Chapter 37 Chapter Thirty Four

Chapter Thirty Four.

'We cannot erase the past, we cannot forget but if we don't learn the act of moving on,  we might ruin the present and wreck our future'

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Mayfair Residence,

Lagos.

Denola.

Kamila's eyes studied her father's as if she meant to ask him where her mother was. It's been three weeks since her mother's funeral. Denola wiped her dotted forehead with a napkin and watched her suck on the bottle rapidly.

Atalia arrived with another bottle of warm milk. "Thanks mum" he mouthed as she set it down in front of him on the table. "Davina is in the sitting room already, we're ready when you are" Atalia informed and walked away from the room.

Denola watched his daughter till her eyes began to droop and her mouth slackened around the nipple of the second bottle. He took the nipple out of her mouth and rubbed her back soothingly till she slept off.  He placed her carefully in her bassinet and left the room.

His mother and the Dame were talking casually when he got downstairs, Davina on the other hand was sitting opposite them, and was busy with her phone.

He cleared his throat announcing his presence before walking over to where Davina was sitting.

"Good afternoon Vina" He said taking in her appearance, she looked like her usual self except for the huge zit on her forehead.

"Good afternoon, how's my baby doing?" Davina asked. "She's well, she just slept off" Denola said shortly and turned his attention to his mother and grandmother.

Inhaling and exhaling, he clasped his palm together before talking "I'm sure You all are wondering why I want to speak to everyone so urgently" Denola started.

His mother nodded while his grandmother just sighed "Your father has told me of your plans already, I don't support it Denola but I understand why you want to do it" Dame Mayfair said.

His mother frowned "What's that?" She asked, her husband hadn't told her anything. Things were a little shaky between them after Amanda's accident and he had stopped confiding in her.

Davina looked at Denola expectantly, what  decision was his grandmother talking about?

"I'm leaving, this house and everything..." he was saying when his mother cut him off.

"Denola you can't...you can't do that. Is it because of I and Jadesola, you can't stand living with us anymore?" his mother asked.

Denola shook his head. After the burial, Jadesola had gone to Abuja insisting that she had to find Aliu. They hadn't heard from her since then but he knew she was safe, he had eyes on her.

"Actually, it's not about you or Jadesola mum. I'm not comfortable in this house any longer. I think moving to a different environment will be good for I and Kamila" Denola said.

Davina looked at him thoughtfully "I understand how you feel Denola, but with Amanda gone you can't raise Kamila alone. It's hard to deal with loss, and you feel you need to get away from everything and everyone but this is the time to keep family close and not away" Davina said.

Atalia made a small sound of agreement, she knew she had somehow failed him as a parent in the past but this was the time for her to make up for her past deeds.

No, her son couldn't leave.

Denola shook her head "It's just for a while, and I won't be raising Kamila alone" Denola said.

The Dame looked at him a little confused "What do you mean?" she asked.

Denola let out a deep breath "There's no easier way to say this I guess...." he started.

*

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Some Months Ago.

South Africa.

Denola.

'Hey man how's everything over there, Amanda and the baby?' Hakeem asked over the phone.

Denola murmured a response and contemplated confiding in Hakeem, Amanda had gone to the hospital with Kamila for an appointment with the doctor, apparently Kamila needed to get some shots.

"I need to talk to you about something man" Denola began. "It's about Amanda, I found out....I...I....she's been lying to me all along " Denola said.

He heard Hakeem take in a sharp breath before he asked 'What do you mean?' He asked.

"Well you know how secretive and closed off she is right? It started to irritate me and as much as it killed me to do it, I knew I had to look into her private business if I wanted to get to know her secrets. I had her investigated Hakeem" Denola said, a while ago he'd have felt guilty saying this but not anymore.

"Some months back, before we came to South Africa, she'd gotten a call from one Daniella Mayfair. In all my life as a Mayfair, I've never met or heard of any Daniella Mayfair. When I asked her about it, she flared up, it just got me suspicious. Before that I'd actually found a birth certificate of the same Daniella Mayfair on her phone. She wouldn't talk about her connection to this Mayfair so I decided to do my own research. I hired the tech guy at work to do some private findings for me" Denola said.

'What did you find?' Hakeem asked.

"Some Konye Kumar changed her name to Daniella Mayfair and travelled abroad. You know the oddest thing?" Denola asked.

Hakeem shook his head before he remembered that Denola couldn't see him so he responded 'No'

"Konye is Amanda's friend in Jos who was a witness at our friend, it just got me thinking why would Amanda lie to me about this Daniella being just a client?" Denola asked rhetorically

Hakeem paled 'So what are you saying?' he asked.

