Chapter 5

Her mother was pleased to see her although she pretended to still be angry with Farrah. She had Neemah make a steaming bowl of chicken noodle soup for Farrah with a slice of freshly baked almond bread and a cup of black tea infused with fresh mint leaves.

It felt good to be pampered and Farrah knew coming back home was the best thing she could do for herself right now. She retired to her room and took a long nap. When she woke up around 7 p.m., Farrah felt somewhat refreshed. She left her room in search of her family and she was informed by one of the domestic staff that they were in the dining room having dinner.

“There’s my princess!” her father said happily as she entered the dining room.

“Hey, Daddy!” She walked over to where he sat at the head of the table to hug him. She kissed her mom on the cheek and hugged Uncle Ranveer.

“Where have you been?” she asked her uncle. “I didn’t see you when I got here earlier.”

“Yeah, I was at work.”

“Work?” Farrah couldn’t hide her surprise.

“Ranveer just started an internship program with the IT department in your dad’s marketing company,” her mother said proudly. “After the program, he stands a chance of getting employed as a full-time staff in the department.”

Uh-oh. Farrah thought. Just as she’d suspected, her uncle was going to be in Nigeria for a long, long time. Not her problem though, because the wedding he supposedly came for has been canceled, but if staying here was what rocked his boat these days, who was she to complain? Besides, her parents didn’t seem to mind at all.

“That’s great,” she lied with a bright smile on her face. “Congratulations, Uncle.”

“Thank you, my dear. It’s such an exciting opportunity and I am so enjoying it.”

“Glad to hear that,” her dad said even though he didn’t sound glad. Only Ranveer and her mother were genuinely happy about this internship thing.

“Does that mean you’re not going back to India anytime soon? You know the wedding is canceled, right?” Farrah asked just to be clear.

“Farrah!” her mother admonished her sharply. “Don’t be rude.”

Her dad nearly burst out laughing, so he cleverly converted it to coughing and then buried his face in his glass of water.

Ranveer smiled tightly. “I’ve decided to stay back in Nigeria for now,” he said.

“Sounds good,” Farrah replied before grabbing an empty plate to serve herself some spaghetti. The rest of the dinner went smoothly without any more hiccups.

Later that night as they lounged in the cozy family room upstairs, Farrah curled up beside her dad on the couch while her mom sat on a rocking chair crocheting a wool sweater. It was one of her preferred past times. Ranveer was downstairs in the living room watching a movie on the 72-inch ultra-HD plasma TV.

“I’m glad you came home,” her dad told her. “And I am so proud of you for taking such a bold decision despite how difficult it must have been for you. I am learning so much from you, Farrah. You’re a brave young woman.”

“I don’t feel so brave right now,” she admitted.

“I know that feeling,” her mother said without looking up from her crocheting. “That was how I felt when I defied my family to marry your dad.”

“I think you two are more alike than you realize,” her dad said with a smile. “Don’t worry, Cupcake. You did the right thing. Everything is going to be fine, eventually.”

“I hope so,” she said quietly.

Later that night when she went to bed, she had a strange dream.

She was walking in a dark forest, it was nighttime and she could see a full moon on the horizon. As she wandered about in the forest, trying to find a way out, she suddenly saw Alex in front of her. He was walking away from her and heading into a thick mist that was beginning to form on the other side of the forest. She tried calling out to him, but her voice wouldn’t come out. She tried to run to him, but her legs felt heavy. Everything in the dream seemed to be happening in slow motion. Right before her eyes, Alex disappeared into the mist. She kept walking ahead, hoping to reach the mist in time to save Alex. Suddenly, a pair of glowing eyes appeared in the mist, stopping her in her tracks. She knew she should be afraid, but she wasn’t. As the creature began to emerge out of the darkness, Farrah woke up.

She checked her bedside clock and saw that the time was 1:33 a.m. which meant she’d only been asleep for a few hours. She got out of bed, grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge in her room, and drank a few gulps before returning to bed. She slipped back into slumberland the moment her head hit the pillow.

******

The creature sat under a huge pine tree in the forest, feeling confused and out of sorts. He didn’t understand what had just happened. He’d found himself in a human’s dream and he couldn’t fathom how he’d gotten there. It had been a brief encounter, but it left him seriously shaken. What did it mean? He wondered.

He’d heard tales about some of his kind appearing in the dreams of others, but it was a rare occurrence that mostly happened to creatures with soul ties. He’d never heard of any of his kind appearing in the dreams of humans before. So why did this happen to him? Who would interpret this strange dream to him? He didn’t even recognize the human and he was sure he’d never met her before.

With a shake of his head, the creature rose from his resting place beneath the pine tree and began his journey home. He concluded that it was best to keep this weird development to himself for now. If it happened again, he would seek help. Until then, it was his puzzle to solve.

******

Farrah woke up to someone knocking softly on her bedroom door. She stretched lazily and yawned. She could see rays of sunshine slicing into the room through the slightly parted curtains at the window.

“Farrah darling, are you awake?” her mother asked from the other side of the door.

