The real me

(Denzel’s POV)

It’s been months since Ollie and I started dated and it has been bliss. It’s been a month since Phoenix’s accident and getting discharged from the hospital. No one saw the accident coming and we were all left with the question ‘what if’ and it got me thinking, if anything happened to either myself or Ollie, will I die knowing that I didn’t tell her the truth about me or she died not knowing who I really was?

I was going to tell her the truth and that was it. No matter her reaction to the truth, I was going to accept it as it was. So, filling in for Sterling while he was on a forced sabbatical taking care of Phoenix, I took my phone out and texted her and replied immediately and it got me wondering if she was always on the phone and if so, what was she doing on it all day?

Me: Hey babe, will you be free this evening?

My Sunshine: I don’t know yet. I was going to hang out with Phoenix today, why? Is there a problem?

Me: Nothing; I just thought that we’d have dinner tonight. I have something to tell you and it is very important.

My Sunshine: Oh, if it is that important, I can always call Phoenix and cancel. The others can go without me.

Me: That will be really great, love; it will be at your place though.

My Sunshine: Oh, on such short notice? Why don’t we eat out since we close from work really late these days?

Me: That will be fine or let’s just meet at my spot?

My Sunshine: Okay, I have to go now; you are making me lose focus.

Me: Okay but we will go there by 6pm today.

I anticipated that moment when I get to tell her about who I really was. I carried on with my normal duties and before I knew what was going on, it was closing time and that only meant one thing, the time to confess. I packed up my stuffs from the office and drove home.

After resting for an hour, I changed into a black t-shirt and brown shorts with black slides, got into my car and drove off to my special spot. When I got there, I waited for almost an hour before she got down from her own car, and came over looking so surreal in her black flare gown with little floral designs over it and a brown colored flat to match.

Before I could get up, she had already taken off her shoes and dipped her feet inside water and leaned her head on my shoulder and we sat in utter silence, each one of us in our own thoughts.

“I could come here every day and just relax my body, soul and mind,” she said, sighing before saying, “Hmmm, you smell nice, what’s the name of your cologne?”

I chuckled before answering her, “Brave, that’s the name of the cologne and thank you for the compliment,” I placed a peck on her forehead after saying that and then turned towards the water again.

She let out a light laughter that was music to my ears, “Well, you are my man and I get to compliment you all I want,” she intertwined her hands in mine and they fit in perfectly like we were made for each other.

I sighed, “Babe, I called you here because I have something very important to tell and I want you to be very understanding and not get mad at me,” I shifted from her and held her hands in mine while looking at her.

“Babe, you are scaring me, what is it? is it another woman?” she asked, her face contorting in fear.

I shook my head lightly, “No babe, how can I look at another woman after I have seen you already? You are all my heart wants,” I picked some baby hairs from her face and tucked it behind her ears.

She sighed in relief, “Then what is it?”

I moved closer to her then said, “I lied about who I was,” I waited to see her expression but it was just one of utter confusion.

She scoffed before saying, “Babe, what are you talking about? Is this some sort of joke? What do you mean by ‘I lied about who I was’, what does that mean?”

“My birth name is Denzel Tom Silva,” I said, watching her face for a sign of any emotion then holding her hands firmly.

“Wait, you are kidding, right? Are you saying that your father is the owner of Silva Automobile?” she questioned, trying to remove her hands from mine but I still held on tight.

I nodded, “Yes but I didn’t mean to lie to you. It’s just that because of my past experience with women being with me only money and reputation, I didn’t know who to trust but then I met you and I so badly wanted to tell you when we started dating because it looked like you had no clue about who I was and just took me, an ordinary secretary as your boyfriend,” I waited patiently for her response which wasn’t forthcoming, “Please, say something, anything; be mad at me or something,”

“So, you hid your identity from me because you thought I was going to end up being a gold digger and just be with you because of your money? Is that how fickle my love is to you?” she said with tears streaming down her angelic face and I couldn’t help but me angry for hurting her.

“No babe, I was just being cautious and I didn’t know what to do. My family wants me to get married as soon as possible as their first born and heir. They made several arranged marriages with daughters of their friends for me but none of them loved me and I didn’t love them either. I was losing hope but then that hope was renewed when you started working at STERLING INC.,” I explained as best as I could so she could understand me.

“If you come from a wealthy family, what are you doing working for Sterling?” she sniffled.

“To get away from my family and more so, being my best friend, I told him about what was going on at home and he brought the idea at first but I didn’t buy it but I later had a rethink and decided that it was a good plan. I want to be with you because you love me for who I am and not what I have; please, forgive me,” I moved closer to her but she stood up and picked up her shoes from where she kept them and started moving but I pulled her back.

“What do you want me to say, Denzel? Now that you have told me about yourself, what if I become a gold digger; something you feared encountering?” she stared at me with hurt in her eyes.

“Because I trust you and we’ve been dated long enough for me to do who you are and deep down, you know that you can’t do that even if you wanted to. I want you to be with me, stay with me till we are old and grey and my parents would love to meet you; I talk about you to them all the time and it will be their honor,” I tried persuading her but it looked like it wasn’t working.

“I’d love to meet you parents, Denzel and you know that but this is too much to take right now and I will need to take a pause and think about it. I know that you had your reasons for keeping you identity from me and I get that but still, the hurt doesn’t just go away,” she looked at me intently and I wondered what was going on through her mind.

“You want to break up with me?”

“No, I just need a little space to accept things, Denzel Tom Silva,” and just like that, she left me standing there all alone and for the first time did I take notice of the environment.

******************

(Olivia’s POV)

Everything seemed crazy. I loved this man but he hid his identity from me all this while and I felt utterly confused. When he was talking, my mind went blank, I couldn’t say a word and when I did, all my words were laced with insecurities and I couldn’t help it. if he lied about his identity, what else was he lying about?

I left him standing there and although that was cold of me, I needed space to think without being distracted and I could do that at a different location. For the time being, I couldn’t be in the same place as him and that included work too but to skip work, I’d have to take a leave of absence from Sterling and I hoped he accepted it.

I connected by phone’s Bluetooth to that of my car and then dialed his number and while it rang, I kept the phone in the pigeon hole so I could focus on driving and after a few rings, he picked up.

“Hi, boss, good evening,”

“Hey, Olivia, good evening, how are you?”

“I am doing okay and you?”

“I am doing great,”

“How is Phoenix?”

“Well, she is in the nursery watching Emerald sleep,”

“Okay, that’s great. I’ll visit soon. Boss, I need a favor from you?”

“Okay, what is it?”

“I need a weeks’ leave of absence starting effective immediately,”

“Olivia, you know that I can’t grant that without tangible reasons, right?

“I know that; my mum is sick and I am needed at home right now,”

“Oh, I see that; you could have called Denzel and told him about it and then he’d talk to me, you didn’t have to do it,”