Destiny's Faces

Kelly and Danny are going about the business of life when their worlds collide. Their union opens them to a whole new experience…and a trail of unhappy people. Tragically, when Dave, their best friend, finally realizes that there will never be a chance of a relationship with Kelly, he takes matters into his own hand on her wedding day as he seals many people’s fates with a single heinous act. In response, Kelly’s fiancé, Danny, makes the ultimate sacrifice in honor of his true love while Kelly reacts by hiding behind a cloak of memory loss.
However, Kelly’s parents, Drs. John and Taylor Dawson see what happened to their daughter as the perfect opportunity to deceive her into marrying a certain Dr. Gregory Krebb, the part-owner of the hugely successful Krebb-Anderson Medical Center. Greg is three-times divorced, partially-bald, almost twice Kelly’s age, insensitive and arrogant. The only thing cute about him is his intelligence… and even that is debatable. Nevertheless, the wedding between Greg and Kelly is grand and the marriage is perfect… as long as Greg is in control.
Forward years later, after Kelly’s marriage to Greg falls apart, she meets a strikingly foreigner in the person of Aburion Olumide in the most unexpected manner. But he is a broken man with a hunted past and of course; he has Yemisi for a mother. Yemisi, who knows the power of a mother over a son. Yemisi, who will use whatever means necessary to keep Kelly and Aburion apart.
And then there is Tristan. Tall, handsome, and successful, he is the total package. Every woman wants him and every man wants to be him but no one is as determined as Jamie Sand to get him. Beautiful, spoiled and rich, Jamie demands and gets exactly what she wants. Tristan fits her criteria of whom she would like to father her baby. She pursues him with shameless zeal until she has his ring on her finger. Unfortunately, it is after Tristan meets and marries Jamie that his carefully-constructed world falls apart.
But wait, there’s more to Destiny’s Faces. Keep reading…

Chapter 1
On this particular day, the weather in Nigeria was the same as it had been since the Hamattan season began three weeks prior; it was cold in the morning, dusty, dry and hot in the afternoon and then cool in the evening. As usual, it did not matter what kind of day or time it was because pedestrian and vehicular traffic on New Market Road was heavy. This evening, it was Aburion’s turn to drive through the madness.
Aburion Olumide, a handsome Nigerian with very dark complexion and striking features, was six feet, five inches tall. He had an athletic built that came from playing soccer since he was a kid. He had an appealing face, nice full lips, a well-defined nose and sleepy eyes that charmed every woman he came across. Though he was pretty much a man’s man with all the roughness and lifting that goes along with being a man, his hands still looked as if he did not do much with them. They were soft and his nails were clean and square. Aburion was nineteen years old but appeared to be about five years older; something he used to his advantage when chatting with women. Like most men his age, Aburion had a penchant for fashion. Sometimes, depending on his mood, he liked to dress older, younger, business-like or causal. His hairstyles also reflected his moods; shaved, low-cut or in tiny locks. Sometimes he wore wire-rimmed, non-medicated eyeglasses, not because he needed them but because he wanted to appear serious-minded.
Aburion honked loudly at a yellow and green-striped, four-door, Peugeot taxicab in front of him. “Doesn’t this amateur driver have a license?” he grumbled to himself. He glanced at his car mirrors and then skillfully maneuvered his mother’s hunter-green Volvo to the right side of the road. He finally managed to drive past the offending driver in front of him. As he did so, he deliberately slowed down so he could yell rudely in a bogus American accent to the cab driver.
“Why are you driving like a woman, my friend?”
“Shut up, jare, Mr. has-been! Wetin be your problem?” the driver yelled back in local Nigerian slang.
“My problem is that you should be walking, not driving, my man! This should not be your chosen profession!”
“You think sey na only you first go Yankee land…!”
“Whatever!” Aburion did not hear the rest of the driver’s equally angry voice as he sped off towards the University of Benin, where one of his latest girlfriends, Chika Mudi, a twenty-one-year-old biology laboratory assistant was waiting for him. He had promised to pick her up by 5:30 p.m. He was already running late. In his mind’s eye, he could just see her pretty face pouting in annoyance. Well, he would just tell her it was traffic. Everyone knew how bad the traffic on New Market Road was.
It was 6:45 p.m. when Aburion finally pulled up at the main gates of the University of Benin in Ugbowo. He never ceased to be impressed by the architecture of the university. The waning sun continued to cast long shadows over the stately structures that made up the university as he drove past the heavily, secured double gates and along a winding road lined with lush trees that never seem to lose their luster, before eventually arriving at an array of smartly designed gray brick buildings. Unless you knew your way around the university, you could easily get lost. The first building was the Department of Architecture. This was followed by several auditoriums, the Law Department and then followed by several other departments. University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) was located closer to two of the main student hostels; Hall One and Hall Two. Aburion made several turns past numerous departments, including the teaching hospital, before reaching the Department of Biology where Chika worked.
He was surprised to see that Chika was still waiting for him. The lab had already shut down for the day and she was the only one around the area. Chika was five feet, seven-inches tall and slender. She had large, almond-shaped, brown eyes and perfectly arched eyebrows, which were hidden behind her sunglasses. Though her sunglasses hid most of her face, her tightly clinched lips showed that she was annoyed. She was dressed in a tight, dark-blue, mini-skirt, a white sleeveless blouse that showed her midriff and ample cleavage, and a pair of four-inch, open-toe, ankle-strapped slippers that revealed manicured toes. She was leaning against one of the brick pillars with her legs crossed. Despite her appearance of irritation, Aburion did not miss how beautiful she looked. Her full lips which had been carefully enhanced with wine-colored lipstick and a small black birth mark next to her slightly flared nose complemented her light-brown complexion. Her smooth, endless legs turned Aburion on even more. They were the first features that attracted Aburion to Chika when he first met her. He was the first to admit that he was a sucker for women’s legs. God, how he loved women and how he loved their legs.