I Was Fated to Love You

by Abigail Barnabas

  Contents

  Chapter 1 Your office girl next door

  Chapter 2 Darren Bells

  Chapter 3 The Mishap

  Chapter 4 Payback

  Chapter 5 The Accidental Pregnancy Kit

  Chapter 6 Meeting Matthew

  Chapter 7 Letting him Know

  Chapter 8 The Decision

  Chapter 9 Together for Now

  Chapter 10 The Agreement

  Chapter 11 The Search

  Chapter 12 Fatherhood

  Chapter 13 Meteor Shower

  Chapter 14 Birthday

  Chapter 15 Her return

  Chapter 16 Hurt

  Chapter 17 Trouble

  Chapter 18 The Final Chance

  Chapter 1

  Your Office Girl Next Door

  Abigail Rowling didn’t have to work hard to be ordinary. She was ordinary in every way. Her black-rimmed specs often pressed on the ridges of her nose, as she squinted at the glaring computer screen on a daily basis. She tied her hair in a neat bun, and was usually clad in a typical working attire- a standard blouse with a black skirt reaching her kneecaps. She wasn’t ugly, but she wasn’t what you would consider as stunningly beautiful as well. She was plain.

  As usual, time seemed to come to a stop as Abigail huffed and puffed her way through the crowds at her workplace building, to get to the lift before its doors closed. It was a humorous sight, for Abigail was always in a hurry. She was always in a hurry to satisfy the needs of others, being at their beck and call, whenever necessary. She was your coffeegirl, alright.

  She was carrying those piping hot Starbucks coffees with her two hands, and the aromatic scent of coffee tingled the noses of those who had landed in the same lift as her. The lift was so crowded that she was literally pressed against the sweaty bodies of the two men beside her.

  Then, something inexplicable happened. There was a horrible smell that penetrated the aromatic scent of coffee.

  Someone had farted.

  And no, it wasn’t Abigail.

  The man looked embarrassed as he hurriedly exited the lift door once it had reached his floor. It was the Marketing Director of Smiths Enterprise, and he often suffered from constipation, diarrhoea and what not. No one had laughed because it was the usual.

  At the 7th floor, Abigail exited the lift and she made a wild dash towards her department- the department of Public Relations. Ironic because Abigail wasn’t the most gregarious when it came to forging beneficial relations with people. She was only gregarious when it came to offering help to others. She had often wondered why she was that way, but it was a mystery of all mysteries.

  “Abby, where’s my black coffee?”

  “Abby, where’s my Espresso?”

  “Abby, can you help me check my files? I need to go for a wedding soon.”

  “Abby, can you help me complete this please? I am meeting Roger”

  Abby had a small office desk beside the pantry which was virtually out of sight unless one bothered to take a round around the office. She was only in sight when her service was rendered and to the others, she was contented with life and the way she was. She was just like a post-it note which one found handy when we require a reminder, but disposable once the job has been done.

  To be honest, Abby never wanted to be so plain, so simple and so ordinary. She was just like any girl. As cliché was it seems, she had always longed for a prince charming to whisk her from her cruel fate of being seemingly ignored and escort her to a place so heavenly where he would shower her with love and affection. Wasn’t that every girl’s aspiration? Her father had told her once, that if she had believed in something, then it would happen. Abby’s father passed away in a car accident when she was just a young girl of age 11. She had lived with her mother and her sisters ever since. At home, she was equally dismissed, since her mother had never wanted her to be born anyway, believing that Abby had added on to the family’s financial troubles, with the bad debts that her mother had incurred from her gambling habits. In fact, Abby was born after a failed abortion attempt. It was not that her mother didn’t love her after Abbey had been born. It was just that her mother did not pay as much attention to her as her other sisters who had more dynamic personalities than her.

