Previous Episodes, episode 1 CLICK HERE, episode 2 CLICK HERE, episode 3 CLICK HERE, episode 4 CLICK HERE, episode 5 CLICK HERE, episode 6 CLICK HERE, episode 7 CLICK HERE, episode 8 CLICK HERE, episode 9 CLICK HERE, episode 10 CLICK HERE, episode 11 CLICK HERE, episode 12 CLICK HERE, episode 13 CLICK HERE, episode 14 CLICK HERE, episode 15 CLICK HERE
IT WAS TWO O’CLOCK and she wasn’t here.
Neither was the judge, still, he’d expected she’d keep to time. The silence was suffocating and made him nervously glance at his wrist watch every second. This time around, they’d been kept in the judge’s receiving room; there weren’t any documents on his table, so he assumed this room wasn’t used often.
Daniel consciously ignored Susan’s coy looks from her seat, in front of the right edge of the judge’s table. Someone must have known that a partition between the parties was necessary today, and Daniel silently thanked the person.
The door connecting the reception opened suddenly, Daniel looked up expectantly but it was only the secretary.
“Justice Ekpo has just called. He has asked me to convey his apologies; his car broke down on the way here. He says he’ll be here in a little while and begs your indulgence,” the secretary said politely.
Daniel nodded understandingly, “It’s okay, we’ll wait.”
“Can I offer refreshments?” the secretary asked nicely.
“Will it bring the judge here any sooner?” Susan snapped saucily.
The secretary looked appalled at her impolite attitude. Daniel was shocked, “Susan! Was that really necessary?” he asked before turning an apologetic gaze on the secretary.
“Sorry for that, no need for refreshments. It’s not a problem, we’ll wait for the judge.”
The secretary nodded and withdrew from the room.
“Of course, it’s not a problem that the judge isn’t here. I’m interested in hearing the excuse you’ll give for the absence of your mythical fiancée,” Susan said insinuatingly.
“Think what you want, Susan, whatever massages your pea brain,” he replied calmly. A calm he wasn’t feeling because Wana wasn’t there. He knew it would be over for him if she didn’t show, the judge, especially with prodding from Susan, would just assume he had lied.
Lying wasn’t a characteristic of good family values.
With his thoughts far away, having once again ignored his ex-wife, he didn’t notice that said woman had gotten up from her seat.
She grazed her manicured and perfectly lacquered nails on his shoulder, causing him to start in surprise.
“Oh, Daniel, what happened to us? We were so good,” she said in a husky voice, leaning her tiny breast on his shoulder. “…so good we made Stacey.”
“Seriously, Susan, these seats were duly separated for this meeting. I’ll advice that you stick to your side,” Daniel said with a barely reasonable voice. He might have sounded like a child about to be bullied, but he didn’t care. He had long ago acknowledged his fear of Susan to himself, so he wasn’t ashamed of it; and it was with good reason too.
Her reaction to his statement was to seat on the judge’s table, facing Daniel, and then, seductively drag her toes from his ankle to his knees and then to his lap.
Daniel was struck dumb but more was to come. Susan had on a knee length gown; she made sure that her light colored panty was visible to Daniel.
“Come on baby, stop being difficult. We could end this now, forget the past and build a lovely future.”
Daniel didn’t know how she managed to sound sincere after all she’d put him through. He was furious when he flung her foot from his thigh.
“The very thought of building anything with you makes my skin crawl. I’ll advice you kill the thought,” he spat with all the venom he could muster.
Her legs came to his thigh, he pushed them off. It was as though it was controlled on a spring, he’d barely pushed it off when it returned and tried to wedge in his crotch.
“Aww, you can’t tell me the tender feeling you had for me are gone,” she insisted. Susan’s leg was at it again, trying to rub Daniel’s fly, while he doggedly pushed her off; that was when Wana opened the door.
The impressively tall lady took in the situation in a glance, her demeanor was stony.
“I believe the man said ‘kill the thought’,” her voice was so nice when she spoke; it was a blatant contrast to her pointed look on Susan’s leg on Daniel’s thigh.
Daniel felt like he’d just been caught cheating, forget that their association was a contract, still, his throat hurt from the bile rising from his stomach.
