Kelvin stared at Chantal as she left the house. Wasn't she the lady who'd helped with Claire's party? What business does she have in the Njama house, with Amara at that? He shook his head and turned to see Michael matching towards Amara who was crying uncontrollably. He hastened his steps and closed the gap between the two.
"Michael, relax please let me handle this." Kelvin pleaded.
Michael looked at him with bloodshot eyes but stepped back a little.
"Please." Kelvin added.
Michael walked to a sofa and sat down, not taking his eyes away from Amara.
Kelvin nodded in appreciation before turning to Amara. He helped her sit before sitting close to her.
"How're you?" He asked, not knowing how to start.
Amara looked at him and bent her head. Chioma and Ifunanya chose that moment to appear with their bags, surprised at the conference going on in the sitting room.
"Good evening sirs." They greeted in unison.
"You may leave now. Take the rest of the week off." Michael said calmly.
The girls thanked him and quickly left the house while Kelvin looked at Michael for answers.
"They're the new helpers I employed after Claire left." He explained.
"Oh. That's okay." Kelvin replied and turned to Amara
"Amara, where's Ebere?" He started
She turned to him as if a heavy blow had been thrown to her.
"What's my business with where she is and where she is not?" She asked grudgingly, fresh tears running down her face.
Kelvin smiled while Michael sat up uncomfortably.
"We need her to be seated here. Don't you think it's time we talk about all that has happened so far?" He asked gently.
She stood up, looking down at him wickedly.
"There's nothing to talk about Kelvin. There's nothing........."
"That's where you lie you cheat. I'm trying my best to be gentle with you so if I were you, I'll just answer the question without stress." Michael said angrily.
There was silence in the room for a while before Amara broke into a laugh, putting the two friends into deep confusion.
*********
Ebere settled in her standard suite and took out her phone. She dialled Chika's number and the call was picked immediately.
"Hello soon to be Mrs." Chika exclaimed excitedly. "Sorry I didn't call earlier. Its my boss's birthday today and she came back just before I finished making dinner. Hope you're not angry?"
"No. I'm not. How is it going?"
"Fine o. Lots of cake to be munched by me and the other workers. I could waybill some to you as well."
Ebere wiped a tear and forced a smile.
"Wish her a happy birthday for me." She said, trying hard to hold the tears.
"Why. You sound different. Have you been crying? Are you sick? Did........"
"I left the house." Ebere broke down.
Chika paused for a while before speaking up.
"Did they send you out of the house? Tell me." Chika asked calmly.
"No. Amara did. Mr Michael went for a function and she came back and sent me out of there."
"And you left?"
"I had to. I can't fight for........."
"Now I know that you're sick. Why will you leave?"
Ebere quickly held the phone with her other hand and wiped her eyes with the other.
"Sometimes, I wonder if your head is intact at all. She asked you out and you left the house for her, who gave her the right? I'm sure you're very much older and stronger than her, what stopped you from beating Pharaoh out of her? Instead, as the good Samaritan that you are, you picked your bags and left the house for her in Mr Michael's absence. Or you left without your bags?"
Ebere kept mute. Ifunanya had asked her not to leave, now, Chika was saying the same thing. Had she made a mistake by leaving the house? What would Mr Michael do when he comes home tomorrow and doesn't find her? Will he look for her or thank God that she left?
"Ebere!" Chika called her back to earth.
"Chika."
"Where are you now?"
"Seagate hotel."
"Alright. I'll come tomorrow morning and see you so we can talk properly. Don't think much because you have me and our boss. Take care of yourself okay?"
"Thank you Chika."
************
"Look who's throwing talks. Look who's calling someone else a cheat. You don't have that right Michael. None of you here have the right to tell me what's wrong or not." Amara threw at them.
"Did you just talk to me in that tone? Did you just talk to me?" Michael asked, walking towards her with anger and hate only to be stopped by Kelvin.
"No Mike. Let me handle........."
"Handle what? She has forgotten that she's at my mercy, just a word and she'll be miserable forever."
"You lie Michael. How was I before you turned me to your mistress? I had everything I needed........"
"Because you had your sister's support b!tch. Have you forgotten?" He threw at her, regrets coming in immediately and he withdrew.
Amara stared at him, tears running down her face. He had her in a tight corner. She had blocked her path of goodwill, her saving grace, now, she was alone.
