CHAPTER SIX: Are You Our Daddy?

After Grandfather's threat of having a son that hadn't been confirmed to be mine succeeded me, I stormed out angrily. I got into my car, driving recklessly, and I almost knocked down someone. After a few minutes, I parked near the sea to cool down my head. Dipped my hand into my pocket to retrieve a pack of cigarettes. I attempted to light one, only to find the lighter malfunctioning.

“Nothing just seemed to be working out well for me…” I yelled as I smashed it on the ground and stomped my feet on it, trying to vent out my frustrations. I let out a loud scream as my hand ran through my hair.

Where did everything go wrong? As I remembered when I broke the news to Emelia, I wondered if she was already pregnant by that time. If she was, why didn't she tell me about the pregnancy? Even though I wasn't sure if I would accept the pregnancy then, it wouldn't hurt knowing about it.

What if the kids are truly mine? Will Emelia use the kids as an excuse to come back into my life? But she already has a fiancé. What if the fiancé's fake and she came back for revenge? Was what I did called for revenge? I kept having all sorts of different thoughts and questions.

I didn't even know when a tear slipped from my eyes as everything seemed just to be annoying. I stayed seated for a while before deciding to get myself up and return to my car. Feeling so exhausted, I started the car with only one place on my mind, which was the hospital where Mary was at, hoping she would have calmed down.

Upon arriving at the hospital, I went straight to Mary's ward where I met her parents by the door having a serious argument and I wondered what they're arguing about. They seemed to be talking about something serious, but on sighting me, they stopped talking. I greeted them and asked about my wife, but Mary's mom looked at me scornfully.

Yeah…I knew I deserved that.

I tried very hard to avoid her gaze as I was just staring at the ground with my hand clutching each other. Mary's father moved closer to me and patted me on the back, urging me to go inside. I looked up and smiled at him. As I stepped into the ward, my heart sank at the sight of my wife looking so fragile on the bed, her back looking very cold and lonely. I could hear her silently weeping. I walked up to her and gently rested my hand on her shoulder. Immediately she felt a touch, she turned around and saw me. She yanked my hands off.

“What are you doing here? Didn't I already make it clear that I don't want to see you?” She rushed her words at me as she got up and seated properly.

Trying to calm her down, I didn't know when my knees gave in and I knelt down beside her with tears threatening to fall as I could sense the hatred in her voice. My head bowed down in pure shame as I realized the gravity of my actions.

“Why did you betray my trust in you?” She asked, her words barely audible. I slowly raised my head and met her brown eyes on me. “Why did you choose to betray me, Cassius?”

My tongue failed me as I found it hard to even come up with any excuses because all of it would seem unreasonable. I mustered up my courage and explained everything to her, all what I've been hiding all these years.

“When you left, I felt so lonely and I needed a companion. Emelia was the only one by my side then, and she…..somehow managed to fill up the space you left.” I lowered my gaze as I clenched my palms together.

“I actually thought we both had a mutual understanding about our relationship, but on the day I proposed to you, I called her to meet up with me to discuss something. I eventually broke the news to her and told her I'm getting married to you, which really shocked and deeply hurt her. But what surprised me was she didn't tell me about the pregnancy. She later left angrily, and that’s the last time I saw her until she showed up with the kids, which I'm not even sure if they’re mine.” I explained, hoping for her to believe me and just forgive me this once.

I slowly raised up my head,  looked up to Mary, and I could see her crying heavily, her eyes now red.

“You promised to stand by me, to always love me no matter what, never give me any reason to shed tears. You asked me to believe in you, to trust you and I did, so why did you’ve to move on with Emelia after our little break?” She verbalized her displeasure, reminding me of the promise I made to her, and I found it difficult to explain to her that I actually really liked Emelia before what happened between the two of us.

“If I hadn't listened to you then and aborted the pregnancy at that time, I wouldn't be this broken. You always told me that you don't care if we don't have a kid of our own but why do I suddenly feel like you said that because you are aware of Emelia's kids and don't care if we have ours or not”

“ No, that's not true. I didn't even communicate with her all these years, how am I supposed to know,” I defended but she didn't seem to believe me.

