Lady k
"Welcome home Madame Racheal."
Yes, you got it, Kora and her mother were not the only ones affected by the sudden news. Racheal was too. The entire news about Kora's arrest had reached the ears of every student in NAUN, every staff, every wall, and when it got to her ears, she had to run as fast as she could home in the middle of her class. She knew she had to make good use of that information and take a great advantage of the opportunity in front of her. She knew she had to see her father.
Racheal barely even had the time to listen to the maids that greeted her on her way to the stairs and towards her father's room. She was in a hurry to meet up with him right after one of the maids had informed her that he was about to leave the house. She couldn't let him leave. She knew she had to stop him from doing anything to help Kora. She got there right in time, running into her father's room as fast as she could without the courtesy of any prior warnings.
"Daddy!"
She stopped running after she yelled his name like that. On a very good day, in a moment where his house wasn't in a chaotic state, Racheal knew she was going to be disciplined for her grand entrance into his room without knocking but that wasn't a very good day after all, plus, her etiquettes were the last thing Peter was worried about at that point.
"Where are my keys?"
He was pretty occupied at the moment, searching for his car keys. You should have seen how disorganized he was. He had turned his room into a chaotic state since he got the news. Racheal took a step in and then another as she watched him make a mess of the top of his drawer in search for his keys.
"Daddy?"
He stopped for a second and then turned to face her. Beads of sweat clouding his forehead even with the air conditioner on. He was nervous, she could see it.
"Oh, Racheal." He didn't even have the time to look at her for more than two seconds, before he turned right back to the drawer. "You're home." He kept searching. "I'm sure I kept those keys here." He said to himself as he cleaned his sweaty palms on his white silky agbada wear.
"D-dad," Racheal took another step into the room. "Is anything the matter?" She still managed to ask even as she saw he wasn't really in the position to answer her questions at that point. "Are you going somewhere?"
He didn't say a word to her. He didn't want to lose his focus. He squinted his eyes right beside the mirror on the drawer for a second and then let out a relief exhale. Thank God.
"I've found it!" He announced, picking up the keys from the drawer and raising it up in the air so she could see it. Like she cared about it anyway. Racheal rolled her eyes.
"Daddy, where are you going?"
The smile on his face faded a little bit and then completely especially since he noticed the huge frown on her face.
"What do you mean by that question?" He asked her. "This is not the right time to ask for money Racheal. I have to go and see his excellency Babatunde. I need to find a way to get your sister out of NDLEA's custody. He has ties with the chairman. He's the only person that I can think of right now to help us."
Help them?
Racheal scoffed. Peter hurried as fast as he could towards the door.
"Let's talk about your pocket money tomorrow. I have your account details, remind me tomorrow and I'd send you some money." He came to a stop in front of her. "Ehn?"
"Daddy." Racheal moved her eyes so she could look right into his.
"Mnnn?"
"Don't help them," she told him. "Don't help her. You can't help her."
He looked at her for a second, maybe he thought it was a joke at first but when the frown on her face didn't turn to a smile two seconds later, he couldn't help but start to think she was really serious.
"What?"
"Daddy," she quickly leaned closer to him and then reached for his hands. "Daddy, you always helped them when they needed it. For the past two years, this family has provided them both with the help they needed, let's look away this time around huh," she was trying to plead with him with her eyes. "Can we just pretend like we can't do anything for them this time around?"
"Kilo de?" Her father pulled his hands from her, pouting his lips like he was exhausted of all the drama, like he didn't need any of it anymore. "What is it again? I thought we already talked about this and agreed to treat them like a part of this family?"
"But they are not a part of this family Daddy. That woman and her daughter, they are not a part of this family-" Racheal had tears in her eyes.
"What are you talking about? He asked her. "Lilian is my wife and Kora is her daughter, that makes her my daughter too. That makes them a part of this family. How can you suggest that I turn a blind eye to any of this? I should let her rot in the custody of the NDLEA? I should act like I can't do anything even when I can?" He frowned immediately. "You're starting to act naughty again Racheal, I did not raise you like this. I'm going to pretend like I didn't hear what you just said."
He took a step to leave again, this time, he walked away from her just a little bit. It wasn't working. Her persuasion wasn't working. Racheal bit on hard to her lower lip. She knew she had to act quick. She couldn't let him leave as he wanted to. She turned quickly.
"Are you really going to help them?!" She yelled after him, running behind him as fast as she could down the stairs. "Are you really going to put them first again? Before me?!"
He shook his head. He wasn't even listening to her. He was pretending not to. He ran faster down the stairs.
"Luke broke up with me today Daddy, and it's all because of her. Because he still likes her. You know how much he means to me, but she still managed to take him from me just like she took you and they took this house. How can you still decide to help them knowing how I hate them? knowing how upset it would make me?"
