Unfulfilled Promise 2 episode 36 – 37

Unfulfilled Promises

SEASON 2
Episode 36

Oleng smiled as she watched her sleeping son She couldn’t help the love that was pouring forth from her heart for the boy.
He had just returned from Bayelsa with
his dad, The night they had spent talking
had brought about a turnaround in his
feelings for them He and his dad were
now inseparable He had gone with Eric to
the office twice and when Eric had
informed them that he would be traveling
to Yenegoa to check on the site of a new
bridge they were about building and the
completion of the previous one, his son
had pleaded to go with him She smiled in
reminiscence at the look of pure delight
that had filled her sweetheart’s face then
and when they came back this morning
She was all smiles these days She
couldn’t remember the last time she shed
a tear.

A sudden dread she felt wiped the smile
off her face as she closed the door to her
son’s room and went to the kitchen to
prepare lunch They no longer went to
check if Mrs Akpan was back She really
didn’t want to drag her son with her
mother but she knew she would fight
tooth and nail to keep her son with her
She had just finished cleaning the kitchen
after preparing a lunch of beans stew and
fried plantain when she heard a knock on
the door The gate had probably been left
open again by the gardener People
usually knocked on the gate not directly
on the door Shock left her rigid when she
opened the door Mrs Akpan who had
looked radiant and beautiful when she
had gone to ask of the whereabouts of her son was looking very lean, though still
glamorous, what with the expensive
clothes and jewelry on her.

“I’ve come for my grandson, Eric,” she
calmly told her shocked daughter without
any form of greeting or pleasantries.
Oleng closed the door and came to stand
on the doorstep with her arms folded
across her chest.”Which grandson, the
one you gave up for adoption?” she fired
back at her.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about
Just tell him I’m around and we’ll be on
our way.” She was so calm that Oleng lost
her cool.

“How dare you come here to ask for your
grandson? You knew we were looking for
him I confronted you concerning him yet
you didn’t tell me you had him! If not for
the accident he had, we would never have known! You have no right to be here,” she fumed.
Mrs Akpan smiled. “You’re still an ingrate!
I allowed you to have him for two weeks,
now I want him back.”
“You allowed me? Is he a piece of furniture
or what? Wait a minute, you knew he was
here?” She gave an incredulous gasp
“Yes, I gave my gateman a break so
you’d meet no one at home and he would
be forced to stay with you Now that you
have both satisfied your curiosity in
knowing each other, it’s time for him to
come home His high school resumes in
two weeks.”

Oleng was scandalized Before she could
say anything, the door opened and Eric
rushed out.
“Grandma!” he exclaimed with delight and flew into her arms. “I knew it was your.voice I heard. I’ve missed you so much.” “I’ve missed you too, my baby.” His
grandma hugged him and k-ssed him all
over his face which made him giggle
Oleng stood there in thunderstruck
amazement, watching them Was this her
mother or had a loving and caring alien
taken over her body? Her mother had
never for once hugged her, let alone k-ss
her She couldn’t help the jealousy that
overcame her So her mum was capable
of loving a child?
“Darling, why don’t you go in there, get
your things and let’s go home,” Mrs
Akpan compelled her grandson.

Eric looked at the ground. “Grandma,
please can I stay here a bit longer? I just
got to know them.”
Oleng was filled with joy. His grandmother
grimaced and said, “What was the first
rule I taught you?”
Eric lowered his head again and said in
almost a whisper, “Don’t trust anyone.”
“Good! Are you trying to tell me you trust
them now simply because you’ve spent
two weeks with them?”
“Mother! How can you fill his head with
such?” Oleng was appalled.
“Mother?” Mrs Akpan sneered.“I’m your
mother now? I thought you made Vivien
your mother.”
“That’s beside the point here Eric stays
here because he’s my son and he ought
to be with his mother,” Oleng declared
curtly.

“Really?Why didn’t you say that six years
ago when he was suffering at the hands of his foster relatives?”
“You know I didn’t know about him then!”
“Spare me the drama!” Her mother waved
her hand in disgust and turned to her
grandson. “Let’s go home, baby School
resumes in two weeks.Let’s go get you
ready,” she said softly as she stretched
out her hand for him to take it.

He reluctantly placed his hand on hers
but turned to look at his mother sadly
“Eric, darling, please don’t go Stay with
us You know we’ve become a family.You
can’t leave us now.” His mother grabbed
his other hand, pleading
“I’ve got to,” Eric sadly intoned.
“You don’t have to. Think of Erica What
about your father? Think of what your
leaving would do to him,” she
passionately pleaded.