“Yes, Ma. Come on in,” she replied.

Her mother opened the door tentatively and glided in like a fairy on wheels. She wore a silk tiger print robe over her nightgown; her long hair was in a messy bun, and she looked like she’d been crying. She held her iPad to her chest as if she was afraid that someone might snatch it away from her. Farrah was instantly worried.

“Ma, are you ok?” Farrah asked.

Her mom sat on the edge of her bed, still holding on to the iPad. “Farrah, is it true? Is Alex gay?”

Farrah’s brain froze. “What? Who told you that?”

Her mom turned the iPad around and Farrah saw the huge headlines written in bold red ink: BILLIONAIRE HEIRESS, FARRAH NJOKU, CALLS OFF WEDDING TO SENATOR MIKE OLANIYI’S SON OVER ALLEGATIONS OF GAY RELATIONSHIP

“No!” Farrah panicked. “Who did this?”

“One popular sleazy gossip blog posted this news late last night and by this morning, all the others have started talking about it too. Ranveer tells me that it’s already trending on Twitter.”

“Oh my goodness,” Farrah gasped. “This can’t be happening.”

“There is no smoke without fire, Farrah. Tell me, dear, is this true? Did you catch Alex in bed with another man?”

Farrah knew there was no point in lying about the matter any longer. It had become public knowledge, so she might as well confess to her mom.

“Yes, Ma. It’s true,” she whispered.

“Oh my god!” Her mother gasped. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

She shrugged. “What difference would it make? The point is he cheated on me and broke my heart. I would have still called off the wedding if it had been a woman I caught him with. I can’t marry someone I don’t trust.”

“Oh, Farrah,” her mom breathed and embraced her tightly. “I’m so sorry. Please forgive me for not supporting your decision to cancel the wedding. To be honest, I was hurt too when you said Alex had cheated on you, but you see, that wedding wasn’t just a wedding to me. It was my golden opportunity to show off to my family and make them see that we were living like royalty here. I was so blinded by my desire to feed my family the humble pie that I failed to see your pain. Can you ever forgive me, Farrah?”

Farrah smiled. “There’s nothing to forgive, Ma. I understood why you acted the way you did and I’m not mad at you. I was, but not anymore.”

“Thank you, darling. You’re such a gem.”

“Has Dad seen this?”

“Yes, he has. He’s at work now, though. He had an early morning shareholder meeting at RAYKAR OIL, but he’ll be back home once it’s over.”

“Gosh, this is so bad…”

“Well, none of this is your fault. Whoever leaked the story did it to hurt you and Alex, but I’m sure you’ll come out of this stronger and better.”

“Thanks, Mom. Thank you for saying that.”

Her mom tweaked her cheek playfully in response.

“Could you excuse me, Ma? I’d like to make a phone call.”

“Of course, dear. I’ll be in my room if you need me.”

Once her mom left, Farrah picked up her phone and dialed Kessiana's number. Her friend answered after the first ring.

“How could you, Kessiana?” Farrah asked. She was so disappointed in her best friend.

“Farrah, are you ok? What are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb with me, Kess. You’re the only one I told about Alex and Priye, and now the whole world knows too. How could you do that?”

“Farrah, I wish you would just get straight to the point and tell me what you’re accusing me of. I’m at work,” Kessiana sounded impatient.

“Fine! I’ll play along with you. So, my mom just showed me a blog post now talking about how I caught Alex in bed with his gay partner, and that I’d called off the wedding.”

“What?” Kessiana sounded genuinely shocked.

“Kess, you’re the only one I told the full story. I didn’t even tell my parents who I caught Alex with. Nobody else knew that part but you. Who did you talk to?”

“Farrah, I swear to you, I didn’t discuss it with anyone. Please, you have to believe me. I would never betray you like this; I swear. I didn’t do this.”

Farrah wanted to believe her friend, but it was hard. Kessiana was the only one who knew the full details of what went down at Alex’s place. She couldn’t even suspect Nadia because she hadn’t told her stylist friend who she’d caught Alex with. Only Kess knew the truth until now.

“I trusted you, Kess. But for you to do something like this…It’s quite disappointing.”

“Farrah, it wasn’t me,” Kessiana insisted.

Farrah’s phone buzzed, showing that she had an incoming call. It was Alex.

“Ok Kess, please hang up. Alex is calling me.”

Once Kessiana hung up, Farrah answered Alex’s call.

“You promised, Farrah,” he said angrily. “You promised to keep quiet!”

“Alex, it wasn’t me,” she replied calmly.

“Then who was it? Who did you tell?”

“Nobody. I didn’t tell anyone,” she lied and hated herself for it.

“Liar!” he shouted angrily. “Now that you have ruined my life, I hope you’re happy.”

“Alex, I didn’t do it,” she said but the line was already dead.

******

By noon that day, Farrah had to switch off her phone because she kept getting calls from different numbers that she didn’t recognize. She’d answered a few of them earlier and they’d turned out to be news reporters and some bloggers who wanted to get a comment from her regarding the trending news about her canceled wedding and her alleged bisexual ex-fiancé. She’d told them to leave her alone, but the calls didn’t stop.

