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MY STEP MUM IS IN LOVE WITH ME (EPISODE 6)
On hearing that Clara was not her mother, my blood dried up
I did not wait for anyone to tell me to calm down
The calmness came naturally
So many things were running in my mind
I tried to walk to the bed, but my strength failed me
“Clara is not your mother? How?”
“Yes. She is not my mother. That was why I wanted you to promise me…”
“Who are you then?” I interrupted
She had so many things to tell me, but maybe it was not yet time
I made my way to the bed
I stared at her and could see the guilt on her face
She wanted to tell me more, but she was too afraid to continue
“I’m taking a risk to tell you this. I hope you’ll forgive me!”
“Forgive you on what?”
“Brother, do I mean anything to you?”
On hearing that question, I knew there were more to hear.
So I pretended to be undisturbed. I managed to respond to her question
“Yes. You mean a lot to me. What is it you have to tell me, Nora?”
She looked back and then moved to the bed and sat by my side
She held my hands and whispered another bombshell to my ears: “Clara has a mission here, and whatever her mission is, we must work together to stop it”
That was another missile fired at me by that young girl
Clara’s mission was no longer interested to me
My mission was to find out who Nora was
‘If I must unravel Clara’s mission, then I must unravel Nora’s mission first’, I thought
“Forget about her mission for now. Who are you and what is your relationship with Clara?”
“This is not a better place to do this. My mother could be listening to us. You know how she behaves”, she said
The bond between my father and I was so strong that he hardly refuse me whatever I asked
So I thought we could find somewhere outside the compound to unravel whatever there was to unravel
I went to my father’s room and tapped on the door
“Who is there?”, asked my father
“Dad, I want to take a walk down the street please” I said
“Go ahead”, he said
“Can I go with my sister?”
“Of course”
I heard Clara saying something, but I did not hear her well
Maybe she was uncomfortable of my going out with Nora
But my father had already given the approval
“Let them go please”, my father told her
I left with Nora to a nearby sit out down our street
While on the road, I began to be afraid of Nora
I was no longer comfortable with her, but as a man, I had to behave like one
We got to the sit out. I had no appetite for drink or anything chewable, likewise her
So we took our seats and moved straight to the point
Throughout the walk, we were silent
As soon as we sat down, I broke the silence
“Who are you, Nora?”
I knew so many things were going on in her head
She looked up and said: “I am Nora. A poor little girl who has been caged by circumstances of life”
“What do you mean by that? Who is caging you?”
“I don’t know where to start. I’m scared” she said
“Start from anywhere, Nora. Start from anywhere. Don’t be scared”
“Ok”, she said and summoned up courage
Then she continued: “No matter what, I want you to know that my reason of saying this is because I love you. If you would dish my out later, so be it. My mother, I mean Clara, is not happy that I am always with you. She tries to stop whatever she perceived is existing between us…”
I was running out of patience so I interrupted her
“I am not interested in this bullshit stories, Nora. Tell me who you are and your relationship with Clara”
Nora had always respected me, and would do nothing to upset me
On seeing that I was unhappy with the turn of events, she narrated her story
“I am not from Akwa Ibom. I am from Cross River State. I have never met my father. I lost my mother when I was in Primary 6. I was 9 years old. My mother was the only relative I had ever known. My mother told me before her death that I had a distant cousin who stays in Akwa Ibom. So after her burial, I started begging people for money to pay my way to Akwa Ibom. I didn’t know where my cousin was, neither did I know him in person. During my wonderings in the streets of Uyo, I met Aunty Clara in her shop. By then her shop was not that big and she had only one shop. I went there to beg for food. She gave me ₦100. I returned to her shop the next day to beg for another money. It was then she asked me about my parents. After telling her why I came to Akwa Ibom, she asked me if I would love to stay with her. I readily accepted. Three days later, she took me back to my village in Calabar. There, she met with my village head, since I had no known living relative. She had a long discussion with my village head and told him that she would love me to come back to Akwa Ibom with her. The village head accepted and we came back to Akwa Ibom. She became my mother. That was how I ended up with Aunty Clara. That was 11 years ago. Everyone thinks she’s my biological mother. You are the very first person I have ever told this.”
She paused and cleaned the tears than were running like a river from her eyes, then she continued
“Aunty Clara had married for three times since I came. She has no child. The date of birth on her Facebook profile is false. I stumbled on her BVN slip once, and by the date of birth I saw on the slip, she is 43 years now. Don’t be deceived by her young look. That is what she uses to get people. The three husbands she had married died mysteriously. And each time her husband dies, because she is always legally married, she would inherit the late husband’s properties and would relocate from that location, after having most of the properties sold. That is how she is prospering.”
She paused again and requested for water to drink. She drank and used some of the water to wash her face, and then continued
“From the first day I moved into your father’s house, I fell in love with you. I am not saying all these so that you love me. No. I am telling you these so that you live. You and your father. The earlier we stop her, the better for everyone. But as for me, I know I will be thrown back to the streets once again. But that won’t be a problem. I will still survive. But I will be happy that I have told you all these. That is my story”
She cleaned her tears again and drank the water too
I was out of words to say
I had many questions to ask
But fear engulfed me
I sat there for few minutes without saying a word.
I started thinking about Clara’s mission with my father
Was she actually married to my father just to kill him and take over our house?
Was she also targeting to kill me too?
What if all what Nora is saying is a set up?
I managed to open my mouth, whose lips were sealed up
“So how do we stop her?”
“I don’t know”, she replied
At that point, I decided to inform my father.
I stood up and we went home.
© Ezekiel Umoren