Both ladies stared daggers at each other, Susan pulled her leg of Daniel, while he jerkily arranged his trouser.
Still with her nice tone, Wana said, “Nice legs.”
Susan in her stupidity eyed her insolently and said, “Thank you.”
Then with narrowed eyes she replied, “I would love to break them.”
If she wasn’t so angry, Wana would have laughed at the appalled look on Susan’s face. She took her seat beside Daniel and was immediately attacked by his fury.
“What took you so long?” he spat. In his mind, he reasoned that he wouldn’t have gone through the debacle with Susan if only she’d been on time.
Wana sighed wearily, “I was held up in traffic,” she whispered back, noticing that Susan was trying hard to listen; the act was on.
“You should have called me?” Daniel accused, and he wasn’t acting, he was really upset.
Wana accused him right back, “And you could have called me too,” but she softened her rebuke with a loving expression and a soft rub of his jaw.
“I expected you’d be concerned, you know I’m never late for appointments,” she said in a voice so soft, they could have been having a pillow conversation.
Daniel was having trouble remembering what they were talking about. Her hand on his jaw was wreaking havoc to his reasoning. His turned self consciously and he caught Susan blatantly staring at them. He was then reminded that this was all staged, he quickly curbed his disappointment and played along.
The apology came easy to him, for he was sincerely sorry for snapping at her. “I’m sorry, darling. Yes, I agree, I could have called,” Daniel said, entwining his hand in Wana’s soft one and kissing the back of her palm.
Wana swallowed with some difficulty, she couldn’t explain her reaction to Daniel’s kiss act. Some un-named emotions were coursing through her spine, making her mouth desert dry.
Daniel seemed to have warmed to the idea of the act, Wana thought as she stared into the warmth emanating from his eyes. If he got any better with it, she could easily forget that this was all staged; and that would not be good.
With a mental shake to dislodge her wishful thoughts, she smiled and patted Daniel’s hand. “It’s okay, love. I still got here on time, right?”
He nodded smiling at her. Daniel’s smile was infectious; Wana smiled along, and surreptitiously noticed Susan scowling at them. The woman looked like she was about to have a heart attack, such a bitch, Wana thought.
The drama was on pause when the door behind the judge’s seat opened suddenly. Obviously, it connected with his main office; the man rushed in with a white file jacket and took his seat with a weary sigh.
“I sorry for keeping you waiting,” he apologized without looking up; he was busy opening the file in front of him, obviously the case file. When he did look, allowing his gaze to encompass the people in his office, his eyes looked simply exuberant as he recognized Wana.
“Ah,” he exclaimed, “You came to my office after all,” he said with a wide smile.
Wana smiled and nodded, “I did.”
“So, I was right, I do get the chance to pay back.”
Wana only smiled in reply to his comment. She couldn’t do more, if she did, she’d have laughed, and she didn’t think that was appropriate. The expressions on both Daniel and Susan’s faces were comical to say the least. Daniel was mildly curious and bemused, while Susan looked down right murderous.
“You see,” the judge explained as though talking to his children. “She offered me a ride in her chattered Keke NAPEP when she saw me stranded in traffic and trying to hail said conveyance to no avail.”
The judge shook his head fondly, “She explained that she would drop off at her location and then I could hire the Keke to where ever I was headed. Imagine my surprise, we were headed in the same direction!” he exclaimed with obvious pleasure.
“Oh, darling, that was a nice thing you did,” Daniel enthused, grabbing her hand again.
“I must say, Mr. Akpan, that’s a good woman you have there.”
“Thank you, sir,” Daniel replied.
This was when Susan couldn’t take it any longer. She rolled her eyes upward and snapped, “Can we begin the meeting already?”
“Of course, of course,” the judge said and opened the file. He hurriedly plunged into the heart of the matter, telling Wana that she had come up as a deciding factor in who gets maximum custody of twelve year old, Stacey Akpan.
“You see, Susan here has worries that your engagement to Daniel is too sudden and therefor might be a hoax. This meeting hopes to clear such a notion beyond reasonable doubt,” the judge actually looked apologetic when he said these things.
Wana smiled and nodded in understanding, “Of course, Susan should be worried; what mother wouldn’t be worried about the future welfare of her child?” she tried so hard to veil her sarcasm as she gave Susan a pointed look, clearly reminding her of her earlier conduct which had absolutely nothing to do with Stacey’s welfare. Said mother looked away with a juvenile roll of her eyes.
