Chapter 40: Chapter 40

"Cassie! Cassie!!" I heard Rita's voice say with urgency.

I placed my pillow tightly over my ears, I wasn't willing to wake up yet.

"Cassie, there's big news," Rita said.

"What?" I moaned sleepily, not opening my eyes.

"Cassie, get up. It's about the fight between Mr Grumpy and Amsey, it got leaked!" She yelled.

"What?!!" I yelled as I opened my eyes and sat up almost immediately.

"Oh, now, you're awake?" She asked sarcastically.

"Tell me, Rita. Are you for real?" I asked.

She sat on the edge of the bed.

"Of course. Why would I lie? Everyone's talking about it," She said.

"Oh God, oh God! How did it happen and when?" I asked, panicking.

"Instablog carried the news around 5am this morning. The news is big. Guess what's trending on Twitter," She said.

"I don't care, everyone freaking hates me right now," I said.

"Of course not. Why should they hate you? They're busy bashing that grumpy man and trending #EndMrGrumpy," Rita said.

"Really?" I asked in disbelief.

"Of course. The people love you, you weren't wrong. Oh! One more thing," Rita said.

"What is it?"

"People are calling Amsey a real man and asking you to forgive him," Rita said, with a wink.

I hissed and threw the pillow at her.

She chuckled, "What's that for?"

"I know you're getting stupid ideas and I want to knock them out," I said.

"Gosh, Cassie. You're mean," She said.

"That's what you get for thinking out of line. Please, give me my phone," I said.

"You're not serious," She said.

She took the phone from the dressing table and flung it at me and I caught it.

"See how you threw my phone like it costs nothing," I chided.

"You're too materialistic," Rita accused.

"Me, materialistic? You know I'm not. If I were, I'd have gotten a Ferrari instead of a Mazda vehicle and I'd have gotten my own house at Banana Island but I'm a parsimonious person and when I do spend, I make sure every penny counts and that I didn't waste money," I explained and unlocked my phone.

Rita hissed, "All I know is money is meant for spending and not storing it in the bank."

"Jesus!" I exclaimed.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"It's past 10am. Why didn't you wake me up since?" I asked.

"Wake you up how? I just woke up not too long ago and saw the news," Rita said.

"How's Cameron? Has he gone to school?" I asked.

"Mary said he has. She dressed him up early and went in his school bus," Rita said.

I heaved a sigh of relief, "Oh, thank goodness."

"Even your son woke up before you did, sleepyhead," Rita chided.

I grinned, "You're one to speak."

"At least, I'm not a mum yet," She said.

I laughed, "You will be one day," I said.

"Yes, in like 10 years from now," She said.

"Stop laying curses on yourself," I reprimanded her.

"Let me be, please," She said.

"Okay ma," I said, resignedly.

"Mary prepared stir-fried macaroni, won't you come down to eat?" Rita asked.

"You know I'm not a fan of macaroni," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Which is weird cause you eat spaghetti," Rita said.

"They're two different things entirely," I said.

"And what's the difference aside from their distinct size nature?"

"One tastes awesome, the other tastes yucky," I said, acting like I wanted to puke.

"You're dumb," She said.

I got pretty offended, "We're all entitled to our own opinion," I said.

"Calling someone's product is dumb."

My phone rang a notification sound.

I checked my phone and saw it was a message from a news blogger, Chichi, who was an acquaintance and filled me in on most news updates.

"What happened?" Rita asked.

"It's just a message from Chichi. Maybe she wants to inform me that everyone knows I've met with Mr Grumpy and he and Amsey got into a fight," I explained.

"Well, that's stale news," Rita said.

I giggled and just opened the message and what I saw got me laughing so hard.

"What's the matter?" Rita asked.

I laughed and showed her the phone which she collected and also burst into a fit of laughter.

It was a photoshopped image of Amsey in a wedding suit and I in a wedding gown.

"Gosh, this is crazy," Rita said.

"Like, who even did that?" I asked.

I stood up and headed for the bathroom.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

"To an eatery," I replied.

She sneered, "Ha-ha-ha. Very funny."

I laughed and slipped in my bathroom slippers and went to the bathroom.

"I'm going to eat ohh," Rita announced.

"Okay then, let me freshen up then I'll come down and get something to eat," I told her.

After brushing and having my bath, I got downstairs and made noodles which I ate then I headed back to my bedroom to continue sleeping.

I went into my room, lay on the bed, closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

"Madam, madam," Mary called.

