Covering Up

“Liam…!” Maya raised her voice as she asked for help. “Please call my husband. The pain is getting stronger.”

Liam rushed into Maya’s bedroom. His facial expressions could interpret what Maya was passing through. Being her personal driver, he was always closer to her. He took his phone and called his boss.

“Sir, your wife has started experiencing delivery pain.”

The man at the end of the phone spoke without concern.

“’Am I a physician? Doesn’t she know the way to the hospital?” He ended the call immediately. The driver made a disappointing breath before turning his eyes to his boss’ wife. Maya could feel pains below her abdomen.

“What did he say?” She asked hopefully.

Liam immediately composed himself, a calm smile spreading across his face as he said,

“Madam, my boss said he will be glad to meet us at the hospital, probably he might be there before we get to the hospital.”

Maya widened her eyes, as this was a shock to her. It has been so long her husband had felt joyful seeing her. In fact, Wale had not been home for almost five days, and she was missing him so much. The birth pain seemed to be a fortune to get him to her side again.

“Okay, let’s go,” she said quickly.

Maya’s heart warmed at the fact that Wale at least cared about his child. Both of them were caught in controversy three years ago, so getting married was the only way to manage the situation.

Wale’s standing was clear throughout it all when he stated. “When everything settles down, we’re getting a divorce.”

Maya hoped that by that time, she would have been able to melt his cold heart and make him fully hers, so her hopes were high. However, over time, he even slowly drew away from her, despite working together in the same company and sometimes sharing the same bedroom.

About nine months ago, Wale returned home one evening and asked Maya for a divorce but when he learnt that she was pregnant while she was on call, he felt so disappointed.

“Why did you get pregnant?” He hesitated. How would she get pregnant if he hadn’t slept with her?

“Why don’t you allow me to give birth first…” She replied softly.

“Don’t expect to be called my wife after giving birth. That position is for someone else.” He interrupted Maya with an unfriendly look.

Their marriage life after those words had been terrible. This wasn’t the Wale she knew even if their being together was an accident. Wale barely returned home, and it has been a very long time since they both had been intimate. The only reason she still bore his name was because of the unborn child in her womb. Maya thought that his reason for being away was because of work since he was the CEO of the AZ Group, a multibillion dollar company where Maya also worked as one of the top HR managers.

What Wale didn’t know was that Maya had been secretly in love with him for many years after he saved her life from an accident, if not him who came to her rescue, she would have died. A gesture he has long forgotten and he couldn’t even remember her again. But after a drunken night at his parents’ anniversary party, Maya woke up in the same bed with Wale. His elder half brothers who were envious of his CEO position in their father’s company wanted to use this situation to overthrow him.

“What? A CEO of a company? You have been sleeping with your staff?” Rex, one of his half elder brothers exclaimed. While Rex, the other half brothers were busy taking pictures of the both of them on the bed. Without delay, they rushed to show their father these pictures. While on their way, they contacted some media houses on how to publicize the negative news about Wale.

Wale could not allow the scandal to ruin his well kept reputation and cause him to lose his position. Still on their way to meet their dad, Wale rushed to the court and got married. Then he publicly announced that he and Maya were already dating secretly. Maya, who had been madly in love with him, was excited how what seemed negative at first has become a blessing in disguise.

Maya hoped that with time, he would fall in love with her. At first, their marriage looked beautiful at the beginning and as time went by, it got worse.

On her way to the hospital with her driver, a viral picture entered Maya’s phone. Looking at the content, her heart dropped. Wale was holding the waist of a beautiful woman, and there was this genuine look on his face.

“No one understands me like my childhood sweetheart,” was written under the picture.

Tears filled Maya’s puffy eyes, running down her cheeks as she refused to believe the truth. Perhaps it was a doctored image or the doing of his brothers to tarnish his image again. There had never been any reports of Wale dating any woman since he got married. He never really seemed at ease around women. He had always been secretive, avoiding the media spotlight. Besides, Liam had mentioned that Wale had willingly agreed to meet them at the hospital, so the media must be spreading this fake story to gain attention.