“I want to stay but I don’t want to upset
grandma.Besides, I’ve missed her and
I’ve got a lot of questions to ask her.”
Oleng didn’t know what to do. “Then tell
me you’ll come back.”
“Oleng, stop this!” her mother cut in
sharply “He’s not coming back He has
to be in Chicago in two weeks So say
goodbye to him now because you’re
wasting my time.”
“No!” Oleng vehemently said “You aren’t
taking him anywhere He’ll stay with us.”
“I don’t have time for this. Fine! Let’s ask
him After all, he’s a big boy Eric, baby,
who do you want to stay with? Do you
want to stay with your so-called parents
who didn’t want anything to do with you
until now? Or I, who have always been
there for you? Who took you out of that
hell-h0le, cared for you, nurtured you,
took you abroad and made you never
lack?”

“Mother!” Oleng yelled in shock “That’s
emotional blackmail!” She was disgusted
by her coercive method.
Mrs Akpan smiled “Call it whatever you
like It’s the reality and he knows it!”
Eric lowered his head He so wanted to
stay with his mother and sister whom he
had come to love Somewhere along the
line, he had found himself believing their
story especially when he had gone to visit
his paternal grandparents and his uncle;
Damian had told him how his dad had
been in despair for a long time because
he had thought his mum had broken up
with himnBut there was his grandma to
think about.He didn’t want to hurt nor
disappoint her after all she’d done for him
He loved her to pieces also
“Mum, please let me go with grandma I
promise I’ll visit before I leave We can
communicate through phone calls and
mails when I go back Please, give my
love to Erica when you pick her from her
crèche and…my dad.” Eric was almost in
tears as he spoke.

Then he removed his hand from his
mothers’ and turned to his grandmother
who was smiling smugly.
“No! No!” Oleng countered as she went
after them and blocked their departure at
the gate.

She held on strongly to his arm but as his
grandma forcefully dragged his other hand and he winced in pain, she reluctantly let go and gripped Mrs Akpan on her blouse.
She was ready to fight to death to keep
her son.
“You’re not going anywhere with him, you
this wicked witch You must kill me today
before you leave with him.”
Mrs. Akpan looked at the rough way her
daughter gripped her blouse in the front
and smiled.

“Mum please.”Eric tried to release her
hand from his grandmother’s blouse in
vain “Please don’t do this! I’ll be back I
promise. I need to ask her a lot of
questions. Please…please.”
Oleng released the wicked woman’s
blouse from her grasp at her son’s
passionate plea.
“Please come back,” she informed him
quietly as her son righted his
grandmother’s blouse
She followed them to the car outside,
raining abuses on her mother, damning
her to hell She watched in despair as the
car zoomed off Eric was sobbing silently
by then while his grandma was still
smiling as if she just won a billion dollars
Mission accomplished! She said..

Unfulfilled Promises

Season 2
Episode 37
##########
Eric knocked furiously on the gate He
was mad but knew he had to remain
calm. “Open up. Open up. I know you’re in
there. I just want to talk to my son,” he
yelled, not minding that the neighbors
might hear him.
“What do you want?” Oleng’s mother
yelled when she finally opened the gate,
albeit a little.

“I want to see my son,” he
demanded fiercely.
“You can’t.” She came out to meet him
and shut the gate behind her. “Why don’t
you just leave him alone? He came here
on his own accord I didn’t force him He
wants to be with me not you.”
“I didn’t come here to banter words with
you I just want to see my son.” He tried
remaining calm.

“And I told you. You can’t see him,” she
snapped back at him.
Eric counted to twenty inwardly. “Get out
of my way, woman!” he prompted with
clenched teeth.
“What are you going to do? Beat me up?”
She dared with arms akimbo.
“Don’t push me.” He warned with a finger
“You can’t do anything more than a dead
rat,” she mocked but glared at him in
shock when he grabbed her roughly by her blouse.

“If not for the fact that killing you would
send me to jail, I’d gladly wring your
wicked neck right now! Now get out of my way or I won’t be held responsible for
what I’d do to you for keeping my son
from me,” he fired back in barely
controlled fury
She was too furious to say anything They
both heard the gate open.
“Dad?” Eric (Jnr) softly called.
Eric quickly released the elderly woman
and looked at his son.
“Eric,” he said calmly and bent to hug
him.
“What are you doing here?” his son
inquired.

