From happy, to. . .

They call it Cherophobia nowadays; the fear of being happy, the fear of losing yourself in happiness. Now that is a weird aversion to have. People think; what is so dangerous in a happy situation? Of course, for you, there isn't, but for a person searching for proof of cracks in the wooden floor, for evidence of an unknown and (maybe) a non-existent reason for it to fail usually finds death in his/her backyard.

                                                                                                             -JIA.

Leticia.

"Anty, we don reach (Miss, we're here)."

"Thank you, Oga (Sir)." She appreciated as she stepped out of the car, handing him his money. With a nod of acknowledgement, the man reversed the car and sped off.

She yawned as she made her way to the apartment's elevator.

'Elevator maintenance from 9 pm-7:30 am.' "Ughhh!" She groaned as she saw the notice posted on the elevator door. With all the fatigue she was feeling, she would still have to climb over five fleets of stairs before reaching her flat.

She felt like laying on the ground and sleeping off until the morning. Shaking her head at her absurd thought, Leticia proceeded with slouched steps towards the stairs.

Panting and sweating after the exhausting walk, a relieved sigh escaped her lips as she stopped at her apartment door. She punched in the door code and pushed it open. 

Her stomach growled as she plopped on the chair. Patting her stomach, she lay down on the couch as food was the least of her problems, sleep was the major thing on her mind. Her eyes wandered across the sitting room, resting on her husband's portrait that was hanging down the wall at the corner. 

His handsome face was adorned with one of his rarest smiles. She smiled, wondering how one could be so good looking.

In their not so short marriage, she had always longed for Maverick to warm up to her, and her longing had started becoming fulfilled as he had been treating her less of a stranger recently, contrary to how he did before.

Why should she not be happy when her long time prayer had been answered? There and then, Leticia decided that she would be happy, let that feeling of happiness consume her. After all, nothing else could go wrong in her life because she had seen the worst already.

With a content sigh, she turned on the couch, ready to get some shut-eye since she had no strength to go to the room. She was revelling in happiness, a goofy grin plastered across her face. 

She felt like squealing.

Well, that was until she heard a sound of footsteps. Leticia jumped up from the couch in alarm, her smile morphing into an anxious look because as far as she could recall, there was no one else in the house except her. 

The time on her phone read forty-seven minutes past ten in the night.

Maverick had gone on his impromptu business trip a day before, and he clearly stated that he was not going to be back until the next two weeks. After managing to regain his company, someone had been stealing millions of recent. His reason for travelling was to get this thief, lock him/her/them up and recover the stolen funds because if care was not taken, the company would be in huge debts before the year's end. She prayed that they caught the criminal before any major damage was caused.

It couldn't be Michelle either as she had also travelled out of the country for a movie shoot, so who else could it be at this time? Her mother-in-law? 

There was only one way to find out.

With sweaty palms and fearful eyes, Leticia tip-toed towards the sound which was coming from her and Maverick's room. 

She pushed the door open and stepped in. She squinted her eyes to adapt them to the light that suddenly came on.

When she adjusted to it, she browsed the room. She gasped with a startled jerk as Maverick emerged from the bathroom with his secretary trailing behind. 

It was just Maverick, she confirmed. She pressed a palm to her heart, letting out a huge breath followed by a shaky laughter.

Lips pulled up into a wide smile, she launched herself into his arms with a delighted squeal. "Mide!"

 'Olumide' was his Yoruba language name given to him by his mother. The name meant... whatever. She had forgotten the meaning again.

Since Maverick was fond of calling her by her local name 'U.J', in full Uyo-Ojo which meant Joy of God, she too had started calling him by his. It was a way to avoid pet names which she knew he was not comfortable with.

Leticia was not a stranger to not getting her hugs returned, but it caught her off guard when he ripped her off himself.

She gave him a questioning stare and dropped her gaze, fiddling with her fingers at the outright rejection, especially in the presence of his secretary.

