#THE_MIRACLE_I_nee-d_2
EPISODE 21
“You didn’t have to do so much,” Kathleen whispered for Pete’s ears only as they both walked into the kitchen, while the others ate and listened to music while conversing.
“What does this complaint change? It’s not like I’m going to propose to you twice, right?” Pete asked with an amused smile as he leaned his backside against the kitchen counter and signaled for her to come closer to him.
“Someone could walk in on us,” she said, looking behind her self-consciously.
“Come on, I just proposed to you so it is expected that I would be holding you. I’m not saying I want to have S-x with you,” Pete complained ma-king her raise a brow.
“Are you trying to control me now because I accepted your proposal? I will just return your ring now now,” she threatened ma-king Pete chuckle.
“Why don’t you try it?” Pete dared, ma-king her roll her eyes as she walked over to where he was standing and stood beside him.
“Shouldn’t you call your mother and let her know about this?” Pete suggested.
“I’m sure Isioma would have told her by now. I will call her later on when the p@rty is over,” Kathleen said dismissively before looking at him curiously, “What made you decide to propose to me though? I mean, we ba-rely just started… Isn’t it too soon?” She asked curiously.
“Too soon by whose standards? Yours or society’s?”
“Why did you propose to me?” Kathleen asked, ignoring his question.
“The same reason that made you accept my proposal,” Pete said simply.
“Which is?”
Pete laughed lightly, “Why are you asking me that? Don’t you know the reason you accepted my proposal?” He asked in an amused tone.
“I accepted your proposal because you’re tall, rich, and handsome. So why did you propose?” Kathleen asked again ma-king him laugh out loud.
“You can be so n@ûghty at times sha,” Pete said with a shake of his head, “Well, I proposed to you because I’m convinced in my spirit that you’re my wife. And plea-se don’t ask me any more questions right now, I didn’t drag you to the kitchen to be questioned,” Pete pleaded.
“So why did you drag me to the kitchen of all places?”
“Why? You’d rather I dragged you to the be-droom instead?” He asked with a teasing smile as he wriggled his brows pla-yfully.
“Only God knows what you’re thinking. Answer my question abeg,” Kathleen said with a giggle.
“You’re such a spoilsport. Anyway, I wanted to give you your birthday gift,” Pete said with a grin.
“Another gift?” She asked, slightly taken aback since she now knew he had been the one who had given Sharon the dress she had worn that morning, and there were the cakes and refreshments in the living room all for her. So what was he talking about a ring?
“Is there any law anywhere in the world that gives a limit to the number of birthday gifts a man can give to the woman he loves?”
She didn’t like that he was always giving her gifts and she was yet to give him anything. She nee-ded to get him something really soon, “No, but…”
“Turn around,” Pete ordered softly as he straightened up, and took out a jewelry box from his pocket.
Kathleen took in a de-ep breath as she turned her back to him. Soon his hands c@m£ around her n£¢k and she felt the metallic coolness of the n£¢klace around her n£¢k as he lifted the weavon she was wearing from her back.
Pete didn’t step away immediately but placed a soft k!sson her n£¢k which s£nt shivers of excitement down her spine before he moved away. Kathleen looked down at the n£¢klace and smiled when she noticed that it was a gold n£¢klace with a heart-shaped pendant. At the center of the heart was a diamond which was shaped like a person with hands raised and holding both p@rts of the heart.
She didn’t nee-d to ask him to know what it meant. The diamond figurine repres£nted God, who was holding them together as the center of their relationsh!p, “Do you like it?” Pete asked, coming to stand in front of her so he could look at her.
“I love it. Thank you,” Kathleen said with a wi-de smile as she took a step forward and gave him a light k!sson hisl-ips.
Pete pu-ll-ed her back when she started pu-lling away, and with one hand around her w@!st, and the other on her n£¢k, he k!$$£d her slowly like he had no hurry in the world, and pu-ll-ed back when Kathleen’s arms went around his w@!st. He rested her head on his che-st and just held her to himself as they stood there in silence.
