Dysfunctional Family - Season 1 - Episode 34

4 years ago

Dysfunctional Family - Season 1 - Episode 34

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Sandra maliciously smiled as she looked at her pregnancy test for the 3rd time. She was pregnant. Finally her sabotaging the condom had paid off. At initial thought it had looked like the longest shot and she was even losing hope of moving with the condom in her handbag wherever she went until the opportunity presented itself and she got la!d. What an exhilarating experience that had been. So her plan had worked, now what?
Enoch was seated in his study going through important files when there came a knock at the door. Assuming it was one of his maids, he beckoned who was knocking to go in and in went Sandra, looking gloomy.
“Darling,” Enoch rose with immediate effect and went to hug and kiss his daughter on the cheek. “When did you come home?”
“A few minutes ago,” she flatly replied.
Noticing her foul mood, Enoch asked, “What’s wrong?”
Sandra bid her time, circling her father’s desk and finally sitting.
“You look distraught, Sandy, talk to papa.”
“I’m sorry,” Sandra broke into a sob. “I didn’t mean to end up like this…Am pregnant, Dad.”
“Say what? Who’s the b-----d that you’ve been s------g, huh?” Enoch was overprotective of his daughter thus wanted the best for her and the mere thought of her falling pregnant for a good for nothing excuse for a man appalled him to the core. “Sandra, who’s the father?”
She buried her face in her hands and sobbed louder. “It’s Lubesha, Dad. Lubesha Pondamali is responsible.”
“Oh,” Enoch slumped onto a comfy couch. “S--t. I knew you two were s------g but didn’t expect you to be so careless, Sandy. Do you know what this means? How it jeopardizes my political career? I can already see the headlines of me being mocked. I’m the minister of Religious Affairs for crying out loud!” he took a deep breath and blew out some air. “In as much as that Lubesha reporter is a good man whom we owe our lives, you two screwed up and the only way to fix this is if you terminate the pregnancy.”
“Excuse me? I can’t do such, Dad,” said Sandra sternly. “I just can’t!” she had known her father would suggest abortion but she was a drama queen who knew what she was doing so she manipulatively suggested her father think of a better solution.
“The only solution I can think of is abortion, Sandy. I’m running for Mayor soon and you falling pregnant without being married makes me seem like a hypocrite so for once think about someone else but you.”
Sandra wiped her tears using her bare hands. “You want a solution? Get Lubesha to marry me as soon as possible. That’s the only solution,” she pushed back the chair and headed for the door but stopped to add, “Forget about me having an abortion by the way.”
“S--t, s--t, s--t!” Enoch couldn’t seem to refrain himself from cussing. He was a corrupt hypocrite, yes, and he loved power, fame and money too much to let Sandra ruin his plans for a secure future. She wanted to get married to some newspaper reporter? Fine. Lubesha wasn’t a bad choice so Enoch had no choice but to dance to his daughter’s tune this time around.
He summoned Lubesha to his house the following day after Sandra had gotten tested by a doctor who had vouched for her, she was 6 weeks pregnant. Enoch placed the pregnancy report in his drawer as he waited for Lubesha to come. He kept on hoping Lubesha would not refuse to marry Sandra.
“You said you had something urgent you want us to discuss?” Lubesha asked Enoch without preamble once he was in his study.
“Yeah..take a seat.”

