One Night With Mr Braxton

” Excuse me, what’s going on? Let me through.” Emma said, pushing to the front of the crowd.

” Oh my God, I think she’s the owner, I saw her not too long ago entering that room.” A woman said loudly, making the rest of the people look at her with pity.

Emma was undeterred. She finally got to the front of her door with slight ease after the announcement and suddenly felt like collapsing on the floor. She couldn’t believe her eyes.

Without a word, she took shaky steps into the entrance of her broken studio and swept through the remains of what was supposed to be the home of her most prized and personal designs.

The room was damaged beyond repair, starting from the dismantled doors to the torn couch, overthrown table and chairs, including the stands which held her designs. Rather, the stands which previously held her designs.

Now, everything was dismantled and destroyed into a gigantic heap of nothing. Everything was destroyed. Emma rushed into the room, headed towards the closet at the far end of the room. As she navigated the pile of rubbish, she could only hope and pray that some certain things were untouched.

She could lose everything, every single thing and be alright so long as her precious remained untouched. It was all she hoped for. Her hands shook as she held the door to the closet and it immediately fell apart.

It had been tampered. Of course it was! What was she thinking? These people were after her sanity! Her designs and that of her mother had been carted away. The most painful part of the situation was the fact that they’d taken out time to leave a message, awaiting her arrival.

The message only proved that whoever was responsible knew her too well. Knew her well enough by the message left behind.

” Happy birthday! I hope you enjoyed the surprise!”

Emma stood in front of the closet, reading the inscription over and over again. Her eyes blinked with tears and her heart gripped with a gut wrenching pain. She couldn’t believe it was gone.

Her mother’s designs. The one thing that kept her sane and encouraged in this gruesome journey. One thing that helped her endure the years of torment in her own home was taken away by the enemy.

The onlookers watched with odd expressions as she fell to her knees, still boring into the closet. They had been on the verge of calling the police and registering a break in, but with the supposed owner’s reaction, they wondered if it was needed.

They were yet to witness any display that insinuated the need for assistance and little by little, they all cleared out, each feeling the scene was becoming a tad bit too personal and emotional to watch.

It didn’t take a soothsayer to know that it was a planned attack. Whosoever did it had intentions of doing it for a long time and even quietly so. The security cameras were wiped out and every trace or footage of what actually went wrong was removed without mercy.

Not only was the room in disarray, the walls were haphazardly stained with colour, and shredded papers dipped in color were literally everywhere. It was a huge mess.

The last statement described how Emma felt about her life at the moment. She didn’t know where to begin. She had headed over with a clear idea on what she wanted to do moving forward but now, she felt lost and in the middle of an ocean.

Emma thought back on her last couple of days and affirmed the fact that there had to be something wrong with her. Was it because of her damned birthday? She didn’t know what to think anymore as she counted her most recent woes.

Her birthday somehow managed to become the engagement ceremony of her step sister and ex lovers, she was taken against her will to the house of a bizarre man and somehow managed to get offered 20 million dollars in exchange for her soul, she got threatened to silence and blackmailed by her supposed family after finding out her ideas and designs were being incorporated without her permission.

And now, the remnants of her supposed designs. Had been carted away to God knows where. It was definitely safe to say that twenty one wasn’t her best age so far.

Emma got up to her feet with a sorrowful heart and began salvaging what she could. Soon enough, it was clear to her that there was nothing to salvage. Everything had been thrown upside down that she didn’t know how to clear it out.

She was alone in the room and in the world. Her messed up and disastrous world. She didn’t have anywhere else to go and figured she had to make space for her to relax and restrategize.

Deciding to go with that, Emma got to work, putting everything away and attempting to clear out the place. Her mind and body was on autopilot as she worked herself to stupor, picking up everything and trying u successfully to put the place in order.

In her heart, she was determined to get everything back. She knew everything happening to her was as a result of the teamed efforts of her step mother, sister and Colton but she was going to get them back even if it was the last thing she did.

By the time Emma was done, her former studio became an empty shack. She was unable to save anything and in the process of cleaning up, every single thing she owned was disposed of.

Emma finally took a look out and noticed it was getting late. The atmosphere was becoming very chilly and her stomach growled. She had managed to go through the day without eating and it was telling on her.

Deep inside, Emma felt the need to cry but being one who preferred to lock up her emotions, she kept them in. She didn’t want to give her enemies the joy of seeing her break down. She refused to let herself fall even if it was in her closet.

She reckoned there wasn’t any part of her life that she was fortunate to manage without the input of anyone except her true emotions. With Colton, she had tried to grant him asses but due to his busy state, she never got around doing it or even feeling comfortable enough to do it.

Emma turned out her pockets which held her last penny and made out of the house to get something. Pitiful expressions followed her, coming from the neighbors which made her move even quicker.

She didn’t need pity. She didn’t want to feel any more pain than she nursed. She just wanted a quiet time alone from everything. She needed to come back strong and powerful enough to seek recompense.

But for now, what she needed the most was food. She needed to get through the night first. She believed every other thing would follow in due time.

Meanwhile, Talia was in the company of Colton tangled between sheets.

” Trust me okay, nothing would happen. We already took care of that and for good measure, I made sure to send a thorough message to her. All you have to do is relax and take care of me.” Talia explained to a distressed Colton.

” You know I trust you baby, it’s just that she seemed so angry and I don’t want anything coming in between us or hindering our forthcoming marriage. You know we aren’t ordinary, any slip up could lead to a scandal and disrupt our lives.” Colton said, dotingly caressing her.

” I know what you mean and I promise, right now, she would be too occupied to even remember or attempt to spew rubbish to the media. And even if she does, there’s two of us and with my mother, that would be a walk in the park. So just relax okay, come..”

Colton leaned into her and in no time, they were entranced in a tight kiss. All the while, Talia made sure to get her fill of love, easing the needs of Colton who gladly eased into her and picked up from where they left off.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

No doubt, he always enjoyed a night with Talia as she consistently made sure to reassure him of her commitment towards making each and every moment or time together memorable.

With the assurance that Emma had been taken care of, the couple continued into the night till they were totally depleted of energy to do more.

*****

Emma was in the driveway when she saw a black car coming towards her with the flashlights on. She didn’t think too much of it as it was getting dark and trudged along the side roads.

When the car slowed down, her skin covered in chills and she felt the sudden flight or fight instinct sharpen within her and her feet picked up its pace. It was a secluded and living area and so there weren’t as many people on the road which made her somewhat uncomfortable.

Her suspicions were confirmed when the car slowed to a stop in front of her and she spotted some masked men seated in front via the side mirror.

Those scarred eyes bored into her, as though daring her to move while Emma stayed rooted on spot. At that moment, Emma felt the most scared she’d ever been in life.

Her mind kept screaming a one syllable word, pushing her to near insanity.

Run!