Elsa pov

I drummed my fingers nervously on the doctor table as I waited for my test result.

Why was he taking so much time? Was something wrong with me.

For some days now I’ve not been feeling too well and so I came to the hospital when I got the chance before my husband figures out and calls the house doctor.

Finally, Doctor Wen opened the door of his office with a folder which I was sure was mine with a smile on his face.

A smile, that means nothing is wrong with me. I told myself and felt a little bit relieved but I should have waited to hear from him first before I concluded because now, my world shattered.

“You’re pregnant Mrs Alvin.”

“What? It…it’s not possible doctor. You have to carry out another test.”

“Blood tests don’t lie Mrs Alvin. And from your reaction, am guessing you were not expecting this news?”

“Yes. I was careful, I took all the pills.” I managed to whisper as my mind kept wondering how I would tell Alvin that I had broken the contract.

“Well, in many cases pills don’t actually prevent women from getting pregnant.”

“I can’t.” I whispered as tears began to pour down from my eyes.

“Please Mrs Alvin, I’ll advice you not to abort the kids.”

“Kids?” I asked with shock written all over me. Not just one but two kids?

“Yes, you are having two children and you need all the rest and nourishment you can get because your uterus is in a bit of stress.

I took my test result and left the hospital, heading straight for the house.

I know Alvin will look for my at work but i was sure he would buy the excuse I told Mara to tell him.

I’ve always loved Alvin right from high school and when he finally declared that he wanted to get married to me, I didn’t hesitate to accept his proposal.

But that our marriage was baseless. I was the one doing all the loving. Even though we got intimate, Alvin made it clear in the contract that he didn’t want kids.

“Kids are distraction.” He would alsways say and so he placed me on pills.

Everyone in town thought we were a perfect couple but no one knew what happened between closed doors.

I arrived home too a shower and made a quick lunch for myself.

As I sat on the sofa, my hands slipped to my stomach to rub what now carry two healthy lives.

I needed to tell Alvin about his children but then his reaction and what would become of our marriage sent shivers down my spine.

I waited for him to come home but as always, he didn’t come home at the exact time he closed from work. I decide to wait a bit long but then I received a notification on my phone.

It was from Alvin my husband. And like always, he was tight on work and wouldn’t come back home.

Alvin is the the CEO of Baron and Claire enterprise, he had one aim. To become the top and richest business owner across the globe.

And as he’s wife, I always rooted for him and wanted to see him win.

I didn’t even wait to think twice when he he offered me the job of becoming his personal Secretary.

I accepted it gracefully and put in a lot of work into his company.

I turned to look at the time. It was 11pm ready, he definitely wasn't coming back home.

I strolled to bed and took the test result once more in my hand, unable to believe that I was pregnant. My stomach was so flat.

No bump, which was nice so that people wouldn’t know and spread the news before I get to tell Alvin.

With a confused mind,I hide the result and i drifted to sleep only to be awakened by someone hands trying to part my legs.

I slowly opened my eyes to see Alvin on top of me with a smile.

I knew what he wanted but I wasn’t in for it.

“You’re back.” I said as I tried to sit up but was stucked.

“You look so beautiful when you wake up.” He said as he began to plant kisses from my neck down to my breast.

“Stop Alvin, I’m not in for that today.”

“Why? You never turn me down.” He took some steps away from me, his smile had been replaced with his usual frown.

“I’m not feeling too well.”

“We’ll contact Josh and let him check you.” He said throwing his shirt on the bed and walking out of the room like i wasn’t important anymore.

I wasn’t soo stupid to call the house doctor and let the news of my pregnancy to blow up like a bomb.

I tried getting out of bed when a ringtone that was mine echoed in the room. Unlike me, I would have ignored but wanted to see who was calling my husband soo early.

I managed to peep before Alvin snatched the phone from the bedstand and walked out before I could question him.

Why was my sister calling him soo early in the morning?

I could hear his voice coming faintly by the hallway.

“You didn’t have to call so early babe, your sister almost found out about us.”

“She’s so dumb she won’t guess am cheating on her.” He said and I placed my palm on my mouth to stop me from crying.

“I’ll be there in few minutes.” As soon as I heard footsteps, I ran from the door back to the bed and pretended as if I heard nothing.

“I’ll be back tomorrow, don’t stay up.” That’s all he said without even looking at me.

Was he always with her?

Was his business meeting never business meetings but a lie to spend time with her?

