By Nightengale Ben-Onyeukwu
Chioma rolled her eyes to prevent herself from crying, then, she smiled at Chisom gently.
‘Chioma, do you want to call Michael and congratulate him?’ Andrew asked.
‘I’m not ready yet.’Chioma shook her head, washed her hands in a bowl, and stood up to leave.
‘Chioma, there is an old saying; you reap what you sow, and those that are pathetic certainly have some reason to be despised,’Audrey said and Chioma stopped in her tracks, not daring to turn back and look at Audrey. ‘No matter how many times we go to church, there are still people who are good with scheming against others. People like that in this world are nothing but scourge on this earth…’
‘I don’t understand a word that you say.’ Chioma turned around as tears streamed down her face. ‘Michael has proposed to Jessica, there is no need to turn into a lecturer overnight. I am okay with everything…but I wish it was all a lie…I wish…’
‘Michael never proposed to Jessica,’Audrey finished for her. She could feel the hurt in Chioma’s heart, but then, she couldn’t still bring herself to explain everything to her. ‘A woman like Jessica is never going to find happiness if they continue to scheme at others…’
‘You already knew this will happen, didn’t you. Audrey, we are very poor. But I never expected Michael to act this way. At least he should have told Chioma about his new change of decision.’
‘But he didn’t, which meant Michael could still be innocent,’Audrey said.
‘Michael didn’t have a choice…’
‘All tragedies begin with choices,’Chisom snapped.
‘The
food tastes delicious,’Audrey said changing the subject. ‘Pass me the pepper
soup.’
Daniel picked up a bowl, filled it with pepper soup, and handed it to her.
‘Thank you.’
Audrey plunged her spoon into the pepper soup and then gasped. The pepper soup was hurt and burned her mouth. Daniel quickly handed her a glass of chilled water and she drank. Feeling better, she turned to Chioma wanting to tell her everything but didn’t know how to tell her that the story was nothing but reporters’ figment of imagination and not true.
‘Chioma what will you do if I told you that Michael signed you up for 100 million dollars insurance?’Audrey asked Chioma after a thought.
‘Wealthy people sure know how to waste money, ‘Louisa muttered. ‘But I know that no one will waste such amount on useless things.’ She treated Audrey’s words as joke as well as others.
‘Why would he do that?’Chisom glared at Audrey. ‘He is very very rich; does he really need an insurance company payout?’
‘And you think Michael will sign Chioma up just to receive a payout from the insurance company. I understand you are angry because you think Michael cheated on Chioma but don’t think of him as such.’ Louisa turned to Chioma. ‘Come back and finish your food. I made them with love. I don’t want you to leave the food just because you felt heart broken.’
Without saying a word, Chioma immediately returned to her seat, continuing to eat while pretending she didn’t read the heartbreaking news.
Even when they had moved onto dessert, Chioma focused on eating each spoon of akamu at the same time, not daring to raise her head. She didn’t want them to see her eyes which were filling with tears again.
Audrey looked at her, the corners of her mouth raised in a smile. She wondered how Chioma will react if she found out that the news was nothing but rumour, and also how she would feel about the the fact that she was covered with insurance.
‘Michael is returning tomorrow from Port Harcourt…’Audrey reminded Chioma.
‘I know,’Chioma nodded and said again after pausing for a moment, ‘it’s all right not being able to get certain things in life. What’s scaring is losing something you have.’
‘You
haven’t lost anything.’ Louisa gave a reassuring smile.
Although Chioma had gone to bed that day, promising not to cry or even doubt Michael’s love for her but now the cry seem to be in her dream, which she cried out aloud. Louisa, who was lying beside her, shook her gently.
‘Chioma? Chioma? Are you all right?’Louisa asked. After a while, Chioma opened her eyes slowly and saw her mother, sitting on the bed worriedly. Seeing Chioma wake up, Louisa gave a deep breath.
