Divina came into their lives like a whirlwind and stayed like a typhoon. Strong and destructive. Her personality was aggressive. Her words crude and vulgar. She destroyed the peace and calm that was characteristic in their home.
One night, a few days after Divina moved in, Maine was fixing the sofa to be Richard's makeshift bed for the night. He sat on the coffee table waiting for her to finish.
"You can't just let someone come in and live with us."
"Why not?"
"I have a bad feeling about her. Besides, you already have me. The two of us living together is enough."
Maine sighed and sat on the couch. Richard scooted to sit beside her.
"You're being possessive and protective for no reason."
"When have I ever led you astray? Trust me, Maine, it won't be a good decision to let her stay. You can help her but that's it. Don't let her stay."
"She needs someone to be there for her. It was the same thing my parents did for me. The same thing you did for me. Sorry, Richard. My decision is final."
She bid him good night, preventing him from making her change her mind.
When Divina first moved in, Richard already sensed something off about her. Although he has as much right as Maine has on who gets to stay in the house, he let her make the decision. He would observe Divina and take action only when necessary.
It was three months later when he decided to confront her. The past months, he noticed how Divina changed the house and Maine's life. At first, he thought it was for the better until it seemed that Divina was slowly taking over Maine's life. It started with Divina rearranging the house; then giving comments on her wardrobe, body image and mannerisms. Her comments were big blows to Maine's low self-esteem pulling her back down to depression.
He should have been worried when Divina offered to go in Maine's stead to meet her editor and publisher. Yet he chose to still keep quiet about his observations. But when he checked on the progress of Maine's new book, the text-to-speech program informed him that Divina had been writing a different story, he had to confront her.
"What are you trying to do?" Richard confronted Divina while Maine was out on an errand.
"Fixing her life."
"You weren't fixing it. You were trying to take over it."
"Because that's the only way to fix it."
Before he can retort, Maine came home and wondered why the atmosphere seemed tense but didn't get a chance to ask because Divina left soon after.
Richard turned his attention to Maine.
"Having Divina here isn't healthy anymore. You're relying too much on her."
Maine sighed in defeat.
"I don't know what to do with my life anyway. I would never be good enough of a writer to publish my work again."
"Yes you do! You wanted to become a children's book writer because you wanted to make children happy. You want to teach them that they have freedom to let their imagination soar. You want to share to them the same things Isabel and Diego taught you. That the limit of what you can do is only up to what you let yourself imagine.
"You don't give up easily. You don't give up on your dream. Remember those times that no one wanted to pick up your story to be published? We're just back to that stage. We just need to work harder so that you can find another editor and publisher who would believe in you.
"Stop letting Divina hold the reins. I can only see bad things happening from that."
She nodded squeezing his hand.
"Thank you. You always know how to knock sense into me."
Richard nodded in response, a small smile playing on his lips. He still worries what Divina would or could do. It's not enough that Maine take the controls there should be a way to be rid of Divina permanently.
He does have reasons to be worried. Because unbeknownst to them, Divina heard their discussion and she's doing her own plotting.
