CHAPTER THREE

EARLIER THAT DAY..

“What’s wrong baby?” Diana comes to him after class. “I noticed you have been distant for a couple of weeks now, is everything okay at home, is it your dad?” She slides next to him as the class empties out

“Isn’t it always about him, what else should be wrong?” he says hitting the table with his fists

She grabs his hand and puts it in hers “it would be okay soon”

“You know that is what I used to tell myself , that one day He was going to stop treating my mother the way he treats her, that he would stop beating her, stop humiliating her infront of those small girls old enough to be his daughters that he brings home to sleep with. That one day he would give her something to do maybe a shop so that she doesn’t have to come begging him for money, that someday he would love me and treat me as a son, the way a father should, that one day, all this would stop…but you see I have been praying that since I was ten Dee, ten years old , right from the moment, the first day I saw him slap her to the ground, right from the first day I heard him lie to her he didn’t have money but I saw him sending the driver to give two bundles of 100k to his girlfriend, right from the first day he told me he didn’t have money to pay my fees but he bought a car for some random chick, right from the first day I realized that my mother had been starving for three days and she had been giving me her food to eat because he didn’t want to give her money for market. See Dee, I have been praying that prayer and even believing in it but it doesn’t change or get better, it became worse…and sometimes I wished the Ibekew’s family was still alive, they would have stopped him. You know while we were there, he was nice, maybe he was pretending knowing all that he could get for his good graces, but as soon as death took them and he got that company…he had become lord of us, treating us as rats, but he forgets that it was because of my mother he was able to get this opportunity and if she was bad or a witch as he calls her she would have reported him when he comes back at night and beats her up when she spills water on him mistakenly or that the food was slightly peppery or when she queries him about the text messages she saw in his phone about enjoying himself within a woman’s thighs and so many things that saying them would only bring pain to me. Look Dee, my father wouldn’t change, he is heartless, wicked and the fact that he has money, wealth and influence he is worse. My mother that stayed with him when he had nothing, helped him when things became good, how does he replay her? By humiliating her, beating her and treating us like crap. No, it wouldn’t get better, the best thing is to pray to God to bless my mother and I somewhat so we can leave his stupid house and survive elsewhere” he says

“So you don’t have uncles or anyone who can talk to him or help”

“My father listens to no one but himself and who wants to caution him? when he slaps them with money, they act like dogs licking up the shit form his shoes, no one can help. I just need to finish school, get a good job and then I can take my mother away” he says

Diana looks at him, she sighs .

When she met him, she had liked him instantly, since year old they had become friends and towards the end of the year when he asked her to date him she had jumped at it. Emeka was beautiful for a guy, he had his mother’s soft headaches and cute smile, he had his father’s height but compared to his father’s hard features, cold eyes when he was angry, Emeka’s eyes were warm, it drew you in, so was his heart. that was what drew her to him at first, then his looks and the way he carried himself. And then, he was a free giver, when he had and when he didn’t, he looked for means to carter for her needs and she liked it. They were in their third year now, and being with him was amazing, he made her laugh, he treated her nice, and he never made her feel anything less than a woman, but then again..like her friends used to say ‘’Na fine boy we go chop?”

She cared for Emeka and enjoyed their time together, but his situation was going from bad to worse, and she had to admit, the other reason she wanted to date him was because she knew whose son he was, the rich Mr Chikurdi, Mr moneybag Ambross Chikurdi, an acute business man, his company was getting to next the best name in the country, two branches in other states in Nigeria, yes, his father was rich.. so she felt, okay! Yes she liked Emeka, she could also benefit from him too. He drove a car to school, and sometimes he treated her to nice places and she was the envy of most girls in school, No, everyone.

But no one knew that this fine handsome boy with the soft eyes and beautiful heart, warm eyes was suffering within, the car was the only thing his father gave him, and that was because he was trying to look good infront of his friends who had gifted their children something, and then that was it. Despite that his father was rich, Emeka works in a fast food restaurant down town, and then on weekends he worked in a mechanic shop, he had a fascination for cars, electronic and made himself useful, and some days he followed his mother to market to sell, and that was how he was able to have a few changes in his pocket to care for his mother and then her.

No one knew this except her, and well, since no one did, she kept it hidden, it would have been embarrassing for her if people knew.

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