“You see, Daniel doesn’t have a lot of friends, she can attest to that. But the few close ones can confirm our engagement. In fact, we’ve held off the engagement this long because she could not be found to serve the divorce papers,” Wana explained sincerely.
Daniel grabbed her hand and squeezed encouragingly, giving the notion that they’d gone through a lot of stress because of Susan.
The judge didn’t miss this; he nodded and then brought up his own concern. He was all for a comfortable home for Stacey, but he worried that Wana, who wasn’t the child’s mother, might not be able to cope with possible tantrums or hatred that the adolescent might exhibit.
Daniel watched Wana smile and straighten the beautifully sewn Ankara gown she had on. She looked like what a modern mother should look like…demur but sexy.
“My experience would have to count for me at this point. You see, having lost my parents at a very tender age, I clearly understand what Stacey is going through. I’m not going to try to be her mother, nobody can take that spot.
“What she needs is patience, understanding and a friend. And sir, I’m willing to be this for her. She means a lot to my Danny, and therefore, automatically, she means a lot to me,” Wana concluded nicely and tenderly smiled at Daniel.
The judge was silently convinced that she’d be a better mother to Stacey than the biological mother of the child.
Susan’s sharp tone busted the tender moment, “Oh please, this is a bag full of cow shit!”
“Watch your language, young lady!” the judge snapped sternly.
She ignored him and sat forward in her seat, facing Daniel and his so called fiancée. “Engaged you say; we will like to see the ring.”
Her demand had brought silence with it. Wana saw Daniel’s eyes widen in alarm, he was probably thinking how they could have forgotten such a detail. She sort to dilute the tension that had suddenly permeated the room.
“Dear Susan, this is a bit childish, don’t you think? An engagement ring isn’t important in who gets custody of Stacey,” Wana was smiling, but she would have loved to wring the woman’s neck.
“True,” the judge supported, causing Daniel to release the breath he’d been nervously holding. Seconds later, he had to hold his breath again, this time looking down at his hands.
“Humor me, Uwana,” Susan said sweetly. “Show us the engagement ring that singles you out as Daniel’s woman. I’m proud to say I got one, even though he’d been dirt poor then,” she said condescendingly.
Daniel’s hand had covered his face, he just heard Wana’s exasperated sigh but didn’t see her present her left hand.
“Nice ring,” the judge said with a nod, causing Daniel’s head to snap up instantly.
The relief he was feeling at that moment was indescribable. He turned questioning eyes to Wana and met her incorrigible grin. While still smiling, she turned her middle finger up, in the accepted sign for ‘fuck you’, but with her innocent look, she was showing Susan her engagement ring.
“Does this do it for you, Susan?” Wana made sure she understood that the sign was for her.
Susan made a cluck sound down her throat and looked away, folding her arms petulantly. “Still cheap as ever, I see.”
“Susan! I believe your mother taught you better!” the judge was appalled at her behavior.
The stupid woman didn’t know she was actively digging herself into a hole. Wana gladly helped her in her endeavor.
“The price of the ring doesn’t matter to me, it’s the feeling we share,” she said and leaned into Daniel, whose arm went round her shoulder.
It was a swift decision, Daniel was granted custody of Stacey. Susan had visitation rights every weekend of a fortnight. It was settled, papers were signed and the meeting ended politely.
Susan, obviously, couldn’t let it go at that. She chased down Wana and Daniel at the parking lot and vented her misplaced frustration.
“This is not over, Uwana, or whatever you call yourself. This is not over,” she spat vehemently in Wana’s face.
“Stop this rubbish this instant!” Daniel commanded but got no response from Susan.
Wana’s calm was infuriating her by the second, the lady didn’t even looked bothered by her. “I know that you’re a fraud,” she shouted. “And it is my mission to expose you!” she declared self righteously.
“Well, Susan,” Wana began calmly, bending from the waist so that her eyes could look directly into Susan’s eyes. “…bring it on,” she said with a small smile and walked away towards Daniel’s car.
Daniel sighed exasperatingly and followed his fiancée, leaving his ex-wife standing with her mouth open in the center of the parking lot.
