CONTRACT MARRIAGE
Contract Marriage - Episode 17
“Good afternoon pastor. What a pleasant surprise sir.” Emeka greeted Pastor Nathaniel, surprised at the pastor’s visit.
“ Good afternoon brother Emeka. How are you doing?” the pastor asked still standing at the door step of Emeka’s office.
“ Doing fine pastor. Please come in.”
The pastor entered Emeka’s office and saw Binta resting on the office table. Binta straightened immediately and greeted the pastor.
Pastor Nathaniel, after he had fully settled on the visitors chair, began.
“ Without taking much of your time brother Emeka, I’ll like to go into the reason why I’m here.” The pastor said.
And paused for a while.
"...I was at my office this afternoon, when I had a strong leading in my spirit to come and pray for you and your family.” The pastor said and continued.
“... Prior to that time, I had a revelation about you brother Emeka…. The enemy is set out to sieve you like a wheat…. But I have prayed for you that the Lord will have mercy on you and loose you from every shackles of bondage so that you won’t loose everything you have laboured so hard for……” Pastor Nathaniel said.
Emeka’s phone began to ring.
He sighed, knowing who it was.
Juliet won't stop calling, he wish he can fly down to her
Something was pushing him to hurry back to his Juliet
The pastor suddenly showing up is affecting the whole thing
“ Pastor, I was actually about to go out for something very important, before you came in….” Emeka said a little hurriedly.
Pastor nodded his head and looked up at Emeka.
“ Don’t worry brother Emeka…. Whatsoever it is you need to attend to, can wait…. But this prayer….. it cannot wait.” He said and rose to his feet.
“... Shall we pray?” Pastor Nathaniel said.
***********************
One Month later.
The wind rustled on the window panes followed by a lightening, then an angry thunder storm which vibrated, shaking the very essence of the building as the heavy rain poured down mercilessly.
She turned from one side of the king sized bed to another, shivering inspite of her unconscious state. There was a struggle as she turned from side to side with tears pouring from her eyes. She continued breaking into intermittent shivers as the wind rustled, followed by more thunder storms.
Her heart palpitated as she picked herself from the floor and began to run as fast as her legs could carry her. The thunder was catching up with her in the thick forest as she kept running, supporting her flapping breasts with her hands and screaming for help to whoever it may concern. At first, it was the thunder that pursued after her, but now, the very ground she stepped on had opened it’s mouth in an attempt to swallow her.
She increased her pace as she ran on, until she saw a small building in the midst of the forest.
“ There must be someone in it to help me out.” She thought, and began to run towards the very building. The gate was opened and she managed to get in and forcefully locked the gates against the boisterous wind.
Immediately, there was calm.
She walked slowly as if she counted her steps as she approached the building entrance.
Opening the door, she entered in the same pace. The room was dark, except for a little lantern that lit the far end of the room.
The familiarity of the room hit her as she moved closer to the light with her heart palpitating. The dampness of the rags lying carelessly on the floor, filled her nostrils.
The building looked deserted already. But she could hear whispers as she approached, whispers that became clearer and clearer, until she saw them each, sitting on a stool and staring at her. They were five in number which focused intently on her.
But the oldest of them was a man and a woman putting on faded pieces of clothes that looked like rags. The man supported his frame with a stick.
“ Welcome home Omar.” The man's voice vibrated in the small room.
Omar shook her head in despair, with a look of disdain in her eyes.
“ This is not my home!!.... And I don’t know you all!!” She said, pointing her hands at them.
They all broke into an hysterical laughter that sent shivers of fear down her spine.
The old man stood up immediately and began walking towards her. Revealing his toothless gums as he approached her.
The more he approached, the more she moved backwards.
The man saw this and broke into a deep frown.
“ No matter what you do Omar or where you run to….. You cannot run away from your family!!.... We are your family!! And I am your father!!” The man said with authority.
“ No!! You are not my family!!!.... I don’t know you all…. Please stay away from me!!” Omar yelled.
Suddenly, the wind began to rustle again, prompting the other four to stand to their feet and walk towards her with a frown on their face.
They began to chant loudly and in unison as they approached her.
“ A Leopard cannot change its spot, this is where you belong!!….. A leopard cannot lose it’s spot, this is where you must return!!!”
They chanted on and on as they closed in on her. She turned suddenly in an attempt to run, but she saw the thunder moving close to her in speed. Suddenly, she turned back and saw five hands pull her aggressively.
She opened her mouth and screamed at the top of her voice, shaking vigorously as more tears poured out of her eyes.
“ Wake up!….. Wake up Omar….. it’s a nightmare!!” Ife shook Omar vigorously on the bed as she kept turning from one side to the other, letting out a deafening scream.
Omar vibrated aggressively on the bed until she suddenly jerked awake and saw Ife holding her. Beads of sweats broke out on her face inspite of the intense cold the heavy rain ushered in.
“ It’s just a dream….ok.” Ife whispered, still holding unto her with deep concern written on his face.
He took out a piece of cloth and mopped the beads of sweats on her face. As he reassured her that it was just a dream.
The lightening flashed and the thunder struck aggressively, causing her to shiver again in fear as more tears flowed from her eyes.
“ Omar it’s ok stop crying..” Ife said calmly and gathered her in his arms, petting her as he stroke her hair tenderly.
“ I hate thunder storms!!” She said tearfully.
“ I know you do….. it’s ok.” He assured her. This was the second time he had seen her in such a state, under the similarity of the condition that there was a thunderstorm too.
“... Let me get you some coffee…. Ok.” He said and stood up to leave but she held onto his hands.
