Chapter 28: Chapter 28

"Guess who just sent me a Christmas message." I told Amsey.

"Rita." His voice was relaxed.

"How did you know?" I was surprised.

"Rita is your only friend." He shrugged and went to place the chopped cabbage, carrots, green pepper and spring onions in the kitchen cabinet.

"Ohh. That's true, no wonder it was easy for you to guess." I said.

"I'm blessed with brains." He said with a smile.

I rolled my eyes. "Ohh, please."

"You know; after still making a first class in my last semester, there's no doubt I'm going to come out as the best in my whole department, you just watch and see." He said.

"I believe in you wholeheartedly." I told him.

He arched his brows. "You better do."

I smiled.

"Can you please pass me the can?" He asked.

"What can?"

"The can of sweet corn. It's close to you." He said.

I tossed the can over to him.

"When will the food be ready? I'm starving." I said.

"It's Christmas day. No one eats early on Christmas day." He said.

"Cause of the many unreasonable dishes being prepared." I blurted out.

"They're not unreasonable." He fired back.

I held up my hands as in a surrender style. "Whatever you say."

"You can have cereals while I'm still cooking because if you want to wait, you're going to have to wait for a long time." He said.

"That depends on what a long time is."

"2-3 hours."

"What? Are you cooking for a ceremony? That's really a long time."

"No one's denying that fact."

I grabbed a round plate and walked over to the glass cupboard from which I brought out Nasco Cornflakes. I poured out a reasonable amount of the cornflakes into the plate then added milk and a cube of sugar. I moved to the sink and added water to my cereal after which I stirred it and started eating it up.

"So you won't give me, right?" Amsey asked.

"Why are you begging for mine when you can always get yours from the cupboard?" I retorted.

"I want your own, I don't want to get mine."

"Sorry, I'm not sharing."

"You won't eat from my delicacies, just so you know." He threatened.

"Can't someone joke with you? I was just joking." I teased and went over to where he was blending the pepper and tomatoes.

"Leave me alone." He feigned anger.

"Open your mouth." I said.

He did that abruptly. I gave a light chuckle. Amsey loved food more than his own life.

I spoon-fed him till the whole plate was empty then I washed the plate.

"Why are you cooking so much food anyway? It's only the both of us who are here." I said.

"I'm giving out food to the neighbours. Christmas is all about sharing and showing love to everyone." Amsey said.

I rolled my eyes. "You can always be a cheerful giver, there shouldn't be a special occasion for that."

"What are you insinuating?"

"I'm simply saying you should always give, not only during Christmas season."

"I know, Cas. It's good to always give but it's bad not to give on Christmas day."

"Says who?"

"Says everyone....well, everyone except you."

"Are you trying to say I'm weird?"

"Nope. You're just different."

"Different is just a nice word for 'weird'."

"Cas, it's not a bad thing to be weird.... I mean, different."

"You just called me weird."

He rolled his eyes and faced me. "Listen, Cas, calm down. It's not bad to be different, it only makes you unique and shows that you have a will of your own. When I said you're different, I didn't mean it in a bad way and I totally get what you're trying to say. I understand that you mean people should be encouraged to give every time and not only during Christmas season, you mean people should inculcate the habit of sharing and I totally understand that. Don't get angry, okay?"

I looked away.

"Cas, come on. This isn't something for you to be so worked up about."

I didn't say a word, I only embraced him. I didn't know why but I just really needed a hug.

He patted my back and kissed my hair.

"I'm sorry for always snapping at every little thing." I apologized.

"You're pregnant and so, you have mood swings which is perfectly normal. By this time next month, you would've given birth to our child and this your stupid behaviour will stop." He said.

I slipped out of his embrace. "You just called my behaviour stupid."

"Sorry." He said.

"You don't sound like you mean it."

"Cas!" He sounded fed up.

"Why are you shouting at me?" I asked, bowing my head.

"I'm sorry. Just go and sit and watch TV or something. Let me concentrate on what I'm doing." He said.

