Ryan groaned as he felt an irresistible urge to take a walk. He felt irritated with having to move into a new apartment, his frustration was mainly moving to an entirely different city. It's been weeks already and he was yet to get used to his new environment. 

All his attempt to meet his sleepy neighbor again proved abortive increasing his frustration. 

A smile crept to the corner of his lips as he remembered her sleepy face when she referred to him as 'grandmaster'. He had caught on the embarrassment on her face and the way she was not able to look at him. 

The urge to take a walk came again , this time stronger pulling him on his feet. He sighed as he wore his sandals and headed out of the house , he followed submissively as the force pulled him along the lonely street that leads to the city's biggest shopping mall.

For some reason , the street was quiet and no one was walking or driving or standing outside. He stopped and looked around in time to see his sleepy neighbor coming out of a fruit shop. She had a bottle of soft drink in one hand and a bag of fruits on her other hand, she was heading home alone. Just as she started to walk down the lonely street, a car stopped right in front of her making her jump in fear.

He wanted to run toward their direction but his feet would not move, he struggled to free himself but the force holding him down was too strong. He was standing beside an old building , nobody would see him. He groaned in frustration.

"Be still" a small voice in his head commanded.

He relaxed his muscles immediately, watching keenly.

Dilly gasped as the left over soft drink spilled on her white dress.

"Oh shit" she was clearly pissed . She flung the empty bottle in the waste bin close to her.

Why would someone drive so recklessly. She was beginning to lash out at the careless driver when Sophia Ruben got out of the car.

"What!" Dilly thought "was she trying to kill me?"

They glared at each other and Sophia smirked , her right palm landing heavily on Dilly's left cheek.

She looked at the Sophia in shock , the woman looked crazy. Her eyes burned with so much anger and rage that Dilly wondered if she was going to strike her dead at that instance.

She was too stunned to talk , she just held her cheek trying so hard not to cry. 

Sophia slapped her again and again making Dilly lose her balance . She staggered backwards , her eyes seeing stars . Thankfully she was wearing her contact lenses because the slaps would have sent her glasses flying in the air.

"You bitch! Didn't I warn you to leave him alone?" Sophia yelled.

"I did , I've stopped seeing him" Dilly whispered. She tried so hard to stop the sob that was building up in her throat . She would not let this woman see her cry , she would not give her that satisfaction.

"Really?" Sophia laughed "then explain this"

She put her phone in Dilly 's face eyeing her with so much bitterness and rage written all over her.

Dilly gasped shaking her head in disbelief as she stared at a picture of herself and Hank hugging tightly. Hank had begged to see her one last time and they had concluded on meeting in an open space. She could not believe her eyes , Sophia had followed them? 

"Are you stalking us now? Dilly laughed in an attempt to annoy the almighty Sophia.

Sophia ignored her question. 

" He asked to see me, he called and begged to see me one last time...." she continued. 

"Hank promised me he was not going to call or text you again , so how would he have asked to see you... you liar" Sophia said with disdain.

Dilly's anger was beginning to take the best of her , this woman really thought she could just go about hitting people the way she pleases. 

Ryan stood still, watching the drama unfold. It was amusing that they are actually arguing over a man? He laughed but not loud enough for them to hear.

Surprisingly, he felt upset that the older woman hit his sleepy neighbor across her face. That was so unfair. 

"Dilly I bet the next time I come to warn you, I'm getting you locked up" Sophia spat, with that she turned to walk back to her car. 

"You should be less worried about me Sophia, there are four more girls you need to beat up since that's what you're really good at" Dilly fired at her.

Ryan's mouth opened in surprise at Dilly's outburst. He was not expecting that. He might have to interfere before it gets messy. He wondered what type of a man would make two beautiful women go crazy at each other. He would like to see what this man looks like. 

Sophia stopped in her track . Heat rose up to her face as she rushed back to Dilly and grabbed her by the throat.

"What did you just say?" Sophia's eyes were wide open. Dilly could see the raw hatred in them making her flinch a little.

"You heard me right. He has four or more other mistresses. You might as well beat them up too" she laughed in spite of herself.