“ Please don’t leave me here!!” she begged.
He nodded and stroke her hair more tenderly.
“ It’s ok….. let’s go together.” He said and pulled her to her feet and they headed to the kitchen.
It’s been more than a month of their wedding in Dubai and she had learnt so much about the man she married. Such as his strengths, his weaknesses, his daily routine, and habits. But what stunned her the most was his culinary skills.
He was a fantastic cook who had no domestic staffs apart from the gateman and a cleaner who came in thrice a week to clean.
Even amidst his busy schedule at the office. He always found time to cook and served her and the middle aged gate keeper.
There were times she had taken it upon herself to also cook him meals, but he never enjoyed her cooking and would rather have several things to correct about her meals.
At first, she felt offended at his insistent corrections, but eventually decided to relax and leave the cooking aspect to him.
He was stubborn, and a perfectionist who always liked his things left exactly the way he kept them. She also discovered he was strong willed and seemed to have a shock absorber for any situation he found himself. He was also a fast thinker and didn’t like to lasciviate in his decisions, especially at the company, since he took up the leadership position of the company about three weeks ago.
He does his routine exercises five times in a week, except for Tuesdays and Thursdays, and loved to take chilled glasses of water after his exercises. He only slept for five hours at nights because he spent most of his time in his study room, scrutinizing documents and files and seemed to be serious most of the time.
Ever since Mr. Coker was forced by the members of board to hand over the leadership of the company to Ife, he had been going in and out of the police station undergoing intense questioning by the police about the relationship between him and a man called spider. Mr Coker had denied vehemently about his involvement in Ife’s attempted múrder case, despite the fact that spider confessed he was being sent by Mr Coker. But Ife never relented in his decision to charge his step father to court.
Richard, on the other hand, had kept his distance from Ife and never interfered in his decisions in the company.
Ife had suggested to her that he would love her to be actively involved in the activities of the company, and she accepted as a reason of the fact that she didn’t want to remain at home alone in the boring house. Although, she could have spent the time in the company of her friends, but she was curious to know how the company operated, besides, she wanted to limit down the time she spend in the company of her friends, because she was resolute in turning a new leave.
And in turning a new leave, she needed something new.
And so, she followed him to work on daily basis. She had an office given to her which was close to Ife’s office.
As days turned into weeks, Omar found herself more interested and intrigued by the work in the company.
She loved attending meetings and watch Ife dish out instructions in an orderly manner. The more he handled the company firmly, and manouvered his way through delicate situations, the more she got attracted to him.
Age they say, is truly just a number!!
Guilt washed over her each time she remembered how she had initially looked down on him because of his age until she realized now, that he had the intelligence and maturity way above his age.
Back in the kitchen,
Omar stood resting on the kitchen slab with a mug of steaming hot coffee in her hands, as she watched Ife expertly marinate the chicken on the gas, while he also removed the toast bread from the toaster. The aroma filled the kitchen, igniting a strong appetite in Omar as she licked her lips in anticipation of the sumptuous meal.
He was wearing a thick robe, but the outline his biceps still protruded inspite of the robe.
He turned to her and smiled sweetly, wearing the posture of a chef, he said.
“ Breakfast is ready ma’am…. Why not go to the dinning table, so I can serve you.”
Omar chuckled softly and bit her lower lip.
“ On the contrary sir…. I think I’ll rather have it here.” She said and helped herself to a mini dinning table in the kitchen.
He smiled more.
“ As your worshipfulness pleases.” He said and bowed.
And Omar bursted into laughter. He had a way of making her laugh genuinely with ease these days.
A way of breaking down the wall of defence she had built around her over the years. And the more she grew attached to him, the more she feared.
She feared that his niceness to her was probably his way of carrying out his side of the contract. She wished there and then it wasn’t a contract marriage. She hated to be vulnerable but she couldn’t help it around him anymore.
“ Are you alright?” Ife asked her, noticing a touch of sadness in her expression as he served her more pieces of toast bread and refilled her mug of coffee.
She looked up and met his worried gaze, and smiled.
“ I’m alright…. Thanks.” She said in more of a whisper, watching him settle beside her with his plate of toast bread and coffee.
She reached out her hands and took a bite of the snack.
“ Hmmm!!” She exclaimed involuntarily, biting hungrily into the snacks and savouring the taste.
“ This taste real good.” She said in honesty.
“ Thanks dear.” Ife said and smiled.
“ Where did you learn how to cook like this?” she asked him.
“ From my mother…. She was more of a house wife who spent more time in the kitchen cooking and tending to my needs.” He said.
“ Wow!!.... Your mom must have been an excellent cook!!” Omar remarked cheerfully.
“ Yes she was….. until my father díed and she lost her vigour.” Ife replied subtly.
“ Oh! So sorry about that….. the dëäth of your father must have affected her so badly.” Omar voiced in a sad tone.
“ Yes it did…..my father was a good man who cared deeply for his family…. Even till his déåth.”
“ How did he dïe?” She asked.
Ife exhaled.
“ He was involved in a ghastly motor accident on his way from the airport.”
“ Oh!!... I’m so sorry about that!!” Omar apologized.
“ It’s ok dear…it’s been seven years now and I have moved past that stage a long time ago.” He said with a smile of assurance.
She nodded her head and they resumed eating their snacks in silence.
But Ife broke the silence.
“ What about you Omar?..... You never spoke about your family for once…. Even when I asked you the day before our wedding, you smartly changed the subject.” Ife said.
She froze in-between the bites and met his intense gaze.
“ Tell me about your family.” He said.
(Do not take credit or Plagiarize AMAH'S HEART stories)
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