The Rich Girlfriend*
*_Chapter 37_&_38*
Sasha was with Tevin at the pool side exit and as they were conversing they were interrupted by a troop of ladies and men with trumpets and drums.
They c@m£ in form of a band and they performed an apology song. Everyone at the poolside was surprised and they all c@m£ around to watch the performance.
“Who could this be from?” Alicia asked Sasha.
“My dad, I guess”, Sasha said with a straight face. She wasn’t impressed.
“Oouuu”, Dominic said as the girls danced. Alicia quic-kly joined in and danced with them.
“Get it girl!” Derrick said, cheering her on. Kevin also joined in and danced.
Lillian felt awkward about it and she stood aside.
When they were done, they all went on their knees giving the platform for Ross to walk in.
Ross was embarras-sed after Lilian told him that a lot of people were there and he didn’t know how to make his grand entrance.
The people he hired were on their knees for a long time and when it didn’t seem like anyone was showing up, they got up and danced their way out.
“Ahh that’s just it. Isn’t your dad going to show up or what?” Kevin asked.
“I guess he thinks doing just this would impress me”, Sasha said, rolling her eyes.
“Ohhh and the p@rty just ended like that”, Kevin said and he walked back to where he was sitting. Everyone continued with what they were doing before the interruption.
Hanson approached Sasha.
“So were you impressed?” Hanson asked.
“Not at all. Maybe if he stepped out to apologize to you and me, everything would have been okay but I guess he feels like just doing this is fine”.
“It was a nice gesture. Maybe he would apologize in person later”.
“Uhhm it wasn’t your dad”, Lilian said, approaching them.
“Who was it?”
“Can you come with me?” She asked, pu-lling Sasha and Hanson was confused.
“I’ll be right back babe”, she said to him as Lilian pu-ll-ed her away.
“plea-se don’t get mad at me but Ross reached out to me that he wanted to make amends and I encouraged him to do something extraordinary today. When you called and said that we’re meeting up at the poolside tonight, I felt it would be best for him to do it there, I didn’t know at that time that we were meeting Hanson and his friends and….”
“Wait wait. It’s Ross who did this?” Sasha asked.
“Yeah. plea-se don’t be mad at him. I encouraged him to do it. He just wants to be cool with you again”, Lillian said to her.
“Where’s he and why….”
“Hi”, he said, approaching them from behind.
“I’ll excuse you two”, Lilian said and she walked away.
“I just wanted to apologize once again and I know how you loved Beyoncé’s Coachella homecoming performance and I decided to do something similar to that but I didn’t know that you had a large company today”, he said and Sasha laughed.
“Oh my God! It would have been so awkward if you c@m£ out. Everyone would have seen you to be so desperate”.
“I don’t care. I want to apologize to you and be sure that I’ve been forgiven”.
“So then why didn’t you come out?”
“I was just being respectful to Hanson. It would have been weird if I had done that in front of him and his friends”.
“Oh, that’s nice”.
“Did you enjoy it and I hope you’re not mad”.
“I thought it was my dad who did it and so I kind of tried to not enjoy it but everyone enjoyed it”.
“Oohh, I wanted you to enjoy it and you cool right?”
“Yeah. I am, I’m not mad as long as this isn’t some kind of ploy to win me back”.
“Oh no. I’m just being nice and being a friend”.
“About that. We can’t be friends, I mean we can hi, hello and all that but being on the visitation and hanging out level is out of the picture”, she said and he frowned.
“Ohh. I really want us to be friends. I don’t want to lose you”.
“I’m with Hanson now and I don’t him to have any insecurities of that sort”.
“Oh but when you were with me, you made me feel insecured”.
“Are you really starting this again?”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I hear you and I’ll respect your decision”.
“Cool”.
“I’ll see you around then”, he said and he left.
Sasha walked back to the poolside and approached Hanson.
“Who was that?” He asked and she told him what happened.
“Hmmm”, Hanson said with a straight face. He didn’t know what to say to her.
“I hope you’re not mad”, she said to him.