When they were both seated, Enoch took the pregnancy report from the drawer and handed it to Lubesha who hesitantly took it.
Lubesha read the content and was baffled beyond measure.
“Sandra is pregnant? Wow..How does her pregnancy concern me?”
“Great question,” Enoch clasped his hands together. “Great great question, my guy. Here’s your answer though, it concerns you in the sense that the baby Sandra’s carrying is yours.”
“Say what now?” Lubesha had to chuckle, he couldn’t suppress the urge. “Is that what she told you? Then I reckon you ask her who really got her knocked up cause definitely that ain’t me.”
“Are you calling my daughter a liar?”
“I didn’t say that, you did.”
Enoch leaned in and slowly asked, “Did you or did you not sleep with her?”
“I did..used a condom, since you wanna know.”
“Condoms have faults, Lubesha, and I expect you to know that by now. Sandra claims the baby is yours so it definitely is. We can run a paternity test if you wish.”
He knew the possibility was high. He’d noticed the condom had been ripped after he was done having sex with Sandra some time back. He didn’t wanna go down the road of doing a paternity test whilst Sandra was pregnant so he said, “Let’s assume am the father..what now?”
“One more great question, my boy. You need to promise me you’ll marry Sandra asap and save her and I the shame this pregnancy will bring.”
He didn’t need time to think about it. “I don’t love Sandra one bit so what makes you think am willing to marry her just because she’s carrying my child, if it’s even really mine.”
“Look, you don’t need to stay married to her forever. All I need is her to be married before her belly starts showing or else am taking her for an abortion. Trust me, am not bluffing.”

Now he needed time to think. Here came an opportunity for him to become a father and here was some corrupt politician literally blackmailing him into marrying his daughter, what a dilemma.
Being wise, Lubesha said, “Why do I get the feeling you’re simply using me for your selfish gain?”
“Because I am selfish, Lubesha. Now I need you to promise me you’ll marry my daughter or else I promise to kill your baby and rid you of the chance of becoming a father and deprive you the awesome experience of fatherhood! It’s your cross to carry.”
It took some time for Lubesha to finally come to a conclusion. He didn’t know nor care whether it was logical or not, all he knew and cared about was the fact that he really wanted to have a child even though it had come unexpectedly. He also didn’t want to bear the guilt of an innocent unborn baby losing it’s life due to his decision.
“I’ll marry your daughter,” Lubesha heard himself say. “I promise.”
Enoch took a sigh of relief and wiped sweat off his face. “Welcome to the family, son,” he said with a huge grin while Lubesha cringed.

☆☆☆
“I don’t want your gift! Take it back with you!”

That being said, Donald Jr. dashed off to his bedroom, leaving his mother seated on a couch.

Juliet wasn’t going to cry, not today. She’d shed enough tears already and had now come to know they didn’t solve nothing.
She stood by the window and watched Donald and Alice chat their hearts away on the swing that she’d enjoyed sitting and relaxing on once upon a time. Alice’s baby bump was beginning to show and her court marriage which Juliet was surprisingly invited to was coming up in a few weeks time. The man she was marrying was a good man whom both Juliet and Donald had known for the two years that he’d been dating their daughter thus they had no problem with him marrying her.
In fact, Juliet was ecstatic Alice had found such a kind and loving man.
Despite promising herself not to cry, Juliet found herself shedding tears when she took a look at the pair of shoes she’d bought for Donald Jr. just for him to reject them. She’d had to eat vegetables for almost a fortnight in order for her to save the money equivalent to the price of the shoes. Besides, she’d bought them with so much love.
“Daddy says you’re a bad woman,” Donald Jr’s words rung in Juliet’s mind. “He says I shouldn’t get close to you and that you’ll poison my mind like you did brother Amos’ who’s in jail all thanks to your bad upbringing.”
Recalling those painful words only brought more tears to her eyes. Donald was really doing a number on her via her son.
Juliet wiped her tears, left the pair of shoes on the table and went outside where she asked Alice to excuse them.
“What do you want to say to me now?”
“You’re agitated by my mere presence, I get that. But don’t you think you poisoning my 6-year-old son’s mind against me makes you as bad as you constantly tell him I am? I wronged you, Donald, I’ve accepted that countless times already but you need to deal with your ego and forgive me. Let me not remind you there was once a time you denied Donald Jr. way before he was born and threw me out of your house, not giving a s--t what happened to me next,” she was furious but was fighting hard to stay calm. “It’s only because of the changed person I’ve become that I’m letting you lead a drama free life. You wanna be different from the evil Juliet I was, do right by Donald Jr. and me.”
Juliet’s speech kept on reverberating in Donald’s mind long after she was gone and finally, he swallowed his pride.
He stood from the swing, went into the house, grabbed the pair of shoes Juliet had left on the table and headed to Junior’s room. It was time he taught his son not to hate his mother. That wasn’t going to be easy but it was only right for Donald Senior to stop being selfish and include Juliet in their last born’s life. She was his mother after all.