I tried to tell myself that Alvin and my sister were not seeing each other.

But I knew I was only lying to myself.

Elsa pov

He left without even staying an hour with me. Was I a pest or a disease he feared been plagued with?

I was just the substitute, I finally realized. I tried all I could to make him see that I was perfect for him. I did his laundry, I cooked him meals.

I always what him to share his day with me but all he did was push me to the wall.

I didn’t ask him to marry him, he and his family decided I was the perfect wife for him. When his business was about go down the drain, his family want him to get a wife who could stay in the hidden.

I was the perfect person for the task. I have always been good at staying hidden right from a little age. Right from when my step sister took all the love in the house.

I never complained, I just watched in silence. But Claire never seemed to give up on taking what belongs to me.

When my mother died, it didn’t take my dad a month to get over her and bring home a woman and a child who I was two years younger than.

It was at that point I realized that my father never loved mom like he claimed he did. He was only after her money, he even went as far as taking the family heirloom and inheritance my mother left for me.

I wonder what I did to the universe to make the same thing that happened to my mom marriage repeat itself in my marriage.

I cleaned the tears that had flowed like running water down my cheeks and entered the bathroom to get ready for woke. I tried to apply a considerable amount of makeup to hidden the dark circle around my eyes.

I didn’t want to get unnecessary questions from my colleagues.

“What happened to you.” Linda asked once I arrived at the office. I wondered if she could see through my makeup.

“I wasn’t feeling well.” I said and went about arranging my desks.

I waited for hours to see if Alvin would come out of his office to demand that I do anything for him. But I waited for three good hours.

No one knew about our marriage. To everyone in his company, we were just boss and secretary and to family we were husband and wife.

I inquired from Linda if the boss was around but she said no and my suspicion was finally confirmed.

I went about my work for the day and went back home. Showered and ate.

After one hour of restlessness, I dailed his number but it was switched off. Tears welled in my eyes, how could he hurt me like this? Treat me like a trash when all I did was love him?

I didn’t have anyone to complain to about the way he treated me. The one time I told his mother, he scolded me and didn’t come back for two days.

It was his way of punishing me.

My stomach began to rumble and I found myself racing into the toilet. This is the third time through out today that I had thrown up.

I rinsed my mouth and head back to bed where I layed with my mind creating scenes of what Alvin and Claire might be doing.

Stop thinking about them, think about your kids.

At the thought of my kids, I wrapped my hands around my stomach in a protective way. They were my life now and I was ready to do anything to protect them.

Footsteps around the room woke me up, I could smell a perfume that wasn't mine. When I opened my eyes, I found Alvin trying to change up and likely shower.

“You didn’t come home neither did you text as always.” I said hoping he would tell me the truth behind why he wasn’t home.

“I went for a business trip.” He said as he pulled down his trouser and I tried hard not to get distracted. Alvin had a killer body. A body that any woman would beg for. Maybe that was the reason why Claire was after him.

“You left me for Claire, you didn’t even tell me that she she was back.” I said finally sitted and armed crossed.

He was shocked at first but then his expression changed into anger.

“And what if I didn’t tell you? She came back yesterday and told me to come pick her from the airport.”

“And you stayed the whole night with her? Don’t dare lie to me because I can smell her perfume on you Alvin.” I said before he could say anything to defend himself.

“Why are you even been dramatic Elsa? Don’t you dare act all innocent like you weren’t the one who told Claire to stay away from me or you’ll hurt her.”

I stared at him in shock before walking towards him.

“What are you talking about? I never did such a thing.”

“There you go again. You never admit to your wrong doings Elsa. Do you know what you are? A selfish human. All you do is think about yourself.” His words hits me like a blow in the chest and I grabbed my shirt to calm the pain.

“I am your wife Alvin. All I’ve done was love you, I accepted this marriage because I love you.”

“No Elsa, you accepted this marriage to hurt your sister. You always knew that I loved her and not you but you went ahead to accept the marriage.”

I couldn’t hold back my tears anymore, all the words he just said to me were so brutal that it felt like physical blows to my body.

How could he say this to me after all I tried to do for him. I tried as much as possible to satisfy him in bed, where did I go wrong?

“Remember, I’ve never loved you and you are not my real wife. We are just married based on the contract.” With that been said he stormed out of the room without glancing back at me.

Elsa pov

I worked into the office, five minutes late and I didn’t care if my boss would get mad at me and deduct my pay. None of that matter to me right now.

