Forbidden Love. Episode 21&22

Forbidden Love

Episode 21 & 22

I slept off while thinking of Anabelle, Daniel and my sister. When I woke up, it was about 2:45pm so I went to the kitchen to prepare lunch. Uncle Sam wasn’t back yet so instead of dishing out his food immediately, I dished out just mine and got back to my room.

After eating and washing my plate, I decided to read since the last time I opened my books was Friday evening. Junior WAEC was coming up and I wouldn’t say I was very prepared but I was ready. I read for about three hours taking little breaks until I got really tired and bored. I was so tempted to call uncle Sam and ask when he would be returning but I just couldn’t. He was probably busy and I didn’t want to disturb so I went out to the street for a stroll.

I walked all the way to the end of the street and turned around to head back home. As I was walking back home, I felt like I was been watched which made me so uncomfortable.

I looked back and saw a car slowly driven behind me. I kept walking like I hadn’t noticed until the car pulled up beside me. I stopped and looked to my right where the car had stopped. I saw that I didn’t know the man who was behind the wheels so I started walking and even picked up my pace when I saw the car still following me. I got confused and really scared as to why I was being followed.

On getting to the gate, I told the gateman to lock the gates as I was being followed by someone that I didn’t know and he obeyed immediately. But as I was heading to the door of the house, I heard a car horn. I thought about the man in the car that I had just seen but I also remembered that uncle Sam wasn’t back yet.

I stood at the front door of the house watching Muhammad, the gateman go out of the gate. At that point, I knew it wasn’t uncle Sam because he easily recognized when it was uncle Sam. I still stood there waiting and watching for what was going to happen next.

Finally, Muhammad came in and opened the gates for the car to come in. My heart began to beat faster when I saw it was the same car that was following me. I thought Muhammad was crazy to have let the man inside until I saw what happened next. The man parked, got down from his car and went over to meet Muhammad who was still closing the gates. Then, Muhammad bowed, greeting him and hailingg him. He kept shouting “oga oga” and I couldn’t understand. Then I heard him say “Long time, oga” and my nerves were calm. I guessed he must be a friend of uncle Sam. They greeted each other and I saw him give some naira notes to Muhammad.

When they were done chatting, I saw him heading to the door. By this time I already locked it and pretended like I hadn’t been watching from the door. He pressed the bell and I immediately left the corner where I had been peeping through the window. I let him press the bell one more time before I went over to open the door. I don’t know why Muhammad didn’t tell him that uncle Sam wasn’t around.

“Good evening sir” I said, when I opened the door.

“Good evening, fine lady.” he replied.

He looked young just like uncle Sam, if not a bit younger. He had a nice outfit on with a breathtaking cologne. I stood there waiting for him to say something.

“Is Sam around?” he asked but before I could reply, he continued.

“My apologies, My name is Femi, I am Sam’s friend.” he said, stretching his hands out for a handshake.

I shook him and replied him with;

“He isn’t around. He went out since morning and isn’t back yet.”

“Oh! Wow! and do you know when he would be back?”

I shook my head and he looked really disappointed.

“I’m sorry.” I said to him, I don’t know why.

“That’s fine. It’s not your fault. I wanted to surprise him as I haven’t seen him in a while but I guess I was in for a surprise instead. Where would Sam go on a Sunday? Crazy man.”

“Would you like to wait?” I offered, since we had been standing at the door for about five minutes.

“Okay, I’ll see if I can wait.” he said and I opened the door wider for him to come in.

As he sat down, I put on the television and dropped the remote beside him and then asked what he would like to drink.

“I’d have five bottles of beer. Ha ha! Just kidding. I’ll just have water, thanks”

I don’t know if he found himself to be funny or charming but that was just annoying, I thought to myself. I went in and out of the kitchen, returning with a bottle of water and a glass cup placed in a serving tray. I set it down on the table and served him the water.

“Thank you, fine lady.” he said and I just faked a smile.

I didn’t even find it flattering. As I was about to head back to the kitchen, he called me and asked to keep him company. I was very nervous and didn’t want to stay but I wanted to be nice to the guest so I sat on the couch opposite him. He looked at me weirdly for a while before he started with his questions. He asked a few random questions before asking who Sam was to me. I told him he was my uncle and he looked very surprised. He hadn’t completed the question asking how old I was when I asked to be excused. I lied that I had left something on the fire. Why didn’t I think of that in the first place? I don’t know why. I was feeling really uncomfortable around him and I needed to leave his sight. Not long after I was sitting on the kitchen stool trying to get hold of myself, I heard him say,”Hello? Hello? Young lady?”. I knew he was calling me as I hadn’t mentioned my name yet so I stood up and went into the sitting room to meet him. He was on his feet and saying he had to leave so I escorted him to the door. But before he left, he asked for my name and I replied “Mesonma.”

