"what happened?" Paschal asked Joey as they were packing up to leave. "I just want to go. Looks like I've overstayed my welcome" she replied. "But the mood in that room wasn't good,looks like you and Wilson were having an important discussion" Paschal pushed on. "Paschal,I'm just tired. I want to go back" she said. "But you were the one that insisted we should come here in the first place and now you wanna leave? I've not even completed my mission to finding out that friend that connived with your dad to erase your memory" he argued.
"Paschal,I don't want to argue now,okay. I'm tired and I wanna go home" she said zipping her bag. "You better hurry up,I'll wait for you outside" she said leaving the room.
Paschal wondered what was going on in Joey's mind but nevertheless,he hurried up and joined her outside.
"Mum! We'll be going" She said loud enough for Mariam to hear her wherever she was. "Max be a good boy and take good care of Chloe for me" She said to Max who stood at her front. "Be a good girl and help Ma and Wilson with the chores" she said to Chloe who also stood at her front,right next to Wilson. She glanced at Wilson and walked forward to the door, passing her father like he wasn't even there. She left.
It was silence all through their ride home.
Apart from stopping at a grocery store to get some stuffs,they drove all the way home.
No matter how many times Joey convinced herself she wasn't going back to that house,she still went back their. To Rachel's room.
It seemed to Joey,that life without that Rachel's room seemed worthless. Even as they were back home at Paschal's, Joey still visited that room repeatedly.
She was now conversant with everyone in the house of course, except Davidson, her father.
One bright Thursday afternoon in Rachel's room over looking the windows,Joey could have sworn she saw something in the clouds. She strained her eyes to see beneath the sun rays but couldn't fathom what she saw.
"Why do you like coming to this very room everyday?"
Joey almost came out of her skin on hearing Wilson, for she wasn't expecting any one. "I've forgotten a great deal of my life Wilson and each time I come to this very room,it seems Rachel is trying earnestly to talk to me and I end up weeping and going home. But guess what? Each time I come here,it's as if a huge part of me is being remembered day by day. I don't really know which part,but it keeps me stronger day by day" she concluded.
"Wherever she is, she'll be proud of you" Wilson assured her.
"I hope so"Joey sobbed quietly. This wasn't fair. She wanted to know her sister, to remember her. But her father had succeeded in wiping this part of her memory away.
Unknowingly to her, Wilson was busy admiring her fine structure "if you want me to forget about you, you've gotta quit coming to this place" he said.
"What do you mean?" Joey asked.
"Why do you even like that guy so much? What have you gained or achieved from loving him? I kill myself everyday thinking about you and you---" he couldn't complete his statement.
"Wilson you've gotta stop!"
"Stop what?!" Wilson pushed on "you've giving him your heart, your life. That you can't even think straight again between love and pity"
"What do you mean love and pity?"
"A stranger you just met took you in despite your past and condition. Forget the fact that you two are engaged,he's still a stranger. What does he know?! We've known each other since childhood Joey"
"You're wrong Wilson. Absolutely wrong. Yes I know the difference between love and pity. And you're the one pitying me here and if you may know Paschal is the only man that I've learnt to love. He provides--"
Wilson interrupted her angrily.
"Provides? You call that love, provide? You left your family,your sisterhood because of one man. Now tell me Joey,what has he left because of you? I'd like to know"
"Pride".