  Abby was the youngest child of the family, and unlike her sisters who were married, she was the only bachelorette among them. Abby’s sister, Linda, had always pleaded with her to get married, so she could get out of the room which she occupied in their small house at the countryside, and so she could move back to their old home with her husband to save costs. Poor Abby. She wanted to marry herself off too.

  There was a particular incident which still stayed etched to her memories. When Abby was a student in high school, she had a huge crush on her senior, Michael. Michael was the star of the cohort, where he had mesmerizing brown eyes and a smile which stole her heart. Well, one day, Abby finally plucked up the courage to write a letter of confession to Michael and left it under his desk at school. Abby had not expected a change in attitude in Michael when he invited her to his birthday bash. Abby- the girl who was not in the popular clique was finally invited to a birthday bash organized by the most popular boy in school, and none other than her crush itself. She excitedly went for the bash which was held at his beautiful white house, and to her surprise, there was no one other than Michael himself. He had told her that the rest have not arrived yet, and he would want to see her dance. She stupidly complied and although she felt embarrassed, she took off her black robe, which revealed Abby in her bright yellow bikini. He had instructed her to wear this, saying she would look fantastic in this. Then, Abby danced to the throbbing music, with the water from the nearby fountain spraying on her slightly. She thought that it would have made senior Michael happy and that finally someone would have appreciated her. Little did poor Abby expect that guffaws of laughter would erupt from behind her, as the entire party emerged from behind the bushes and roared with excitement. She is so stupid, they pointed and said. Yeah she is so stupid, he said. It was a traumatic experience for Abby and that demoralized her already-low confidence further. She was convinced that no one would ever really love her for who she was and she was resigned to being Miss Invisible. Nonetheless, she still yearned for a sparkle of hope where someone would love her.

  Hence, Abby had never been in a relationship before. She was what you would call evergreen. She had just been filing sheets and sheets of paperwork when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

  “ If you need me to do any work, just place a post-it on my table”

  “ It is me”

  Abby stopped her work and looked right up. It was her superior, Samuel. Samuel was the Director of the Public Relations team and was a tall and rugged-looking man. Her heart throbbed and she felt her legs go jelly as he spoke to her. She had always had a fascinating crush on him ever since the first day she came to work. He had never touched her before, and although it was just a tap, that was enough to make Abby feel electrified and for all her sensations to become instantly magnified. It resembled the crush she had on her senior, Michael, years back and she struggled to come back to her senses.

  “I was just wondering if you will be free for supper later on”

  Abby gaped and she went in a state of being shell-shocked. Her face turned into a hot red flush, as she struggled to comprehend this newfound attention he had on her.

  “ err..yes.. I should be free”

  “Alright, see you later on”

  So Abby and Michael went for supper later on, when everyone had knocked off. He had been especially nice to her. Paid for her plate of chilled desserts and invited her to watch a late-night movie, which he paid for as well. Abby felt her world turning when he had offer
ed his jacket to her during the movie. For once, Abby had felt that someone had cared for her. Then, he sent her home in his black BMW. Abby couldn’t help but feel a gush of excitement. Had she found the one afterall?

  Chapter 2

  Darren Bells

  It was morning and Darren Bells was hard at work in his posh and spacious office. He was the young CEO of the company where he had temporarily taken over his father’s duties. Darren was born with a silver spoon, and he thanked fate for that. While others had to toil, he didn’t have to work that hard to get to where he was. Although his mother had left him when he was a young child, he had a doting grandmother and a father who had left an empire for him. He had a fantastic assistant who was Daniel’s best friend as well, James. Daniel never really had good friends in his life. He had aplenty of friends or acquaintances, but there were few with which he could really trust. As he was wealthy, everyone tried to befriend him and he never quite knew who he could trust.

