FORCED TO LOVE

Travelling around Delta, streets such as Dukeway cannot be ignored. It has the tallest houses and biggest mansions therefore the street was named after the one man who owned a treasure, Jerome Duke, founder of Danford industries- the biggest private sector in the country.

Jerome Duke and his wife grew in love as a couple and had their children married. Mr Jerome and Mrs Agnes had two sons, Alfred and John Dickey Duke.

Alfred managed the family business being the first son of Mr Jerome while John became a beneficiary of this and had no problem anywhere.

Alfred got married through an arrangement with Grace Travis, who is now known as Mrs Duke (Jerome).

Alfred was nicknamed the devil's son because he had no respect for anyone and didn't care at all about how others felt. He was feared and respected by everyone close to him.

His hazel eyes would become fire anytime he gets angry. It is rumoured, that Alfred had killed one of his staff who objected to his decision.

After this rumour, Alfred became more terrifying to people both workers and clients but he paid deaf attention. He continued his rude and unkind attitude towards people, therefore, indenting fear in people.

If there is one man he hates, that would is none other than Donald- Grace's brother who would always oppose his decision every time they met.

Alfred despite being very discriminating and bossy wouldn't dare to say "no" to his father, a lion heart man who gave life to a cub such as Alfred.

Alfred's dad, Mr Jerome and Grace's father Mr Travis Alloy are childhood friends who swore to continue their friendship for a lifetime as their parents did a long time ago.

These two men tried something new by promising each other marriage of their first children of a different gender. Alfred, at age twenty-six, was forced to marry Grace Travis or step down as the company manager.

Grace was known for her jovial and indiscriminating character towards friends and family. Her father, Mr Travis isn't a rich man but had enough to charter for his family. Grace was the best in her town well trained and characterized.

However, Alfred was willing to step down because he didn't like being controlled by anyone and also, he was in love already with Miss Cynthia Roger, the daughter of their business partner, Sir Roger Lancelot who is the owner of a renowned enterprise by the name poblición company.

Cynthia, hearing the deal given to Alfred by his father advised Alfred not to step down from the company but should rather get married to Grace to protect his job. Alfred wasn't convinced and did not want to hurt Cynthia.

"You can't marry me if you do not have a lot of money, as you know my dad so well, he will not dare allow that. He has suffered enough to let his only child suffer the same by getting married to someone who cannot give me the standard we have been maintaining for the longest time now. The best option is to play along with your dad by getting aligned with her," Cynthia muttered.

Alfred bought the idea knowing so well that he stood no chance in have Cynthia without the company. Roger would be the last man to agree to that. Though Alfred had the conviction from what Cynthia had said, he could not help thinking of how she will feel.

"So how about us; how about the love we have for each other?" Alfred asked, scared of how things may turn out to be. "Our love can last no matter the conflict and this is a less obstacle to worry about. We would send her out when she is comfortable and not rush things, " Cynthia suggested.

Alfred after having this conversation had no option but to agree to the marriage. Mr Roger's company was The best in manufacturing rubber materials like sandals and rubber spoons- he would never accept his daughter marrying a low classed boy who could not charter for himself.

On the order hand, Alfred's younger brother, John eloped with his girlfriend Amanda. John indeed loved Amanda and would not want to have the same fate as their elder brother. He married Amanda in his hide and came back afterwards.

All Alfred felt for Grace was hate disputing the fact that they have been married for a year. He paid no attention to everything Grace was doing for him. "She prepares breakfast, especially for me; brings launch to me at work and would do similar for the whole family. She even checks my documents and corrects my errors when I am asleep. I won't deny the fact, that she is hard-working and has won the heart of her father-in-law.

She is a good cook; sanitary personnel who would stand up to do the chores living the workers at home with no work to do. Additionally, Grace is preparing to have a baby,"

"Babies!" parry Manful gasped.

"Yes babies pal," Alfred responded to Parry.

[Parry and Alfred have been friends for the longest time and his wife Roselyn has been friends with Grace too since high school.

Parry, Donald and Alfred were friends since high school while Grace, Cynthia and Roselyn were their immediate juniors in school.

