?TANURE,
FOREVER?
Chapter 18
Christine!
He looked down and realized that she was holding a baby.He frowned,the last time he saw Christine was almost six months ago, and that was when they got back from London.Why was she holding a baby?A broad figure c@m£ behind her.
He frozed, seeing the great Patrick Ekure, Christine’s father.Now,this was getting too creepy.
“May we come in?”Patrick asked, Richa-rd just stared at them so confused,he didn’t even know when they walked into his house.
“My daughter gave birth two weeks ago and she said that you refused to own up to your duties as the kid’s father”Patrick announced.
It was as if a bottle was broken on Richa-rd ‘s head,he stared at Christine in disbelief.
“First off, I didn’t know that she was even pregnant and she giving birth two weeks ago is none of my business.I’m not the child’s father!”
“Don’t even dare deny my daughter,you should be glad that she saw something in you cause I really can’t see anything”
“You won’t come to my house and insult me.The relationsh!pI had with Christine ended a long time ago”Richa-rd slammed back.He was feeling so scared, Tanure would be home any moment from now,this might create a big problem for them.
“I love my wife, plea-se you have to leave my house now!”He barked.
The doorknob bent, Tanure walked in, she st©pped dead in her tracks taking in the whole scene in front of her.A tall dark man stood beside a crying Christine who had a baby in her arms.
“I was really going to agree never to show up in your life as you requested that night after ma-king love to me in London, but then I discovered late that I was almost three months pregnant, I can’t raise this child alone”Christine cried.
Tanure swallowed the thick lump in her throat.Richa-rd hurried up to her holding her shoulders.
“Don’t believe her,this is just one of her schemes,I swear, what she’s saying didn’t happen”He said desperately,he looked into her eyes and could see doubt. “Iyawo mi, plea-se believe me,”
“So you were married and at the same time pla-ying with my daughter’s heart”
“I didn’t do anything with Christine!”Richa-rd yelled, frustratedly.”Christine, st©p this, nothing happened between us in London, even if I had t©uçhed you,the time doesn’t add up, that was six months ago”He reminded, angrily.
“You’re such a bloody liar, Richa-rd ,you told me that we could still be together…you told me that the two of you are just like housemates…..you told me that you can’t imagine yourself tou-ching her again. I was always there to satisfy your S-xual nee-ds,You told me to work in the same company with you so that we could be close to each other and suddenly you wanted to break up with me that night in London”
Richa-rd ‘s jaw dropped.Did she rehearse all this?The words just fell from her mouth smoothly.When did all this happen between them?
“Leave my house now!”He yelled.
“We’ll leave,Mr Boyowa, but my patience had limit,if by this weekend,you haven’t come to take in your child, I’ll make life a living hell for you”Patrick threatened,he glanced at Christine disappointedly and walked off.
Christine increa-sed the volume of her cries and walked up to Tanure.
“plea-se…. plea-se give my baby a chance to have a happy life, you might think he loves you but he had alre-ady planted a seed in me and this is the result”She paused.
Tanure stared at the beautiful baby girl.
“If you keep saying nons-en-se, I’ll throw you and that thing out of my house!”Richa-rd warned.
Christine glared at him then at Tanure.
“I’m the one who’s at fault here,if only I knew that you were never going to change…that you would always remain a dirty liar,I wouldn’t have given myself to you over and over again”With that, she strode off smiling inwardly,this was going to be a beautiful beginning for her.
Richa-rd stared at Tanure,he felt weak,she clearly didn’t believe him,he moved closer to her.
“Don’t”She muttered and hurried up the stairs,she walked into their be-droom and locked the door.
She slowly sat on the be-d.
“Iyawo mi, plea-se open the door, I can explain everything, just talk to me plea-se”He pleaded and kept on knocking.
To say this was quite shocking was an un-derstatement.
It was alot to process and take in.She opened up her bag bringing out a pregnancy test result which had confirmed that she was pregnant.