************
Claire was opening boxes of gifts in her room, surprised at the amount of love people she didn't know showered on her, curiosity didn't allow her wait till morning. There were lots of them, ranging from wristwatches, jewelries, colognes, portraits, handbags and so many of them, yet, there were still unopened wraps. She picked a box lying at the foot of the bed and unwrapped it. Her jaw dropped as she saw the content. An iPhone? Who could give her such an expensive phone plus other things in the box? She picked up the phone and realised that a note was written at the bottom;
"with love from a friend, Mr Michael N".
Below the note was his phone number and she almost flung the phone to the wall.
" How dare he?" She vexed, standing up from the bed and picking her phone.
"How dare he come to her party?" She looked at the note again and shook her head. Such a flirt. She would call him and bare her heart to him. She was about dialing the number when she quickly had a second thought, picked up the gift items and quickly left the room.
********
Kelvin stared from Michael to Amara. It was obvious that this was truly the time of reckoning. With the events of the previous weeks, no one would think that they'll be sworn enemies at such a short notice.
"Both of you need to take a chill pill, let's sit as matured people and talk things out please." Kelvin said.
"She should tell me where Ebere is."
Michael said as calmly as possible.
Kelvin looked at Amara who was sobbing uncontrollably now.
"Where's Ebere?" Kelvin asked.
"I...... I asked her out of the house. I asked her to leave." She said quietly.
"You did what? How dare you?" Michael said, making for an attack.
He pushed Kelvin aside and held her arm in a tight grip.
'Who gave you that right? Who asked you? Tell me." He barked, looking at her straight at the eyeballs while she cried, too weak to scream or plead for her freedom.
"Mike let her go. Stop it now. Leave the girl alone." Kelvin said, pushing him away and causing Amara to fall back.
"What's wrong with you?"
*********
Phil and Enatel sat in the dinning, eating from the birthday cake and chattering happily.
"So you both kissed, what next? I need the full gist." Enatel joked.
"Don't be a gossip man." Phil retorted, throwing a chunk of cake into his mouth and sipping from a glass of wine.
"You don't want to tell me huh?" Enatel feigned annoyance.
"Okay. We kissed and nothing more. She excused herself and left."
"You say?"
"She excused herself and left." Phil repeated.
"And you allowed her to go? Come on boy. She should be here right now, doing one or two things to you while you do plenty things to her. You just made a big mistake man. Listen, it took her ages to accept your proposal and you just let her go like that, what if she changes her mind?"
Phil choked on his cake and started coughing chronically while Enatel quickly fetched him a glass of water which he happily drank from like his life depended on it.
He breathed in relief and waited for a while before standing up.
"I'll be in my room. Good night."
"Hey man. Wait. Okay. I'm sorry if I said something I shouldn't have said."
"No. It's okay. I just have to go to bed. I've got a court hearing tomorrow morning."
He gave Enatel a pat on the shoulder, picked the glass of water and walked upstairs to his room without looking back.
**************
"What is wrong with you? Haven't you realized that violence does not settle things for you, instead, it complicates everything and leaves you messed up? Haven't you realised that?"
"Yes I have. Yes I know, that is why you all left me right? That's why Chief has never called me since he heard of the divorce? That's why you're supporting my wife to move on with someone else right? I know all that and I don't need you to ring it in my ear again. You all left me alone because of her right? And then, the one person who has been taking care of me, this layabout asked her out of a house that's not even hers. And you tell me....."
Amara broke down and they turned their attention to her. She cried, beating her chest in regrets and muttering stuffs no one could hear.
"Michael........"
"No Kelvin let me speak. This thing here is the architect of all my problems." He pointed at Amara.
"And I refuse to concur. You are the architect of your own problems. I may agree that she played a part but no, Amara is not the architect of your problems. You say we all left you, but the truth is that you walked away from all of us even before things got worse. I tried Mike. I covered stuffs for you, I lied to chief for you. When he heard of Claire's hanging out with Phil, he called you didn't he? But then, you thought Claire will tell him the truth and you stopped picking his calls. He even sent emails and messages, asking you to visit but you never replied or returned his calls. So, why say we rejected you? Or you think I'll be alive and watch Claire suffer in your hands? No Mike. That woman deserves happiness and I'll give it to her without thinking twice. I need you to think again please, have a flashback of everything that has happened in this house and you'll see that Claire tried her best to help you, to help your marriage but no, you just didn't want Claire anymore. You had the secretary, my fiancée, the other helper and even your wife's sister."
