Chapter 2

The house is set for the twenty-fifth birthday party of Eric, he's turned twenty-five today and wishes to surprise the three relatives he has, his wife Scarlett, three year old son, Mako and his mother-in-law, Susan.

 All went out early in the morning, Susan on a tour with Mako and Scarlett to Hollywood where she works as an actress. 

He does this in a bit to surprise his wife, who most likely sees him as worth nothing, lazy and of no good. 

He was really determined inside him to save some of the money he got to surprise Scarlett and make her know after all that he's a man. 

The dining table is filled with turkey soups, barbecues, a large bottle of red wine, vegetable stew, all sorts of delicacies rarely cooked in the house.

He looks at the time, it's 12 PM. He heads over to the drawer, takes out his phone and dials his wife's number.

"What could be wrong?" He asks himself, brushing his hair with his fingers, in frustration. 

 He walks over to address some stuff that has just caught his attention. 

He returns back to the drawer where the phone is, picks it up and decides to call her again.

 "Hello!" He readily says as the call is picked, eager to hear Scarlett's voice but a deep masculine voice comes up.

"Hello!" He says somewhat sternly. Eric is shocked.

What the hell is going on here?

"May I know who you are?" He breathes heavily. "This' my wife's phone." 

"What about that?" He queries with sarcasm. 

"Should you be in possession of my wife's phone, is she alright?" Fear starts seizing him, his heart begins to pound heavily.

Though she hates him, he loves her.

"You don't need to worry about her safety, you jerk!" The man snapped angrily and hung the call.

 He was worried who this man is and why he is with his wife's phone. 

Another thought comes into his mind, he got to call his mother-in-law, she would surely know where his wife is.

He dials her number on his small Nokia phone, he can't afford more than that and his wife is not willing to buy a better phone for him. Susan picks the call. 

"Hello!" She responds in a harsh voice.

He gulps down the saliva forming in his throat. 

"Hello ma, I wanted to ask where my wife is. I've tried calling her several times but at last a man picked up. please tell me where she has gone." 

"You wish me to do what now?" A little bit of sarcasm gets embedded in her tone. 

"Do you know where she is?" 

"Why should you be asking me that? She must have run away because of you useless man she married?" 

Eric sees this as some bonus, at least Scarlett was still his wife no matter what she did to him, as her mother just declared.

Eric was really worried so he headed to Hollywood where he might get clue where his wife has gone. He parks the car at the gate, walks over to the armed security officers standing guard at the gate.

Few meters away, one of them leaves his colleagues and walks towards him with suspicious eyes, scanning him from head to toe, disgust in his eyes. 

Eric feels it's because of the simple way he's dressed. He ignores that and seeks to ask the question he has in mind. 

"Good evening sir." He greets. 

"Yeah, good evening." The man replies with disgust in his tone. Hope you know this place is not for your class? He communicates through his eyes, Eric swallows hard. 

"What's your purpose for coming here? Can you identify yourself?"