“Elsa!! Jeez, you look like you had a bad nightmare. Are you sure you’re fine.” Linda asked. I wasn’t one who was comfortable in sharing my problems with anyone so I just nodded a yes to her and grabbed my chair.

“Mr Alvin wants you to deliver his coffee. I insisted that he let me bring it over for him but he declined saying he want you to.” Linda said almost feeling sorry that I had to work even in my miserable state.

It seems Alvin finally calmed down and realized that he really hurt my feelings. I felt a bit of joy in my heart but my joy was short lived once I enter his office.

The back of a woman with brown sleep curly hair with a red backless dress sat facing him. His hands were on her laps while they passionately kissed.

I was familiar with the woman that was what hurt the most. With shaking hands I quickly dropped the coffee on the table and that brought them both back to reality.

“Are you fucking serious? Can’t you knock.”

“You seem to having hearing issues miss Claire because I knocked before coming in to see this.” I replied her trying as much as I can to keep my cool.

Claire took a sip from the coffee and then spits it on my white shirt which surprises me. I turned to look at Alvin guessing he would scold her for it but he didn’t even look my way.

“I don’t like this coffe, you were suppose to add milk and two spoons of sugar into it.”

“If you have any complains you should send it down to the cafe not me Miss Claire. I was only directed to bring this coffee to this office.”

“This has always been your problem sis. You never like to take corrections maybe that why you haven’t been promoted and you’re still stucked at been a secretary.” Claire said with a smirk on her face.

I looked at Alvin but not a single word did he spill out to defend me. That when I realized that I was never the woman he liked.

The name of his company should have made this clear to me already. A man who name his company after his name and that of his lover, how could he have any feelings for me?

“Don’t give me that face Elsa. Well, why don’t you show me to the rest room. This building is big and I know you won’t want to let me get lost right.”

“Of course not, follow me.” I said as I walked out of the office. I knew Claire was up to no good when she said she needed the restroom.

Immediately I got inside, she rushed in and pushed me to the wall.

“You think you could steal my man away from Elsa?”

“He is my husband. And let me rephrase that statement, you have always stolen what was rightfully mine from the start. First you took my favorite doll, then you took my mothers room, my father, all the love and even now you plan on taking my husband. If you really wanted to have him , why didn’t you agree to the marriage? Why run away and allow me clean up your mess?”

“It’s none of your business why I left. Now I am back and I’m going to take what rightfully belongs to me. Alvin belongs to me.”

“I already have him. Where do you think he was last night? Where did you think he was on the day of your anniversary. He was with me.”

“You’re lying.” I said to her, hands already trembling. She pulled out her phone and showed me photo of her and Alvin having fun.

I pushed her away from me, switching on the tap and sprinkling water on my face to calm my nerves

“I can’t blame you. You’re always think you can have something even when it doesn’t fit you. Just like your mother took my dad away from me.

“How dare you?” I asked stepping closer to her.

“And guess what? You’ll end up like…”

SLAP

“Don’t you dare speak about my mother ever again or you’ll regret it.” My fingers still tingling from the effect of the slap and then I heard footsteps.

“You’re in for trouble.” Claire Fingers into her arms till blood began to drip then scattered her hair. Everything happened so fast before Alvin opened the door.

“What happened.” Alvin asked as he pulled Claire to himself, he didn’t even care to check on me first and that’s when it became clear.

Claire had won again.

“Don’t blame her Alvin, I was trying to beg her to forgive me and accept me as her sister but it seems I stepped on her toe.”

“She’s lying. She spoke wrongly about my mother Alvin please believe me.”

“Enough Elsa, I had seen enough. Look what your jealousy made you do to your own sister.”

“I didn’t do anything.” I pressed on but he his heart was hardened towards me. I watched as he checked Claire injuries before planting a kiss on her cheeks.

Something he never did with me, not even when we got intimate. My eyes were hurt from all the tears I had to hold back.

“Apologize to Clare.” Alvin said to my surprise. His face held no emotions.

Why couldn’t he see through the veil of lies? I was the one hurt here and now he demanded I apologize to my sister.

“No.”

“It’s okay Alvin, I’m fine she doesn’t have to apologize.” Claire declared with a smirk on her face while she caress Alvin’s chin.

“You would apologize to Claire or else..”

“I said no and that’s final.”

“If that’s the case, you’re fired.” The words came out of his mouth effortlessly.