5/6
~THE PACT~
Me, you, her and him
-CHAPTER 5-
Unedited
LEE
16:20, I am standing near the school gate, waiting for the bell to ring announcing that clas-ses are over. At 16:30 when the bell rings, children rush out of clas-s and soon the hallway is filled with chatter and a stampede of feet push towards the exit. I search around for a few minutes until I finally see Caleb and wave at him, he runs towards me and I scope him up in my hands.
‘’How was school son?’’ I ask as we walk to the car.
‘’Good,’’ he answers cheerfully.
‘’And what did you learn today?’’ I ask as I put him into his car seat.
‘’I can count up to 20 daddy,’’ he excitedly responds.
‘’Count for daddy.’’
I pause and watch as he counts, ‘’1, 2, 3, 4, 5, until he gets to twenty.
‘’Good boy!’’ I cl@p my hands together, praising him, ‘’what am intelligent boy you are.’’
Getting into the car, I turn on the radio and begin to pl@yCaleb’s favorite rhymes before driving out into the main road. The drive back home is filled with Caleb’s loud voice as he sings along to the songs that are pla-ying on the radio. pu-lling up in front of the house, I step out of the car and unbuckle Caleb out of his seat and I am in the process of supporting him when he gets out of the car and runs for the door. gr-abbing his bag, I rush after him, at the door I get my keys from my wallet and unlock it then we walk in.
Next I change Caleb’s uniform and bath him before preparing him something to eat. While he eats and watches TV, I wash his uniform and polish his shoes. Then I join him in the living room and we start working on his homework.
‘’So you have two f!ngerson one hand and two f!ngerson the other hand, how many f!ngersare showing on the hands altogether?’’ I ask.
‘’That’s four daddy.’’
‘’Great job son,’’ I hold up my hand to give him a high five. Caleb high-fives me and giggles, my son is such a happy child there’s never a dull moment when he is around, I wish I could spend every moment with him.
‘’Now there are five f!ngerson one hand and four f!ngerson the other hand. How many f!ngersare showing in all?’’
‘’Five and four, if I count them all, I will have-,’’ he holds his hands and begins counting, ‘’Nine,’’ he beams up at me. The pride on his face is everything, I lift him up and k!sshis forehead, ‘’you are the smartest boy in the whole world wi-de.’’
‘’Dad can I use the toilet?’’
‘’Yes son.’’
He gets up from the chair and heads towards the stairs to the toilet and while I am waiting for him when the door creaks open and Meira walks in, she has a hvge smile spre-ading across herl-ips but it fades when she sees Caleb across the room towards me.
‘’Hey auntie Meira,’’ He cheerfully greets.
‘’Hey,’’ Meira responds with a frown before heading towards the stairs.
‘’Son, watch some cartoons, I will be back shortly.’’
‘’Okay.’’
I follow Meira into our room and find her changing her clothes.
‘’What now?’’
‘’You didn’t tell me he was coming.’’
‘’Am I supposed to tell you every time my son is coming over?’’
‘’I had plans for us for this evening, I booked a reservation for dinner.’’
‘’That’s not a problem, we can take him with us for dinner.’’
‘’It was supposed to be our d@t£ night, just you and I.’’
‘’Well I am sorry, we can always reschedule, Caleb was being fussy this morning about spending time with me I had to pick him up from school so I could spend some time with him, you know he misses me when I am not there.’’
‘’You are spoiling this child Lee.’’
‘’What do you mean I am spoiling this child?’’
‘’Does it mean we won’t have a life of our own just because you have a son now? Why don’t you make this boy un-derstand that you and his mother are not together and you won’t always come throu-gh when he cries about seeing you?’’
‘’Meira, I don’t like where you are going with this, Caleb is just two, how do you expect a two year old to un-derstand all these things? When you agreed to be with me you knew I had a child on the way what has changed now?’’
‘’I am okay with you having a child.’’
‘’But?’’
‘’We ha-rd ly do things together, It’s always Caleb this, Caleb that, like I am tired.’’
‘’What exactly are you saying? If you are asking me to choose between you and Caleb, I am sure you know it will—.’’
‘’I didn’t ask you to choose,’’ she cuts me off.
‘’What are you saying?’’
‘’Can we create some boundaries here? Like how often you should spend time with Caleb so that he doesn’t disrupt our plans always. I miss spending time with you Lee, just you and I without Kristy and Caleb being mentioned.’’
‘’Maybe the best is for you to move back to your house so you don’t have to always see my son when he is here.’’
‘’You are kicking me out?’’
‘’I am trying to find a way for us to live in peace.’’
‘’And that’s the best you can come up with?’’
‘’Yes, what else do you want me to do? I don’t want you complaining every time you find my son here.’’
‘’You know what, just forget about it, I will find a solution myself.’’
‘’If you say so.’’
‘’I will just cancel the reservation, I guess we can just eat from home.’’
‘’I will cook, what do you want to eat?’’
‘’Anything that you think will make me happy.’’
‘’Okay.’’
‘’Let me finished changing, I will join you in a bit.’’
‘’Sure.’’
THE PACT
Me, you, her and him
-CHAPTER 6-
MEIRA
‘’Daddy! What time is mum coming? I miss her,’’ Caleb says. We are gathered around the dining room table having dinner.
