"OK lads, one more time," Ben said as he started playing the chords to his new song.
The other three members of the band were over at Ben and Heather's house that day, writing new songs for their next album. Ben was proudly playing his brand new keyboard, which was situated in the conservatory.
Nicole skipped into the room and watched as they sang. "That's a nice song," she said, coming up to the keyboard and holding down a couple of notes.
"Careful!" Ben warned, he didn't want it to get damaged.
"I want to help!" Nicole squealed, jumping onto his lap. "Can I?".
Mark smiled at her. "Of course!".
"Yay!" Nicole cried, beaming. She started banging on the keys, making up a tune.
"Be careful," Ben warned.
But it was too late. As Nicole tried to turn the volume knob, it snapped off, the whole panel coming off with it.
"Now look what you've done!" Ben shouted. "It's broken!".
"Sorry," Nicole whispered, tears filling her eyes.
Paul gave her a hug. "Don't worry, it can be fixed. It was an accident,".
"It's going to cost a lot to repair!" Ben ranted as he paced around the room angrily.
"I'm so sorry," Nicole whimpered, crying into Paul's shoulder.
Heather came in to see what all the fuss was about. "Nicole!" she exclaimed. "What's wrong, sweetie?".
"Dad's mad at me for breaking his keyboard," she sniffered, wiping her eyes on her sleeve.
"It's broken!" Ben cried. "My lovely new keyboard!".
"Calm down Ben!" Heather said. "Nicole, don't worry about it. Your dad will get it fixed, it's OK,".
Heather took Nicole into the kitchen and sat her down on the counter. "I'm making dinner now, what would you like? You can chose?".
Nicole's face lit up. "Fish fingers and chips," she smiled. "Can I make it?".
Heather nodded. "Yep, you can help me make it,".
Half an hour later, the dinner was ready. "Daddy, dinner!" Nicole called out.
Ben was saying goodbye to the others, who were going home. "See you tomorrow," Christian said as they walked out of the door.
Ben went into the dining room and sat at the table. Nicole came in and put his plate in front of him. "I made this for you," she said.
"Thanks," Ben said, noticing how nicely the table was laid out. "Nicole, I'm so sorry I went mad at you earlier. I didn't mean to upset you,".
Nicole jumped onto his lap. "But I broke your keyboard,".
"I know," Ben said, giving her a cuddle. "But it doesn't matter, it was an accident,".
Heather sat down at the table and smiled. She as glad they had made up.
Helen arrived at work too early that day so she went to the staff canteen for a drink. She noticed Stuart sitting alone so she went and joined him.
"Hiya," he said, closing his newspaper. "Sorry about rushing off the other day, it couldn't be helped,".
"That's OK," Helen assured him. "So, are you on the flight to Sweden today?".
he nodded. "Yes, I'm on the same flight as you,". He grinned at her. "We can have a bit of fun on board!".
Helen nodded, but felt uneasy. She was feeling guilty about cheating on Paul. She wanted to end everything with Stuart, but had two problems. She couldn't resist him, he always made her give in- it was the strong physical attraction. Plus, if she told him it was over she feared he would get her sacked from her job.
"Where's your husband today?" Stuart asked.
"Um... he's writing songs with the rest of the band,". She was concerned about Paul because he had been feeling ill that morning. She hoped he felt better.
Stuart laughed. "The music business is hardly a proper profession. I don't know why you married that stupid pansy,".
Helen glared at him. "What gives you the right to slag off my husband?!".
Stuart gave her a smile. "Come on darling, you can hardly prefer him over an intelligent, rich, good-looking man like me,".
Helen stood up and shoved her chair under the table. "Paul is more intelligent, more rich and more good-looking than you could ever be. He's also much, much more kind and caring. I don't know why I wasted my time on you!".
Stuart stared in shock. "But Helen, darling...".
"Don't call me 'darling', it's so patronising!" Helen yelled, slapping him around the face. "Goodbye!". She rushed out of the canteen in anger and headed towards the reception. She was signing out sick and going home to Paul.
Paul was surprised to see Helen home early. "Are you OK?" he asked as she walked into the lounge.
Helen sat herself on the sofa and sighed. "Yeah, fine. I just wanted to skip work tonight and see you instead,".
Paul smiled and gave her a hug. "You're so sweet. I've saved you some dinner, I'll go and warm it up,".
After dinner, the pair of them sat in the lounge with a pile of board games. "Let's give the TV a miss tonight and have some family fun," Paul suggested. "Boys!" he called out to the twins who were on their Playstation in the next room.
The four of them started playing the 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' board game. "I'm on £32,000!" Jamie cried excitedly, he was a really bright boy.
"For £32,000," Paul read out. "Which band had a number one hit in 2000 with the song 'Take On Me'?". He gave Helen a wink. "Was it Westlife, a1, Boyzone or take That?".
"It was your band, a1!" Jamie said.
Kris looked at Paul. "I didn't know that," he confessed, Kris didn't have the intelligence his brother had.
It got to ten o clock and the twins went to bed. "OK, I suppose we can put the TV on now," Helen said. "It was fun playing games though,".
"Yeah," Paul nodded. "We should do that more often,".
Helen switched on the TV and it was the world news. "News just in," the news reader announced. "A flight from Heathrow to Sweden has crashed, early reports suggest that at least three people are dead and that more could be hurt...".
Helen's mouth dropped open and a sick feeling came to her mouth. "No...".
Paul put an arm around her. "Wasn't that the flight you were supposed to be on?".
"Yes," Helen said. "Oh God, I'd better go to the airport and find out more. This is awful!".
Paul stayed at home with the boys as Helen drove to the airport as quickly as she could.
"What's happened?!" she asked as she flew into the staff room. "I saw it on the news,".
Her friend Anne who was also an air hostess turned to Helen with a long face. "Three members of staff died," she announced. "Including the captain,".
"Stuart?".
Anne nodded. "Yes,".
Helen stood in silence, shocked. "I can't believe this," she whispered to herself. She slowly walk to a chair and sat down.
A woman she didn't recognise was in the chair next to her, crying into a tissue. She was smartly dressed, wearing a dark blue suit. Helen handed her a clean tissue. "Did you know one of the people who died?" she asked softly.
The woman nodded, choking back tears. "Yes... my husband Stuart,".
.