Reyona quickly entered the bathroom so that his voice wouldn't be heard over the phone.
On second thought, she locked the bathroom door before she picked up the call.
"Hi, Mom," she said with a smile.
"What is this, dear? What is going on? How did this even happen? How can you hide this from us? This can't be true, can it?" Gladys Rochester asked anxiously over the phone.
"Mom. Mom, please calm down. What are you talking about?"
"Reyona Beatrice Dexter, don't you have something to tell me? Why do you have to let us find out like this? What are you doing? Who are those kids, eh? Just tell me they are not who I think they are. Are they?!"
"Mom…" Reyona moved her phone from her ear and she felt it vibrating with another call.
She was surprised to see Samantha's number.
Samantha wouldn't call her on a weekend unless it was something very urgent.
Dread settled in Reyona's bones as she thought of the coincidence.
Her mum's call.
And now Samantha?
Her mom asking about the kids.
How did she…?
"Mum, did you hear anything about…?"
"Of course, I heard something. I heard and read too. How can you make me find out like this, Rey? Is it true that you got married to him? Without telling us? And those kids? They are your ex's children, aren't they?"
"Yes, mom, but…."
"Oh my God. What have you done, Rey? What is this? I can't…no, I can't deal with you right now. It is like I don't even know you anymore."
With that, the call was disconnected.
Reyona sank slowly to the tub's edge as she tried to call her mother back.
She disconnected the call before it could ring and called her dad instead.
She braced herself for the disappointment she might hear in his tone.
He had always supported her choices and never condemned her mistakes, but Reyona felt it might be different this time.
The hurt in her mother's tone cut deep into her heart and the guilt she had suppressed over the past months reared its barbed head.
The assurance she had always convinced herself that she would later tell them after all this had passed seemed thoughtless at that moment.
Her actions hurt her mum and her dad would probably be more disappointed.
All because of a situation she could have distanced herself from.
"Could you really have though? You are not the type to look away when someone is in need". Her subconscious decided to be supportive that morning, yet its reminder did nothing to console her.
Reyona sighed in frustration when she heard the notification that the person she was calling was on another call.
She waited till the call was disconnected and called Samantha back.
"Hello, ma. Thank God, I was getting ready to come to your place. Have you seen the news?"
Just what she thought.
Rubbing her aching temple, Reyona asked "What is it?"
Samantha explained what she could, then she sent links to Reyona.
Reyona put her phone on Do Not Disturb, and started checking the trail of what could be another big scandal for ReyDexter.
Someone had taken different pictures of Reyona and Maxwell together, then they had sold them to media outlets with the juicy bit that the two are together.
One of those outlets, which was not even a Kayooma media outlet, published the picture the day before with the caption.
"After divorce, ReyDexter CEO found love again"
Other media outlets that had varying pictures of the two of them together must have seen that, and because they didn't want to lose the freshness of the news, they all posted the pictures they had with them between the interval of the night before and that morning.
Each of them had varying captions.
Then one of the articles was about the pictures of Reyona, Maxwell and the kids the day before.
That one had a headline of "Was ReyDexter boss cheating on her husband all along?"
Then a photo caption of "Reyona Dexter, CEO of ReyDexter seen with her children and new husband"
The narrative of Maxwell being her husband was driven from the first images that had been released.
A collection of images of when Reyona and Maxwell arrived at the registry, when they were leaving, and when the two came out of the registry side by side.
Online posts have been reposted many times already.
Reyona's stoic expression wavered when she saw a post which brought up Thomas's declaration at the press meeting about Reyona cheating on him.
People started speculating if Maxwell was the lover she had been cheating on her husband with after all.
Reyona chuckled humorlessly when she saw some people wondering if they had wronged Thomas after all by believing Reyona's story in the live session she had crashed.
Once she had got the bulk of the gist, Reyona cleared her browser and removed the DND from her phone.
She could see missed calls from Toria and her dad.
Reyona decided she would call them back.
For now, she has some damage to repair.
This situation had done enough damage to her life and she would be damned if she would allow it again.
At first, she blamed herself for acting without much thought and engaging herself in messy situations like this again.
Yet the last image with the damning accusation was also the one that helped to firm her determination the most.
That particular picture had been taken when they were at the shopping centre and the children had just finished laughing at Maxwell's antics.
The animated look on their faces made her realise one thing.
If she had this to do again, she would still choose to take any action that could lead to them being that happy.
Messy situations aside, they are just kids.
And every child deserves to be happy.
All she had done was ensure that.
If some bastards wanted to lurk somewhere behind cameras to swipe at her years of sweat because of that, they would have to think again.
The first time, she had only scrambled after the damage they had done with the hope of patching things up.
This time, they would wish they had not tried that with her.
As she stood up from the edge of the tub she had sat all through and winced at the pain in her calf, determination overrode the initial anxiety and panic she had felt.
Yes, she was sorry towards her family and she would find ways to make amends.
But if some faceless bastards thought they would bring her down again, they would be in for a nasty surprise.
A soft knock came from the door.
"Reyona, are you okay?"
She looked towards the door and tried to analyse her feelings about his involvement in this issue.
What did she feel towards him?
Anger? Blame? Regret?
Reyona realised surprisingly that she felt none of those at all.
She had done everything she did of her own accord.
Yes, he might have managed to pull her in more than she had ever intended, but she had done this willingly.
Being a hypocrite was not something she was known for, and she was not about to change that now.
Could it be that she had never thought of the consequences that might come from their involvement?
Of course, she had.
Yet she had done what she felt was right anyway.
Now, was not the time to point fingers, it was the time to crush any finger intent on jabbing her in the eyes.
Not again.
The doorknob twisted before the knock came again.
"Please, let me in, okay? At least let me know you are alright." his concerned voice came through the door again.
Reyona smiled humourlessly and wondered how things might have been if he had been the one she had met in that gym all those years ago.
Or in college.
Or….
"Just give me a moment, okay? I will be out soon," she said.
"Oh, alright. I will be waiting" he said immediately.
Reyona looked at herself in the mirror before she picked up her phone again.
She called Rouarke and made an appointment with him.
After that, she called the head of ReyDexter's legal department.
By the time she finished giving out the directives, Reyona was feeling much better.
Then she called Toria back.