CHAPTER 8:THE TALK

The following day,Nelson woke up to the noise of clashing pots coming from the kitchen. Initially, he didn’t want to stand up from the bed but the noise kept coming from the kitchen and he was wondering why the cooks were being loud with the cooking today. Dragging himself lazily from the bed, he stood up, wore his robe and stepped out of his room,taking the stairs down to the kitchen to see what was going on. Upon entering the kitchen, he saw that it was his mum who was cooking while the cooks were doing the dishes which caused the noises of clashing pots that he was hearing from his room.

“Good morning mum” He greeted.

“Good morning son” She replied.

“Good morning sir” Mariam, the head cook greeted.

“Good morning Mariam, well done”

“How was your night?” She added almost immediately.

“My night was okay, but I had the dream again mum, and this time, it was way scarier the last one. If you ask me mum, I’m really tired of having these dreams. It messes with my head and makes me have sleepless nights”

“Well, I think we’d have to do something about it, you need to probably get your mind off a lot of things. By the way, how was your dinner date with Eva? I couldn’t ask you yesterday since you got in and went straight to bed” She said.

“Well, the dinner date went fine, but sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t like her enough to pursue a relationship with her mum” Nelson said truthfully.

“What? Why? She is a good girl and she’s very beautiful too. So why don’t you like her enough to want to date her?” Nelson's mum asked, looking sad.

“I don’t know how to explain it mum, but she doesn’t fit into my type of woman. I spent time with her because I wanted to see how she reasons and if we think alike but then, I realized that we don’t have anything in common. Besides she’s one to jump to conclusions without proper knowledge and I don’t think I can deal with someone like that in my life” He explained.

“Ok, I think it’s time for us to have a proper conversation. I really need to know why you feel so reluctant to have a woman in your life” Nelson’s mum said, walking out of the kitchen with a cup of coffee in her hand.

“Mariam, you can finish up the cooking and set the table for breakfast” She said stopping to face the head cook who nodded in acknowledgement.

“Urgh, not again mum. I don’t think I wanna have this conversation now, but okay, let’s have it. He said following his mum into his study.

“So tell me, why haven't you had a serious relationship?” Nelsons mum asked him, showing concern on her face.

“Ok mum, time to open up. It’s not like I’ve not been in a serious relationship before. Well I have and her name was Beverly. We dated when I went abroad to study and trust me things never went as planned between us. We were together for a year but that one year we spent together was a roller-coaster and it was a terrible experience for me. Six months into the relationship, we started fighting almost everyday because she always loved to complain and I always hated having to hear her nag almost every time. One fateful day, something unfortunate happened mum.

“What happened son?” She asked, clearly paying attention to her son’s confession.

“The beast that I feared was always somewhere inside me, lurking and restless, finally showed it face and destroyed the good thing I was building. I’ll explain”

“Nelson, I can explain what you saw. It’s not what you think. Just listen to me first” Beverly yelled running after her boyfriend after he had initially walked in on her kissing her ex in her dorm room, and storming out in anger.

“You don’t need to bother explaining. I don’t want to hear it. It’s clear you’ve been doing this for quite sometime behind my back so why not go and meet him” Nelson said, getting into his car and starting the engine.

“No, just let me explain please babe” Beverly kept begging, banging on the door of the car while Nelson reversed and zoomed off, leaving her standing with tears in her eyes.

Driving off in anger, Nelson felt so betrayed because asides from the consistent nagging her mostly got from his girlfriend, he loved her wholeheartedly and that was why he decided to ask her out putting aside his fear and insecurities. He had always trusted his babe until his best friend, Michael had told him that he saw his babe hovering around her ex boyfriend who also happened to be a friend to Michael. Hearing this shocking news, Nelson decided to start watching his babe. A week ago, he had caught his babe coming out of a restaurant with her ex as it appeared that they had gone on a date together. Walking to the guys car hand in hand, he saw them kissing and at that point he felt the need to confront them but he held himself back until this day when he finally caught them together in her dorm kissing and smooching.

