All alone in the maid's quarters where she used to stay with her biological mother who was absent now, Ishtar laid with her back down on the plain floor, looking at the ceiling.
Her eyes, once vibrant and clear, were now swollen and reddened. Below them, dark circles had formed, deepened by late hours spent lost in sorrow.
Time check was 6:30pm.
"Knock knock knock," at that very moment, a calm and gentle knock reverberated through the door.
Hesitantly, on the second row of the knocks, she, got up from her back and sat.
"Come in, the door is open," she said and kept her eyes at the door to see who had come to pay her a visit that evening.
The door was pushed in to open and here entered first, her husband Bob Lee, followed by his mother.
And, since Ishtar took Bob Lee's mother as her mother too:
"Mom!"
So suprised, Ishtar's face twisted, exclaiming unbelievably, and quickly got up on her feet with due respect.
She added:
"Both of you are here! Why the visit at this time?"
Seeing Bob Lee and his mother together was the last thing Ishtar expected at this moment, after an argument which led the two on a very different, more so chaotic page six hours ago at midday.
Mother-in-law took two more steps foward, humble in her voice:
"This couldn't wait. Thought you need to know before tomorrow comes."
She approached Ishtar quickly and gently on both her hands she held, to make her feel a sense of cared for. Inquisitively, anxious and nervous, Ishtar attentively gave her ears. She couldn't wait to hear what they have on table for her to swallow this time.
However, the words were really heavy on her Mother-in-law's tongue that to air them out, she had to take a sigh, to get herself together first. And with the little courage gothered, well knowing that this was to hummer Ishtar so hard.
"Nadia Browne is pregnant."
She cracked the nut open regardless, early enough.
Since Ishtar was already exhausted, burnt out from the stresses of her husband wanting to divorce her, this was another thorn pierced deep into her foot _ adding on a fresh wound from an operation she went through during giving birth. She suddenly fainted and slumped to the floor.
Her mother-in-law panicked, screaming her name _ shaking her to wake-up, all in wary and confusion.
"Ishtar... Ishtar!"
But it was too late. Ishtar had already passed out.
As soon as possible, after communications, a family doctor responded to his clients' state of emergency. And minutes later, after clear inspection, Ishtar's hand was linked to a drip of glucose which started flowing through her veins down on bed where she unconscious laid, still in the maids quarters.
Sluggishly, after a certain period of time, late hours in the night, her eyes began to open as she regained her conscious.
But at this time of the night:
"Oh, you wake!"
Nadia Browne, alone by Ishtar's side on the waiting seat, smiled. It seemed like she had patiently waited for quite a while to see Ishtar coming back to life.
Immediately with her face frowned, Ishtar wondered:
"Where is my husband and my mother-in-law?"
Easy in a careless tone, Nadia Browne replied:
"At the main house."
Ishtar was not pleased with Nadia Browne's presence.
"You're not supposed to be here!"
But Nadia was not just here as Ishtar thought. There was a strong reason based on her own interests.
"Mm... Don't you think it's a good opportunity for the both of us to share a word or two?"
Nadia Browne stood up from the chair and sat closer, right beside Ishtar on the bed while Ishtar was watching each and every move of hers.
She added:
"You and I have something in common."
Nadia Browne moved her hand and began to linger a finger on Ishtar's cheek while smiling. This made Ishtar watch in wary. Nadia leaned in so close and whispered in her left ear.
"Our interests."
Nadia's conduct got Ishtar a bit worried that she tried to twist her face away, extending in a way of avoiding her touching. However, Ishtar's body was in a very weak state to even move steadily as she wished.
Ishtar inquired with distaste:
"Does anyone know that you're here?"
Unbothered, Nadia Browne replied:
"No! You see this....."
She pulled out a syringe filled up with a liquid from her handbag as continued talking:
"Now that you're in this weak state, can't help yourself, think about it _ if I kill you right now, no one can know. It's just a matter of injecting this in your veins and what has been seen as a hard equation to solve, becomes simplified without me putting in any effort."
She added confidently:
"Then I can have Bob Lee fully to myself and we love happily together after."
Scared and afraid, Ishtar began sweating and panicking. So hard she forced to raise from her back, and yes she sat. But it was kind of hard to get off the bed and perhaps get away.
For Nadia Browne, holding Ishtar back down was as easy as eating snacks. So, she put a finger in the middle of Ishtar's forehead and gently pushed her back in her laying position.
"Relax! You don't have to act so stubborn _ because you're not!"
Ishtar's weak muscles could not support her to take unfaltering action. Therefore the best decision to take was to abide and allow Nadia Browne do whatever she pleased. Much as she kept a smiling face in the situation with in the room. Nadia wasn't joking in her words _ however:
Nadia added softly:
"I'm not such bad a person that we can't even have a smooth conversation first, before I can make a final choices depending on what was agreed on."
Nadia stated.
"Everyone deserves a chance:"
Ishtar speechlessly listed.
Afraid, determined however, Ishtar asked:
"Get straight to the point instead of lamenting all that crap. What exactly do you want from me?"
"I can see you're ready to make a deal," Nadia happily stood up and moved, loitering in place, around the bed on which Ishtar was resting, "you know we both like good things."
"Am not making any deals with you!" Ishtar's response was rude and courageous.
"Come-on, don't be too quick to react like you have a better option," Nadia stays calm and confident in her voice, "you haven't even heard what I have on table for you to consume."
"Whatever, I don't care!" On bed where she was, laying on her back with a glucose drip supply in her vien, Ishtar was not ready to back down or give Nadia Browne any wins over a man.
Her intuition had already told her the kind of interests Nadia was referring to. And according to Ishtar's response, obviously she trusted her intuition.
Suddenly Nadia Browne got very angry.
"Would you shut up and listen!" She barked so hard in Ishtar's face with widely open bitter eyes, and her clear face wrinkled in the process, "don't dare confuse my smile for weakness."
Nadia moved the syringe to Ishtar's neck and nearly leveled it, "choose now, and wisely!" She growled.
Nadia's attitude was indeed scary.
Of course Ishtar had no choice other than to maintain muximum silence after reading the signs of danger Nadia Browne portrayed as a dangerous villain.
"I want you to listen and listen good," Bitterly, Nadia leaned in, into Ishtar's face, "tomorrow morning you're packing all your bags. Make sure you leave nothing; I said nothing that belongs to you behind. And if you happen to do anything stupid, am sorry but your new born baby will have no chance to make a year in life, you hear me? And his blood will be on no one but you!"
"Are you listening to me?" She angrily asked and all Ishtar did was to node her head, "yes", fearfully.
"Good girl," Nadia Browne uttered a growl. "Now, you're going to fly out of this state _ far away from me and my fiancée. Make sure your face doesn't appear anywhere nearby because if it does, like I've said, your child's life is not guaranteed."
Ishtar was subjected to extreme fear, not on a gun point as it always flows but on a syringe point with a dangerous substance inside.
"Choose wisely!"