Loved; A Christmas Special

Chapter 4

Hugo looked at the time. He hated audit week as it meant he had to ensure every data was backed up on the company's server. He reclined back in his chair as the last of the documents uploaded.

"Done." He said as he shut down his system and locked up his cubicle. Walking down the empty halls, he noted that the lights were turned off in every department. The building gave off an eerie feel at this time of the day. Moving down to the parking lot, he entered his car and drove off. Halfway home, he remembered that his pantry was empty and had to take a detour to the mall.

Making a mental list of all he needed to get, he alighted his car at the parking lot of the mall. Thirty minutes later, he returned to his car having bought more than he planned to. Heading home, he decided to take another detour and see his friend. Suddenly, the skies opened and it began to rain. What started as a light shower, in a manner of minutes had turned into a heavy downpour.

"There goes my plan." He said. The Blessings by Elevation worship, blasted from his speaker as he sang along at the top of his voice. Just at the intersection, he noticed a car packed and someone bending over the hood in frustration. He was just about to drive past, considering how the streets weren't safe, and that was a strategy for theft when he noticed the driver was Mira. Her blonde highlights give her away. Packing behind her, he alighted and grabbing an umbrella he walked up to her.

"Well! Well! Well! Look who we have here." He said with a broad smile as he stood covering them both with the umbrella.

"For goodness sake, not you again."

"Such welcome warms my heart. Come on, what are the odds that I'll show up on this side of town on such an auspicious night"

" Auspicious indeed" She muttered to herself. "One," she said as she glared at him " Seeing as you're here."

" Why don't I drop you off? I would have offered to call a mechanic or a cab but I'm already here plus it's raining heavily and this street isn't so safe at night."

"And risk you knowing my house address, hell no!" Mira responded.

"Don't act so stubborn. We both know if I wanted full details about you all I have to do is search the right places. Get into the car." He said walking ahead of her. Mira decided to act logically. For whatever unfortunate reason fate had caused their paths to cross on this rainy night.

Getting into Hugo's car gave Mira some insight into the man. The car was clean and neat and smelled like roses. Gospel music streamed from his speaker irritating Mira to no end.

"What's your annoyance, Mira?" Hugo asked snapping her back to the present. "Nothing," she said in no mood to throw a pity party. Men like Hugo had it all; a good life, friends who loved them, a lovely girlfriend who warmed their beds every night, more money than they knew what to do with. They probably saw life as a bed of sunflowers considering the fact that roses have thorns and probably never experienced the things she had. With a sigh, she watched the passing scenery.

*You want to know something, Mira? He asked. "You're not the only one who's lost out on a lot, you're not the only one with a bitter past. I had a life that was ugly as hell but you want to know what made it beautiful? Jesus." He said, stopping in front of her building. " Whenever you're ready to talk, you can call me and I may just be led to tell my story."

"Why are you so interested in me?" She asked perplexed.

"I'm not the one interested in you: Jesus is."

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Mira thought a lot about what Hugo said. She was a naturally curious person and wanted to know Hugo's dirty past. However, she wasn't ready to share hers. This didn't stop her from wondering how he overcame it and found such freedom, peace, and happiness? She couldn't remember the last time she was truly happy even after her marriage ended, she had always been plagued with many sorrows and even therapy hasn't helped. Some nights, she woke up screaming: nights when she dreams of Mike beating her to death, or being hanged or spending the rest of her life in prison. She often asked herself if there was an end for her sorrows.

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Mira looked at her phone. She couldn't for the life of her figure out how they got her phone number and now they were back to trouble her life. It was a picture of her with the words 'murderer' scribbled in red on it. She flung her phone screaming in frustration. Didn't she deserve a break? Wasn't it bad enough that she had a terrible week, she now had to deal with Mike's family. Indeed she'd had a terrible week. She's been unable to sleep more than 3 hours every night waking constantly due to her nightmares, her productivity had deflated that week affecting her work negatively, the anti-depressants didn't seem to be working. She was angry, frustrated, bitter and more than ever determined to end it all.

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Hugo couldn't understand why he had no peace. He'd been restless all day but it has gotten worse that evening. He tried praying but couldn't settle down enough to do that also. One name flashed constantly through his mind and to regain his peace, he decided to visit her.

The house was quiet when he arrived and after knocking without a reply he let himself into the house. He refused to believe she wasn't at home as her car was in the parking lot downstairs and her phone was in pieces where she'd thrown it. Taking a look through the house, he finally came to the bedroom where he found her lying on the bed with her medicine bottle in her hand. Hugo picked up the bottle confirming they weren't just vitamins. Quickly putting her into his car he drove to the nearest hospital.