"She came to me. She......"
"A round of applause then. She came to you and you couldn't say no or even talk to your wife. And when she found out and asked her out, you still went to her house. Why? Why Mike?"
"Cause........ Cause she kept calling, sending me messages, threatening to ruin my career and......"
"Mike. Oh brother, I tried." Kelvin said, turning to Amara.
"Congratulations Amara. You have him now. Claire went through all this and survived it. Why won't you?"
"Kelvin?"
A voice called from the door and they all turned to see who the visitor was.
She walked into the sitting room she once called her own, looking at the faces of the three occupants.
She went straight to Kelvin and they shared a loving embrace.
"We were chatting and you didn't tell me you were coming?" She asked, looking from Kelvin to Michael. She was tempted to look at Amara's face but she couldn't, instead, she turned back to Kelvin.
"Why? Is anything the matter?" Claire asked.
Kelvin smiled and held her hand.
"Nope. What brings you?"
She raised the parcel and heaved a sigh before turning to Michael.
"Why did you come to my party? Who invited you?" She asked, dropping the parcel on the table.
"Claire, what are you saying? Michael was not at the party." Kelvin intervened.
"And I'm telling you that he was there. He even dropped his number so I can call him, can you imagine?"
Kelvin took the parcel and examined it, looking at Michael.
"Hey man, I didn't know it was her party. I got invited and thought it was someone else so......"
"So you went there to see if you can add whoever it is to your list of whores right?" Amara asked, wiping tears from her cheeks.
Everyone in the room stared at her like she had said something out of the world.
"Kelvin, tell this shameless cheat never to speak when I'm still on it."
"Why? Because you know I'm speaking the truth right? How shameless? A dog doesn't go back to it's vomit but that proverb is definitely not for you Mr Michael." Amara said sarcastically.
"I won't stand here and listen to your nonsense. I've still not forgotten that I asked you to leave my house."
"I'll leave because there's no one else here for you. You use people and dump them whenever you want but i'm happy Chantal played a fast one on you. If I don't have you, no one else will, especially not Ebere."
Claire turned to her sister immediately, Chantal? What about Chantal? Did she also sleep with Michael? Something is going on here and she won't wait to know whatever it is.
"I can't believe that I did everything I did for a man like you." She said thoughtfully.
"Amara, easy, let's sit down and talk about this. We are all........" Kelvin started.
"And you too, who are you to advise me huh? You? You're even worse. I pity that Gertrude of a slowpoke because she'll be dead even before the sex starts. You want to advise me? Oh Lord. You? Who moans out his sister In-laws' name while screwing another woman? Oh my, remove the log of wood in your eyes before looking at the dusts in mine." Amara said and turned to leave.
"Wait." Claire called out, walking up to her.
Michael stared open mouthed at Kelvin who shamefully sat on a sofa with his head in his hands.
"Yes sister?" Amara said mockingly.
"What do you mean by what you just said? You think everyone is as cheap as you are? You're saying ......."
"You don't talk to me like that. You're a divorcée for crying out loud and you've got no right to advise anyone. Not even a ten year old." Amara sneered.
This got her a heavy slap on the cheek and she fell with a thud to the floor.
"How dare you? Anyways, there's no point in talking to you, because you're not worth it. I can't believe I trained you. For the first time, I'm regretting something I've ever done. I regret that you're my sister, I regret that I took you out of that burning house, I regret that I suffered to see you through school, I regret that you're the only family I've got, yet, you still have guts to do these to me. Where did I wrong you? How? If there was something I wasn't doing right, you should have talked to me. I'm your sister and I'll understand and make amends, but no. You chose to hurt me like this. I would have understood an outsider, someone who's not family, but you? You're the worst thing that ever happened to me and I don't want to see you ever again."
She turned to leave but stopped in front of Michael.
"You'll never change. How come I never saw all these? You were with me all this years because I was a virgin and did whatever you wanted right? But the moment I stopped doing your bidding, you showed your true self. From your secretary to my maid, then my sister, and you were even going after Chantal and whoever you thought was the birthday girl. Please don't change Michael, don't."
He held her hand but she beat it off.
"Don't touch me. Don't."
"Claire, I........" Kelvin started.