“I’m not mad. I know how exes can be, I just hope he st©ps pushing so much and moves on”.
“I hope so too”, she said to him.
They talked for a while till everyone decided to take their leave.
They hvgged themselves and said their goodbyes.
******
Lilian was hanging out with Ralph at a restaurant, when she received a call from Ross.
She looked at the caller ID and ignored it.
“Who is it?” He asked her.
“It’s Ross”.
“What does he want?”
“I don’t know, I’m guessing it has something to do with Sasha”.
“Are you still going behind her back to help him?”
“No since last week, I’ve not been answering his calls but he keeps bothering me. I just wish he’d move on”.
“Give me the phone”, he said to her.
“What do you want to do?”
“Get him off your back”.
“You don’t have to do that”.
“Just let me pick up and he’ll st©p bothering you”.
“Hmmm”
“Lily, I won’t say anything mean or rude. I promise”.
“Hmm. Okay”, she said, giving him the phone.
“It’s st©pped ringing though but I’m sure he’d call again”.
They waited for a while and he called again.
“Hey Lilian I hope you’re good”, he said over the phone.
“This is Ralph. Lilian is currently unavailable”.
“Ohh, uhmm, I know she’s there bro, plea-se give the phone to her”.
“Ross, I really think that you should st©p this and move on. I’ve been in your shoes before and trust me, it’s best when you let things be. If she’s truly yours, you’ll have her, if she’s not, I think you should let her be happy with whoever she is with”.
“I really fell for her man. Other ladies want my money and the ones who have money just want to keep showing off and portray a power couple. Sasha was just different and I just want her back”.
“I un-derstand you but she’s with someone else who’s ma-king her so happy and it’s time you move on and let her be. I’m sure you would find someone else who’s good for you. Just st©p bothering Lilian, you’ve put her in the middle of this for a long time now”.
“Hmmm, I hear you bro. plea-se s£nd Lilian my regards”.
“Sure. I wish you all the best”, he said and he hung up.
“You see. He won’t bother you again”.
“Hmm, I pray so and uhm what did you mean by you’ve been in his shoes before”.
“Oh it’s something that happened back in the university”.
“Who? Was it her or someone else?”
“It was her”.
“I see. What happened?”
“Are you sure you want to hear me talk about how I wanted her back before?”
“I just want to know what happened”
“Back in the university, she broke up with me and she moved to another guy, I kept fighting to get her back but she seemed so happy with him and I just decided to let things be. And then after university we met up again and we got back together”.
“I see. So you waited and you got her back”.
“Yeah but I guess even though we c@m£ again, things didn’t still end well. At the end, I’m glad you’re in my life”, he said, taking her hands in his and pe-cking it.
“I’m glad I have you too”, she said, smiling.
********
Sasha was in her living room with Hanson, they were watching a movie when her phone beeped.
She took her phone and when she saw the notification, her face dropped.
“What is it?” Hanson asked her.
“It’s Phili-p’s death anniversary”, she said, looking away.
“Ooh, do you want a moment to process things or honor him?”
“Oh not that. Ever since he died, I always tell myself that I’ll go to his grave on his death anniversary but I never went because I couldn’t come to terms with the fact that I lost him. Seeing this made me realize that I’ve come to terms with that and I think a p@rt of me has forgotten about him and I feel so bad”.
“Oh, Sasha it’s normal. When you’re happy most of the time, the things which made you sad in the past don’t really matter anymore”.
“I don’t want to forget him”.
“You still have his picture in your room. I don’t think you’d forget him”.
“Ooh does itbother you?”
“What?”
“The picture?”
“Oh, I don’t mind. Why will it bother me? He’s someone you cared about and he’s dead, he had your past and now I have you future. So I don’t have a problem with it”.
“Aww, that’s so kind of you. My other exes had a problem with it but I didn’t care so I never took it off”.
“Hmm. Do you want to do something to pay your respects to him? We could go to his grave if you want to”, he said to her.
“You sure?”
“Yeah. I could accompany you and you can go and pay your respects and do whatever you want”.
“You’re the best”, she said, hvgging him and he smiled.
