Freya was eager to start her new life as a newlywed when she moved into her husband George’s ancestral home. However, when Valerie, the housemaid, hinted at George’s hidden life, their marriage vows quickly began to unravel.
Just off the high of our wedding, I moved into George’s grand family home — a place that seemed lifted from a storybook with its towering ceilings, elegant arches, and gardens blooming with flowers. George had been keen on me settling in before we jetted off to our honeymoon in the South of France.
But not all was as idyllic as it appeared. From the start, Valerie, the maid, cast glances my way that seemed to shout, “You’re an outsider.” Despite the chill in her gaze, I was determined to make this my new home. Valerie would just have to accept that.
A few days after moving in, I decided to prepare a big breakfast for everyone in the house, including George’s younger siblings who still lived there.
While I bustled around the kitchen, Valerie watched my every move with sharp eyes as she cleaned around me. Her presence made me uneasy. When I went to grab my phone to look up a recipe, it was nowhere to be found.
“Have you seen my phone?” I asked Valerie, sure it had been right there on the table.
She simply shook her head without looking up.
“I’d get breakfast ready quickly if I were you,” she remarked coldly. “The family will be down soon.”
Heeding her advice, I focused on finishing the breakfast. After she left the kitchen, I found my phone on the seat she had just vacated. But it was the message on the screen that flipped my world upside down:
“Check your husband’s drawer. The top left one. Then RUN!”
Heart racing, I hurried to our bedroom, replaying the warning in my mind. Valerie had already tidied up our room by then.
With a heavy sense of foreboding, I opened the drawer. Inside, I discovered a bundle of letters bound with an old ribbon and an antique key. The letters were from George to someone named Elena.
Sitting on our bed, I read each letter, heart sinking further with every word of love and promises made to another woman.
The last letter was a farewell, dated just days before George proposed to me.
Curious about the key, I asked George’s sister Ivy about it. “It might go to the attic,” she suggested, noting it was George’s favorite hideaway.
In the attic, the truth was starkly displayed. The walls were adorned with photos of George and a woman—presumably Elena. Each image, a testament to their relationship.
Underneath one of the photos, an ultrasound image was pinned, marking another revelation—George and Elena were expecting a child.
How could he have kept this from me?
As I absorbed the magnitude of his betrayal, Valerie appeared in the doorway.
“You weren’t meant to find out like this,” she admitted softly.
“You knew?” I confronted her.
She nodded. “Elena is my sister. She thought you deserved to know. I placed those letters this morning.”
“And the baby?” My voice broke with the question.
Valerie leaned against the wall, explaining how George had fallen in love with Elena, a former maid, and how everything changed when they discovered the baby had Down syndrome. George couldn’t handle the implications.
Valerie and I then faced the family in the living room, revealing everything as George walked in.
“Is this true?” his father demanded, eyes locked on George.
George’s silence confirmed everything.
The fallout was swift. George was disinherited, his future resources redirected to support Elena and her child.
As for me, I was granted a swift divorce, and the family compensated me with assets originally intended for George.
I used some of those assets to start a foundation for children with disabilities, now managed by Valerie, with guidance from me and George’s mother, who had disowned him.
In my position, what would you have done?
Meet Nyakim Gatwec, A Model That Was Dubbed ‘Queen Of The Dark’
The woman was shocked when her Uber driver uninvitedly offered advise on how to take care of her beautiful skin.
The “Queen of the Dark,” as the fashion diva was affectionately called, laughed off his comments and embraced her breathtaking beauty.
Continue reading to find out what this Uber driver said her and how she utilized it as a teaching moment!
Nyakim Gatwech, who spent her early years in refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya, thought that living in America would “be like heaven.”
But when Gatwech moved to Buffalo at the age of 14, she stayed by herself a lot, crying over comments made about her very dark skin tone.
“You don’t wash your hair. Because of this, your skin is filthy.Or, “Nyakim, smile so we can see you. You are invisible to us. You have dirty skin as a result. Or grin for us to see you, Nyakim. We cannot see you.
In class, for example, the instructor might ask a question and say, “Oh, Nyakim, can you answer that?””How about a toddler asking, “Who are you talking to?”? We cannot see her. She’s not here. The now 31-year-old woman says, “I would just cry, and the whole class would start laughing,” as reported by Cosmopolitan.
The innocent young girl just wanted to fit in, but it was difficult when random people were speculating about whether or not she was indeed that dark-skinned and whether or not she was wearing leggings.
I did think about [bleaching my skin] at one time. I was 14 years old when I fled an African refugee camp and moved to Buffalo, New York. The beauty admits, “After being teased [about my skin], I would cry myself to sleep.””So many stunning Sudanese women with dark skin tones bleach their skin.”
The model continued by saying that her own sister was one of the Sudanese ladies who had bleached her skin.”It was my own sister.” However, after a few months of living in America, I told her that I wanted to, and she said no. I will not allow my kid, you, or anyone else to do it.
Dark Queen
The woman, who has encountered prejudice from makeup artists, designers, and other models, is now referred to as the Queen of the Dark and feels strong since she has triumphed over the criticism.
Additionally, Gatwech’s 962,000 dedicated Instagram fans encourage her self-assurance and amazing fondness for her deep chocolate skin tone.
“My chocolate is sophisticated. Thus, I stand for this. A country of fighters,” she writes in one of her posts.
And the incredibly beautiful woman’s admirers can’t get enough of her.
One fan writes, “Omgggggg I love your skin and melanin,” while another exclaims, “I love your beautiful skin tone so much!” God creates exquisite things like you to serve as a constant reminder of His majesty.
In response to the tremendous outpouring of love, Gatwech adds, “I learned to love myself.I’m not troubled by the negative anymore. I love and embrace my skin, and I no longer feel insecure about it. I no longer believe I’m ugly. I am confident in who I am.
“The silliest queries”
Speaking about her odd skin, Gatwech recounts about meeting an Uber driver a few years ago who asked if she would ever consider whitening it.
“Oh, you’re dark,” he remarked.Gatwech describes her chat with the driver to Cosmopolitan.”I merely chuckled. I was curious as to why he felt that I ought to. He said that because it would make my life simpler. If I were lighter, I could get into a relationship more easily and guys would be more drawn to me. I’m lighter, so if I went to a job interview, I would receive the opportunity. I just responded, “I’d rather take the [hard] road, even if] being lighter would make my life easier.”
The woman goes on, “I’m used to people asking the stupidest questions ever [about my skin].”
Gatwech then shared the story on Instagram along with a stunning picture of herself with three other stunning dark-skinned Sudanese women.
“A country with people so dark you won’t believe your eyes,” the author writes. Teeth so brilliant, skin so rich. Oh, how I cherish my nation, my people, and all that it entails.
“[SIC] I was asking my Uber driver the other day, and he said, don’t take this personally, but would you bleach your skin for ten thousand dollars?” she says, going on to describe her interaction with the driver. I couldn’t even respond because I was laughing so much.He then responded, “So that’s a no,” to which I replied, “Hell to the f*king yeah, that’s a no, why would I ever bleach this gorgeous melanin that God bless with me?””So you see it as a blessing,” he continued.
Her backers applauded Gatwech right away and raced to her defense.
“I suppose he missed the memo.”Black is gorgeous,” an admirer writes.
Another person says, “I cherish you for cherishing me.”A third wonders, “Why would we ever want to mess up something so beautiful?”
Asking Yahoo Beauty for guidance, she said, “You are beautiful, you are unique, and there are people who love you just the way you are” to young black girls suffering comparable struggles. It’s said that the juice of a cherry is sweeter the darker it is. Accept your gloom!
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