What Pain Teaches Us
I kept looking for Henry, but he was nowhere to be found. It was as if he had vanished. Nobody seemed to know where he was, not even his parents. I wanted to slam the truth in his face, to tell him how good it felt to be free from him. All this while, I had thought he saved my mom, but it was actually Alfa who did. He is the real CEO.
After searching for Henry and failing to find him, I decided to go tell Alfa everything. He could tell Henry whenever he liked, or I could do it the next time I saw him. I couldn't imagine Henry's face when he finally learned the truth.
Happily, I stepped outside, only to see Henry standing beside Alfa. The look on Alfa's face was one of sheer disappointment, and in that instant, I knew something was wrong. Regret washed over me—I had been so foolish to leave in search of Henry instead of telling Alfa everything first.
"Alfa," I called, but he only looked at me sadly. Then I turned to Henry, who wore a sinister smile, as if he had triumphed once again.
"Rose," Henry said, and just hearing him say my name weakened me. How was he always ahead of me?
"I can explain," I said, stepping closer, but Alfa motioned for me to stop.
"Wow," Alfa murmured, staring up at the sky. "No matter how much you remind me of Rose, no matter how attractive you are, no matter how irresistible you are..." He looked straight at me. "I had to resist. I had to force myself to believe it was a lost cause. It's dangerous having such feelings for my best friend's woman."
"Please, Alfa, I can explain."
"Funny how I was feeling guilty, thinking I was breaking one of the commandments: 'Thou shall not covet thy neighbor's wife.'"
"But I am not his wife or even his girlfriend!" I cried, tears streaming down my face.
"Yes, you're neither. You are just a playgirl after money," he said coldly before walking away. No matter how much I called after him, he refused to answer.
"Stop!" Henry said as I tried to chase after Alfa, blocking my way.
"Leave me alone! What lies did you feed him?" I hissed, but Henry only chuckled.
"No lies. I just told him the truth—that you're Rose and that you knew he was Mysterio. But because you thought I was the CEO, you refused to tell him the truth and chose to be with me instead. That makes you a gold digger."
"Why? How do you always get it right? How come you are always ahead?" I asked, my voice breaking with emotion.
Henry shrugged. "I'm driven. That's how."
"It doesn't make sense. How come today was the perfect opportunity for you to reveal the secret?"
"Well, after the dance, you left. I followed you and secretly watched as you two frolicked with each other. I was scared when he revealed his true identity and when I realized he was actually the one with your mother." He exhaled sharply. "I even thought you would reveal everything to him at that moment, but for some reason, you went back inside. So, I decided to reveal everything first. I bested you again," he said with a smirk.
"How can you manipulate an innocent soul like his?" I asked bitterly.
"It's easy. He has known me almost all his life, so he believes my words above all others." Henry stepped back slightly. "And he is far from innocent. He killed Mirabel," he added with a hiss.
So that was his anger. He was blaming Alfa for something he had no control over.
"You are selfish! Isabelle told me about Mirabel today. You never had a chance with her, even if Alfa never came into the picture," I said, watching his expression. "She always saw you as a brother. You grew up together; you became family to her. She fell for Alfa the first day she saw him. Funny enough, Alfa refused her because he knew of your feelings for her. He denied her—and in doing so, denied himself his first love—just because he put you first."
For a brief moment, Henry's features changed. Just for a moment.
"If that's the case, if he was such a considerate person, he should have known it's never good to turn a girl down like that. If he had done it better, Mirabel wouldn't have ridden his bike that night. We were still in secondary school! Why did he even have a bike? If the bike wasn't there, Mirabel would've walked home or spent the night with a clear head."
Isabelle was right. Humans believe what they want to believe, even when the truth is staring them in the face.
"You are just too selfish to see your own flaws," I said, walking away quickly. I needed to explain things to Alfa, but I didn't even know where to look for him. I stopped and pulled out my phone to call him, but instead, Henry's call came in. I turned to see him grinning.
