Truth of the heart episode 11 & 12

#Truths_of_the_Heart
11
Lwipa switched off the car stereo as he parked before turning off the ignition. He could not believe his stro-ke of luck. Running into Naomi was the best thing that had ever happened to him in the longest time.
“Welcome home” Wezi smiled at him as she opened the door to receive him.
“Where’s my mother?” He asked ignoring her greeting.
“She went to church earlier in the afternoon.” Wezi took his bag from him and disappeared down the corridor as he sat in front of the tv. She returned with his house shoes moments later. Lwipa kicked off his shoes and waited for his wife to take off his socks. She slid a house shoe onto each of his feet before rising.
“I’m hungry”
“Supper will be re-ady soon.”
Wezi rushed throu-gh the remainder of her cooking. Her husband always scolded her if she delayed him anything. As she set the table, she heard the front door open and shut.
“Mum.”
“Ah my son. Welcome home.” Cathy smiled wi-dely.
“Thank you mum. I have the most exciting news for you.”
“First have you eaten?” She asked him.
“Not yet.”
“Eish, this so called wife of yours cant seem to do anything right. Wezi?”
“Ma?” Wezi c@m£ into the living room and knelt down. “You called mum?”
“All that time my son has been home he still has not eaten?”
“He just arrived.” Wezi started defending herself.
“Excuses. That’s all you’re good for. You’re lucky I’m a strong Christian otherwise I would have allowed my son to take in a second wife.”
Her heart felt like it would bur-st but Wezi kept her cool. It surprised even herself how she managed to keep so cool amidst all the insults she had endured at her in law’s hands. “Food will be re-ady in a minute.” She stood up and went to finish setting up the table.
“Food is re-ady” Wezi said a few minutes later.
Mother and son took their place at the table. Lately she preferred to eat alone in the kitchen. re-ad more of these from unlimited story platform, fresh stories kingdom, house of story room, sweet and nice story room throu-gh ome on+23354 ridicule at the table always disturbe-d her appetite. Plus her mother in law thought it was the best place to voice her displea-sure over her during the evening meal.
“Mum you’ll never guess who met today.” Lwipa said with a mouth full.
“Son, you know I dont like these guessing games.”
“Naomi!”
“Who is that?”
“Mum! The girl I made pregnant back in Kalulushi.”
Cathy covered her mouth to hide her shock. “You lie!”
“I swear!” He took in another mouth full. If there was one thing he appreciated about his wife, it was her ability to cook.
Cathy’s eyes lit up. “And the child?”
“Alive and well.”
Cathy faced the heavens waving her hands up in the air. “My God is faithful, ever merciful. You have shown your light onto my son.” She turned to look at Lwipa. “I told you everything would be ok. That God would deliver you from this shame
“Its because of your prayers and fasting mum.”
“So what child is it?”
“A boy.”
Cathy stood up ululating and singing praises to God. “You see how God works. You see?”
Wezi wiped the tears that fell as she listened on to the conversation. She had desperately tried to fall pregnant, trying everything possible including all concoctions brou-ght to her but to no avail. The doctors she visited all confirmed the same thing, she was perfectly healthy and able to fall pregnant. They advised the same thing, to let it happen when it happened. Lwipa always refused to accompany her to get checked, neither did he agree to be tested claiming there was nothing wrong with him. Today she finally knew why. Not once had he mentioned having impregnated anyone before today.
# ~Truths_of_the_Heart~ ❤️❤️
12
“Good morning Ms.” Mwamba stood at the door of the general manager’s office.
“Ah, Mr Chiti. Come in.” Ms Siapolo smiled as he entered the office. “This is Mr Kalenga.” She introduced the man seated opposite her.
“Come in plea-se.” She motioned for his to sit next to the man.
“Nice to meet you Mr Chiti.” The man extended his hand.
“plea-se call me Mwamba. It’s nice to meet you to.” He turned towards Ms Siapolo. “You called for me?”
“Yes. It’s about the Jerry’s case.” Ms Siapolo explained.
“How did you discover the fraud?” Kalenga asked, notebook in hand.
“On two different occasions he signaled for system overrides on items that we on sale. But after studying their sli-ps, I noticed some reversals made after the fact on items that were not on sale, that is reversals done after all goods have been totalled for the price.”