They knew each other but their friendship broke when Donald and Alfred fought and Donald as always won.]

"I and my wife Roselyn aren't preparing to have kids anytime soon even if we married for two years now. What's with the rush?" Parry asked.

"She needs a baby, that is what I said. I did not tell you I was expecting anything from her. I do not want a baby and not even thinking of getting intimate with her.

"For two years? Come on Al, you have been married for two years and should have developed feelings for her. What then really occurred on your wedding night? I called you that night to hear if you'd gotten home, and you told me you were busy with your wife, do you remember?" Parry responded, confused about Alfred's question and tone.

"Do you think I'll marry Grace in my right mind? I wasn't referring to Grace when I said, my Wife. I can never accept Grace; she is just a contract to me and nothing more.

That night, I was with Cynthia; she is the only woman I can address as my wife because she is the only one that worth it," Alfred hissed as Parry's eyes widened in surprise.

"It's been a year now since you got married; you mean she has never asked for sex?" Parry questioned.

"Why would she? I think she knows I have no interest in her and by the way, Grace should be done tomorrow as I and Cynthia have a good plan that would self-chase her out.

My only worry is my mom who is in desperation for a grandchild, a male son preferable," Alfred responded.

"Wow! She thinks positively, how about John, he got married too, doesn't he want a son yet?" Parry asked.

"Do you?" Alfred responded, throwing his gaze off Parry.

"No, not really," he chuckles, "But your mum needs a grandson, and I need a nephew," Parry added with a smile.

"You only wish," Alfred gasped, laughing together with Parry."John might never have a son, his wife isn't interested in doing anything, not the house chores or anything and also, he told John last week that pregnancy would make her shapeless do she needs surrogacy," Alfred added.

"Seriously? There's nothing wrong with her and she needs a surrogate mother!" Parry exclaimed, laughing out loud and swinging his head back and forth. He stopped when he saw someone walk past.

It was unusual for his wife to walk past without greeting anyone in the living room, especially Alfred who visit their home regularly.

"Excuse me, I'll be right back," parry uttered. "No problem, I will be on my way too, tomorrow will be a long full of surprises, so I need to go and sleep.

Alfred responded, standing to his feet and noticing how his wife had reacted.

"Tomorrow is your mum's birthday, we will be there," Parry responded, stretching his hand and shaking Alfred."Grace will be gone by tomorrow, wish me luck!" Alfred said.

"Good luck then," Parry said heading upstairs as Alfred went for the door.

Parry in reaching the room found his wife standing facing the mirror he could see tears falling from her eyes. At seeing her husband, she wiped her face with the back of her hand, turning to walk out of her room.

"I know you heard a lot out there and you were not supposed to, I do not get why you are crying for Grace, all I know is that one can do away with what does not favour him," Parry muttered as Roselyn turned to him.

"This only means you could do the same to me one day gossiping about it with your friend and I am sure he will defend you to go on with the divorce. If he wanted to divorce her, he would have told her to the face or do wouldn't have agreed to marry her in the first place," Roselyn yells.

"Alfred is my friend is what's ever makes him happy, I'm okay with it!" Parry exclaimed.

"Grace is my friend too and she trusts in me. He would have said no to getting married to her, but he didn't. He married her selfishly and now wants her gone?" Roselyn responded.

"That is another person's family why do you think I'll go into the matter?"

"No babe, we have to do something about this. You are a legal body and should know the influence divorce has on a woman and how she is being reacted to in the society of today.

You made a vow to me to always stand by me and I guess it is time to show it by making sure Grace does not get embarrassed in the program tomorrow," Roselyn objects.

Parry could no longer argue as he saw a point with his wife.

"Okay, we are going to try our best to help her by tomorrow, just calm down and do not mention this to Grace, you never know, Alfred may not be that heartless to do something silly on his mom's birthday," Alfred responded as Roselyn walked out of the room.

Alfred got home and found Cynthia and his mum eating in the dining and conversing.

"Good evening mum," he greeted walking to his mum and giving her a peck and turning to Cynthia and doing the same. He was confused seeing Cynthia seated with his mom but couldn't say anything at the moment so he walked away to his room.

