The child cannot have an accident. Not now. Not ever.
Alex raced towards the city, running several headlights while he chanted these words as though it were a mantra, a lyric that would calm his racing heart.
A declaration of his wish. A silent prayer.
But the next stop left him stranded. The traffic was congested; an accident had happened just some minutes earlier.
The police and traffic officials were working hard to clear the scene. Horns blared loudly, each honk louder than the other.
Several commuters alighted from their vehicles and decided to cross over to board another.
Looking at the scene, Alex felt dread wash over him. He was sure he would never make it to the city in time to take her to the hospital.
He punched the steering wheel a few times, anxious and angry.
He pulled out his phone, carefully scrolled through his contacts, and then stopped at a familiar name.
His hand hovered over the name for a moment before he drew in a breath, his eyes closing as he dialed the number.
"Please pick up," he whispered as a silent prayer.
The call was picked up on the first ring.
"Hello, Alex," a cold, sonorous voice filtered through the phone.
"Kelvin, please can you head over to Cyndi's apartment? She is having severe cramps," he reported, his voice anxious.
The man on the other end snickered lightly.
"Alex," Kelvin replied smoothly, "aren't you being too anxious over your mistress having cramps? It's just cramps. She won't die."
"It is not simple," Alex tried to argue.
"Not simple?" Kelvin scoffed. "Sonia's condition wasn't simple either. I didn't see you losing your mind then. And even before her body turned cold…" His voice sharpened. "You still had your Cyndi wrapped around you like an octopus."
Alex's fist tightened around his phone, and the next moment he swiftly pulled the car over to the side of the road.
"Kel," he said, forcing his tone down, "I need this favour. Cyndi can't have an accident." He pleaded.
Kelvin chuckled darkly. His thoughts spun with a myriad of questions,
Was this really Alex Hort?
The man who had always claimed to control everything.
Well, a man who values a mistress more than a wife would definitely act this way.
Like the scumbag he was.
*********
Kelvin Thorne and Alex Hort had been the best of pals…friends too close to share both life and death.
Though Kelvin's identity wasn't quite clear since he lived with his maternal aunt.
Yet they grew up together, had their best times and grief together, but that was until Alex's marriage took a drastic turn.
A turn Kelvin never imagined will come into their life. A change that began the day Alex married Sonia.
Alex's marriage had come as a surprise. With no known girlfriend, he wasn't expecting him to ask him to be his best man.
But who would have thought that right in the wedding hall, Alex's interest had always been in his wife's best friend and chief bridesmaid?
Though it was a simple wedding of just family and close friends, yet every formality was carefully observed.
For the Hort family's matriarch, it was a woman's earnest dream, and it must be fulfilled for Sonia.
But for Kelvin, walking in on Cyndi and Alex deeply engrossed with each other; hands where they shouldn't be, lips locked in a frenzy kiss, their breathing heavy, low moans and growls coursed through the lips as though they were in heat.
Right on his wedding day left his stomach twisted with disgust. His respect for his friend cracked instantly.
Just when he thought things would be better after the vows, Alex had Sonia attend to the guests while he returned to his lounge to have his fill of Cyndi.
Kelvin felt distraught and tried to talk him out of being such a scumbag husband, but Alex's answer had always been an infuriating one.
I know what I am doing.
An answer that made him want to vomit blood.
Know what you are doing?
When did cheating and infidelity become norms to follow?
Kelvin watched as Sonia smiled shyly and unaware, carefully lifting her dress so it wouldn't drag across the floor while her husband disappeared with her best friend.
His blood boiled with anger.
Alex never showed interest in his wife even with her silent care and understanding rather his company had always been Cyndi.
Kelvin felt uncomfortable with such an arrangement that he began to keep his distance.
Who would have thought he would call him this day because of his mistress having cramps?
Yet Sonia had spent one week in the hospital, and Alex never told him…only for him to be shocked when he stumbled upon her file upon his return from his two-week trip.
In a daze, Kelvin had rushed over to the ICU, and the lady on the hospital bed was Sonia.
Kelvin's heart shattered. His breath ragged. His eyes bloodshot as his body trembled with rage and fear.
Fear of losing Sonia.
Not that he had anything going on with her, but right from the moment he witnessed Alex cheat on her with her best friend, he made an unconscious choice.
To be her companion until she decided to leave if he couldn't convince her to leave.
And with Sonia's strong obsession to keep right and wrong apart, he took on a new identity.
In the presence of his friend, he is Alex, but when it's time to care for Sonia, he is someone else.
And so, every night Alex spends with Cyndi, he keeps her company through the phone.
Over the four years of marriage, he had been that one man who knows what she passed through.
When he returned to the office, he called Alex. "Hey buddy, why didn't you tell me Sonia was sick to the point of falling into a coma?"
Alex chuckled. "I just think it isn't worth your time, and besides, she is already in the hospital and is being taken care of."
Before he could speak further, the call ended with a beep.
Alex stared at the phone in disbelief.
Taken care of? As a piece of furniture?
Unknown to him, Alex and Cyndi were in the midst of making out in his office, and his call was a distraction he wouldn't want to attend to.
Kelvin's fist had tightened around the phone for a brief moment, and he called Lady Monica, who was both surprised and furious.
******
Taking a glance back in time, Kelvin felt it wasn't worth wasting his breath on a spineless man like him.
"Why didn't I know you were this dedicated when Sonia was living in the hospital?" he sneered.
"Kel please, she is pregnant," he declared, hoping the presence of a new life would make him change his mind.
He still doesn't understand why things would have to turn out this way.
With a quick flashback, he took inventory of what had happened earlier.
Hours ago, he was at the hospital, pacing the ICU anxiously while hoping Sonia would survive.
Yet he hadn't felt this helpless.
"Kelvin, please just this time," Alex pleaded.