The miracle I need episode 69

#THE_MIRACLE_I_NEED

EPISODE 69

By the time Pete drove into the compound, he was surprised to see that Ella’s car was parked outside, “It seems Ella is here alre-ady so I won’t have to call her.” Pete said thoughtfully. He had been thinking of inviting Ella and Ken so Ken would have the chance to talk to her about how he was feeling.

“Seems so.” Kathleen said, pretending not to know the actual reason Ella was there in the first place.

“Let’s go in then.” Pete said as they both got out of the car, while Pete carried the box and headed for his ap@rtment. They were welcomed at the door by sound of laughter as they walked into the house to see Isioma and Amanda dancing while Chidi, Kathleen’s mom and Ella cheered them on.

Kathleen’s mom was the first to see them, “You returned early today.” She said, drawing the attention of the others to them.

“Good evening ma.” Pete greeted her before turning to look at Amanda, “Daddy!” Amanda screeched excitedly as she cleaned the sweat on her face but didn’t bother going up to him as she kept dancing.

“I see you’re having fun.” Pete noted.

“We are having a dancing competition at my club tomorrow and Aunty Isioma is teaching me how to dance. What are you carrying? Did you get me a new toy?” Amanda asked breathlessly as she looked at the box in Pete’s hand.

“No. It belongs to Kat. I’m just helping her carry it.” Pete said as he handed the box to Kathleen while the others watched them curiously.

“What’s in the box?” Kathleen’s mother asked as she stood up to see what her daughter was carrying.

“Uhm, it’s just clothes.” Kathleen said without meeting her mother’s gaze.

“Clothes? Don’t tell me you went to buy clothes at a boutique o. You never hear say na mumu dey go boutique?” She asked ma-king the others laugh out loud while Kathleen frowned at her mother. It was obvious that this woman had an award in embarr@ssing her.

“I didn’t buy it. Someone s£nt it to me.” Kathleen explained as she turned to leave.

“Who?” Kathleen’s mom asked while Chidi’s eyes remained on Pete’s face. Judging by the blank look on Pete’s face he could guess the gift was probably from him.

“A friend.” Kathleen said before meeting Ella’s gaze who had a knowing smile on her face.

“Let me help you with that. You must be tired.” Ella offered as she took the box from Kathleen.

“Thanks.” Kathleen muttered as she let Ella take it from her, knowing it was just an excuse to go to her ap@rtment for gossip.

“I was going to call you. Let’s talk after you help her drop the box.” Pete said to Ella before heading for his be-droom.
___________

“So what will you be doing by the time I resume work on Monday?” Kimberly asked, wanting to change the subject before she was tempted to ask Eric what he meant by “If it ever happens”.

“I will just use the car to earn money and keep myself busy.” Eric said with a shrug.

“Why not just go back to the company? I’m sure they will accept you back since I believe you were quite good at your job. Plus you’re friends with Tunde, right? He should be able to help you get back your job.” Kimberly suggested.

“I don’t want any serious job. I’d rather just be a stay at home husband and take care of the home while you work. I will use the car to do taxi business and earn money when I’m broke.” Eric @ssured her.

“How much will you earn from that? Besides, you’re my husband now, you shouldn’t be driving a cab. I don’t even like the look of that car in the compound.” Kimberly complained.

“Well, there is nothing wrong with being a cab driver. Or are you ashamed of me?”

“This has nothing to do with being ashamed of you. I’m a s£nator’s daughter and it’s not just appropriate that my husband should be a cab driver.” Kimberly pointed out.

“Well, you’re the s£nator’s daughter, I’m not.” Eric countered.

“Fine. If you won’t get a good job, then don’t drive the cab either. Just take care of things at home and I’ll foot your bills.” Kimberly suggested.

“I can’t allow my wife take care of me.” Eric told her stubbornly.

“Then get a good job for Christ sake!” Kimberly snapped at him ma-king Eric raise a brow.

“Really? You’re not even paying the bills yet and you’re alre-ady yelling at me this way?” Eric asked with a shake of his head.

Kimberly took in a de-ep breath, “I’m sorry. I’m just saying I don’t want you driving that cab. It’s your friend’s cab, right? Take it back to him or sell it if he doesn’t want it anymore. Just don’t drive it or leave it parked outside. I don’t like the sight of it.”

“Yet that was what I was driving when you met me. Kim, I’ve accepted you as you are, you also have to accept me the way I am. It’s that cab I want to drive.” He told her flatly ma-king her sigh.