Later that day, around four o clock, while Nelson was trying to get his assignment done, he heard a knock on his apartment door. Going to check on who was at the door he found out that it was his cheating babe.

“What are you doing here Beverly?” He asked out of annoyance immediately he opened the door.

“Babe, please listen to me and let me explain” Beverly pleaded as she made her way into the house looking remorseful.

“What exactly do you want to explain to me Bev? Do you think I’m stupid and I wouldn’t get my facts right before coming out to confront you? Or do you think I’m so daft that I wouldn’t try to find out exactly what is going on before coming out to you?” Nelson said out of disgust and pain.

“I know, what you saw was very incriminating but I promise you it’s nothing like that babe” She began to explain.

“Jamie forced me to go out with him and when I refused he came over to my dorm and he almost rapped m….” Bev lied, but before she could finish her statement Nelson slapped her across the cheeks as he was already very angry at her and how fluently she told a lie face to face.

“You must really think I’m a fool just because I’m in love with you. Tell me, what didn’t I do for you? Was it love you lacked, or attention I didn’t give, or was it money you needed and I refused to give you or the new phone you wanted that I didn’t buy for you. I’m very sorry for slapping you but Bev I know everything. I’ve been tailing you and your sneaky link for a week now. I even went to meet the guy without him knowing that I was your real boyfriend. You never mentioned me to him Bev. All the dinner dates and the sex at his place, I know everything. Why did you have to do this Bev?” Nelson finally said out.

“Oh my goodness. Babe I admit. I’m very sorry for everything. I promise I won’t cheat on you again. Please let’s start over. It’s you I love and not him. I was just messing around with him. I’m sorry” She said, trying to hold and kiss Nelson who shrugged her hands off of him and gave her a stern look.

“Get out of my house Beverly. It’s over between us. I don’t ever want to have anything to do with you again” Nelson said, pushing her out of his apartment before shutting the door.

“Now you see mum. What Beverly did to me reminded me of everything dad put you through while he was alive and how he almost killed you after you found out that he was sleeping with his personal assistant. And the part where I hit her? That part scared me the most because I’ve always feared becoming like him, and dealing with Beverly, that brought out the beast I’ve always feared I had.

“Hmm, son I understand you very well, but you know not all women are like Beverly right? “ His mum asked, showing a little bit of shock and surprise after what her son just told her.

“Exactly mum, I know that there are good women out there but my fear is that when I finally find one would I be able to keep her? Would I be able to hold on to her or treat her right? Would I love her or would I just turn out like dad just like I’ve always feared? That is why mum, I choose to never get involved with a woman ever again and I’d be grateful if you can please not talk about it again mum”Nelson said to his mum, gulping the remaining coffee in his cup.

“No son, I won’t stop talking about it. I know you must have been very traumatized witnessing how your father always treated me before he died but then you have to fight that demon in you. You need to always remind yourself that you’re a the man of yourself and you’re totally different from your father. You need to give space for true love and affection to come into your life because without love your life can never be sweet or fulfilled.”

“Really mum?”

“Yes son, you being with a woman who is worth it would further give you a purpose and life would become meaningful to you. Your father might have maltreated me but at least I got to experience love and that was all it took for my life to turn out good. That was why I was able to withstand his excesses. So my darling, please give love a chance” His mum concluded.

“Urgh…..Okay mum, I’ll think about it I promise” Nelson said thinking deeply on what his mother just said.

“Very good son. Think about it well. And next time, don’t keep secrets from me again. Hiding your relationship with Beverly wasn’t the right thing to do but I understand you. I’ll always be here to guide you through it because I love you very much” His mum said before giving him a hug.

“I love you too mum. I’ll think about it” Nelson said hugging his mum back.

“Food is ready and the table has been set” Mariam said from behind the door after knocking once.

“Alright let’s go have breakfast mum, I’m starving” Nelson said, walking out of the study with his mum to have breakfast.