The miracle I need episode 33
#THE_MIRACLE_I_NEED
EPISODE 33
“I’m so sorry I didn’t call, I didn’t want to bother you since you were at work. I’m actually driving them to the house right now. We st©pped to buy food since I’m not sure you have food at home.” Ella explained as she drove while leaving the car on loudspeaker.
“Thank you so much, like I’m indebted to you for this.” Kathleen said, her tone filled with gratitude as she stood by the p@ssage way that led to her office.
“Is that my daughter Ngozika?” Her mother asked when she heard Kathleen’s voice, ma-king Kathleen roll her eyes.
“Mummy how was your journey? Once I close from work I will come home immediately….” Kathleen said ma-king her mother snort.
“As if you have anywhere else to go to before. Shey @ssuming you were married your husband would have been the one picking me from the park like my mates?” Her mother dryly asked ma-king Ella and Isioma giggle while Kathleen closed her eyes in embar@ssment.
“Mummy sef!” Isioma exclaimed.
“But it’s true na. Am I lying? Bia Ella, are you married? Don’t be like your friend o. Everything she is chasing money and pursuing all the suitable men from her life.” Kathleen’s mother said ma-king Kathleen decide she had heard enough.
“I have to get back to work. See you later. Ella thank you, and plea-se don’t mind whatever she says.” Kathleen rushed to say before hanging up.
“See what I was telling you? That is all she does! Always working like it’s her father that owns the company! What did I do to this girl? Why doesn’t she want to get married like all her mates?” Kathleen’s mother asked ma-king Ella stifle the urge to laugh. The woman was a real life drama queen, and she could guess the next couple of days wouldn’t be very easy on Kathleen.
“Mummy abeg don’t disturb her with all this marriage talk when you see her. That is not why we c@m£ to Lagos.” Isioma said feeling slightly embar@ssed by her mother’s attitude.
“Keep quiet! I’m using one stone to kill two birds. I c@m£ for your sake and also to talk some s-en-se into your sister. She thinks she can hide from me forever, abi? Whenever I call it’s either she ignores it or hangs up before I say my mind. Well, let me see how she will do that now that I’m here. She must show me her b©yfri£ndbefore I will return to Delta, if not I will go around Lagos and look for a man for her.” Kathleen’s mother promised ma-king Ella giggle.
“But she has a b©yfri£ndalre-ady.” Ella said, remembering what Kathleen had said about being in a relationsh!p.
“A b©yfri£nd? Since when?” The woman asked excitedly.
“I don’t know, but she mentioned him to me on Saturday, so I guess she must be in a relationsh!p.” Ella said with a shrug, not sure it was her place to tell Kathleen’s mother that.
“I don’t trust that girl. I must see him before I leave Lagos.” Kathleen’s mother promised, as Ella’s phone started ringing.
___________
By the time Eric stepped out of the bathroom wearing a freshly washed gray polo shi-t, Kimberly had managed to compose herself and her emotions. He had noticed she had kept hanging up a call while he was in the bathroom and he couldn’t help but wonder who was calling. Did she perhaps have a b©yfri£nd? “How are you feeling now?” Eric asked with a blank expression on his face.
“If you’re asking because you’re worried I might ruin your shi-t again, don’t worry, I won’t.” Kimberly said with a small smile.
“That’s not why I’m asking, so tell me. How do you really feel now?” Eric asked as he sat on the only available chair in the room, leaving her alone on the be-d.
“I’m okay. I just… you know.” She shrugged when she didn’t know what to say, “Things like these often happen, right?” She asked hoping he would just agree with her and let it slide.
“I’m not sure. I don’t just start crying out of the blues… so I’m not sure I totally un-derstand what you’re saying. What’s up with you Kim? Is there something bothering you that I should know about?” Eric asked maintaining his blank expression. The moment she had told him she was in front of the building, he had quic-kly deduced that the person harrasing her was Ali, but then he had reasoned that it would be very humiliating for her if he was to meet her in that situation, so he had stepped out of the house but had decided to watch them from the side instead, just in case Ali bec@m£ violent or laid a f!nger on her. He had deliberately waited until Ali had walked away before coming out. He was going to have to have a talk with Ali and get rid of whatever Ali possibly had against her.
Kimberly looked away from him, and took in a de-ep breath. He was bound to find out about her immoral lifestyle sooner or later since situations like this might come up again and they might run into one or two guys she had had a fling with. It was best to have him prepare his mind for days like that if they were really going to be doing this.
Eric simply watched her without saying anything. If there was one thing he had been blessed with as he c@m£ into the world, it was patience. He was probably the most patient man he knew, and he was going to wait until she told him whatever it was he needed to know about her.
After what seemed like an eternity, Kimberly sighed as she raised her head to look into his face, “If you decide not to go on with the arrangement after now, I’ll totally un-derstand.” Kimberly said, but Eric’s expression still did not change.
“Well, I told you my father wanted me to get married because… well, because I tend to…” She paused as she tried to find the right word to describe herself. It wasn’t everyday a lady like herself was faced with the difficult task of telling a man she was planning on getting married to that she was the queen of promiscuity.