“I came to see you.”
“You didn’t have to I’m not going back
with you,” Eric (Jnr) coldly told him
His father clenched his fist at his son’s
coldness His grandmother hadn’t wasted
time in poisoning his mind against them
again He glared at her with burning
hatred in his eyes.
“I didn’t come here to take you away,” he
told him.
“Liar! You came here to drag him away
but you won’t succeed You can hire all
the lawyers on earth but I’ll win the court
case. The judge will grant me custody of
him,” his grandmother angrily threw at his
father.

Eric ignored her and held his son’s arms
“I didn’t come here to drag you away I
can’t do that You’re a big boy You’re old
enough to decide who you want to stay
with I’ve seen enough court cases to
know it’s the child who suffers in the
messy custody battle I can’t do that to
you I want to fight for you, God knows I
want to, but I’d only hurt you more and I
don’t want that I came here to tell you
how much I love you I love you very
much I’ve made a lot of mistakes in the
past, but the greatest were wallowing in
alcohol and listening to your mother’s late
husband when I should have gone to meet
her myself no matter what. One thing I’ll
forever regret is not knowing of your
existence before now.

You’re obliged to believe your
grandmother because she took you from
that wicked place but know that had your
mum and I known of your existence then,
we would have gotten to you before she
did. I’m not asking you to choose
between us because I believe we can
work things out but whatever you decide
will be fine by me. Just remember that we
love you. I, your mum, Erica, my family
and your grand aunt,” he said with so
much emotion his son was moved.

“Enough of that!” Mrs Akpan harshly cut
in and went to take her grandson’s hand
sharply.
Eric hugged his son and rubbed his curly
hair, smiling.
His grandmother opened the gate, pushed him in,side gently and shut it again. Then
she faced Eric angrily.
“Don’t you ever come here again Leave
him alone! He has made his choice Bring
on the court case if you aren’t satisfied
with it. Let’s see who will win,” she jeered
triumphantly.

“I meant what I said I won’t fight for him
in court If I wanted to, you can be sure
you’d have no hope of winning. We have
a lot of witnesses willing to testify against
you. Your own sister, the doctor you
arranged the adoption with, his late foster
parents’ neighbour, the home of those
wicked people you took him from which
would prove that we hadn’t known about
him before now, but I really don’t want all
that drama. You can have him now for as
long as you like until the truth comes out
Then watch him hate you for lying to him.
I promise you that,” he declared and
walked away.
She laughed. “So you think You all think
I’m a bad person. What about what Oleng
did? Everything I did was done in her best
interest,” she threw after him as he
entered his car.

##########

“Sunshine, you can’t continue like this.
What’s wrong with you?” Eric said in
exasperation as he came into the living
room to see her dejected form on the
sofa. She didn’t say anything. He sat
beside her on the sofa and cuddled her.
He looked at her swollen eyes and shook
his head sorrowfully.
“Ever since Eric left us a week ago, you’ve
been like this. Sunshine, please stop.
Crying won’t solve anything,” he coaxed
gently.

She looked up at him with red rimmed
eyes. “What do you want me to do? How
can I be happy when my own mother took
my son away from me? You stopped me
from going to her house to fight her. You
don’t want to file for custody.You don’t
understand my pain. It isn’t the fact that
Eric left us, it’s because of what she, the
woman who gave birth to me, did. I know
she has done cruel things in the past but
this surely is the icing on the cake. How
can she hate me so much? That’s my
pain.”
“It’s okay, sunshine. Eric will come back
to us.”

“When?” She sniffed. “That woman would
have taken him out of the country by
now.”
“No. He’s still around.”
“How do you know?”
“I go there everyday.”
She shot up on the chair to stare at him
accusingly. “You go there everyday? You
didn’t tell me.”
He smiled. “I didn’t want to cause you
any form of anxiety knowing how
overemotional you are. I made friends
which Segun, her gateman; of course, with
some naira notes. He tells me stuff about
our son every day. If it’s any form of
consolation to you, Eric is unhappy there.

He told me he’s as silent as a mouse
unlike before the accident when he was
fond of playing music so loud, the wh0le
house would vibrate. Unfortunately, your
mum hasn’t stepped out of the house in a
week either. I think she’s scared he might
leave when she isn’t around. Why she
hasn’t taken him back to Chicago by now
beats me. Maybe she’s waiting for our
next move.”

Oleng smiled and hugged him. “Knowing
her, I bet she’s waiting for us to come and
take him forcefully from the house in order
for her to file a suit against us.”
“Let’s not get our hopes up though. Let’s
continue praying he comes back to us but
I know he’ll be back. He’s my son who
inherited a lot of traits from me. He’ll
figure everything out on his own. It’s just
a matter of time,” he affirmed calmly and
she nodded, praying her son would remain
miserable with his grandmother.

To be continued