshness of the sand and smiled as she remembered how she and Maurice had met, how she was sitting on the soil after falling and the exposure of her nakedness, she remembered how shocked Maurice had been when he came across her and how he had started up a conversation but she was too scared to reply. She could still feel the calmness of his palm when they reached out to hers and touched her to lift her up. Maurice was a decent man, other guys would’ve taken advantage of her, seeing her naked and ignorant but Maurice hadn’t, even though she was dumb and slow. she blushed when she remembered Maurice putting his jacket on her with his eyes shut. Bella chuckled mindlessly as she recollect Maurice awed face when he had seen the amount of coke she had consumed in some minutes..
She remembered how he had taken her home and taught her most of the things she knew today, he had been so patient and understanding.. Who wouldn’t love such a guy.
Bella remembered when she had first seen him at the shore back at Tarania; it was already three years. She hadn’t been able to stop looking at him with so much admiration, there and then she knew she had fallen inlove, even though she knew they were too different to be together Bella couldn’t stop visiting the shore and hoping she could get a glance at the human that had stolen her heart and made her feel this way. Bella had noticed that he frequently visited the sea so she had let no day slip by without seeing him. It became an habit and by the time her mother found out it was too late to stop Bella, all she could say was for her to be careful..
Bella had loved Maurice right from first sight and getting to know him only triggered that passion she felt. She had been filled with unexplained ecstasy when they kissed and hugged, she had thought he had begun having feelings for her too, she had thought she was just a step or two away to win his heart over, Bella had thought Maurice was beginning to see her as a woman but all those hopes got shattered; they crumbled right in front of her when Diane arrived and when she heard him confess his undying love to her after introducing her as ‘just a friend that he had helped’ her heart her crumpled at that statement and for a moment Bella felt her blood drying up before she had taken off. The whole place suddenly seemed suffocating and even though after now she had a hundred and one reasons to hate Maurice, she couldn’t. She had only hated the fact that he had toyed with her feelings and kept Diane away from her knowledge when she had confessed her love towards him.. She was mad at him for acting like nothing had happened but she didn’t hate him.. In fact the love she had bore for him right from the first day hadn’t deteriorated, she was still so much in love with him and even though she hated to admit it, Bella knew she had missed him so much too.
“He might as well be rejoicing over my absence” Bella said to herself and wondered since how long Maurice might’ve started seeing her as a burden. Somehow Bella hoped he was doing fine, she was still worried about him and wondered if he might’ve proposed to Diane by now. She’s pretty sure that by now they should’ve reconsidered after Maurice had introduced her as ‘just a friend’ and then Maurice wouldn’t have taken time before proposing to her. She heard from Pablo that he had been waiting for long to do that. She hoped he was happy with that decision.. She hated herself for still loving him so much even after realizing that he loves someone else but she couldn’t help it, it was as if Maurice had a place stamped in her heart that could never be erased. When Bella drove out of her thoughts she realized she had been crying and that the day was beginning to get dark, Bella wiped her tears with the back of her palm and stood up. Looking back at the iPad and the GPS she started her journey home and by home she means Patricia’s house.
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Maurice walked out the restroom and arrived at his office, he had checked his reflection at the toilet’s mirror and he had sighed wearily at it. Even though he had had a thorough dressing moment and had tried his best to look good before coming to work, Maurice could still differentiate his now self from his former self.. His reflection told him his woeful performance at his dressing and look; Diane’s breakup was really rubbing off pretty well on him.
Maurice noticed his baggy eyeballs and the dark lines beneath them from lack of rest and his dry and sunken lips. He hadn’t eaten anything last night and all day. He splashed water on his face before leaving the restroom. He walked up to his swivel chair and slumped himself on it; he noticed his weightlessness as the chair easily swiveled without his effort. Maurice sighed and wet his lips. He grabbed a receiver and placed a call to his secretary and told her to make a pizza order for him and ended the call. Even though he wasn’t feeling hungry he knew he had to eat something, at least for his health’s sake. Maurice reached for the files on his table and when his hand met them he noticed it..; The Ring!
The couple ring he and Bella had gotten at the mall and he had wore it at her plea.. He had forgotten to take it off. He stared at the ring again and realized he hadn’t seen Bella after his discussion with Diane; he hadn’t even heard her voice or her footsteps and he totally forgotten about her all through those moment.. His mind was busy accepting Diane’s rejection of him..
“Oh geez” Maurice mumbled.
Where could Bella be? And he had had no idea about her absence until now.
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T.B.C