[STORY] PAPA LOVES HIS GIRLS (Episode 14)

Episode 14.

” My King.” The Elderly receptionist Kissed the ground in acknowledgment of the man who entered. To further buttress her point of referring to the man as a King, Four hefty men who looked like Royal guards followed him into the office…

” Maureen, you ran away with my Prince for 15 years, and it never occurred to you that some day I will find him.”

” I am sorry my King, I am only following the last wish of my late Queen. I swore to her”

” Who deserves your loyalty more, the Late queen whose flesh must have become dust already or the people who need a Crown prince. My days are few and I need to be sure of who I am leaving my throne for…”

” Prince Enyinnaya is available to take your place, my late Queen did not want her son to ascend your throne”

” She can not determine who ascends the throne or not,the throne chooses the king. The throne in this case has chosen Chimaobi, So bring him out. The throne awaits him.”

” I do not know his whereabouts my king” The woman replied bowing her head.

” Maureen, you are still as strong headed as you were back in the days, no wonder you choose Loyalty over Royalty…” The king said.

The audacious looking King faced me…

” Do you know, she is not your mother in-law, she was your Mother-in-law’s maid servant. I gave her the option of marrying me, but she choose to serve her Queen.

As a way to spite her, I married her younger sister, but can you imagine that this maid choose to be loyal to her master than her sister.

As the gods would have it, her Sister got pregnant before her Queen, hence giving birth to a son before her Queen. Do you know this woman here refused to celebrate the birth of the Prince by her blood sister but instead when her Queen gave birth, she celebrated like there was no tomorrow”

I was interested in the story. My anxiety of my kidnappers trailing me was quickly swallowed up by the intriguing story I was listening to…

” Maureen, why did you hate your sister so much?”

‘ I didn’t hate Rita, I hated what she did. Why would she steal a woman’s joy”

” She didn’t steal her joy, I married her using my authority as a King”

” She could have run away, like I did with..” She quickly stopped herself

” With Chimaobi…Well if she had run away, no matter how many years , I would have tracked her down just like I have tracked you down today”

” Chimaobi is not with me, and even if he was with me, you would have to kill me before I let you take me.”

” Kill you? If there is anything you should still remember about me, I am a King of peace, I hate bloodshed”

” But your actions caused bloodshed. My sister killed my Queen.” Maureen said angrily and bitterly. The guards wanted to rush towards her but the King stopped her.

“Let her be!” The King said. “She loved her Queen”

” Yes I loved her, she was a good woman, she loved the people, she didn’t treat slaves likes slaves, she treated us as relatives and that’s why I will never forgive Rita for killing her” The woman wept

He stooped to speak with her…

” The years that have gone by has not made you change this lie in your heart. Rita didn’t kill Chizoba… Chizoba died by the hands of the gods”

” The gods she consulted! My King, You may think you know my sister because you got married to her, but I know her more than you could ever do, I knew her from birth and I know how ambitious she can be. I know how many Dibias ( Traditionalists) she consulted over trivia issues like wanting to punish other girls for stepping on her mistakenly… No one can therefore tell me otherwise, She killed the Queen and as long as she is alive, my Prince can never return to the Palace”

“Your Sister, Queen Rita is dead!” The King said..

The Receptionist lifted her head and looked into the eyes of the King for the first time. I could see that she was searching his eyes for the truth…

From the strong defensive woman I have been seeing, I watched how she gradually became very emotional.. The saying “Blood is thicker than Water” was so real… Her tears flowed…

” I will give you time to take in the news, in the meantime I will take Chimaobi’s wife and Kids. I am sure this will bring him home. The throne has rejected Your Sister’s son Enyinnaya, the throne is asking for Chimaobi…”

I wondered who he was referring to as the wife and kids of Chimaobi, however I didn’t have to wonder for too long because the guards started moving towards our direction…

” I am no…not….” I was saying but the King raised his hand…

” Don’t say what you will regret later.” He said…

” She is… not…his wife” The receptionist said in between her tears…

” Maureen, only the blind will tell me this boy is not Chima’s son. This was exactly how Chima looked at this age…”

The Receptionist nodded in agreement at the resemblance.

“Take them …” The King commanded and the guards immediately acted on his command.

” Don’t be rough with them. There is a party outside, we don’t want to create a scene.”

I was about to struggle with the guards, but an idea dropped…

” Use this as an escape, Use this Royal convoy to get you and your kids out of here..”

To be continued…