EPISODE 19.
(FINAL EPISODE)
🍒 (UNPREDICTED LOVE) 🍒
(C) Judytex_Stories
Flashback.
The day Ebun lost his way into Deji’s office, Deji while rubbing his cheek, read and crammed the name of the school on his school badge.
And after that, he went on to trace the school and had been secretly stopping by at a distance to catch a glimpse of Ebun after school hours. Some days, he secretly trails Keturah on her way home after picking Ebun up from school. It was from there that he got to know where they live.
So when he realized that he had lost everything, he drove to Annabelle’s house to make peace with her.
But Immediately he opened the gate, he found Ebun playing all by himself in the compound. And with a sad smile, he called Ebun who ran up to him.
“Good evening sir” Ebun innocently greeted.
Then with sadness in his eyes, Deji squatted and held Ebun’s hands.
“Jasper. How are you?” He asked smiling sadly at him.
“I’m fine” Ebun responded with a nod.
“Will you like to go meet daddy?” Deji asked rubbing his head.
And with an affirmative nod, Ebun responded,
“Yes,” he responded with a bright smile.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Present day.
Keturah who had gone inside to get something, suddenly returned only to meet the absence of Ebun whom she left playing outside just a few minutes ago.
“Ebun!” She called out searching around the compound for him.
At first, Keturah thought Ebun was playing hide and seek with her. But when there was yet no sign of him after a long while, she suddenly became scared and restless. She quickly raised an alarm alerting the neighbors.
While the commotion was still going on, Annabelle who had gone out with Raymond, returned to hear the most shocking and heartbreaking news.
Finding out about her son’s sudden disappearance left Annabelle shattered, broken, and disarrayed. Such a way that she almost lost her sanity if not for Raymond and Keturah who were there to calm her and reassure her that her son would be fine.
An hour later.
Raymond was about to report the case to the police when an unknown number called Annabelle’s line. But since she wasn’t in her right frame of mind, Keturah had to take the call on her behalf.
And a few minutes after picking up the call, Keturah suddenly screamed out with her hand covering her mouth.
“What is it?” Raymond asked with worry and curiosity on his face.
“It’s Deji. He took Ebun and would like to meet with Annabelle at the location he sent” Keturah said.
Immediately Annabelle heard this, she got up and snatched her phone from Keturah’s hand. And without hesitation, she quickly redialed Deji’s number. When Deji picked up the call, Annabelle angrily began cursing and threatened him never to lay a finger on her son.
“Deji you bastard where is my son? What have you done to him? I swear on my life that I will make sure I slit your throat if anything bad happens to my son you monster. You beast in human form” She yelled angrily on the phone.
“Hey, hey relax. He is also my son remember? And there’s no way I would hurt my flesh and blood” Deji said.
“What son? Since when did he become your son? Deji since when exactly?” Annabelle yelled like a mad woman.
“Why don’t you come to meet me at the location I sent you? I will be waiting for you there” Deji said, after which he ended the call.
A few moments later, Deji whose car was parked by a roadside, was standing while relaxing beside his car when he sighted Raymond’s car driving towards his direction.
He then stood upright waving at the car which came to a halt a few distances from where his car was parked.
Storming out of the car, Annabelle who was infuriated, walked up to him and grabbed his collar.
“Where is my son?” She yelled to his face.
Raymond also stepped out of the car and walked to where they were.
“Hey, hey, relax. He is sleeping inside the car” Deji said.
And without hesitation, Annabelle freed him from her grip. After which, Deji opened his car and carried Ebun out.
As soon as Annabelle saw her son, she broke into tears as she quickly carried him from Deji’s hands and held him to her chest with his head resting on her shoulder.
“Thank goodness you are okay,” She said with a feeling of relief.
“But why did you do that?” Raymond who had been trying so hard to contain his anger finally asked.
“I am sorry. It wasn’t my intention to put you all through such distress. I just wanted to get Annabelle’s attention as well and spend some time with my son for the first time. But knowing how Annabelle is, and the things I have done to her, she wouldn’t approve of it easily. That was why I did what I did. And I am really sorry for my thoughtless actions and for taking Ebun without his mother’s consent” Deji apologized with sincerity and remorse in his eyes.
“Never you play such games with me again Deji. Except you want to see the other side of a broken woman. Because when it comes to my son, I can go the extra mile” Annabelle yelled.
“It’s alright Annabelle,” Raymond said rubbing her back. “I am sure he meant no harm. And that he had learned his lessons” He said.
Hearing this, Annabelle took a deep sigh of relief. Then after a while, she turned to go with her son when Deji called out to her,
“Annabelle? Please I have something to say to you. Can we talk for a moment?” He asked.
When Annabelle heard this, she tried ignoring him and walking away but Raymond had to step in.
He placed both palms on her shoulder and silently shook his head. Signaling Annabelle not to walk away. Seeing this, Annabelle became weak as she stood still.
“I understand how you feel. But at least you have to give him listening ears. If not for anything, but the sake of your son. Okay?” Raymond said.
“Raymond I can’t,” Annabelle said shaking her head.
“Yes, you can Annabelle,” Raymond said smiling at her.
He then took Ebun who was still fast asleep from her and urged her to go talk with Deji. And reluctantly, Annabelle took a deep breath and walked back to Deji.
“What is it?” She asked folding her arms.
Seeing her reaction, Deji couldn’t help but give her a weak smile that came from a place of sadness.
