Strand of Hope 1.

Chapter One.

Sandra hurried out of the house with her shoes in one hand and her bag hung on her shoulders, she mentally kicked herself for over sleeping. Her alarm had rang but she wondered why she had not been able to bring herself out from the dream land, well she will have to hurry to catch up with Lucy, just then Lucy pulled up in from of her gate and honked.

“I am coming.” she said as she hurriedly locked her door. Beads of perspiration creased her brows and she hoped to God that the rest of the day does not go in this trend.

“I am sorry, I woke up late.” she explained opening the front door of the car.

“No problem girl, at least you did not have to come wait for me today, we will make it to the office in twenty.” Lucy flashed her a smile and turned on the ignition, the car roared as it came to life and Lucy being an expert, reversed sharply causing Sandra to hit her head on the seat, that was when  she remembered to put on her seat belt.

“Lucy please stop using my life for experiment, I have siblings and a mother to cater for, I just pray your driving does not land you in trouble, well thank God you have a husband to come clear you and of course, you have money to pay.” Sandra lamented.

“Common Sandra, you fear too much, I was only trying to get us to the office earlier, you know how the traffic is and trust me, my husband complains about my driving but I think it is really cool.” she said laughing at the shock expression on her friend’s face.

Sandra went through the motions of the day, well the day was not so bad actually it was better than she expected. The contract they applied for was likely to fall into their hands though the competition was stiff she will do her very best to see that they are the winners. Her work gave her satisfaction and well she was well paid and so she had been able to pay her younger siblings tuition fees, thank God Jude is in his final year already and thank God they all have made the effort worth it but then there was the issue of her mother’s constant worries concerning her unmarried state. Well she was happy being by herself for now, she had what she wanted and life was much easier without any male interference. She would not go through the pain of losing anyone again, it took a big chunk out of your behind, people just die not thinking about those they are leaving behind.

           Dad had died leaving mum to fend for three children, all by herself and he had not left something tangible aside the house her mother was living now, and though she let that one pass, she had not gotten over the terrible death of her fiancé, how could he just die like that and to think that he died with them having a misunderstanding, to think that she was not able to apologize and make him see her side of the story, to think that all their plans had died with him, yeah, she has all the blueprint in her mind but she could not bring herself to executing those dreams. It was just too painful and life has just been unfair.

“Happy birthday man, you are how old now?” Raphael teased his friend as he sipped his drink.

“He is an old man already, guy you are thirty what now, thirty four years now. Wow! You are getting old dude.” Dominic said and Raphael agreed.

“Hey guys, what is your problem, I am thirty four and so what? I am a very successful young man, I own my company and I can buy whatever I want, I have a house and I have cars and well I have a wonderful family, you know my mum will do anything to make me happy and my…”

“Hello! Did I hear you say your mum will do anything to make you happy? Well I guess its time you did something to make her happy, the woman have been crying for you to give her grand kids dude, what have you done about that huh?! Nothing, you don’t want a girl friend, you wont make any attempt to look for one and when we set you up with nice girls, you come up with lame excuses like she is too fat or too slim or talks too much or she is shallow, she is ill-mannered and many more excuses but I hope you have plans of settling down this year because I am done waiting for you.” Dominic said.

“Guys it’s my birthday okay, I did not invite you here to come and give me sermon of life, I am not ready to put any woman in distress, see I appreciate your concern and I think my mother hired you guys to frustrate me and I think you are successfully doing that but guys, it is more complicated than I have let on. I am not going to get married period, can we just forget about this now and enjoy the evening.”

His friends exchanged confused looks and though he felt he owed them an explanation, he too was not ready to come to terms with it even after several years has passed.

“Common, you guys should stop looking as me as if I just grew horns, I am happy for both of you and I will go any length to see that your wedding day will be grand and I can even be the best man but seriously, I would not want to discuss marriage in relation to me. I hope that is not too much to ask?” he said.

Dominic walked and stood in front of him, he and Dominic were the closest among the three and Dominic kind of saw through him a times and vice versa.

“I can not say I am pleased with it but I really wish you could open up and tell us what the problem is, we are your friends for Christ sake and we are worried about you, does this have anything to do with your former girlfriend, did you guys make a blood covenant or something, we could go to church right away and break that yoke and so you can be free.” Dominic said with seriousness and even Raphael agreed with the theory but funny enough Caleb laughed despite himself.

“Blood covenant? Oh Lord you are funny man, who does that? Like seriously I was quite foolish and madly in love, in fact I could have given her my life but we both were wiser than that, Jesus’ blood is enough to last for eternity so guy forget it, its nothing like that okay?”

“You know what, lets forget about this Dominic, when he sees us with our wives and kids he would want to have a family of his own, I used to think Dominic was the one with no commitment in his bone but thank God Silvia came his way, I only hope it does not take him a life time to propose to her.” Raphael said laughing and Caleb joined him.

“Hey you, this is not about me okay, at least I am better, I have a girlfriend and you know marriage is not something to rush into but at least I have taken her to my parent and my mum is in love with her and so it will be difficult to change my mind anymore. I just need time that’s all.” He defended himself to his satisfaction and his friends laughed happily.

Caleb laughed too but deep in his heart was the realization that he might not have what his friends will have, a woman to love and kids to play with, he wanted those things in life too especially now that he was settled enough as a bachelor but marriage was a risky thing, he would prefer to remain single than to get married and have his wife hate him till their dying day.    

Radiant Pheobe © 2016.

If you enjoyed this chapter, I employ you to comment as this is the next book I plan on releasing to the public, share with your friends and loved ones and even your enemies. It's a story you would love to be a part of, trust me. Thank you for your encouragements. I look forward to the comments.
Radiant Pheobe.