"What do you want to talk about?" asked Kamji as she looked nervously around the room. Although she could spot a handful of people dining in the restaurant, she still wasn't convinced that it would guarantee her safety with the woman. For all she knew, she could be murdered by Shelby with one of the table knife and the law wouldn't find her completely accountable due to her mental impairment.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt you." came Shelby's crisp reply as if she had read the girl's mind. "I might be bipolar but I am still sane enough to distinguish what is good and bad."
Kamji felt a little guilty but at the same time surprised that the woman had been able to tell what she had been thinking.
"Judging by the way you didn't react when I disclosed I was bipolar, it's safe to assume you already knew about it." Shelby noted as her eyes trailed on the girl. "And I doubt my son was the one to have told you because he has always been so secretive."
"Why have you called me here?" Kamji asked meeting the woman's gaze. "If you think you can persuaded me into keeping my mouth shut and hiding the truth from Joshua then you're sorely mistaken."
The smile that was plastered on Shelby's lips fell immediately as she heard those words. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves yet," she gestured for a waiter to come to their table. "Would you like to have tea or coffee?"
Although it was late in the day to be having beverages, Kamji had ordered for some Iced tea and sandwiches.
It didn't take long for the waiter to return with their orders and the two were finally left alone in each other company.
"How did you find out about Joshua having a brother?" Shelby began as she took a sip of her Americano. "Did my husband send you here to spy on us? How much did he pay you? I am willing to double the price."
"I am not a spy. And the reason I know about Joshua being a twin is because I have met his brother."
"You've met Michael?"
"Yes and even though they are identical, I could tell that they are two different people because I was really close to Michael when I was in Abuja." she explained.
Tears had begun to fall from Shelby's eyes and she used her fingers to wipe them. "It's been seventeen years, he must have grown so big. I doubt he even remembers me." her voice was ladened with sadness.
Kamji felt her heart clench at seeing the woman cry. She wondered what had prompted the woman to to separate from her husband that had even resulted to each of them taking a kid. But satisfying her curiosity was going to have to wait as she tried to pacify the woman.
"Michael always thought you were dead but that didn't stop him from loving you," she said, choosing her words carefully.
Somehow the statement seemed to make the situation worse as Shelby cried even harder. "I am the worst mother on earth and the truth is that I don't deserve to have either of them in my life."
Kamji could see the other diners had begun looking in their direction and some had even casted her a disapproving look as if she was the reason behind Shelby's tears.
Fishing out a tissue from her bag, she offered it to the woman, "It's not too late to make things right." she said as Shelby wiped her face with it. "You can still tell Joshua the truth."
"I can't tell Joshua, he is going to hate me for it and he's never going to forgive me for lying to him for so long." She sobbed, "And do you think Michael is going to accept me too? After abandoning him for years."
Kamji agreed that the woman did have a point. If Joshua was to learn the truth, there was no way he was going to forgive his mother. She had denied him of a comfortable life and had dragged him into a life of suffering and strife. And what about Michael that had always lived with the guilt of thinking he was the one to have killed his mother during childbirth, only for her to show up one day, alive and healthy.
But what she didn't understand was why Shelby had isolated herself completely from her husband and cut off all form of contact with him. She had met Michael's father a few times and although he was uptight, he didn't look like the type to abandon his family most especially his wife and a son. Kamji's best guess was that Shelby must have run away, but why?
"You have to promise me that you're not going to tell Joshua anything about his father or brother." The woman's voice had a mixture of panic and desperation. "If you do tell him, he is not only going to hate me but he will also try to look for his father and I may never get to see him again."
"It's true that Joshua might be mad when he learns the truth, he has every right to be but he wouldn't cut you out of his life that easily." Kamji said, trying to calm the agitated woman
"No, you don't understand." Shelby shook her head. "His father is going to take him away from me and leave me with nothing just like he planned on doing seventeen years ago."
"What do you mean take him away?" her head piqued with interest at the woman's words.
"I heard him. He planned to keep the children away from me and isolate me from them. I had no choice but to run away."
