Never at any cost am I going to devorce Lala" he explodes in mother's ears behind the phone, "I don't have any intentions of marrying Dodo. A sister to me that is how I consider her." Don rudely switches of the phone. "Hello... hello... son!," mother keeps yelling hello but she can barely hear a word coming out of the phone.
"Really!" inhaling and exhaling terribly, wrathful mother wonders.
"She's like a lioness who's just lost her baby" says Dodo on phone, "it's not wise for you to confront her especially with that kind of excuse." "Do you have any solution?" asks worriedly looking Lala who is just walking back to the apartment from the market carrying a paper bag of green groceries in her hand. "Best to be done is to call for a general meeting involving all of us now that mom and dad are all around," that's my opinion she replies.
"Am scared, " Lala says in Don's hands after meeting with him at the apartment. "As you leave for work today, am going together with you at the mansion" Don says, "it's high time we confront the parents on this fact." "Just hold on me strongly I promise everything is going to be alright" with unshaken confidence he speaks, "this battle is nothing infront of love."
"I got something to tell you," in a worried voice Lala speaks after a long thinking. "Anything, am all ears," attentively Don responds sitting up properly to listen.
"I've just discovered today that am three weeks pregnant," she says. "Are you kidding me?!" he wonders creating a space to look at that stomach. "Seriously," continuing to speak, he touches the stomach romantically. He then busts in to tears with a very wide smile, forward so fast and hugs her. This is what they refer to as tears of joy. "You mean you're carrying our child?!" joyfully he asks. Lala nodes her head with a yes implication, tears of joy rolling on her cheeks too. "Nothing I did was a mistake" he says, "I've always wished to have my children with a woman I love...., this is a dream come true." No need to explain the joy filled inside Don's heart as it is all expressed on his handsome looking face.
"How comes?!" ruthlessly shouts mother in a living room when Don tells them openly about Lala's pregnancy. "He's my wife 'mom' that's is how it all comes" he aggressively replies, "enough reason to let us be, thank you." "Unless you're ready to loose all the inheritance, you're marrying Dodo," in disregard of what Don has said, says rude mother.
"With all due respect mom, what you are talking about here is my father's business empire" Don argues tough, "you can't take away what belongs to me." "If you act carelessly, you're bound to loose everything," mother replies with a look so serious. "The agreement your father made with us before he died was, you to own his empire after marrying Dodo," Mr James supplements to his wife's word saying, "If you don't marry Dodo, you're not to get anything. These were clearly his words on his sick bed" He had his personal reasons why, which even required us to swear an oath of loyalty towards fulfilling his wish," clarifies mother.
Don picks up his phone to make a call. "You're the family lawyer and the sixth figure fraternity most trusted Lawyer among all the three empire lawyers if am not mistaken," he says on phone while everyone is watching. "Am Don the son of president 'Gordon The Don', hope you've heard about me." "If I don't know the heir to my boss then am not qualified to be your family lawyer," the lawyer replies behind the phone. "Every family document is protected under your law firm" Don says, "am requesting you to please present my father's will that is if at all you don't mind." "With all due respect, unless four people, which is Mr and Mrs James, You and Dodo are present as the will empasises, I cannot submit to your request, sir" politely responds the lawyer on phone, " am so sorry."
Quickly Don forwards the phone to mother. "Instruct him to come with the will straight away," Don tells mother. Both Mr James and his wife look at him getting arrogant. Without wasting time, Mr James collects the phone from his wife. "Mr James speaking" he says asking the lawyer behind the phone, "do you hear me?" "I can hear you sir," replies the Lawyer. "How fast can you make it to the mansion with a will?" Politely Mr James inquires.
'If you ask me Sir, in two hours time possibly," replies the Lawyer. "If you don't mind please, we are waiting for you" adds Mr James, "thank you." Don collects his phone back and all of the house members relax in silence to waiting for the lawyer to show up.
Two hours later;
"Back in ages, it was very important to protect family's wealth. Our ancestors evolved a way which was sworn through cutting of the palm and blood was mixed. An oath was taken. If you give birth to a boy child, as a father you have to become a godfather to a girl he will marry in the future. My father was Don's mother's godfather when she was born. This is how it has always been way back in our family. Here I am following the roots of my ancestors. As a godfather to Dodo, my son Don is entitled to take her in as his wife. If Don gives birth to a son, the same root must be followed and if he gives birth to a girl child, that girl child is free to inherit the business empire. It is the only way to break and change the ancestral aoth." He continues to write and say, "If anything happens and my son Don does not marry Dodo, every empire belongings 'MUST' be donated to charity before it parishes," Lawyer reads from the will written by Don's late father. "In his own handwriting this was written and signed," concludes the lawyer.