"What?" I asked, opening my eyes.

I glanced at the clock and saw it was already almost 2pm. Gosh! I had slept for that long?

With the way I slept, one would think I was probably pregnant. Well, it wasn't my fault. I had denied myself sleep during tours and concerts to not want to sleep now that I had the opportunity.

The news Mary gave me was not so funny. I had been asked to come to Cameron's school urgently.

After gulping down the information, I rushed outside in my sweatshirt and baggy shorts with my oversized slippers.

"Where are you off to?" Rita asked.

"Cameron's school," I responded, panicking.

"Why?" She asked.

"I think something's wrong. The headmistress called Mary and and told her to tell me to come urgently," I said.

"But why?" Rita asked, getting concerned.

"How am I to know?" I asked, throwing my hands up.

"Didn't she tell you why?"

"She only said it's not something to be discussed over the phone," I said.

"Jesus! I hope everything's alright with Cameron," Rita said getting to her feet.

"I asked if Cameron's fine and she said yes, I even spoke to him on phone," Mary chipped in.

"Why didn't you tell me that before? You made me worried," I said, annoyed.

"I'm sorry ma," Mary apologised.

"So you're going to his school dressed in that?" Rita asked.

"What's wrong with my outfit?" I asked.

"You're a celebrity," She said.

I rolled my eyes, "Rita, now's not the time."

"What if you happen to run into Mr Grumpy again? Wouldn't you like to look good?" She asked.

I hissed, "Look good for who? That old man?"

She sighed, "But Mary already spoke to Cameron and he's fine. You're headed off to his school, do you really think he'd want you to dress in this manner?" She asked, eyeing my outfit.

"Finally, you made a sensible point," I acknowledged.

"Should I come with you?" She asked.

"Don't you have Stanley's place to visit?" I asked.

"I'm done with that guy, can you believe the nigga sleeps with prostitutes he picks off the road?" She asked.

"Why am I not surprised? Anyways, you said he's good in bed so why's that a problem?" I asked.

"Please, I can't risk contracting any form of STD," She said.

I chortled, "But there's condom to prevent those things," I said.

"And if it bursts?"

I sighed, "That's why abstinence remains the best," I said.

"Coming from someone who has a son without a husband," Rita said, sardonically.

"You've made your point," I said and walked off to my bedroom.

"Where are you going?" Rita yelled.

"To change my clothes, you should get dressed as well," I yelled back.

I ended up putting on a red armless jumpsuit with brown strapped heels and carried a brown handbag then I wore my ponytail wig.

I don't know why but ponytails were so cute, especially on my head.

I admired myself in the mirror then headed back to the living room where I saw Rita wearing a tight orange knitted blouse with a black mini skirt and gladiator sandals.

I tapped her shoulders playfully, "Who are we going to seduce?" I asked.

"Maybe I'd meet a single rich dad there," She said.

"Or maybe you'd meet a driver who came to pick his master's kids," I said.

She sneered, "Hater."

I giggled and called Mary.

She left the kitchen where she was doing only God knows what and hurriedly came to meet us.

I gave her specific instructions on what to prepare and what to do and I left the house with Rita.

We got downstairs and I saw Franklin who was sitting idly, sipping wine.

I just paid him about a week ago. If he liked, he could waste his money on expensive wine, that's his business.

"Hey, hope what you're talking isn't alcohol," I said.

Apparently, my voice startled him as he jerked and stood up, staggering and almost fell. How I wished he had fallen, that'd have been a great scene to see.

"Ma, good afternoon ma," He said.

"I asked if there's alcohol in your drink," I said.

"No ma, I don't drink alcohol because of the kind of job I'm into," He said.

"When last did you taste alcohol?" I asked.

"Over five years ago before I decided to become a driver and went to a driving school," He said.

"Is it your passion to be a driver?" I asked.

"Of course not," He said.

"So why don't you drink? It's not like you like driving anyway," I said.

He shrugged, "Whatever you do, just do it well whether you like it or not," He said.

Rita nodded her head approvingly and I just smiled.

"Impressive," I said in awe.

"Thank you ma," He responded smiling.

"We need to head out to Cameron's school if you don't mind," I told him politely for the first time.

"I'll just get quickly changed," He told me and went inside with his wine bottle.

"You spoke nicely to him," Rita commented.

"You know when you think someone is totally useless and annoying and they just do something that makes you think "ohh, you're not that useless after all." That's how I felt today, he's quite a good guy," I said.

