SEE FINISH BY TREASURE EZURUIKE EPISODE 8

SEE FINISH  BY TREASURE EZURUIKE EPISODE 8

(NNENNA’S POV)

Dad asked what kind of trouble? I told him I didn’t know but I believed it was with my in-laws. He said your in-laws? 

You are having problems with your in-laws, and you never told me? I said not now Dad. Dad said I’ll call you back.

He called Dubem’s number and someone answered with a harsh tone. Dad said I want to speak with my son. 

My father-in-law spoke instead and told him to say goodbye to Dubem. Dad asked who is this, please? 

My father-in-law said you don’t even know your in-law. 

You are as arrogant as your daughter, you feel because you’re so wealthy you rule the world. 

Dad said Chief. Uche you kidnapped my son?

Chief Uche said I’ll do more than kidnap him. I’ll ensure you never see him again. 

Dad said if as little as one hair leaves my son’s hair you and your family would disappear and he hung up.

He told me that God loves me and has brought my husband back to me. I stared into space as he spoke because it made no sense to me. Brought my husband back from where I asked. 

He then shocked me by telling me that my husband had been in prison for four years for a crime he did not commit. I almost threw up when I heard the words he has been in prison for four years. 

He called me back and asked me to start from the beginning. I narrated my ordeal and he was so mad at me. 

He said Nnem, how could you hide such a thing from me?” I could hear my mum in the background asking my Dad to calm down. 

I told him I just wanted to save my marriage. Mum responded by asking me what kind of useless marriage is that? Dad had put his phone on speaker.

Dad asked how I could let myself be beaten just three months into my marriage. 

I didn’t want the bashing to continue so I told them I was sorry, I didn’t want to involve a third party.

Dad said we are your parents, not a third party. You know I don’t interfere in anyone’s marriage but I won’t be alive and watch my daughter disrespected because of marriage. 

I didn’t sell you. How much did your husband pay before he married you? he barked. I pleaded with him, he said don’t plead with me, Dubem is in trouble because of you. 

I told him I was sorry, he said children these days solve every problem by themselves. 

I don’t blame you, I blame all those motivational speakers who call themselves marriage counselors.

Young couples should be informed that there are situations that warrant third parties like violence. You didn’t land from the sky. 

I’ll take back my daughter even if she’s pregnant or has children. I’ll welcome her alive and not dead in a box.

Mum said sweetheart, are you pregnant? I couldn’t lie, I just said yes. My father asked how far along I was. 

I told him 8 weeks and I just found out that morning with Dubem. 

Dad asked but why did you go to Dubem and not us? He is just a surgeon and not a security operative.

I said, Dad, I went to the place I felt safest without judgment. Dad said so we’ll judge you? 

Mum told my father they were wasting time in finding Dubem. Mum was a judge, and my father was a senior army officer. 

I knew both of them won’t take it lightly if I went to them. Dad said to my mum I’ll find Dubem soon, he has a tracking device on him. I couldn’t leave any of my children to chance because of my job.

He ended the call and I wondered what would happen next. I don’t know what happened but Dubem was back home in a few hours. He had been beaten. 

I cried when I saw him. He told me to stop. He was escorted home by some masked armed men. I knew they must work for Dad.

Ikenna called me not long after that. He was furious, asking why my father would arrest his father. I hung up on him because I wasn’t ready for such negativity. 

I passed out not long after that. I woke up in the hospital. I couldn’t remember how I got there.

Dad, mum, and Dubem were standing over me. Dad was staring at me. I could imagine his eyes gunning me down. 

He finally spoke and said just look at you. You’ve lost so much weight yet you didn’t think you should let us in on your predicament. Mum said nothing.

Dubem said not now Dad she doesn’t need this. Dad said to Dubem, advocate I can hear you loud and clear. 

I just want you all to know I’m going to arrest all Chief Uche’s family members. I almost jumped out of my skin. 

Dubem said Dad, is this necessary? I couldn’t understand why mum was just silent.