"We promised your father that we're going to protect his legacy with our own blood" Mr James tells Don, "please don't be stubborn you must protect your family's legacy too."
"Am so disappointed in you Lala, " angrily in her wheelchair mother states. Dodo can't stand seeing her mother putting the blame on Lala knowing very well she's innocently trapped in this dilemma.
"Mom...! would you please stop blaming Lala?! she actually had no idea about my relationship and Don," defensively Dodo speaks on behalf of her friend. "Would you please shut up," mother raises her voice on her daughter saying, "I've never seen you even once in your relationship times sharing a car with your fiancée but a few days back, without shame he drove all the way here to drop her" mother exclaims, "and that's not the point. My concern is, she denied when I asked her."
Lala tries opening her mouth to say something but lacks a starting point. Words stop on the mouth and confusion makes a statement all over her face.
"Why did you lie?" Mr James asks Lala while everyone now is looking at her in a different type of way. "You didn't have to lie," says Dodo posing a blame.
"Stop....! all of you stop!" angrily Don attacks the audience loudly. "Put yourselves in her shoes. What would you have done?" He asks. "In a situation like this she cannot defend her innocence even when she has something to say," in a rudely aggressive personality he shouts.
"Am the one who put Lala into the situation she's going through right now. Yes" he says standing up on his feet, "I hid my true identity away from her. I went on to occupy an apartment next to hers. I bought a house for the lady and her six year old daughter who used to be her neighbors at the apartment by then just to stay close to her," he elaborates. The look on Lala's face tells it evidently she knows nothing about this statement... wonders and only wonders on her innocent chaming face. "Was me who played it off everytime she talked about bringing me to meet you, her parents as she says. I am the lier" he proceeds to blame it on himself, "she fell in love with me without an idea about my family." Sighs. "I lied about my true identity and posed as a gym instructor in her life not a wealthy boyfriend." He goes on to tell the family, "And.... It was all in my plan to conduct a private wedding, so i went on to convince her no matter how difficult it was for her to decide to leave you out. She only accepted with hope that anytime I was to meet her family and make it up to them. Over and over again she feels embarrassed when she looks into the memories of our wedding and non of you the family she cherishes with all her life is anywhere in the picture," says Don aggressively.
"On....," sighs "on the night following mom's birthday, she wasted herself in alcohol after finding out that the fiancée Dodo kept telling her about was non other than me," Don proceeds with the story when every one else is looking surprised. In Dodo's mind she recalls Lala's young brother Jack calling her asking whether his sister was still at the mansion. She remembers replying to him that Lala left very early for she didn't work.
"In the morning when she woke up" proceeds Don with narrating, "she didn't want anything to do with me. Actually she wanted us to break up. As weak as I am, I went around following her and convinced her. I even kidnapped her into my car to drive her here that very afternoon. She wasn't happy with me at all." "So please....., stop blaming Lala. She is innocent" calmly he says with tears rolling down his cheeks, "am the right person all of you should blame."
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and as for me, I did what I did for the love that flows inside me. I do not regret my decisions either" Don says, "this is my life and my own happiness."
"All of you can call me selfish, for the woman I love called me that already" with his voice on its lowest peak he says, "the woman I marry, is the person am going to spend the rest of my life with. I considered living uncontented in marriage as well as living sad for the rest of my life. I chose to make my own decisions by marrying the woman I love." "Mom, Dad" he respectfully address them by their titles and says, "I don't care if Lala is a wrong choice, I feel more alive in her even if the world ends today when am by her side it is okay. Am a born again in Lala."
Don walks straight infront of Lala, pick her up by holding both her hands and says; "At this point, I don't care whether I loose all the riches, you and my child are the most important things that matter to me right now. I need our child to grow in both our presence....." He puts his eyes and a hand on Lala's stomach, "since I missed to be around my parents when I was growing up, I don't want my child to go through the same challenge especially when we are still alive," he clarifies.
Don's words capture everyone's attention including mom, dad, Dodo and the lawyer. Mom sniffs and whips off her tears which have been rolling on her cheek during her stepson's romantic words session.
"Please take me upto my bedroom," mother asks whipping her forming reddish brown eyes. Speechless as everyone looks, her husband Mr James stands up and pushes her wheelchair upto inside her bedroom.
"I've never seen our son Don talking more than five words ever since I took him in under my custody," says frozen mother to her husband. "It's obvious what love does to people. Unpredictably it absolutely changes them," Mr James says helping out his wife to get on her bed.
"Don and Lala have reminded me of our young love" Mrs James says, "my parents didn't want me to be with you. They didn't consider the fact that we loved each other so much, all their focus was on your poor family background."