"Of course, he is. I'm the one who chose him, remember? He worked with one family for five good years with no complaint from them. They even recommended him and testified greatly about him," Rita said.

"If they liked him that much, why'd they let him go?" I asked.

"Because they relocated to the States," Rita said.

"Ohh.. I understand. He just needs to quit talking too much," I said.

"That's his nature, just give him a chance and treat him the way you treat Michael, Mary and Wale," Rita said.

"Whatever," I told her but deep in my head, I was feeling bad.

Maybe I hadn't given him a chance, maybe I was harsh in my dealings with him.

Luckily, there was still time to correct my mistake but what if there wasn't time again in life? For once in a long time, my mind shifted to Pastor James, my father. How was he doing? Was he still alive? He didn't have the time to apologise to my mother, what if I didn't have the time to forgive?

I shook my head. No, I shouldn't be thinking of that, I should be focused on my son and not any other thing, not even my father.

Twenty minutes later, we were in the school premises. That's when I discovered Rita could walk in a way that could cause her buttocks to sway.

"Rita, careful. You're not after people's husbands or are you?" I asked.

"Of course not but that doesn't mean I shouldn't put all my energy into this," She said.

"Whatever," I said.

I was directed to the headmistress' office and after saying thanks, we went there.

It was my first time of being in Cameron's school, it was really beautiful with lovely paintings and flowers and it was a three-storeyed building. Gosh! Who built a largely spaced three-storeyed building for just a primary school? No wonder they collected 1.2million per term. In a session, that waa a whopping sum of 3.6million naira. At least, the fee was inclusive of lunch, pool, club activities, school parties and the school bus although we still had to get the books by ourselves which was annoying.

I didn't regret paying for anything for my son. He deserved more than I even gave him.

We entered what we thought of as the headmistress' office and saw a very fat woman with a round neck and bulgy eyes.

"Good afternoon ma, are you the headmistress of the school?" I asked.

"Yes, good afternoon, please, come in. I'm Mrs Destiny by the way," She said in a very strict voice. I'm sure the children in the school were very scared of her.

We sat down opposite her.

"Cassie P, it's an honour having you here. I know you're a celebrity but I'd like to talk to you like a regular parent, is that okay?" She asked.

I nodded, "Yeah. How's my son?"

"He's very fine. Who's this lady with you?" She asked.

"I'm Rita, Cameron's aunt," Rita introduced herself.

"Okay then. Let's get straight to the point, I'm aware you're a very busy lady, you don't even come to check your son's books during the open day so I know," Mrs Destiny said.

I scoffed, this woman was trying to annoy me but it wouldn't work. I didn't say a word and just stared at her.

"I'm suspending your son for two weeks," Mrs Destiny said.

"Why?" I asked.

"He'll be here to tell you that, I already sent for him by texting his teacher," She said.

"Mummy," I heard Cameron's voice say as he came to give me a tight hug.

"Darling, how are you?" I asked, smiling at him and squeezing his cheeks.

"You should be asking him what he did," Mrs Destiny chipped in.

I rolled my eyes and saw Cameron's mood had changes to a sulky one.

"What happened, darling?" I asked.

He didn't say anything and only stared at me.

"Darling, you can talk to me," I said.

Mrs Destiny scoffed, "Is that how you talk to your child? You should be strict with him," She said.

"Well, he's her child and she'd train him how she wants to," Rita said.

I had known she wouldn't keep quiet.

"So she should pamper him?" Mrs Destiny asked.

"You don't have to be harsh on your child, you can always treat the child with love and deprive the child of things he/she loves when the child does something wrong. It's not until you shout and disturb that you know you're training your child," Rita said.

Mrs Destiny restrained and looked annoyed but I'm sure she thought of what Rita had said.

"He kissed a girl," Mrs Destiny said.

Rita struggled to hold a laugh and I just rolled my eyes. Mrs Destiny had made it sound like he had killed a human being.

Gosh! I hope it wasn't Christie he kissed though.

"Who did he kiss?" I asked.

"Is that the question you're supposed to ask?" Mrs Destiny asked, appalled.

"It was Mirabel," Cameron said, looking down at his feet.

"I knew it!" Rita exclaimed.

I heaved a sigh of relief. At least, it wasn't that ill-mannered Christie girl.

I ruffled his hair, "Is she cute?" I asked.

"Very," He responded, smiling shyly.

"How about you wait till you're grown up before you start kissing girls? You're still too young to do that," I said.

"But kids in Nickelodeon do that," Cameron argued.