Dad said I’m just telling you all out of respect. Dubem and I chorused mum but she walked out instead. 

Dad said you are leaving that marriage. You’re not going back to that house ever again. 

I tried to protest but he didn’t even let me speak. Dubem signaled to me to keep calm. Dad left angrily. Just Dubem was left with me.

(KEISHA’S POV)

When Richard did not see me at work for a few days he tracked me down to my apartment and wanted to know why I had skipped work for those days. I told him that I may be a nobody but I have rights.

The job I did for him I was good at and I had become an expert and I will not stand to be disrespected by anyone, not even his son. 

He wanted to know what his son had done and he was shocked to find out that his son had slapped me along with his girlfriend Sarah. 

He asked me why I did not tell him about it instead of protesting. I told him that he was already upset with me because I had said making his son’s mess disappear was not part of my job description. 

I told him I did not want to work for him again. He said but I don’t understand why you are upset. 

You work for me and anything that concerns me is part of your job description even if it includes doing damage control to my son’s image. 

I was so angry but I controlled my temper and told him that my job description from the very beginning was purely for his organization not to solve someone’s youthful exuberance. 

How can I do damage control for a scandal? I asked him, how can your son with his girlfriend be intimate in the open and someone filmed it? 

His excuse is that no one was supposed to film but did he forget who his father is? 

Someone will definitely see it as an opportunity to cash out and the person did. 

You should teach your son to act responsibly. He is not 12 but he’s in his 20s, he will take over from you someday and he should act accordingly I said. 

Don’t talk about my son like that Richard responded. I like you. I was drawn to you from the first time I met you but I will not allow you to talk in such a demeaning manner about my son. 

Fine, I said I don’t want to work for you anymore because I don’t want to be ordered around. 

Who knows what next I’ll be expected to do, I said. probably one day I’ll be expected to do the laundry for your son and his girlfriend.

Maybe I’ll have to do the dishes too or one day when your son’s girlfriend is not available I may have to sleep with him in her place because I work for you. 

He was dumbfounded and said I didn’t mean it that way. I told him I do not care how and what he meant. 

He apologized to me and said you know what, I don’t want to fight with you, that’s not why I came. 

Our relationship has been strictly professional but I have other ideas. I know you don’t know anything about my life so let me share a little. 

I’ve got four children and my wife is late. I had a jaw-dropping moment because I thought his only child was Michael and I thought he was separated from his wife and had no idea she was late. 

She died 15 years ago and I have not remarried since then. I didn’t want to let another woman come into my life and mistreat my children because they were young when she died. 

Michael is my only son. I’ve got three other daughters. The truth is since I met you I’ve been thinking about proposing marriage to you. 

Those words almost made me jump out of my skin, proposing marriage to who I said to myself. 

He told me he was 55 and I said to myself I am 31, almost turning 32. How can I marry a man who will be 22 years older than me? 

That was just a little too much for me to handle. I had promised myself that the oldest a man will be to marry me will be 5 years. 

Anything other than that was considered too old for me. I do not want to be married to my father. And besides, he had four children, four grown children who are almost my age.

How would I be married to a man and have stepchildren, four of them who are almost my age? Seriously, my answer was definitely no. 

I got out of the shock and told him I was sorry for his loss. I told him I didn’t feel comfortable getting married to him for so many reasons which I was not willing to enumerate. 

He felt bad but told me he will respect my decision. He told me to still come work for him because he enjoyed working with me and had gotten used to working with me. He left my apartment and I couldn’t wrap my head around but you just told me.

He got a private investigator to track down the person that was extorting Michael and to his surprise, it was Michael’s bosom friend who was responsible. 

He was arrested by the police and he mentioned all the other people who are working with him to extort money from Michael. 

Richard was not yet done. He tracked down my family and told my parents that he wanted to marry me.

Since I left home I barely communicated with my parents or my elder brother. I just communicated with my elder sister who had gotten married and had three children.