Tears stung her eyes as her squee-zed the paper in her hands.She had been coming home joyfully to break what she thought was good news to him only to find out that he has a child alre-ady.
Her head was spinning,she badly wanted to believe him….he wasn’t the father of that child but different thoughts was running throu-gh her head.
“Christine was here,she wanted to…you know…. but I made it clear to her that I can’t cheat on you”
His words ran throu-gh her head.Who could resist a temptress like Christine? And the fact that at that time,she was still rejecting him made her realize that he had done it,he had sle-pt with Christine that night in London.He had done it so many times before that night too, while he was busy filling her head with promises again… acting so sweet…. ma-king her the happiest person in the world,he was still shagging another woman.
And that happiness had blinded her once again,that happiness had destroyed her resolve,she had been putting up her defences, looking for a reason to prove to Maami that they could never be good together.She had told herself before that when he would hurt her again,she would be re-ady for it and wouldn’t feel any pain.
But right now, the pain in her heart was exceeding all description.
Tears slided down her cheeks as it dawned on her that she was a fool for the second time.
She screamed and to-re the test result into pieces.She angrily brushed away the flower vase from the table, and wept uncontrollably.
Richa-rd tensed slamming his fist into the door.
“Tanure, plea-se open the door”He begged, frantically.
Suddenly,he couldn’t hear anything for some moments,then the doorknob bent and she c@m£ out with bloodsh0t and swollen eyes,she was holding her luggage.He could feel his world alre-ady crumbling.
“Tan…..Tan…… Tanure, don’t leave me”He muttered.
She stood in front of him and for the first time,she summoned courage and gathered up the pieces she had ignored before.
“You know who s£nt those men, right?Was it Christine?”
Richa-rd bit his lower l!pha-rd till he tasted his own blood.Telling her the truth would be like adding salt to a severe injury.
Her nerves were in shreds seeing the expression on his face.
“plea-se tell me it isn’t Christine……..plea-se tell me that she didn’t do it because I was an obstacle to the two of you…….plea-se lie to me, you’re good at that”She croaked out tears rolling continuously down her cheeks.
Those last words from her made him say the truth.
“It was Christine”He confessed, staring at the floor.
Unconsciously,her luggage fell from her hand, and once again,she was that woman held ti-ghtly and r0ûghly by two men, and the last one was dealing b!ows on her…….She had pas-sed out thinking that was the end of her life only to wake up without her baby…… only to wake up in anguish.And just when she wanted to end it all,he st©pped her….. and over the months made her feel so blessed… but he was the reason for all the pain,his lover killed her baby.
She sank down on the floor bringing her knees up to her che-st and tears just flowed freely, she thought he had hurt her before,this was just too much,it made her wonder how much pain can ones heart bear.
Richa-rd bent down in front of her, just yesterday,he had swore to continue ma-king her the happy for the rest of her life, and today,he had broke her ap@rt again…. even more than before.
He didn’t even realize that he was crying too.
“Iya…..Iyawo mi”
“Don’t call me that”She bit out.
He moved closer to hold her.
“Don’t t©uçh me!”She yelled.
“Why?”Tanure asked, weakly.A single syllable filled with anguish.
“You knew about this all along?”
Richa-rd sniffed.”At first, I didn’t know,I didn’t even suspect that she would do that to you, I really didn’t want……”
She dashed the tears from her cheeks with the back of her hands angrily but they won’t st©p coming.
“And I didn’t deserve to know that your lover almost killed me because of you?”
Hisl-ips quivered,more tears falling down his eyes.”I didn’t want you to hate me.Tanure plea-se,I honestly didn’t want that to happen to you, I was…. I just….. I didn’t…….”He paused trying to pu-ll himself together, trying to look for words to soothe the pain he had caused her.
“Let’s say you didn’t know she’d do that to me, nothing can justify the fact that you went back to her”
“No, I didn’t go back to her, I swear it, I told you before, seeing you so hurt at the hospital made me want to protect you, made me want to stick to your side like glue….. I didn’t…..”