She quic-kly got up and went to her room to change her outfit.
When she got back, they picked out some flowers in her garden and then they left.
When they arrived at the grave yard, they saw that Ralph and Lilian were there.
“Hey”, Sasha said to them and she hvgged them.
“You just missed his family. They left some minutes ago”, Ralph said to her.
“Ooh, I would have loved to see them. I think I’ll go and visit them later”.
“Yeah, you should”.
“Let’s give them some time”, Lilian said to Hanson and they both stepped aside.
“Hi Phili-p”, Sasha said, putting down the flowers on his grave.
“I know you’re glaring at Hanson right now”, she said, laughing and Ralph laughed too.
“And I know that you’re also smiling because you’re happy that I’m happy”.
“I’m sure he is”, Ralph said to her and she laughed.
“It’s still so weird that you’re not here with us and I still wish I could reverse time and save you but I guess we don’t have that sort of powers in our hands”.
“Yeah, maybe if vampires existed, we would have hoped that he c@m£ back as one”, Ralph said to her and she laughed.
“Do you remember that holloween p@rty we had back in school”, he asked.
“Yeaaah the one where he dressed as a vampire and I was so mad at him because I wanted us to dress as the Hulk and black widow”.
“Yeah and it ended up as the vampire and the black widow”, he said, laughing.
“He did it intentionally because I annoyed him”, she said, laughing.
“I really miss him”.
“Me too”, Sasha said, smiling.
“Mmm, has told you all about Phili-p”, Lilian asked Hanson.
“Yeah, he was more like her first love”, he said to her.
“Yeah, we all thought that he was going to be her first and last, till he died and even after his death, we were all terrified that she wouldn’t move on but God being so good, he brou-ght you her way and I’m very happy that she has you”.
“Thank you. That means a lot to me”.
“You’re welcome. So how’s the restaurant coming up”.
“It’s coming up well. We’ve painted the place and bought all the furniture nee-ded. We’re just left with the cooking utensils and some other things”.
“That’s amazing, you’ve done so much in quite a short time”.
“Yeah, Ann helped a lot. She helped me with the interior design and helped to pick out the furniture.”
“That’s amazing, I can’t wait to see how everything turns out”.
“Yeah, me too”.
“Have you set an opening d@t£ yet?”
“I’m working on that but I’m looking to open next month”.
“Wow, I can’t wait”, she said, smiling.
They talked for a while till Sasha and Ralph were done then they all left.
*******
Sasha was at the clinic, talking to Mavis.
Mavis was excited about how far she had come.
“You’ve really improved so much and I’m so proud of you”.
“Thank you. You’ve been like a bestfriend to me and I’m so grateful to you. You’re the best Mavis. You’ve been able to tolerate me even when I’m at my worst. I don’t know who could have done that if not you”.
“It’s my job and duty to be here for you”.
“I know that but you’ve done more than you’re required to and it hurts that my thera-py would be ending soon”.
“Yeah, I’m sad too but you can always come here when ever you nee-d help with something. I’m still going to be here for you”, she said to her.
“Thank you. My bestfriend, Rachel is also going throu-gh certain things and I’ve recommended you to her. I’m sure she’ll be here one of these days”.
“That’s great. I’ll be expecting her”.
“Alright. I’ll take my leave now. I have to meet up with my mum”, Sasha said, getting on her feet.
“Alright. See you on our next appointment then”.
“Sure, bye”, she said and she left.
When she stepped out of the office, she bu-mped into someone at the reception area.
“I’m so sorry”, she said, lifting her head and she saw that it was Ross.
“Ross?” She said, surprised.
*_Chapter 38_*
“Ross?”
“Sasha” He said, surprised.
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m here to see my thera-pist?”
“Who? Mavis?”
“No. Amber”, he said to her.
“Okay. I don’t know her”.
“Is this where you have your thera-py?” He asked.
“Yeah”, she said to him.
“Oh I see. I heard they’re very good at what they do? Is that right?”
“Well do you see any improvements in me?”
“Yeah”.
