“My dearest,

This is not what we envisaged, but this may be my last words to you…” She sniffed, trying not to make any noise that would attract attention. The more she tried, the more her breathing became heavy. Drops of tears slid down her cheeks. She tightened her lips and used her left hand to cover her eyes. The sound from the big flat television began to irritate her. It was a news channel. She took the remote and switched it off.

Tracy was in the kitchen, washing some dishes when she first heard the blubbering of her mistress. She stood still, stopped washing, and waited for the sound again. But everywhere became quiet. She gently went to the sitting room and peeped through the door. There, she saw Soraya weeping. Soraya was sitting on an armchair, putting on a purple gown. In front of her, a brown stool, a small fancy kettle, a glass cup, a plastic can containing some white powder, a pen, and a notebook, all were on the stool. She blinked her eyes and cleaned her tears with her fingers.

Tracy pushed the door gently and walked towards her.

“My lady, are you okay?” She asked tenderly with genuine concern. Soraya quickly put on a fake smile and turned the notebook on the stool upside down.

“Yes, I’m fine.” She stopped and took a deep breath.

“But... You are crying, my lady?”

Soraya smiled again and shook her head.

“I will be fine. I just want to be alone.”

Reluctantly, Tracy turned. As she was going back to the kitchen, Soraya called her back. Tracy turned to face her. Then she bent her face downward and quickly stole a glimpse at the stool.

“In case you want to order anything tomorrow. You can simply use my credit card. I tried to send some money into your account, but it’s not dropping.”

“Ok, ma.” She responded.

“You can take away your apron. There is no need to prepare my dinner. I'm… Okay.”

Tracy was still standing and Soraya sensed some doubt and fear on her face and she wanted to clear any notion in her heart.

“Please, give me some sliced bread.” She stamped her left foot to hide her emotions.

“Yes ma,” she nodded.

Tracy was in her early twenties. She was tall, light-skinned, had curled black hair and a Grecian nose, all well packed on her round face. She was mixed-race. Her father was a European, and her mother, an African. She had never seen her father from birth, and her mother, imprisoned on a drug deal. She was adopted by Soraya’s father when she was still a baby and from her teens, she had been Soraya’s maid.

Tracy went out and didn’t spend much time. She re-entered the sitting room, this time with a tray in her hands. On the plastic tray were sliced bread and a cup of mayonnaise. She placed it on the table close to Soraya. She opened the mayonnaise and wanted to cream the bread.

“Don’t worry. I will take care of that.”

Soraya watched her as she walked out of the sitting room. As soon as she closed the door, she took her pen and note and resumed her writing.

“I never knew love until you came into my life. From the first day I knew you, I knew happiness. You sparked up my life and your thoughts became my joy. The video you saw was fake. Believe me. I never betrayed you. They drugged me. Though it may be hard to believe, I am telling you the truth.” She wept silently and used her handkerchief to clean her tears. “I didn’t know how it happened. I thought Sophia was just a nice friend, I never knew he was working with my father.” She stopped writing and raised her head towards the painted wall. She saw their big marriage picture, framed with silver color hung on the wall. Tears started coming from her eyes again without a sound from her lips.

“You abandoned me. This is not what we planned at first. We planned for a beautiful married life after your military school. Then tour the world, visiting the Caribbean islands, the Ha Long Bay in Vietnam, the Colosseum of Italy, the Taj Mahal of India, and so on. But before our very eyes, these plans went away. You value your national duty over my presence. You value your family’s opinion and left me. You lied to me, and your action is about to separate us forever. Please and please, do not hold anyone responsible for my death. I decided to do this and these are my reasons. Firstly, I can’t bear the pain of seeing you walk away. You may be pressured, as you have already done, to leave me because of your family’s name. I might be disgusted by them as my video continues to circulate and there is no way to prove my innocence. Secondly, I don’t want to marry Damian. This has been the plan of my father. And this plan will definitely fail. My third reason is the safety of your life. I care so much about you. It will be better for me to die and end everything.

Before I say goodbye, I have a beautiful secret to tell you. I wanted to tell you about it on our first marriage anniversary. I wanted to tell you this on our happiest moment. But the reverse is the case. You graduated as the best student in the Defence Academy was a secret. I contributed. I kept upgrading your test and examination scores at my own risk. From B to A and from C to A without my father’s knowledge. You told me you wanted to become an army just to please your grandfather, but your action shows you lied. You needed it for yourself.”

She opened the plastic can on the table and turned the grounded drugs into the kettle and shook it vigorously. She stopped and filled the glass cup to its brim. The liquid was milky. She took the cup and placed it against her lower lips. Suddenly, her other phone in her bedroom upstairs rang. She dropped the glass cup and rushed upstairs. She thought Lucas was the one calling. She picked the phone and held it till it stopped ringing. It was her father who was calling. There was wrath in her eyes. The phone showed a missed call on the screen and a symbol of a text message below the missed call. She tapped the message. It was from her father.

“Please my daughter, come home.”

She switched off the phone and threw it on the bed and went down. When she came down. She picked up the notebook and pen. She stood and held it as if she remembered something.

“Please, bury me with the first pearl you bought for me when we first fell in love. Please, take care of Tracy. I am leaving her in your hands, not as a maid, but as my sister. She has been a great companion to me.” She dropped the note and pen on the stool and drank the milky solution. She filled the glass again and again and drank it. While drinking, she squeezed her face because of the taste and cleaned the ends of his mouth. She collected the notebook and went upstairs, to her bedroom.

Ten minutes later, Tracy pushed the sitting-room door open. She wandered through, looking at the cup, the kettle, and the tray she brought. Soraya didn’t touch the bread. As she stepped her first foot on the stairs, she looked up towards her mistress' room to see if she was coming down and positioned her ears for noise. When she heard no noise, gradually she climbed carefully without causing any sound with her feet. After fourteen steps, she faced her mistress' door. Her heart was pounding. The yellow apron was still on her. She waited for a while and adjusted her shoulders and knocked on the door.

“My lady!” She waited. When she heard no response. She knocked twice.

“My lady! My lady!!”

When she got no answer, she held the handle of the door and opened it. Her first sight was her mistress, lying on the floor helplessly.

“My lady, my lady,” she shouted. She raised her left hand and left it. It fell without control. She did it again and the same thing happened. She ran down to the sitting room and went straight to the house phone placed on the wall. She dialed Lucas' phone number. Tracy’s hands were shivering. The call rang thrice and on the fourth dial, he picked the call.

“Hello…”

His voice was cold. He thought it was his wife. He had refused to pick Soraya’s call for days after watching the video sent to him by an unknown number.

“Good evening Sir,” she rushed her words and her tone was tense.

“Tracy, what is the matter?” He showed a bit of empathy.

“Please come home. Your wife. My mistress wanted to poison herself, but I managed to exchange the poison with a sleeping pill. Please come home.” She begged. That night, Lucas came home. He went through Soraya’s words more than once and placed Soraya on the bed. He wore her the pearl and sat beside the bed watching her. The next morning, Soraya woke up and turned her head. The first person she saw was Lucas. She asked with a weak voice.

“I’m still alive?”