"Are you saying I'm a distraction?"

"Cas, please. I thought you were hungry."

"I am."

"Then go and watch TV or you can stream the internet or something. I don't want you or the baby to be hungry. If you're here, I'd waste time and....."

I cut in. "You want to send me away, I get it."

"It's not like that......"

I held up my left hand. "It's fine, I'm leaving."

With that, I walked out of the kitchen and went to bedroom. I'd just sleep, I was feeling dizzy after all.

[Amsey's POV]

"Merry Christmas." I told Pastor James over the phone and yelped almost immediately as hot oil splashed on my hand. Thank God it wasn't my face...my precious face.

I was done with cooking the food and I was frying the chicken which was the last thing I had to do in the kitchen for the day.

"Merry Christmas to you too. What's going on there?" He asked from the other end.

"I'm cooking."

"That's a good thing. What are you giving out today?" He said.

"I'm giving out food today. The world needs to know of my culinary skills." I told him.

I heard him stiffle a laugh. "Amsterdam, do not forget that Jesus is the reason for his season."

I almost yelled at him for calling me Amsterdam but I had to ignore it. "I know Jesus is the reason for the season but that was funny, wasn't it? Don't deny it. I know you almost laughed."

He laughed gently. "Everything you say is funny. That's why my little baby girl even likes you too." He said.

I chuckled. "I know, right? I'm charming. She's becoming a handful though."

"Cassandra?"

"Yes. I can't wait for it to be January, let her give birth and go back to how she used to be." I said, with distaste laced in my voice.

"She'd definitely have a safe delivery in Jesus name." He prayed.

"Amen." I said.

"How is Rita?" He asked.

"She's fine, I guess." I replied, unsure of why he asked.

"That's good to know. What are you doing today?" He asked.

I looked around for a while. Cas was nowhere in sight. "We're going on a picnic. I even hired a car, I'll be driving us to Lekki Conservation centre, it's a surprise." I told him in a low tone.

"That's a good one there. Please, take care of her and don't let her out of your sight."

"She's not a child." I muttered.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing." I responded, almost immediately.

"I have to go. There's a conference for ministers I'm to attend. Goodbye and have a great day ahead. Merry Christmas once again." He said and hung up before I could say a word.

The man never rested, he was always busy with one thing or the other. Even on Christmas day, he had somewhere to be

I was done with frying the chicken. I turned off the gas cooker and started dishing out the food I was going to give to the neighbours.

I felt someone's arms around my waist. "Who's it?" I asked, a little bit startled.

"Who's here with you apart from me?" I heard Cas' voice ask.

"I didn't know it was you. You're not a romantic person so how would I have known?" I teased.

"You're not okay." She said and gave a small laugh.

I removed her hands from my waist and turned to face her.

"I'm done with cooking. Will you eat now?" I asked.

"Why don't we just eat at the picnic?"

"How did you know about that? This thing should have been a surprise for you." I said.

She chuckled. "I overheard your conversation. I just woke up and I was hungry so I came to check if you were done with cooking and fortunately for me, you were and I heard you talking over the phone that you wanted us to go on a picnic. I've heard so much about the Lekki conservation centre and I'm so glad that we're going there. Thank you so much." She said, smiling beautifully.

"It's fine. Stop smiling, you look ugly when you smile." I said. Of course, she looked much more beautiful than she was when she smiled but I wasn't gonna tell her that.

"I'll let that slide because you're taking me on a treat today. Who's the food for?" She asked.

"Neighbours." I replied.

"Okay then. You can go ahead and serve them while I have my bath and change into something suitable for the outing." She said, still smiling.

"I'm glad you're really excited about this." I told her truthfully.

I had been skeptical about planning a picnic for both of us because I didn't know if she'd like it but thankfully, she was really happy about the whole thing.

"I'm glad you planned it. Thanks a whole lot." She said.

Cas was so cute and she deserved everything good, I thought to myself as she skipped out of the kitchen with the excitement of a child.

