Chapter 11

"It can't be!..."

Jason thought. He watched her from where he sat. She looked so pretty and delicate in her wheelchair to have been lifeless on the road that night.

He watched silently, his curious eyes drifted to every part of her body he could see, noticing how shiny and curly her hair was and the fact that it was braided into two parallel lines and some tendrils left to give her an innocent look.

But most importantly, he loved her skin color. Like a mixture of black coffee and milk, her caramel skin shone under her thick dark curls bringing her beauty to life.

Sophia nervously wheeled herself inside the living room where everyone sat waiting for her.

Refusing to make eye contact with the guests for fear of how real the situation was. she glanced at Stanley who gave her a warm smile encouraging her further into the room.

"Dear, how are you doing this morning?" Maureen asked patting her hair as a show-off.

Sophia nodded in response.

"These people here, are the family I told you of, they're here to visit and see how you are doing."

"This is my daughter Sophia" Maureen stated cheerfully.

"Sophia I'm Ernest Bestman and my wife Olivia, and our son Jason. It's our pleasure to meet you."

"Me too" Sophia replied barely looking at Ernest because at that point her inquisitive eyes landed on Jason and suddenly the air was difficult to inhale.

He was breathtaking in an exquisite way, he had an aura that could never be ignored because he was certainly beautiful in many ways.

His curly hair as she noticed weren't so dark like hers but he had his ways of styling them to perfection.

And his stares were quite penetrating and intimidating just like his father Ernest.

Jason stared at her without blinking. he wanted to decipher her true emotions and absorb every contour of her pretty face but her gaze landed on him, he felt the intensity and in retrospect avoided her gaze as of it was a fire.

"Hello dear, how is your health?" Olivia asked smiling.

"Am okay, just find it difficult to let other people do even the littlest of things for me, you know, it's depressing" she managed a smile.

Ernest and his wife looked at each other in shame. He looked at his son expecting a sober reaction but Jason wasn't with them he was in his thoughts.

"Jason!" He called out to his son who shook and turned to his father.

"Don't you have anything to say to her?" Ernest asked his son in resignation.

"Uh... Well... I am sorry... Am very sorry for putting you through this horrible situation and I hope you forgive me..." Jason paused for a while. Everyone waited thinking he would say more.

For the first time both their eyes locked.  And Sophia could read the emotions playing in them he looked so vulnerable like her and so unhappy.

She managed to get her breathing right. Although he seemed nervous to look her in the eyes for long.

Everyone was silent after his little apology until Stanley spoke up.

"Well... It's worth it, but sir I want to say that as a doctor, her mental health is my priority and also her physical health. She isn't comfortable with your son being here. Though I understand it's in her best interest. I should think this should be the end of all of this. She has gotten over the matter she just needs to go back to her life and I and her stepmother can take care of her quite alright, I think so."

"Don't say that Stanley, Sophia has partial amnesia she can't remember some previous incidents, and her chances of walking again are very thin. My daughter hasn't finished college, she was a second-year student in the anatomy department But now what school would allow a disabled? And what money do I have to cater to all her needs and mine?... I don't mean to look down on you but, you are a young man who would one day settle down with your own family and I and Sophia can't be here forever?!... I want to take the help I can get now. And nobody wants to marry a disabled in this generation!!" She wiped her face and continued.

"Does that leave me to take care of her alone till I die?! And even if I die. Who would she stay with? She's an orphan for crying out loud! Sir... I know you promised to compensate us. And I've asked you this question before and I'll keep asking you... If your son or daughter was to be disabled for life what would you do?... Because I do not know. She was once a young girl who had her life ahead of her. Now she can't even wear her clothes herself or ever stand!!!!" Maureen wailed sorrowfully, Sophia consoled her.

Ernest was short of words, his wife wiped her tears beside him while Jason kept his head down.

"Maureen... It's okay I thought about that question you asked at home... And the truth is I cannot stomach to watch my child immobile while I walk healthily. Not even Jason. And no one wants to be associated with a disabled, it's a stigma she has to bear forever" he paused for a breather.

"So I decided as a just and disciplined man that I am...."

Once those two words were spilled alongside each other from his father's lips Jason already knew disaster followed. He raised his head to look at his father in fear of his fate is sealed.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when his mother cried.

"Ernest you can't condemn our son that way!!! No! Please there are other ways to punish him than this."

"This isn't punishment, he has to own his problems and deal with them. So he'll marry Sophia and she will be his responsibility forever! That's my take on this" he insisted.

Maureen smiled from her teary eyes. And looked at Sophia who was confused.

Dread filled Jason's mind as he tried to winnow his anxiety from his father's words.

