THAT FAMILY REUNION EPISODE 18 (THE FINALE) I hear gasps in the room as everyone acts like I’ve committed an abomination. I don’t look at them, I don’t look at Kunle, instead, I stomp towards my grandma’s room and bolt the door. I love him very much. But I won’t be with him because it is the next rational thing to do. He is not ready for the step, yet he is asking me to take it because he wants to be a responsible daddy. I admire who he is but I just won’t do that. There’s a knock on the door but I ignore it. I need to be alone. I want to be alone. “Morenike” my mom calls but I ignore still. After she knocks a bit more, she leaves. I just need to be alone. I lay on the bed and I try to think about what just happened. Would he leave? Would he ever come back if he does leave? I sleep off not too long after that and I wake up very early the next morning. It is no surprise Kunle Davies isn’t anywhere to be found. My great aunt corners me once she sights me. “Morenike, come” then without leaving any room for an answer as usual, she drags me along with her. This woman! To think she put me in this situation. “I understand what might have made you give a negative answer to that boy yesterday but remember, he has a heart also. Remember what your actions do to others not just what theirs do to you” I nod in response and for the rest of the day, what she said stays with me. I can’t help it; I can’t shake it off. I go to Kunle’s parents’ house and his mother lets me in. “He’s in love with you…” She begins as soon as we sit. And I know that he is. I am very convinced that he is. I just want to be so sure about it. I want to know we aren’t making things move a bit too fast. “I have been married for thirty five years, long enough to know that if you wait to be hundred percent sure about some feelings you would never make the commitment. This isn’t a romantic comedy where it has to be perfect, this is real life where perfect is an illusion. As much as I don’t know what happened between you two that made him deeply hurt and eventually led to him leaving, I’d advise that you don’t expect a perfect situation. This is the same thing I told him” I try not to shed tears as I hug her and leave. I’m not sure he would ever come back. ************** If I was a teenager with a diary, this is how I’d record the events of the following days; Monday I wake up @ 8.30am and gaze at the ceiling while thinking of Kunle. I don’t call him, I’m still forming stubborn (˘̯˘ ). I sleep back and gaze at the ceiling when I wake around 10am. I puke a bit, eat like a whale, ignore everybody in my family including my mom, monitor my son and go back to bed. zZzzZZ Tuesday Repeat the actions of Monday. Wednesday Repeat the actions of Tuesday Thursday Repeat the actions of Wednesday halfway (of cos includin’ the part where I miss Kunle) My mom came to drag me out for grandma’s wake keep. Btw, my baby bump is beginning to show. I’m excited! Friday Our ankara for the funeral arrive. The designer is good! Damn, she didn’t even get my measurements. I cry a bit, knowing that grandma would be laid to rest soon. I am tempted to call Kunle. But I don’t. Saturday We bury grandma and I wail more than her children. I’m sure she’d wonder why I’m so pained wherever she is. But I’m usin’ the opportunity to relieve myself of the hurt and loneliness. I miss Kunle ☹. Sunday My phone rings and it is Kike Oni. :o :s she miss road? The conversation goes like this: Kike: (calmly) Hello Morenike, this is Kike Me: Kike Oni? Kike: (laughs) Kike Omopariola Hehehe. Whoever knew she had such an interesting surname. Wait…did she just say Omopariola …did she leave Makin? Kike: I’m outside your house; I need to see you. Outside my house? What for? Good thing I’m not home. Then I tell her calmly I’m not home and just as I’m about to hang up she says “Morenike, please give me the address to your family house. I need to see you in person” I consider her request for a while and finally tell her how to find her way to my family house in Ibadan after I decide she can’t gun me down with all the people around. When she arrives at my door two hours later, I stand there, not letting her in. “Can I come in?” She asks. I shake my head “I won’t pretend like we are best of friends Kike. What do you want?” “To apologise for the other day” she responds. I watch her closely and through the make up and pretty face, I can swear she is sad. I sigh and remember she travelled all the way from Lagos; this must be serious. I step aside and let her come in. “Celebrate bring me a can of drink and a clean glass” I say to my houseboy who disappears in seconds. “I didn’t even know there was a Muna” she says to me as soon as Celebrate leaves. There are guests and a few family members in the sitting room but their voices don’t disturb us in the dining room. I listen with rapt attention. “He told me it would never happen again when I found out about you the first time” “That was the last time” I snap. She nods “I’m sorry…” Celebrate places a tray containing a can of drink and glass on the table then leaves. We don’t say anything for a long time and I soften a bit. The woman seems to be going through a lot. “He lied, cheated, claimed he was sorry and then went back to lying and cheating. After our drama at the office that day, I confronted him about Muna. He lied at first and I let it be. Then I started looking for my own ways