Chapter 1

• Damn Him!”
• UGONDU ELVIS swore as she stared at the ring in her hand. It glittered as if the stones were real but they couldn’t be, considering the fact that the man who has given it to her seven years ago did not exist. No, he existed, she met him and he gave her the most blissful fortnight of her entire life, but he was a fraud. The pain in her heart grew as she glared at the offending ring. Looking at it always brought her heartache and reminded her of things best forgotten, reason she had banished the ring to the bottom of her box and never brought it out for years. Ugo, as everyone in Waterside called her banished the bitter memory brought by the ring and focused on what lay ahead.
• KENNY HILLS, her best friend cum sister is bringing her husband to be to introduce him to the family and Ugo hated it. She’d prayed that this day will never come but it was finally here and she dreaded every bit of it. Don’t get me wrong, Ugo did not dread this occasion because she didn’t want her best friend to get married, on the contrary, nothing would make her happier than seeing Kenny married to the man she loved.
• However, Kenny was not marrying the man she loved, she was marrying a total stranger and that’s what bothered Ugo. She knew Kenny was about to make the irrevocable mistake of her life and she her best friend hasn’t been able to talk her out of it. Ugo and Kenny were more of sisters than friends. They’ve done everything together since they were five years old.
• Kenny has been in love with BEN RICH her ex since she was ten years old. Everyone in Waterside knew they will marry eventually. In fact, Ben and Kenny had been a yardstick for love in Waterside. However, four months ago, they’ve broken up their fifteen years relationship without explanation to anyone. After the break up, Ben had left town, then Kenny too was gone. She went to Ultra City to stay with a family relation and that was the first time she has ever left Waterside.
• Two weeks ago Kenny came back after three months stay in the Ultra City, she came back with an invitation to her engagement party with some stranger none of them knew. An engagement party that will happen in their hometown, Waterside few days ahead. So today, the prospective groom would be here to meet the family and instead of joy and excitement, everyone was apprehensive.
• The guy was already in town and Kenny had gone to B & B, the only lodging their small town can boast of, to bring the man and his best friend to meet the family. Ugo was afraid that she will say something horrible to the man and his friend just to make sure the wedding didn’t go through. She loathed the man already even without meeting him. How can she not, all Kenny talked about was how he was going to take her around the world. Kenny hated travelling and she hated big city. Ugo sighed in frustration, why won’t Kenny or Ben say anything to anyone.
• She has to do something. She has to break them up. I mean, who falls in love in three months?
• “You did, in less than that.” Her inner voice reminded her
• “Yes but my case was different, I wasn’t suffering from a heartbreak” Ugo argued
• “You were only naïve.” The voice retorted
• Ugo quenched the voice in anger. Why was she thinking about him?
• “Because you are holding his damn ring!”
• She stared again at the glittering fake musgravite ring, it has to be fake. The intricate design by several carats of the gem would make the ring unattainably expensive if it was real. He could not have given it to her only to disappear three days after without a trace. She had kept the ring because it was the only evidence that those two weeks of bliss were not a figment of her imagination. They couldn’t be. Her six years old son was another evidence that the man who gave her the ring was real though a fraud.
• The only reason she had brought the ring out from its hidden place at the bottom of her box was because as she picked up the emerald necklace, which was the only real jewelry she has, she noticed that the catch was broken. It wasn’t quite expensive but it was her mothers and she cherished it. She didn’t know how the catch got broken but she needed another fitting jewelry to match her ensembles for this evening meeting with the prospective groom and nothing matches except the olive green fake musgravite. Yeah, Ugo realized she kept emphasizing on the fake because she truly believed it. Kenny has hinted that her husband to be was from money and had urged her family to dress to impress so Ugo was doing her best to accommodate her friend’s request despite hating it.