"Welcome babe" Grace greeted aloud smiling and exposing her gap tooth. Her innocent round eyes froze him.

Alfred for seconds remained mute before gathering his muscle to respond-He felt bad already for Grace and her innocent smile.

"Don't call me babe, please," he responded, trying to pull off his tie. He felt uncomfortable and could not pull it off rather twisting it back and forth.

"Let me help you with that," she said, pulling off his tie and unbuttoning his shirt too.

"I knew you weren't going to join mum in the dining, so I prepared your best," Grace added. Alfred felt trapped as he gave in to everything she was saying. He could not believe she prepared his best even if they did not talk the whole day.

Despite how he tries to push her away, she keeps pushing herself closer with her action and her attention.

"No, thanks, I'm not hungry," he responded, jumping on the bed.

"Are you sure? I prepared an oath," Grace insisted knowing how much he loved oaths. Alfred on the other hand held himself from jumping down.

He enjoyed eating oath than any other food. "I am not hungry, really!" he gasped, sitting up.

"Okay then, since you say so, am going to eat it so it wouldn't be a waste," Grace replied expecting Alfred to come to eat.

The determined Alfred looks at her uncovering the meal, the aroma from a plate of oath saturated the whole room. He tried to hold back his hunger but did not release it when he yelled "I'm interested." Grace smiles covering back the food.

"Okay," she muttered standing up.

Alfred immediately noticed she was smiling. The last thing he wanted was to make her feel loved by him.

He looks at how she blushed over his agreement to eat the meal. Alfred felt bad knowing that she may have thought this the wrong way. What occurred was hunger and not love.

"Do you have any work to do tomorrow?" Grace asked.

" I don't have any work to do tomorrow, it's mum's party so I shifted all the meetings to the day after tomorrow," Alfred responded.

"What are you going to give to mum tomorrow?" Grace asked smiling.

"Okay this friendly behaviour of mine is too much, I cannot see why she is asking too many questions," Alfred thought to himself, turning to her.

"I do not have an idea of a gift to give to my mom, I guess I will just give you to her instead," Alfred responded as Grace laughed.

"You really are funny, how in the world will you give me to her as a gift Al," she said as Alfred frowns.

"I do not want you calling me Al, call me Alfred, Alfred is okay and I guess the discussion is getting too much Grace," He responded as Grace felt bad, claiming on the bed to sleep.

Feeling bad or not mad no difference to Alfred, he will really be giving Grace to his mom as a gift tomorrow as he said. He didn't pay any attention to how bad she felt but rather eat the oath and claimed the bed too, sleeping; getting ready for the long day ahead.

At five o'clock, it already seemed as if the morning sun was glowing. All the servants were busy doing one thing or the other.

Grace doesn't like seeing others working and she stays idle moreover, it is her mother-in-law's party. She joined them in arranging the hall in which the party is going to take place.

It has been five years since Mrs Agnes last celebrated her birthday and wasn't interested in doing it. Her sudden interest in celebrating her birthday made everyone happy.

Suite cases were brought in and out of the mansion, it seemed as if it were a fashion design shop or a fashion design television program going on here.

The laundry room was filled up with different fashions of cloth and only one man was available to wash and iron the dresses.

"Good morning sir, would you mind if I help you?" Grace asked noticing he was quite old. The old man was startled by such an approach from a member of Duke's family.

"Did you call me sir?" The old man asked. "Is there something wrong with that?" Grace responds.

"No, nothing is the wrong ma'am it's just that I have never heard any member of the Duke family address, anyone, with such respect," the old man lamented.

"Come on sir, that's impossible. You are an aged man and everyone would respect you for that." Grace said picking up the suitcases and removing the suits, to make things easier for him.

The old man smiled, surprised at how mannered a Duke could be. "I have never seen a person like you before, everyone from rich families seem not to respect anyone, they look at fellow human as nothing." The old man praised.

Grace smiles at the opened minded old man. "I wasn't raised in a rich family. We only managed what we had making it satisfactory for us to live, respect is not about having less money but a disciplined family," Grace responded, dropping the last suit and walking out of the laundry back into the hall.