to find the woman. He was going to marry her! Marry another woman without telling me” I feel really sorry for her. Makin deserves to be in hell really. “I left him after I’d confronted him. He begged me but I am not going back. Never. I’ve taken away our kids and he’s never seeing them again. I just came here to say sorry. I reacted wrongly that day and I needed you to know I’m not that woman, I just had enough and …” I place my hand on hers gently. I can feel her pain; I don’t need to be in her shoes to feel it. Makin is one big animal. “I am sorry” she says again. “It is okay Kike. You have your kids, move on and let him continue to be the animal he is” I say gently. She nods. I try to lighten the mood a bit by nudging her to discuss her job, anything but Makin. When we are done some ten minutes later, she gets up ready to leave. Her phone rings. “Hello? Yes? Not Kike Oni anymore…Yes? Oh. Okay” Then she faces me, “I just received a call to come identify Makin Oni’s body. He had an accident this morning and died on the spot” Honestly, at that moment, a slap would have made me less shocked. She just heard about her husband’s death and she isn’t bothered? It goes to show how much Makin hurt her. It goes to show how numb he has made her to the pain around her. I can’t help myself as I gather her up in a warm embrace. As if that’s her cue, she bursts into tears. I feel so sorry for this woman, maybe that sperm distributor really needed to go. The hurt he caused me was bad but what he is causing this woman is deeper. This is the woman he pledged his life to, the one he should have been ready to go to the ends of the world for. He should never have hurt her like this. Kunle would never hurt me like this, I realise. He would never let me go through life worrying about some other woman. I know this now. I offer her room in my house to calm herself. I won’t let her drive to Lagos in that state. Makin is dead, wow! Life is just one thing you are never sure of. 1 second, things are one way, the next you don’t know what’s happened. I remember the last months and how much of the changes I have witnessed, how much of it I have gone through. The next morning, Kike asks for me to go pick Makin’s corpse with her. I hesitate and she says “please Morenike. I need this. If not for me, do it for his son, Ore” And I follow her. ******************** I try to force Kunle out of my mind for the next one week and when I can’t do it again, I head for his bungalow after I make a few calls to my former office, asking the human resource head for the address. “Let me in” I say when he opens the door. He steps aside and I walk in. He closes the door behind me. I have never been here but I must say, it looks good. It is his own place, a tastefully but sparsely furnished sitting room. “Let me make you understand this Kunle Emmanuel Davies, I won’t jump at an offer to spend the rest of my life with you when you didn’t give me a chance. When you refused to let us discuss our future first, when you proposed without thinking. You are a cow for that and you are a worse cow for not looking for me…I’m in love with you! Yes I said it. And I was just scared all the while because I didn’t want to make another mistake, I wanted us to be for real, I wanted…” “Morenike” he calls Then he moves closer, holds me and kisses me. “I love you. And I’m sorry. I should honestly I’ve given you time. It hurt to see you turn me down and that’s why I left. I needed for you to see if you truly loved me and get back to me if you wanted us” he places another kiss on my forehead “I miss you.” We make love on his couch and after we are done, he places his hand on my stomach and says “you are beautiful. I am sure no other woman makes pregnancy look this good”. I smile. And then laugh. Damn! I’m going to get on the rooftop and scream “I’m in love”. He kisses me on the lips and says “I resigned. And I’m starting my own business, Lambo wanted me to take Makin’s place but I’d rather start my own PR firm. Would you work with me? As partner?” Why not? I nod “yes baby daddy” “Can I celebrate this by taking you on a vacation to Burj Al Arab?” Is there another answer to that question? Of course yes. I nod excitedly. He proposes to me again on that trip and I say yes. I am giddy with excitement as he slips my Chris Aire ring into my fourth finger. This proposal is way better than the first one. We head to Ibadan to see my people and when I see Mobola around the house, I can’t help but ask “Aren’t you returning to the UK?” “My papers. I have a problem with them” she responds. And I don’t know what to say but I hug her still. I’m happy and I need everyone to know that I have forgiven them. My family members are glad I have made up with Kunle and when we tie the knot a few weeks after in a lavish ceremony with my son as ring bearer. He’s so happy! He loves Kunle and Kunle loves him. My family members have reunited and I know I would attend the next family reunion after the last one. I am happy. And if I had to put this in a diary I’d do this; Dear Diary, Welcome to the beginning of my happily ever after. Morenike Davies♥ ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡ That’s it guys! The end of That Family Reunion (TFR). By the way, I have a little treat – I have written two different endings for you; the second one comes up later. @tomilola_coco
Posted on: Mon, 12 May 2014 09:31:15 +0000