Love And Fate

★Twenty★

  The room was filled silence, silence that stretched beyond the corners of the room even. Serene was in deep thoughts and so were her friends, who sat surrounding her, their presence brought comfort to her troubled heart.

Even when Zara cleared her throat, it felt like a bomb exploded, the sound made Serene jump, it disrupted the perfect silence that deafened even their train of thoughts.

Then came Olive's voice, she had turned to Serene and asked a question that Serene never expected to hear.

"What do you want?"

What did she want?

What could she possibly want at this moment?

A whole lot of things, she wanted to wake up and find out all that was happening was a dream.
She wanted them, her friends to say something more, in all honesty, the silence scared her, the fact that they weren't saying anything made her fear that they also had given up like her, that they  had also lost hope too.
She also wanted a miracle to happen.

The Old Lady had planned her life even before she was born, she was just a child who had no idea of what she wanted.
That was what the Old Lady had said, so what could she possibly want?

Everything she wanted and wished for and even needed weren't granted, rather her life, her wants, had been dictated for her, she had no say no matter what.

Then brings her to Olive's question, she looked at Olive again and she chuckled bitterly.

"What do I want? Everything I wanted and needed is gone, my love is gone, my future, poof! Gone! My life is being dictated. Do you not see?"

Olive was quiet for a moment, she sat still looking at Serene though her eyes had a faraway look, like she was thinking deeply.
She then sighed and stood up from where she sat, she knelt before Serene taking her hands in hers.

"You have given up" she stated what Serene had been denying, what she had never wanted to admit to herself.

"You can't, what if Ivan hasn't. Wait. When last did you see him?"
Olive asked her.

Serene's mind drifted to the night she had last seen him, the night they lived like nothing  was wrong with their world, they spent the night like they were just two in their own world of perfection, the most beautiful night. She was not ready to disclose that information yet, she wanted to keep it to herself, in case everything went down the drain, she'd hold unto the memory of that night.

"It has been a long time, I barely recall the day" she lied smoothly still keeping eye contact with Olive, thankfully, Olive believed her lie.

"How about heard from him?"
Zara asked.

"Last week I think..."
That was the truth, they had talked on the phone, but for a short period since he had to leave to work. After he was forced to quit his job at the mansion, he had to work in multiple places, he had explained to Serene how busy he could really get, though he wished he could be with her.

"Then it's time we go pay our lover boy a visit" announced Ezlynn, she stood up from the bed adjusting her skirt and moved to stand in front of Serene too.

"That's not possible, my grandmother won't allow me go out, and if she finds out Ivan and I are still together, we'll be in big trouble, his family's safety would be at risk"

"Wow... Your grandmother has no limits"
Zara said in a low voice her face displaying terror.

"Don't worry about that, Ezlynn and I have a plan. Just get ready, while we go talk to your grandmother"
Olive said standing up, she and Ezlynn left the room afterwards, while Zara helped Serene prepare.

                            ♥♦♥♦♥♦♥♦♥♦♥♦

"Are you guys sure about this?" Serene fiddled with the seat belt, her eyes wide with uncertainty.
Fortunately for them, the Old Lady didn't hesitate in letting them take her out, Serene was so shocked, she had asked Olive and Ezlynn what they told the Old Lady but they wouldn't even budge, they just told her to not worry.

"Serene, we are in front of his damn house, just go in and talk to him and do whatever you lovers do. What could possibly go wrong? I told you not to worry"
Olive said from the backseat.

Serene hesitated for a while, then she finally gathered enough courage and stepped out the car, the heat of the sun hit her and made sweat break on her forehead, her heart was beating so hard in her chest as she begun walking towards the small house, she stood in front of the gate praying nothing wrong happened and hoping she'd see him.

When she entered the house, the confusion that spread on her face was vivid, there were many doors and it was obvious the house was separated into many rooms, Serene countered five doors in total, she looked around the quiet compound not knowing what to do.
She looked at the piece of paper in her hand again to confirm if she was in the right house, and she was.
Just as she turned away to leave, a door opened and a woman stepped out, she had  a blue faded T-shirt on and a cloth wrapped around her waist down to ankles, she paused what she was about doing and moved towards Serene when she saw her, adjusting her cloth as she walked.

"Good afternoon" Serene greeted the woman, who looked at her skeptically, she had a chewing stick in her mouth, she removed the stick, spat the content in her mouth before answering Serene.

"Aftunun my dear, are you looking for someone?" The woman asked her in a local dialect, the Akan language was widely spoken by everyone in the country, it was the most spoken language apart from English.

"Yes please. I'm looking for Ivan, does he stay here?"
Serene responded in the local dialect, though she wasn't fluent enough.
The woman looked at her for a long time, her eyes boring into her. Serene felt uncomfortable as she wondered what she had possibly done to make the woman look at her in that manner.

Then it clicked in her head, that the woman in front of her was Ivan's mother.

A/N: The conversation between Serene and Ivan's mother was in direct translation. The Local dialect used in this chapter is the common language spoken in Ghana, called Twi.