Chapter 64- RENEWAL

'Hey Ricardo, how are you?" he asked his best friend as he noticed the panic in Leonardo's voice.

'Ricardo, I need your help" panic filled Leonardo's voice as spoke to his friends through the phone. He knew that he had a few things to get off his chest. Leonardo waited for what seemed like an endless pause until his friend decided to speak through the phone.

'You sound very desperate, what is it?" Ricardo asked, now nervous upon hearing the panic in his friend's voice.

Leonardo took in a deep breath and he breathe out again, realizing that he needed to calm himself before explaining himself.

'Ricardo someone knows the truth, someone knows what I done twenty one years ago and they are about to tell my wife" Leonardo's revelation has come as a shock to Ricardo who was stuck silent.

'You sure about that? I mean who else would know about this?" Ricardo asked his best friend as he too was worried that their age old secret might come back to haunt them.

'I think it's Rhea" Leonardo responded confidently, knowing very well that the only person who would want to ruin his marriage is none other than her.

'How do you know that it's Rhea?"

'As soon as she moved across the road from me, this blackmailing started. I have feeling that she is going to wreak havoc on my newly found happiness" Leonardo confessed his friend.

'Maybe she missed you, I mean, you and Rhea had quite some chemistry growing up"

'We did not have any chemistry, she was simply obsessed with the idea of being with me. I do not want this woman close to my home as he is going to ruin everything for me, I am about to have a baby" Leonardo panicked as he told his friend, thinking of all the bad things that could happen if Aurora were to ever find out what he had done twenty one years ago. If she were to find out that the man she had fallen in love with was not who he appeared to be.

'Has Rhea said anything that sounded as though she is threatening you?"

'She has not come out to threaten me directly but she has dropped some hints which leads me to suspect that she is the one sending me threatening letters"

'I doubt that Rhea will do such a thing, growing up she was prone to throwing tantrums, making threats and not following through with it" Ricardo played it off as he explained his friend.

Leonardo ran his hands through his hair as he realized just how serious Rhea was when it came to getting what it was that she wanted and how she should push whomever she wanted out of the way to get what she wanted, not caring that there were consequences. Her lack of empathy was what scared him the most.

'How about I come over to your place, I mean since you need all the reassurance that everything is okay"

'And when will that be Ricardo?"

'In a few days, I don't know when but we'll see"

'But that's not what I want to hear. I need you now, if not sooner than now" Out of sheer frustration Leonardo slammed his hand against the desk, he quickly looked at the watch and realized that there were still four more hours before his wife arrived home.
But for now, he would have to destroy the threatening letter that was sent to destroy and disturb the peace and sanctity of his home.

'Just relax my friend, you know what? Just for you, I'll make sure that I'm there tomorrow and then we can see what we can do about this. We cannot let Rhea win"

Ricardo had brought about some peace and Leonardo was glad to have someone who understood him, someone who was there when the incident had occurred and for that Leonardo was truly grateful for his best friend for sticking by him no matter what.

'Thank you my friend, I appreciate the sacrifice you make for me, not just today but all those years ago. You truly saved my life and I'm a free man all because of you" Leonardo thank his friend, thinking back to a time when he could have been arrested if it were not for Ricardo's intervention

'Of course I will always be there for you, you are like a brother to me and we've known each other for all these years. I will speak to you as soon as I'm close to your town but until then, just make sure that your wife finds out nothing. You should keep her happy at all cost" Ricardo advised his friend.

'I will do just that. I will speak to you once you get here" Leonardo told his friend and then ended the call. He continued making lunch and even as he could he could not believe how speaking to his friend had made a difference.

Leonardo continued pulling out the necessary ingredient to cook the food required and the entire time cutting the vegetables, he could not help but to think of who it could be that would want to threaten him and end his marriage.

'Ouch" he yelled out as he cut himself with a knife. Seeing himself bleeding did not mortify him because the thought that flashed through his mind was the scariest. Leonardo continued pondering over who else other than Rhea that would want to end his marriage.

'Perhaps your parents?" Leonardo thought to himself but too afraid to say it aloud.
Running towards the sink and Leonardo placed his finger under running water. He watched his blood mix in with the water running down the drain but his mind still travel far away. Leonardo tried hard to not think about his parents but the more he thought about his mother's words and how she had promised to get revenge, the more he thought that his mother might be behind this.

After what seemed like a painstakingly process of bandaging himself, Leonardo sat himself on the kitchen table and thought of how his wife would feel after he would inform her of the good news that he had waiting for her.

**


Watching his wife eat her food peacefully and full of health put Leonardo in good spirits. Just as quick as the wonderful feeling of seeing his wife comfortable it was soon replaced with worry as he continued to think of all the things that could go wrong. Aurora carefully placed her cutlery onto her plate, she stared at her husband who was deep in thought about who knows what.

'Is there something that you are not telling me?" She asked him. Leonardo awoke from his daydreaming and smiled at his wife. These days, all he did was plaster fake smiles when he wanted nothing but to make his wife happy but this time, even Aurora was not about to fall for it as she could see fear on her husband's face.

'Nothing, nothing it's just that I was thinking about a lot of things but it's all ok, nothing for you to worry about" he lied to his wife one more time.

'I'm not stupid Leonardo, I know you're lying because you've been like this ever since I told you that Rhea had moved in across from us. What is going on, is there something you not telling me?" Aurora asked her husband, concerned with his behavior.

'Leonardo please think of something" he mentally told himself, thinking of anything to say rather than to upset his pregnant wife.

'I was just thinking that ever since we've gotten married there's been issues" Leonardo told his wife and paused, his long pause making Aurora worry whether her husband had found out about her secret. The very secret that she has been hiding all along and whether he was planning to leave her.

She could see that worry clouded her husband's face but the longer he took to respond to respond, the faster her heart beat. Leonardo then took his wife's hand in his, looking into her beautiful brown eyes and he smiled at her.

'You know work was busy and with exams coming up, I have just been caught up" He told his wife, her heart broke as she heard how tired his voice sounded but she still felt as though there was more than he was letting on.

'You're lying to me" she told him plain and straight. Her lips quivered as she told him.

'No, no! I'm not lying to you. I have just been busy with work and if I have to be honest, it has been too stressful. On the bright side, I have a surprise for you"

'What surprise? What are you hiding?" Aurora asked her husband.

'Well if I told you, it would not be a surprise would it. Aurora raised her hand and playfully slapped Leonardo onto his shoulder and he pretended as though it hurt him.

'Ouch! That hurts" he playfully told his wife. Seeing his wife smile was all that Leonardo wanted to see every day.

'Ok pregnant woman, I will tell you what surprise I have in store for us. Are you ready to hear it?" Aurora nodded her head with excitement as she impatiently awaited the exciting news.

'You do know that when we had gotten married it was not of our own accord right?"

'Yes, I am aware of that but what does this have to do with the surprise?" Aurora asked her husband.

'Well since we are having a baby soon, I thought that we should do things the right way" Aurora questionably stared at her husband, wondering just what he was up to this time.

'I do not understand what it is that you are trying to tell me. Can you please explain yourself?"

'What I'm trying to say is that since we got married in a rushed manner and it was all arranged, we didn't get to know one another. I think we should do it the right way"

Leonardo got off his chair and got down on one knee and pulled pulled out a box from his back pocket. He then opened the box to reveal a diamond ring. Aurora's eyes grew wide as she saw the diamond sparkling.

Aurora's jaw dropped in disbelief as she marveled at the ring presented to her and all Leonardo could do was to stare at his beautiful wife's expression.

'Would you marry me… for the second time?"