đź‘ąICHABOD đź‘ą
Cursed For A 1000 Years
Chapter 19
“Why didn’t you fight back Ichabod?” She asked, some minutes later after the men were gone. He was now in a white shi-t and they were sitting at the bar.
He shrugged. “It was pointless. I didn’t want to disrespect you and I had no interest in causing trouble. Besides, he’s just being a jealous father and he hates the fact that his reputation is at stake.” He replied.
Harmony sighed. “I am just glad that Tracy didn’t see all that happened, poor girl . She would have been so frightened.”
“How did you two meet? Was he a good guy before and then he suddenly went to the bad side?”
Harmony poured herself more drink.
“I was so young and stupid. I had just become a star and he was a popular coach. We were the Nigerian sweethearts, we were famous and everyone loved us so we d@t£d. I thought he was a good man but when we got closer, I realized he was a selfish buffoon. I got impregnated on a careless night and he wanted me to get rid of it. I refused, I don’t have any family so, I wanted the baby.”
“I’m so sorry. What happened to your family?”
She shrugged, “mum and dad died in an accident. I grew up in a foster home and from there auditioned for a role in a movie.
. From there I began to build my career.” Then she turned to face him, “funny you are asking me about my family, what about yours? Tell me about yourself, Ichabod.”
He sighed. “My story is really boring.”
She frowned, “I know when someone’s being evasive.”
He smiled. “Well, I knew my mother, father was a soldier, died in a battle,” he lied. “I had a brother who wants nothing to do with me.”
“Oh, that’s a pretty boring story.” She replied and they chuckled. “So why Nigeria? Do you have a mission here?” She asked.
“A mission? What do you mean by a mission?”
She smiled, “I don’t know, I just don’t know why you had to come here.”
“I love Africa and, I nee-ded a fresh start.” He replied.
“So, what is the whole thing about loving a double personality?”
He shrugged, “you were never going to let that go were you?”
She smiled, “no way. Tell me, I would love your opinion.”
He sipped a bit out of his cu-p. “Firs tell me why you produced a movie from that theory.”
“Well, I usually have these dreams where I meet a man whose face I have never seen before and whom I get down with on a daily basis, “ she said with a c0cky smile.
“Okay, go on.” Ichabod replied, swallowing his drink.
“Usually at the end of the dream, he always changes to someone terrible and it scares the hell out of me and come to think of it, bee a while dreamt of such.”
He frowned, “what do you mean?”
“I mean, it’ been a while that I had such a dream. I can practically say since you got here.” She said excitedly. “Oh, wow!”
Ichabod sighed. “I hope that’s a good thing?”
She nods, “yes it is, trust me. So your turn.”
“Well, everyone has their good sides and there bad sides. The balance between this two is what makes us human. When the bad side overcomes the good sides, then we tag such as someone who is dangerous and capable of anything but that doesn’t mean he or she is not capable of doing good. The good p@rt is p@rt of them, just that they make a choice to be evil or they are un-der a kind of power that dictates their evil side. So, to me, everyone has a double personality, there is a face that everyone sees in the day, but what about when no one is around, who are you?”
Harmony was impressed, she kept looking at him as he went on and on, saying all the things that have always been in her mind and that were connected to her dreams. She kept looking at him with awe and admiration.
“Who are you Ichabod?” She asked when he finished.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, how come you know so much about this?”
He looked surprised, “Im sure everyone knows this don’t they?”
“No, they don’t. So what is your evil side Ichabod?”
At this, Ichabod was uncomfortably pla-ying with the ring on his f!nger.
. “My evil side?”
“Yes.” She replied with a smile. “You are so mysterious, yet fascinating, I want to know everything about you.”
“Trust me, there is nothing interesting about me.”
“Do you have a mysterious power in that ring on your f!nger?”
This got him by surprise and he stared at her and then at the ring, then back at her, she looked so serious.
“No, I don’t have…” before he could finish, she bur-st into laughter.
“Oh my god! I caught you. You should have seen your face.” She said, laughing.
He inhaled a de-ep breath. “That was a nice one,”
She laughed, “that’s why I’m a good actress.” She replied and they both smiled while looking at each other before they both looked away…
**
“Find out everything about him for me. What he eats, what he drinks, who he speaks to. I want to know what he does in the night and where they both go in the day. That bloody ring on his f!nger has this rare symbol on it and we nee-d to steal that ring somehow, I want to see it and study it. It looks like an heirloom. It will tell us all what we nee-d to know about the bastard.” Michael said to his men over the phone as he sat in his car.
