#TENDER_BEAUTY
EPISODE 14
“Hmmm, listen to the voice of God my son so that you would not regret your actions. You have it in mind to do something evil and God has asked me to warn you against it. Things would still go well for you and your former glory would be resto-red, if you obey my words. That child you blame for your misfortunes is not to blame but you are to blame. You maltreated that child when she was young not knowing that little children have guardian angels who are just there to fight on their behalf. It is what you sow that you reap my son. If you try to carry out what is in your heart, you would not succeed and might not live to tell the tale. Obey God and you would be honored”, the old man said in a shaky voice and was gone immediately leaving Mr Badmus dumbstruck.
Mr Badmus stood poised and too stunned to move a muscle. He could not fathom how that old man had been able to re-ad his mind. He would have thought that the old man was hired if he had told a single soul about his escapade but no, he hadn’t even said it aloud with his mouth and here was a prophet telling him everything to his face.
He was finally able to leave that sp©t five minutes after the prophet’s dep@rture and before he knew it, he was face to face with his entrance door. He battled with the door for some seconds and when he finally opened the door, a very big rat ran out of the door. He jumped out of the way, his heart palpitating wildly. He stayed there for some seconds to recover himself and after that, he went in, and just as he was about to sit down tiredly on his couch, he sited a dead c0ckroach right on the chair and he flew away again.
He left the c0ckroach on the chair cos he was too tired and went to seat on another couch. Every little thing just seemed to frighten him and he felt that the words of the prophet were taking toll. He looked back at his life again, how he had been a ladies man, and how he had lost his dad and his ability to reproduce to a car crash. He thought about how he met his late wife Linda and how she had given birth to Belina and bec@m£ more beautiful afterwards. He thought about how Belina had been exceedingly beautiful that even the nurses could not take their eyes off her then they had praised him for being the father. He remembered his maltreatments then which grew worse immediately the finances dropped. He had to admit that the downturn in his finances started immediately he started maltreating Belina.
He negotiated his options; if he decides to forgo the words of the prophet by going after Belina’s life, he might be caught by the police and be hanged but if he would not be caught, he would have to go out of Lagos or even out of Nigeria. Following the prophet’s warnings to him would be the best thing, he thought finally because there was still a guarantee of having cash again and no matter what had happened, he was not tired of life yet.
He sighed repentantly and went to his be-droom mirror and saw a sight that looked so unlike him and he decided to go to the chemist nearby for medical care before he set out to look for Belina.
********************
I walked home looking so stunned. I had been admiring my employer for the past one week even though it was done secretly. No matter how ha-rd I tried to last week, his profile kept appearing in my subconscious and now I had seen him today and had found it terribly disturbing. Now, even though I had been trying ha-rd to dislike him, I found him more likeable and fascinating and just when I was hoping I would keep his friendsh!pbut leave things as friends, I discover that he is my boss. My boss! How possible is that? Thinking about it, I had been secretly searching for the owner of the hospital and I had imagined him to be an elderly man of lets say fourty or fifty but I never imagined someone as young as Richa-rd . Everyone in the hospital was young and I liked that but having that young handsome guy as my boss is something I never imagined.
I finally got home and did not meet anyone at home. Mum was obviously having a filled day cos she always arrived before me. Thank God I had a spare key which prisca had given me in case of something like this. After changing my clothes and having a little shower, I went into the kitchen to cook some noodles cos I was famished and could not wait for anyother thing. I heated up the frozen blended pepper in the freezer so that we would use it for dinner and went to eat the noodles. Unlike me, I had a great urge to listen to the news; I don’t know if it is because of my dad’s trial which was in two days time but I switched on the TV nonetheless.
Immediately I turned on the TV, I took it to the normal Tv stations and the first thing I heard was, “Mr uche Badmus has just been re-leased from police custody. The real murderer of Olatunji James have been found and identified as Tolu Adeniji”
“What?” I said shocked. The picture of the real murderer was displa-yed on tv but I was not interested. I could not imagine how that could happen. Nigerian police always makes silly mistakes. How could they convict a man who was not proven guilty, I thought. I wondered about what my dad was going throu-gh and even though I had convinced myself that I did not care if he hanged, I still could not erase the fact that he is my father.
My phone rang out just then and I noticed that it was an unknown number. “Hello…”, I said into the mouthpiece of my phone. “Hello Belina”, c@m£ the voice I knew very well.
“Dad? Is that you”, I asked alre-ady standing.
“yes, it is me, belina”, he replied faintly.
“What do you want from me? I heard you were set free, good for you but what do you want from me ehn? Oh… you have another guy you would like to sell me to since the former buyer is dead uhn?” I said, pacing with one hand on my w@!st.
