Lady K
"I was always wondering when you were going to visit, good thing your wife always did every week to change the flowers, although it had been a while since she stopped by. It's really good to see you finally came. I'm sure she'd be happy to see you too."
Christian let out a weak exhale as he bent over to the gravestone and slowly dropped his bouquet of flowers in front of it, the words of the sexton still clear in his head.
"Forever in our hearts; Veronica Ozor, loving wife and mother."
He could still remember the exact words engraved on her tombstone. How could he ever forget? He made sure to always remember. After his mother was laid to rest, Christian never came to visit for a day. That was the only reason he was able to fight so hard to be where he was. He was going to get revenge for her. To take the company she had worked so hard and sacrificed so much for from his father and come show her the next time he visited. Too bad he was never going to be able to do that, the past few weeks had made him realize a lot of things.
He watched his life rise, fall, become empty and meaningless all in a span of a few weeks, and there it came, at the brink of everything; hope. He was finally finding it possible to live again and this time, he was going to do the right thing. He was going to live right. He was going to forget about everything else, all that hate, revenge, all that sadness, he was going to forget all of it, that was why he was here, to pay his last respects to her. He was finally ready to let her go, ready to let his past go and move on. He wanted to live again. To live for himself again.
He drew a deep breath and rubbed his hands, he could feel the cool breeze on his face. Graveyards weren't really his thing, it gave him the chill. Everywhere felt so empty. Was that how it was for Natalie every time she came?
He didn't even know she still paid weekly visits to his mother. He remembered how she had talked him into going with her the first three weeks into their marriage and how he always turned her down every time. It felt really sad to see that she never stopped. She never stopped no matter how much he discouraged her to. Natalie was a part of him, the best part of him and he didn't see it up until the moment she left. Even with all that anger between them, she was the one that always pushed him to be a better version of himself. He couldn't believe he threw that away. I guess the old saying was right after all, you never really know the good in what you have until you lose it. Losing the company and losing Natalie taught him that.
Christian exhaled and slowly went on his knees.
"It's me Mum." He had his eyes on the tombstone, and his hand laid on his thighs. "It's your son. I've finally come to see you, although I'm late and without any gifts." He let himself smile a little bit. Fancy him talking to a grave. "Forgive me for coming just now, forgive me for being such an unfilial son." His voice broke as he felt a rush of sadness in his heart, his eyes became so glossy from all the tears that hung in them. He sniffed and then let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.
"I tried Mum." He said, trying to stop his voice from breaking so much. He was holding back a lot of pain and hurt in his voice. "I did all I could, I wanted to live for you, I wanted to do everything for you, I was going to get that company back from Dad, be CEO." He chuckled as a tiny scoff escaped from his lips.
"Everyone moved on the moment you died and it made me so mad. They were so quick to forget, to forget you, to forget all your sacrifices and how big your heart was. I was so upset, upset that they all moved on and I couldn't. You were too good for all of us, for all of them and I wanted to keep your memory forever. I was going to become CEO and dedicate the company to you but I became so engulfed in my hatred and anger that I let it get the best out of me. I pushed everyone that mattered to me away. I lost the company and everything else and now, I'm just...lonely. There's no one left, there's nothing left for me anymore." He sniffed and then managed to brighten his face again.
"Not to worry though. I'm not going to stop trying. I'm not going to stop trying to be better, I know I can be better. Someone told me it's not to late and I believe her. Instead of hating and blaming everyone for what happened, instead of me holding on to the past and going after what's not mine, I've decided that I'm going to start my own company and live for me this time. I'm going to try to be better, if I could do it with Benoil, I'm sure I can do it for another one, for mine. I'm going to start my own legacy and I'm going to do well, I'm your son after all." He chuckled.
"You always said I was the future of our family. You always said I had more potentials than I could ever think of, you said I was a star. It's fine I proved it to you and everyone else, time to prove it to myself. I can be great just like Dad was. I can build my own legacy, I can be a better man, Baby steps isn't it? And maybe one day," he sniffed, "maybe one day I could be the man I was destined to be, I could be the man that's right for her, the man she always wanted me to be, maybe one day, if I tried hard enough, she would return back to me." Christian cleaned the tears that fell from his face. His heart was so heavy with sadness. He wanted to cry, to cry out loud but he just held it all in. He knew he didn't have to cause a scene In that place.
"I'm going to do better Mum, but to do that, I have to let you go. I can't hold on to my past, hold on to your memory and be the better man I want to be, the better man you'd want me to be." He sniffed. This was harder than he thought. He shut his eyes for a second and bit on his tongue. "So I'm letting you go." He opened his eyes again. "I'm sending you off to find your own peace and I hope you'd be at peace no matter where you go. I hope you'd always be happy and proud of me, that you'd always pray for me and watch me grow into the man you'd always be proud of, the man you wanted me to and one day, on a sunny field, filled with all your favorite things, we'd meet again. I'd get to see you smile again and tell you about everything. But until then," he placed two fingers on his lips and then kissed it, he stretched it to the tombstone and placed them on it. He was sending her off. "Rest in peace, mother."