"It didn't end there, I asked the tech guy to dig deeper but he said there was a limit to the information he could get. He did recommended one of his friends that worked with the government that was good at finding information for people. I contacted the guy and asked him to find information on this Konye Kumar and Daniella Mayfair. After sometime, he contacted me saying he found out that her name isn't actually Daniella or Konye but Halima Abubarkar and she'd died a few years ago. I saw a screenshot of the report of her death from the doctor. I was still confused and suspicious of everything so I told him to find more information about her. He sent me a report a few minutes ago and that's why I called you" Denola said.

'What was in the report Denola?' Hakeem asked restless now.

"The guy sent me a full report about Halima Abubarkar and her family, Her parents, her brother Rasaq Abubarkar and her sister Hassana Abubarkar. Hakeem I've been married to an imposter. Do you know who Amanda Arinze is?" Denola asked.

Hakeem thought he sounded like he was crying.

'Denola....' he said painfully. He couldn't believe he'd hidden the truth from his friend along with everyone else. He'd known the truth for a while now but he hadn't told Denola.

He felt so ashamed of himself but he knew now how he could try to make up for everything. If not everything, then some of them.

"Amanda Arinze is Davina Arinze's late mother! And up until I married Amanda, she was still Hassana Abubarkar. I don't know how I'm going to face her now that I know this. I don't know what I'm going to do, I guess curiosity really kills the cat. What am I going to do, she's my wife and the mother of my daughter. And to think you were right about her, she's just as bad as Teni" Denola broke.

Was that all you found out Denola? Hakeem wondered. Didn't his tech guy tell him about Kadin or Jemila? Hakeem wondered again.

'I need to see you Denola, don't take any action till we've spoken. I want to speak to you, we really need to talk about this before you do anything for now just pretend that nothing has changed' Hakeem advised.

"What? I can't do that! Everything has changed, you think this is all? There are obviously still more things she's hiding, why did she change her name and lie about every single thing. He's not done with his research you know? the tech guy" Denola said.

'I know it will be hard for you to pretend but just trust me for now please'  Hakeem pleaded.

He heard Denola sigh "When are you coming?" He asked.

'I'm coming this weekend and Amanda must know nothing about our business. Don't tell her anything yet' Hakeem said

"Fine, I'll be expecting you man. For now, I'll just play her game with her" Denola said.

*****

Truth hurts? Aliu didn't understand the weight of that statement till he spoke with Hakeem later that night.

He'd gotten a photo from Hakeem the minute he walked into his apartment, his breath hitched as he saw a picture on his screen.

Halima, his Halima.....his chest tightened in annoyance and he picked up a phone to call Hakeem.

"What the hell are you trying to prove?" he asked annoyed.

'Oh...you know who she is then?' Hakeem said.

"Of course I do you bastard, and I know you know I know who she is you prick!" Aliu shouted.

'You still love her huh?' Hakeem hissed irritated.

"None of your business" Aliu hissed back and was ready to end the call when Hakeem's next words made him freeze.

'Yet you continue to work for the man who killed her' he said.

Aliu's blood went chill and he felt the prickle of goose bumps. "What did you just say, what the fuck are you saying? Halima died in an accident in Ghana" Aliu said.

'You're a fool, you lose your first love in an accident and a few months later your boss marries her junior sister and starts compensating her parents heavily. Pure coincidence huh?' Hakeem said.

Aliu's heart stopped "What the hell are you saying, Kadin accompanied me to the Abubarkars for a condolence visit. He met Hassana there, he was smitten by her so he married her" Aliu explained, only this time he sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

'You only see what Kadin lets you see, when I left him you became his minion. When you fell in love with Halima, he knew. So he did his research and found out everything about Halima and the kind of money grubbing parents she had. He made sure to separate you and Halima so you wouldn't be distracted because he couldn't afford to lose you the way he lost me. You want to guess how he did that? He fuckïng bought her and then he sold her again....multiple times' Hakeem spat.

Aliu stumbled from shock and fell to the ground. "You're lying, Kadin would never do that" Aliu argued feebly.

He began to remember how evil, heartless and malicious Kadin had been before he had Jemila, all the things Kadin had been involved in. The reason why Hakeem had quit working for Kadin.

"Her brother helped her escape and faked her death. When she was free, she wanted to contact you but she found out you were the devil's right hand man so she assumed you'd known all along what Kadin had been doing. Think Aliu, think! Why do you think Hassana upped and left right after having a baby. Use your fucking head, the picture I sent you is recent. Halima isn't dead, you can make things right with her. Decide now Aliu...Which side are you on?' Hakeem asked and ended the call.

Aliu looked at his phone wordlessly, his heart was pounding madly.

Whose side was he on?