TAYLOR:

The sting on my face immediately brought me back to my senses. I was taken back to the reality of the web I was in with the slap across my face. It hurt me so bad and I could swear that a tear was going to escape my eye.

"Why isn't he picking up the bloody call?" One of the men standing in front of me barked so hard that his saliva was all over my face.

He was one of the three men that kidnapped me on my way to the hospital this morning. I was heading there for a checkup but look at where I ended up.

"I asked you a fucking question!" the kidnapper snapped again and then proceeded to pull my hair so hard that I couldn't help but scream from the pain.

"I don't know," I said amidst tears.

"You sure we got the right one?" Another asked, with the question being directed to the rest of the kidnappers.

"It's her," the third one affirmed.

"The why isn't her husband picking up the call?"

My worry increased from that. I have been trying to reach Rolan but he hasn't even picked up the call. A part of me wished he would pick it up but then another part couldn't ascertain whether I wanted him to.

Even in my critical moment, it was looking like my husband wasn't going to come through for me. I don't even know how else to feel right now.

"You have only five minutes. If he doesn't pick it up within five minutes, consider yourself dead meat," the first kidnapper threatened. Then with that, he continued calling Rolan's line continuously.

At some point, the phone was thrown at me so I would do the calling and I only kept praying that he was going to actually pick up.

My five minutes are almost up. Was this how I was going to die? I never thought this was going to be my end but it was looking like it little by little with each second passing.

Tears streamed down my face as the thought kept radiating through my head while my trembling hands gripped the phone tightly. Rolan cannot do this to me. At least not now.

It was exactly five minutes when the call finally went through. My emotions were on an all time high, so much that I immediately screamed into the phone.

"Rolan!" I called out his name in an emotional way. "Help me, please. Come and get me out of here. If you don't come, I'll die. Please—"

"Shut the hell up, Taylor!" Rolan cut me off through the phone, his voice a mixture of spite and disgust. "What do you think you're doing calling me forty-five times by this time of the day? Have you forgotten that I would still be at work? Have you gone mad?"

"Rolan, I know you're angry at me but I need you to understand the situation. I am not safe right now and the only way—"

This time, he didn't cut me off. No, it was something else that made me cut my sentence short.

"Thank you for coming, Rolan. I really appreciate."

I knew that voice any time. It was a voice that I was very familiar with. A voice that actually caused me a lot of pain.

Malia.

"Look at the baby. He's so cute," her voice went through the phone, making my already wrenched heart to crumble faster.

"He is just as cute as you. There's no doubt that he will look like you when he grows up," Rolan responded to her with affection in his voice which I didn't miss.

"Thank you, Rolan. And I'm sorry for calling you on such short notice. I didn't know who else to call as I was going through labour."

"It's fine. I promised to be always here for you, didn't I? Here's me fulfilling that promise."

"I thought you were on a call..."

"Yeah. But it's unimportant."

"You sure? I must have heard Taylor's voice too. Is she okay?"

"I think so. Hold on let me get back to the call."

I just went through a whole episode of my husband leaving me hanging just to attend to a woman he shared a past with.

Malia was his past. I was supposed to be his present but it seemed he was still holding on to whatever feeling he had for her despite being married to me for over three years.

"Look, Taylor," Rolan called me, "I don't have time for your games. Malia just gave birth and I have to take care of her."

"But I'm really going to die, Rolan," I muttered in a trembling voice.

"Then die! I won't come to your funeral, don't worry."

Instantly, the call went off, leaving me shocked. I tried dialing the line again but it indicated that it was unreachable.

"Looks like we're going to have fun with this bitch before we kill her," one of the kidnappers said while I sat in shock at my predicament.

"We went through all that trouble for it to end like this. I'm so going to enjoy killing her."

As they approached, I sat there frozen. There was literally nothing I could do at this point so I just waited for what was going to happen.

That was until I heard...

"Stop right there!"

TAYLOR:

I must have passed out because the first thing I opened my eyes to see was a strange white ceiling. I was certain that it wasn't where I last was. It definitely didn't look like the hellhole those kidnappers took me in.

I could hear a continuous beep sound so I forced my head to the side to see a machine right beside me. I think I was lying on a bed. And from a place not too far off, I saw a familiar face speaking to a man in a white coat whom I presume to be a doctor.

"She miscarried?" The familiar face who was my brother, Damion, asked the doctor in a visible state of shock.

"Yes. Her body could not handle whatever stress she must have found herself in. And the injuries she sustained didn't help matters. She lost a lot of blood in the process. You need to take good care of her if she's going to recover fast."

I was sitting up when I muttered: "I– I miscarried?" My breath was a mess at that point but I needed to gain clarity on what I heard.

My question caught the attention of both my brother and the doctor as they turned their heads to look at me. Damion looked beaten up when he realized that I was awake and he didn't fail to hide that.

"You– you are awake."

Hearing him say that coupled with the sympathetic look I received from the doctor gave me the answer I needed. I really just suffered a miscarriage.

I broke down into tears almost immediately and Damion quickly rushed to me to offer me comfort. He embraced me while I let the tears flow down freely from my cheeks. I just couldn't believe that I lost the baby that I didn't know I was carrying.