“Selfishness creates greed and greed destroys the soul. Greed is indeed a strange sin. Because all you want to do is acquire. Acquire money, acquire material, acquire time, acquire energy, acquire attention at all means. And the running mantra is “I want this, I want this, I want this” but that quickly turns to “I need this, I need this, I need this. And no matter what you have, you will always need more. Because greed is a fat demon with a small mouth that doesn’t get enough of whatever you feed it. And that was my case, Annabelle. I allowed my selfishness to grow into greed. And in the end, I lost everything to it. I forgot that people who want to get everything all at once usually end up getting nothing in life. I was carried away with my quest for wealth that I forgot that he who wants everything every time, can lose everything at any time. I have failed you, Annabelle. I have failed my son and I have failed myself and all who sincerely cared about me. I am truly sorry for all the awful things I made you go through. I am deeply sorry for hurting your feelings so bad. I honestly want to become a better person from now on. I want to become a befitting father to my son. I want to live the rest of my life making up for my sins. But I can’t do that without your forgiveness Annabelle. Because I have really hurt you a lot. I have put you through unspeakable pains. So please, Annabelle. For the sake of our son, can you forgive this awful man standing before you?” Deji pleaded with remorse and sincerity in his eyes.
Hearing this, Annabelle couldn’t say a word. She simply broke into tears. And at this point, Deji had to embrace her for the first time in five years.
Embracing Annabelle suddenly brought back old memories. And that was when Deji realized that those moments he spent with her, were actually his happiest moments.
“It’s okay Annabelle. It’s okay. You don’t have to cry for a coward like me. Because you now have a better man who will give you all the love I failed to give you. I am very sure Raymond is nothing like me. So your lives together are certainly going to be filled with happy memories alone. If I had taken a step back before now, maybe we would have been together by now. Because it has always been my desire to end with you and my son. But I guess I’ve ruined it all” Deji said with tears rolling down his cheeks.
A while later, after they had both settled their differences, Deji walked up to Raymond and stretched out his hand for a handshake.
“Thank you for doing what I couldn’t do for Annabelle and my son. I hope you will continue to take good care of Annabelle” Deji said with a weak smile.
“Sure. I will make sure she doesn’t miss you” Raymond assured with a handshake.
And they both smiled at each other.
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Epilogue.
From Annabelle’s point of view.
Twenty years have passed and I and Raymond are still waxing stronger in love and happiness. Although our marriage isn’t perfect because just like every other couple, we do get into one or two misunderstandings from time to time but trust me, those are what add spice to our marriage.
And some days, I willingly create trouble just so we can end up settling our differences with satisfying make-up sex. Yeah. I am that crazy with Raymond. And I keep thanking God for compensating me with a man like Raymond. Because up to date, I still can’t tell how we fell in love and how we got this far because meeting and falling in love with him, was something I never predicted from the beginning. Everything happened on their own. So it’s safe to say that the love we share is “unpredicted love”
Also, I am happy to have given Ebun two younger siblings a brother and a sister and that’s all thanks to Raymond who knows how to score his goals right. And I must say, Ebun is doing extremely well being a big stepbrother to his two younger siblings. And Raymond adores him as much as Deji does. And they two have been nothing but good fathers to him. And if not told, one could easily mistake Raymond for Ebun’s biological father judging from how close they are.
Actually, it took me a long while before I could let Deji get close to my son. And that’s because I didn’t trust him and I wasn’t sure of his intentions towards us back then. But as time went on, after my marriage to Raymond, Deji kept showing up for his son. He kept showering Ebun with so much love and attention. Until I had a change of heart towards him.
So it’s actually good to know that Deji has come to realize and embrace the things that are more important in life. But he has refused to get married just to take good care of his son. Although recently, he has promised to get a wife once Ebun marries. But to me, It seems like he is just scared of hurting another woman. Or perhaps, he hasn’t gotten over his past mistakes yet.
Roseline on the other hand is married and lives with her family in the states. And Keturah isn’t left out either. So far so good, It’s safe to say we are all living just fine facing our realities.
Sitting here and looking back at my journey, I must commend myself for being a strong woman. And to all the single parents out there I hope my story gets to inspire you to remain strong.
Since I’ve been there before, I am fully aware that being a single parent is twice the work, twice the stress, and twice the tears but it is also twice the hugs, twice the love, and twice the pride.
There are times you may feel that nothing is going right and you are not being your best. Just take a look at the way you have brought up your children and you will see what an amazing job you have done.
Stop blaming yourself for your past mistakes, a failed marriage, or that broken relationship that made you a single parent. Always remember, that life is all about making mistakes and learning. And It is also about the happy and perfect moments and the imperfect ones too. Your children will see the effort you put in, they will see you do great and they will also see you fail at times. That is how they will learn that life is a mix of the perfect and the failures. And just like me, the anger and hurt you have within will only help you become stronger and more caring and protective towards your children.
And in as much as you want to give the best to your children, by working hard all day, sometimes, you just need to take a break and take a breather yourself. It is fine to sit down and relax, and sometimes let yourself go easy.
Do not let the judgment and condemnation of the world get to you. Don’t let the world make you feel less of yourself simply because you are a single parent. Always remember that you are not just a single mom or dad. You are everything your child can need in life and more.
Don’t be desperate to find love. And one of these days, the right person will find their way to your heart. But until then, keep being you, Keep working and improving yourself.
And to all those who have sacrificed so much for love in time past and got ditched in the end, always remember that it isn’t your fault. There are just people who are so selfish that even if you give them everything they ask for, it will never be enough. And such selfish people lose so much in life because even when they realize they are wrong, they don’t know how to ask for forgiveness or show regrets.
But none of their attitudes should change you from being who you are. And I believe at the right time, in an unpredictable moment, you shall find that person who will reciprocate the love you have to give. Never stop believing in love and never stop believing in yourself.
THE END!!!
THANKS FOR READING TO THE END. 🥰
I’ve learnt something from Deji’s mistakes, thanks alot