  Darren’s phone rang and it was Tiffany. Darren and Tiffany had been in a relationship for 3 years and they had loved each other deeply. To Darren,Tiffany was all that he had ever wanted in a girl. She was so beautiful, so elegant and she was a great dancer as well. Tiffany was a professional jazz dancer and she was always having performances around the world. He had admired the fact that she was so independent and so talented, but he sometimes wished he had a more normal relationship. They had always relied on the phone or the internet to maintain some semblance of what it was like to have a relationship. Tiffany would often be gone for months for a concert, and then return for a week or two to spend time with Darren, before poof she was off again. He had pleaded her to change her career, but dance was her life and her passion. One simply cannot dissociate dance from Tiffany for dance and Tiffany are one together. It seemed as if Tiffany would lose part of her personality if she were to quit dance. Furthermore, Tiffany’s mother would never agree. She had been a jazz dancer herself and had trained Tiffany to dance ever since she was a young girl.

  Darren knew that he wouldn’t want to wait any longer. He wanted to marry Tiffany, settle down, and have kids with her. Darren’s grandmother had always urged for the both to marry as well. They weren’t that young anymore. Darren was 29 and Tiffany was 27. She was lonely and she wanted grandchildren.

  He had requested James to arrange for a private celebration for his birthday, where he wanted to celebrate his birthday with Tiffany and propose to her at a cruise holiday. In fact, he had long prepared for the proposal. He had bought the wedding ring 3 months back, kept in his drawer, and waited for dear Tiffany to finally come home from her concerts. He waited and waited, and finally there was one since Tiffany would fly back to celebrate his birthday every year.

  He was so excited. It would be a dream come true for Darren if Tiffany should agree, then he wouldn’t have to fear seeing her so little, since she had earlier agreed that if they were to be married, she would base her dance career in New York itself.

  Tiffany was an emotional wreck, having to deal with the bitchy dances of her troop, with everyone trying to outwit one another and win the position of the lead dancer. It was not easy being overseas. She missed home. She missed her mother. And most importantly, she had missed Darren. She loved him so much. She wanted so badly to be with him right now. Yet, she had to fulfil her mother’s expectations of her. She had to be the lead dancer, be in the spotlight, and no matter how unscrupulous she had to be, she had to make her mother proud. She looked at her calendar and then she gasped. It would be Darren’s birthday one week later and she would be in a very special concert where it would propel her to immense success. The answer never seemed clearer. It would be Darren. If she lost him, she would lose everything. She instantly went online and purchased her return tickets to New York where she would be awaiting him. She wondered what to get for his birthday.

  Days had passed at the blink of an eye and soon, it was the day that everyone was waiting for. For Darren, it was his birthday. For Tiffany, it was Darren’s birthday. They would finally see each other after such a prolonged wait. For Abby, she had long awaited for this vacation with her current boyfriend Samuel.

  The cruise was the Atlantic Charter and it was so majestic. Darren had a portion of shares in the Atlantic Charter and hence with his assistant James’s help, he was able to organise a very grand walk-in for Tiffany when she would arrive. She didn’t know that he was about to propose to her. The cruise would set sail at 7pm, and it was then 11am in the morning. Tiffany was still in her hotel room at Mexico, packing her bags for her return trip, when she overheard a conversation which seemed to be from outside her door.

  “ They had chosen Tiffany to be the lead dancer and asked me to convey it to her. I naturally wouldn’t want her to be the lead, so I lied to her that I was the lead and then told them that she had hurt herself from a fall and wasn’t able to perform. Well, I mean she would be leaving to meet her boyfriend anyway right? Then, they gave me the lead role. Hahaha”

  The door swung open and Tiffany gave that bitch Clarissa a tight slap on her cheek. Clarissa’s phone landed on the floor with a thud. Her cheek instantly turned into a blistering red as Tiffany glared at the red-faced Clarissa. A fight had almost begun to erupt between the two girls when the director of the concert who happened to be passing by, grabbed hold of the two girls by their wrists.