"Well, they're in America and you're in Nigeria. They approve of it over there but we don't in this country," I said.

He sighed, "When I get my football scholarship and move over there, I'd be able to, right?" He asked.

"I guess," I said.

He gave a toothy grin, "I won't kiss a girl as long as I'm in Nigeria," He said.

"Come on now, apologise to Mrs Destiny," I said.

"I'm sorry ma, I won't do that again," He said.

She looked like she was speculating on what to do.

"Please, don't suspend me," He begged.

"Fine! But don't do something like that again," She said.

"I won't, thank you so much," He responded.

"God, what is our world turning into?" Mrs Destiny said, sighing tiredly.

"It's the 21st century," Rita shrugged and I smiled.

We bid her bye and left the office.

"Mum, let me get my bag. It's already time to go home," Cameron said and ran off.

"Rita?" I called.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think I'm a bad mum?" I asked.

"Of course not. He only did what he saw on TV. It's nothing really bad, you handed the matter well, okay?" Rita said.

"Okay, thanks."

"I'm back, mum," He said, holding his school bag.

I smiled and we started walking to the school's driveway.

"Mum, Christie's annoying," Cameron said.

"How?"

"She was the one who reported that I kissed Mirabel," He said.

"Ohh, why? I thought you two were friends," Rita said.

"She's just jealous," Cameron said.

"Your son's in a love triangle, he's even kissed at this tender age and you're still single, no kiss, nothing, nothing," Rita teased in our local dialect so my son wouldn't hear.

"You're crazy," I retorted.

We soon got to the driveway and had already spotted our car which we began walking towards.

Rita suddenly turned around.

"What is it? Stop following me!" She yelled.

I turned around to see what could be the matter.

"I wasn't following you, it was her," The person said.

"You liar, I've noticed you were following me since I left the headmistress' office. Instead of acting like a stalker, why can't you just man up and talk to me?" Rita asked.

"I want to talk to her, not you," He said, nearly raising his voice.

The man was tall, fair and his eyes were dull that made him appear timid.

*Flashback

"I love you, John," I told him, pulling up the bedsheets to cover up my nakedness and smiling shyly.

He stepped out of the sheets, stood up and went to his wardrobe and picked up a lighter. He lit a cigarette and puffed out smoke from his mouth and nostrils.

I was shocked, I never knew John smoked. Well, maybe he just hadn't told me or hid it from me.

"John, you smoke?" I asked.

"Why? You hate it?" He asked.

"It's not that, I just wasn't aware," I said.

He snickered and puffed smoke again, "Cassandra, you always were naive, weren't you?" He asked rhetorically.

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"I'm done with you, get out of my house," He said.

Presently*

I walked up to the man Rita was exchanging words with and gave him a tight slap, something I should have done the very day he had betrayed me.

He looked stunned, hurt and surprised.

"Cassie, what are you doing?" Rita asked.

"Something I should have done the very day he took me for a fool," I said.

"Mum, are you fine?" Cameron asked.

Then it hit me. Cameron was there and the possibility of him being John's son was high. What if John had wanted to talk to me because of Cameron?

"I'm fine, darling. This man is just getting on my nerves, that's all," I replied, ignoring my fears.

Rita probably sensed my mood because she then suggested we just leave.

"Yeah, let's go," I agreed.

"Not so fast," John said.

"What do you mean?" I retorted.

"You have something of mine that's in your possession," He said.

Rita whispered something to Cameron and they headed off to the car.

I scoffed, "And what could that be?"

"My son," He said.

"Cameron's my son and mine alone," I said.

He guffawed, "Sandra, Sandra, Sandra. Has your celebrity status paused your brain? It takes two entities to make a child, a female and a male individual to be precise. I have a right to the child," He said.

"You don't deserve to have a child," I said, through clenched teeth.

"Who are you? Are you God?" He retorted.

"You're lucky I'm not God," I told him.

"Whatever, Sandra or is it Cassie P? That name sounds so dumb, your management should have done better," He said.

I rolled my eyes, "You know, it's funny how I even said yes to an ass like you," I said.

"You were in love, dummy," He said.

"Was I? Or was it infatuation? Cause you leaving me didn't even hurt me the tiniest bit," I hissed.

"You were already warming another man's bed at the time so of course, it didn't hurt you, cheap slut," He said.

I couldn't hold it anymore and gave him another tight slap on his face again, causing his cheek to redden and I swear I saw him blink back tears.

"Stay away from me," I warned, pointing my finger at him.

