HIS SWEET REVENGE

Bryan’s POV

Dejectedly, I take the staircase to my room. I am debating within me on what to do to win her over and stop her from leaving.

I have done the worst things to Celine and she forgave me, why isn’t she forgiving me for something as trivial as the outcome of my nightmare?

I didn’t do it on purpose. It isn’t my fault. Why is she finding it hard to forgive me now?

All this while, I never asked for forgiveness yet she forgave me and now that I am genuinely asking for it, she isn’t willing to give it to me.

I am trying my best to be a better person. I can’t believe I also skipped work because of the fear of coming back to see her gone.

Celine is good at running away and I don’t know how long it will take me to find her now if she runs off like she once did.

I halt in my tracks when someone approaches and I look up to see my mother.

She smirks proudly and I raise a brow, wondering why she is looking amused.

“Are you coming from Celine’s room?” She asks me. This is when it dawns on me that this must be the reason for her mischievous smirk. She must have figured out that I am coming from Celine’s room.

Has she gone to check me in the room? I wonder what she will think now. I barely skipped going to work and today of all days that she came visiting, I skipped work for no genuine reason.

But I guess it isn’t in vain because I was able to get to the root of our marriage originality this morning before heading to the hospital to pick up Celine who insisted on coming home to pack her belongings to leave.

“Mom, why did you do that?” I demand, instead of replying to her question. I have been meaning to visit her to ask her about it. She never told me but I know she is behind it.

“Do what?” She pretends to be confused but I know her better than anyone else.

“Stop with the pretense, mom. I know you are responsible for the switch in the certificates when Celine and I got married…”

“Oh, that?” She asks indifferently. “How did you find out?”

“I guess I just did. How did you do it and why do you do it, mother?”

I am not supposed to be angry because everything is falling into place. Everything is turning out to be to my benefit but I can’t help it. I have been deceived for five years. I have been genuinely married to a woman I have always mistreated, thinking the marriage was a fake one.

How could she? I had my reason for wanting to make it fake. I did all of these just for her to be happy, I never knew she was aware of my plans to fake the marriage for a year.

“I should be the angry one here, Bryan. You wanted to deceive me. You wanted to deceive your father and I…”

“Dad is involved in this too?” I furrow my brows at her in surprise.

“No. It was something I did on my own but I told him about it recently”, she confesses and doesn’t look remorseful.

All I have been feeling ever since I got to know about this is guilt. It is eating me up. Coupled with the fact that I feel bad for what I did to Celine the morning she was kidnapped.

Mother touches my hand and begins to drag me towards my room. She opens the door and we both enter.

Maybe she wants us to have some privacy. I am sure I had raised my voice at her during our little conversation on the staircase and I didn’t mean to be rude.

I am just hurt. If I didn’t make the findings, I wouldn’t know about this.

“I was already planning to tell you, Bryan”, her voice is low and she looks remorseful now. “Ever since I saw that Celine was back, I had the intention of telling you but…”, she pauses and stares at me. “I’m sorry.”

This is it. Even though I am disappointed, what more can I say after she has apologized? I used to find it very hard to forgive but now, it seems like an easy task. Probably because I find Celine’s refusal to forgive me ridiculous.

I am suddenly short of words to say. I sigh and turn away from her, my mind drifting back to Celine.

I can’t believe she is still insisting on going even after I told her about how real our marriage is. When I found out myself, I was shocked to the bones and it took me a whole lot of courage to get to the root.

What more can I do to stop her? Why is she suddenly difficult? Do I need to say anything to appease her or please her and make her stay?ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

Instantly, an idea strikes me and I twirl back to face my mother who is silently biting on her lower lip as if she is thinking of how best to beg me for what she did.

Should I talk to my mother about Celine? Should I send her to help me plead with Celine? I know how much Celine respects her and she won’t want to go against her words.

Are you trying to force her to stay against her will? My subconscious screams at me the same time mother hoists her head up to see me looking.

I know I don’t want to force Celine to do anything against her will anymore and it is right for her to leave this stupid job I employed her for but what else can I do?

“Mother, I need your help”, I say to her as calmly as I can, letting other thoughts bothering me to go away.

She nods eagerly probably thinking this help will make me forgive her faster. I have forgiven her. I have no reason to hold grudges against her for what she did.

Apparently, I am head over heels with Celine and she loves me too. If I got to know about this a year ago, maybe it would have been impossible to forgive her because then I thought I hated Celine.

“Celine wants to leave”, I begin and her eyes widened in surprise. “I need your help. As a woman, what do you think I can do to stop her?”

I don’t think sending my mother to her to talk on my behalf is the right thing to do. It seems childish.

“Why is she leaving?” Mother questions sharply, still looking surprised.

“She is still mad at me for all I have done”, I facepalm myself, my heart racing in fear that Celine might go before I can think of a solution.

“Still mad at you? Why were you in her room then? I thought you two were having…”

“Mom!” I don’t want her to say whatever it is that is on her mind. I am not interested. All I need right now is a solution. A way to stop her from leaving this mansion with my son.

“Well, you can take her out, buy her flowers, take her shopping, go to fun places like amusement parks or probably try to figure out what she likes best and get it done for her. That always does the trick for me whenever your father and I are not on good terms”, she throws me a wink and I hum in silence.

I don’t know much about Celine and I don’t know what she likes.

“Where should I take her? How do I convince her to go with me when she is angry and planning on leaving soon?”

Mother looks confused for a while too. She must be thinking about my question too. She shrugs in ignorance and I sigh.

She isn’t helping matters. She isn’t proffering a solution like I thought she would.

I am about to give up on asking her anything else when she grins broadly.

“I have an idea.”

“What is it?” I grip her shoulder in anticipation of the solution she wants to proffer to the problem at hand.

How to convince Celine to go out with me either shopping or on a date?

“Do you love her now?” She smiles at me and I look away, sighing heavily from the disappointment. I am thinking she will spill and tell me the idea she has.

“Bryan”, she squeals and I shut my eyes. This is what I have been avoiding.

I turn my back to her until she falls silent.

“Why don’t you let me talk to her?” She suggests and I twirl round to face her squarely with arms akimbo and a raised brow.

“Really?” I never thought she would bring an idea like this up herself but it sounds good coming from her. Coming from me, it sounds childish and I trust my mother to do a great job.

“Yes!” She replies excitedly. She raises her hands for me to pat her in agreement.

I watch her, embarrassment creeping to my face. I push back the voice trying to stop me from doing something which the former Bryan wouldn’t have done.

Raising my hands, I pat my mother’s hands and she grins, a smile descends on my face too.