Distance makes the heart grow fonder.

"But nothing makes a room feel emptier than wanting someone in it."
-Calla Quinn

Maverick.

As he heard the name from the other side of the line, he repeated it and the woman affirmed.

Maverick responded with a proper greeting to his mother in law. They hardly saw, upon the fact that their houses were barely a fifteen-minute distance apart. Not that he knew that anyway.

He suspected that she had heard about her daughter's actions.

"How are you, my son?"

"I'm fine thank you ma. And you?"

"No need for you to lie to me. I know you're not fine." Her voice started to quiver again. "I'm sorry, please forgive me. I didn't train my daughter well. I wish I tamed her more, she wouldn't have turned out like this, please don't take it out on her," she pleaded.

By the time she finished the statement, she had burst into full-blown sobs. Maverick felt his cheeks burn.

Just how wicked could Leticia be? Her mother was taking the blame for what she did.

Many times he wondered why she never called or visited her parents. The answers were slowly coming to light.

She was a rebellious child.

"Please ma, don't talk like that. I'm sure you trained her well, Leticia did all she did knowingly. It's not your fault, she chose her path, there was no way you would have stopped her." He tried to soothe the woman. No mother deserved to feel like she didn't do enough.

"How can I not? If not for me, all these wouldn't have happened. If only her father were here, she wouldn't, she... She..." She burst out in tears again.

"Don't say that, please." He understood the pain of the woman.

Maverick knew that Leticia's father had been late for nearly seven years now. Her mother was widowed at a young age, she must be missing her husband so bad in times like this.

His mother in law finally calmed down. "I... I need to see you."

"Sure. I'll make arrangements. When do you want to come?"

"What I want to tell you is very important. I would like to come, tomorrow afternoon latest. If you're not busy?"

"Come whenever you like. I'll let my secretary know that you are coming."

"Thank you, my son. I appreciate." Then she hung up.

With a weary sigh, Maverick dropped on the bed. His eyes rested on Leticia's bed which was beside his.

When he arrived back to Nigeria from England and met his wife, he was quite displeased to know that she would be sharing his personal space. But his sister would not let them stay in separate rooms.

The next alternative was to get two beds in the room, which he did.

He hardly let Leticia stay on his bed. The only time she was allowed to do so was when they were being intimate, and even then, whenever he was through with her, she would go back to her bed.

Not for any serious reason, but not wanting invasion of his space was reason enough for him to set that rule.

Coming back to his present state, the room, the house, everything felt so empty and lonely. On a normal day, by this time she would have been preparing his food.

He rose from his bed to settle on hers, laying down on his stomach with his head on her pillow. Nuzzling the pillow with his nose, her scent that was still lingering on it filled his nostrils.

"Where are you?" He whispered.

A loud rumble came from his stomach.

Hunger.

Maverick sat up on the bed, patting his angry stomach.

He grabbed a sky blue polo shirt from his walk-in closet, with a white jogger.

After dressing up, he picked his car key from the bedside table, slid on his palm slides and excited the room.

He knocked on the door to Michelle's room and got no reply.

"I'm coming in, make yourself decent," he announced and waited a few minutes before stepping into the room.

Michelle was laying on the bed face down, in the clothes she arrived with.

"Come on, Tomi. Don't be like this, dress up and let's go fill your stomach," he said as he saw the tear stricken face of his sister.

"I don't have the appetite," she replied in a shaky voice.

"Tomi! Please now, stop starving yourself. This is why I didn't want to tell you in the first place."

She turned to face him, sitting up. "I was bound to find out whether you told me or not. It's just not fair, Ricky. I took her as my best friend, the sister I never had. How could she do this to us? Why? She knows how much this company means to all of us. How are you not affected by this, Mide?"

"Maybe because I never really cared?" He asked with a shrug.

"That's a lie. You cared for her! You're just hiding it!"

"Tomi. It's fine, I'm fine." He so badly wished he was feeling what he was speaking.

"You wish bro. You wish." She got up from the bed and disappeared into the restroom, leaving Maverick all by himself.

He stared into space, not knowing what to think or do.

His phone vibrated and he retrieved it from his pocket.

'Have you eaten? We're you able to get Michelle?' The message read.

He slipped the phone back into his pocket after replying 'yes' to Lara's message as he was in no mood for small talks.

The door to the restroom creaked and Michelle emerged from the restroom, in a new outfit. A t-shirt and mom jeans.

It was a basic outfit, but he knew how extravagant his sister could be when it came to clothes and accessories.

Once, she bought a bag worth two hundred thousand dollars, saying it was a limited edition. She was only nineteen then, and their mother was not comfortable with it. Long story short Michelle got an earful about the bag, the paparazzi also wouldn't stop making noise about how wasteful a Nigerian teenager was.

Not that Michelle ever cared about what anyone had to say.