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Episode 22

Uncle Sam returned that night around 11:00pm. I had slept off on the couch in the sitting room while waiting for him. So the time I saw him was when I woke up in his arms while I was being carried to my room. I remember sleepily asking why he was late and if he wanted to eat. But he only told me not to worry and just go to bed. He placed me on my bed, covered me with my blanket and kissed my forehead good night before leaving my room. I must have been so tired because It wasn’t up to five minutes when I drifted to dreamland again.

I woke up the next morning to a sharp pain in my lower abdomen. It was that time of the month and I was feeling very moody. My bed sheet was stained and I had to still prepare for school. I managed to stand up even with the pain, change my sheets and got into the shower to prepare for school. I woke up quite early so I took my time because the pain wouldn’t even allow me go any faster. To add to my pain, I had a terrible headache. I wasn’t just myself that morning. I tried to prepare breakfast for I and uncle Sam since he used to leave the house at the same time I did. When I was done with the preparation, I tried to eat but I couldn’t eat much. I only forced myself to eat two slices of bread and a boiled egg so I could take some drugs. I was prepared for school but uncle Sam wasn’t out yet so I decided to go check up on him.

I knocked on his door twice and then the third time, he announced to come in. He asked why I was knocking as he had told me I could come in whenever I wanted. That wasn’t the case that morning as I wasn’t even in the mood so I told him I had come to check up on him since he wasn’t out yet. He was still in his pajamas which was surprising so I asked why he wasn’t dressed. He told me that I had forgotten he took two days off work. That was when I remembered he mentioned it to me on Friday night. I wasn’t really sure why he took two days off work because he wasn’t travelling and he didn’t look as tired as he used to be. I told him I was ready to go to school and was about to leave when he said to wait for him while he gets his car keys so he could drop me off. I told him not to worry as I could take a public transport and immediately he squeezed his face.

“I told you not to say that whenever I’m around. Can’t I take you to school?” he said looking pissed.

I apologized, telling him that I didn’t want to disturb him and his frown turned into a smile. He put on a hoody, picked his car keys and we left the room together. When we got to the gate of my school, he held my hands and whispered I love you just before I was about to get down from the car. I smiled at him and said I loved him too before getting down from the car. He couldn’t kiss me like he would if we were alone because we were in public and people could easily sight us from the car. I remembered that I hadn’t told him about his friend that came around the previous day so I told him about the man named Femi as I was standing beside the car. After speaking with him about his friend for a while, I waved him off before heading to the school’s gate to sign in. Immediately I was done signing in, I heard the bell for the morning assembly so I quickly ran to my class which wasn’t very far to drop my bag. After dropping my school bag, I left for the assembly ground with the other students.

Assembly was quite long because there were a lot of announcements especially concerning the jss3 students. The pain I felt in the morning came back. I hated when I was on my period because no amount of drugs ever made the pain go away permanently. I endured the pain until we were done with the assembly. That day felt really slow and I could not wait to go back home. I was tired and frustrated with all my classes. We had extra hours for all our subjects so it was pretty intense due to the coming up junior WAEC. Later in the evening, we closed two hours after all the other students had closed. I ran out of school to catch a bus home. It was already 5:00pm and I couldn’t wait to see uncle Sam and spend the rest of the day with him.

When I got home, I came in through the gate and saw that two of his cars were still parked in the compound so I knew he would be around. I actually expected him to have come to pick me up but it wasn’t a problem. Sometimes I preferred taking the public transport anyway, especially when I was moody. I got in and smelt the most amazing aroma ever. Uncle Sam must have decided to surprise me, I thought. A smile broke on my face as I walked into the sitting room. It soon turned into confusion as I sighted a fancy handbag laying on the couch that definitely didn’t belong to me. Then I saw the rest of the belongings that belonged to the stranger that I was yet to meet. I heard voices in the kitchen as I walked into the sitting room, one that definitely belonged to uncle Sam and a woman. I decided to drop my things first before heading to the kitchen. So as I dropped my bags, took off my shoes, I went straight to the kitchen.

To my greatest surprise, I saw uncle Sam wrapped around the arms of another lady who were both resting by the kitchen sink. Nothing but anger rushed through my veins by the sight. I couldn’t believe my eyes. They were not only wrapped in each other’s arms but were also kissing and laughing. As angry as I was, I spoke up since they hadn’t noticed my presence. “Good afternoon,” I said. That was when they both looked up and saw me standing beside the door. There were food items, both cooked and uncooked all around the kitchen.

“Good afternoon Meso! You’re back from school.” Uncle Sam said.

I could see a lot of expressions on his face. The kind filled with guilt and confusion.

“Meso, this is Jennifer. Jennifer this is Meso, my niece.”

He said introducing us to each other. The lady stretched out her hands towards me for a handshake and as confused and angry I was, I shook her hand. Immediately, she smiled and said;

“Your uncle’s fiancé. Nice to meet you dear”

I wasn’t sure I heard right when she said fiancé. I faked a smile and glanced at uncle Sam who had also been looking at me. He must have known what was running through my mind.

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