Chapter 43 Chapter Forty

Chapter Forty

'They say fate writes the script of our lives. However how it all ends depends on all of us. Our choices, ours'

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Canada

Daniella's Crib.

Amanda.

Amanda held her breath as she stepped out of the house, Denola was right in front of her with his back turned to her.

She could feel the tension between them but she said nothing, he was the one who wanted to talk after all. She was done with talking.

"Did you plan this, did you orchestrate all these?" Denola asked turning to her suddenly.

She knew what he was talking about but she decided to play clueless for a moment.

"Orchestrate what?" she asked tiredly.

Denola glared her, he knew she knew exactly what he was talking about and she knew one of the things he hated asides lies was pretense.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, stop your constant lies and pretense Amanda. It irritates me to no end" Denola said angrily.

Amanda remained silent and expressionless but deep in her she was going crazy and mad with anger. She took a deep breath and looked him square in the eyes. "Stop yelling at me Denola, you said you wanted to talk not freaking yell me" she said.

"What's my mum and Jadesola doing in there?" he asked.

Amanda laughed in disbelief "How the hell am I supposed to know? I haven't spoken to your mum and Jadesola since I left Lagos. And you know young man that your mum and I have never been that close to the extent that I would call her on phone and orchestrate things with her. You know this" Amanda said upset.

"Do I, Amanda do I really? With you one can never really know ain't it?" Denola said.

"I'm not going to stand here and watch your self righteous ass say shit about me. I mean what is your problem Denola, what exactly is your problem? Why are you acting like you have no sins, like you're fucking crystal clean when we both know you aren't freaking perfect!" Amanda spat angrily.

"I never said I wasn't without sins but unlike you I'm no liar or pretender" Denola said.

Amanda glared at him "you're a fucking hypocrite, you call me a liar and a pretender when that's exactly who you are. At least I'm not lying to myself or hiding behind a facade anymore"

Denola hissed and attempted to move away from her but she walked closer to him and gripped his hand. "Look at me you coward, you can deny it all you want but we both know you love me. Everyone in there knows that, you and I know it. Keep on lying to yourself and keep on pretending all you want, I'll play along"

Denola pulled away from her grip "I'm not lying to myself Amanda. I love you, but love isn't enough reason for me to be with you after everything you did" Denola replied.

"And Kamila isn't too? You know you hypocrite, criticize me all you want but you're doing the same thing I did years ago. Separating a child from her parent, in my case I did it to protect Jemila. You're doing yours because of ego and pride. You claim I'll put her in danger but deep down you know I'll sever off my arm before any harm comes to that girl. If you want to destroy the bond I have with our daughter because you're too proud to admit to yourself that you still very much want and need me in your life then do so. You want to give me weekend rights to seeing my own daughter, my daughter....that grew right in my body, the one I gave life, the one I nursed, the daughter you have today because of me. Weekend rights?!" she spat at him.

Denola looked away unable to meet her furious eyes glistening with tears."Look at me Denola, don't you dare fucking look away and see exactly how I feel. I feel like strangling your stupid neck, how dare you treat me like crap? How dare you tell me I can go back to my normal life since our marriage meant nothing and it's over just like that. For years I endured living with a tyrant, I've been running and hiding and trying to survive everything fate throws my way. You think that's a normal life, my only normal is you and Kamila and you want to take that away from me" she pushed him in the chest.

"How dare you, I could slap you blind with the way I hate you right now for everything you're putting me through!" she screamed at him.

Denola sighed "I'm not taking Kamila away from you....." Denola said moving backwards.

"You aren't? Then what are you doing getting a new apartment that's very distant from here, what are you doing monopolizing Kamila every goddamned time you selfish fool? Your selfish ass is doing this for yourself only  and not Kamila because if you loved our daughter you would not separate her from her mother"

"I love my daughter!" Denola said strongly.

"Our daughter, she's my daughter too. You can take her with you but I'll be there every day, no matter the distance. Even if it means getting a house next to yours, I'm going to be there every day. You're not going to take that away from me and if you ever think of bringing another woman in to raise my daughter, I swear I'll ruin you. Fool" Amanda cursed him angrily and walked away from him. She bumped into Atalia who was about heading out the door the minute she walked  into the house.

"Is everything alright?" Atalia asked concerned.

Amanda wiped off the tears on her face "No, your son clearly needs a brain transplant" Amanda murmured.

Jadesola stifled a giggle and Atalia shot her the look before venturing out to speak to her son.

"Daniella I really appreciate what you're doing but next time please stay the hell out of my business will you?" Amanda hissed and walked away.

Jadesola looked at Daniella who was looking back at her and shrugged.

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Denola.

"Son, what are you doing?" Atalia asked after twenty long minutes of silence and looking at the sky.

"What?" Denola asked.

"You have a beautiful woman, a daughter, a lovely family. Why do you want to ruin it?" Atalia asked.

Denola laughed "Coming from you mother, I could ask you the same thing" He said.

"So now we're always going to make reference to my past mistakes? I made a mistake son don't do the same" Atalia said taking his hand in hers.

"I'm going to tell you the same thing your grandmother told me several years ago when I wanted to file for a divorce" Atalia sighed.

Denola stared at her in disbelief "You wanted to divorce dad?" Denola asked.

"Yes, that was after I had Jadesola. You two don't know this but your father and I have a rocky marriage. We've always had problems, we were just very good at hiding them from you two. Your grandmother always talks about how your father is always taking my side and never making his own decisions. The truth is his support is the only thing he ever gave me in our marriage. When we got married he was still trying to get over his late wife, I'd hoped that with time maybe if we had children he'd love me but you and Jadesola were not enough reason for me to earn his affection or love so I threw myself into the Mayfair business. It didn't earn me his love but he respected me and I became his backbone. Your half sisters never come to the house because of how I treated them when they was younger, I took out the anger I had on their father and late mother on them. I know you son, I know you have a big heart and you would never be that way with Jemila" Atalia said caressing his hand.

Denola nodded and smiled at his mother. "Marriage is never a bed of roses Denola, you will take in a lot of crap and endure a lot. You will tolerate and have to ignore a lot of things. Forgive and forget a lot of mistakes, compromise where it's necessary and sometimes your partner wouldn't even reciprocate. You're lucky Denola, your partner can reciprocate all these, some of us aren't that lucky. Don't throw your marriage away because of pride, you may never find love like that again. I had to compromise and stay with your father despite his shortcomings" Atalia said cupping his face.

"Your grandmother also sent me to tell you she'll never support your divorce and if you try to take Kamila away from Amanda, the whole family  will support her and fight you in a legal battle till she gets custody of our granddaughter. I love you son, I don't want you unhappy again" Atalia said and kissed his cheeks.

"Thanks mum" Denola muttered. Atalia nodded and walked away.

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Amanda  answered the door after the fifth knock. She knew it was Denola and she'd wanted to ignore it but he was persistent "What do you want Denola?" she asked exasperated.

"I want to talk" he said meeting her eyes.

"Aren't you tired of talking, I don't have strength for this Denola"

Denola moved closer to her till they were a pin breath away from each other "You're right Mandy, I've been hurting you, lying to myself and pretending. I don't want to talk about our past. I want to talk about our future, only if you still want me"

"I thought you said love wasn't enough..." she muttered.

"It is Amanda, it is everything. I love you" Denola responded kissing her.