"No you shut up. You slept with my sister too and you had the nerves to moan my name? Disgusting. And I thought you were the good person here. God, how come I'm surrounded with this kind of people? How can you all do this to me? And I loved you all with everything I had, I would never say or do anything to hurt you people. But what did I get in return? Betrayal. By the same people I'll go to any length for, the same ones I loved, the same people I lived for. But that's enough now. It's enough now." She said, wiping a tear from her face.
She looked at them one more time before leaving the house.
Amara stood up from where she had fallen and ran up the stairs in tears while Kelvin and Michael stared at each other.
"You were........" Michael started but Kelvin quietly left the house.
He should have said the truth, if not for anything, it would have cleared the bad air between them now.
He had failed Claire, he had failed Chief, he had failed everyone.
-------------------
Kelvin sat up on the king sized bed and glanced at the wall clock. 3:00am and he hadn't gotten a pinch of sleep. He had left the Njama house and lodged in a hotel after which he called Gertrude and told her everything, without leaving any detail. She had spoken to him comfortingly and had assured him that everything would be fine.
He had showered and ordered dinner but before it was brought, he had lost his appetite. Now, he had also lost his appetite to sleep.
What would he tell Chief? How would he explain to Claire that it wasn't what they all were thinking?
Chief would be so disappointed if he hears it from someone else. What will Michael now think of him? And Claire?
He stood up and walked out to the balcony, the early morning breeze hitting his face. He closed his eyes and breathed out, he would do something about this tight situation, somehow, he would show them that he would never see Claire as an object of fantasy.
With that resolve, he walked back to his room.
*********
Ebere stirred on the bed before opening her eyes. Isn't it morning yet? She needed someone to talk to and that person was either Chika or her former boss. She needed to make a decision she won't regret. This decision would be one that will change her life forever, one that'll favour her and her unborn baby.
She looked at her phone and it was just three in the morning. What would be happening in the Njama's house? Will Michael be sleeping peacefully now? And Amara? Would she be in his arms? What if all these were just a plot by the two of them to send her out of their lives? At least, he would have called her by now, but nothing from him yet. She looked at her phone again and she suddenly felt the urge to cry. Should she go back? What if she's never accepted into the house anymore? No. Come morning, Chika must have a solution to this problem. Somehow, she knew Chika would help her in this. She was and is still her friend after all.
********
Michael walked down the stairs with a bottle of vodka in hand. He got to the sitting room and instead of sitting, he started pacing the entire room. He took a long sip from the bottle and breathed out. So it wasn't Claire. It was Kelvin. He had played the two edged sword that destroyed him. He had also wanted Claire? If not, what explains his moaning her name while laying Amara? And then, Amara, he was sure the pregnancy was for Kelvin. Cause he remember vividly that Amara suddenly changed her attitude towards him, from hating him to allowing him use her body. She must have found out that she was pregnant for Kelvin and decided to nail it on him. Or, she might not know which of them is responsible for the pregnancy.
He sipped from the bottle again. How did his life become so drama filled in a couple of months just because he decided to taste from another soup pot after getting married? He had always done it while courting Claire, and nothing happened.
another sip.
Who would date a girl for years, not sleep with her and still not have affairs outside? He had decided to wait for her, doesn't mean he can't have fun while they waited.
another sip.
Those ones do not count right now, they don't.
another sip.
Right now, he had joked with his marriage. He knew all those things, he knew things that would have spiced their love making sessions but he had ignored it, he had refused to show her the ropes. And when he ran into a woman who miraculously knew his dirty fantasies, he had forgotten his marriage, his loyal wife, his missing rib, his everything, he had forgotten her and succumbed to his past life which he had hidden from the world. He had fallen so shamelessly that standing up would be difficult. When Sarah had stopped giving him, he had gone forcefully to Gertrude.
Thunderstorms would fall if that topic was ever raised. He would have a lot of persons to answer to if that topic was ever raised. As if that was not enough, he had gone for Ebere.
Ebere!
Where was she? Something quickly struck his mind and he wondered why he hadn't thought it wise to call her line. He stared at the stairs. He would go upstairs and call her line. She should be here because she was carrying his child. He had made a mistake once and threw away his first attempt at fatherhood, but right now, he wouldn't. For one thing, he was sure her baby was his. She was his second Claire and he won't be stupid enough to let her out of his life like he did Claire.
As for Amara, he would have to talk to Kelvin about her. They were in this poo together. After all, they drank from same well. He walked to the bar, dropped the almost empty bottle and headed up the stairs with only one mission in mind, Ebere.