Maya tried to reassure herself that what she had seen was probably the doing of his idle half brothers, her heart continued to worry her. The image she had viewed had momentarily distracted her from her growing anguish. She extended her hand towards her phone and dialed his number, despite Wale’s request for her not to contact him directly anymore. She persistently called, but there was no response. She wasn’t overly shocked, this was something she was used to. As she dialed his number for the fifth time, knowing it would be her final attempt for now, an unfamiliar female voice answered her husband’s call.

“Wale and I were taking our bath. I guess you have been calling.”

Maya was startled and she pressed her back against the car seat, and she could feel her breath. Wale never allowed her to touch his phone, but this woman with ease answered his call. Were they really in the bathroom? Maya felt the pain in her chest worse than that of her abdomen.

“Who are you?” The words escaped her mouth, unbidden. The woman responded casually again.

“I’m Miss Kate, his fiancee. Anything? In fact, who are you?” Her voice claimed possession.

Even though she knew Wale no longer loved her, she hoped they could live peacefully for the sake of the baby she carried, but she never expected that hope to become a reality. The woman on the other end of the phone looked at the screen and said,

“Maya? HR manager…? If it’s urgent, you can tell me and I will tell him when he is out.”

Did he saved her number that way? All nights Wale spent away when Maya thought he was busy at work, he was with the woman he loved, leaving her to suffer with her unborn child. Being her first pregnancy, she couldn’t cope with her morning illness and other health issues, so she temporarily stopped going to work.

Her mind lacked clarity, and she was beginning to doubt all the responses she got from Liam when she asked him to get in touch with Wale.

“Just tell him to call me,” Maya ended the call.

At his private mansion that Maya has never entered, Wale returned from the swimming pool. Since he never allowed anyone to answer his calls during his absence, he equally left his phone in one of his presidential suites meant for his relaxation.

“What are you doing with my phone?” He asked as soon as he entered the bedroom. Before Kate spoke, he asked again, “and I made it clear that you should call me before coming here. Did anybody see you when entering the compound?”

She furrowed and faked a smile before asking.

“Is it wrong to pay you a surprise visit? We would have gotten married if Maya had not gotten pregnant.”

Wale was a man who loved to keep his love life private and he has known Kate for a long time and they lost contacts. When he met Kate again many months ago at a business meeting, he promised her that he would divorce Maya when the scandal died down. Things took a different turn when he found the pregnancy test result after promising Kate that he was ending things with Maya very soon.

“I told you I was working on it. You should keep yourself hidden away from the press and anyone you suspected working with my elder brothers. We shouldn’t be seen together for now.” Wale’s voice was very serious and the veins on his sides of head could be seen. It was a business for him first, and he didn’t want Kate’s presence to ruin it for him, just like that night with Maya.

Kate was displeased at the reminder. Forcing a smile and she said.

“I could be your messenger at your office. With that, no one will easily find out.” When she said that, Wale didn’t say a word, she quickly added, “Please Wale, I don’t want to be away from you anymore.

Still, Wale did not give a response. His facial expression didn’t need a word for Kate to know what he wanted. It wasn’t easy for him to be the CEO of the renowned AZ Group as the youngest of the four sons. Any wrong move and his elder brothers would begin to fight for the position.

“Did anyone call?”

As he scrolled through his phone, he spotted Maya’s name in the list of received calls.

“Yeah. Maya. She said you should call her.” Kate responded with a quick smile, her fingers moving along her cleavage. She widened her chest and sat on the bed. She was up to something, to divert Wale’s attention from his question.

“What did you tell her?” Wale raised his voice and wanted a reply. He also wanted to keep Kate a secret until after the divorce.

“I pretended not to know about her.” She unbuttoned her first button of her light blue top.

“Do me a favor, Kate, don’t answer my calls again. It’s against my policy.”

“I’m sorry. I thought it was an emergency as she kept calling your phone.” She stood up and moved closer to him

“Maya needs a doctor. She needs to grow up. If she can’t find her way to the hospital, that’s her business. After her delivery I will divorce her.”

He took a deep breath. “If only Maya could read my actions and stop calling me,” he thought. But then, suddenly, his phone rang and it was Maya again. Kate kept looking to see what he would do and how he would answer the call.