Sophia was about to hit Dilly again but she stopped mid air all of a sudden. She moved backwards in great fear looking at something behind Dilly.

"Hey babe let's go home" Ryan grabbed Dilly's hand from behind and started to pull her away.

She snatched her arm from him scared that he would hurt her too just like Sophia did.

"Calm down" he whispered "I saw what happened."

"ohh" she flushed in embarrassment. She looked over at where Sophia stood wondering why she kept looking at Ryan with so much fear in her eyes. They watched her walk back to her car and drive away quietly. 

Dilly looked up at Ryan suspiciously "what did you do to her? She suddenly became quiet after you came here"

He just shrugged . "You should say thank you instead I guess, I came here to save you".

Dilly sighed softly "Thank you, next time i can fight for myself"

"You are not coming home?" He called after her as she began walking in the opposite direction towards her best friend's house. 

She ignored him and just kept walking. Her thought shifted back to the fear in Sophia's eyes after he appeared. He must have cast a spell on her. She shook the silly thought off her head.

They definitely know each other, that was the only reasonable explanation for what had happened.

Ryan watched as she walked into the dark ends of the lonely streets, He punched thin air as he let out a frustrated sigh.

"That was so close" the tiny voice in his head mocked.

It was just like every other Saturday in Sophia's mansion, quiet and dry except for the couple and two maidservants. Saturdays used to be buzzing with guests and family members but Hank put an end to it few years ago without giving anyone a solid explanation, not like he owed them any.

Sophia knew very well why her husband put a stop to the usual weekend merriment , so she didn't hesitate to stop her hostess duty. Lucky for them , their family and friends were quite willing to understand. Even though no proper explanation was made, everyone respected the couple's decision and stopped coming around except they were invited by either Hank or Sophia on rare occasions.

Hank and Sophia sat in the big living room downstairs, they were both engrossed in the political news that was showing on the extremely large television screen, a big bowl of popcorn sat in their middle.

Sophia stole a quick glance at her husband, for the past few days he had not been talking to her. Just one word replies when necessary. Over the years, communication between them had been messed up but lately he had not said so much to her. 

Could he have known that she went to attack Dilly. She knew she was overthinking because Hank was not the kind of person to keep tabs on her. He didn't care that much . Well except his little puppet had told him that she got attacked.

She shivered as she remembered the man that came to save Dilly, did fangs really grow out of that man's mouth? 

She tried to make herself believe that she was either hallucinating or she had imagined things. She actually did not see what her mind was telling her that she saw, that only happens in movies. Nothing like that exists in the real world. 

She shifted towards her husband as she tries to get herself to forget the incident. 

"In fact, the whole drama never happened.....let's pretend it never happened" she thought. She would not admit it but she had been filled with regrets at her action towards Dilly, not because she felt sorry but because she had put her reputation at stake. What if people had seen them? She was way too classy to have acted that way. What if Hank had seen her? What would he think of her?

But this man right here is her life partner and she would do anything to protect their relationship. 

"Babe , I need some money to get new clothes and shoes" she whispered in an attempt to get his attention. She grabbed his hands playfully, her heart sank when he retreated. 

Now I can't even hold you?

"Okay" he nodded .

"Would you want anything from the store? I think I will be shopping Prada this time around , first thing tomorrow morning" she said not giving up.

"No " he answered , his gaze was fixed on the television screen.

"Babe...I'm getting a new set of lingerie too , I'll get them in color red and white. Your favorite colors" she attempted to hold his hands again but he gently snatched his hands away from her.

"Do whatever you want Sophia" he glared at her. "I'll send you some money."

They both knew that the money was not the issue , she could buy those things for herself and more if she wanted but she just really needs her husband to be nice to her or pretend to be.

He was not ready or willing to pay attention to her and she knows that so well but it's her marriage and there is no giving up at this point. They have come too far to give up on their marriage. They have so many joint businesses. Even though they have tried to no avail to have kids , they are still very committed to the marriage. She was not so sure about him anymore but she still wants to be his wife so bad.

It was obvious that he no longer loved her and Sophia could not stand the thought of that.