“There. You have your answer”.
“Okay”.
“So you want to start thera-py?”
“Yeah. I’ve realized that I nee-d help with certain things in my life”.
“Mmm, that’s a bold step to take”.
“Yeah. I hope It works out for me”.
“I’m sure it will. Just open up and let everything out and you’d be fine”.
“Okay. Great”.
“Yeah. I was just leaving so see you around”.
“Okay bye”.
“Bye”, she said and she left.
******
“Sasha, this is the like the 4th time your phone has rang. Who are you ignoring?” Hanson asked her.
They were both at her house, eating.
“My dad”, she said, rolling her eyes.
“Just pick up. Maybe he wants to apologize to you”.
“I don’t nee-d it. I don’t want to talk to him”.
“At the end, he’s still your dad. Just pick up and hear him out”.
“Fine!” She exclaimed and she picked up the phone.
“Sasha”.
“Yes”, she said, rolling her eyes.
“I’ve called you like several times now”.
“Yeah. I know that”, she said and Hanson gave her a face and she looked away.
“Okay. I know you’re mad at me and I just wanted to apologize to you and to uhm.. Lan…Uh Jans£n”.
“Really? You didn’t even try to keep his name in your head?”
“I’ve got a lot of things in my head Sasha”.
“But you remember the names of all the ladies you’ve been slee-ping with”, she said to him.
“Sasha, that’s disrespectful”, Hanson said giving her a look.
“I’m sorry I said that”, she said to her dad.
“It’s fine. I get that you’re upset and I’ll make it up to you. Why don’t you bring uhm… your b©yfri£ndto my house this evening for dinner and I’ll make it up to you two”, he said to her.
“His name is Hanson and I’d have to check in with him to see if he’s okay with a dinner at your house and if the time is fine”.
“Sure. plea-se get back to me so that I let my chef make preparations towards that”.
“Okay”.
“Bye. Love you”, he said and he hanged up.
“The way you talk to your dad is honestly not cool. I get that he annoys you a lot but he’s your dad and you’ve got to respect him no matter what”.
“I’m not in the mood for lectures”.
“I’m not lecturing you. I’m just letting you know that it’s not cool”.
“Okay. I hear you”, she said to him as she continued to eat her food.
“I heard you say something about dinner”.
“Oh don’t worry about it. We don’t have to go there”.
“I want things to be cool between me and your dad, so yeah, we’ll go”.
“So you want this man to embarras-s you again?”
“I’m sure he’s going to apologize and do better”.
“Hanson I don’t really care if my dad doesn’t like you. You don’t have to be cool with him. Like I don’t care. My mum likes you and that’s fine by me”.
“Sasha, if we’re going to be in this for the long haul, I wouldn’t want to be cool with half of your family. I don’t want any grudges or tension at all. It’s not healthy for relationsh!ps”.
“Fine. But if he comes at you again, I promise not to behave”, she said to him.
“Let’s just be hopeful that things go well”.
“Speaking of families. When do I get to see yours?”
“Going to see mine would mean that we would have to travel and spend the night at my family house. Would you want that?”
“Road trip with you? Of course I would love that!” She said, smiling.
“Would you be cool slee-ping there?”
“There are be-ds right?” She asked.
“Of course!” He said, chuckling.
“So why are you asking me that?”
“I just want to be sure. My place is not a palace like yours. It’s more like a real home”, he said, teasing her.
“I’d be fine wherever you are”, she said and he smiled.
“So whenever you’re free, you let me know and I’ll inform them that we’re coming home”, he said.
“Great”, she said in excitement.
“And just so you know, I’m a mama’s boy”, he said to her.
“Well, she’s going to have to deal with me because you’re my boy now”, she said and he laughed.
“Sure. I’d sit and watch”.
“Do you think she’d love me?”
“Yeah. She loves everyone so I’m sure she’d love you especially when she sees how much I adore you”.
“Aww”, she said, wiggling her brows.
“Hey love birds”, Sally said, walking in.
“Hi Sally”, Hanson said to her.