“You know what? Just suit yourself. Do whatever you like. I don’t care.” Kimberly hissed as she stood up from the couch, picked up her phone and went over to sit on another couch and started scrolling throu-gh her phone even though her mind wasn’t really there.

Eric had an amused smile on his face as he watched her, “Come here.” Eric said after a while, but she pretended not to hear him.

“Come here.” Eric repeated, ma-king her raise her head to look at him.

She blinked in confusion when he tapped on his l@p, asking her to come sit on it, “Come.” He repeated ma-king her reluctantly stand up from where she was to meet him. Eric tugged her hand until she allowed herself fall on his l@p.

“Your pride is the only reason you have a problem with the cab. Think about it, if I get a real job, I won’t be able to give you my complete attention as I want to. I want to be able to rush over to wherever you are if or when you call me. So don’t worry about it, okay?”

“And how do you intend to take care of your mother and sister if you’re only driving a cab?” Kimberly asked grudgingly.

“Don’t worry about that. I can manage. I could take the cab to my house if…”

“No. It’s fine. You can just leave it here. I h@rdly have visitors anyway.” Kimberly said with a shake of her head.

“I’m glad you un-derstand.” Eric said with a small smile.

“But if we are acting like a real couple then you should get a job instead of wanting to answer to my beck and call. I really don’t want you to waste an entire year simply because of our arrangement. If you have a business you’d like to start up then you can show me or better still, I could offer you a job at my company.” Kimberly suggested..

Luckily for Eric his phone started ringing before he could respond to her, “It’s my mom. Are you re-ady to talk to her now?” He asked Kimberly who simply shrugged so he quic-kly accepted the call from his mother

“Ekale ma (Good evening ma), Kimberly is here and wants to say hello to my mother.” Eric quic-kly told her before she could say anything, since Kimberly was still on his l@p and would easily overhear anything she says.

“Oh!?” His mother asked unsure of what that meant. She had only called to check on him and let him know about her phone call to Amaka. She hadn’t really been expecting to speak with Kimberly else they would have planned for it.

“She seems to think I’m married or something and that is the reason I’m always taking your phone calls behind her. So can you just say hi to her?” Eric explained.

“Oh! Sure then. plea-se p@ss her the phone.” Mrs Obasan said excitedly.

Kimberly’s heart was beating really fast now as Eric extended the phone to her, “Wait, what’s she like?” She whispered to Eric nervously.

“She can hear you. Don’t worry, my mom isn’t very mean.” Eric said with a re@ssuring smile. She had asked to be introduced to his family, so she was going to get it whether or not she liked it.

Not very mean? What did that even mean? Kimberly wondered as she reluctantly took the phone from him aa she stood up from his l@p, “Ekale ma.” She greeted in a small voice, ma-king Eric wonder if it was the same person who had snapped at him just a little while ago. Trust Nigerian women to be tigers when talking to their husband, and harmless puppies in the pres£nce of their in-laws.
________

“WOW! I have to admit my brother does have a really wonderful taste in clothes.” Ella said in awe as they both opened the box to see a black, floor length, long sleeved glitter go-wn, with t@ssel embellished off shoulder V n£¢kline, with a long slit in front which st©pped in her right mid th!gh.

“I’m supposed to wear this? For just a d@t£?” Kathleen asked with a frown. The go-wn looked like something celebrities usually wear when going for award ceremonies, not something she couo just wear on a d@t£. It was too extravagant as far as she was concerned.

“You have to admit my brother pays attention to detail though. The go-wn is decent yet stylish.” Ella said without paying attention to what Kathleen was saying.

“How much do you think this go-wn would cost?” Kathleen asked with a frown. She had no doubt that the go-wn was going to be expensive. They had not even started d@t!ngyet he was alre-ady spending money on her, and she wasn’t sure she liked it.

“Shouldn’t you try it out? And the shoe too, to see if it’s your size.” Ella suggested.

“There is a shoe too?” Kathleen asked, and then g@sped when she looked into the box to see a silver colored shoe and a purse to match, with a human hair wig, “You have to be kidding me!” Kathleen hissed ma-king Ella raise a brow.

“What’s the problem?”

“This… All of this is just too much for one d@t£! Where are we going to for the d@t£ anyway? I honestly don’t see the need for any of this.” Kathleen said ma-king Ella roll her eyes.

