All in One - Milady

Ch.9: The Letter

Somewhere in Chicago, letters with red wax seals were placed at 4 doorsteps.

Each with a time, a place and a distinct colour that matched each of their personality.

And at Nneka, a red stamp letter lay on her doorstep waiting for a curious friend with a spare key to pick it up.

Stella walked down the hall, whistling. Her key chain swung through the air as she stopped at both Natalie and Nneka's shared apartment.

By her red heels, was that same letter, 1 of 4.

She picked it up and flipped it to see Nneka's name written on the back in cursive.

Stella admired the handwriting. It was elegant, and sharp and felt as if she had entered the medieval time.

It was pretty, really pretty.

She sighed heavily, low key jealous wishing for one as she opened the door.

Inside, Natalie sat by the TV watching a baking show. Her face was stuffed from eating half a bag of tortilla chips with nacho cheese resting seemingly untouched on the table.

Natalie's head immediately turned to the unlocked door. She saw as Stella slid out of her heels, and walked over to her.

At first, she went to the kitchen counter and tossed the letter on the table, then rushed over to Natalie. Stella fell on the couch beside her, took the bag of chips out of Natalie's hand and started eating.

Sitting still, Natalie eyed her. In one hand a chip half bitten rested, and the other half sticking out of her mouth. "Nice to see you too." She said finishing it.

"Where's Nneka?" Stella asked.

Natalie shrugged, "Maybe her room. She had to get something."

"Ah..." Stella dipped her chip into the cheese, hogging the bag to herself.

It was almost 7 pm, and Stella decided to take a small detour in her planned night.

It was date night, for her and her husband Alex. But for some odd, not entirely strange reason, she found herself walking to their place.

She was dressed in a long red dress. Her hair folded up, that only a bit of her dyed blue highlight could be seen over her naturally dark brown hair.

So why was she there? Her plans, lucky were only a few blocks down. And the reservation was at 7:30 pm, only 30 more.

Yet again, she was there, and unknowingly played a part in the game of fate or chance.

After a couple of seconds, Nneka walked out. She was dressed for home, wearing a pink bonnet and a grey pajama dress.

"Hey..." she said dragging her words out, surprised. "Aren't you supposed to be on a date?" She asked.

"Yeah, but you have a letter."

"A letter?" Nneka moved towards the living room.

Stella dropped the bag and held her hands up, standing up. "Wait, you have to read it." Nneka stopped. She turned to the kitchen with a raised brow and walked to the letter. Stella followed.

Natalie paused her show, she was nosy too.

Nneka picked it up, "Mmmhhh...fancy." And showed it around.

Natalie became intrigued. She got up and headed to them, pulling out a chair. "Open it," she said.

"Okay." Nneka examined it quickly, seeing how nice it was. It was too nice. Too nice that she tried to keep its original packaging as she slowly peeled it open. Stella and Natalie's heads moved around, trying to catch a glimpse of the letter at the same time trying to read Nneka's face.