Part 5
Part 6
https://msgiddy.wordpress.com/2020/04/01/dinner-at-the-colemans-part-6/
Part 7
https://taemytayo.wordpress.com/2020/04/01/dinner-at-the-colemans-part-7/
Part 7
https://taemytayo.wordpress.com/2020/04/01/dinner-at-the-colemans-part-7/
The silence was deafening.
How could a well thought out plan
like theirs have failed completely?
Rose had always been the simpler
one. The one who understood everyone’s motive, always ready to take one for the
team. It had always seemed like she could not stand being first, being prioritized.
She acted like some things were too good for her. Like she deserved only the
backbench.
Lauren had always been her hero,
the one who showed up on behalf of them both, who fought their battles and
packed all the laurels too. Rose had grown up in Lauren’s shadow, but it was
never an issue.
Until Luke.
Lauren had already relocated to
Finland when Rose and Luke began their romance. Giddy eyed from the appearance
of love, Rose had sent Lauren a dashing picture of Luke before introducing him
to anyone else. In her words…
“You have always told me I deserve
the best, I think the best finally found me”.
But he was hardly the best.
Lauren had known him briefly; they had worked in the same organization for
about three months. He hardly noticed her though, she was merely the intern in
Marketing. He was the ruthless achiever in Sales, popular for using people and
talking them down- all that mattered was results and promotions.
Instinctively, Lauren knew Rose
had made a bad decision again, and she told her without mincing words. Lauren’s
prophecy soon found fulfilment, it was not long before the first slap came. Luke
slapped Rose at one of Lagos’ most prestigious exclusive restaurants and
thereafter bought her a car to apologize.
That one incident created a gulf
between two sisters who had been inseparable from the womb. Lauren vowed to
never support Rose as long as Luke was in the picture. Rose vowed to never let
Luke go, he was her prince charming and Lauren could very well go and express
her displeasure to a transformer.
Even at their wedding, when Rose’s
only surviving aunty and her family had come to witness their joining at the registry, no one mentioned Lauren.
Luke never met Lauren, never
heard of her.
Until today.
No one told him when Lauren
returned to Nigeria three months ago and the sisters reconnected. He had no
idea that Rose’s frequent late-night outings in recent times were to Lauren and
Jason’s short-let apartment at Oniru. He did not know that Rose had shown them
her marks and told her story of despair.
Rising for her sister, as she had
always done, Lauren devised a plan that would help them catch Luke red-handed.
A plan that would reveal him for the abuser and terror that he is.
Phase 1. They had dropped baits
for Luke over the past month. Signs that would lead him to think Rose was
cheating. They had even ensured that he saw a picture of Jason and Lauren
tangled together in a very compromising way. They knew he would assume the
woman in the picture was Rose.
Phase 2. Lauren would spend a
week pretending to be Rose in the house Luke and Rose called home. Her task was
to rile up the monster in Luke and she had done a good job. She had also kept her
accomplices informed all the way.
Phase 3. D-day would come,
anniversary dinner which Luke had customarily cooked every year for the three
years they have been married. Lauren would confess to an affair, Luke would
lose his cool and display his inner madness, Jason and Rose would arrive at
just the right time and the police would save the day.
Oh, the police! They would be
here any minute.
This looked bad. Really bad.
Jason looked around wondering what to do. He should not have told Lauren to
swap Luke’s gun earlier. It was supposed to be for her defence, but now she was
bleeding from its effect. He did not
even have a gun license.
He had put the one woman he loved
in danger, she had trusted him to show up but he had been too late.
Battling tears, Jason watched as
Rose and Luke battled to save Lauren’s life, all the while contemplating an
exit plan.
They heard the door give way before they saw the black-clad figures.
The police had arrived.
Wow..you're badass. What??? This is good.
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