“Yes sir.”
“From now on, you will be taking a shift to monitor him from. This white man gives me a creepy feeling and I want to find out more.” With this, he drove off.
****
That evening, they had ended up in the club. Rashidat had spoken with him over the phone some minutes ago and she said it was urgent and they nee-ded to see. That was right, after what Odin had done the previous night. Adam had driven to Harmony’s house and from there; Ichabod had s£nt him the address of the club they were. Now they were on their way.
Adams had been calling him and he had to rush out to pick . It was around 5 pm. “Hello Adam, where are you?”
“We are outside; Rashidat will come to meet you while I bring the van around.”
“Okay,” he said, ending the call. Some minutes later, he saw the blue van and a lady stepped out of it, it was Rashidat. She crossed over to meet him while Adams drove ahead to turn.
**
Harmony sighed, checking the time. She wondered where he had run off to.
“Hey, is everything okay?”
She looked beside her; it was her best friend, “hey, did you see Ichabod?”
Vivian observed her for a while and shook her head, “no, I haven’t. You seem so bothered.”
Harmony checked herself and looked away, “well, he’s my b©dyguard, he nee-ds to be doing his work.”
“Well, seems you are the one guarding him, with the way you looking everywhere for him,” Vi replied, laughing but then st©pped upon sighting Ichabod with a lady. “Oh, there he is
. Who is that fine lady?”
Harmony turned to see him hvgging a lady outside and she frowned.
“Who is that? His girlfriend?”
“I’m not sure,” she replied, trying not to look towards the two but she couldn’t st©p herself from looking.
**
“Oh my god! Rashidat, I’m so sorry. I hope he didn’t hurt you.”
The lady smiled, “no, he tried but he couldn’t. Though his f!ngersreally pierced into my skin,” she said, showing him her arm which she put a bandage on.
“Oh, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay, I c@m£ to warn you though.”
“What is it?”
“The time is approaching very fast you have lesser times now. You nee-d to do what you nee-d to do quic-kly. Also, last night while Odin was being himself, he knocked over some stuff, those were things I used to prepare the monogen and they are not easy to come by. I had to import most of those chemicals and some are actually illegal. Also, I hope you do not bathe with the ring on?”
“No, I always re-move it.”
“Good.”
“So what were you saying about the monogen?”
“I’m saying, you nee-d to manage the one on you, it will take a while before I get the rest.”
Ichabod sighed, “He’s such an idiot.”
“Yea, he realized that after I explained to him. You both nee-d this to work. This is what I’ve come to tell you, let’s go meet Adams, he has missed you and he said that this place is too noisy for him.”
**
Harmony watched as both of them walked away and she swallowed, she could feel a wave of jealousy pas-s throu-gh her. Who was that lady and where did they go?
“Girl are you okay? I can swear you tripping right now. Why are you all worked up, Ichabod is a fine man, he can mingle with anyone he wants, don’t you want that?”
“Of course, I am not bothered, what do you mean by saying I’m tripping? I’m just worried about him that’s all.”
Vi stared at her friend, “you are bothered? Are you drun!kor something? He is your b©dyguard. Why do you nee-d to be bothered cos of him?” she looked at her and then g@sped. “Oh my God, you are in love with him aren’t you?”
“Of course not!” Harmony shouted at her friend even though her voice betrayed her. “ Why would I be in love with someone I ha-rd ly know. Yes, I am worried about him because something happened this morning.”
Vi frowned, signaling to a waiter, “what happened?”
Harmony explained to her everything that happened that morning with Michael.
“That idiot is such a pain in the as-s, well I’m sure Ichabod is capable of taking care of himself,” Vivian said, eyeing her friend.
“Well, I hope so,” Harmony replied.
**
Ichabod couldn’t un-derstand why she was quiet all throu-gh the time they were in the car, even when he tried to make a joke, she hadn’t laughed. Then she had asked him to take her home immediately.
They got home around 7 in the evening and she quietly went inside. Ichabod was confused, what was the issue with the whole drama?
