season 2
15/16
THE PACT
Me, you, her and him
-CHAPTER 15-
A month later,
23:00, I am sitting on the couch, trying ha-rd not to fall asleep, I am waiting for Lee. He left in the morning for work and he is not yet back. I called his secretary, she said he left work at 17. I am worried sick about him because his phone is currently unreachable. I don’t know if he is okay or if something bad has happened to him. There’s a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that something is not right somewhere. I am about to dial his number for the umpteenth time when a loud knock at the door startles me, I quic-kly rise to my feet, rush towards the door and open it.
‘’Babe! Where have you been? I have been worried about you.’’
He eyes me from head to toe before pushing me aside, confused I close the door and follow him.
‘’Where have you been?’’ I ask once in the be-droom.
‘’And how is that any of your business?’’ He snaps. His breath reeks of alcohol.
I sh0t him a quizzical look, ‘’Babe! You have been drinking?’’
‘’What I do is none of your business, leave me alone Kristian!’’
For a moment, I stare at him wondering what is happening, Lee doesn’t go out to drink and he has never talked to me like this. Our marriage has been amazing the last couple of weeks, so where is this coming from?
‘’Lee, what is going on with you? Are you okay? Did anything happen at work?’’
‘’You are ma-king noise with your questions, can you leave me alone,’’ he responds. He seems irritated.
Defeated, I quietly watch as he undresses, wra-ps a towel around himself and heads to the bathroom.
What is going on? Why is Lee suddenly behaving like this? A number of questions run throu-gh my mind as I pick his clothes and place them in the laundry basket. After that I sit on the be-d and wait for him, he comes out of the bathroom a few minutes later with a towel wra-pped around him. We stare at each other for a minute then he looks away and walks to the closet.
‘’Food is re-ady,’’ I say when he is fully dressed in his pajamas.
‘’I am not hungry.’’
‘’Are you upset with me or something?’’
‘’Can’t you keep quiet for once? Must everything be about you?’’
‘’I am sorry,’’ I respond feeling confused, I don’t know where this attitude is coming from.
‘’I want to sleep and I don’t want any noise,’’ he clim-bs on the be-d and slides un-der the blankets.
‘’Okay,’’I rush to the bathroom, I feel an ache in my heart and I am so emotionally flayed that I will bur-st into tears if I continue staring at Lee. Maybe I am just exaggerating or maybe it’s the hormonal swing pla-ying havoc with my emotions. I am three weeks pregnant with my second child, we found out last week and Lee was excited about the possibility of having a girl. Composing myself, I wash my face with cool water and head back into the be-droom then I change into my nightdress and get un-der the covers beside him.
‘’I am sorry If I upset you,’’ I say but he doesn’t respond nor does he turn around.
I reach out for him and try to wra-p my hands around him but he pushes me back.
‘’Allow me to rest plea-se,’’ he says coldly.
‘’Fine!’’ I get out of be-d, gr-ab my phone and pillow then I walk out of the room and head Caleb’s. Caleb is fast asleep, he sle-pt early today, he had a busy day at school they had sports. I climb onto the be-d and lie next to him, pu-lling him next to me.
When I wake up the next morning, I prepare breakfast, take a bath and prepare Caleb for school.
Caleb and I are having breakfast when Lee walks into the kitchen, he is dressed up for work.
‘’Daddy!’’
‘’Good morning!’’ I say.
‘’I won’t be home for supper tonight,’’ he says, ignoring my greeting.
‘’Why?’’
‘’I am not in the mood to entertain any of your questions, I have a meeting.’’
‘’Can you at least drop Caleb off on your work for work?’’
‘’That won’t be possible.’’
‘’But I want you to drop me off daddy,’’ Caleb says.
‘’You don’t always get what you want child.’’
I take a de-ep breath and let it out slowly, ‘’I will drive you to school Wandi.’’
‘’That’s even better,’’ those are the last words he says before walking out.
‘’Is daddy upset with me? Have I been a bad boy?’’ Caleb asks.
‘’No child, you are very good boy, daddy is just not feeling well.’’
‘’Okay.’’
‘’Eat up so I can drive you to school, when I pick you up later, we can get gr-ab some pizza.’’
‘’Yes!’’
We finally finish eating and leave the house, when I drop off Caleb I drive straight to the office. I don’t feel too fine today but I want to keep myself busy with work so I don’t think about the tension with Lee. I hope things get better by the time he gets back from work this evening, I don’t enjoy this side of Lee. I love it when we are on good terms.
*
The rest of the morning at work, my team and I spend time going throu-gh the pres£ntations for the meeting we are having with some clients on Friday. As their team leader, I run everything throu-gh the slides and we decide what to keep and what to delete. We also make alterations that nee-d to be made to the slides that we have decided to keep.
The meeting takes about four hours and by the time we conclude everyone is happy with the final product.
‘’Thank you team, we meet on Friday,’’ I say leaving the boardroom.
When I get back into my office I check my phone hoping to find some messages or missed calls from Lee but there’s none. Now I am worried because Lee is always checking up on me, what in God’s name is going on with him? I try to call his number but he doesn’t pick up. When I try for the third time, his phone is off.
‘’Something is wrong somewhere!’’ I mumble un-der my breath.
