Christmas In A Box. Volume I.

All About Love - Ife_bohdey

Playlist - Light Of The World by Lauren Daigle.

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"Mom forget it! I'm not coming home for the holidays!" Shade yelled at her mother from her end of the phone. She hoped it wasn't loud enough for her daughter, Noel, who sat in front of the TV in the sitting room, to hear.

"Okay, I've heard you." Her mother sighed. "But I still hope you'll think about it."

"Not a chance!" Shade spat and then hung up.

"Mommy, why are you yelling? Are you alright?" Noel peeked from behind the door, her big, brown eyes staring worriedly at her mother.

Well, Shade's hopes had just been crushed.

"Yes honey, I'm fine," Shade lied. She wasn't close to fine. "Continue watching your cartoon."

"Okay mommy." Noel returned to the sitting room.

Shade sighed as she rested her hands on the small kitchen table. If she rested her whole weight on it, it could break. Just when she'd gotten her life back on track after all those years of struggling, her mother decided to ruin it by calling her. Just when she'd figured herself out and found an almost comfortable life, her mother suddenly cared about her.

"We all miss you, we really wanna see you my dear," she recalled her mother saying."Being together with family during Christmas is very important."

Yeah, right. Not in a million years would she believe that. Was it not the same family that kicked her out and called her a disgrace just because she got pregnant before she finished her university education?

Shade gripped the edges of the table tighter, forcing back the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes. She couldn't break down now. Not after years of holding herself together. She had to put her emotions under control. Sure enough, she managed to.

She walked back to the sitting room. Was just about to sit down when she heard a knock on the door.

"I'll get it," she announced. Noel sat back in her seat after she made to stand up. Shade walked to the door, unlocked it and went wide eyed at who she saw standing before her.

Well, wasn't this season just full of pleasant surprises? Today, her mom called and now, this?

She slipped herself outside and shut the door behind her. Crossed her arms and stared poker faced at the person in front of her.

"What the heck are you doing here?"

"Hi Shade. . . I um. . ." He trailed off.

Shade rolled her eyes. "You didn't answer my question oh. Abi you can't talk again?" Her tone was sharp but at the same time, a whisper. She really didn't want to call the attention of Noel again and most of all, she didn't want her to meet the man standing in front of her. Not now. Perhaps, not ever.

Tonye Davids stood tall in front of Shade. The wiry build he had in his university days had morphed into something more pleasing, especially to the female eyes. With a puffed out chest, sleak muscles and a height of six foot five, his build was something in between a greek god's and a superhero's.

Shade would be lying to herself if she said he wasn't handsome. Even more handsome than she remembered. But that did not mean he hadn't done what he did to her. It did not mean, he had not left her when she'd needed him the most.

"The thing is. . ." Tonye began speaking again and Shade raised a brow, looking sterner than she thought she could pull off. It made his confidence waver but he pulled himself together and tried again.
"The thing is. . . it's Christmas in a few days."