“Can I steal Hanson for some few seconds”, she said to Sasha.
“He’s eating”.
“He’s done eating. His plate is empty or is he going to eat the plate?”
“Keep up with that attitude and you’ll be the plate!” Sasha said to her.
“Hey, you both should relax. Sally what is it?”
“Can I speak to you in pri-vate?”
“Anything you want to say to him, say it here”.
“Hanson plea-se”, Sally said to him.
“I’ll be back”, he said to Sasha and he walked out with Sally.
“Whatever you say to him, he would tell me. So you’re wasting your time”, Sasha exclaimed as they left.
*****
Sasha was in the kitchen, cleaning up with dishes when Hanson walked in.
“Wow, were you giving a sermon, you’ve really kept long”, she said to him.
“Oh Sally was having boy troubles and I had to speak some s-en-se into her”.
“What was it?”
“You know her current b©yfri£nd?”
“Who? Mark?”.
“No”.
“Dave?”
“No that’s her ex”.
“Oh my God. I can’t keep up with her and her boys. She changes them like I change my be-dspre-ad”!
“Well she’s been doing that because she’s trying to get over Dave”.
“I see. So what help did she nee-d?”
“She wanted to know what she could do to make him want her”.
“And she thought she could get help from you”? Sasha laughed.
“I guess so but I gave her a different kind of help”.
“What?”
“To love herself”.
“Oh plea-se she’s literally obsessed with herself”.
“That’s what you think but Sally is not happy. She doesn’t see herself to be important or loved and so it leads her to act out and do everything possible to get people’s attention”.
“And how do you know that?”
“My little chat with her and a few observations I’ve made”.
“Hmmm”.
“I really think you should start talking nicely to her and get her to open up to you. She actually nee-ds you and Samantha”.
“She’s always fighting with us and Samantha is always there for her”.
“Yeah I know but I think you should start talking to her more even if she tries to put up a front and be rude and all that. Just try to break throu-gh”.
“Hmmm, that will be difficult”.
“Pray about it and pray for her too. I’m sure it’ll work out fine”.
“Hmm I hear you Mr thera-pist”, she said and he laughed.
They talked for a while and then Hanson had to leave to take care of something.
*****
The girls were at Rachel’s house having a little chat.
“I think I like Dominic”, Rachel said to them.
“Girl plea-se. You’re trying to rebound”, Alicia said to her.
“Whatever it is, I think I like him”.
“It’s the rebound talking”, Alicia said to her.
“And what’s wrong with that? It’s going to get my mind off Archie and I’ll do anything to get him off”.
“One, you’ll be hurting Dominic, two you’ll be lying to yourself and things might go south. Just get over him the organic way”, Sasha said to her.
“See who’s talking. Didn’t it take you like 6 or 7 b©yfri£nds before you finally got over Phili-p”, Rachel said to her.
“And how did I get over him at the end? Was it throu-gh the numerous b©yfri£nds?”
“Whatever”.
“Rachel I know I can’t un-derstand how you feel because you’re carrying his baby and all but if you really want to get over him. Take it one step at a time and don’t drag someone’s son into it. It wouldn’t work. Trust me”, Sasha said to her.
“Hmmm, I just think of him every freaking minute and each time he calls or I see him, I just want to jump on him and tell him that I want him back”.
“There’s nothing wrong with wanting him back”, Lilian said to her and she stared at Lilian.
“I mean. I know he cheated and all but you’ve been with him for like 5 to 6 years and a love that lasted long like that can’t just disappear. Don’t feel guilty about you wanting him back, it’s natural to want him back. And you wouldn’t be stupid for taking him back. You know him better than we do, if you feel he’s changed or he’d be better and all and you want him back, no problem. If you feel that he might do it again or if you don’t trust him, then whenever you feel like you want back, just remind yourself of the reasons you don’t want him. Keep doing that and keeping being yourself and one day you’d be fine”, Lilian said to her.
“That actually makes s-en-se”, Alicia said to her.
“Yeah. I think Lilian has a point. It all depends on you”, Sasha said to her.