The television went blank before her as she reflected on the early stage of their marriage. They were so in love and were the envy of other couple because they displayed their affection even in public without bothering about their surrounding.

However things became messy when he caught her cheating. She had cheated on him with her supposed financial manager. 

She sighed deeply .

After the incident, she had tried so many times to understand why she had done it and brought so much disregard to her husband. But she could not figure it out , she just wanted to explore and rebel for the fun of it. She wanted it to be her little wild secret but it had ended up ruining her 'perfect' marriage.

She thought about what Dilly said the last time they met . Does he really have four other mistresses? She dare not confront him about it for the fear of upsetting him.

She loves her husband so much and she would do anything to protect her marriage even though it means having to beat up all his mistresses and putting them all in jail.

Four years back, If anyone had told her that she would have to go about fighting young girls over the man that is supposed to be hers alone, she would have argued. 

Her husband went from being the most loving man to being cold as ice but she was willing to take every hit as it comes. She knew that some day he would see her effort and things will go back to the way they used to be.

She turned just in time to see him walking out of the living room. The political news was over and he was leaving without saying a word to her?

"Babe" she called after him.

She wanted to follow him but decided to stay back.

"Yeah?" He stopped and turned to face her.

She scrutinized him , his face held no emotions. The warmth and love she used to see in his eyes were no longer there.

It had been that way since he caught her cheating , but it got worse after Dilly broke up with him.

"Do you really love that bitch this much?" She was going to say .

But instead she forced a smile and said "you look worried , are you alright?"

"Yes I am" he answered.

"Let's have dinner at the new restaurant in town , I've been there once" she said still smiling even though her face was beginning to hurt from the fake smile.

"No thank you" he replied coldly and walked out of the living room.

Her heart sank as she watched him go away. She missed the Hank that she had fallen in love with , she missed getting drunk with him and making love right away.

She followed right after him not willing to give up. 

"Please baby, just this once, I miss you....." her voice was shaky. Her eyes stung with tears as she looked at him pleadingly. 

He stared at her not knowing how to react. "Okay if that's what you want" He shrugged. 

She threw herself in his embrace as the sob that had built up in her throat forced its way out. It felt good , she had not cried like this in a long time. She knew he hated to see her cry but she was not willing to control the tears, she let it pour out as her shoulders shook.

The gesture got him fixed to the spot, he resisted the urge to wrap his arms around her. He just stood there and allowed her cry on his chest.

Darkness enveloped the room, making Dilly strain her eyes restlessly. The air was hot and cold at the same time, she could hear faint whispers.

She struggled to push her way through the darkness until she fell upon what seemed like a very huge tree.

She recognized this place , she was in the woods again and not in a room like she had thought.

"But why is it so dark?" She murmured under her breath.

Straining her eyes so hard was not helping so she decided to rest a bit under the huge tree.

The sound of someone crying caught her attention and she got up to follow the sound gently. She walked until a faint light came into view , her stomach turned in excitement.

The ray of light was coming from what looked like a cave , she moved closer making sure not to make sound with her feet.

She stopped when she got to the entrance of the cave and peeped inside . She didn't see anyone but she could still hear someone crying , it was loud.

"Hello" she whispered .

Her voice echoed through the cave making her jump back in fear . She had not planned to make that much noise.

She trembled not sure what to do.

"Help me" someone cried from inside the cave.

"Please help me".

Her heart raced drastically , making her feel sick all of a sudden.

Just as she was about to turn around and run for her dear life , she looked up and saw a young girl with big brown eye staring at her . The girl's wings were trapped in a tree branch inside the cave.

She wondered where the tree and the girl came from because she didn't see them earlier.

She wished the grandmaster's messenger would come to her rescue because she was way beyond scared and confused.

"Help me help me" the girl continued crying .

"I'm in pain , help me".

Dilly took a step inside the cave and that was when it dawned on her . The young girl looked exactly like her. If she didn't know better she would have said the girl was her younger sister.

"Are you not going to help your younger self?" The girl said whining.

Dilly hesitated .

"I'm trapped here , if I die out here , you'll die too" she girl said raising her voice.