Farrah wondered if Kessiana had also leaked her phone number to the news people. Why would Kess even do all that? Was it for money or just pure malice? That was so unlike her friend; Kessiana was a very reasonable and trustworthy person. Until now.

When her father returned from his meeting in the afternoon, he invited her and her mother into her study and they discussed the matter at hand. Together, they agreed to call Alex’s parents to apologize for the leaked story, while reiterating their decision to cancel the wedding. Farrah’s dad believed that a discussion of this magnitude should take place in person and not over the phone. He called his P.A to set up the meeting immediately.

To their dismay, the P.A called back in the evening to inform Farrah’s dad that the Olaniyis had declined his request for a meeting with them.

“That’s not a good sign,” Farrah said.

“Don’t worry about it, Cupcake. I’ll call Senator Olaniyi in the morning and straighten this out man to man,” her dad assured her.

Dinner was a sober affair that night; even the ever-cheerful Ranveer was in a laid-back mood. Despite her father’s assurance, Farrah knew that the refusal by Alex’s family to meet with hers spelled trouble. These were powerful people who valued their name and image above everything, and they were ready to protect that image with all that they had.

What have I gotten my family into? Farrah wondered miserably.

******

The answer to her question came the next morning in the form of a press release from Alex’s family in which they vehemently denied that Alex was gay or that he cheated on Farrah for that matter. They claimed that the wedding was canceled because both families could not agree on certain key issues, and they, the Olaniyis, were not ready to comprise on their values. They thanked everyone who reached out to them yesterday amid the storm but appealed to the public to please grant the family some privacy in this difficult time to enable them to recover from the scandal.

You’d think that statement would put an end to the matter, but no, the hungry bloggers went to work spinning all kinds of tales from thin air. Some claimed that the wedding was canceled because the Njokus wanted Alex’s family to pay for the extravagant wedding and also foot the bills for the flight and accommodation of their Indian guests. Another blogger claimed that Farrah was a spoilt brat who wanted to control Alex and isolate him from his family and friends. One blogger even claimed that Farrah’s dad was a fraudster who made his billions from illicit activities and that his so-called conglomerate was just a façade.

Reading all those lies made Farrah sick, but she couldn’t help herself. With every passing hour, the headlines became nastier and the details uglier. How people could sit down somewhere and cook up all manner of falsehood about someone they didn’t know was baffling. Sadly, their audience believed it all. Social media was on fire with hundreds of comments, many of them bashing Farrah and her parents—a.k.a. the family of social climbers.

Farrah wished she could just disappear. The disgrace was too much, particularly for her innocent parents whose only crime was standing by their daughter who didn’t want to be involved in a loveless marriage. Although she couldn’t prove it, Farrah suspected that Priye had a hand in this media frenzy including the press release. She couldn’t help but admire his devotion to Alex. She wondered what it would feel like to have some ride hard like that for her against all odds. Must be nice, she thought sadly.

Within the space of 48 hours, her life had become a living nightmare. She cried all through the day and refused to eat.

Her parents curled up beside her in bed that evening, trying to cheer her up but she’d sunk so deep into a dark hole of despair that their attempts to bring her out of it wasn’t working.

“You know what, Cupcake, I think it’s time for you leave the country for a bit till this madness blows over. These blogger people won’t stop publishing lies about our family until they see some fresh scandal to pounce on, and right now, we don’t know when that will be.”

“Your Dad is right, Farrah,” her mother agreed. “This is just the beginning, and it will get worse in the coming days.”

“Then we should all go together,” Farrah said. “It’s all of us they’re bashing.”

“But you’re the main target of those cyberbullies. Your mom and I were only mentioned in passing,” her dad said with an amused smile.

Farrah appreciated his effort to make a joke about the awful situation.

“You remember my cousin, Indira? The one married to the American banker,” her mom ventured tentatively.

“Yes, I remember her. What’s up?”

“Well, she and her husband are staying at their London home for now. I don’t know if you’re aware, but they own a lovely holiday home on the island of St. Kitts and Nevis. Your dad and I have been there once.”

“I didn’t know that,” Farrah said.

“Well…I called Indira a short while ago to ask if it was ok for you to stay there for a couple of days, and she said yes. She said you can stay there for as long as you want.”

“I don’t want to run away, Ma. I didn’t do anything wrong,” Farrah said stubbornly.

“You’re not running away, Farrah. You’re taking a break for the sake of your sanity,” her dad told her. “If not for yourself, please do it for us, sweetheart. I want my real Farrah back.”

Those heartfelt words brought fresh tears to Farrah’s eyes. Her parents were right; she needed to get far away from all the negativity that Alex and his family have thrown her way today. She needed a fresh start!

“Ok,” she conceded. “I’ll go to St. Kitts and Nevis.”

“Great!” Her mom nearly jumped off the bed in excitement.

“We could ask Neemah to go with you if you like. You know, to keep you company,” her dad suggested.

“That would be nice,” Farrah said. “When do we leave?”