WE WILL FIGHT

She ran into the room, panting heavily and she stood for a moment as she saw him walking over to the wardrobe.

“Love, what are you doing?” She cried as she walked over to meet him.

He paid no attention to her while bringing out his clothes from the wardrobe.

“Daren!” She cried hysterically.

He let out a sigh as he stopped before the bed with his back facing her. He could hear her sobbing behind him and his heart softened for a moment. He dropped the clothes on the bed and turned to face her.

“My love, we have to leave,” he said.

She wiped the tears running down her cheek immediately and she raised her eyes to his face.

“Leave for where?” She asked in a rather high tone

“Leave to a place where we can have our own peace. I can’t withstand the pressures any longer. It’s time to leave!” He shouted.

“Really? You want everyone to see me as the bad wife who turned you against your family? You want to make me a bad woman in front of the public?” She asked.

“Who cares what people will say? Look, Melisa, I’ve always told you, I don’t want anything to separate us, not even my family. But look what they’re doing, trying to pressure me into separating from you,” he said calmly.

She moved closer to him and took hold of his hands.

“My love, nothing is separating us from each other. I understand your mother and grandmother very well. I know they’re desperate for you to produce a child. Daren, this is not the time to leave. We will stay and fight this together,” she assured as she looked up at his face.

“My love, the pressure is too much for me to handle. I’m human and I can lose it anytime. But I don't want to lose you,” he said tenderly as he placed his palm on her cheek. “I don’t want to lose you Lisa, and that’s why we have to leave. Let’s leave this place and go somewhere far away. Somewhere we won’t have to feel the pressures from our family and friends,” he said softly as he looked deep into her eyes.

She burst into tears immediately and moved away from him.

“Where do we go from here? Everything you have belongs to the Taiwo’s family and you think they will let you go freely with their possessions?” She asked.

He sighed and walked over to her. He stood behind her and placed his hand on her shoulder.

“My love, we will be fine. You see all this wealth? They don’t matter to me. You are the only one that matters and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I don’t care about giving them up, just so I could be with you freely,” he said.

She turned to face him and she gulped as she looked into his eyes which were filled with emotions.

“I love you Daren, and for this reason, I won’t have you turn your back against your family. We will fight this together. I will get pregnant and the company will be yours,” she assured with full confidence.

**

“Elsa! Elsa!” His deep voice called behind her as she hastened her footsteps on the passage with the maids following behind her.

She paid no attention to him and he hastened his footsteps as he saw her run into the room. He stopped and began to pant as he walked into the spacious luxury room which had served as their matrimonial room for years.

He saw her sitting on the bed and the maids knelt before her and they helped take off her shoes.

“Elsa, we need to talk,” He said in a rather high tone.

“Not now, Charles, I’m tired and I need to rest,” she said with a smile as she took a glance at his face.

“Now! I mean, now!” He thundered.

She sighed in frustration and waved her short bouncy hair backwards.

“Leave,” she ordered the maids and they all stood up and hurried out of the room immediately.

“What did you do? How dare you, Elsa, how dare you try to ruin the family I've struggled to build for years?” He asked as he walked closer to her.

She heaved a sigh as she stood up from the bed and walked over to the bar. He stood still as he watched her back facing him while she poured drink into her glass.

“The family you struggled to build?” She asked with a scoff and he kept silent.

“Why didn’t you let me know of your new decisions?” He asked angrily.

She sipped her wine as she stood, facing him.

“Does it matter?” She asked with a smirk.

“No, it doesn’t. I’ve never mattered to you, do I? Everything has always been about your mother and she’s everything you’ve always cared about,” he said with emotions.

She kept silent and turned away from him.

“The decision was for Daren’s own good. It will pressure him into producing an heir,” she said.

“For Daren’s own good you say?” He asked with a scoff as he walked to her front.

“And if he fails to produce a child? What happens? The company will be handed over to Dotun. Don’t you get it, Elsa? This will destroy their relationship! You and your mother are ruining my sons!” He yelled into her face

“Enough, Charles! Spare me all that tantrums and let’s face the fact,” She said as she walked away from him.

“Daren has been incapable of doing the right thing,” she said.

He scoffed and shook his head.

“And what’s the right thing? Throwing Melisa out I guess, and taking a second wife,” he put in.

She kept silent and she looked away from him and continued sipping her wine.

“And you’re forgetting the fact that the problem doesn’t lie with Melisa,” he continued and she pulled a surprised face as she lowered the glass from her lips.

“Yes, Melisa is not the problem. The problem lies in your family!” He pointed and she became stunned for a moment as they stared at each other eye to eye.

“I beg your pardon,” she said as she looked at him in disbelief.

“You don’t need me to remind you of how it took your mother seven good years to bear a child. And if it was that easy, she would have continued having other children aside from you. And over to you, it took you complete three years before you could bear me a child, Elsa. And take a look at Dotun and Diana, they aren’t finding it easy to bear another child aside from Dele. And now Daren, he is also finding it hard to bear a child of his own, and you sit there and place the blame on Melisa? You know the poor girl is not the problem, but you and your mother are looking for who to make the scapegoat!” He related with enthusiasm.

Her gaze lowered to the floor and her frail hands trembled on the glass.

“I hate you,” she muttered with quivering lips.

He kept silent and turned his gaze away from her face.

“The truth is that I don’t know the woman I got married to any more. You were never this way, Elsa. You were sweet, loving and one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever come across. But everything changed when you decided to live under the shadows of your mother. You abided by all her words and it broke us completely. It broke our happy and once sweet relationship,” he said with emotions as he stared at the side of her face.

“But in all these, I still loved you. Despite all your mother did to me, despite all you made me go through. I subjected myself to you, I subjected even my sons to your family!” He continued with tears.

“And you know what, I've never stopped loving you, Elsa. I’ve never stopped trying to be that loving and perfect husband for you,” he said.

She turned to him immediately and planted a kiss on his lips. Silence fell in as they both kissed briefly.

“I love you, Charles Boseman,” she said with a smile as her palm caressed his gray stubble beards.

He sighed and his gaze lowered from her face.

“Everything my mother and I did was for Daren’s own good. And you think we will just hand over the company to Dotun if Daren fails to bear a child? No, we will still be patient. We only made those rules because he was proving stubborn. And we needed him to feel the heat. But he shouldn’t know about this,” she said with a smile as she pecked his cheek.

“But you should have let me know,” he argued.

“But now you know,” she said with a flirtatious smile as she turned her back to face him.

“Now please, help me unzip my dress,” she said softly as she took a sip from her glass.