“Don’t confuse yourself,you probably felt pity and guilty towards me for what Christine did….. not love”
“Tanure, plea-se don’t doubt my love for you…. I love you so much…you know….”
“I don’t know anything!”She sh0t at him, fiercely, stood up and gr@bb£d her luggage.
Richa-rd stood up and shakily held her hand,She had st©pped crying but he couldn’t stem his tears.
“Tan… Tanure..ple…. plea-se… I’m sorry… don’t leave…..”
He immediately faced an onslaught of her hands sl@pping him over and over….on his face….his che-st…..his shoulders….it didn’t hurt much though compare to the pain spiraling in his che-st but it wasn’t exactly soft either. You can hi ish on+233544142683 to be added to his story room to enjoy more stories from the group.
“I curse the day I met you!”And then, she hurriedly walked away.
Those words hit him ha-rd like b©dy b!ows.And it took a moment for him to realize that Tanure had just left.
Frantically,he raced into the street,there was no sign of her,he ran back into his house and started searching blindly for his keys.
Because of his insane state of mind,he pas-sed throu-gh the table where he had kept his keys twice before his eyes finally caught them.
He hurried out of the house and quic-kly got into his car starting it almost immediately.There was one place he knew she was heading to and now facing Maami would add to this mess he had created.
As he drove speedily on the road,he didn’t notice the red light, when he finally saw it,he stepped on his br@kes and unluckily for him,the front of his car collided against the back of the car in front of him.
He rested his back on the seat p@n-ting heavily.A woman got down from the car and started shouting in yoru-ba.
Could this day get any worse?
The woman walked up to his car.
“Young man,get down!”She ordered.
Richa-rd slowly got down.
“I’m sorry I didn’t mean…….”
The woman started quarrelling h0tly in yoru-ba attra-cting people’s attention.
He offered her money but she kept on talking and it seem she wasn’t going to settle this any time from now.
“Ma binu”He begged, frustratedly.
She still wasn’t re-ady to come to an agreement with him and he was alre-ady breaking ap@rt inside as the time tick by so he took to his heels, ignoring the shouts and leaving his car for her.It was replaceable but he just lost something that he could never replace.
Tanure rested her head on the glas-s window of a bus feeling dead inside.It was better this way, she didn’t want to think about anything that would make her break down again.
The bus started moving and as if the whole world was against her,the driver turned on a music titled ‘Too Good at Goodbyes’ by Sam Smith.
Within seconds,she was weeping again, unable to tame her tears as memories lingered in her head,why hadn’t she realized that it was too good to be true…..it was a love so beautiful…..too beautiful to exist.
She hadn’t cried this much in her entire life, were this tears ever going to get dried? Once again,he had left her in the dirt… pregnant and broken.
She clamped her palm around her mouth muffling her screams.People on the bus turned to look at her…. some finding her pathetic…. some wondering what had made her like this.
When he got to the village,it was very late so he couldn’t go to Tanure’s house,they might be slee-ping alre-ady,the word ‘sleep’ seem so foreign to him but he wished that she could really sleep tonight,he wished that she wasn’t crying anymore.
He arrived home and slumped on a couch, Maami had started asking him why he was home and where was Tanure,he didn’t even know where to start telling her what happened.This was still so devastating for him, just that morning,he had made love to her and washed her b©dy himself in the bathroom,she had told him how much she loves him, and even after hearing that so many times,it still made him incredibly happy and now….they were what?He quic-kly shook his head,he should hang on to a tiny glimpse of hope that she might forgive though he knew that this time,there was no hope.
“You stupid son of mine!”Mr Boyowa thun-dered walking into the living room.”I just saw Ojaide,you nee-d to see the way he spoke to me like a wounded lion in front of my friends”
Bisi swallowed.”What’s going on?”
“It turns out that this irresponsible son of yours has a child from another woman!”
Bisi couldn’t explain how she felt right now,but she managed to get out.”Kayo”
TBC