Susan left the court realizing that she’d greatly misconstrued Wana. Her homely look had been extremely deceiving and therefore, she’d had the notion of intimidating her away from Daniel. It was as plain as day that it would be an extremely difficult undertaking.
The story continues…
Neither was the judge, still, he’d expected she’d keep to time. The silence was suffocating and made him nervously glance at his wrist watch every second. This time around, they’d been kept in the judge’s receiving room; there weren’t any documents on his table, so he assumed this room wasn’t used often.
Daniel consciously ignored Susan’s coy looks from her seat, in front of the right edge of the judge’s table. Someone must have known that a partition between the parties was necessary today, and Daniel silently thanked the person.
The door connecting the reception opened suddenly, Daniel looked up expectantly but it was only the secretary.
“Justice Ekpo has just called. He has asked me to convey his apologies; his car broke down on the way here. He says he’ll be here in a little while and begs your indulgence,” the secretary said politely.
Daniel nodded understandingly, “It’s okay, we’ll wait.”
“Can I offer refreshments?” the secretary asked nicely.
“Will it bring the judge here any sooner?” Susan snapped saucily.
The secretary looked appalled at her impolite attitude. Daniel was shocked, “Susan! Was that really necessary?” he asked before turning an apologetic gaze on the secretary.
“Sorry for that, no need for refreshments. It’s not a problem, we’ll wait for the judge.”
The secretary nodded and withdrew from the room.
“Of course, it’s not a problem that the judge isn’t here. I’m interested in hearing the excuse you’ll give for the absence of your mythical fiancée,” Susan said insinuatingly.
“Think what you want, Susan, whatever massages your pea brain,” he replied calmly. A calm he wasn’t feeling because Wana wasn’t there. He knew it would be over for him if she didn’t show, the judge, especially with prodding from Susan, would just assume he had lied.
Lying wasn’t a characteristic of good family values.
With his thoughts far away, having once again ignored his ex-wife, he didn’t notice that said woman had gotten up from her seat.
She grazed her manicured and perfectly lacquered nails on his shoulder, causing him to start in surprise.
“Oh, Daniel, what happened to us? We were so good,” she said in a husky voice, leaning her tiny breast on his shoulder. “…so good we made Stacey.”
“Seriously, Susan, these seats were duly separated for this meeting. I’ll advice that you stick to your side,” Daniel said with a barely reasonable voice. He might have sounded like a child about to be bullied, but he didn’t care. He had long ago acknowledged his fear of Susan to himself, so he wasn’t ashamed of it; and it was with good reason too.
Her reaction to his statement was to seat on the judge’s table, facing Daniel, and then, seductively drag her toes from his ankle to his knees and then to his lap.
Daniel was struck dumb but more was to come. Susan had on a knee length gown; she made sure that her light colored panty was visible to Daniel.
“Come on baby, stop being difficult. We could end this now, forget the past and build a lovely future.”
Daniel didn’t know how she managed to sound sincere after all she’d put him through. He was furious when he flung her foot from his thigh.
“The very thought of building anything with you makes my skin crawl. I’ll advice you kill the thought,” he spat with all the venom he could muster.
Her legs came to his thigh, he pushed them off. It was as though it was controlled on a spring, he’d barely pushed it off when it returned and tried to wedge in his crotch.
“Aww, you can’t tell me the tender feeling you had for me are gone,” she insisted. Susan’s leg was at it again, trying to rub Daniel’s fly, while he doggedly pushed her off; that was when Wana opened the door.
The impressively tall lady took in the situation in a glance, her demeanor was stony.
“I believe the man said ‘kill the thought’,” her voice was so nice when she spoke; it was a blatant contrast to her pointed look on Susan’s leg on Daniel’s thigh.
Daniel felt like he’d just been caught cheating, forget that their association was a contract, still, his throat hurt from the bile rising from his stomach.
Both ladies stared daggers at each other, Susan pulled her leg of Daniel, while he jerkily arranged his trouser.
Still with her nice tone, Wana said, “Nice legs.”
Susan in her stupidity eyed her insolently and said, “Thank you.”
Then with narrowed eyes she replied, “I would love to break them.”