“Don’t tell me he didn’t seek your permission before getting you the clothes?”

“Well, he asked me to let him pick my clothes… But I thought that meant he was going to pick from my selection of clothes or we were going to go get the clothes together, not that he would just go out and buy the clothes himself.” Kathleen explained in displea-sure.

“So how then did he get your size of clothes or shoe size if you didn’t tell him?” Ella asked reasonably, ma-king Kathleen pause. Why hadn’t she thought of that? How had he known what to buy? She wondered a she picked up the shoe to check it, it was her exact shoe size.

“I’m going to kill that girl!” She hissed irritably.

“Which girl?” Ella asked, and then smiled when it occured to her, “Isioma?”

“Of course! Who else has a big mouth like that? She is the only one who could have checked my clothes and shoe size and told him.” Kathleen said as she eyed the clothes.

“But minus all this initial gra gra sha, admit it that the clothes are fine and you like them.” Ella said with a teasing smile.

“The clothes are fine no doubt! But that’s not the point. I’ll feel self-conscious wearing something like this in broad daylight. I’ll look like I’m going for a p@rty.” Kathleen complained.

“No you won’t. It’s perfectly fine. Besides it’s a Saturday, and dressing up for a d@t£ isn’t a big deal. I’ll have one of my girls come over to give you a makeover… Wait, that rhymed. Come over to give you a makeover!” Ella repeated with a giggle ma-king Kathleen laugh too.

“I should be a ra-pper o. See my flows na!” Ella said with a grin, trying to lighten Kathleen’s mood.

“Anyway, just try the outfit let’s see if any adjustment is needed or if he has to return it.” Ella said with an encouraging smile, “But nuh lie sha, your eye dey the go-wn (don’t deny that you want the go-wn). Besides you don’t expect my brother to pick up clothes from bend down select for your d@t£. Don’t allow that your mother’s ‘na mumu dey go boutique’ line deceive you o. In Lagos we clean up, and we dress up good!” Ella said as she handed the go-wn to Kathleen.

“Meanwhile be giving me the gist I c@m£ for as you’re trying the clothes.” Ella said as she l@yon the be-d and kept her eyes on Kathleen.

If it was Sharon, Kathleen would probably have called her aproko, and teased her about coming all that way for gossip, but since it was Ella she decided they were not yet close enough for such, so she simply smiled as she went on to narrate what her mother had been up to, as well as her encounter with Chuka and how Pete had trailed them to the restaurant. By the time she was done, Ella was rolling on the floor in laughter.

“This is like the funniest story I’ve heard this year.” Ella said as she sat up and wiped the tear from her eyes.

“Well, that’s not exactly all. Your mom was at the company today.” Kathleen said as she turned around for Ella to inspect.

“Oh my God! Before we talk about my mother’s visit, I’d love you to know that you look absolutely breathtaking in that go-wn. Wow!” Ella exclaimed as she stood up, while Kathleen smiled as she looked down at herself appreciatively. She had to admit that the go-wn not only looked nice, but it also felt really good on her skin. Pete undoubtedly had a really good taste in clothes.

“Try on the wig to complete the look.” Ella said as she picked it up from the box. It felt so soft to t©uçh, and Ella could only wonder how much Pete had spent to buy everything here.

“How much do you think he spent buying these things?” Kathleen asked when she felt the wig. It was obviously hundred percent human hair, and it was long.

“Well, I can’t tell, but I’m sure it’s definitely up to a hundred thousand naira.” Ella said ma-king Kathleen’s eyes pop out in surprise.

“Did you just say hundred? Like ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND NAIRA?”

“Yeah, I don’t know exactly, but the wig is obviously above fifty thousand naira, and that go-wn, depending on the boutique he got it from, it could as well be over thirty thousand naira, let’s not talk about the shoe or purse.”

“For ordinary go-wn? Something that my tailor can sew?” Kathleen asked ma-king Ella giggle.

“If you’re going to d@t£ my brother, you’re going to have to drop this mentality. How much do you think most of those clothes in your closet cost me? Leave this talk and tell me about my mother’s visit jare.” Ella said with a dismissive smile. At least it was clear that Pete wasn’t d@t!nga gold digger. If she was going to love him, it was going to be because he was a great guy, and not because of what he had to offer her. That was more than she could say for the other ladies she knew wanted Pete.

WATCHOUT FOR EPISODE 70