"Tomi, Tomi, how much did you get this one again? Five hundred thousand dollars?" He teased.

"Whatever, you can still tease in this situation. Sometimes I think you're bipolar," she shot back and he guffawed.

"Sorry, ma. Shall we go and eat now?"

Michelle walked out of the room, ignoring his question. He shook his head with a smile and went after her.

The first place they stopped at was a nameless but grande restaurant. Of course, they had to wear face masks about because of the eagle-eyed Paparazzi who would follow them about with cameras if they saw their faces.

A billionaire brother and actress sister. It would make a nice story headline, one thing that Maverick hated about being an heir.

Right from when they were teenagers, they were always shoved with cameras in their faces. Michelle loved the spotlight so it didn't affect her. However, she knew her brother wasn't comfortable with it, so she tried her best not to draw attention whenever they were together.

"Three wraps of amala with ewedu and gbegiri. Enough croaker fish inside please."

Maverick shook his head at his sister's order. Even her career could not change her foodie attitude.

"Don't order your food oh, be looking at me. It seems like you want to eat flies this evening," she said and he rolled his eyes.

"Foodie," he muttered.

"I heard you. As if you're any better," she scoffed. "They're still waiting for your order oh."

"Oh, sorry." He gave the waitress a small smile. The lady smiled back, bowing her head. Only his eyes were visible, but one could easily tell that the rest of his face was a delicate work of art.

"I would like what she ordered. Mine should be four wraps instead and with stockfish. Both of our foods should be packed."

Michelle facepalmed and spread her five fingers on her brothers face.

Maverick chuckled at his sister. Although the age gap between them was large-he was older than her for nearly five years, but they were like five and six. He was very open to his sister and vice verse.

Their order arrived some minutes later and they exited the restaurant.

At the house, they started with the food, halfway through Michelle pushed it aside.

"What's the matter?" Maverick asked.

"I can't eat."

"Why?" On an honest note, he also could not eat the food. It wasn't half as good as...

"Leticia's food is ten times better than this," she whined. Exactly what was in his mind.

"I know right." He sighed.

"Well, we have no choice but to manage. Leticia is not going to be preparing food for us again, so we have to get used to it."

The atmosphere became gloomy after the statement.

Shortly after, Michelle took the food to the kitchen and dumped the dishes into the sink. Then she washed her hands and went back to the dining table with a bowl of water for Maverick.

He thanked her and washed his hands too, then they retired to their rooms.

Maverick could not sleep. He tossed and turned on his bed for hours, different thoughts, different memories were running through his mind.

The one that kept reoccurring was the day he held her in his arms when she was fast asleep and she didn't know.

She begged him to hold her that night with tears in her eyes.

"Go to sleep, U.J," he had said to her. When that statement was made, she became quiet.

Sometime later, he couldn't sleep. Guilt was eating him up, he rose from his bed and went towards hers. He stood beside her bed, starting at her sleeping form. The sight of her tear-stricken face didn't sit well with him, so he hugged her to himself all night long. Before she woke up he left her bed as though nothing happened, and she never knew about it.

There was no denying that that was the most peaceful sleep he could ever remember having in his twenty-seven years of life.

From that day, he knew that he was drawn to her. He couldn't explain it, but it was not the kind of feeling that was between friends or siblings. It was a foreign feeling which he was not ready to name.

Maverick sighed. He wished Leticia would be back in his arms. He would accept her, even if he had to keep it a secret that she was with him.

After all, there was nothing money could not do.

He put a leash on his thoughts before they could become any more stupid. The things he thought because of Leticia...

The night went so fast that it felt like it was never there.

Maverick arrived at the office in a bad mood. Everyone steered clear of him because they all knew how he could be, Lara included.

"Sir, One Mrs Adama is here to see you," his assistant informed him.

He had even forgotten her call the day before. He motioned for her to let the woman in.

His mother in law came in looking forlorn with bags under her eyes, similar to his.

"Good morning ma." He stood up and bowed.

"Morning my dear, please sit down."

Maverick took his seat and she did the same.

"I'll hit the nail on the head. I came to tell you something very important."

He nodded for her to continue.

"So... Some years back, when my daughter was still eighteen, she brought a picture to me, telling me that the person in the picture was who she wanted to marry. I didn't acknowledge her, until she put a knife to her throat, threatening to end her own... Her life, if I don't get her married immediately." Leticia's mother started to sob loudly, leaving Maverick to process the information he just heard.

😩😩😩😩 forgive me for the late update. No excuses, but mehn, my school did me strong thing.

Either way, how do y'all find the chapter? What do you think about Leticia's mother?
And Michelle?

Please do amebo with me about your thoughts😂😋

Abeggi, lemme come and be going. See y'all later😘😘😘

PS: thanks a million times for reading, I really appreciate 🥺❤❤❤
Tap that orange button down there if you've liked this story so far🥺🥺🥺