They got downstairs, now he was heading towards the front door. "What about my mother, do you know how upset she would be right now? She would be rolling in her grave watching this right now, seeing that you didn't keep your promise to always make me happy. You didn't listen to me when I begged you not to bring them into his house in the past and you're not listening to me right now."
"Good evening sir." One of the maids greeted Peter as soon as he got to the front door. She leaned over just so she could open it for him. Racheal could see that he really wasn't going to stop. Her plans weren't working. He didn't care about her tears either. He was hell bent on helping Kora as it was . There was only one thing she could do now. One way to make him listen . She stopped walking just as the maid opened the door.
"I'm going to leave this house!" She yelled.
Peter halted, refraining from taking another step outside the house. That was it, she got his attention now. He quickly turned to look at her, his frown getting worse. It toughened her ego.
"I'm going to move out of this house if you ever help them. If you bring them back to this house. I'd move to my grandmothers house or one of my aunties' house."
"Oluwaseyi!" He yelled her name at the top of his lungs.
"And I'm going to tell them the truth. I'm going to tell them the real reason mother died. I'm going to tell them how her death wasn't an accident. I'd tell them the whole truth. How you chased my mother out of the house that night after your fight with her because she found out about your mistress. How you chased her into the streets, in front of the car that took her life!"
"Are you threatening me now?" He asked glaring at her. "Oluwaseyi has it come to this now?"
"I was there remember, I saw everything. The only reason I lied to them as you asked me to was because I knew they were not going to let you rest if they ever found out what you did. You owe me. And if you help Kora today, if you get her out of that place, I'm going to hate you. I'm going to run to them and I'm going to tell them what I know and right after that, I'm going to kill myself! I'm going to run in front of a moving car and make sure I don't come out alive just the same way my mother died."
He exhaled. The look in her eyes had changed. At that point, he knew she meant it, every single word. He took out his glasses and rubbed his nose bridge, exhaling again. He needed to calm his nerves. He needed to think.
"Why?" He asked her. "Why do you hate them so much? What did those two people ever do to you? How did they offend you that you cannot learn to accept them? How can you harbor so much hate for a woman that has done nothing but love you and try to get you to accept her for so long? What did they ever do to you for you to hate them so much?"
He paused for a while and then nodded.
"Fine, I take responsibility for what happened. If you're going to hate anyone, then it should be me. If you're going to hate anyone then hate me. I brought them into this house, hate me."
"Don't think I don't." She cut him off, a drop of tear falling from her face. "You made me like this, you fueled me with so much hate. You're the reason I'm like this. If only you were a good father to me and a good husband to my mother when she was alive, if only you didn't always come home late and you didn't have so many women you slept with outside, if only you showed her and gave her the respect she always begged you for, she wouldn't have died that night." She told him.
"Do you want to know why I hate your wife so much? It's because of you. Because you never treated my mother the same way you treat her right now. It's because you're better to her, way better than you were with my mum. You don't hit her either. My mum would have been alive if you treated her this way. If you ran to her like this each time she got into trouble. You were bad to her even until her last breath. How can you change so easily? How can you change so easily because of another woman when you couldn't even keep this energy towards your own wife? Towards my mother? So yes, I'm bitter and full of hate but don't blame me, don't ever blame me because you made me this way. I can never accept her. I can never accept them or anyone else you bring to this house, not until I'm dead."
She turned back to the stairs.
"Come back here!" Her father yelled at her as he watched her run up the stairs as fast as she could. "Come back here Racheal!"
But Racheal didn't stop for a second. She didn't listen to him. She knew she didn't have to. She kept running and running until she was out of his sight. She ran into her room and then shut the door with a loud bang behind her that made the whole house shake. Including her father.
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
An hour later
Lily rushed into the house.
She had been on her feet since she got Peter's call. She had spent the entire hour waiting for him and the help he had promised to get since Kora was locked up but all she got was a phone call after waiting for two hours, a phone call from him saying there was nothing he could do about it and so she knew confronting him was the only way she could really understand what he meant.
"Welcome home ma." She ran past the maid that got the door for her as fast as she could. She had barely had any rest since she left NAUN. She hurried up the stairs, yelling his name as loudly as she could. Good thing was she knew exactly where to find him. Peter had not left his room since his disagreement with Racheal even though she left thirty minutes later. He just sat in his bed, staring into blank space.
"Peter!" Lilian rushed into the room as fast as she could, breathing fast from all that running. He didn't even turn when he heard her call him, even though he knew she was the one, even though he knew why. It didn't look like he was ready to talk to her or anyone. Lilian could see it. He couldn't even turn to face her, how could he? How could he when he was only about to hurt her feelings. Doing what Racheal asked him was the only way he knew he could save his own skin.
Call him a coward.
That was exactly the kind of a man Peter was. A man that ran away from anything that seemed disadvantageous for him.
Lilian rushed to him as fast as she could. Just so she could stand in front of him. Just so he could look her in the eye and say the things he said to her over the phone.