At entering the hall, her gaze brightened in shock. The hall was decorated with flashy colours, if Grace didn't know where exactly she was, she would mistake Mr Jerome's mansion for a Christmas museum.

"This design does not represent anything like a royal family, why would you have to use colours like this for my mother-in-law's birthday party?" Grace said to the designer, moving close to her.

The designer miss Shepherd turns to Grace "I thought the colour was what you all liked, Amanda personally instructed me to make use of these colours and showed me a sample from her phone. I thought this colour is suitable for a queen as she said!" Mrs Shepherd mocked.

Grace hearing this couldn't stop herself from laughing. " Amanda is my sister-in-law so mind the way you talk about her also, would you use these colours for your birthday ceremony?" Grace asked.

"No, but I thought the whole family liked it so I did it"

"stop assumptions, do what is right ma'am," Grace responded, walking through the hallway (corridor) which leads to the kitchen.

"Ma'am," the chief security called out to her.

"Mr Luke, is there any problem?" She inquired.

"No, not at all ma'am, the thing is that you're stressing yourself too much, as a daughter-in-law you shouldn't be doing anything, especially today, why would you run around like a servant?" Luke instructed, ending it with a rhetorical question.

"It is my mother-in-law's birthday, I don't mind doing everything," she responded, answering a call from unknown contact.

"Hello," she replied the caller.

"Baby sister, I'm back in town," The unknown caller uttered. Grace smiled when she heard this she could recognize the voice of the person talking over the phone, it is her brother Donald.

"I'm so happy brother, when did you come back because am sure you wouldn't call me the same day you arrive here," Grace responded.

"No way Lil sister, I just came back to see you, it has been a year now since we last met," Donald responded.

"You did not attend my wedding because you dislike Alfred,"

"And still do!" Donald responded.

"You really are delusional but sorry, we will not be able to meet today, it's Mrs Jerome's birthday today and we are busy preparing for the party. Dad is going to come, and mum too, can you make time to attain the occasion?" Grace asked.

"Baby you should know me by now, I can't stand seeing you in that family, they hate me because I refuse to be subject to them and they hate you too and wish you go. From the day you married, I saw it in Alfred's even in his brother's eyes, they were all not happy with the fact of you coming into their family," Donald said.

"Hope you're not over-stressing yourself. Cause if you are, I'll kill them all," Donald added.

"Don't say something like that Doni, I thought you went to the state to change your ways!" Grace responded confused about what the brother might be thinking.

"Little sister, let's not talk about this, you will only see me react whenever they lay their filthy hands on you, let's talk tomorrow then," Donald responded, ending the call.

In every family, there is always this one person that makes their parents lament, cry or talk. This one person in Travis Alloy's family is Donald.

Graces walk close to the kitchen accompanied by Luke, going to inspect and be sure that all the meals prepared were delicious and well presented.

Walking closer, she saw a lot of smoke coming out of the kitchen door. It seemed as if waste was being burned in there, the choking smile coming out and the scream she heard only converted one piece of information to her.

"The kitchen is on fire," she screamed, running in.

At getting into the kitchen, she could see the cooks shivering. She noticed that they had to burn lots of stuff in there which provoked her.

"What is the meaning of this?" She yelled

"Don't worry ma'am, I'll take care of this," One of the cooks responded with shaky hands and fumbling lips.

Grace turns around to see what had caused such smoke which was slowly scrambling into the hall.

"What if something happened here for real, would you be telling my mother that she shouldn't worry? There are many people in the kitchen and yet you all could not see when these fishes were burning," Grace barked.

"We are very sorry ma'am, we were just excited about Mom's party and at that cause, we forgot the fishes were on fire," one of the cooks apologized.

Try your best to work on this as soon as possible as the smoke from here is escaping into the living room, I do not want anyone to complain about the smoky smell," Grace instructed.

"I am going to work on that ma'am they should not have to worry and you too do not have to worry, I will do my job here by keeping this environment safe," Luke intervened as Grace nodded, walking out of the kitchen.

***********************

Alfred awakes to his ringing tone, picking up the call.

"Hello babe," Alfred responded to the caller."Why are you calling so early?" Alfred added.

"Can't I check up on you again?" She replied sounding a bit angry.

"I did not mean to annoy you dearly, I just was surprised to see your call this early. You know it has been a long you called me early in the morning and I have really missed that," Alfred responded as Cynthia smiled at the other end.

"I saw you talking to mum yesterday, is it related to getting this bitch off my bed? I am so tired of her feeling comfortable in your space," Alfred added.

"Relax babe" Cynthia responded.

"You won't believe Grace was all over me last night. I woke up so many times to push her down from my body, her hands over my chest and her legs crossed over mine. I think she is doing it on purpose." Alfred hissed.

"Okay babe, maybe she probably has a bad sleeping habit," Cynthia said laughing.

"How do you explain when her palms were on my chest, can that still be a bad sleeping posture?" Alfred asked.

"Al stop! You are making me feel like killing her right now," Cynthia responded laughing."By the way, I have a plan although I haven't told it, mum," Cynthia added.

"If you didn't tell it to mom then what were you two discussing?" Alfred asked eagerly to know what is going on.

"I only wanted to know how much mom loves Grace and how she would react if our plan works out," Cynthia said.

"What did you find out then?" Alfred asked.

"You should know that if mom loves Grace, you are trapped with her forever," Cynthia said.

"So what did you find out," he repeated eagerly to know his stand.

"She doesn't like Grace too and I think mom hates Grace more than you do. She said Grace is always trying to be smarter than everyone in the whole mansion, she also said that Grace had won the heart of your father, whatever so ever she needed, Mr Jerome will do it for her," Cynthia said.

"Wow that sounds like an advantage or should I says a victory on our side," Alfred muttered.

"What do you mean?" Cynthia asked.

"My mom hardly tells who she hates to someone else but if she does, it means she prefers you to the other person so I can now say we are officially back together as babe, Alfred said.

Tell me, when we get married, where would you like to spend your honeymoon?" Alfred added.

"Let's not celebrate yet, we still have hours until she lives."

"I already consider her out of my life so answer my question," Alfred insists.

"Okay then, Puerto Rico in the United States, I'll love to hear them speak Spanish," Cynthia responded.

After her response, they both went mutes for a minute, saying nothing to each other than listening to each other's breath from the phone.

"Why aren't you saying anything?" Alfred asked.

"I don't know, you should first say something, or are you still happy with your dream girl around?" Cynthia responded.

"No way babe, who in the world do I dream about if not you? It's only you and you alone, you know I couldn't lose the position as the managing director of Danford, that wouldn't be good for both of us.

I am sorry babe. The hasn't been a day I was up without remembering your loving attitude, the way you used to wake me up in the morning, the way we played, the way we talk with each other, the way we..." Alfred froze, not knowing what next to say.

"The way we kissed even the way we think similarly. We make good couples," Cynthia concluded.

"I love you so much my love," Alfred said.

"I love you too a lot, more than you can ever imagine," Cynthia said as they continue chatting a little longer before exchanging their byes and hanging up the call.

********

"What colours are these? I thought I had told you the colour to use for this occasion!" Amanda yelled at the designer. Her voice was very loud calling the attention of everyone close to the hall including Grace who was approaching the hall.

"It was Mrs Jerome who asked me to change the colours," the designer responded as Grace walks in.

"It's quite a surprise that you are awake today before eight o'clock," Grace said.

"I am not here to crack jokes with you, how could you tell her to change the colours I asked her to use? You always try to be the best, the same as everyone else. Stop all your craziness before you get in my bad records," Amanda responded walking back to her room.

Grace smiled turning around to the workers who had stopped walking, staring at the Dukes argue.

"Go back to work, and you," she turns to the designer, "sorry for the stress, but I think you should do what she said, I don't want to have any misunderstanding with my sister-in-law.

"It is preferable we do what is right. The colours were awful but I did as she said, it is better to use the colours you choose." The designer said walking out of the hall.