"I know you are hurt but you need to keep your emotions stable, madam. It's going to affect your health otherwise," the doctor advised but that was going to be very hard for me to do.

"Please, stop crying, princess. It's going to be fine, I promise," Damion said while patting my back.

"Brother," I sniffled, "I lost my baby. How's it going to be fine?"

"Because I'm telling you it's going to be. Do you know how scared I was when I received that alert on my phone? I thought I was going to lose you. Thank God I didn't," Damion stated. That was actually how he came down to save me from that hellhole.

My device was connected to his own in a way that would help me alert him whenever I was in danger. I had hit the button on my phone when I was trying to call Rolan unfailingly. If I hadn't been able to do that, so it means I would have been killed just because of my husband's negligence?

"Although I wish I had gotten there earlier, I'm still glad that I was able to make it in time. Please, don't cry anymore."

In no time, I was able to get my emotions back in check. I wasn't completely fine but I just had to stop so I wouldn't hurt myself further even though I wished the earth would just open up and consume me at this moment.

"It isn't your fault, brother," I said. "You came as early as you could. You saved my life and that matters the most."

Rolan really thought I was bluffing. I had my emergency alert connected with his phone and it would have indicated my problem to him. Did he intentionally avoid it? Did he think I was joking?

'Then die! I won't come to your funeral, didn't worry.'

Those words still haunted me. I guess he truly wanted me dead and out of his life.

"Brother," I called out to Damion about an hour later. When he looked at me questioningly, I said, "I want to take a walk."

"I don't think it's safe," he mentioned, concern written on his face.

"Don't worry it's just within the hospital."

He stared at me for a few seconds before eventually agreeing with a nod. In my robe, I stepped out of the ward and began to take slow strides down the hallway.

I hadn't gone too far when I heard the sound of playful laughter. There were two people standing in front of a ward and then a comment from one of them followed afterwards:

"Look at that couple. The husband is so loving. He has been with his wife since she gave birth and hasn't left her side. I wish I had a husband like him."

I moved closer and my eyes went in the direction of the couple. That was when I saw the scene that made my heart sink.

It was Rolan with Malia...

TAYLOR:

Inside the very ward, I could see Rolan feeding Malia like she was his wife while she rocked her newborn child. The scene looked like one straight out of heaven and it caused a variety of feelings for me.

This was my husband in there being so sweet and gentle with another woman. If others don't know, his lawfully wedded wife was standing just outside the ward wondering what really went wrong with her marriage.

The two people that drew me to this place already walked away after observing for a while. I gritted my teeth in anger and was about to push the door open to confront them when I heard Malia speak.

"Rolan," she called my husband's name who immediately fixated his eyes on her, "I need your help on a matter. I don't know who else to speak to it about if not you."

That caught Rolan's interest as he sat completely upright with his face lit. "What's the problem? You know I'll be here for you always so tell me what's the matter you need my help with," Rolan told her in return.

Malia took a deep breath first and then looked straight into the eyes of Rolan. After what seemed like an eternity, she decided to speak.

"I want to divorce my husband. I think I chose the wrong man, Rolan. Our relationship hasn't been anything to write home about and with my son here, I don't think I want to continue. I don't want my son to suffer because of my marriage," she explained.

"You want a divorce from your husband?" Rolan asked and there was a hint of excitement in his tone when he did. One would think that he didn't have his own marriage to think about but this was clear indication for me that he never actually fell out of love with Malia.

I couldn't take anymore of what was going on so I left the door alone and turned around to leave. I couldn't confront them now. The courage to do so already left me. The only thing left me in me was hurt.

This was his chance to chase Malia again. After all, he was supposed to end up with her in the first place if his parents hadn't disapproved of his relationship with her. He never really moved on even though she got married to someone else and he did the same.

As soon as I got back to my ward, I went straight for the bathroom to wash my face. I didn't want my brother to see that I was crying again. It would only worry him.

I should have just listened to him when he told me not to marry Rolan. He and Rolan were best friends and he knew everything about Rolan so he had warned me about getting married to him because he knew Rolan still harbored feelings for Malia.

My foolish self had gone against him because of the love I had for Rolan. I thought I could have a place in his heart but I was just never going to amount to anything to him.

It was time to let go of him. I have had enough already.

As soon as I calmed myself down, I went back to the room to speak to my brother who was on his phone while sitting by the bedside.

"Brother," I called his attention and he looked up at me, his eyes carefully scrutinising me as if trying to determine what I wanted to say before I even opened up.

"What's up?" he asked.

I took a seat on the bed as I prepared to give him the speech I already concocted in my head. Hopefully he takes it well.

I was worried about his reaction but I knew I had to let him know my plans.

Carefully and slowly, I announced, "I'm divorcing Rolan."

"I should have listened to you, brother. He's never going to love me. He still only loves Malia and I will never mean anything to me," I sighed and then added, "I just want out."

I expected my brother to scold me or maybe give me the 'I told you so' statement. But that didn't happen.

Instead, he said, "When will you come back home?"