EPISODE 7
Damilola and his wife Tania
looked at each other awkwardly.
Tania wondered if Dayo was
Gberan’s love child. She thought
herself the better woman
because, even though she did not give her husband any children, at
the least, he didn’t have a love
child outside, or did he? She
peered into her husband’s face
and the latter understood why
she was looking at him that closely. He shook his head in a
negative reply. He however,
wished that he had a love child
somewhere, waiting for him to
discover, but that was impossible.
The only woman who had conceived for him died with the
pregnancy because, he was not
there to take responsibility. Tania: “Darling, we got to leave
now, this family need their
privacy to sort out their issues.”
She quipped, breaking into her
husband’s thoughts, and then
she turned to Bella, her friend and said, “Bella dear, I am sorry about
all you have been going through,
thought this was beyond Gberan.
I don’t know what I would have
done if Dami had a love child” She
expected any reaction from Bella, but what she didn’t expect was
for her grin to get wider, like she
was smiling to an inside joke that
only her knew. “We will see what you will do
about this. In fact Tania, I am
counting on what you would do”
She thought and the laughter
bubbled in her throat. Tania
wanted to laugh at her, but she didn’t know that the joke was on
her. Gberan saw the visiting
couple off, but Bella remained in
place, the wheels of her brain
were already turning, and her
plan was becoming solid in her mind’s eye, like molten magma. Immediately Gberan came back
from seeing the couple off, he
turned on his wife, with angry
eyes. Gberan: “What the heck is wrong
with you, why are you being so
cold and aloof?” He barked, he
had long lost his patience with his
wife. She was neither a good wife
nor a good mother. Bella: “Oh did you want me to
cry?” she guffawed and flipped
him off. As she turned to leave,
Gberan grabbed her by the arm
and flung her back to face him.
Bella stared at him wide eyed, something told her that this
Gberan was not taking any of her
antics, but she ignored the voice
of reasoning. Gberan: “What is going on with
your son, why is he acting like a
damn girl!?” he asked Bella: “Now he is my son? If only
you had given him all the
attention you give to Dayo, who is
someone else’s child, Ken would
be better” she mouthed off. Gberan: “What have you done to
help him as his mother. I go out
every day so that you can have
the life you have today and be
able to compete with your friend
Tania, the simplest you could have done is take care of Ken. He
misbehaved in the presence of
strangers and you were not
bothered. You are not the Bella I
married” he spat and turned to
leave, but he was stopped cold by the words he heard next. Bella: “You are not even the man I
wanted to marry. How is that for
regrets?” she sneered. Gberan
turned and stared at her
unbelievably, but she stared
back, and even went further, “Damilola was the man I wanted,
but he chose Tania, obviously
because of Tania’s family’s
connections. So, don’t get ahead
of yourself” She was not done
talking, when Gberan struck her across the face, so fast that it was
like lightening. Bella: “Gberan, you slapped me”
she quipped, stunned that her
husband slapped her. Gberan: “I will slap you even
more, if you do not shut that pit
you call a mouth. I have taken so
much from you, even to the
annoyance of my mother, but it
has gotten up to the neck and I am done tolerating you. You got
to put your acts together, or
else…” he didn’t complete the
sentence but he pointed at her
threateningly, before walking
away. A single tear trickled down her
eye, she had prided herself on
having the most dutiful and
doting husband who never
raised his hands on her no matter
how badly she behaved, but because of Dayo, he had done it. Bella: “Gberan, you slapped me, I
will hurt you where you will feel
the sting, and you won’t even
know I did it” She soliloquized,
not knowing that Dayo had
witnessed everything. The little boy went to his room
and began to pray for his foster
dad, Gberan, and himself. Dayo: “Dear God in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. Please
God protect my father, Gberan,
from the villain lady, also protect
me and keep me from all those
who want to punish me for no reason” he said, before he went
to bed. Dayo had a reprieve when
Gberan announced the next day
that he was on his annual leave,
and would be spending it with his
family. He cooked delicious meals
for them in the kitchen, while Dayo helped out. Dayo was the
son Gberan wished for, the boy
was inquisitive, and wanted to
learn new things. Dayo: “What do they call this
soup, it smells great and it is not
Yoruba soup. Ours is only efo this,
efo that” he said with a smirk.
Gberan pushed him away
playfully and smiled. Dayo had a good sense of humor along with
his smartness, and Gberan was
convinced that the child was
armed with what he needed to be
successful in life. Gberan: “Perhaps you want to be
Deltan abi, since you like their
soup so much. This is banga
soup” he said. Dayo: “Guess I can make it when
you resume back to work” he
said stirring the broth on the
burner. Gberan: “Why would you do that,
your mummy Bella will cook it for
you” he said Dayo: “Hmmn” he hummed and
fell silent, but Gberan knew
instantly that something was
wrong. Gberan: “Dayo, what is wrong,
speak up now and don’t you lie
to me” he said in a strict voice. Dayo: “Well, it is no big deal that I
cook all the meals around here”
he said in a small voice. Gberan: “What!” he exclaimed
and dropped the bowl of mixed
meat that was about to go into
the pot of soup. He grabbed Dayo
by the hand and marched out of
the kitchen, yelling his wife’s name all to the way to the living
quarters. Gberan: “Bella!” he yelled. His son,
Ken, came out of his room and
glared at Dayo who was being led
by the hand. “Mother, whatever you want to
do, you got to do it quick, or else
Dayo is going to make father
angry with you too” He thought,
but he frowned when his father
passed him without even acknowledging him. Bella had travelled to Oshogbo to
find out all she could, she didn’t
want to find out later she was
wrong. She wanted to make sure
that her gun was smoking. She
stayed in a motel where she had been told that the manager knew
everything that happened in the
town. She knew that if she
wanted to get information, that
was the right place to go. Damilola went home and
pondered his situation, no matter
how much they tried to have
children, Tania still didn’t
conceive, and he could not help
but think it was his fault. He remembered Khadijat of his
youth, his mother had told him
that she died in an accident, while
running away from her father,
who wanted to kill her because
she brought shame to the family, a shame that he was responsible
for. He could not help but think
that Khadijat’s spirit had cursed
him in her time of suffering, and
that was the reason they couldn’t
have children. Seeing Dayo had brought back
memories he had tried to bury
because, Dayo had the same
mocha skin complexion like
Khadijat. His eyes too was without
guile as a child’s eyes ought to be, but Khadijat had those same eyes
because, she was the most
innocent girl he ever met, she
trusted easily and doubted no
one. “And that was the reason you
used me and left me high and
dry” He thought he heard a voice
whisper it in the air, but when he
looked around the garden where
he was standing and having a smoke, there was no one. He felt
goose bumps on his skin. He
laughed at his fortune, while he
had no child, others were having
even illegitimate children, and yet
he was hearing Khadijat’s voice in his head. What was it about the
boy Dayo that resurrected buried
memories, he wondered.
.
.
.
.
Will Bella find any
information in Oshogbo, and if
she does, what will she do with it.
Will Damilola ever find his way to
his son, or would it be a little too
late?
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