The next day, Doctor Chidinma Ude drove to work seething with anger and arrived at the clinic livid. The moment she saw Onyeka Michael, also just pulling into the parking lot, she exploded.
“How could you keep such a thing from me?” she raved, stalking over to his car and glaring down at him, arms on her waist. “How?”
Onyeka stared out at Chidinma from behind his steering wheel, confused, the cheery morning greeting meant for her stuck in his throat. The last time they had been close enough to touch, he had been kissing her. Now, she was angry about something and he had no inkling what it was. For a moment, he wondered if she had found out something about his past; a past he had run away from many years ago and kept buried far in the recesses of his mind. He looked at her, gauging her anger.
No, if she knew, she would be more than angry. She would be horrified.
Onyeka switched off his car and stepped out gingerly, eyes warily accessing Chidinma. She looked beautiful, as always. A deep green dress sheathed her curvy body to perfection, complementing her creamy skin, and showing off her straight legs where the hem stopped at the knees. Her pointed nose flared slightly as she breathed angrily, and her lips were tight, but it did not detract from the beauty of a stunning face, from which delicately slanted eyes glared out at him in anger.
“Okay, I have no idea what you’re talking about, Chidinma.” Onyeka said, careful to keep his tone light. “I can’t read minds, so you have to tell me what you think I kept from you.”
Chidinma crossed her arms and glared even harder. “It’s Nonso. I know he is confiding in you and some of that stuff needs to remain just between you both, but you can’t just keep some very alarming stuff from me like that. I’m his mother, and also a therapist. I can be trusted, you know.”
Onyeka mentally ransacked through the things Nonso, Chidinma’s son, had confided in him, but came up with a blank. “Seriously, Chidinma, if Nonso had told me something I felt you should know I would have passed that information along. As it is, i can’t think of anything really…”
“A teenage boy being in love is not disturbing enough?” Chidinma cut in, her eyes narrowing.
Onyeka raised his brow in surprise, and then laughed softly. “What? Is that it? Chidinma, boys crush on girls or fall in love all the time. Do you really expect me to tell you about that if Nonso likes someone? That would be embarrassing to him.”
“Boys crush on girls. Girls?” Chidinma scoffed. “So, you’re pretending that you don’t know that’s not the case here?”
Onyeka found himself confused afresh. “You’ve lost me again. What happened? Did you discover something unusual about him? Like…” he lowered his voice and looked around before he continued. “Like, does he like boys or something..?”
Chidinma rolled her eyes. “No, that’s not what I’m saying. It’s a woman. My son is in love with a woman. In his own words, ‘wayyyyyyyy older than him’. That’s the issue.”
Onyeka reared back in surprise. “What?! Seriously?” When Chidinma simply stared at him with a disbelieving look, he continued. “No, wait, I swear I had no idea. He didn’t tell me. I know he liked someone, but I had no idea it was a fully grown woman. All this while, I thought he was referring to a classmate or someone who lives in your estate…”
“Well, he wasn’t.” Chidinma snapped, but her face had loosened its tightness. “I guess I owe you an apology for coming at you like that. I’m sorry, I thought you knew.”
Onyeka considered rubbing her mistake in her face, but thought better of it. She still looked pissed. “Well, I did not. Your apology is accepted and finally, good morning to you.”
Chidinma had the grace to look sheepish. “Good morning.”
“But if I knew,” Onyeka continued breezily. “I doubt I would have told you anyway.”
Chidinma expression darkened again. “Excuse me?”
“To be frank, it really is his business at this point. It’s probably just a teenage crush he’ll get over…”
“You don’t understand.” Chidinma cut in angrily. “According to him, this woman, whoever she is, ‘loves’ him too and has been urging him to tell me. He even bragged that they have already had sex!”
Onyeka gaped. “Okay, that’s not okay at ll.”
“Exactly! It’s statutory rape! He’s a teenager and whenever I get my hands on this woman I will make sure i….”
“Hey, easy, easy.” Onyeka said soothingly. He was alarmed because he could see tears of fury in Chidinma’s eyes. He stepped closer to her and gripped her shoulders gently. “We’ll get to the root of this together, don’t worry.”
Chidinma couldn’t push any words past her throat. The memory of the conversation she had with her son the night before was still fresh and painful, and when Onyeka pulled her into his arms comfortingly, she rested her head against his chest with a sigh. At least they were out of sight of the main clinic itself.
The embrace was interrupted by the revving of a car that had just pulled into the clinic parking lot. Chidinma frowned; the car was familiar and as the car door opened and the driver stepped out, her suspicions were confirmed.
The driver of the car strode towards them, long legs eating up the distance quickly, a sardonic grin splitting his handsome face. Even though he was slightly greying on the edges of his hairline, it only lent him an air of elegance and mystery.
I’m sure the girls are just falling at his feet, calling him ‘daddy’, Chidinma thought ruefully.
“Well, isn’t this a cozy picture. Quickies in the parking garage. You impress me, Chidinma.”
Chidinma glared at her ex-husband, and Ben simply grinned back, his eyes running over the young man standing beside her. She sighed in exasperation. The next few minutes would be unpleasant.
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