PRICELESS ONE
Priceless One - Episode 12
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“ What happened to him?” Chima’s mom asked Sandra on seeing her son look so weak.
Sandra had supported his frame with her shoulders as they alighted in front of his house and brought him out of her father’s car which she drove.
She pushed the gate bell and the security man peeped through the gate hole. He opened the gate immediately, recognizing Sandra as Chima’s friend, he saw Chima with her and assisted in carrying him inside and laid him gently on the sofa. After which he went in and informed his madam.
“ He went for a night party and had too much alcohol.” Sandra replied Chima’s mom.
The woman had thought all this while that her son was sleeping soundly in his room, totally ignorant that he had since left the house.
“ What kind of party did he go to?..... And he didn’t even bother to inform me?...... So he went out for a party while I thought he was still sleeping in his room?”
She turned to the gate man.
“Musa...Were you aware that Chima left this house for a night party?..... Because there is no how Chima will leave this house without you opening the gate for him?” She questioned him.
The gateman fidgeted.
“ Madam…. Chima only told me that he wanted to get suya at the junction…. That was why I opened the gate for him…. I didn’t know he was going to a party.” The gateman explained anxiously.
“ So you allowed him out of this house without my permission?..... Ehn Musa!.... You must be sick!!..... So is this how he has been sneaking out of this house at midnights without my knowledge?......” She fired at Musa angrily.
“...If anything happens to my son….. you will sleep in jail for the rest of your life!!!” She threatened him.
“...Anyway….I will come back to your case later.” She said and turned to Sandra.
“...So you and Chima went to a night party and you watched him get drunk?.....Are you both supposed to be wasting away your lives in a night party at this stage of your lives?.....” She interrogated Sandra.
Sandra was speechless.
“...Is your father aware that you went for a night party?” She questioned her further.
Sandra lowered her gaze to the floor.
“ No ma.”
“ So you also sneaked out of the house like Chima did?” She asked.
Sandra didn’t give a reply.
“...Yes….. I thought as much……Oya start going home now!!” she instructed Sandra.
Sandra nodded and quietly exited the house. When she got home, she met her grandma waiting for her at the parlour.
“ Oh not again!!” Sandra exhaled. She already had too much drama for one night and all she wanted right now was a good sleep, before thinking of the way forward.
“ Sandra where did you go?” Her grandma questioned her worriedly.
Sandra shrugged.
“ I went for a party.” She replied the woman flatly.
Her grandma clapped her hands in amazement.
“ Is this how you live your life with your father?..... So whenever your father is not around, you will leave the house as you like?” Her Granny chastised.
Sandra scoffed.
“ Granny please I’ve had too much drama for a night …..I need some rest….we will discuss this later in the morning.” Sandra said and walked away, climbing the steps to her room.
“ Sandra!!.... Sandra!!..... Come back here I’m talking to you!!” Her Granny called loudly. But Sandra ignored her as she entered her room and locked the door.
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“ Who are you? And what are you doing in my house sir?” Harriet questioned the man who sat in the living room of her house in pyjamas, sipping from a mug of tea, with a newspaper in his hands.
The last thing she remembered last night was having a short nap on the couch, after which she switched off the lights and went to sleep in her room after waiting endlessly for her mom to return.
Just for her to wake up this morning and prepare for school, climbing down the stairs, she met the man sitting in a relaxed manner.
He looked at her and cleared his throat.
“ You must be Evelyn’s daughter.” He said flatly.
Just then, her mother came out of the kitchen with a cup of tea in her hand. She saw Harriet.
“ Hey darling….. how was your night….hope you slept well?” She sweetly asked Harriet.
“ good morning ma.” Harriet greeted her mom with her tone of voice lacking enthusiasm.
This was the sixth man she had seen in their house within the past two weeks and she didn’t like it at all. She was beginning to suspect the line of work her mother did.
Her mother had told her that she was into the real estate business, but why was she coming so late at nights? And bringing different men these days without minding the fact that she had a teenage daughter at home.
“ I’m ready for school.” Harriet announced.
“ Oh dear……I made you breakfast….. go to the dinning and eat your food.” Her mother said.
“ I’m not hungry….” Harriet said flatly.
“ Are you sure?”
“Yes ma.”
“ Ok let me grab my car keys and take you to school.”