“No, it is not that. I… I am sorry for all I did to you, pls, I only want your forgiveness”, he said.
I laughed, “oh, what a nice ploy. So you think you would say sorry, I would come home and you would carry out your plans abi?” I asked amazed.
“No, it is not that. I realized that I have been unfair to you and I am so sorry”, he said and sounded like he had been crying.
“Sorry? Sorry for what? For everything you have been doing to me ever since I was a little girl? Sorry for the way you maltreated my mother? Sorry for the slut you brou-ght home just days after her death? Sorry for what?”
“plea-se, I can explain everything, I have reasons but it is not a good one. plea-se, I nee-d to see you”, he said.
“well, I don’t want to see you and I never want to see you for the rest of my life” I said and hung up. I felt like smashing the phone on the floor but I did not, but it sli-pped out of my grasp anyway. I fell to a heap on the floor and cried my eyes out. Richa-rd had been right; I could pres£nt a bold and strong front in the pres£nce of people in order to keep them encouraged but de-ep down, I wanted someone to love me and love me de-eply. I wanted the love of a father and a mother. Prisca’s parents had given me that and my days with them had been the best p@rt of my life. After crying for some time, I felt better and started thinking straight again but I knew that I nee-ded something to lift my spirit so I picked up my phone, scrolled throu-gh my music albu-m looking for that one song I knew always did the trick and found that song. I started relaxing as I listened to ‘Everywhere you go’ by Kim Burrell.
Everyone seemed to have had a very long day because everyone got home late. I had prepared white rice and beans before they arrived. I saw meat and fish in the fridge and I used it to prepare stew with the alre-ady defrozen pepper. Prisca arrived first and then mum followed by dad later and they were all happy that I had made dinner and they told me that. Everyone felt tired one way or another and I did not have the heart to bring my own problems to bug them again, besides, they had alre-ady done enough for me and I did not want to overstep my bounds.
“Belina”, Mr Jeg@s called
I turned round, “sir?” I answered.
“you have been quiet for quite a while now, is anything the problem?” he asked looking worried. Mum was busy in the room and Prisca had gone to take her bath, if my guess is right, she would be busy chatting with Tony now on phone so there had been nob©dy to keep my mouth running.
“No sir, I… I am fyn” I answered.
He stared at me for some seconds and finally said, “I don’t buy that, come”
I stood reluctantly, went to meet him and sat beside him on the couch.
“Now tell me, did anything happen at work? Talk to me”, he said giving me audience.
I sighed remembering my day at work but said, “nothing bad happened at work sir”.
“so what is the problem?” he asked.
“it is my… my dad. He has been re-leased and –”
“re-leased?” he said and stared at the TV probably wondering why he had not listened to today’s news, I had wondered the same earlier. “how come?”
“He was actually innocent sir, the real murderer was caught” His eye brows raised in surprise. “but that is not the problem. He called me just as I got home seeking forgiveness and wanting to know where I am”, I said.
“He what? Haaa, people have no shame. So what did you tell him? That you would be going back there?” he asked not even giving me the chance to answer it one at a time.
“No sir, how could i? I told him never to call me again”, I said.
“I wish I could strangle him for what he did to you”, he said as he jumped up angrily.
“Strangle who?” this c@m£ from Prisca’s mother and she had a worried look on her face. Before I knew it, Prisca was alre-ady in the sitting room looking puzzled and I knew I was the t©pic once again and sighed internally.
“Can you imagine? Belina’s father is alre-ady out of prison because they found out that he really did not commit the murder and he had the guts to call Belina asking for forgiveness”, Mr. Jeg@s said looking like he was about to search my father out and beat the living daylight out of him.
They were both quiet but their facial expressions were not palatable. I quic-kly lightened up the situation. “It is not really a big deal, I told him that I don’t want to see him again and I meant it”, I said.
Prisca looked white suddenly, “hey, someone called me today and asked of Belina and I said you were at work, before I could ask who it was, he had hung up. What if that was your father. He could trace you here”, she said and while we were still processing that, we heard a knock at the door. We were all puzzled cos no one should have been able to get to the door without us opening the gate. We were so scared and so we all went to the door even though dad told us to stay behind. We opened the door and speaking of the devil, we all stared at the plastered face of my dad.
*******************
Richa-rd turned around on the be-d thinking about the one person that had stuck to his head like a virus. Try as he may, he hadn’t been able to purge her out of his br@in. He thought about what she had been throu-gh and found it ha-rd to believe that someone could go throu-gh all that and still be able to carry herself with dignity like nothing had happened. He admired her courage and determination to bring the best out of her life and still found it amusing that she could look exceptionally pretty even when she was going throu-gh hell. He had felt at ease with her so much that he felt a p@rt of her instantly.