‘’Mummy is coming soon baby boy, eat up,’’ Lee says, in-serting a forkful of spaghetti into his mouth.
‘’Am I slee-ping here? Is mum slee-ping here too?’’
I frown at the br@t, all the while shooting him daggers with my eyes. I have had it with this boy, aside from being in my space, he keeps talking nons-en-se. I know it sounds harsh but I hate Caleb, he makes me so sick to my stomach.
My relationsh!pwith Lee would be perfect if Caleb and his mother ceased to exist. I am more than certain it’s Kristian who influences this boy’s behavior, always calling and whining about how the boy wants to spend time with Lee even when she knows that Lee has a life away from being her child’s father. I am really fed-up of this whole situation.
‘’Can mum and I both sleep here with you?’’ he asks again and this time my heart boils with rage
‘’There’s no space for you and your mother to sleep in this house,’’ I say and the br@t starts crying.
‘’Meira!’’ Lee frowns.
‘’What?’’
‘’How could you say that to him?’’
‘’Opps!’’ I really didn’t mean to say that out loud. ‘’I am sorry,’’ I shrug.
‘’Like I said earlier, if you have an issue with my child being here you are better go back to your house.’’
With that he picks up the child and his plate and heads for the living room.
‘’I am sorry baby boy don’t cry, you and mummy can sleep here whenever you want,’’ I hear Lee say and the boy keeps quiet.
‘’What the fv¢k is that even supposed to mean? Lee is trying so ha-rd to get on my nerves but it won’t work, I know what to do.’’
I finish eating then I clear the table before joining Lee and his child in the living room. Caleb is watching cartoons while Lee is re-ading something to him, we can’t even watch anything else in this house when Caleb is around.
‘’8:00,’’ I mumble un-der my breath, wondering what time Kristy will pick up her child.
Lee and I nee-d some time to ourselves, how are we supposed to make our own child if Caleb is always in our business? I recently went off the pill because I want Lee and me to start trying for a baby though I have not told him about this. Looking at how much Lee loves Caleb and gives Kristian attention I am more than certain things between us will be great if I give him a child.
‘’Daddy I am tired and I miss mummy,’’ Caleb says while yawning.
This child is an attention seeker just like his mother, I swear an apple doesn’t fall far from its tree. Hi kwaku ome on+23354 for more exciting stories.
‘’Come here,’’ Lee gets the boy and places him on his l@p then he starts singing for him. It doesn’t take long before he sleeps.
Lee is about to take the boy to be-d when a knock sounds on the door and I quic-kly stand up. When I open the door, I am not surprised to find Kristian and Dante at the door, ‘’finally,’’ I smile, opening the door wi-de for them.
‘’I was even about to take him to be-d,’’ Lee says.
‘’He is slee-ping alre-ady? He must have been tired.’’
‘’He kept asking about you.’’
‘’That’s Caleb for you, when he is with me he asks about you and when he is here with you it’s vice versa.’’
Lee laughs, ‘’Maybe we should move in together,’’ he says and my anger rises, how can he say that even as a joke.
“Lord hold my mouth before I sin.’’
After Lee hands the baby to Kristian, he heads to the be-droom to get his stuff.
‘’I hope you are doing well Dante and I hope this co-parenting is working well for you,’’ I say.
Kristian shakes her head but doesn’t say anything.
‘’Everything is good,’’ Dante responds.
‘’Great!’’
Lee walks back into the room and hands everything to Dante then we walk them out to their car.
KRISTIAN
‘’Maybe we should move in together,’’ Dante says. We got home a few minutes ago and I just put Caleb to be-d. During the drive to my place I noticed that Dante was unusually quiet but I didn’t bother to ask what was wrong with him and now I know what has been bugging him, the comment that Lee made about us moving in together. I don’t know what Lee said that but I am more than certain it was a joke, Lee pla-ys too much.
I shrug, ‘’he was just joking.’’
‘’Your baby daddy makes such a comment in front of your man and his woman and you have the guts to say he was just joking? Are you seriously telling me you would be okay with that if roles were reversed?’’
‘’Babe I am tired and tonight has been amazing plea-se let’s not spoil it by having an argument.’’
‘’You really nee-d to tell your baby daddy to be mindful of how he jokes when I am around, you are my woman and I don’t appreciate it when he acts like you are still his, that man should move on alre-ady, he has Meira what more does he want?’’
‘’I will deliver that information to him.’’
‘’You think this is a joke right?’’
I laugh, ‘’I love it when you are jealous.’’
‘’It’s not funny.’’
I let out a bark of laughter and walk towards him, putting my hands around him and give him a sideways hvg.
My hand still on his w@!st, he pu-lls me closer, ‘’I love you so much woman,’’ he says leaning in closer. su-cking in a de-ep breath, I try to calm myself. When he presses hisl-ips on mine, I almost want to push him off me but instead I allow him to k!ssme because I don’t want to upset him. We k!ssfor a few minutes before I pu-ll away from him. Dante and I have never had S-x, we don’t even make out as much because I told him I want to wait until we get married, I don’t want having any more children out of wedlock.
‘’I guess that’s my queue to leave.’’
‘’Okay,’’ I hold his hand and walk him out of the house.
‘’I love you,’’ he says before getting into his car.
‘’I love you too.’’
‘’Call me when you get home.’’
‘’Sure.’’
*
Tbc