“How did you get over Phili-p?” Rachel asked her.
“I honestly don’t know how it happened but I guess thera-py helped and I guess getting close to God too helped. I was always praying to God to help me to move on. As time went by, I started thinking more of myself and my future and I kept reminding myself that he’s gone and he’s in the past. And I had a plus to speed up the moving on journey, Hanson c@m£ in and everything was history”.
“So maybe Dominic could be my Hanson”.
“No, no. Not that way. I didn’t just throw all my feelings to Hanson. I was healing by myself and naturally, my feelings found it’s way to him”.
“Hmmm. I hear. Dominic invited me to church though”.
“Mmm, that’s nice of him, it’s really nice to want someone close to you to also get close to God. But I think you should let him un-derstand that you two are just friends and that you’re still getting over a long time relationsh!pso that things would be clear”, Lilian said to her.
“Hmm”.
“Does he even know about your pregnancy?” Alicia asked.
“No. I haven’t told him yet”.
“And you want to lead him on? That’ll be unfair”, Sasha said to her.
“So you’re saying I should tell him?”
“No, it’s not his business and it’s your choice if you want to make it his business”.
“Hmmm this is just becoming so stressful”.
“I really think you should see my thera-pist. She’ll help you with this. She’s the best, I’m telling you”.
“We can see that”, Lilian said, smiling.
“Mmm, I’ll try and see her this week or next week”.
“Great”.
“So what’s up with you and Derrick?” Lilian asked Alicia.
“Oh, nothing. We just hanging out”.
“And does your b©yfri£ndknow that”? Sasha asked.
“It’s not his business and besides I don’t have a ring on my f!nger”, Alicia said and they all shook their head.
“Whatever it is, you’re doing with Derrick, it should better not cause a problem in the future and make things weird when we all meet up”, Sasha said to her.
“I think you should say that to Rachel not me. I’m just chilling” Alicia said to her.
“I’m not doing anything with Dominic. So that’s for you”,
“Whatever”, Alicia said, rolling her eyes.
******
Hanson and Sasha arrived at her dad’s house and they went to the dining area to meet him.
“You’re here”, he said, smiling as he got up to hvg Sasha and then he hvgged Hanson too.
They all took their seat and they were served by the chef.
“How are you Hanson?” He asked.
“I’m good. How about you?”
“I’m good too”.
“We thank God”.
“Yeah we do. How are you doing Sasha?”
“I’m fine”, she said and he nodded.
“About last time, I really want to apologize for how I behaved. I was just trying to protect my daughter and in doing so, I said things that were not cool. I’m sorry”, he said to Hanson.
“It’s okay sir. It’s fine”.
“You can call me Fred”.
“Okay Fred”, he said, smiling.
“And baby I’m sorry for doing that. I promise to be on my best behavior today”, he said to Sasha and she f0rç£d a smile.
As they continued to eat, he spoke up again.
“So how’s the restaurant going?”
“It’s going well and hopefully, everything will be set soon”.
“Wow. I see. That’s great”.
“Do you have a d@t£ set for it yet?”
“Yeah. The 28th of this month”.
“Wow! That’s just three weeks away”.
“Yeah”.
“Then I guess everything is almost re-ady?”
“Yeah”, he said, smiling.
“Congratulations once again and I can’t wait to see how far it goes”.
“Thank you Fred”.
“Sasha how’s the company going?”
“It’s going well. We’re looking to create a new br@nch soon”.
“Wow. That’s awesome. I’m proud of you baby”.
“Thanks dad”.
“If you ever nee-d any help or whatsoever. I’m here”, he said to her.
“Sure”.
“And that goes for you too Hanson”.
“Thank you Fred”.
“You’re welcome”, he said, smiling.
As they continued to eat. A young lady ran in, excited.
“Hey baby”, she said to Fred as she pe-cked him.
“Relax”, Hanson said to Sasha who was glaring at her dad.
When the lady turned around. Sasha was surprised at who it was.
“You!!!” She exclaimed.
“I can’t believe this”, she said, walking out angrily and Hanso
n ran after her.