"Don't you want to hear how I manipulated everything?" he yelled. You might think me a fool for being curious, but I had to know. Since I had no way of finding Alfa—his number wasn't connecting—I walked back toward Henry.
"How?"
"He always talked about you—always said how good your meals looked. Alfa is very secretive, so the fact that he was talking this much about you told me you were special. I waited for an opportunity. Luckily, you two quarreled. He came over to my place, really angry. I took him to the club, and while there, I took his phone and scanned through your chats," Henry said, making my blood run cold. How much had he read? Could he know my deepest secrets? God, no.
"I didn't have much time, so I wiped all your chats with him, uninstalled his WhatsApp, and deleted your number. I hid the phone, and it was declared lost. He did a welcome-back, but since I had deleted your number and cleared all chat history, he couldn't retrieve your contact."
I felt numb.
"I started playing his role, hoping to damage him the way he damaged me. Unfortunately, most of my plans didn't work, but in the end, it all worked out. I broke him. If only he didn't have 70% of the shares, it would've been easy to take the company too. Well, I'll just have to work on that," Henry said with a shrug.
"You did all this to someone who saw you as a brother?" I whispered, horrified.
"And I feel nothing except the joy of victory."
"I'll tell him everything," I hissed.
"He wouldn't even listen to you here. What makes you think you'll ever see him again?" Henry smirked. "You have no idea how far apart your worlds are now. He could move to London or Canada and forget everything about you while you'll just be here, mourning over him."
He laughed and walked away, leaving me in despair.
I tried Alfa's number all night, both of them, but neither was connecting. Nothing was working. I fell asleep in a pool of my own tears.
"Mr. Akin is asking for you," Esther told me when I arrived at work.
"You don't look good," she said with concern.
"Just a slight headache," I replied with a weak smile.
"Maybe the C.E.O has finally realized she's a gold digger," Timi said with a smirk. I ignored her and went to see Mr. Akin.
"Come in," he said after I knocked. I stepped inside and sat down.
"I don't know how to tell you this," he began, his tone filled with pity. "I tried to convince him otherwise, but he insisted. My hands are tied."
"What's wrong?" I asked, bracing myself for the worst.
"Here," he said, handing me an envelope. I opened it, my heart pounding. A sack letter.
"I'm fired?" I asked in disbelief. He looked down, unable to meet my gaze.
I thought I was prepared for anything, but not this. This is Nigeria—finding a decent job isn't easy. I needed this job. How could I be hit with this kind of disappointment so suddenly? Who did I offend?
"Please, help me," I pleaded, dropping to my knees.
"I can't. My hands are tied," he repeated.
"Can I see him?" I asked, referring to Henry. I was certain he was the one behind this. Alfa never concerned himself with these matters.
"He's not around. He traveled to Imo State this morning," Mr. Akin said. I clenched my fists. So Henry had planned it this way—leaving before I could beg for my job.
"Thanks," I murmured, forcing myself to stand.
I left the office to pack my belongings. As I walked through the office, I could feel the weight of people's stares—some filled with pity, others with satisfaction.
"This is what you get for biting off more than you can chew," Timi sneered as I passed. I didn't see Esther; she must have already left for work.
Why do I have to suffer this much?
Standing outside the company, my box of belongings by my side, silent tears streamed down my face. Henry had tried to use me to make Alfa lose everything, but in the end, I was the one who lost it all—my job, my self-esteem, my dream man.
Maybe this is my punishment for conspiring against an innocent soul.
The pain was unbearable. It hurt so much that I could see no light at the end of the tunnel.
"Life is pain, and life's greatest lessons are learned through pain." That's what he would say if he were here.
But what lesson is this pain trying to teach me?
"I can't seem to understand it, and I fear it will continue until I do. Help me, Alfa," I whispered, dragging my feet as I walked home.
Sometimes, even tears aren't enough to describe the depth of our pain.