El Encanto Spa,
Santa Barbara, CA, September 9th, 1997
2:36pm
"WE PROMISE YOU'LL LEAVE WITH A GLOW THAT RIVALS A CALIFORNIAN SUNRISE"
Thats what the brochure said, when Michael had read over it in haste.
When Kandi, Michael, and Afia left the Santa Monica cottage, to go for a quiet dinner the previous evening with Chantelle and Ro'Lee in tow, Michael had scrambled to arrange something for the two sisters to do together the next day.
Afia and Kandi, that is.
He wanted to be a good host.
A good husband.
A generous husband.
Kandi explained she'd be staying with a friend in Calabasas, and so they discussed how they would arrange her last minute flight to Atlanta, on the way back to Neverland Ranch.
Afia couldn't help but feel everything was being swept under the rug too soon.
Michael gushed about Ro'Lee, and how small she was, as Kandi raced through Californian traffic, back into Santa Barbara.
Merely within six hours, Afia had gone from crying like a baby on the floor, to re entering her very broken marital home, with her sister in tow.
Somehow, everything was slipping back into its aching rhythm.
This time though, the act was harder to maintain.
Kandi would sit awkwardly at the wheel, as Michael would go quiet in the back, whenever Afia spoke.
He was scared almost, that two women would drive him to a secluded area, and let him have it.
Afia seemed different.
Weaker than he'd assumed she was.
Even as she laughed with Kandi, she'd stare off out of the window, letting her face droop.
He'd really sunk the boot in this time.
He wasn't sure if she'd ever be the same again.
So then, after they had dinner, take out from some restaurant with their babies, he quickly retired to bed before everyone else, to find the Local Brochure that they somehow always received in the junk mail boxes by the study.
The brochure had listed various luxurious attractions, for A-Listers and tourists alike.
El Encanto seemed nice.
Classy.
And it was.
The spa offered top of the range skincare treatments and massages, with saunas and jacuzzis, decked out with verandas for their customers who wanted to enjoy Mimosas in the sun after their expensive self care days.
So that's what Michael arranged.
He called the bar, as the spa was closed after seven.
YOU ARE READING
Resentment
FanfictionAfia and Michael, are what the world would consider the perfect power couple.. Rich and successful, they lead lives that millions across the world aspire to. But beneath the decadence, and grandeur of fame, lies a deeply broken and failing marriag...
