The beat of my heart.

Disappear

Arden was about to loose it, Thandy looked as if he couldn't feel a thing or just a bit. Arden could understand that they were strangers, nonetheless, he should at least show some concern about this matter.

" Mr. Arden since we are strangers, why do you want to make it a very big deal. I'm not blaming you, so why are you feeling guilty.  I am  not interested in anything that you gave to offer. Just consider it as  an under the influence mistake you make and let it go. What will you lose anyway "

Thandy couldn't guess if this guy was still drunk or not. But one thing was clear, he wanted to find an excuse for his actions which was pointless. Sometimes what one needed to do at a time like this was an apology. Was it so hard to straightforwardly apologize?

Arden, " Why are you so hard to please. Don't play hard to get Thandy. I have limited patience " He was angry. This was the first time that he was trying to please someone.

Thandy stood up and walked towards the door, he paused and looked back at Arden. " I am not playing hard to get. And Mr Arden, you don't have to please me because I am a very calm and reasonable person. I don't push blames but accept and apologize when I am wrong. I hope you get what I mean."

He pointed at Fayola" I think that she needs you more than I do." He exited the room .

Thandy never went back to live with Fayola again after that day.

Two months after Thandy dropped out of school because he was pregnant. When his parents asked him by subjecting him under numerous unpleasant torture, he refused to say a word.

It was disgraceful enough to get pregnant, and shameful to have been raped.

The emotional trauma was too much for him to handle.

Fayola felt a tremendous amount of guilt. It all started because of her and ended with Thandy's future getting ruined.

Thandy suffered in silence. He never blamed anyone. Not even the person who put him in all this.

Six months later Thandy suddenly fell sick due to unhealthy body and severe complications of the pregnancy. When he was rushed to the hospital, Fayola had to tell Arden.
She new Arden has not seen Thandy since that day, but this time she couldn't care anymore. The child in Thandy's belly was also apart of Arden.

Arden rushed to the hospital hoping to see him but to his dismay, Thandy had been transferred to another hospital in Sukkoth State. His condition was becoming more life threatening.

It was only three years later that Arden travelled to Sukkoth State that they met again. Thandy was working in his uncle's resort as a receptionist. He has grown , matured and become more beautiful. Even his way of thinking has changed, only his heart remained the same- he had nothing for Arden.

When Arden found him, he asked many questions but Thandy didn't give him any answers. His only words were " It doesn't matter"

For him everything that had happened was in the past . Whether they talked about it or not, it would change nothing. Besides, the child died.

In the past three years , Arden had realize one thing. He couldn't forget Thandy. He tried fixing things with Fayola but it never work. He tried dating other people, yet his heart only beats for him alone. The mistake for that day change him deeply.

Arden confessed his feelings to Thandy, and ask him for a new start but Thandy turn him down. Saying he shouldn't take any responsibility for him, what happened was in the past.
Arden told him that this time, it wasn't because he felt guilty, but rather he has fallen for him.
.
But was it true though?
Thandy didn't believe him. However you look at it, none of Arden's words made sense to him at all. Thus he turned a deaf ear to Arden .

Arden had looked into his eyes and threatened him " Thandy don't look down on me. I am capable of many things and you don't want to know . I will make you mine. Just you wait "

Like a vapour, he disappeared from Thandy's life .

Arden took a difficult path. He went up to Thandy's guardians and narrated to them everything that happened between them three years ago. They were irritated, which was Arden's intention. He wanted them to force Thandy into a difficult situation.

Actually, he knew that they were not Thandy's parents. He also knew about their greed for money so he instigated them just a little.

After their meeting with Arden. They didn't go easy on Thandy. How could he hide Arden's identity from them . He wanted to deny them a chance to get more money!

They are not Thandy's parents. They took Thandy under their care after his mother passed away at the age of nine.  knowing his medical condition, they intended to find for him a good man to marry . But since Arden brought himself to them, how could they let this huge opportunity slip away. Thandy must marry him by all means.

The problem was that Thandy was so stubborn but that was easy to break.
After reaching an agreement with Arden, they slowly dealt with Thandy accordingly. He was tortured physically, mentally and emotionally until he became too exhausted to feel .They even him to live on the streets.
.
Without academic papers , he had nowhere to go or work to do. He was lost , broken and alone. When he had reached his breaking point, Arden showed up to him and offered him a solution which was marriage.
If he was in his right sense he wouldn't have agreed, but he wasn't.
He needed medical attention as fast as possible thus he agreed reluctantly.

After their wedding, Arden opened for him a small business because he knew that Thandy doesn't like depending on others.

He also took him to better hospitals to work on his health which had detoriated especially his womb.

He showed Thandy with love, he made sure he doesn't lack anything. Yet Thandy wasn't happy at all.

The problem started when he was pregnant with his second child - Caleb. Arden's mother traced his background and found out that he was not the biological son of Mr Elasah and Rama Thandy but rather from a poverty stricken orphan.

Mizzah Catava, Arden's mother, was a woman who doesn't tolerate poverty. She couldn't stand the sight of poor people. To her poverty was like a disease. The same was for Arden's sisters. Only one of the sister' s love liked him.