Strong Emotions - Episode 18

 

        My alarm rang at exactly 2am, I laid sprawled on my bed like a bag of rice and opened my eyes towards the ceiling, my new room Nigeria was ten times better than my room in Nigeria, It has all the luxury that will make you want to live life forever. Electricity was stable,I had a big ,soft ,warm bed , a big refrigerator loaded with food, fruit, juice, and junks in short I felt like I was living in paradise. One thing I was worried about was the dream I had last night, it was so terrifying that all of a sudden I started muttering a prayer . In the dream, I saw myself in a strange room surrounded by a pool of blood and I saw a black figure pulling a body towards a small room. Oh lord! I pray nothing bad happens. I got out of bed swiftly when I looked at the time again, I wouldn’t want to get to school late on my second day at school. After a few minutes, I heard a car horn in front of my compound, I drew my window curtain aside to see George walking towards my door with a flower in his hand. What’s he doing here? I thought he was still angry with me? He knocked and I opened the door , I looked at him with a frown.

“Good morning…”he greeted with a smile. He looked smart with his grey shirt, black pants and a black, shiny shoes

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. He had on a silver wrist watch.

“I have to get to school on time,see you later in the evening.”I said trying to avoid him, I tried to walk past when he grabbed my hand.

“Enny, I’m sorry if I had hurt you last night. I meant no harm and I was only trying to protect you.”He said softly.

“Protect me?…from what?…”

“From that guy…”

“George you can’t expect me not to have friends and you can’t dictate to me what I should or shouldn’t do, this is my life and it’s none of your business. Your jealousy is going out of hand, you need to control yourself.”

“Okay, baby I’m sorry. I will adjust on that.”He said and gave me a peck on my cheeks.

“I’m not angry anymore.”I said.

“I want us to hangout at noon”. He said and I nodded with a smile, I remembered Antonio , he wanted to hangout with me too but I can’t refuse George, he might do something drastic if he later finds out that I went out on a date with Antonio.

“Come, Let me give you a ride to school.”He led me into his car.

AT NOON 12pm (5pm Nigerian time)…..
I waited at the park for George as usual, Tracy sat beside waiting for her parents too. I didn’t feel lonely and bored like I did on my first day because Tracy and I spent the whole day wandering hallways and around the building, we took pictures and had a good meal at the cafeteria.

“Do you have a boyfriend?.”Tracy asked. I smiled at her question

“Do I have a boyfriend?’ I repeated the question to myself and I realise I couldn’t provide myself the answer.

“I don’t know..”I replied.

“What do you mean by you don’t know?”Tracy asked confused.

“My love life is complicated.”I replied slowly and with a drooped face, she moved closer and held me in a warm embrace.

“You can come to my house if you need someone to talk to. I will introduce you to my parents, although my mum won’t be coming around today she has a meeting with her staff, she is the CEO of Swiss beauty products company.”She said sweetly.

“Oh I see! Thank you Tracy. I love you!.”

“I love you too.”We held each other in an embrace for some minutes. I brushed her hair with my palm, she had loosen her hair and it felt so soft and slippery just like human hair sold in Nigeria. I couldn’t help but admire her silk pink dress, the gold chain on her neck , her white sneakers and her multi-coloured handbag. She ran to her dad’s car and ordered him to come down, I couldn’t hear what they were saying but I saw her pointing towards me with excitement. A man who should be in his early fifties came out of the car, his face was a little wrinkled, part of his hair was grey and his complexion was a little darker than Tracy’s. He appeared a little shorter than his daughter, Tracy told me that his father is the owner of a multi-million company which deals with sales of vehicles.

“Enny, this is my dad.”Tracy said with a smile.

“Hello!…”He greeted. I was about to get on knees as a means of greeting when I realised I wasn’t in Nigeria but in a country where their culture is totally different, instead we shook hands.

“Hi!…”

“Tracy had been talking a lot about you, she said you are from Nigeria,nice meeting you Enny.”

“Yes, Nice meeting you too, Mr Andrew, Tracy told me about you too.”

“Oh ! That’s very nice.”

“Bye Enny….”Tracy waved as she led her father back to the car. I called Antonio to cancel our date when I saw George’s car moving towards me, phew!, It wasn’t easy convincing Antonio , I had no choice but to lie to him that I wasn’t feeling alright.

“Where are we going?”I asked George who drove towards the direction of another street.

“We are going to Rainbow restaurant, I need to spend some time with you.”He brought out a rose flower from the back seat and handed it to me. “I love you Enny.”I accepted it with a smile.