If she wasn’t so angry, Wana would have laughed at the appalled look on Susan’s face. She took her seat beside Daniel and was immediately attacked by his fury.
“What took you so long?” he spat. In his mind, he reasoned that he wouldn’t have gone through the debacle with Susan if only she’d been on time.
Wana sighed wearily, “I was held up in traffic,” she whispered back, noticing that Susan was trying hard to listen; the act was on.
“You should have called me?” Daniel accused, and he wasn’t acting, he was really upset.
Wana accused him right back, “And you could have called me too,” but she softened her rebuke with a loving expression and a soft rub of his jaw.
“I expected you’d be concerned, you know I’m never late for appointments,” she said in a voice so soft, they could have been having a pillow conversation.
Daniel was having trouble remembering what they were talking about. Her hand on his jaw was wreaking havoc to his reasoning. His turned self consciously and he caught Susan blatantly staring at them. He was then reminded that this was all staged, he quickly curbed his disappointment and played along.
The apology came easy to him, for he was sincerely sorry for snapping at her. “I’m sorry, darling. Yes, I agree, I could have called,” Daniel said, entwining his hand in Wana’s soft one and kissing the back of her palm.
Wana swallowed with some difficulty, she couldn’t explain her reaction to Daniel’s kiss act. Some un-named emotions were coursing through her spine, making her mouth desert dry.
Daniel seemed to have warmed to the idea of the act, Wana thought as she stared into the warmth emanating from his eyes. If he got any better with it, she could easily forget that this was all staged; and that would not be good.
With a mental shake to dislodge her wishful thoughts, she smiled and patted Daniel’s hand. “It’s okay, love. I still got here on time, right?”
He nodded smiling at her. Daniel’s smile was infectious; Wana smiled along, and surreptitiously noticed Susan scowling at them. The woman looked like she was about to have a heart attack, such a bitch, Wana thought.
The drama was on pause when the door behind the judge’s seat opened suddenly. Obviously, it connected with his main office; the man rushed in with a white file jacket and took his seat with a weary sigh.
“I sorry for keeping you waiting,” he apologized without looking up; he was busy opening the file in front of him, obviously the case file. When he did look, allowing his gaze to encompass the people in his office, his eyes looked simply exuberant as he recognized Wana.
“Ah,” he exclaimed, “You came to my office after all,” he said with a wide smile.
Wana smiled and nodded, “I did.”
“So, I was right, I do get the chance to pay back.”
Wana only smiled in reply to his comment. She couldn’t do more, if she did, she’d have laughed, and she didn’t think that was appropriate. The expressions on both Daniel and Susan’s faces were comical to say the least. Daniel was mildly curious and bemused, while Susan looked down right murderous.
“You see,” the judge explained as though talking to his children. “She offered me a ride in her chattered Keke NAPEP when she saw me stranded in traffic and trying to hail said conveyance to no avail.”
The judge shook his head fondly, “She explained that she would drop off at her location and then I could hire the Keke to where ever I was headed. Imagine my surprise, we were headed in the same direction!” he exclaimed with obvious pleasure.
“Oh, darling, that was a nice thing you did,” Daniel enthused, grabbing her hand again.
“I must say, Mr. Akpan, that’s a good woman you have there.”
“Thank you, sir,” Daniel replied.
This was when Susan couldn’t take it any longer. She rolled her eyes upward and snapped, “Can we begin the meeting already?”
“Of course, of course,” the judge said and opened the file. He hurriedly plunged into the heart of the matter, telling Wana that she had come up as a deciding factor in who gets maximum custody of twelve year old, Stacey Akpan.
“You see, Susan here has worries that your engagement to Daniel is too sudden and therefor might be a hoax. This meeting hopes to clear such a notion beyond reasonable doubt,” the judge actually looked apologetic when he said these things.
Wana smiled and nodded in understanding, “Of course, Susan should be worried; what mother wouldn’t be worried about the future welfare of her child?” she tried so hard to veil her sarcasm as she gave Susan a pointed look, clearly reminding her of her earlier conduct which had absolutely nothing to do with Stacey’s welfare. Said mother looked away with a juvenile roll of her eyes.
“You see, Daniel doesn’t have a lot of friends, she can attest to that. But the few close ones can confirm our engagement. In fact, we’ve held off the engagement this long because she could not be found to serve the divorce papers,” Wana explained sincerely.