“Ahem!” Sharon cleared her throat to get their attention, and Kathleen quic-kly let go of Pete and tried to break the hvg, but Pete held her in place as he looked at Sharon.
“Sorry to interrupt, but Kathleen, Chuka is here,” Sharon said ma-king Kathleen frown in confusion.
Sharon flashed Pete an apologetic smile as she walked into the kitchen so that she could explain to Kathleen quietly, “Well, I told him you wanted me to invite him to your p@rty since he pla-yed a role in your relationsh!p. So he is here now. Sorry,” she added with an embarras-sed smile.
“Even though I didn’t ask you to do that, I’m glad he is here. I should go and say hello to my guest… You should meet him too,” Kathleen added, knowing how much Pete didn’t like seeing her with Chuka.
“Yes, I should. We will join you shortly,” Pete said to Sharon, politely asking her to excuse them.
“Alright, you can continue with what you were doing,” Sharon said, flashing them a bright smile before hurrying out.
“Sharon likes Chuka?” Pete asked curiously.
“Something like that. Why?”
“Nothing. I just thought she had something going on with Chidi. Nevermind. Let’s go and see your friend,” he said as he took her hand and led the way out of the kitchen.
“Chuka,” Kathleen called with a smile as they approached where Chuka was seated with Sharon.
Chuka had a big smile on his face as he stood up to greet them, “Happy birthday, and Congratulations to the both of you,” Chuka said as he handed her a bottle of wine, “Sorry, I didn’t know what to get when I was coming,” he said as she took the bottle from him.
“This is very fine, thank you. Meet my younger sister Isioma,” Kathleen said, waving Isioma over so that she could greet Chuka. And then went on to introduce him to every other person in the living room one after the other.
Chidi sat at one end of the room observing Sharon and how her eyes kept following every one of Chuka’s moves. He to-re his gaze away when he noticed Pete watching him.
“That reminds me, you never got to tell me how you know Kimberly,” Kathleen said as she, Pete, Chuka, and Sharon moved to the dining table to sit.
“Did I tell you Kimberly knows him?” Kathleen asked Pete who turned to look at Chuka.
“No, you didn’t,” Pete said, wondering if Chuka had also been one of Kimberly’s lovers.
“I’m her husband’s best friend. What about you?” Chuka asked since he had forgotten to do the same.
“You’re Eric’s friend?” Ken who had been on his way to the refrigerator to get a bottle of water, asked as he st©pped by the table.
“You know Eric?” Chuka asked Ken, with equal interest.
“Yes. You’re his best friend?” Pete asked like he hadn’t heard Chuka correctly the first time.
“Yes. We both went to the same University together and even stayed in the same room,” Chuka explained with a proud smile.
“Wow! It’s really a small world. We all met at the club some time ago,” Kathleen told Chuka, glad that Pete was at least having a conversation with Chuka now.
“Oh! Wait! How did I miss that? You are the one who defended Kim at the club, right?” Chuka asked, now un-derstanding why Eric had made that statement earlier when he was rushing off.
“Yes, she’s the one,” Ella responded as she joined them at the table. The only adult who wasn’t around Chuka ap@rt from Isioma who was watching the television with Amanda was Chidi who was pretending to be busy with his phone.
Pete looked from Chuka to Kathleen, and wondered if Kathleen alre-ady knew about the real identity of Kimberly’s husband, “How are Eric and Kimberly? I should invite them,” Pete said thoughtfully.
“They’re in Abuja at the moment, so I doubt they can make it here,” Chuka explained.
“Abuja?” Pete asked curiously.
Chuka nodded “Yes. They went to visit Eric’s parents.”
“His biological parents? Does that mean he has told Kimberly the truth now?” Ken asked before Pete could shut him up.
“He told you about that?” Chuka asked in surprise.
“About what?” Kathleen and Ella asked in confusion.