He started comparing her with Tonia, and mentally kicked himself out of it. He wondered just how she had been able to sp©t that he had a foreign blood in his veins and praised her the more. Just then, he heard a knock and he was still wondering who could be visiting at 10pm when he opened the door.
A scream from him followed, “No you are dead”, he yelled trying to close the door.
Tonia opened the door back, “I am not dead, Richa-rd ”, she said.
“No… you, you are. You are dead. Oh my God, I am going crazy”, he yelled holding his head.
“No Richa-rd , t©uçh my hand and see that I am real”, Tonia said stretching forth her hand.
“no, you died three years ago, pls go, go, go…” he said and f0rç£fully closed the door and locked it instantly. He immediately ran into the be-droom shaking all over.
********************
“What the hell do you think you are doing in my house?” Mr jeg@s yelled at my father immediately he set his eyes on him.
“Sorry for bothering you sir, I just must see Belina today”, my dad said without jittering.
“Well you would be sorry if you don’t leave now. How did you get past my gate by the way? Did you jump it?”
“Of course not, I met it open so I just entered”, he replied stiffly. Prisca’s dad laughed slightly, “mr man, you better get the hell out of my house before I call the cops to arrest you for trespas-sing”, he said glaring at him.
“Darling, wait”, prisca’s mum was saying putting her hands on her husband’s shoulders.
“Stay out of this Lizzy”, he sh0t back at her. Prisca and I who had been standing silently were both taken aback when we heard him call his wife by her first name and by that we knew that his temper had ris£n to a dangerous degree.
Mrs jeg@s was not put back, she went to stand between the two men at war facing her husband. He stared at her angrily for some seconds and just like magic, he started relaxing then she said, “come on, he is her father. Allow him”.
He glared at my father then allowed him in. I kept my face carefully blank showing neither happiness nor anger at the sight of him and said, “what do you want sir?”
“I nee-d you to listen to me and when I am done, you can decide whether you would forgive me or not”, he said pleading with his eyes.
Prisca held my hand tenderly and nodded. I led him to the couch and even though he did not like the public discussion, that was what I offered him.
“Belina”, he began, “I know that you are angry and you have the right to be. I am very sorry for everything I have done to you and for ma-king your life miserable but life hasn’t been fair to me either and I thought about taking it out on you and your mother. My mother did not have time for me when I was young cos she always traveled from one place to the other. You are aware that I was from a very rich family so she had more than enough money to spend on trips and shopping all over the world. My dad though very busy, still spent time with me and gave me one of his companies to manage after my university education but the day that changed the course of my life was the day I lost my dad. We were in the car together including the driver when we got involved in a car accident and he died including the driver. I survived but I was later told by the doctor after some years that due to the car accident, I would not be able to have children with any woman again”. He paused
I had kept my face carefully straight but internally I felt for him. I knew what it was like to lose a loved one and when I lost my mum, I almost felt like dying but when he mentioned the p@rt of not being able to give birth, my head j£rked up.
“But you had me right?” I asked becoming more alarmed by the second.
“No, I am not your father”, he dropped.
“What? Everyb©dy exclaimed excluding me who was practically in a trance. I could not begin to process the fact that I had spent my entirely life in a lie. My face fell and all the blood in my b©dy virtually drained away as I sat there frozen like a statue.
He explained how he had met my mum on the staircase after she had left the room of the guy who impregnated her. “she had been an orphan and had been very determined not to have anything to do with a poor guy so that her children would not suffer the same way she did. The rich man had promised to take care of her but when she bec@m£ pregnant and refused to ab-ort it, he had s£nt her out telling her that he had a wife he loves very much. I took her home and after explaining my predic@m£nt, I promised to take care of her if her child bears my surname. I also made her promise not to tell her child what had transpired between us but after you were born, the fact that you were not my biological child never eluded my mind and I started maltreating you. When things bec@m£ sour and bitter after some years and we had to move to the mainland, I blamed you and your mother for my misfortune. I am sorry”, he ended.
My eyes could not see properly again because of the tears it held, prisca held me comfortingly and all the tears c@m£ down like a mighty river. I placed my head between my hands and wept then after what seemed like forever, I looked at my dad or actually Ex-dad and said, “I have only one question for you sir. Do you know who my father is?”
His facial expression was grim and 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 and deal with him but I never saw him. His name is Mr Francis Jeg@s”, he dropped and everyone in the room yelled one thing or the other as we all turned to the only person with that name.
WATCH OUT FOR EPISODE 15