“I’m listening. Go on.” Eric urged her on, wanting to see how she would say it. He had to admit he felt sorry for her in a way but he was also glad to see that she was so embar@ssed to say it. That had to mean it wasn’t something she was proud of, and if that was the case, then there was hope that he could help her change.
“As I alre-ady told you, I don’t believe in love or relationsh!ps, so I tend to you know, hook up with different guys and…”
“Hook up?” Eric asked, interrupting her.
“Yeah. Hook up” Kimberly said with a sigh.
“By hook up I suppose you mean you have S-x with random guys?” Eric asked bluntly, ma-king her wince.
“I wouldn’t exactly put it that way, but yeah. I ran into one of them earlier, so I figured if we are going to be doing this I feel you should know we might eventually run into one or more so….” Kimberly let the remaining words trail off.
“I don’t suppose you know the number of guys you’ve been with? How often do you run into them though?” Eric asked without any iota of judgement or mockery in his tone.
“Not often.” Kimberly said looking at her hand like a kid being chastised. She sighed when her phone started ringing again, and rejected the call without bothering to see who it was, @ssuming it was Prisca calling again.
“One of your pets?” Eric asked pointing at the phone.
“No. It’s just Prisca.” Kimberly said as she put her phone on airplane mode, “And I don’t have pets.” She added.
Eric chose to ignore the later p@rt of her response and focused on the former, “Why are you ignoring her call? You both had a fight?”
“No. I’m just not in the mood to talk to her. How long have you been living here?” Kimberly asked, ma-king it clear she wanted to change the subject.
“Oh! I’m yet to offer you anything!” Eric said as he abruptly stood up.
“You offered me your shoulder.” Kimberly pointed out.
“Well, that doesn’t count. What can I get you?” Eric asked, standing up to pick his wallet.
“I thought you didn’t have airtime? Where are you going to get the money to offer me anything I want?” Kimberly asked, ma-king Eric raise a brow.
“Last time I checked you don’t buy mineral with airtime, or do you?” Eric asked dryly ma-king Kimberly roll her eyes. He was glad to see she was back to her ‘rolling eye’ self.
“So? And don’t even think of asking for anything above five hundred naira.” Eric warned ma-king Kimberly snort with disbelief.
“You’re so cheap.” She murmured.
“Yeah, but definitely not as cheap as the guys you hooked up with.” Eric retorted ma-king Kimberly throw the only pillow on the be-d at him.
“That was uncalled for.” Kimberly hissed at him ma-king him chuckle.
“Loos£n up. It’s not like I called you cheap, so why are you so protective of them?” Eric asked as he picked up the pillow from the ground and dropped it on her l@p.
“Do you joke over everything?” Kimberly asked with a frown. She couldn’t un-derstand how he could laugh over something that embar@ssed her like that.
He wasn’t smiling anymore, “Tell me something, are you ashamed about your hook ups? If yes, why do you still do it?” Eric asked as he sat down on the be-d beside her.
“Let’s not talk about that.” Kimberly said, looking away from him self-consciously.
“We will talk about it eventually. But I won’t rush you.” Eric @ssured her before standing up.
“So hollandia yoghurt or jui-ce, which do you prefer?” Eric asked wiggling his brow playfully in a way that made Kimberly giggle. Who would have thought he had such a playful side to him?
“Save your money, I’m okay.”
“But it’s your first time here…”
“And hopefully my last too. You’ll move in with me after we get married, so I won’t have to come here again.” Kimberly quic-kly added.
“I see. So what do you suggest we do since you don’t want to talk about yourself?” Eric asked as he returned his wallet. At least no one would say he didn’t try to offer her anything. He was p@rtially glad that she had been considerate enough to turn down his offer since the money he would have used was all he had left on him for feeding. Getting a job wasn’t as easy as he had thought it would be, since most companies offered so little in terms of salary yet expected so much work to be done.
“You could talk about yourself or we could see a movie on Netflix or we could go out. Anything.” Kimberly suggested with a shrug.
“Let’s see a movie. What’s your favorite genre?” Eric asked curiously.
“Drama, ro-mantic comedy, Thriller, Horror, but I prefer K-dramas.” Kimberly said ma-king Eric roll his eyes.
“My mom and sister are fans of K-drama too.”
“Awww! I love them alre-ady.” Kimberly said excitedly.
“Too bad it’s an arranged marriage then.” Eric said dramatically ma-king Kimberly give him a weird look.
“I hope you know we are streaming the movie from your phone? I don’t have enough data for that.” Eric said ma-king Kimberly giggle again.
“For someone as proud as you, I’m surprised you don’t feel ashamed saying you don’t have money.” Kimberly said with an amused smile.
“Ever heard of that phrase, You can’t shame the shameless? You’ll soon realize I don’t feel ashamed saying anything as long as…” Eric’s phone started ringing before he could finish his s£ntence.
He raised a brow when he realized the call was from Prisca and excused himself from Kimberly to take the call, “Yeah?”
“I’m sorry, I couldn’t think of anyone else to call, have you seen Kim? Or is there a way you can reach her? She has been rejecting my call, and her father tried to reach her too but she didn’t take his call. He wants to see the both of you.” Prisca explained, the worry evident in her tone.
“Okay.”
WATCHOUT FOR EPISODE 34