All It Takes

2.

After the mouth watering dinner, they tended to the dishes. John washed and rinsed while Gabby cleaned with her favourite floral cotton napkin. She claimed it mopped up all the water with one wipe.

"I really want that place, Gabs." He said drawing in a deep breath and exhaling loudly. "It has great potential and it will be a major breakthrough for Dalton Group of Companies."

Gabby was certain he was right. "Then go for it, babe." She replied, placing the last plate on the stack after wiping it dry. "What's stopping you?" She asked, wiping her hands before running it through her latest hairstyle.

She had gone for a much needed haircut the week before and had impulsively decided to go all out and turn her naturally wavy waist length rich brown hair to a golden blonde pixie cut. Her husband was definitely not surprised as she was known more often than not for her adventurous spirit and spontaneity.

Turning around, rather sharply, to place the plates in the cabinet, she missed a step and off she went heading rounded belly first to the blue and white marble tiles.

Much to her relief, John managed to catch her just in time before their baby had it's first encounter with their living room floor. John was rather horrified to say the least. "You need to be more careful, Gabby." He scolded softly as he raised her to a standing position.

He was getting increasingly worried about her as her due date drew nearer with each passing day. She could see it whenever he looked at her a little longer, held her a little tighter or even when she woke up to catch him staring at her.

"I know. I know." She replied as she wrapped her arms around his neck taking deep breaths and slowly regulating her breathing to the soft thudding of his heart which she could feel reverberating through her head on his chest. She was a petite woman and that was one of the things John loved about her. Just about five foot five with equally small features. She always had to tilt her head in order to look at his face.

"You were telling me something, John." She said, breathing softly.

He disentangled her hands from around his neck and swept up her petite frame- bridal style, heading for the bedroom at the east wing of the small but tastefully furnished house. He set her down on the bed, joining her and drawing the covers up to cover everything apart from their heads all the while staring into her eyes.

"The owner might not be willing to let go of it. I mean, that place will cough up millons in little time with the right structure and strategy. If I approach them with this offer, they'll know that something is up and they will only keep hiking up the price till it's unbearably high and our competitors will have a chance to swoop in and feast on the golden opportunity and... I just really want this place, Gabrielle."

Gabrielle turned to face him fully. "You will get that land. Approach them with the offer and hit them with the counter offer of shared profit, stock and shares no sooner than they begin to see the worth of what they have on their hands. Try your best to make them see what the place could be and how you could get people to get it done- and not just people, the best there is- to the benefit of both parties at the same time having it at the back of your mind that they'll suspect you if you don't play your cards right."

"They'll suspect us if we present the offer as though we have nothing to gain and if we show too much enthusiasm they might just want everything for themselves and look for investors by themselves cutting us off entirely." John continued, nodding in understanding.

"You just have to play your cards right!" She replied, smiling as she tucked a wayward lock of jet black hair behind his ear.

"Thank you, Gabby. I love you." He murmured, planting a kiss on her forehead. "I love you, Zoe." He whispered planting another one on her protruding belly.

"We love you, too." Gabby replied, rubbing her stomach.

"Goodnight, my Queens."

"Goodnight, Love."

                               °•°•°•°

The woman looked so pale. Her skin looked smoldered and scaly with abnormally large pores that gaped endlessly.

Her wrinkles resembled the aftermath of an attack by an angry cat simultaneously mirroring chipped white paint of the ruins of an ancient building making one's skin crawl merely looking at her.

Something had to be done and fast. But all the doctors had given up on her. She literally looked like she would turn herself inside out at any moment and drive her teeth into the first person she snatched.

Her beady eyes looked far too white for her to be counted as part of the living but alas, she still was. They had been waiting for her death for the past seven years all the while hoping she'd miraculously return to her normal self but she had just continued to lay on the rickety bed half dead, continuously looking like she had seen a ghost before slipping into a coma.

Suddenly her chest began to heave, the machines attached to her producing shrill, piercing, noises; manifesting signs of what looked to be a heart attack as she saw the silhouotte of a person near the window of the room she and her husband shared before he passed away. Her family had moved her back to her house from the city hospital after a year of her not responding to any treatment whatsoever.

The house was built years before the woman conceived. It was painted every ten years after that until the death of her husband. Leaving the house in quite a terrible state as the care takers ran for the hills due to the sudden change in the attitude of the lady of the house. From pleasant to sour and distasteful.

The person at the green framed window just stood there enjoying her apparent discomfort and deriving pleasure from the spurious haywire noises of the machines. He had been doing that every week for the past eleven months and she was slowly losing it.

Everyone thought she was just there, staring into space, blinking occasionally as much as her body could allow but she was actually, quite unfortunately- painfully so, trapped in her own mind. It was like reliving a series of dreadful nightmares very hour of her days. She wanted to die but death eluded her, torturing her, pushing her into the waiting hands of insanity.

The plain nurse with big eyes was never around when the person came to leer at her from the window. The person knew the nurse's schedule. They had watched from across the road for months before setting out to terrify the woman everyday for the past few months. Whoever they were, they wanted to see her break slowly, excruciatingly, completely.

But what had she done?

Hello people!
Forgive me for the late updates.
The schedule for this book is actually supposed to be two chapters a week! But something came up and I couldn't write last week.
So, I'll do my best to upload three chapters instead of two for two or three weeks(not necessarily consecutive).
Your votes and comments are very much appreciated.
Love,
Naomi.