Yoké was asking me for his child. It then occurred to me that he didn’t know anything, not what happened. I had to tell him everything. It is his right to know and here he is demanding an answer.
I instinctively looked around as I realized that we were in public. The officers with nothing better to do at the gate were already watching us. Dad had warned me about the public, about protecting our company and not giving people reason to doubt our assurity. What worse reason than to be here in front of a prison with an ex-convict demanding for the child that was taken away from him? A child he now wanted to meet.
“Yoké, we can’t talk here.” I told him. “Let’s go to my apartment.”
“I don’t want to go anywhere with you, I want to know where my child is.” His voice firm and his face still with that frown.
“I know, but right now we are in publ
Yoké frowned as if he was trying to figure me out.“Why aren’t you telling me where my Risa is?” He asked me. “Who is she with?”A tear rolled down my eye. I quickly wiped it away, took a deep breath in and held my breath. “She’s gone, Yoké.”“What do you mean she’s gone? Gone to where?”“Our Risa is dead-" I couldn’t control myself anymore, I let the river I had been holding back all these months finally flow. I began to cry. “She was born still.” His facial expression didn’t change, he just continued to look at me with that frown.“What are you saying?” He asked me shaking his head like I was saying something that he couldn’t believe. “Yoké she didn’t cry. She died in my stomach. I didn’t even get a chance to hold her in my arms.” I told him. “I didn’t even see what color were her eyes…” Yoké’s mouth fell and it stayed that way for a while before he shook his head. “No. That’s not true.”I clapped my hand over my mouth as I almost cried out loud. I felt so heart broken, the whole
There were dark marks all over his back and arms. I came to sit next to him on the couch to have a better look but he began fixing his sweater. He pulled his hoody back on and sat with his arms on his thighs and his head in his hands.“Who did this to you?” I asked him.“They would have killed me if the officers didn’t walk in on time. They told me that that was going to be my last day on earth.” Yoké said. “But I’m fine.”“Do you remember their faces?”He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter-”“Yes it does, Yoké.” I told him. “I’ll report each one of them for doing this to you and make sure they never set foot outside those walls ever again. You could have died.”“Living… dead, why do you care now?” He shrugged.&n
“Yoké how did you get here?” I asked him suddenly feeling a bunch of emotions rushing in. “Why did you let me go Yoké? Do you know how it felt living without you?”I began crying.He reached out and wiped my tears but didn’t say anything.“The only reason I decided to move on was because I had her. I was gonna have a little you around me, that’s the only hope I was hanging on to but-”“Shh…” Yoké interrupted. “Come here…”I laid on his chest, he covered me with the blanket and put his arms around me. He was still warmer than normal. I wiped my tears and closed my eyes for a while. Tranquility, that’s what I felt. How did I survive more than a year away from him? How did I survive it? I hugged him tighter and tighter as I realized how much I’ve been missing him.
“That’s my father coming in!” I lied. “He can’t see you here.”He sighed heavily and shook his head. “And why not?”“Come on.”“So it’s fine for him to see you and Nathan kissing but simply seeing me here is a problem?”“I’m really sorry. Come, you’ll leave through the back door.”“Why? Because you don’t want your fiancée to see me?”“What do you mean?” I asked impatiently, aware that Nathan would be on my front steps any minute now.“You are lying to me.” He said. “I know that’s not your father.”I gulped.“Look how easy it has become for you to just lie to me.” He shrugged. “I’ve seen enough of you all on
On the whole drive to the mansion, I couldn’t stop thinking about Yoké. Was he okay? Did he manage to get home? Where was his ‘home’? Would I ever see him again? I still couldn’t get over the fact that I let him walk out of my life once more. I’ve always told myself that if God had to give me one more chance to go back and do things differently, I would have made sure we never got caught. Been more careful. Just so that I would never have to live a day without Yoké. God gave me that chance but I threw it away again. How could I let him walk out of my life again? But then I remembered, Yoké knew where I lived now. I was certain that he would realize that he had made a huge mistake and come knocking again at my front door. Well the securities would never allow him inside the premises so he’d be at the gate, ringing the bell. Either way, he’d be back. That gave me closure.“Why are you smiling by
She smiled at me softly, and I smiled back.“Oh Delilah!” Mom came to break the spell. “You didn’t even come say hi to me.”“Oh Leticia!” Delilah exclaimed back.Mom took Delilah’s hand away and they walked away. I looked over at the refreshment table where I had spotted dad and Alice but they were no longer there. With my eyes, I followed mom and Delilah up the stairs and watched them enter mom’s office.“Couzie!” Francis suddenly hugged his arms around me from behind.He turned me towards him and gave me a big hug, almost leaving me breathless.“We thought you wouldn’t come!” He beamed, showing off his perfect white teeth which cost him more than 2000 dollars per tooth.“Why wouldn’t I?”“Nathan said you were
After dinner the guests started leaving. As they left one by one I was trying to spot Delilah but she was no where to be seen. She had a red dress on, so it should’ve been easy for me to spot her. I still don’t understand what could have went wrong between mom and her. The smiles on their faces when mom came to take her from me… now all this anger?I felt an arm around me, it was Nathan. He squeezed me tight and kissed my cheek.“Who you looking for?” He smiled at me.“No one in particular. Just watching the guests leave.”“Oh they had a great time, Leticia is such a great host.”“Yeah they really did.”Nathan turned me towards him and put his arms around my waist.“What’s going on in your pretty little mind?” He asked me staring deep into my eyes as if h
“What’s the answer?” Nathan asked me, getting impatient.“Chill bro,” Alice told him. “Don’t you have any sense of humor left in your life?”“You’re the last person to talk about humor here, you laugh once in a week.” Nathan told her.We all broke out laughing. I wasn’t laughing at Alice, I was laughing at Nathan. He was being so serious, all for what? Did he think I was going to mention Yoké?“I fell out of a plane and survived!” I announced before Alice could think of a come-back. “Crazy, right?”We laughed.“Real crazy.” Francis said.“I can’t believe I’m sitting next to someone who survived a plane crash.” Karla beamed. “It’s so unreal!”“To Francis, of cause, do you believe in love?” Nathan asked after everyone settled down.“Haaa!” Alice and I chorused.“Of cause he does.” Karla said, she was beaming. “He loves me…”“Can I answer the question?” Francis asked her, he looked annoyed. “It’s my question.”“But you gonna say the same thing anyway-”“How do you know that?”“But won’t y