“Belina”, he began, “I know that u are angry & u have d right to be. I am very sorry for
everything I have done to u & for making ur life
miserable but life hasn’t been fair to me either & I thought about taking it out on u & ur mother.
My mother did not have time for me when I was young
cos she always traveled from one
place to d other. You are aware that I was from a very rich family
so she had more than enough money to spend on trips & shopping all over d world. My dad though very busy, still spent time with me & gave me one of his companies to manage
after my university education but d day that changed d course
of my life was d day I lost my dad. We were in d car together when we got involved in a car accident…*
he narrated his story to d point of how he met her mum*I had kept my face carefully straight but internally I felt for him but when he mentioned the part of not being able to give birth,
my head jerked up.
“But u had me right?” I asked becoming more alarmed by d second.
“No, I am not ur father”, he dropped.
“What? Everybody exclaimed excluding me who was practically in a trance. I could not
begin to process d fact that I had spent my entirely life in a lie.
My face fell & all d blood in my body virtually drained away as I sat there frozen like a statue.
He explained how he had met my
mum on d staircase after she had left d room of d guy who
impregnated her & how he took her in & all… the fact that u were not my biological child never eluded my mind & I started maltreating u. When things became sour & bitter after
some years & we had to move to d mainland, I blamed u &ur mother for my misfortune. I am sorry”, he ended.
My eyes could not see properly again cos of d tears it held, prisca held me comfortingly & all d tears came down like
a mighty river. I placed my head between my hands & wept then after what seemed like
forever, I looked at my dad or actually Ex-dad & said,
“I have only one question for u sir. Do u know who my father is?”
His facial expression was grim & I felt sorry for him but I was
past caring about all that, my heart was shattered.
“I don’t
know him physically but I know his name. Your mum told me when I wanted to look for him
& deal with him but I never saw him. His name is Mr Francis
Jegas”, he dropped & everyone in d room yelled one thing or d other as we all turned to d only person with that name.
****
Richard sat on thed floor still shivering vehemently. He still
heard d persistent knock on d door & he used his hands
to block his ears. After about 10mins, he did not heard d knock but he left his hands
where they were. He started counting backwards from 100 to
1 & he did that five times but was not able to calm down. He
prayed for what seemed like hours but it was actually minutes &he was able to calm down a bit. He stood up on shaky legs,picked up his phone & dialed Tony.
On d other side, Tony was exceedingly worried. He had
dialed Prisca’s number times without number & she had not picked. He dialed Belina’s number also & met the same result but
when he saw Richard’s call, he knew something must definitely be wrong with this night.
“Hello Richard, is everything alright?” he asked immediately.
“No, nothing is alright Tony, I am going crazy”, Richard responded
“What do u mean by that?”
“Tony, I just saw Tonia. I saw her. She knocked d door,& I
opened & saw her. I was not sleeping Tony”, he said
becoming angry again.
“Ehn, I am coming now, just be calm ok?” he said &without
waiting for reply, he hung up
Approximately 30mins
after Richard called Tony, Richard heard a knock on his door &
his heart started racing.
“Tony, is that u?” he asked
“Yes, open up man” Tony responded & d door was opened immediately.
Unconsciously, Richard scanned the entrance to be sure no one
was lurking around & seeing no ghost, he shut d door & faced Tony.
“What is going on?” Tony asked
“I don’t know. I feel sick. I need a
psychiatrist cos I think I am going crazy”, Richard responded
sitting down forcefully.
Tony sighed, “I think Tonia is taking too much space in ur
head Richy. You need to get over this guilt u feel, I have no doubt that is why u have been dreaming about her. u need to see Belina, she should be able to help u”, he said seriously
“Oh, don’t mention Belina again.
She has been taking too much of my thoughts, maybe that is why
Tonia came in person today to remind me that I made a promise
to her to always think about her”.
Tony looked sharply, “when was that?”
“On her death bed Tony, maybe she knew that she would die so
she asked me to always think about her when she is gone. I
did & also said that no one would take her place in my heart.
I only wish I saw her when she died”. Richard said trying to
ward off d pain he felt at that remembrance”.
“I see, so someone else has taken her place, right?” Tony asked
TO BE CONTINUED IN THE EVENING.
Did you miss the previous episodes?
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