"I don't even wanna be close to someone who widely opened her legs for three different men in one night, I never knew you were that cheap. I just want my kid," He said.

"You can never even be the father of the child," I said.

He snickered, "Why? You know who hit the spot? Whore," He said.

"You're not worth my time," I told him and began walking out.

"Run as far as you want, we'll meet in court," He said.

I swallowed hard and brushed off every tinge of fear as I made my way to my car.

I got into my car and slammed the door.

"Mum, was that man my father?" Cameron asked.

"God will never allow that," I said.

"Why? Is he a bad man?" He asked.

"Yes, he's a very bad man and your dad is even dead so it's impossible," I responded.

Cameron wore a sullen expression and fiddled with his fingers.

Soon, I watched as Cameron dozed and finally slept off.

My mind flashed back to John telling me we'd meet in court. I was so worried and stressed out.

"Cassie, Mr Grumpy is in the news ohh," Rita said.

"I know," I mumbled.

"It's not about the morning news. He's come to the press to say he's sorry for all he did and that he's a changed person and he learnt his lesson the hard way," Rita said.

I hissed, "All for clout," I said.

She chuckled, "I hope things don't go awry. You've met three of the men now.... "

"I know where you're headed but no one is capable of ever separating my son from me, they'd just be fighting a lost cause of course. There's no room for negativity, I don't have enough energy to be pessimistic," I said, interrupting her.

"Good for you, let's just remain positive then," Rita agreed.

She smiled and squeezed my palms reassuringly.

It was evening. Cameron was working on his homework, Mary was grating cabbage, Rita was busy with her online dating app and I was listening to my songs, with my earphones plugged in and my eyes closed, trying to get inspiration to write more songs.

I was supposed to have 17 songs on my fourth studio album and I hadn't even written so much as one song. There was just no inspiration and I couldn't even come up with a name for the album.

A YouTuber had suggested in one of his videos to revisit your old work to get inspiration for a new one and that's exactly what I was doing but it seemed like it wasn't working at all.

I was currently listening to a song I had released three years ago, "Old times." It was an emotional song where I had talked about life growing up with a single mother, I had stated it wasn't the best of times but still, I'd love to have a day to relive those old times again.

It was a really beautiful song that had won me multiple awards and people's praise. I missed my mum sometimes but I wasn't hurt anymore. It was just so unfortunate she had to fall off the stairs in a house she had worked in all her life.

The sound of banging on the door brought me from memory lane.

I removed my earphones and told Cameron to go see who was there.

He left his work and ran to the door which he opened and just said, "uh-oh."

"Who is it?" I asked.

The person just shoved the door and came inside and I saw it was Amsey.

I stood up, "What do you want?"

"Are you alright?" He asked, coming towards me.

"Why are you asking?" I asked.

"Didn't you see the news?" He asked.

"What news?" I retorted.

He motioned at Cameron and I understood it wasn't something he should hear.

"Darling, could you go in and finish up your homework?" I asked.

"Sure, mum," He said, grabbed his books from the table and went up to his room.

"Why did you barge into my house?" I asked once Cameron was gone.

"A man, John, has come out to say he's Cameron's father," Amsey revealed.

"What?!!" I was appalled.

"Cassie, it's true, I just saw it now," Rita said, getting up, holding her phone.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, not knowing what else to say.

"John says he wants his child back and reporters have gotten news of the Reverend as well, who says he wouldn't mind having a son to call his own," Rita said.

"And you know the annoying part?" Amsey asked.

I shook my head slowly.

"Majority of the people are saying you should forgive and forget," Amsey said.

"Why? They're to be on my side," I countered.

"They're trending #GodAlreadyAvenged," Rita said.

"How?"

"John revealed he can't have children due to an accident and has been childless with his wife for four years, Mr Grumpy found out all his children weren't his and his wife sold his properties, that's how he ended up a driver and the Reverend's pastoral license was seized due to misconduct and served a five-year jail term for raping some girl in his cathedral. He was released and placed on a parole due to the stroke he suffered in late last year," Amsey explained.

I sighed, "So they're saying God already avenged because the men involved already suffered seriously, isn't it?"

"Exactly," Rita and Amsey chorused.

I went to the couch and sat down, bowing my head. They already suffered a lot, was I doing them something wrong by refusing them to have anything to do with my son?

I had a problem with forgiving but people were right, God had already paid them back in their own coin so why was I still holding on to old grudges?

And a new song popped into my head.

Karma already took place.

God already avenged.