Walters' Mansion
It was already afternoon when the ringtone of a phone broke the peaceful atmosphere in the living room.
"Nina, it seems like it's your phone ringing", Selena looked up from the TV series she was watching and pointed Nina's cell phone on the couch.
Nina's head snapped up from the TV series, impatience clear on her face. She snatched up the phone and looked at the caller only to see it was an unsaved number.
"Who is it?", Sophie asked curiously.
"I don't know. It is an unsaved number."
"Answer it, darling. It might be important", Mrs Walters pointed out.
Nina answered the call and impatiently waited for the caller to talk. After waiting for a while and seeing the caller had no intention of saying anything, she rudely spoke up,
"Who the hell is this? You called but won't speak then what's the point? Just hang up and don't disturb me, nitwit".
A magnetic male laughter rang out from the other side of the phone and Nina magically felt her initial impatience vanishing.
"Seems like you are still the same, Nina. Feisty, huh?"
Nina removed the phone from her ears and looked puzzlingly at Selena who mouthed, 'Who is it?' to which she shrugged indifferently, 'beats me'
"Wondering who I am?", The man spoke up again. "I am actually sad that my love from back in the days does not even remember my voice anymore", He said sadly.
"Ty?", Nina asked incredulously after analysing how the man spoke because there was only one person who spoke to her like that and called her his love.
The magnetic laughter sounded out again and you could hear the joy in his voice.
"You finally remember me. I am glad"
"OMG! where have you been all these years? I haven't heard of you at all since college. I asked around bit no now knew where you went. You just completely went off the radar!"
"Am sorry, doll. I had something to do after graduation so I had to leave without saying goodbye"
Nina wanted to berate him more but decided not to say anything as everyone had their own secrets.
"Alright, I forgive you. So where are you now? Are you back in Nova?
"I came back last month so can we meet up?"
"Of course silly. I would love to catch up with you but it might be a little inconvenient for me to move around. You might have to come pick me up."
Ty chuckled good-naturedly on the phone, his magnetic voice travelling directly to her ears, she blushed.
"Send me the address of your location, I will come pick you up in an hour or so"
"A'ight, I will text you right away"
She hung up the call and then remembering something, she turned cautiously to Mrs Walters.
"You wouldn't mind me inviting a friend over, right?"
Mrs Walters pretended to get angry at her words.
"Nina darling, this is your also your home for as long as you live in it. It is not a cage and you are not a canary. You are free to hang out or invite over whomever you want to, I would not stop you. Stop being so cautious around me and treating yourself like a guest, will you? or am I that scary?"
"No... No, I mean you are not but I just can't seem to get used to it"
"Well, get used to it 'cause you still got more than three months left before your due date"
"I understand, Aunt Sasha", Sasha was Justin's mother maiden name. She remembered when she moved in at first, she had called her Mrs Walters which had gotten her angry. Since then she had been told to call her Sasha.
Sophie who for the sake of her brother's love life started guarding against the opposite sex around Nina turned to ask and asked curiously,
"Nina, who was the man on the phone? You sounded excited." Mrs Walters who also wanted to know the answer to that question also perked up her ears.
Nina was about to answer bit was interrupted by Selena who answered for her.
"That was Ty. Full name Tyson Peters, he was Nina's first love but they never dated. We were all classmates in college."
"First love?", Sophie asked incredulously. "I thought my brother was Nina's first love."
"Nina's was Justin's first love but Justin wasn't Nina's."
Sophie decided that it was no big deal that her brother was not Nina's first love. What really matters was that her brother and Nina end up together. The rest are all unimportant.
"But you don't seem to like him from your tone", she asked Selena curiously.
"I don't like him", she admitted straightforwardly.
"Why? He should be a nice guy since Nina likes him"
"That is the problem. He seems like a nice guy but I think he is a little fake."
"Fake?", Sophie repeated. "How?"
"He looks and smiles gently but I still don't like him, never did. I always felt that his gentility was a mask"
"Selena, that's enough! Just because you think he is fake doesn't necessarily mean he is. I mean who doesn't wear a mask nowadays. As long he does nothing bad to me and the people around me, he will always be my friend."
Selena rolled her eyes at her.
"Just forget it. We already had this conversation multiple times already. I would not have this conversation again. I am going upstairs to change, he might be arriving any moment from now"
They watched her go upstairs while Mrs Walters and Sophie's eyes met, their thoughts in sync for once, 'A strong love rival has appeared. You need to step up your game, son(brother)!'
* * * * * *
Upstairs, Nina sat down alone on the bed feeling irritated for no reason when she remembered how Justin had avoided her like plague since she moved in.
'He must regret getting me pregnant or maybe he now thinks I am ugly.'
"Why do I even care!", She said aloud. "He doesn't want me and I don't either, problem solved!"
'I will make him realise that even without him, I am still attractive to other men. If he doesn't want me, others do', she thought vengefully to herself.
She opened her wardrobe, searching for an outfit that was not too tight fitting
She decided to wear a light blue oversized Korean style shirt and black skinny jeans and black sneakers. She completed her outfit with sunglasses. She looked at herself in the mirror and nodded appreciatively.
She saw a pregnant woman with a slightly bigger stomach than normal staring back at her and even though her bosom was plumper and waist thick, it just made her look curvier. She had been worried at the start of her pregnancy that she was going to get plumper and uglier because as a model....well former model, she dreads nothing more than gaining weight.
'Thank God my worries were all for naught! I still look good but why is he...' She killed that thought, she would not think about that cheat, never!
'He and I will have nothing more to do with each after little darling is born,....right?' She shook those unsure thoughts off her head, today she doesn't want to think about those things, just relax.
After making sure she had put her essentials inside her little purse, she strodded out the room.