"Peter." She called him, demanding his full attention but he didn't move. He didn't turn to look at her either. "Peter what's wrong?" She could notice how distressed he looked. "Why aren't you dressed? What happened to the help you said you were going to get? Kora and I," her voice broke. We've been waiting for you for over an hour now. Did anything happen? Did the excellency say he couldn't help?"
She was asking so many questions at once. Who could blame her though, her daughter was about to spend a night in a room filled with men for a crime she didn't commit. There was nothing that frightened her more than that.
Peter took a deep breath and then exhaled.
"I'm sorry Lilian. I don't think I can help you or Kora."
"What?"
"Certain situations would not let me-"
"Certain situations would not let you do what Peter?" She cut him off. She was starting to tremble now, twice as much as Peter was. She could see how he was trying to hold back, to stop himself from looking so sad in front of her. "Is it Racheal?" She finally asked him. "Are you doing this because of your daughter? Did she ask you not to help us?"
"I'm Sorry." He couldn't even look her in the eye without feeling so guilty. Lilian needed a moment. She needed a moment to understand what was going on. She didn't. She couldn't.
"I don't- I don't understand. You said you were going to help us. You said you knew who could. What changed?" She asked him. "How can you change your mind like this. Is it that you can't help us or you won't?"
"I'm sorry." He repeated.
"You're sorry?" She scoffed. There were tears forming in her eyes now. "You're sorry for what?"
He dropped his head, narrowing his gaze on his hands. He felt so ashamed.
"It's my daughter we are talking about here Peter. My daughter. I know you probably don't care because you're not her father but she means the whole world to me, she's your family too. How can you leave her there, in that cell on her own when there's a chance for you to help her? How can you do this without any explanation- why are you doing this? How can you turn your back on us, how can you turn your back on me? Would you just let her rot in there?"
He exhaled.
"Just give me a few days." He raised his head to look at her, slowly reaching for her hands. "Just give me a few days to sort out some things and I promise, we'd get her out."
Lilian scoffed. She couldn't believe her ears.
"A few days is all I'm asking for." He squeezed her hands. "My love, please."
Was he really suggesting that Kora slept in a cell under NDLEA custody until he was actually ready to help get her out? She slowly pulled her hands away from his hold.
"Would you have done the same thing if it was your daughter in there today?" She asked him.
"Ehn?"
"I'm asking if you'd have kept the same energy if Racheal was the one to sleep in a cell for a few days and not Kora."
"That's not the situation-"
"It looks exactly like it."
"You can't compare both scenarios-"
"Why not?" She asked him. Peter exhaled when he realized how stupid what he said had sounded. It was his honesty but he realized how unnecessary it was. "Because she's not your daughter?"
"Lilian-"
Lilian scoffed.
"What was I thinking?" She asked herself. "I should have known. I should have known all along. Even when your daughter was so mean to us, mean to her, she took it all in. I made my daughter live a really hard life, an unhappy life in this house even when it was clear that she wasn't going to ever be accepted. You're no different. You're no different from all the men in our past."
"What?" Peter slowly got up from his bed. "What did you just say to me? How is any of this my fault?" He asked her. "All I've done since I got married to you is take care of you and your daughter, like she was my own even at the detriment of my own daughter's happiness. How dare you compare me to all those men from your past? If there's anyone to blame for your daughter's unhappiness it's you. You brought this upon yourself when you chose to live your life the way you did. From one man to another, from one home to another. How am I to blame for this? Why do I have to be responsible for any of this?!"
Wow.
Trust me, I was having a harder time believing that those words had just come out of this man's mouth than Lilian was. She looked awfully calm after hearing those words. More like she saw it coming. More like she had expected it. Or was it that she already blamed herself for all of it so it didn't sound like a surprise to her. Peter on the other hand didn't. He had no idea why he said what he said and by the time he had realized the weight of his words, it was too late.
"Lilian," his voice was calmer now as he tried to reach for her hands but Lilian pulled herself away from him.
She needed a second. A second to think of the right words to say. She sniffed and then turned to the wedding ring on her finger. She started to pull it out.
"What are you doing?" Peter watched her.
"My children are the most precious things to me. I'd do anything just so they can live, just so they can be happy, so they can have the life I never got the chance to live. Kora means just as much as Micheal means to me, and to accept either of them means you'd have to accept the other one, to accept me, it means you have to accept all my children and not one. If you can't see my own child as your own, if you feel Kora is less deserving of your love and care and support because she isn't your child, then I don't deserve your love either."
She threw the ring on the bed.
"I'm going to find a way to save my child, with or without your help."
Lilian turned away and then stormed out of the room as fast as she could.
There had to be a way. A way to save Kora. A way to help Kora and she had to find that way. She was going to save her no matter what she had to do. No matter what the cost was. She knew she had to save her child.
Her Kora.