Chapter 24 EVIL SCHEMES
Arlo asked annoyed by her presence. He stood up from the bed and buried his face in his palms. Arlo dislikes Althea. She has always been a menace to him, right from childhood. He believed back then that she would change once they grew up, but she never changed. She is as manipulative and cunning as ever. Althea has always succeeded on getting on his nerves.
“I want that girl out of the picture!... I don’t care how you do it... just get her away from my Alba” she said with a creased brows and a nonchalant attitude.
“What makes you think we will do your biddings?” Arlo was fuming with her request. She smiled at Arlo’s remark and answered him smugly
“Because I know your secret!” she smiled wickedly. Arlo wagged his head. He was certain that it will be something irrelevant and so he was smug and unbothered by her threat.
“What secret?” Axel asked curiously with expectant eyes.
“That the two of you are freaking Homo’s!” Arlo’s heart sank at her remarks. More so he felt disgusted by her facial expression. ‘Why are people narrow minded’ he wondered for a while. He wouldn’t have mind if she knew a different secret. But this was on a whole new hook she got on them. It could affect Arlo’s career. A career he built with hard work and dedication. He loves Axel in fact, but he hoped he will understand with him. That realization devastated Arlo in the spot.
Axel noticed how devastated Arlo was and he smiled as he answered her.
“Is that even a secret? I really like Arlo, and I wouldn’t mind letting people know about our relationship” Axel answered her unshaken. But Arlo quickly raised his hands in surrender.
“No, you can’t that will affect my career!” He was almost crying. Axel was sad but he was sadder that Arlo was crying. He knew how insecure Arlo was about his sexuality. Because of the entertainment industry. He turned to look at her furiously and asked.
“What do you want?”
“Split them apart! I don’t care how you do it!” she stood up from where she was seated and headed for the door but before she left, she paused and spoke.
“You have ten days to split them, or you would be exposed” she walked away.
When she slammed the door close Axel walked to where Arlo was standing devastated and gave him a warm hug and spoke.
“Don’t worry she is not as smart as I am... she’s all talk, I have a plan” Arlo felt a bit at ease.
They all went to the beach except for Althea who was left behind. Ever since that day that Alba found out Mahina was a virgin, he has been somehow distant from her. He plays naughty pranks at her but never throws himself at her like usual. Neither does he sleep in the same room with her, nor did he ask her out of his room. Instead, he sleeps in a different room. Although Mahina was grateful that he was not sleeping in the same room with her, she was still a bit concern, because it was unlike him. The Alba she came to know was a naughty man who stole kisses from her and treats her like a dotting husband would treat his wife.
Alba was lying under the shed of an umbrella with his legs crossed. There was a knowing smirk on his lips. He was leering at everything in Bikini playfully under his shades when he caught a view of Mahina. He too off his shades and had to catch his breath, he was left agape. She wasn’t the prettiest girl he had ever seen but something about her always caught his attention. He didn’t even know what it was. But his heart always raced at the sight of her.
Mahina was in a sky-blue crisscross front bikini top and a strap bikini. She walked gracefully to stand in front of the ocean, giving him a full view of her perfectly sculpted behind. Alba felt himself growing restless at the sight of her. He closed his eyes and cussed inwardly as he tried to calm his excited self.
As Mahina stood in front of the ocean lost in her thoughts. Dora came running to meet her:
“Hina! Hina! Hina… grrr” Dora was stressed as she was running to meet Mahina. Her face carried a lot of emotions as she was approaching Mahina. But Mahina didn’t even move a muscle she was still staring at the moving waves.
Dora was annoyed about something and had the good mind of pouring her frustration on Mahina, but she couldn’t at one look at Mahina’s sad face. Mahina looked drained and helpless. She didn’t look like her energetic friend anymore. She felt like a whole new person going through a whole lot of stress. Dora sighed, letting go of all her anger at the sight of her sad friend. She couldn’t bring herself to add more trouble to her worried friend.
Dora’s annoyance was because she couldn’t get a blink of sleep when she slept close to a naked Ford. Neither could she run out of the room. Ford had spooned her close to him with his hands wrapped around her waist throughout the night.
She was grateful when Alba called Ford out to talk to him. Because that was the only time she was able to run out of the room. Dora was angry and really wanted to vent her anger on Mahina but there was nothing she couldn’t do for Mahina. Putting away her anger was one of the things Dora would do easily all for the peace of her friend.
Dora stood still and watched the waves with her friend. Mahina felt the presence of her friend and that made her a little bit calm. But she was still worried and had no idea how to tell her friend what was bugging her. Dora knew her friend all too well, so she didn’t ask her what was bugging her. Instead, she decided to stand beside her and just be there for her. She knows that when the time feels right for Mahina, she would tell her. And just like she thought, when Mahina felt overwhelmed, she confided in her:
“Dora, it seems like at every point of my life I am faced with one challenge after another. Is it even normal? Or am I cursed. With Alba I feel like he is a forbidden treasure that I am not supposed to touch but he calls out to me like the forbidden fruit… that was why I wanted to leave all along. I don’t know why but I am just scared”
Dora smiled Lovingly at Mahina. She could relate to what she was feeling for she has been there herself. Dora learnt the hard way that life isn’t a clay that you can manipulate to take any shape you want it to. Looking at Mahina she could tell that was what Mahina wished she could do to her life, but life isn’t bendable:
“We can’t tell the tides the direction to take. We can only allow it to flow in the direction the wind blows it to. So also, we can’t tell destiny what to do, all we can do is to just live life and allow destiny to take its course.”
Mahina hugged Dora tightly and tried not to cry but she couldn’t hold the tears back, so she let it flow. Dora held Mahina’s hands, and they ran into the peak of the ocean together. Alba and Ford were looking at the two from a distance. Ford smirked and said:
“You know I tried to get into Dora’s head, but I couldn’t, I was always blocked by a disturbing sound instead… there is something out of the ordinary about her.” Alba smiled at him and said:
“Touché I can say the same about Mahina…” Their conversation continued as they were enjoying the sight of the beach: