My Happiness Mantra – All Is Well

Previously we read the weary relationship between Nikkie and her father Savio Givani, muscle-man of Latvia. Joseph and Nikkie had a past, which left her with a bruised heart. However, the proximity with Joseph brings back the sensual tension building up again. She doesn’t want to repeat her past and plans to scoot.

Part – III –

Back to her apartment in Krakow, Poland Nikkie enjoys total freedom. Away from the prying eyes of her father’s servants and his pompous ‘marry Joseph now’ philosophies. She called her friends over for the evening party at her double floor fully furnished apartment. That’s her way of eliminating family-stress.

Her apartment cum studio is the only place that gives her peace of mind, except when she is with Marrie her beloved mare. She enjoys painting on life-size canvas, with colors that are missing from her life. This duplex is her father’s gift when she turned 21 with two bodyguards doubling as spies. She conveniently got rid of them by manipulating the local police and her father, a smart girl indeed.

Locally she is well known for conducting art exhibitions, featuring local artists and her own hand-made paintings. She met Joshua (the artist who painted her in nude) during one of such art exhibitions. He was impressed by her beauty and wildness in just one meeting, but she knows well to keep business and pleasure separate. After all, she is the only daughter of Savio Givani.

“Niks, what happened at the exhibition! Josh told us your painting was sold even before anyone could have a look at it?” probed Suzzane, her college friend and bestie.

“Yeah, I have some seriously loaded admirers!” she exclaimed, clearly this conversation left a bad taste in her mouth. She opened a bottle of Tequila and had two shots back to back.

Suzzane is aware of Nikkie’s apathetic attitude towards her hometown and the strained relationship between father-daughter.

“Was that your Dad’s doing, did he buy your painting?” she was startled with this revelation.

Nikkie did not answer, she just shrugged her shoulders while looking up at the ceiling, as if calling for higher help.

Others also arrived in some time and the party was alive till dawn. She woke up with a constant beeping of the doorbell. With a heavy head and droopy eyes, she checked from the security camera, it was Joseph standing at her door.

What the hell is he doing here right now? She muttered while searching for her nightgowns jacket. Unwillingly, she opened the front door to let him in.

He was looking fresh like mint in a white linen shirt with a few open buttons from the top and blue denim jeans. She was standing at the far end in the kitchen to make herself a coffee when Joseph asked: “Where is your phone?”

She was expecting some senseless snarls, improper comments from him but instead he was interested in a stupid phone. Then the realization hit her, she didn’t check her phone since the last evening.

Scanning through the sofa seats, tabletops, kitchen shelves, she found her phone silently sitting near the karaoke sound system.

“40 missed calls! Are you CRAZY, have you lost your mind?” she blurted in anger while unlocking her phone’s safety code.

“Your Dad had a stroke yesterday night, Nikkie!” his tone was subtle but worried.

The shock of this news punched her badly, she wrapped her arms around herself, “it’s cold, shut the damn door,” she muttered while sitting down on the kitchen stool.

“We don’t have much time; you have to come now. Just pack what you need for the journey, rest will be managed at home.” It was not a request.

She gathered herself together and left with him in 15 minutes, no one said a single word until they reached the private side of the airport. The charter plane was already waiting for them by the tarmac. They boarded quickly and within no time reached the higher altitude.

While landing at the home ground, he asked her to wait and let others disembark. She didn’t want any delay or conversation right now but still halted to hear him out.

“Your father is an egoistic man, Nikkie, we all know that. Don’t make him feel small due to his illness.” He said in most mechanic tone and gestured her to move ahead. She was confused to see the empathetic side of him.

It must be hard for him too, she thought, father literally adopted him back then, he must not be more than 10 years of age. She knows it for sure, Joseph adores Savio, not because of his empire or business but out of love.

“Shall we?” He asked her while talking to his men at the hospital in a hushed voice.

She has never seen Joseph this concerned, what has changed in these 5 years? Or is this a charade to make me say YES!!

The post is written as part of #A2ZChallenge & #BlogchatterA2Z. To read the previous post, please click here.

Disclaimer

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Reader discretion is advised.

Copyright

©Dipika Singh. This article is the property of the site’s author. Any unauthorized use or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Dipika Singh (Gleefulblogger). With the right and specific direction to the original content.