Three hours later, we were taking a walk hand-in-hand down the canopy walkway in the conservation centre.

We had had to convince the security guard to let Cas go too even though she was pregnant.

Cas was putting on a short yellow flare dress with a pair of black gladiator sandals and packed her long hair in a bun. She looked so beautiful and her smile was the sexiest thing in the world and I was glad I was the one who made her smile today by organizing this picnic for us.

"Wow. That's one beautiful monkey." Cas said excitedly as she pointed at a white monkey, disrupting my thoughts.

"It's so beautiful. Imagine a monkey looking better than you." I told her.

Her hand immediately left mine and I laughed out loud.

"You're so immature and annoying." She said, frowning.

"I agree." I said, which only angered her the more.

"This walk is gonna take forever, my legs ache." She murmured, changing the topic. I'd have really liked her to drag the issue further, I loved teasing her and watching her argue and get angry. It was fun to watch.

"Last I checked, you're the one who was so desperately asking to be on the walkway." I said.

"I didn't know it was this far." She complained.

"There's only one way out of the walkway and that's forward so you can't back down now. Come on, Cas; this is the longest canopy walk in Africa and you're here today so forget about how long it may be and focus on the beautiful work of nature around you." I said, trying to cheer her up.

"Can we take pictures?" She asked.

"What?"

"I want to have lovely memories with you." She said.

"Of course." I agreed.

We took many selfies and once we were done with taking a walk on the canopy walkway, we approached a couple we saw to take pictures of us. There was a lot of sightseeing and fun as we walked around the park, saw the Koi and Tilapia fish ponds and looked at the various animals like peacocks, crocodiles and snakes.

It was really amusing seeing Cas screech and jump on me in fright on hearing the snakes hiss. I admit it was scary but I had to be a man.

We were tired from all the walking around and we needed to relax and recover our strength. Also, we were hungry, really hungry.

We had eaten grilled fish at a point but our stomachs craved for real food so we went to the Gazebo and retrieved our Picnic bag from the Security guard there, sat and enjoyed a delicious meal of Jollof and fried rice, fried Chicken, fried diced plantains and vegetable salad. We washed it down with Soft drinks. Cas' preference was Fanta and mine was Sprite.

"I feel good. Even the baby feels good too, it's kicking." She said, rubbing her tummy.

I knelt and touched her tummy. It actually kicked.

"See? The baby's happy." She said.

"Yeah." I said and smiled.

"By this time next month, I'd be able to see my baby." She said, beaming with joy.

"No. By this time next month, we'd be able to see our baby." I corrected.

She gave a light chuckle.

She suddenly stopped laughing and looked at me like she were trying to read me.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"What's so special about me?" She asked.

"Why are you asking me that now?" I responded, unsure of what was going on.

"You've been doing practically everything for me and it's not like you owe me anything. Why did you choose me? You're even acting as a father to my child......"

"Because I'm the father of the child." I cut in.

"We both know you're not."

"Where's all this coming from?" I asked.

"Nowhere. I just keep wondering and I can't seem to understand why you love me so much, Amsey. I don't think I deserve the amount of love you bestow on me. Why me, Amsey? Why do you love me so much?" She asked.

I thought for a while. I could understand her confusion. Why her? Why Cas? Why did I love her so much? The love I had for her was incomparable but I couldn't place why I loved her that much.

We stared at each other for a while and there was total silence for a moment.

"Thank you." She said, after a while.

"For what?"

"For loving me unconditionally. I get mad at you for no reason, I misunderstand you, I don't have anything to offer you but you love me still and you've accepted me with all my problems. Why do you love me, Amsey?"

"I don't know. I just love you." I responded, finally.

A tear slid down her eyes. "I'll never leave you, never. I don't want this to end." She said.

"Me too. That's why we'll make this work." I told her.

She smiled.

I wiped her tear with the back of my hand. "I love you, Cas."

"I love you too."

I was still kneeling and she took my face in my palms, stared at my lips and for the first time, she kissed me first and she was actually a better kisser than I would ever be.