‘Chioma, you scared me to death. Why were you crying? Didn’t I beg you not to cry instead, talk to him and hear his own side of the story? ‘
Chioma
blinked, then wiped her tear-streaked face before turning her eyes towards Louisa’s
face. ‘I thought I was crying in my dreams but it turned out in real-life.’
‘You were crying because of Michael, right? There is no need to waste your energy crying, okay?’Louisa reached for the glass of water on a table and handed it to Chioma.
Chioma took the cup and said her thanks to Louisa. After she drank half of the water, she answered, ‘No, just a nightmare.’ ‘Really, what nightmare scared you like this?’Louisa curiously asked.
Chioma didn’t respond, instead, she handed Louisa back the glass and took a look at the moon which cast a reassuring silver light on her.
Louisa laid a warm steady hand on Chioma’s shoulder. ‘It’s only rumour, honey. Don’t panic. Of course Michael will explain everything to you. I know he loves you more than his own life. Sleep now, for tomorrow you will be fine.’
After Louisa closed her eyes to sleep again, Chioma reached for her phone. She thought for a moment, then sent him a Whatsapp message, ‘How are you doing?’
‘I am
doing fine. I miss you already. I was about calling you before I saw your
message. I will return tomorrow. Hope you had a glass of milk before sleeping?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then why are you still awake. What are you thinking?’ Chioma wanted to tell him everything but instead, she replied, ‘You woke me up in my dream. I was thinking about you.’
Michael smiled and sent her a rose emoji.
After chatting, Chioma put down her phone, closing her eyes, she forced herself to sleep.
The next morning when Chioma woke up, she felt a bit refreshed. After washing up, she paired a green cardigan with a red shirt and tartan skirt. She left for work after drinking a glass of milk with a few slice of bread.
Boarding Segun’s taxi, she told him to turn on the radio in the car. It was time for news. The news was more focused on Micheal’s love life, business and everything about him.
Upon hearing that Michael was set to marry Jessica, Segun couldn’t help but laugh.
‘A bad way to begin a Monday morning is to greet us with fake news. I am certain that this news is fake and nothing but fake,’Segun said.
Chioma took out her phone from her bag and searched the news. She felt that the news was fake, but how could the entire media outlet write the same news and it would turn out to be fake?
‘The media love to assume,’ Segun looked at Chioma from the rear-view mirror and said. ‘Don’t give it too much thought, for I know that the prince of Moon Corporation will never break his promise.’
Chioma nodded, trying her best to believe what Segun had told her.
On the other hand, when Michael left the conference room at the Port Harcourt branch, he looked very tired. Yesterday, he spent almost the day in a board meeting. Of course with so much workload yesterday, and a conference meeting this morning, it was obvious that he will be exhausted.
‘Sir, here’s your tea.’Robert immediately handed him the glass tea cup.
Michael took it and slowly took a sip.
Robert looked at him, afraid of how he will react if he told him about the viral news. It was still best to let him know about it. ‘Sir… have you seen the viral news?’
‘No, why?’Michael lifted the cup to his sexy lips, taking a sip, he looked at Robert. ‘Can I see recent newspapers?’
‘Sure.’Robert shifted the newspapers of yesterday and this morning to him.
There were piles of newspapers before him. Michael picked up one of the newspapers, glancing over the newspaper; he saw the giant entertainment headlines that read; Michael in love with Jessica, Chioma dumped by roadside’
After reading the newspaper, Michael’s face turned grim. But then, he had expected this to happen. He knew that his parents will do anything to see him and Jessica together.
‘Sir, are you really going to marry Jessica? Did you propose to her?’Robert asked hesitantly because the newspapers carried the same story. None of them debunked the story, and even photos of Jessica and Michael together during the engagement party was captured and attached to the stories.
‘What kind of stupid question is that,’Michael said with a grim face.
‘Sir because of these news Moon Corporation’s stocks has skyrocketed. Maybe we could use this to our advantage.’
Michael stood up and said, ‘We are leaving for Abuja immediately.’
No comments:
Post a Comment