Daniel grabbed her hand and squeezed encouragingly, giving the notion that they’d gone through a lot of stress because of Susan.
The judge didn’t miss this; he nodded and then brought up his own concern. He was all for a comfortable home for Stacey, but he worried that Wana, who wasn’t the child’s mother, might not be able to cope with possible tantrums or hatred that the adolescent might exhibit.
Daniel watched Wana smile and straighten the beautifully sewn Ankara gown she had on. She looked like what a modern mother should look like…demur but sexy.
“My experience would have to count for me at this point. You see, having lost my parents at a very tender age, I clearly understand what Stacey is going through. I’m not going to try to be her mother, nobody can take that spot.
“What she needs is patience, understanding and a friend. And sir, I’m willing to be this for her. She means a lot to my Danny, and therefore, automatically, she means a lot to me,” Wana concluded nicely and tenderly smiled at Daniel.
The judge was silently convinced that she’d be a better mother to Stacey than the biological mother of the child.
Susan’s sharp tone busted the tender moment, “Oh please, this is a bag full of cow shit!”
“Watch your language, young lady!” the judge snapped sternly.
She ignored him and sat forward in her seat, facing Daniel and his so called fiancée. “Engaged you say; we will like to see the ring.”
Her demand had brought silence with it. Wana saw Daniel’s eyes widen in alarm, he was probably thinking how they could have forgotten such a detail. She sort to dilute the tension that had suddenly permeated the room.
“Dear Susan, this is a bit childish, don’t you think? An engagement ring isn’t important in who gets custody of Stacey,” Wana was smiling, but she would have loved to wring the woman’s neck.
“True,” the judge supported, causing Daniel to release the breath he’d been nervously holding. Seconds later, he had to hold his breath again, this time looking down at his hands.
“Humor me, Uwana,” Susan said sweetly. “Show us the engagement ring that singles you out as Daniel’s woman. I’m proud to say I got one, even though he’d been dirt poor then,” she said condescendingly.
Daniel’s hand had covered his face, he just heard Wana’s exasperated sigh but didn’t see her present her left hand.
“Nice ring,” the judge said with a nod, causing Daniel’s head to snap up instantly.
The relief he was feeling at that moment was indescribable. He turned questioning eyes to Wana and met her incorrigible grin. While still smiling, she turned her middle finger up, in the accepted sign for ‘fuck you’, but with her innocent look, she was showing Susan her engagement ring.
“Does this do it for you, Susan?” Wana made sure she understood that the sign was for her.
Susan made a cluck sound down her throat and looked away, folding her arms petulantly. “Still cheap as ever, I see.”
“Susan! I believe your mother taught you better!” the judge was appalled at her behavior.
The stupid woman didn’t know she was actively digging herself into a hole. Wana gladly helped her in her endeavor.
“The price of the ring doesn’t matter to me, it’s the feeling we share,” she said and leaned into Daniel, whose arm went round her shoulder.
It was a swift decision, Daniel was granted custody of Stacey. Susan had visitation rights every weekend of a fortnight. It was settled, papers were signed and the meeting ended politely.
Susan, obviously, couldn’t let it go at that. She chased down Wana and Daniel at the parking lot and vented her misplaced frustration.
“This is not over, Uwana, or whatever you call yourself. This is not over,” she spat vehemently in Wana’s face.
“Stop this rubbish this instant!” Daniel commanded but got no response from Susan.
Wana’s calm was infuriating her by the second, the lady didn’t even looked bothered by her. “I know that you’re a fraud,” she shouted. “And it is my mission to expose you!” she declared self righteously.
“Well, Susan,” Wana began calmly, bending from the waist so that her eyes could look directly into Susan’s eyes. “…bring it on,” she said with a small smile and walked away towards Daniel’s car.
Daniel sighed exasperatingly and followed his fiancée, leaving his ex-wife standing with her mouth open in the center of the parking lot.
Susan left the court realizing that she’d greatly misconstrued Wana. Her homely look had been extremely deceiving and therefore, she’d had the notion of intimidating her away from Daniel. It was as plain as day that it would be an extremely difficult undertaking.
The story continues…
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