  “ I want to know what is going on”

  At the cruise, Darren was busy ensuring that everything would go according to his plans. He could easily leave all this job to his assistant Paul but he wanted to be the one who did the final checking, since it was such an important day. He ensured that the rooms were well-decorated, with petals of roses scattered all around the bed and a pathway of petals leading to the door of their cabin suite. There would be a bottle of champagne on the bed and at his command, delectable food would be served, including Tiffany’s favourite tenderloin beef. Everything would go well today,.

  “Hold on, Samuel. Hold on’

  Abby was carrying so many things that Samuel shrugged his shoulders and sighed. He didn’t understand why she was carrying 2 luggages of clothes, when they were only going for a short 3-day vacation to Hawaii. Abby was being her typical self where she was always afraid that accidents would occur, like a spillage on her shirt, and that she would need to change into something new since she was often clumsy and like what her mother had often told her- Abby it is better to play safe than to be sorry.

  “ I am so excited! This is my first vacation with you”

  Abby gave her innocent smile and revealed her set of straight pearly white teeth. She placed a scarf over Samuel and stroked his hair, as if he was a little puppy. She had indeed been awaiting this day for ages. Her relationship with Samuel had been perfect, at least to her, since she never expected much from him anyway. Anyone who was genuinely nice to Abby was a saint. It was Abby who had pleaded Samuel to take time off his work to accompany her on a vacation because she was so caught up with work, that she figured they both needed a breather.

  “ Abby, you are so beautiful. You are everything that I need”

  Samuel said as he held on to his cigar and took a puff.

  “ You are everything to me too, Samuel”

  Samuel nodded and looked at the waters nonchalantly.

  “ I will be back soon”

  “ Where are you going? I thought this was supposed to be a vacation…”

  “ Yeah it is, but for now, I have some business to do, so if you would to excuse me for a moment…”

  He headed off, without awaiting her reply. She was used to his chauvinistic ways. He was just being Samuel, she thought. He had headed off to the casino, where he had hoped that he would make a fortune that day, and then he would finally be able to lead a life worth leading.

  Chapter 3

  The Mishap

  As for Abby, she had been sick all day. She had been having a flu, so bad that she just wanted to curl on the ground and sleep the whole day. Yet, she had
been looking forward to this the whole month and she was happy. Samuel was off where he belonged, and Abby was hungry. She had not eaten the whole day, just so that she could enjoy the buffet at the cruise.

  She headed off to the Mediterranean deck and queued for her turn to head into the buffet restaurant. A young man brushed past her and sped into the restaurant. His side view looked a little familiar, but she shrugged her shoulders, since she didn’t know who he was. She waited and waited, and finally it was her turn. They swiped her cruise guest card and she was ushered to a small table for two, though she was really dining solo. The array of food was spectacular, and Abby was delighted, since she was hungry. She headed straight for a cup of warm coffee, placed it on her table, and then went on to the selections to get more food to fill her starving tummy. Little did she know that the next moment would change her life forever.

  A middle-aged man who was balding walked straight right into the restaurant and judging that there was only a solo table with a cup of coffee on it, admist the other tables filled with big families and rowdy children, he instantly whipped out a sachet and poured the contents into the piping hot coffee. It was dinner and everybody had been too busy eating, that one had seen his actions. The man then made an exit, and disappeared into the crowd.

  Abby went back to her table, feeling a little pathetic to be eating alone without her boyfriend, Samuel. Nevertheless, she had consoled herself that he had been nice enough to accompany her for this cruise and she really shouldn’t complain. Who was she to demand so much from a man anyway? He was someone so impressive and she was but a plain Jane. So Abby crunched into her garden salad, took a bite into her beef. She sipped her coffee.

  Samuel was having a really rotten day. His luck at the table had been terrible and he had been losing almost every round. The money which he had brought to cruise, was about to be squandered off completely by him. As he sipped a glass of apple cidar, frowns began to be written all over his face, as he begun blaming Abby for having suggested the stupid idea of a cruise vacation.