EMPIRE OF STARS

Chapter 1

Andre woke up to find Anika out of bed.He hurriedly rushed out to the kitchen but she was not there either. His heartbeats started racing faster as he recalled the events that unfolded last night.

Recap
Andre approaches his bedroom door quietly as he plans to give Anika a surprise appearance after returning home from his trip.

He slowly opens the door and tip-toes in, only to find that Anika was not there. He's worried look vanished when he saw the bathroom door slightly open. He heard little noises and knew that Anika must be in there. Slowly and cautiously, he tip-toes his way to the bathroom.

Standing infront of the bathroom door,he tilted it fully open.
"Surpri..." his voice hung as he beholded a sight infront of him.He saw his Anika. She was holding a razor which was quarter an inch away from the visible veins on her right wrist.

In a flash, he rushed to grab the razor out of her hands and threw it into the bin.

Anika was getting weaker and dizzy from all the tears which were still flowing. She nearly collapsed but Andre caught her on time. Now resting on his chest, his T-shirt was getting soaked up in tears.

"What's all this Anika, whats going on?"  curious and worried Andre asked.

"I can't take it anymore, I just can't" with her voice slightly above a whisper. It was obvious she was exhausted, tired and weak.

As deeply as he was eager to know exactly what was happening, he knew the timing would be wrong.

He decided to get her to rest,they walked slowly out of the bathroom into the bedroom.
They both laid on the bed in silence.

"What should I cook for you? You sure are very tired and exhausted" Dre told Anika. Anika knew that if she said she wasn't ordered instead because she didn't want him to go for long.

After ordering the pizza, he looked straight into the pale-looking brown eyes of Anika and said "I need you to tell me exactly everything.What's wrong? "

Even her paled eyes could see the pain in his eyes and it could undeniably be heard in his voice.
She couldn't lie now. She had to open up no matter the consequences. He deserved to know everything, so she promised herself to tell him everything.

"Ok. Fine. ...."she trailed. His silence signified that she should go on, so she continued. "Long before I met you, there was this girl. She was a friend of mine. She intoduced me to her twin brother and in no time, we became friends as well. One day, I was all alone in the sitting room when he..."  the sound of the doorbell interrupted, making Dre to groan. "Must be the pizza delivery guy, lemme go and get it " he said as he quickly jumped off the bed .

Getting the pizza and paying the delivery guy , he climbed the stairs with the pizza and headed back to the room he shared with Anika.

The ate the pizza while playing and having fun. Andre was doing everything in his power to cheer Anika up and luckily for him, it was working quite well.

After a while of playing, throwing pillows and having fun, they just laid together in a comfortable silence.

It lasted for about five minutes before it was broken by Andre's question : "uhmm..so, you were saying something?"  "Uhh? Me? " Anika asked in confusion leaving Andre's question unanswered.

"Yes. You" he answered. "Don't you remember? You were telling me about...." "ohh! Silly me! How easily I forget.Of course, I remember now."her manner of response left Andre beaming with unconscious smiles.

"So now you remember, can you please tell me" Andre pleaded like a little girl politely asking for a new doll.

She started off strongly but ended up weakly. She told him from A to Z of the story.The story that left Andre with mixed emotions. He didn't know whether to be happy that he now knows all about his wife's past or he should be sad because of the contents he heard. He also had a bit if anger within because she hid the truth from him all this while.

It was just so confusing but he understood the angle his wife was coming from. He was such a loving and caring husband. So, inatead of reacting angrily, he just hugged her tightly and said "Heyy, its okay. Stop crying already."

Like magic, her sobs ceased immediately. Still in the hug, she raised her head from his chest to look at him.

"You..uhh..you..you mean you're not mad or anything? " she stammered.

"Ofcourse I'm not. Unfortunately for me, I don't know how to get mad at angels, especially the ones that are sooo beautiful!" he teased, causing her to chuckle with the tear-stained face.

"But you gotta promise me, that you'll never try ending your life again because nothing's worth it. Not even that ugly past. Hmm? "

"Ok, Aight" she said bluntly .
"Nah, that doesn't work for me, say 'I PROMISE' " he told his beloved wife who was drifting off to sleep.

"Yeah yeah, whatever. They are the same thing"she murmured in her sleep, gaining a chuckle from Dre.

"Okay hun. Whatever you say" he said before kissing her temples and bidding her a good night although she was too drowned in her sleep to respond.

Okay guys. Thank you so much for reading. Please I need all kinds of feedback so I can improve. Feel free to comment and please please please, give this chapter a vote. Thanks

Till later, see ya!