Episode 16

I opened the plate in front of me and smiled at what he made, it smelt wonderful. Noodles coated with fried eggs and vegetables. I looked over at him before I picked the fork to taste this special food from the best chef of this century.

"I made it with a heart full of love for you, just a plate of love coated with kisses and flowers, I made sure I sprinkled love portions on it...an overdose of it" 

He covered my left hand which I had placed on the table with his, "Chris" his name rushed out of my lips in a whisper, it opened up my wounds and I dropped the fork and lay my head on the dining table as my eyes clouded with tears.

"Please, Jenny, don't go... have a taste of my food. If you accept to stay with me, I won't survive if you leave me" he said, tightening his hold on my hand.

"Why are you making this hard for me, Chris? You and I know we have been commiting incest, we just have to stop, I have already made up my mind to go back to the village" 

"What will happen to me then? What happens to everything we have shared? It's not my fault that I love you like crazy and I don't even understand myself anymore! All that matters to me each and every day is your happiness and I know you will never be happy if you leave here" 

He rounded the table and came to sit down beside me, he tried lifting my face but I pushed his hands away, "leave me alone" 

"Jen, look at me! Okay, I'm sorry. Please, eat the food" he pleaded.

"I don't want to...you can eat your food all by yourself!" I yelled at him and ran upstairs. I ran into my room and banged the door shut.

"I'm sorry, Jen! I won't say anything again, please, don't be like that!!" He called and banged on my door but I ran into my bathroom and cried myself to sleep.

I woke up famished, I undressed sadly and reluctantly out of my gown, I removed the diamond and threw it into my closet. I have gone out with Chris, haven't I? Stupid girl like me!

I took a quick bath, changed into shorts and t-shirt and went downstairs. I knew Aunt and Lisa must've been back because I heard voices outside.

"Jennifer! Are you okay?!" My aunt asked immediately when she saw me, she was setting lunch on the dining table. I looked at the wall clock and noticed that it's three minutes past one.

Who knows how many hours I spent in the bathroom sleeping and weeping my soul out. Only God knows how swollen my eyes look as a result of it.

"I'm fine, Aunt. I think I have headache, that's all" I lied quickly to cover up for my sore look and took the plates she's holding away from her, "let me help you"

She touched my forehead and nodded, "you are running temperature, we could have gone to the hospital together if I knew" she said worriedly.

"Don't worry Aunt, I'm alright. Paracetamol will do the job" I forced a smile. "How was your visit to the hospital? Hope it went well?" I inquired.

"Yeah, she has no complications and the doctor gave us his word that she's strong and healthy" She replied and released a breath of relief.

"Thank God" I sat down "where's my Nancy?" I asked after the madam of the house, that oversabi girl.

"She dozed off in the car on our way back home, so I put her to bed, she needs to rest" 

"But, today is Monday, she didn't go to school?"

"Public holidays, are you in this country at all?" She smiled for the first time since Lisa came into this house yesterday.

"Oh! I guess I'm not" I laughed.

Lisa joined us too, she wore a flowing gown and spectacles, it seems eyeglasses are made specially for rich people, or am I just ignorant of its importance?

"Hi, Jenny" she sat beside me and smiled up at my aunt, my aunt returned her smile...these two have suddenly become friends, she must have explained things to her too.

"How are you and your baby doing?" 

"We are snatching every good thing including your beauty" she beamed.

"Jennifer, where's Chris?" 

The mention of his name shifted my butt from the dining chair, I had prayed no one would bring him up and now, what!

"I... don't know, Aunt" I drawled and started eating quickly as my stomach continued churning, Lisa's eyes were hot on my cheeks.

A hard knock on the door made me jump, Musa pushed himself into the parlour without waiting for a reply and gasped; "Madam! Security officers don carry small oga!!"

"What?! Chris?" Me, aunt and Lisa chorused as my eyes widened, "what happened?" My aunt questioned more quietly.

"Dem talk say him dey con....sti...ti... something like that ...and public nuisance, I remember that one" he said and scratched his head.

"He's a public nuisance, you mean?" Lisa asked as we all moved outside to see things for ourselves.

"Dem carry am to office" Musa informed us and aunt told us to stay back while she goes to their office by herself to find out what happened but I insisted and followed her.

Lisa stayed back to look after the house, Nancy might wake up anytime...her cries can wake the dead if she doesn't see anyone in the house.

"I am sorry for the inconvenience sir, I promise this will never happen again" Aunt pledged to the security officer as he released Chris to us.