"Dad no!!!! I can't get married to her. I don't love her!" He screamed.

"Oh, love? You'll get a hang of that soon" Ernest retorted sarcastically.

"This is bullshit!! I'm out of here!!" he stood in fury and left the scene. Jason was seeing red as he stormed off ignoring his mother's calls.

Olivia went after him while Ernest spoke with Maureen.

"I promise by my watch your daughter will be safe with him, he at least has nothing he cares for and by taking Sophia in he'll be more responsible than ever, I promise. And anything that is a need I'll provide."

"Thanks so much, sir, I couldn't have asked for more. You're an angel in disguise. My daughter and I appreciate your kindness" Maureen adored with tears of joy.

"Dear Sophia, don't think this is a bad choice I've made for my son and you. I'll even get some foreign doctors to look into your condition alright, just trust me on this" Ernest assured.

She nodded without feelings.

"I'll take your leave now, I'll contact you soon for updates" he finished handing Maureen a cheque, her eyes lighting in adoration and fulfillment.

***

"You have to marry him, Sophia, there is nothing for you here in this house, Stan cannot take care of you forever. And I am not getting any younger" Maureen gallivanted in a back and forth movement in Sophia's room.

She paused as a thought came to her.

"Look Ernest has money, they can provide anything it is you need. your schooling, your health, and everything! Wouldn't you want to make your late parents proud especially your late father?..." Her stepmother knew that mentioning her dead parents brought her down and never ceased to utilize the opportunity as blackmail.

Sophia froze... For once she thought what her parents would think of her present situation. They would've expected so much more from her than to just sit on a chair and grow old.

"I'm I not too young to marry?" Maureen stared at her in wonder.

"No, you're not! At eighteen I was married to my first husband but you're twenty you should know that."

"But he doesn't want it to, am not comfortable getting into something that is not acceptable to the other person. He isn't going to marry me okay? Am crippled, nobody wants a cripple like me, you said that yourself! My dad would've wanted the best for me but not by getting married to someone out of compromise."

Maureen chuckled bitterly clearly pissed off by Sophia's rants and excuses.

"Really?... Alright, see here. Doctor Stanley can pay for your tuition even till you graduate but that doesn't mean he'll keep paying for your upkeep when you're a graduate with a certificate that doesn't bring worth. You can't get a job?! Nor can you get money to support him, so you want to let him take care of you forever? Mmhm? " She questioned.

She was quiet for a while.

"Who's Monica?" Sophia asked all of a sudden.

Maureen froze in fear.

"What? Why did you ask?... Are you getting your memories back?."

"Uh... I... Just... I think, am not sure it's still all blurry and thought maybe you knew who Monica was maybe it could help."

Maureen pondered for a while, she should play her cards well and real quick because if Sophia remembered even a bit of that cold night her plans would boomerang.

"Oh, don't bother about her. She's nobody may be one of your classmates in school. you know you had quite the friends in school. If you remember anything at all, I mean anything don't hesitate to tell me alright?."

"Yes, I will..."

"I'll leave you to think about what we've discussed please make a wise choice."

Maureen left Sophia in her room and headed out. She met Stan in the living room sipping on his drink.

"Might I join you, dear?" She smiled coyly.

"Sure... How's she?."

"Oh, she's never been better. I think this decision will help her so much" Maureen claimed and sipped on her wine.

"Or rather you?" He faced her squarely.

"What?!."

"I mean Maureen, do you have Sophia's best interest at heart? Or are you after your gain?" Stanley too had been thinking of reasons why Maureen wanted so much to marry her stepdaughter off to the same careless man who left her to die on the streets and what her main intentions were for Sophia.

It irked him so much but he was outwitted as always. He wasn't Sophia's legal guardian

Maureen gave him her worst intimidating look.

"How dare you insinuate such nonsense?! She is my daughter..."

"Your stepdaughter... That's what you called her since" he corrected sternly.

"Do not think because you took us in and sheltered us then you own us and can make decisions for us. I cannot allow that, I am her legal guardian Stan, I want the best for her... Whatever will make you say that!" She hissed.

"You disappear when she needed you most, then come back to pretend nothing happened and now you want to sell her off like you don't care! She's an adult and has the right to make her choice in such situations, she isn't mentally stable to venture into such a difficult relationship. Don't you get it?!."

"She is my daughter and I'll be with her all the way. I don't care what you think of me. I have her best interest. Besides, you should be happy a burden is being lifted off of you."

"She was never a burden to me. But you are" he spat icily and stormed off to his room upstairs.

Maureen laughed hysterically and shook her head in mockery at his retreating figure.

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