[STORY] NOT SO PERFECT (Episode 08)

Episode 08.

By Christabel Nwoko

Immediately my father hanged up, i walked into Emeka’s arms and hugged him with tears falling uncontrollably from my eyes. Emeka held me very tight, with the look on his face, he felt like tearing up too. My dad had murdered his feelings with hurtful words; I know my father often refers to him as an illiterate and I know he might had used more hurtful words on him over the phone.

Despite all my efforts to get Emeka to say all my father had told him, but still he couldn’t find the strength to narrate anything to me, Emeka just kept mute. An evening that was supposed to end well for us, will end up being disastrous. What if Emeka ends our relationship just because of all the hurtful words that my father had said to him? “God forbid” I thought. I had to assure Emeka that I have come to love him more everyday and there’s no way I will leave him because my father said so.
I felt a lot relieved too when Emeka reassured me of his love and how he will improve himself, so that my father will accept him.
“Nne, I Don’t mind going back to school, so I can speak big big grammer like you, nne I Don’t want to lose you” He told me and i smiled softly and he smiled too.

Emeka felt so elated when I told him that he was improving already.
“really, me? Improving? How?” He asked in smiles.
“When you were on the phone with my dad, your English was perfect and I’m so proud of you” I replied
Emeka smiled and hugged me.
“Nne you are a good teacher oh” He told me.
I was so elated that I could bring him out of the bad mood he was in, and I’m glad everything was okay between us. After staying at Emeka’s place for over three hours, I had to leave because it was getting late. We said our goodbyes and then I left.

On my way home, I began to boil in anger again, when I remembered all that my father had done, first he took Emeka’s phone number when I was not looking and he called the innocent man up just to insult him. I was so prepared to confront my father that evening, my anger was overflowing and needed to be channelled towards the right person who triggered it. When i arrived, my parents and siblings were in the sitting room having dinner. Immediately my mom saw me, she knew that i was not happy because I was wearing a frown.
I greeted my mom silently and she left the dinner table and came to me.
“Jessica my child are you okay? What happened?” She asked calmly.

“Is it not your husband?, you wouldn’t believe dad called Emeka on his phone just to insult him” I replied instantly.
“What?”My mother entered and turned to my father.
“No honey that’s not right, you went too far” my mother told him

Before my mother could finish her statement, my father flared up;
“so you want your daughter to get married to a never do well, an illiterate, I can never allow that, never. Gilbert is the one I have endorsed and so shall it be, how can a daughter of mine choose a failure over a successful man like Gilbert, Gilbert is from a well known family, but let me ask you Jessica, who is Emeka?, where is he from? Who are his parents? That young man is not your type and I called him, to tell him to stay away from you, I warned him sternly, if he knows what is good for him, he will leave you alone” my father entered

“Dad why on earth did you do that? Why did you call him? you disrespected my feelings by calling a man you know that I love and demanding he leaves me alone, How can you be so insensitive? Have you forgotten how I felt when Gilbert left me and now you want me to go back him, what if something worst happens to me in the future, how are you so sure that Gilbert won’t abandon me again? How can you choose Gilbert over my happiness, Dad, This isn’t fair and I haven’t done anything to deserve such cold and unsupportive treatment from you. Dad please stay away from Emeka, Don’t call him again, I beg you. I love him and I want to be with him, Dad, Emeka might not come from a well known family like Gilbert, he might not be able to speak good english but believe me, he is successful and he has done well for himself, he is hard working and soon he will make a name for himself unlike Gilbert that is dependent of his parent’s wealth and connections. Emeka is very successful, Dad ask around” I said boldly

My father smiled “Don’t allow that illiterate to decieve you, he is a nobody, there’s no way an illiterate like that young man could be successful, maybe he has a rich boss or uncle, if you know what is good for you quit that relationship” my father added.
“Dad, then get ready to disown me because that will never happen” I entered and this time I was in tears.
My mom came to hold me, to stop me from talking back to my father.
” Mummy please talk to your husband and tell him to let me choose who I want to be with, Emeka is the only man that truly loved me” I told my mother in tears

My mom became emotional and was about begging my father to allow me make my choice without interference, but my father got up, sighed and walked away. All through that night, i was restless and kept thinking of the nightmare that happened earlier on. that same night Emeka called me to know if I was home but I comported myself as we spoke on the phone, the last thing I wanted was for him to find out that I confronted my father because of him.

Emeka was smart, immediately he noticed that something was off,
“Nne, are you okay?, You Don’t sound happy”He asked.
“Emmy, I’m sleepy that’s why” I lied.
“Please Don’t Tell your father that you were with me when he called because it will make things worst oh” he warned.
“Yes, I won’t” I lied because I knew that I have already done the opposite.
We finally said goodnight and other sweet words to each other and then we hanged up.

After that phone call, I began to regret my actions, I didn’t even think about the consequences.
“I shouldn’t have confronted my father, I would had spoken to my mom instead, oh what have I done?” I thought.
That night I felt so elated when my mom walked into my room and she advised me to take things easy with my father.

” Your father’s business is not doing well, gradually we are going bankrupt and I guess that’s why he is not in a good mood, he believes your future will be secured if you marry Gilbert, he doesn’t want you to suffer. But I have told him that God will take care of us and he should allow you choose who you want to be with. I reminded him of how Gilbert left you when you needed him the most and he might do worst when he finds out that we are not rich anymore, but your Dad believes Gilbert had learnt his lessons and that he won’t fail you again, Please my child, your father meant well but he is going on about it in the wrong way, I stopped debating on that issue with him because I know by Tomorrow, he will be having an important meeting with a new investor and he needs to wake up on time and prepare himself for that meeting, I hope everything works out, because if this new investor agrees to invest in our already collapsed business then everything will be fine again” my mother told me and I felt so bad for being hard on my father when his intentions were good.

That night before I slept I asked God for his intervention and guidance, for a moment I have even forgotten that Emeka was wealthy and he promised to do anything for me. It never occurred to me that Emeka was capable of saving my father’s company from bankruptcy. I only prayed for God’s help and for his will to be done.

I guess I forgot all about that details because I wasn’t interested in Emeka’s money or maybe because my father didn’t believe me when I told him that Emeka was successful.
My father had concluded that Emeka was a nobody and that he was only decieving me.
I knew I wasn’t being decieved but if that was the case, I Don’t care because I wasn’t interested on how much Emeka had, The most important thing I needed to know is that he was hard working and he loves me a whole lot.

To Be Continued….. . . 

Subscribe To ANE Talk Trends On Youtube

Subscribe To All Naija Entertainment On Youtube