His gaze was sharp and unfaltering, jaw locked with a flushed face as he towered above her with a tense posture. 

Leticia had witnessed Maverick's anger twice, and she knew better than to step on his nerves. The man rarely got angry, but when he did, It was not a pretty sight to behold.

She racked her brain to see if she had done anything to warrant his anger; however, nothing was coming.

A thought had her gasping. Was it because she joined the baking classes?  

When they got married, Maverick had instructed her not to work after completing her education. A few times, she asked him what his reason was and he had simply ignored her question. Since then, she never questioned him again.

Being one who hated idleness, she had discussed having children and he agreed which she was thankful for -at least she would be taking care of a child. Twice she had gotten pregnant but it ended in tears.  

Her daily routine was to wake up, clean the house, prepare Maverick's breakfast, then lunch which she took to his office when it was time. By the time she would be through with the work, she was always left idle and bored out of her wits.

Having gotten tired of lazing about, she secretly joined a baking school as she loved anything pastries. She would go for three hours after Maverickleft for work, then return home before his lunchtime to avoid getting caught by him.

Still, the gaze aimed at her spoke otherwise. He had probably found out about her little escapades. 

"M-maverick, I-I-I'm s-sorry," she apologised. Her body was trembling in trepidation and she awaited his reply. 

She jumped when he let out a burst of a satirical chuckle. Her limbs shook as the cold laughter reverberated within the walls of the room. 'This is not good,' her mind whispered and she agreed. 

"Where are you coming from by this time of the night?" He demanded.

"I just arrived from the market, there was serious traffic on the road and..." She trailed off in a soft tone, breaking out in cold sweat at the intensity of his glare.

"Tell me, Leticia, do I look or seem like a fool to you?" He asked, face contorting back to his earlier frosty look. 

He called her 'Leticia'and that spelt trouble as he rarely used the name.

"I-I rea--l-ly did not know it w- I mean, I-" Her words came out jumbled and incomprehensible due to her stuttering.

He held up his hand, halting her speech. "Who knew that you were just a wolf in sheep's clothing? All the innocence and your irritating chaste behaviour were all lies," he spat in a calm tone.

She shot him a quizzical look, scratching the nape of her neck as his statement was puzzling. What exactly did the man mean by his utterances?

"I-I don't quite get-"

"Shut the hell up!" He bellowed and she flinched at the animalistic growl-like manner which the sound came out. 

He took a threatening step towards her and she backed away. 

"You have a very impressive talent, I think you should sign up for acting. How were you able to deceive me all these years, Leticia?" 

"Mide, I really do not know what you're saying." Her voice came out more firm than the last time.

"Don't call me that," he snapped and she bit her lower lips. "I will show you, maybe this will jerk your memory." He picked some files from the reading table and threw it at her. She caught the file and opened it, skimming through it to see what it was that had him so livid.

None of the documents was fathomable to her. "Maverick why are you giving me this fi..."

"One more word and I'll make sure to deal with you more than I intend," he barked and she stopped herself from speaking any further.

"Leticia, how could you be so cruel? You saw me put in my sweat and blood to get my father's company back, but all you could do was to try to bring it to ruins a second time?" His tone held hurt and disbelief.

Her eyebrows furrowed further. What in the world was he saying?

"Since you keep pretending, I'll enlighten you. Leticia, your wickedness has been exposed. Did you think you would never be caught?" He took another step towards her and she cowered back in fear.

What wickedness? Caught doing what?

"You were the one stealing my company's money! You fucking stayed with me in this house, watching me struggle to get the culprit, not knowing that you were behind it!" He roared.

Cliffhanger! Hehehe. . . 

Hi beautiful fam, another chapter of 'Torn within' done. What do you think about the quote? Does it fit the chapter's events? Please share your thoughts on it.

Oh, and Abuja is a place in Nigeria, Nigeria's capital to be precise.

So. . . that's all for now. Until next time, Chubiley.