He had stuffed his hands into his pockets and leaned against the wall while watching us pay his bail fee and negotiate with the officers.

"I think you should get to know what is wrong with your son because what he did out there is a sign of depression, he practically vented his anger on someone" the officer on duty said as he wrote down an agreement on a ledger.

"Okay, thank you sir, I will make sure of that...there won't be a repeat of this ever again" my aunt promised and turned to look at him.

His expression is really scaring me, he kept looking into space and the blood stains on his upper arm made me afraid that he must've hurt himself so much.

"Chris, let's go" my aunt tapped him and he simply turned and left the place, he didn't get into his mother's car, he walked straight home

Uncle had already come back before we got home, Chris went into his room without talking to anyone and my uncle gave us a curious look.

"What happened?" He asked standing up to hold his wife who was already wailing over her son's misbehavior. 

I sat down beside Lisa who was looking from me to the couple, Nancy's awake, she was seated beside her father and she looked at her mother in confusion.

I signaled her to come so that I would carry her. She sat down on my lap and placed her head on my chest, she seems unusually calm today.

I held her tight and watched her parents, my aunt and uncle sat down, he held her close and rephrased his question; "What is wrong, honey? What is the problem?"

"Christian... I don't know what is wrong with him, he has been behaving so strange lately and he was caught by security men on guard because he was fighting with some thugs" she explained curtly.

"It's okay, you don't have to be saddened by it, I will go talk to him and find out what his problem is, okay?" He took her inside their room.

"Outrageous!" Lisa breathed. "Did you tell him that you are really leaving?" She asked me in a low pitched voice.

"Yes, see...Lisa, I don't know what else to do to make him understand and see reasons with me, we simply have to face the truth" I replied, fighting back my tears.

"Well... I must say, I'm dumbfounded because I haven't come across such love before, especially between cousins, this seems more like a movie to me and I featured in this very movie" she said downcast.

"I'm tired of all this...it's all my fault from the very beginning, I should've left immediately instead of falling deep into this...whole...mess" 

"You don't have to blame yourself for all that has happened, it's not your fault neither is it Chris's, fate deals with people in different ways and you two are just victims of love" she advised but I shook my head vehemently.

"I could have avoided that fate and now everything that's happening is irreversible and am going crazy thinking about what I could have done which I neglected and the ugly results it's yielding" 

"Jenny, if you too start being in low morale as Chris, don't you think you will not be able to leave as you said and you staying here brings more and more hurt to you two, you really have to stop being moody, okay?" 

"I just don't trust I will ever be alright if I eventually leave and I can't bear watching him hurt while I know It's because of me" 

She smoothened my hair gently, "you will be fine, cheer up and help Chris as well as yourself, don't you think he will feel much better if you are happy?" She encouraged me.

"That's kinda hard but I will try..." I trailed off when I saw my aunt coming into the parlour again.

"Come here, baby" she forced a smile to her face for her daughter as she took her into her arms and headed back into her room.

"You know, I feel bad about all this because it feels as if I'm the one that came in and disrupted the peace in this family" Lisa said sadly when we heard my aunt close their door.

"No, don't think like that, your presence here really opened my eyes to see that we are not following the right path. We were just taking pleasure in doing wrong" I told her honestly.

"I talked with his parents last night" she stopped and looked at me, when I gave her a surprise look, she smiled vigorously and shrugged, "they are wonderful people"

"I can imagine the looks on their faces and what their reaction was like because no one treats such cases as if it doesn't matter" I said in awe, how can they still be nice to her while she had told false stories against their son.

"I thought that maybe they are going to yell at me and send me out of their house, but I was very wrong, they understood and accepted me. This is the first time I'm feeling like I belong in a family" she said smiling.

"But...the last time I checked, you have a family, what do you mean you feel like you belong in a family? I don't get you" I became curious.

"My dear, you won't understand, my advice to you is to always make time; even if little, for your children, that way you will be able to define their behavior and know when they are wrong so you would correct them" she said standing up.

I think I got what she's saying, that's one of the popular anthems of rich kids, it's always an explanation for their carefree and wayward life and it's only a wise child that will deviate from such a lifestyle because it's not reason enough to do bad.

"Sorry for that" I managed and stood up as well. If someone sees the way her mother was ranting on Sunday, the person would think she has personally trained her in the best way a parent should guide their children.

"Why saying sorry" she laughed, "I grew up in the right hand anyways, my nanny gave me a good upbringing and was more than a guardian and parent to me, just that my heart deceived me to loving the wrong guy it seems"