She continues to recall, "I can't forget how Don's father with all his stubbornness at his young age came to our house, so courageously and confronted my parents to fight for us." Mrs James smiles warmly. She poses a bit to take a long breathe and says, "Exactly the same way his son was defending their relationship down there."
Mr James supplements, "His father is the reason why we were able to have our beautiful daughter Dodo and still his efforts to become husband and wife until today."
"I can't forget how massively I cried for two days when my parents were forcing me to abort the pregnancy, I couldn't eat anything for I was so nervously scared" Mrs James recalls more, "If it wasn't for Don's father who entered that room and grabed me out....." sighs.
"I can only give thanks to heavens which used him and gave him the guts to attack and convince my rude parents. May his soul rest in paradise," says Mrs James laying on her bed.
"So now..." Mr James speaks in question, "what is the way forward?" "All I need is to relax right now," replies Mrs James.
He covers his wife comfortably and walks out of the bedroom. Don walks his wife Lala by the hand outside into his Rolls-Royce and they also drive off in their convoy. Speechless Dodo filled with compassion walks to the kitchen and grabs a bottle of liquor. She sits up on the kitchen counter, opens, puts on the mouth and starts sipping. She just wants to get drunk and forget the rest of the emotions that are eating her up.
"It has really been a long day," Mr James tells the lawyer on his return to the sitting room where the meeting was conducted. The lawyer who now stands up inquisitive on what next is going to be done about the pending issues. "We need sometime to get on top of this," Mr James says. "True" replies the Lawyer nodding his head, "I hope it all ends well since it is with in the powers of you and your wife now." Mr James nodes his head as well to confirm with him and says, "let me escort you outside to your car." Which the lawyer welcomes humbly. They both walks gently, the lawyer infront and Mr James following from behind upto outside. "We shall keep you in touch," says Mr James with a smile and a handshake. The lawyer's driver opens a rare door of a white RangeRover S V first edition longwheel base 2022 model, he gets in and they drive out of the mansion gate as Mr James looks, standing in a distance on the compound.
"Where is this place," Lala asks Don on stepping out of the car. "It's my hotel... call it my permanent residence," he replies holding her by the hand to walk her through the entrance. Workers start gathering and lining up side to side after noticing his arrival. He walks along with his wife in hand while the bodyguard Python comes from behind them. Passing in the middle of the works who bow their heads, greeting and respecting him, Lala looks so uncomfortable for this kind of reception. Him and wife Lala enter the elevator and now she can breathe perfectly well. The elevator takes them up to his residence, a whole floor on the hotel.
Back to rumors from the workers talking within themselves about the boss coming with a very beautiful woman they've never seen, who looks like an angel that has just fallen out from heaven. "That face doesn't look new to me," one of the room attendants says as she tries to go through her weak memory, trying to recall.
"You need to master these codes because from now onwards, this is your home too," Don tells his wife Lala. He holds one of her fingers and start pressing the touch screen entering them codes to open the main door.
"The last time I slept in an executive suit was when sister Dodo picked me up from the streets," says nervously looking Lala after entering inside the hotel suite, "she brought me to this very hotel and got out her credit card to make a down payment for all the expenses down there at the reception." "The bill was really high," she exclaims. "If someone happened to tell me back then that this was going to become a home for me to stay, I would have cursed them to death. I had no idea that one day a father to my unborn baby was going to present a whole floor on a five star hotel to me as a permanent home," Lala cries, smiling unbelievably.
Don gets a handkerchief out of his pockets and starts whipping off his wife's tears. Lala turns to Don, looks straight into his eyes and says, "You're really a very bad person. Maybe this is why I love you..., I don't know. At this moment I've come to realize that this is not what I want." Don start looking nervous when she says words like this. "What I want is the other gym guy, who walks me on the streets while going home, who takes me to dinner in ordinary places, My neighbour boyfriend who stays at an ordinary apartment and proposes to me around ordinary people. That's the kind of person I fell in love with and is the person I want to stay with for the rest of my life. I mean Mr Yang because Don looks like a stranger to me now," Lala expresses he feelings in a very passionate way.
"The man standing infront of you right now" Don says, "is willing to be anything you want him to, is you to decide. I have proved it to you already."
"I have one simple favour to ask," says Lala. "Am all ears as always," responds Don. "Allow me to stay at the apartment for now until when I gain stability in my head from all that is taking place," she requests politely with her arms around his neck. "You can take as long as you wish it's okay" he accepts looking passionately into her eyes, "as long as you don't leave my sight." "My brother Jack accepted you already. You're his favorite person on earth, apart from me dont forget that," Lala poses a joke which makes both of them laugh. "You can come anytime you want, my home is your home," Lala says to him.
They both can't wait to share a warm lovely hug inside their uniquely furnished massive executive hotel suite.
(ANOTHER WARM THANKS TO YOU THE READER)
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