THE PACT
Me, you, her and him
-CHAPTER 16-
‘’How did you allow this to happen Kenzie?’’ My father asks. ‘’You are editor in Chief of the newspaper and you have a final say over what runs and what doesn’t, your duty is to make sure all stories are credible and truthful.’’
He is staring at me with a serious and angry expression, we have messed up pretty badly.
We are sitting in my office alongside the editor of the newspaper and the editorial team
The minister of finance has just sued us over a story that ran in yesterday’s edition of Msizi daily mail. The story is defamatory in nature as it accuses the minister of defiling and murdering his niece who was recently found buried in a pit.
‘’I am sorry daddy, I thought Prudence got the story from a credible source.’’
Prudence is the journalist who wrote the story, I was actually too busy to counter check her source of information hence I allowed the story to run without verifying it. The newspaper hasn’t really been selling much ever since Kristian left, I nee-ded something to boost our sales. I felt that story would help do that and it actually did, we sold almost all our copies for that p@rticular day.
‘’You are sorry? Do you know what this lawsuit will do to the image of the newspaper?’’ he yells.
‘’You nee-d to calm down daddy, yelling will not help the situation.’’
‘’How do you expect me to calm down? Kristian and I ran this newspaper for years and not even once did we face these kinds of problems. Kristian always verified the source of these stories, she always made sure we ran accurate and truthful information, this is how we managed to make a name for ourselves, I trusted you would continue from where we ended.’’
‘’Kristian this, Kristian that? You should have made her Editor in Chief if you felt she could run this place better than me.’’
‘Don’t you dare raise your voice at me Kenzie, I am your father and I will not allow you to–.’’
‘’You will not allow me to do what? Kristian always speaks back at you and you never do anything to her.’’
‘’This isn’t about Kristian, accept you made a mistake.’’
‘’Fine! I made a mistake, so?’’
‘’What has gotten into you?’’
‘’Nothing, I am just tired of always competing with Kristian.’’
‘’Who says you are competing?’’
‘’You made me take over from you only because mum threatened to leave you, if this were up to you, you would have chos£n Kristian, she has always been your perfect child- smart and intelligent, no one can match up to her.’’
‘’What in God’s name are you talking about? I love you Kenzie and I have always been there for you.’’
‘’You have always been physically there for me but your heart has always been with Kristian.’’
‘’You are talking nons-en-se.’’
‘’I bet you are happy that this has happened. I have failed you dad I have failed you!’’
‘’This is not the time for us to exchange words, we nee-d to find a way out of this situation,’’ the editor says.
‘’You are a trained journalist, couldn’t you have advised Kenzie on this story?’’
She looks at me and clears her throat, ‘’I am sure you know how stubborn your daughter is. At this point the blame game will not help anyone, let’s call the lawyers and they will advise accordingly.’’
‘’Okay, plea-se do that, this meeting is adjourned, I nee-d a few minutes to just process all this.’’
‘’Okay,’’ they all leave the office and when it’s just my father and I, he gives me a disappointed look.
‘’I know I have messed up, I alre-ady feel like trash you don’t have to remind me.’’
‘’Leave me alone plea-se.’’
‘’Your wish is my command,’’ I gr-ab my phone and walk out.
*
‘’Kristian! Are you okay?’’ Daddy P asks, I have just walked into his office for a meeting.
To be honest I don’t feel fine, my stomach feels so empty I threw up everything I swallowed at lunch and I currently feel lightheaded and nauseated. My mind is also de-eply disturbe-d because I haven’t been able to get throu-gh to Lee since morning.
Trying to steady my nerves I take in a de-ep breath, ‘’I am okay daddy P,’’ I say with a f0rç£d smile.
‘’You don’t actually look fine, maybe we can postponed the meeting to a later d@t£.’’
I am about to respond but my stomach churns so fiercely and I know that if I open my mouth to answer I will throw up. I walk out of the room and run down the hallway to the bathroom then I fall to the rug in front of the toilet and throw up twice feeling absolutely awful. Feeling terribly weak and miserable, I rise to my feet and walk out.
‘’I am sorry for that,’’ I apologize to daddy P.
‘’I think you should go home, you don’t look fine.’’
‘’Í feel so dizzy and weak.’’
‘’Maybe we should take you to the hospital,’’ Palesa suggests.
‘’I think I will be okay at home, I just nee-d to rest.’’
‘’Okay, let me tell Chabala to take you home, he can bring your car later,’’ daddy P says.
‘’Thank you.’’
‘’And plea-se visit the hospital if you continue to feel sick. I will call you later to check up on you.’’
‘’Thank you so much.’’
‘’You are welcome child.’’
I walk out of his office to mine, gr-abbing my stuff. I head out to the car park and get into the car then he drives off. On my way home, we get Caleb from school and I get him the pizza that he has been craving for.
When we get home, I ask the maid to change Caleb and s£nd him up to my room. I still don’t feel fine but having my child next to me will make me feel better. In my room I change into my pajamas, get into be-d and turn on the television.
‘’Mummy are you slee-ping alre-ady?’’ Caleb asks, walking into my room.
‘’No, I am waiting up for you so we can have the pizza and watch a movie.’’
‘’Okay.’’
‘’Come! Come and sit next to me.’’
He clim-bs into the be-d and I pu-ll him close to me.
‘’You will be fine mummy, okay.’’
‘’Thank you baby.’’
‘’I love you mummy.’’
‘’And I love you even more my world.’’
*
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