THE_FORBIDDEN_LOVE
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EPISODE_10
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✍️….
Two years later
After the death of Mesonma’s parents, their relatives c@m£ to a conclusion on who would be responsible for both Mesonma and Esther. As much as they didn’t want them separated, Esther was to move in with one of their aunties while Meso was to move in with uncle Sam in order to reduce cost and reasons only known to them. Things were not so smooth the first few months after the death of Meso’s parents because there were a lot of changes and transition. She was separated from her sister, separated from friends and her old life basically. She also had to change school where she eventually lost contact with Anabelle, her close friend and Daniel, her school father.
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Meso’s pov
It was a Sunday morning and there I was in the arms of a man who I thought I loved and cherished. Uncle Sam who had crept into my be-d the night before held me close to his che-st as he kept snoring. He had made love to me and filled my ears with nothing but love words the previous night. This was my father’s brother. Yes! You are about to say how wrong and filthy it is but at that point in my life, he made me as happy as I could be. He made it seem right, so I thought anyway. When I look back, I wish I hadn’t allowed it.
At the age of 14, I was alre-ady experiencing the things I never thought I would at such a young age. Uncle Sam had promised to love me forever no matter what. He had mention so many things I always wanted to hear and he succeeded in winning my heart over with them. I was so young yet I knew what it all meant. This was the phase of my life when I thought I wouldn’t be able to live without my uncle.
It all started a few months back when I had been seriously down. I had been feeling down because I felt like my world was turning upside down. I was being bullied at school and called ugly several times. I was missing my parents and my sister. I was never just in a good mood. This p@rticular Friday evening, uncle Sam c@m£ back from work and I didn’t go out to greet him as usual. I was actually just sitting down on my be-d in my room with only a towel wra-pped around my b©dy. I sat at the edge of my be-d crying silently. I was drowned in my own thoughts that I didn’t realize uncle Sam had been calling out for me..
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I recall uncle Sam coming into my room like he had just seen a ghost. He c@m£ and sat close to me trying to get me to say what was wrong with me. He had said he was calling out my name but because I didn’t answer, he decided to come check me in my room. I remember that the stench of his breath was very discomforting. He had had a few drinks again. Even though he wasn’t usually drun!k, he wasn’t still in his full s-en-ses. I didn’t care at that point, didn’t care about anything. I was just very upset with life. He held me close, still insisting that I tell him what was going on. So I finally spoke up and told him about everything. How much I was being bullied in school, how much I missed my sister, how much I missed my parents and how upset I was at life itself. He only consoled me and made promises. Promises to make it up to me, promises to always make me happy, promises to do what ever it would take to make me see life as meaningful again.
I don’t know why this happened but it suddenly bec@m£ quiet and uncle Sam held my face, bringing hisl-ips closer to mine. I don’t know why I didn’t move but I let him take charge. He slowly took off my towel and crashed into me. I didn’t struggle, didn’t object. I let him do to me whatever he wanted. He said he loved throu-ghout that night while he made love to me like he would call it. Because I didn’t know the meaning of everything, I told him I loved him back with tears rolling down my eyes. I thought that was what love was about but de-ep down I knew it didn’t feel right. My heart aches each time I remember that night because I didn’t fight back. That was the beginning of a forbidden love. Something that should never have been called love in the first place..
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That Sunday morning, I got out of uncle Sam’s arms, leaving him snoring on the be-d. I went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. I fried some plantain and egg then boiled water for tea. I wanted to be done before he was awake so I could serve his breakfast immediately. He always enjoyed when his breakfast was re-ady before he was awake and I had taken joy preparing it for him always. I had been draining the last set of plantain when I felt someone from behind hold my hands that held the plantain in the strainer. I knew it was uncle Sam so I turned to face him before greeting him. He planted a k!sson my forehead and greeted back.
“Hmmm, Meso will not kill me with food. Who knew the small Meso of those days could take care of a grown man like me. Why wouldn’t I be happy?” he said smiling at me.
I only blu-shed and served his food on the dining table where I joined him. We talked about a few things laughed about some until he kept a straight face. He stared at me for a while before he said;
“Meso! I love you so much okay? I’m not going to let anything harm you or your sister. I know so many things have happened in the past and so many things are happening now but it’s what we call life isn’t it? Just let me know whenever you nee-d me. Any time you nee-d my help, you know where to find me Meso.”
I looked at uncle Sam for a while before saying;..
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“I wish Esther lived with us”
“Meso, you know the reason why Esther stays with your aunty. She is still much younger than you are and nee-ds guidance. Remember everything that was explained after the meeting with everyone two years ago. I promise that it won’t be like this forever. You will get to be with Esther soon. They all just want you to finish your secondary school in Lagos first. And you know all about cost as well. See…..”
At this point, uncle Sam stood up and bent down close to me. He held me close to his che-st while he consoled me as tears were alre-ady streaming down from my eyes. He continued with his talking and consoling until I told him I was okay and not going to cry anymore. It bec@m£ quiet for a while and I decided to ask him a question;
“Can I ask you a question?” I said to him.
“Of course! You can ask me anything.” he replied.
“Sam, when you get married, what will happen to me?”
He must have been very shocked because he paused for a while and just before he was about to answer, he heard his phone ring so he excused himself and stood up to get it from the room. I immediately stood up, packed the plates and took them to the kitchen. I decided to wash the plates, then clean the house as uncle Sam was not yet back from where he went to get his phone. After I was done with the cleaning, I retired for my room. As I got into my room, I heard uncle Sam call me from the living room so I quic-kly went to answer him. When I got there, he was all dressed up in a casual outfit. Before I even asked, he alre-ady said he was going to meet up with a friend and I was surprised because It was just 11:36am on a Sunday. Nevertheless, I didn’t ask further because I knew he was a busy man. He brou-ght out some naira note and told me to use it to get anything that was nee-ded by me or the house. He was very fond of doing that. It was a Sunday and I wasn’t planning on going anywhere so I told him, we didn’t nee-d it as always but he insisted I kept it anyway so I collected it and thanked him. As usual, he pe-cked me on thel-ips and went out the door while I shut it close.
I got back to my room and went to take a shower and after went straight to l@yon my be-d. I hadn’t been to church for over a month and I didn’t have any reason. Uncle Sam didn’t also care as much because he always said he wanted to spend the Sundays with me alone. Even though he didn’t mind if I wanted to go to church, I never just did for a while. So as la-id on my be-d, I thought about a lot of things. I remembered Anabelle who used to be my close friend that I hadn’t spoken to in a while. I also thought about Daniel, the s£nior who was my school father and it made me miss them a lot. I remember I used to get in t©uçh with Anabelle but after a while, we lost contact. I never even spoke to Daniel after that day he got suspended for beating up a student. I used to ask Anabelle about him but she always told me that she hadn’t seen him in school either. I still felt guilty because everything that happened to him was all because of me..
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If you are re-ading this, plea-se be aware that this story is a fiction. It does not apply to anyone in p@rticular but it is something I believe the world should be aware of. Sometimes we might not smell the burning food even when it’s right un-der our nose. There are so many things happening in the world. So many young girls, so many young boys in nee-d of help, in nee-d of mentors, in nee-d of guidance. They are either being abused by relatives, friends, strangers….etc. We nee-d to be conscious about everything and everyone around us. What you think does not/can never happen might actually have happened/is happening. Let’s be careful, spre-ad the word. And try to save many from di-pping their f!ngersinto the fire..
To be continued.