“I still can't believe you and Emelia, whom I loved so much, could do this to me. I trusted both of you, and you chose to betray me instead,” she lamented, with her head lower and she cried more. Seeing her like this makes me sad as well. 

Now sensing that she was now calm and needed someone to console her, I got up from my knees and gently cupped her in a warm embrace, and she cried profusely on my shoulder. 

“ It's okay, I'm really sorry.” I consoled and also apologize and she use her weak hand to hit my chest as she cried harder

After a while of crying herself out, she finally fell asleep, and I stayed with her, watching her with guilt all over my face. But the real problem is: if the kids are truly mine. Am I ready to accept them? Because the truth is, the kids turning out not to be mine would solve this whole mess and we would be able to go back to our normal lives.

I gently placed her head back on the pillow as her head had laid on my arm before. I placed a kiss on her forehead, and I headed outside. But when I got outside the ward, I didn't meet Mary's parents there, so I guessed they had already left. I heaved a huge sigh of relief because I couldn't face Mary's mother again; that look she gave me was really not a good one.

I left the hospital driving home. Upon arriving home, I heard my dad saying the DNA result was out, and I quickly rushed in and grabbed Dad by his hand.

“So what did the doctor say? They’re not mine, right?” I rushed at him, desperately hoping for the test results to turn out negative.

“They’re yours, congratulations son,” Dad announced, yanking my hands off and walking away from me.

I was taken aback and dumbfounded, “What did I just hear you say, Dad?” I asked again because I thought my ear had failed me. “You mean the DNA result confirmed the kids to be mine?” I screamed as the news finally sank in, and I realized I had lost everything, including my marriage. 

I could see the happiness on everyone's face as they seemed to be even happier than the father of the kids. And for the first time in my life, I finally realized I've got a crazy family.

“Now, I can finally put my mind to rest.” Mom said with a smile on her face as she approached me, ‘“ It's such a pity that the child does not belong to Mary, but as long as they are yours, I am willing to accept thousands of them, so you do not need to feel sad or guilty anymore because she’ll do as we say,” my mom grinned as she gently moved closer to me and pulled me into a hug while I was totally lost.

“Did I deserve to be happy? Even though I've always wanted kids but not like this. I want kids with Mary not Emelia. I know it’s impossible but I don't even care if they aren’t mine. Will I be able to be a good father to those kids without hurting Mary more? No, I really need to see Emelia so we can have a proper discussion,” I thought to myself as I pulled away from Mom's embrace and then rushed out. I could hear Dad calling me back, but I had no time for this.

Upon entering my car, I put a call through to Kingsley, “Send me Emelia's address right now,” I ordered as I needed to face her and know where she stands.

As I hit the road, my phone beeped, and I saw a message from Kingsley. Opening the message, it's Emelia's address. I drove straight to the address with the sole purpose of confronting her. My phone was ringing continuously, and I checked to see that it’s a call from my dad. I ignored his call.

Upon arriving at Emelia's place, I walked to the door, and as I was about to bang the door, it yanked open, and I stood face to face with her. I could see the smirk on her face, and I felt as if she had been expecting me, which made me somehow nervous or should I say…scared because she looked weird like she had some sort of plans under her sleeves.

She later ushered me in, and immediately I entered, I saw a little boy sitting on the chair playing a video game. Now I just got a proper look at the little guy here, and I swear I could hear my heart skip because a glance at the boy, I could see he's a perfect replica of me, just trying to deny it before.

The boy turned around, looked up, and saw me. He quickly stood up and rushed to me, and I froze at the question he asked me.

“Are you my daddy?” he asked innocently.

Oh, this wasn't part of my plan. I looked up, and my eyes met with Emelia's gaze, and all I could see on her face right now was a wide smile like a possessed bitch.

“Are you our daddy?” I heard another voice behind me, and on turning back, all I could see were those adorable puppy eyes. But no, I'm not going to fall for her plan.

“This is really bad because I'm gonna break someone's fragile heart….”