“Interesting.” Kalenga scribbled notes into his blood. “And how did you see these reversals that others were not able to see?”
“Let’s just say I’m good with numbers.” Mwamba smiled.
“Oh, don’t be so modest. Mwamba here has a master’s degree in finance and administration.” Ms Siapolo explained, surprising Mwamba as well.
“How did you know?” Mwamba asked. He had deliberately taken out some of his qualifications and experience from his CV when he attended the interview at shoprite, not wanting it to disadvantage his chances.
“We met once at a networking c0cktail a few years back. I was surprised to see you working the till when you were transferred from the town outlet. But I said nothing hoping to learn why you would take up such a position and what your motives were.”
Mwamba faced his hands feeling embarras-sed. “I’m sorry for the deception.”
“We’ll discuss that later. First we finish off with Mr Kalenga. So, Lwipa, what’s the way forward?”
“I just nee-d Mwamba to physically show me how he noticed differences in the system then I’ll take it from there.”
“Great. Mwamba, you can take him to the systems room.” Ms Siapolo told him.
Mwamba led Lwipa to the systems room where the servers and computers were kept in which all the data from the tills were processed and sto-red. It took the over an hour to review Jimmy’s data.
“Thank you so much Mwamba for your help.”
“You’re most welcome.” Mwamba scratched the back of his head. “You know Mr Kalenga, you’re reminding me of someone but I’m failing to put a f!nger on who it is. Have we by any chance met before today?”
Lwipa shook his head. “I doubt it, I would have remembered. But after hearing that you met Siapolo at a c0cktail, its possible we could have crossed paths at such an event.”
“Yeah, possibly. Anyway, it’s good to have met you. If you nee-d any more as-sistance, I’m here to help.”
“Thank you.” The two men shook hands before p@rting into different directions.
**************
Naomi sat watching Peter as he did his homework. She was off the entire week having taken some vacation days. Lwipa had become a *constant after they reconnected a few weeks earlier. At first all they did was reminisce on the past they shared, with him casually asking of his son’s well being. Lwipa had gone as far as s£nding* ~Naomi money to get the boy a gift. The past week though he had asked if he be allowed to meet Peter. Naomi had told him she would think about it as she was still hurt from the way he had behaved over her pr~ egnancy. Truth be told, it was Mwamba’s reaction that she feared. He would never allow Lwipa to see Peter, the he had denied. But then, Naomi knew Lwipa would be willing to pay whatever amount to see his son.
“Peter.”
“Yes mum?” He looked up from where he sat.
“How would you feel if I told you there is some important who would like to see you?”
Peter’s eyes lit up. “To see me? Really?”
“Yes. But you cant tell Mwamba.” Naomi put a f!nger onto herl-ips. “Its a secret between us.”
Peter looked at her somewhat confused. “But why cant we tell dad?”
Naomi cli-cked her ton-gue. “Because your real father wants to see you. He’s your blood donors important for you to meet him!”
“I only have have one father.”
“Yes you do and that’s the man who fathered you.” Naomi hissed. “So we’re going to meet with him tomorrow.”
“No thank you.” Peter shook his head getting back to his work. “I’m not coming.”
Naomi laughed. “You dont have a choice.”
“I’m not coming.”
Naomi stood up and gr@bb£d Peter by the shoulders causing him to startle. “Now you listen to me! I sacrificed alot for you. I went throu-gh hell to have you. I brou-ght you into this world, taking care of you and your every nee-d. Now it’s your father’s turn. He nee-ds to pay me for all that I did when he wasnt here. You hear me? And dont you dare tell Mwamba or anyone else about this otherwise I will snack your face ” she let him go as he looked at her in fear. “Do you un-derstand me?”
“Yes mum”
“Good. Now go finish in your be-droom. I want to watch some tv.” Naomi sat back down picking up the remote simultaneously.
Peter run to the be-droom with tears in his eyes. He often wondered why his mother hated him. He wished Mwamba was his biological parent instead of Naomi. Growning up he would hear people made comments about his parentage whenever they met him so early on he had found out his biological father denied him in the wo-mb and his mother left him back to grow her marriage. It was thought it was Mwamba who did not want him but every interaction he had with both of then revealed the exact opposite. He wished he didnt have to go with his mother, but defying her ment suffering the consequences of which he was not willing to endure.
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Tbc