Kamji thought the woman was hysterical but she still felt she could get a reasonable information, "You mean he wanted to divorce you?"
"No, that would have been better atleast I would still get to see my children." Shelby replied. "He had made plans to get me locked up in a mental asylum outside the country."
"Are you okay cuz? You've been stuck Infront of your laptop ever since you returned from your date." said River as she stared at Kamji whoes eyes was still glued to the screen. "You know you're straining your eyes right?"
"I am have lots of projects I need to research on." Kamji replied, her eyes not leaving the screen. She wasn't lying when she said she was doing some research but it had nothing to do with school instead it was about Bipolar disorder.
After her conversation with Shelby, she had decided to do a little research on the illness. It was over an hour and she had read medical articles and reviews and everything on the net she could find about the illness. After few more hours of intensive research. She had somewhat began to understand Shelby's impulsive decision of running away with Joshua. Her husband might have had her best interest in mind by wanting to send her to a psychiatric hospital, but Shelby must have viewed it as being deprived of her freedom which makes sense.
She could tell that Shelby was just a mother who loved her children and couldn't bear the thought of being separated from them. And that had driven her to running away with one of them.
It must have been so difficult for them at first, Kamji thought as she imagined a baby Joshua and a young Shelby trying to survive on their own.
"It was tough at first. I had to take on three jobs just to be able to foot the bills" Shelby had told her in the cafe. "I was almost never at home and Joshua was by himself most times. And although he was still very young, I enrolled him into a nearby school to make up for my absence."
That explained the reason why he had finished middle school at a young age, Kamji noted as she recalled the information she had seen in his files.
"I am not trying to make you feel pity for me or anything." Shelby had said. "I knew I was sick after being diagnosed with bipolar disorder. And even though I took medications, I still experienced a fair share of mania and depressive episodes. It was part of the reason I took on multiple jobs in the first place. I wanted to be away from Joshua. I didn't want him to see me lose control during one of my violent episode and I didn't want to hurt him too by accident. So I distanced myself physically and emotionally from him whenever I was home. I didn't play with him like mother's did with their kids, instead I always sent him to his room to study while I locked myself in mine. Some times I will get wasted in a bar and come home drunk, forgetting I have a son to feed and Joshua would have to sleep on an empty stomach. I was the definition of a bad mother and my sickness doesn't justify my actions because I do get back to my senses most of the time but I was ridden with guilt to make up for it."
Kamji could feel her emotions conflicted as she listened to Shelby's tale. She was angry that the woman had neglected her son and sad about Joshua's rough childhood. Why had she run away with him in the first place if she knew she wasn't going to be able to take care of him?
Sure she was scared of hurting him unintentionally during one of her episodes but what about when those symptoms were gone? Couldn't she have tried to be a mother atleast.
"Do you know that child negligence is also a form of abuse?" she had asked the woman. "You might have succeeded in not harming him physically but emotionally you damaged him completely."
The realization that Joshua had practically been the one to train himself since his mother was barely at home most of the time made her heart clench. He had been responsible for making his own lunch, to doing his own laundry and going to school all by himself from a very young age. He didn't have the luxury of having some tuck him to bed or hug him when he returned. He never experienced what it felt like to be loved by a parent.
Turning off her laptop she laid down on her bed staring at the ceiling wondering what it was like to be forced to be independent at a very young age like Joshua. It was no wonder why he was always so reserved and acted like someone way beyond his age.
She had wanted to ask Shelby about how she ended up being convicted of murder but later decided against it. The woman had told her too much already and it would be wrong to take advantage of her talkativeness which was clearly as a result of her illness. And she didn't think it would be wise to bring up what must have been a traumatic experience for the woman.
She had gotten ready for school the next day, her thoughts still clouded with her conversation with Shelby yesterday when she bumped into Buchi.
"Have you suddenly gone blind?" he snarled at her.
Kamji could tell he had purposely bumped into her just to stir up some trouble but she ignored him. She wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of ruining her day.
"You should apologize when you bump into someone, Don't you agree?" he asked.