☆☆☆
THE WEDDING DAY.
Mark who was Lubesha’s best man asked his friend as he was helping him get dressed, “Why are you marrying this girl if you want nothing to do with her whatsoever?”
“Because I owe her Dad, that’s why. I promised him I’d marry her.”
“Come on, promises are meant to be broken. Just because you promised some old corrupt politician you’d marry his daughter doesn’t mean you should throw your life away by marrying that nightmare.”
“Sandra isn’t really that bad,” said Lubesha. That was a total lie.
Mark scoffed. “So says someone who got stitched up because the crazy b---h had smashed a bottle on his head. What exactly is going on, Lubesha? Why are you marrying Sandra? I want the truth, man.”
Lubesha told Mark everything and all Mark could say was, “Wow..this is a selfless thing you’re doing. I’m proud of you, man.”
It was Lubesha’s wedding day and he was marrying a woman he didn’t love but had no choice anyway. Both the bride and groom were gloomy as they stood before the altar. Well, the groom had reasons to be gloomy while the bride’s hormones were doing a number on her resulting into her surprisingly foul mood on her wedding day.
The Pastor was saying, “If there’s anyone who has reason to oppose this union, please come forth or forever hold your peace.”
Silence.
“Alright. I hereby-”

“I do!” echoed a vaguely familiar voice and when Lubesha turned, he couldn’t believe his eyes. There she was, his first love. In flesh and blood. She still looked dashing after so many years.

But what reason did she have to oppose his marriage?
Seeing Tracy at in the chapel during his wedding service felt like a nightmare but there she was, clad in red from head to toe and looking as beautiful as ever.
The dull click of her heels on the carpet felt like music to his ears but her being here after so many years would just complicate things instead of making them better.
“I do oppose,” she clearly said.
“Who is she?” Sandra whispered in Lubesha’s ear and he opted to ignore her.
The Pastor asked Tracy, “Why?”
“Because I love Lubesha..I’ve loved him since I was 14!”
“Oh please,” Sandra rolled her eyes as people in the chapel murmured.

“That’s not reason enough to oppose two people’s union though, my child,” the Pastor was exercising patience.
“Okay,” Tracy turned and snapped her fingers.

A few seconds later, a teenage boy walked into the chapel and one look at him was enough to decipher he was Lubesha’s son.
Tracy had a lot of explaining to do!
“Lubesha Junior,” said Tracy warmly, spreading her arms in welcome. “Come.”
Lubesha Junior walked into his mother’s arms.

“This is your son, our son. The product of the love we shared while in high school.”
Sandra’s head was spinning and she staggered. “I need some air.”
Minutes later, Sandra, Enoch, Lubesha, Tracy and Donald were seated in the Pastor’s office.
The Pastor was saying, “Young lady, kindly explain what’s going on.”
“It’s a long story, Pastor.”
“My dear,” Enoch said. “Today’s my daughter’s wedding and I want to see her wed this great man so you better explain what your drama is all about. I don’t give a d--n how long your story is.”
“I agree with him,” said Donald placidly.
Tracy took a deep breath and told them her tale. When she was done, Lubesha couldn’t seem to stop shedding tears. He was caught between a rock and a hard place. On one hand was Tracy. The love of his life and the mother of his son.

On the other hand was Sandra. The woman whom he’d promised to marry and who was also expecting his child.
Which was which?
Before he could make a decision, Lubesha put himself in Tracy’s shoes and mentally lived her tale…