“Yes. His aunt is like my godmother so I recognized him when we met at the club,” Ken explained ma-king Ella hit his arm in annoyance.
“Didn’t you say you couldn’t remember where you met him?” Ella asked, glaring at him.
“Sorry. He didn’t want anyone else to know so we promised to keep his secret, right?” He asked, turning to look at Pete for support.
“Right.”
“What truth?” Kathleen asked, not wanting to be distracted from the subject.
“Yes, he confessed to her after Kimberly saw my picture on Kathleen’s WhatsApp status. Remember the name on the car do¢v-ments I showed you that day? Tunde Eric Obasan?” Chuka asked Kathleen who nodded quic-kly as the whole thing dawned on her.
“That person is Kimberly’s husband?” She asked in disbelief, and Chuka nodded, “Wow!”
“Tunde Eric Obasan? Son of Chief Obasan?” Ella asked, forgetting her annoyance at Ken as she lowered herself on one of the empty seats.
“Yes,” Ken nodded.
“Ah! So you’re telling me that that guy at the club who beat up those guys is the son of Chief Obasan? And he is really in love with her o! Wow! I have to admit that God loves Kimberly!” Ella said in awe.
Kathleen had a big smile on her face as she nodded in agreement and tears of joy gathered in her eyes. Although she had guessed that Eric loved Kimberly right from that night at the club, but knowing now that Eric wasn’t just a nob©dy made the whole thing even more beautiful. If he was a nob©dy people would easily have said he loved her and was with her for her money. But with someone like him being beside her, no one would doubt that he loved her. This was a physical manifestation of R0m-ns 9:15. “For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compas-sion on whom I will have compas-sion.”
After that, they all discussed other random subjects and drank until it was time for them to leave, “Do you mind giving me a lift?” Sharon asked Chuka with a small smile as they all walked outside.
Isioma turned to look at Chidi, “Go and offer her a lift,” She suggested, knowing that Chidi liked Sharon.
“Sure. Let’s go,” Chuka said with his usual charming smile.
“If she wanted me to, she would have asked me,” Chidi said with a sigh as he stood up and headed for his be-droom without looking back. Sharon hurried to Kathleen’s house to pick up her bag, and soon Pete and Kathleen were waving at them as Sharon and Chuka drove off.
“So let me ask you, who is cleaning this house?” Kathleen asked as she turned to look at Pete with an expression that told him she was dre-ading the work ahead.
“Certainly not you. I’ve called a cleaning company to s£nd people over to clean the house,” he as-sured Kathleen who heaved a sigh of relief as they returned inside the house.
“So when are you getting married?” Amanda asked, turning away from the television to look at them with an expectant smile. Pete looked at Kathleen too, waiting for her to answer since it was all dependent on her.
“Next year.”
“Next year?” Pete and Amanda asked in unison.
“Yes. We have to go for marriage counseling clas-ses, and we both nee-d to meet our family members. So before this time next year, we should be married by God’s grace,” Kathleen said with a wi-de smile as she sat on the couch.
“Does that mean I will have to wait until next year to have a baby sister too?” Amanda asked, ma-king Isioma giggle quietly at the surprise and embarras-sment on her sister’s face.
“I guess you will have to wait unless Kat is willing to give you a baby sister before…” Pete st©pped and broke into a peak of laughter with Isioma and Amanda when Kathleen threw a small cushion at him.
“Are you sure you still want her as your mom? I think she is violent and might be physically abusive,” Ken told Amanda amidst his laughter as he caught the two cushions Kathleen flung at him.
“Yes I want her,” Amanda as-sured her father as she stood up from where she was and went to sit beside Kathleen as she held her.
“I guess there is nothing I can do about it then,” Pete said with a grin. Knowing Kathleen’s mother, he knew they were going to get married within the next six months, so he was just going to let her say whatever she liked for the time being.
.
.
R0m-ns 9:15. “For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compas-sion on whom I will have compas-sion.”
WATCHOUT FOR EPISODE 22