That was it.
He had finally done what he had to do and the moment he said those last words, he felt a rush of peace in his heart. It was like a heavy burden had been lifted off his chest. He felt lighter. He felt relieved. He was at peace, he bowed his head to pay his last respects and then slowly stood to his feet, he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and turned to go. He froze.
Christian's eyes met hers. Natalie's, standing right in front of him with a bouquet of roses in her hands, he blinked twice. He was so surprised. The last place he ever imagined he was ever going to bump into her, was at his mother's grave. The sexton made it clear that she had not come to visit since she left the hospital. She looked just the same. The same as she always did. So beautiful. She looked like she had healed a lot the past few weeks, like she was a bit happy now, happier.
"I was told I'd find you here." She slowly said to him, holding on tightly to the flowers like she was so nervous. She couldn't imagine what was going through his head. How was she here? Why was she here? She let a tiny and sincere smile cover her face.
"Why are you so surprised? I told you I wasn't ever going to leave you didn't I?"
Christian was having a hard time wrapping his head around it. He blinked more than once to make sure he wasn't seeing things.
"I'm sorry I'm late Christian. I would have come to you earlier but it was hard convincing my parents to let me go."
"I-I thought y-you-"
"I can never leave you Christian." She told him. "I wouldn't even know where to go. You are my home."
Christian sniffed.
Those were the only things he needed to hear. The only things he needed to hear to find himself running towards her. He pulled her into his embrace immediately and hugged her tightly.
Thank God!
This was the second chance he had prayed for. This was the heavens giving him another chance. A second chance and he was going to make good use of it. He was going to be better this time, Natalie held on tightly to him too, she could feel a drop of his tears on her shoulder.
"I love you." He told her. "I love you so much."
She sniffed. She was starting to cry too. She tightened her grip on him. "I love you so so much, I love you, I love you, I love you." He was sobbing and sniffing. It was really hard. Really hard to hide the excitement and gratitude in his voice. Natalie gave him soft pats on his head. She sniffed.
"I love you too."
One week later.
"And this one? What does it mean?" Kora held on tightly to Jeremiah's arm, staring at his tattoos and pointing at them one after the other while he explained what it was they meant.
The serenity was beautiful. The amazing scent of fresh tulips filled the garden and the beautiful sunset was everything. The lake in front of them made everything just better. The description of a perfect romantic date. A picnic.
A lot had happened over the past few weeks and it almost seemed like everything had gone back to normal, everything was how it was supposed to be. Everything felt good again, felt so peaceful. She was at peace, they both were and just being like that together with the man of her dreams was everything she had hoped for. When she thought of everything they had gone through to get to that point, to get to where they were, it made her grateful, it made her heart warm. Finally everything was beginning to make a lot of sense.
After how Jeremiah had come out open to the world about who he was, about the truth of his existence, his story had gained a lot of attention and public opinion. He had gotten a few backlashes and had a few people unstanning him, but he gained a whole lot of new fans for his act of "bravery" , a lot of people admired his courage to tell the truth and he was getting even more accepted for speaking the truth than he thought he would have. He was so close to getting a humanitarian award at that point.
A lot had changed since the press conference. Jeremiah's father had not given them his blessings yet, but at least, he wasn't stopping them from being together anymore. It was like he had accepted the situation and accepted that there was nothing he could do about it. Jeremiah was finally getting the chance he never had to bond with Christian again.
Nowadays, it was like the both brothers were inseparable, things were good for him, he was finally getting everything he always wanted. He was finally at peace. She could see it in his eyes. She could see how happier he was, how content and she wished it always remained like that. She wished he was always happy like that and he never had any reason to be sad again. She was happy and he was happy. That was all that mattered to her. She could finally breathe again. Jeremiah tightened his grip around her belly as she shifted to make herself comfortable in his arms, laying her head on his chest as they admired the view of sunset and that beautiful lake in front of them.
"The thunderbolt?" He lowered his gaze to the thunderbolt tattoo on his arm she was pointing at. "It represents energy and power, like Zeus."
Kora chuckled.
"Zeus?" She asked him. She could not believe he had just gotten a tattoo inspiration from a Greek god. "Mnnn, that's, that's dope."
Jeremiah scoffed. Now she was just making fun of his tattoo. But he liked it. He liked seeing her happy like that, seeing her smile without any hindrances in her way. That moment, it was like nothing else mattered to them, not all the painful memories of their past, nothing. They were just—happy. Jeremiah slowly reached for a strand of hair the wind kept pushing to cover her right eye and then he tucked it behind her ears. He took a deep breath and then turned back to the lake. Kora watched him. She could see how the smile on his face slowly faded and couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong. She sat up slowly.