"Why?" Dilly asked her voice trembling.

The girl eyed her impatiently "because I am you and you are me."

Dilly took another step into the cave and stopped in her track.

She didn't know what she was seeing in this girl's eyes but it was nothing close to honesty.

But she's really trapped on the tree .

Dilly walked gently to the tree , she was about to climb up when a force pulled her back.

She looked back just in time to see Ryan running towards her. His blood shot eyes scared her as he got closer. He had blood in his mouth with fangs growing out from the sides of his mouth. She blinked hoping that she was only imagining things but he only looked paler when he got to her. 

"Don't Dilly , it's a trap" he warned. 

She looked at him confused , she stole a quick glance at the young girl and what she saw startled her .

The young girl was no longer a girl but a scary looking black bird. It flapped its wings and flew out of the cave like it was scared of Ryan. 

Dilly screamed holding unto Ryan tightly regardless of whatever he looked like. She was assured that he would not harm her. 

"It's okay it's okay" he whispered. "I'll not let anyone harm you."

Dilly stiffened as she struggled to open her eyes. She rubbed her sleepy eyes with the back of her palm. She was sweating profusely. 

After her awkward escapade with Sophia, she had acted like Ryan never existed only to start seeing him in her dreams, she tried so hard to remember what the content of the dream was but the more she tried the harder it got. Whatever the dream was she was not willing to dwell on it, not at the moment. She has other pressing issues to attend to, issues like why her best friend had not been returning her calls. Her anger turned to worry since Mat was not reaching out and he was not taking her calls either. It's not been up to twenty four hours but she was still worried. 

She had been doing a great job with avoiding Ryan all week, she was not going to give the weird man a chance to think she was his friend. It annoyed her greatly that he was interfering in her life, why would he think it was okay to interrogate her concerning her affair. 

"Are you my daddy?" she had asked him. 

The sound of his laughter annoyed her more, did he find it funny that she got beat up by her boyfriend's wife. Even though he had scared Sophia away, he did not have the right to lecture her. She never even asked for his help.

Ex-boyfriend.

A loud bang on the door shook her out of her thoughts. 

"Why do people refuse to use the door bell?" She sighed in obvious irritation.

She got up reluctantly, yawning uncontrollably as she walked to the bathroom to splash cold water on her face. Whoever was banging at her door would have to wait, they should pay the price of intentionally ignoring the door bell. 

The knock came again as she was about to get in the shower . It was louder this time making her heart miss a beat. Since her encounter with Sophia, she had mostly stayed indoor reflecting and recharging. 

"What if she really gets me arrested?" she thought. "Or what if she does the most terrible thing ever? like hire someone to kill me?" The thought made her shiver. She assured herself that Sophia would not go that far. 

No one would hurt her in broad day light and besides Ryan is just a block away. He would help her if anyone tries to harm her. She might hate him but she would not hesitate to run to him if troubles comes knocking, one way or the other he was able to scare the almighty Sophia away with just one stare down.

She got out of the bathroom dragging her feet lazily towards the front door. She opened the door without giving it much thought. A small smile crept on her face as she threw herself in Mat's embrace. Seeing her best friend again makes life worth living. He grinned widely as he wrapped his arms around her. 

"where have you been buddy? I have been trying to reach you" She dragged him in not minding the hefty muscles that he had spent years building.

Mat scoffed as he freed himself from her tight embrace " I came because I know you would be worried." His British accent thick through each word he says. 

"What happened to you?" Dilly frowned as she walked into the kitchen to see if there was left over pasta in the fridge. Mat loves eating pasta with chicken wings. 

"I had company, I thought I told you" he smiled. "I dropped her off and came here right away"

Dilly eyed him realizing that he has other things to do with his time asides being her right hand man. She felt guilty all of a sudden for forgetting the fact that he has his own life to live. It dawned on her that he would not always be available and that is totally fine. 

"I was just worried, because it's unlike you to not return my calls" she shrugged. 

He pushed strands of hair behind her ear gently stroking the back of her head in the process " I understand mama, thank you for worrying about me and I am sorry for not returning your calls."