Harriet was quiet through out her journey to school and she had an angry expression on her face.
Evelyn eventually drove to the school park and k!lled the ignition of the car.
“ Ok …..I know there is something on your mind that is eating you up….. and you have to let it out….. so we can settle it now.” Evelyn said to her daughter.
“ I don’t have anything to say.” Harriet said quietly.
“ Harriet…. I know you enough to know that whenever your face is contorted like that, it means you are angry….. so let it out now, so we can trash it.” Evelyn said.
Harriet nodded and swallowed hard.
“ I miss my Grandma…..she always spent time with me and asked me about my day, my friends, what is going on in my school? And literally everything about my life and what I pass through, she knows…….”
Harriet said and exhaled deeply.
“...Even though we didn’t have much money to go round our expenses…. Even though I wasn’t sent to the best of schools, I was contented…..She would gather me in her arms and tell me stories, while Grandpa would share his experiences of his military days with me…… I also miss my friends in the neighborhood….. they usually come to the house to play with me after school, after which Grandma will gather us up and teach us morals…. During that period, you only showed up on a seldom basis….. I barely knew you enough to know that you were even my mother.” Harriet continued.
Evelyn nodded her head.
“ Anything else you want to let out?” she asked her.
“ Yes.” Harriet sighed.
“ When grandma d!ed and I moved in with you….. everything changed for me!..... you just brought me to a big house and abandoned me there….. I’m not even sure the kind of work you do anymore….. since these days, I see you bring different men to the house at late hours of the day…… you hardly have time for me mom….. You just live your life as though I’m not there……coupled with the fact that my school is full of bμllíes….. but that’s not even a problem at all because I can handle them very well…..but I just want you to at least try to be there for me and be involved in my life like my mother.” Harriet let out her pains.
Evelyn sighed deeply and paused for a while before she spoke.
“ I was only eighteen years when I got pregnant of you Harriet……and as at that time, I didn’t know what motherhood was all about……and I was just in my first year in the higher institution, so I had to deal with the pressure of school and keeping up my grades.” She exhaled again.
“...after I gave birth to you, I handed you over to my mother to take care of you and give you the motherly love she never gave me….”
Harriet shrink her face in amusement.
“What do you mean she never gave you...?”
Evelyn nodded.
“ I didn’t live with my parents Harriet….. you see, my mom was a twin and her twin sister was childless, so she had to hand me over to her twin sister to nurture me as her own. But after ten years passed, her twin sister conceived miraculously and gave birth to a son, but since I had spent ten years of my life with her, my mom insisted I continued staying with her…… so I grew up wayward due to many factors I cannot share with you right now……. See Harriet I know I’m not acting like a mother to you right now and each day I see how I have failed to perform my duties, I feel so guilty, but I promise to change Harriet……please all I need is for you to give me some time….. there is this parental course I just recently enrolled in and I have begun lectures already, so I promise to work on my imperfections and be the best mom you’ll ever have.”
“ ...And as for my line of work…..I never lied about it…..I am truly into real estate….. it’s just that I’m already used to a lifestyle of clubbing, and that’s the reason I come so late at night…..but one thing I want you to bear in mind is that…….I love you Harriet….and you are the best thing that has ever happened to me and I’m so glad to have you in my life.” Evelyn said to her daughter.
Harriet was touched.
“ Thanks so much mum…. I’m so glad to hear this words from you.” She replied and they broke into an emotional embrace.
Evelyn kissed her daughter on the cheeks.
“ Alright run to school so you won’t be late.”
“ Yes mum” Harriet opened the door and hurried out but suddenly paused amidst her strides.
“ What is it again?” Evelyn called out.
Harriet returned back to her mom’s car and faced her mom.
“ We are not done with this conversation mom.”
Evelyn rolled her eyes.
“ Ok…..so what else?”
“ I need to know about my father.”
Evelyn gave a startled expression. She wasn’t expecting Harriet to ask her that question.
“ Ok…..we will talk about that later….. but right now it’s school time so you need to run on.” She said.
Harriet nodded her head and smiled to her mother, before walking hurriedly to her school.
Evelyn sat in her car wondering how she will break the news of who Harriet's father is.
(Do not take credit or Plagiarize AMAH'S HEART stories)
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