"I am sorry for bumping into you, It's just that my brain doesn't seem to recognize you as a visible object." she replied sarcastically. "Now if you will excuse me, I have classes to attend to."
Buchi's face twisted in scorn at the insult. "You think you have won, don't you?" his voice was laced with venom.
"I don't remember playing any games with you in the first place." Kamji replied not in the least interested with what he had to say. The hallways were almost empty as students hurried to their next class and the last thing she wanted was to miss a revision class when their exams was around the corner.
There was a wicked grin on Buchi's face as he looked at her, "I wonder, just how loud I will have to make you scream for your boyfriend to come running to the rescue?"
She could feel his eyes trailing over her skin like she was steak on his plate waiting to be devoured. There was a slightly dangerous edge to his tone as he muttered the threat and Kamji felt goosebumps appear all over her skin.
"I am not afraid of you. You wouldn't be so stupid to do anything to harm me within the school permisis." she said, putting on a brave font.
"Oh, I am not going to hurt you darling. You misunderstood me." he said in a sultry voice as he lifted a hand to graze it across her chin. He chuckled lightly as she swatted his fingers almost immediately.
"Let me rephrase my statement." he smirked. "How many minutes do you think it would take for your boyfriend to show up in school if he thinks you're in serious trouble?"
"What are you schemeing this time?" she gulped not liking where the conversation was headed.
"For the once brightest student at your old school, you sure are getting dumb." He tsked as if reprimanding a little child. "All it's going to take is a text message to get Joshua expelled. A simple text stating that if he doesn't show up after school hours is over, you are going to be harassed and beaten to a pulp. And when he shows up, all I have to do is to take a picture as proof that he was on school premises while still serving suspension and boom. He gets expelled. Isn't that a wonderful plan?"
For once in her life Kamji had lost her cool and let her anger take control. Clenching her fist she delivered a punch right to Buchi square in the face.
Although she had mustered all her power in order to execute that punch, she could tell it was still slow. It would be a piece of cake for Buchi could have dodged the punch if he wanted but for some odd reason he had chosen not to and had accepted the hit. As soon as her fist made contact with his face, Kamji felt as though she had hit steel and her knuckles hurt at the impact. She could tell it was broken. There was an evil grin on Buchi's face as if he had expected that to Kamji gritted her teeth, She had a broken knuckle but not a single bruise seemed to have appeared on Buchi's face. It still looked as smooth as always as if she had planted a kiss instead.
"Hey, what are what are both of you doing there instead of attending classes?" A female teacher said, walking up to them.
Buchi suddenly put on the most innocent look and turned to answer the teacher. "I didn't mean to skip classes. I mistakenly bumped into my classmate here and although I apologized, she still went ahead to punch me instead." he sniffed.
Kamji's mouth dropped open at how smoothly the lie dropped from his lips. She hated to admit but he got a really good talent in acting. "That wasn't what happened," she sputtered.
"I did witness when you punching him young lady." The teacher said. "Both of you should head back to your classes and when you're done for the day please meet me in the staff room for your punishment young lady."
After saying that, the teacher left and the innocent look on Buchi's face was replaced by a devilish grin. "Have fun serving detention darling. I will send you a picture of your boyfriend running to your rescue. If you behave well I might send the edited version with him in a hero costume and a flying cape." he mocked.
It didn't take long for Kamji to realize what had happened. That evil prick had planned everything from the beginning. From purposely bumping into her, to stalling her long enough to miss classes. He had even managed to get her angry at the right moment just so that she could hit him and end up in detention. Now there was no way she could get to Joshua on time to warn him about the trap since she was going to be stuck in detention. Everything would have been over by the time she was done with her punishment in school.
She watched as Buchi pulled out his phone and sent a text to Joshua stating that he should meet him at the back of the auditorium once school was over. Although cellphones were a strict contraband, some students still managed to sneak theirs to school and Kamji wasn't surprised that Buchi was one of them. She couldn't help but wonder where he got Joshua's number but that wasn't important at the moment.
If she didn't do something quick to stop Buchi's plans, Joshua was going to be expelled from West Lake.