"Are you okay?" She tucked her hair behind her ears so she could see him better. He slowly turned to her and sighed, letting himself smile a little bit.
"Mnn." He nodded. "I just can't believe that all of this is happening. That it's all real." Kora exhaled. She could definitely relate to it. She was still having a hard time wrapping her head around everything. "It seems like yesterday when we could barely breathe because of all the garbages in our lives. My Dad, your family, NAUN, my marriage to Oma, Christian-"
"And let's not forget how you made me bag a black card." She had to remind him just in case he had forgotten. Kora didn't forget, how she used to be bullied by Seven and her pack back in school. Now thinking about it, they all seemed like really funny memories. Every single one of them. Jeremiah chuckled. He could remember too. She scoffed. "I still can't believe I let you put me through that." She rolled her eyes.
"It's just funny how everything is finally falling into place when it looked like everything was falling apart a week ago. I mean, everyone knows who I am now and the world has learnt to deal with it. I didn't know why I didn't think of it before, I should have come out and told the truth earlier if I knew this was the reaction I was going to get. Thinking about it now, I don't know why I ever hid it in the first place. My mum doesn't have to hide who she is anymore. We go out grocery shopping together, photo shoots together, it's like everyone is slowly starting to forget the fact I'm illegitimate is even a thing. I get to hold her hands and call her mother, plus I get to see her at the mansion everyday. Things with my father are still patchy, I don't know how long it's going to take for him to get used to the way things are right now, but I hope he gets a hang of it eventually and gives us his blessings. I'm at a really good place with Christian, we are slowly getting back to how it used to be before all of this, before we all knew who I was. He's starting to get to know me again and things are even better now that Natalie is back and Susan is in jail, he has even started his own company and is surprisingly doing well. Nick is back home and Dad is finally treating him like a human being, we are teaching him how to be decent so he doesn't go down the path his mother did, we even got him a doctor he could talk to and surprisingly, he's listening. He's finally seeing the light and then there's you," he slowly reached for her hands and gave them a light squeeze. Kora smiled.
"I finally get to be with you, doing the things we want to do. We are happy, you're happy and getting all the love and respect you deserve. You and Oma, It's going to take time but I'm sure she's going to come around and accept you later on. She asked you out for coffee the other day didn't she?"
Kora rolled her eyes. If he was talking about the one time Oma had asked her to have coffee with her and didn't show up, she could fully remember and perfectly too.
"She just needs time plus you both would have to run your father's company together eventually. I'm sure there would be enough time for you two to try and get along-"
"About that," Kora cut him off. He paused and then lowered his gaze to her. Why? Kora pursed her lips. She wasn't sure she knew how to say what she was about to. She didn't even know where she was going to start. She had thought about it all night long, about how to tell him what she had been dying to, and everytime she wanted to tell him about it, something came up and she found herself not being able to. That was a good time. Now that they were both alone, it was a good time to tell him what she really wanted.
"What's wrong?" Jeremiah pouted. She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.
"I was thinking," she started. "Of pursuing my dreams in fashion designing and business administration just as my Dad wanted me to."
Jeremiah narrowed his gaze on her.
"Really?"
She nodded.
"Kora that's— amazing-"
"It's Sussex." She cut him off. "I got an admission letter from Sussex."
Jeremiah furrowed his brows.
"This means," Kora stared at him, taking it slowly so he understood while she tried to read him, to read the expression on his face. "This means I'd have to go to-"
"England." He completed her sentence for her, Kora could feel his grip on her hand loosen slowly. If he had just heard her right, she was going to leave the country to study. Kora watched him. She was nervous, it took a whole lot from her to come open to him about everything, to tell him what her plans were. Just as her father had instructed, Fredrick had made preparations for her to study abroad and get the right qualifications she needed. It meant she wasn't going to attend NAUN anymore and she was going to be taken a year back when she got there.
Jeremiah blinked twice. That was a lot to take in. A whole lot. It was like she had dropped a bomb and he was having a hard time wrapping his head around it. He wasn't even sure he had the perfect reaction.
"Wow." He said.
"I'm sorry I'm only just telling you this now," Kora saw the need to go on. She had to at least try to explain it to him and let him understand how important it was to her and how important it was for her to tell him. "I was going to tell you as soon as I got my letter but I just didn't know how to."
"How long do you have?"
"A couple of months, two months max."
"And how long would you be gone for?"
"Six years."
"Six years?!" He stared at her. "T-that's...that's huge. That's a lot of time."
She shut her eyes for a second and exhaled.