I was surprised to see my phone ring and it was my father who was calling me. He told me that the man I worked with stopped by our home and made his intentions known to them that he wanted to marry me.

I felt very insulted by that call and what Richard had done. I wanted to lash out at him when my mum began to call me. I answered my mum’s call and she began to ask me why I turned down such a good man. 

I wanted to ignore her but I felt like I had bottled up so much hurt from my past and I just had to let go that day. I asked her what “ good man she was referring to? She mentioned Richard. 

I told her I was not interested because of the age gap between the both of us and the fact that he had four grown children almost my age. I was not ready for such a problem in my life. 

I deserve to marry a man who is in my age range and we can build a life together not a man who was made already and he had all this money. 

He has been married before, he was a widower and he has four grown children with a son who had no regard for me. I did not think I was ready for such a headache in my life.

She asked me what was wrong with him. By the way, your father is older than me by over 20 years and we’ve been living happily together.

I did not know when I went off on my mother and asked her which happily together was she referring to? That master-servant relationship she shared with Dad? I said.

My mum lost her cool and rained curses on me. She said so many unthinkable things to me that day but I did not care because mum knew I was right. 

(KIRA’S POV)

I responded and said how do I know it is Kenny I’m talking to you right now? How do I know it is not someone who kidnapped him who is trying to kidnap me as well. 

He called me by video immediately, I answered and to my shock it was Kenny but he was looking very different and had lost a lot of weight. What happened to you? I asked him. 

He told me it’s a long story. I’m just glad to be alive. I’m just glad to be able to still speak to you again. I thought about you every day, wondering if you had moved on and were in the arms of another man because 4years is not 4 months. 

I was afraid of asking my family about you because I didn’t want to be heartbroken. I lashed out at him and accused him of punishing me. 

I asked him how he could do that to me? After turning me on the way he did. He just left me to fall flat on my face. I have been so lonely. I was sex-starved. He said you think I’m crazy? 

Getting married to you and abandoning you? You think I never longed for you, to kiss you and hug you. To make love to you until I was out of breath?

If I knew what was going to happen that day I wouldn’t have stepped out of the house. I told him I didn’t care. 

Everywhere I went and saw a loving couple I thought about Kenny and me and what could have been. 

I had become so bitter and aggressive to everyone around me that even my family was avoiding me. 

My family was getting ready to approach my in-laws and tell them they were no longer interested in the marriage and then he showed up. 

I told him I no longer trusted him and I didn’t believe him. I asked him what happened to him, that he has lost so much weight and looked so different? 

He broke down in tears and told me I will not understand what he had been through. He told me he was sorry for everything and hoped we would make up for the lost time. He said he would be in touch and ended the call. 

I reached out to his family immediately and told them that Kenny had contacted me. I told my family the same thing. His family told me that he had reached out to them as well. 

We continued to communicate that way for months. For 3 months we just talked. I wondered why you couldn’t come and visit me. He told me he just wasn’t ready to see me in person and it got me even angrier. 

One day I received a call from a family friend who was a doctor. He told me he needed to see me urgently if I could make it. I panicked and asked him if everything was okay. 

He told me everything was fine and he would explain everything to me when I came. He asked me to pack a bag and I wondered why. I packed a bag, got dressed, and headed to his house.

I was so shocked when I walked in and met Kenny sitting on the sofa with my family and his family there. Dr. Ike asked me to take a seat. I sat down just looking at Kenny who couldn’t take his eyes off me as well. 

Kenny went to his knees immediately as I stepped inside the building rubbing his two hands together gesturing how sorry he was. Doctor Ike gave his speech about how all things work together for those who love God. 

He told me that God loves me and has brought my husband back to me. I stared into space as he spoke because it made no sense to me. Brought my husband back from where? I asked. 

He then shocked me by telling me that my husband had been in prison for four years for a crime he did not commit. I almost threw up when I heard the words he had been in prison for four years. 

To be continued

© Treasure Ezuruike.

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