“It’s nice George but…”

“Sshh…don’t say anything.”He touched my lips with his finger and I smiled. We talked and gist about how we spent our day, I told him about Tracy and about her dad but never about Antonio. I marvelled at the nice restaurant we arrived at, Rainbow restaurant was boldly written on it’s sign board.

“George, I hope they would serve the food I can eat without vomiting.”I said as he opened the car door for me and bow his head politely trying to act like a gentleman. He chuckled at what I said and pulled me closer, planted a kiss on my cheeks and led me into the restaurant. He ordered for shrimp cocktail while I ordered for chicken wings and a wine to dine with.

“Why are you staring at me?”I asked when he kept glancing at me.
“I can’t take my eyes away from you. I have missed you so much.”

“Can we just eat in silence, you know you can’t be like this towards me all the time, I don’t want to hurt your feelings.”

“Enny!..”he banged the table with hands in anger, I looked up frightened, he had started with his madness again. “Why do you hate me so much?”.

“Listen George, I don’t hate you but I’m glad you knew what happened between Alfred and I , your family won’t allow us to get married after everything that happened, my parents will never accept that too. Just try to understand.”
He held my hands, “Baby, we can just try to elope, or we will settle down here in Canada.”

“No! I’m sorry I can’t do that, I have lots of responsibilities to carry out, I need to manage my father’s company and take care of my sick father.”

“Enny! Please listen…”

“Let’s change the topic of our discussion please.”I said with anger just then my phone rang, and George received my call without my permission, I knew he thought it was Antonio and he handed it back to me when he realized it was my mum. I had no time to start a fight, I need to attend to my mum first because I know we might not bury the hatchet for the next five days.

“Hello mum…”

“How are you?.”Her voice sounded dull and I could sense from her voice that she had been crying.

“What happened? Your voice sounds so dull.”There was a two minutes silence before she broke the bad news to me.

“Your dad died tonight.”She said and I could hear her weep so loud. I sat transfixed and I couldn’t figure out how I made my phone dropped from my hand.

“Are you alright?.”George asked when he saw my sudden reaction.

“He is dead…”I said with tears rolling down my eyes. George walked up to my side, lifted me up and hugged me, he knew it was my dad I was referring to, I had narrated the state of dad’s health to him. I sobbed like a baby, this was the first time I would lose someone so dear to me and someone who had always cared about me, about my future. I started to feel uneasy, my body shook, I developed an intense headache and I held onto my head as if to save it from exploding.

“We need to go.”He took me into the car and drove me to my hostel. I couldn’t talk ,I felt my lips glued to each other

“I will stay with you till the morning.”George said when he placed me on the bed like a baby. I nodded to show approval. All of a sudden I felt the urge to vomit and I messed up the room with my vomit before he could assist me to the bathroom. He cleaned the messed up room and offered to prepare me tea which I declined. He looked at me with pity written all over his face and it was obvious that he wasn’t happy , after all no human in his or her right senses will surely be happy with such a situation. He held me into his arms and I fell asleep. I saw my dad walking towards me with a flower, he was dressed in his hospital wear and he looked younger.

“My love, I’m sorry I couldn’t be a better dad to you but I want to give you something that I know will make you happy for the rest of your life.”He placed the flower on my palm, “this is not an ordinary flower in it’s real meaning but a wonderful and precious gift from me to you, goodbye my child.”

“Nooooo….don’t leave me, I love you.”I shouted but he vanished into thin air.

“Are you alright?”. George asked panicked, I realised it was a nightmare but I couldn’t stop panting.

“Dad….”I sobbed silently.

“Shhh…don’t cry, I’m here with you.”George held me closer again while he wiped away my tears.”Don’t worry, everything will be fine.”He soothed and planted a kiss on my forehead. I still found it hard to believe that my dad had died, I wonder how mum will come in this situation. I needed to go back to Nigeria, she needs me now more than ever.

The next day, George had prepared a breakfast of oatmeal for me. I knew he couldn’t sleep throughout the night because his eyes appeared swollen. He called his place of work to notify them that he won’t be able to come to work because he had an important issue to deal with at home and what the issue was , he didn’t say. We heard a knock at the door and George agreed to check who the visitor.
“George, who is that?”I asked softly but I heard no reply until I heard exchange of blows and kicks. I ran out with curiosity from my room only to see George and Anthony locked up in a fight.

“Stop this madness!…”I screamed and they stopped, both heaving and panting heavily and looking at each other with disdain. “Get out! both of you.”I pushed them out and locked the door. I don’t even want to know what happened, I just wished they understood that the best love they can ever give to me was to let me mourn my dad in peace.