"I know it is." It was if she was going to be completely honest. "But Jer, it's my dreams we are talking about here. You know how I always wanted to start my own fashion line and company. This is going to help me achieve that. I really don't want to rely on my father's wealth or affluence anymore, I don't want to rely on anyone anymore. I don't want people telling me things I can and can't do because I'm illegitimate, I don't want people to ever look down on my mother and brother ever again. I want to grow myself, to make my own legacy, with you."
"Yeah, I know all that but six years-"
Kora sat up immediately and let her face brighten.
"You could think of it as a short break." She told him. "Six years is a lot of time but it'd pass by before you know it. I know it's selfish for me to say this but it would go before you know it. Plus you could always come visit." He let out a shaky breath and tightened his grip on her hands. He looked right into her eyes.
"Is that what you really want?" He asked her. "Is this what you really want? To study abroad? In Sussex?"
Kora hesitated for a while,
"Mnn." She nodded. "With all of my heart."
"Then you should go." He told her. "Chase your dreams. Go out there, and be who you want to be, achieve and find the best of your potentials." He smiled just a little bit. "And when you finally come home, I'd be here, waiting for you. Cheering you on, you know why?"
Kora pursed her lips together. She could feel the tears that welled up in her eyes. She was trying so hard to push it back so it didn't fall. To hold it all in.
She shook her head. She didn't know why but she wanted to.
"It's because I'm your biggest fan." He told her. "Me," he gave her hand a little squeeze. "Jeremiah Ozor, the guy that loves you and would do absolutely anything for you."
Kora sniffed. She was at the point of giving in to her tears. She couldn't believe what she ever did to deserve the man sitting beside her. She sniffed and let out a scoff at the same time when a tear drop fell from her eyes. Jeremiah leaned closer to her and wiped her tear off with his thumb.
"I love you Kora, I always want you to remember that."
She nodded her head. She knew. How could she ever doubt it? How could she ever doubt his love for her? It was the purest she had ever felt. What they had, it was selfless, it was perfect.
She leaned closer to him and laid in his arms, placing her head back on his chest. She turned to his arm and kissed it, making herself comfortable in his embrace. She ran her hand through the tatted date on his arm; tenth of October twenty nineteen. The day they first met, at the pool. How could she ever forget? Forget how she was lost in the eyes of that complete stranger that had pulled her out of the pool from drowning. The man that had saved her life and always stood up for her anytime she felt she had no one else. The man that always had her back. Her soulmate.
"I love you too." She told him. Jeremiah dropped his head to her and gave her a kiss on her forehead, and then another on her right cheek and then her left. She chuckled. She liked it when he kissed her like that, all over her face. It made her heartbeat better. He was just messing around as always. Jeremiah delivered another kiss on her nose and her eyes too. She quickly got a hold of his face so she could look into his eyes. Into his bright brown beautiful eyes. She kissed him on his eyes, one after the other and then his nose.
"I love you." She told him again just in case he didn't hear her the first time and then pushed her face up to meet with his, she kissed him.
"I had better get used to this." He told her. Kora chuckled. She could feel her cheeks get so rosy from all that embarrassment. "You know six years is a long long time. You should kiss me enough to last for six years for the next two months."
She scoffed.
"Stop being such a baby. It's not like you can't visit."
He shrugged his shoulders.
"You don't want to?"
She shook her head. Jeremiah furrowed his brows. "You really won't?"
Kora pursed her lips and shook her head. She had to keep her stand.
"Aren't you being too harsh?"
Kora got up from him and rose to her feet, dusting herself off. She took a few steps away from him.
"You should learn to fight for what you want." She pouted. "If you want it so bad," she kept taking a few steps back. "You should come get it."
Jeremiah scoffed. Was that an invitation to go after her? So she wanted to play now? To run around the field like how it was in the movies? Hell, he would accept any invitations she gave him. He rose to his feet and dusted himself too.
"I'm pretty good at chasing things and taking what I want." He told her as he rolled his sleeves way up his shoulders. "Just a disclaimer."
"Do what you have to do." Kora made sure she maintained a distance. "Stop whining like a baby."
She gasped pretending to be surprised by what she had told him. Jeremiah scoffed and raised his hands to his hips. He was giving her a head start. He flickered his tongue around his lower teeth. Kora turned away and started to run lazily through the fields, one second...two...three, he went after her and she increased her pace so he wouldn't catch her. She ran through the thick flowers and he went after her. He grabbed her without even putting as much as an effort. He ran too good to be intimidated her her and then he lifted her up in the air and over his shoulder.
Kora gasped and hit his back gently, begging him to drop her. He did tell her he was a good runner. Jeremiah let himself fall to the ground after a few seconds, bringing Kora to the ground too. She had quite a weight and it made them laugh. Really loudly.
She did love him, with all of her heart. That was her soul mate right there, Jeremiah Jidenna Ozor. Her destiny.