The New Year Evening 2

In a few minutes, Stacy was parking in front of George's apartment, after turning off the ignition she rushed towards the main door. On getting there, she discovered that it was locked from the inside, convinced and relieved by the fact that George was inside she ran to her car to get her spare keys that unlocked the back door. 

After getting the keys, she realized that the apartment wasn't as quite as she had thought when she first arrived, looking up she realized that the lights on the first floor was on and from her angle she could make out two shadowy figures behind the drapery. Astonished, she quickened her pace towards the back door, soon she was racing her way across the stairs towards the main bedroom. 

From the distance she could hear voices from the room she approached, they were obviously having an argument, she could make out George's voice but couldn't tell who the second person was, it just sounded very masculine, bitter and on the offensive of the argument. She was just about to barge into the room when it hit her, they were talking about her, had she been so preoccupied by her thoughts that she didn't realize that she was the sole topic of this “ mid summer night ” discussion. Paused in her steps she decided to ascertain the message from this conversation before making her presence known.

      “ you can't marry that girl, I have told you that a thousand time and if you refuse to heed my advice everything will end in a disaster. It seems you have forgotten so soon how I picked you up from the streets, brushed you up and gave life you couldn't have lived even in your best dreams. You owe the IKEJI family your life and you know it. I took you in as a son and you pledged you loyalty and allegiance to our family, you have come to far with me and you dare not back down now". Stacy was completely baffled at what she heard, but what astonished her was the fact that George couldn't throw as much as a word to defend himself against Uncle Ben. 

Was he going to let him ruin his chance of spending forever with her?, had he really become the Mama's boy she detested so much. She back out slowly, taking the same route she had used earlier, instantly she made up her mind to go back to Uncle Ben's house and talk to his wife ( Lady Kate ), she was definitely not going to watch her own husband destroy George's love life ( at least not after they had just finished their own wedding anniversary ).

    Pulling up at Uncle Ben's apartment, the premises suddenly appeared very different from how it looked a few minutes ago when she had first arrived. The lights inside the building were on but there was no sign of life around. She made her way into the building, not realizing that the doors were ajar by that time of the night. 

The next thing she saw startled the living daylight out of her. Lying before her in a pool of blood was Uncle Ben ( or better still, Uncle Ben's body ) dead. How on Earth was it even possible, how could Uncle Ben be lying dead in his sitting room, when she just left him in George's place. Gradually it was beginning make sense, while she was busy getting mad at Uncle Ben for trying to tears their union, it was his wife Lady Kate who was the green snake in green grass. 

She was engulfed in her emotions to realise that lady Kate had a masculine tone when ever she was annoyed and raging ( which rarely happens anyways ). It was lady Kate's voice she heard and not her husband's, what the hell, and obviously Uncle Ben had just been murdered in cold blood. Who on earth would want such a nice man dead and why on earth would Lady Kate who had been like a mother to both her and her fiance refuse her consent to their marriage. 

If she had the answers to these questions, her wedding was in less than 12 hours time, what has George gotten himself into, was she going to miss her wedding like she had feared or was she going to contend with the IKEJI family like she dreamed off. First things first, she had to get away from the this murder scene before she got herself implicated.

                                 .......................

      Word had gone round town that the all famous Uncle Ben of the IKEJI family had been murdered in cold blood at the early ours of new year day. His wife, Lady Kate had been called in by the police to make a formal statement on what transpired that night after which she was sent home to mourn her beloved husband. Stacy's friends had just finished preparing her to hit the aile where George, the pastor and the whole congregation we're already waiting. She had made up her mind to give him the embarasment of his life in front of all who were there to witness the marriage, she was not going to marry a man who had pledged his life to another woman. Soon she would be done with George and she would have to move on with her life, damn her love for him, damn George.

      After the almost unending sermon from the minister, it was time to say their vows. George was as usual very anxious about the whole process, Stacy was so amused at the speed at which he wanted to jump protocols, she smiled as she reminded herself....“ this wedding is soooo not going to happen”. As if the presiding minister read her mind, he paused for a second and said “ before you hurriedly say your vows, let us fulfill the “ book ”. Is there anyone here who has any reason why this wedding should discontinue, please speak up now or forever remain mute”. 

George was troubled, all through the night he had silently wished to skip this moment, but here it is before him, there was no escape. Stacy was overjoyed, here was her moment, she was going to spill the beans and end this whole drama. But before she could speak up, someone else was already standing in the crowd, who could it be? To her utmost surprise, standing in the middle of the congregation was Lady Kate.

 “ young lady please speak up so that this honorable congregation can hear you"..

.. “ sorry sir, I'll rather have them watch this video footage".

Even George did not know that a wide screen display had been installed inside the hall just behind the alter, damn. Kate was good at her game, she had planned this blackmail from way back. Now he was going to go down before the general public. As the screen came on, behold, Kate had recorded all her sexual escapades with George, a damn blackmail, including the events of last night. Tears dropped from Stacy's face, what a world, a smile on Kate face and anguish on George's face, awe on the audience, the minister had a blank and cold impression.

“ that video is not complete, that's not the whole message" George burst out. Stacy shut him up with a heavy slap to his chin, was he mean to the extent that he wanted her to watch the whole video of his irresponsible life right there on the alter, on their damn wedding day?

As if the minister had seen nothing, he went on with his busy, “ will you, George eket take Stacy okeke to be your lawfully wedded wife? ”......... “ I do”.

“Will you Stacy okeke, take this cheat, this liar, this adulterous flirt to be your lawfully wedded husband, for rich and for poor, for blah and blah and for blah?...... “ I do, and till death do us part ”.

    That was the height of embarasment, Kate was shocked to dumbness, how could Stacy say “ I do ” after all she had seen and heard. George was more surprised than anyone else, it all seemed too good to be true, how could Stacy have forgiven him so completely without as much as a single explanation, what was she up to. Stacy, poor Stacy, she wasn't even sure she how she got herself to do it, having come this far she wasn't going to let Kate use her emotions as a tool to drag George to the mud, she was going to save him, at least one last time.

    “ Stacy, why did u do it, why did u say yes..... I didn't expect to get married to you this easily"...

  .....“I said yes to save you, from her, am aware that she blackmailed you into having a  sexual relationship just because she helped you out of the streets, I also have video and audio proof to attest that she single handedly planned the murder of her husband Uncle Ben, so as to take his wealth and get married to you, thanks last night, I uncovered the deadly truth you couldn't get yourself to tell me all these years. I was at your place last night when she threatened to ruin our marriage if you didn't call it off yourself, she hoped to elope with you after disclosing the truth of her husband's death, but to my utmost surprise, you were firm in your resolve not to fall for her antiques. 

I had gone to her house that same night by past midnight, there I found Uncle Ben dead, it roused my suspicion, so I had to go back to your apartment where I successfully gathered all the evidence I needed luckily without notice. Even though you have been a cheat and a liar, I still love you and am taking you out of her bondage so we can live happily ever after”....

Sweetie get this “I am so attached to you that nothing will separate us, even distance can’t separate us. No matter how you will hurt, play or break me am too stubborn to let you go. I want this to work out so badly that I’m willing to take whatever pain you got.” … ROBIN

And as for your long time sugar mummy, I invited some police officers to our wedding just to take care of her, hope u don't mind".

     At this point George was amazed beyond words, all he could do was grab her and kiss her passionately as they watched the newest murderer in town being forced into the police van. Needless to say, they lived happily.

    

                                         Season's greetings and a happy new year,

                                         From the author,

                                         Xaraj.

ROBIN wants to say, BIG thank you for making out you time to read this short story.

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