**
Minutes later, they were both sitting in the living room. She sat cross-legged watching the TV while he sat on the other couch, wondering what he had done wrong Occasionally, their eyes would meet but each time, her frowns would de-epen, Finally, he decided to ask-
“Is everything okay Harmony?”
“Sure, why not?” she replied without looking at him, her eyes fixed on the T.V.
He was quiet and then he stood up to take his leave…
**
Harmony was confused, what was wrong with her? Why was she giving him attitude? Even if the lady was his girlfriend, she shouldn’t have a problem with that should she? Why did this man have so much influence on her…? Ever since she saw him with another woman, something had gone wrong in her and she couldn’t shake off the feeling. She thought about talking to him but he stood and left, her heart sank…
**
Ichabod re-moved the ring and placed it on the table before going into the bathroom to take his bath. His mind was on how he would manage the monogen till the full moon. He hated Odin, he liked messing things up and he wasn’t even messing things up for him alone, he was doing it for the both of them. He sighed as the cold water hit his b©dy…now Harmony had been acting quite strange, what was her problem anyway? It had started ever since he left the club to go see Rashidat and…wait a minute, had she seen him with Rashidat and was jealous? That could be a good thing if she was actually jealous…hold on, this could mean she was actually beginning to have feelings for him. She had tried to k!sshim the other night and now…oh dear! This would be great news! He nee-ded to talk to her. quic-kly, he turned off the switch and gr@bb£d a white towel.
**
Harmony nee-ded to make things right before the maid would come up from her shopping with Tracy. She was really uncomfortable with the way things were going, besides, she had no reason to be jealous. She would just go into his room and then apologize. She would make things better and then they could be friends again without ma-king things awkward.
She thought of waiting till the next morning but then that seemed like an eternity, then she decided to go to her room. While she pas-sed by his room while going to her room, she st©pped. Her heart was beating fas-ter and she knew she had to do this. She shut her eyes and knocked on the door but there was no response. She knocked again and surprisingly the door opened by itself.
“Ichabod, you in there?” she called out but she could hear water running so she knew that he was definitely taking his bath. She thought of leaving to come back later but then her eyes captured the ring on the table. For no reason, she felt herself drawn to it. Her legs carried her into the room and before she knew it, she was holding it in her hands. It had like a triangular shape at the back and her br@in kept scrambling for where she must have seen something similar. That instant, the door opened and Ichabod stepped out.
. On the mere sight of him, her b©dy grew weak and she dropped the ring on the table.
Both of them stared at each other for a while, each shocked on seeing the other.
“Oh, I…I….I…m sorry, I c@mÂŁ to…to…” she stuttered, unable to pick the right words. He would have been completely n-ked if not for the piece of towel that only covered his manly p@rt. Water glistened on every p@rt of his b©dy and those blue eyes were even more enchanting than ever, she looked away. She was about rushing out when he said, “why weren’t you talking to me?”
Harmony couldn’t believe he was still talking with their pres£nt situation. She turned back, “well…I , I thought, you lied to me Ichabod,” she replied, even though all her br@in kept telling her was to run out of there.
“Lied to you?” he asked, ma-king no attempt to wear any cloth. “How did I lie to you?”
Harmony stepped back as he got closer, the closer he got, the ha-rder it felt for her to
“You, you said, you didn’t have a girlfriend,” she said, that was really stupid Harmony and way immature, her br@in said to her.
“The lady wasn’t my girlfriend, she means nothing to me, just a friend who happened to be around the club,” he stated, staring at her with so much intensity that she felt she was going to melt right there on the floor.
“Ok, I’m sorry,” she replied, still looking away.
“You should have asked me,” he said almost in a whisper. What was this man doing to her!
“Ok, well, since that is settled..I..I think I will go to my room and I…I…”
“Don’t fight it,” he stated, getting closer, even though she desperately wanted to run, right that instant, her legs turned into jelly and she was unable to move. This feeling was so familiar…that s£dûçt!vevoice was strangely familiar….before she could think of where she had heard it before, he covered hisl-ips with hers.
MEANWHILE
He got the message on his tab and without hesitation, he opened it, it was a picture of his baby mama and her b©dyguard wearing only a towel around his torso, k!ss!ngpas-sionately. He knew it! That slut!
He dialed a number on his phone, “get enough pictures, we will use it to blackmail her later, and find out who the lady is, find out who she is to him. I knew something was going on between those two! Prepare to get the ring tonight!”
TBC…