Behind Church Doors - S01 E10

Story 8 months ago

Behind Church Doors - S01 E10

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 10

TIA

Taking a deep breath. I knock once and he opens the door instantly. He is clad in a button-down shirt and dress pants. And he looks more relaxed than he does at church.

“Hey Tia, glad you could make it,” he holds out a hand.

I place my hand in his, and he leads me toward the living room. “Welcome to my private place, please feel at home.”

“Thank you,” I sit down.

“What can I offer you?”

“Water will do, thank you.”

He smiles, “you don’t drink wine or you are feeling shy doing it in my presence?”

“I do drink, I just thought…”

“I will get us some wine then,” he excuses himself and returns a moment later with the wine and two glasses. He pops open a bottle of wine, and pours it into two glasses, handing me one.

“Thank you Papa Kingsley.”

He smiles, taking a sip from his glass, “you can call me Kingsley when we are not in church. Papa K makes me feel very old.”

I take a large sip from my glass and nod.

“You know you are a beautiful woman Tia?” He asks and I just smile, unable to find the best response to his compliment.

He looks at me. Like really looks at me. His eyes meet mine and he just stares, hard. Swallowing hard, I quickly look away.

“Am I making you uncomfortable?”

“No,” I lie. He is making me very uncomfortable, he is practically undressing me with his eyes and I don’t like that.

“I brought you here because I didn’t want us to be disturbed. I wanted us to have a private moment. I hope you are okay with that.”

“I am okay,” I force a smile.

“You are really beautiful,” he says again.

“I am starving,” I say. Trying to change the direction of the conversation.

“Food is actually set on the table. I just wanted you to get comfortable before asking you to eat.”

“Oh. I think I am comfortable enough.”

He laughs,” okay. Shall we?”

He leads me to the table, pulling a chair out of me. I sit down and he dishes for me before sitting across from me.

“I know I am not supposed to tell you this but I am too excited to keep it to myself,” he says halfway into the meal.

“What is it?”

“You’re one of the people that got shortlisted for the Scholarship for next year. You get to go back to school and finish your studies. The church will foot your bills.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes. Congratulations Tia. You are about to be a graduate.”

“Thank you so much Bishop. This is the best news I have heard in years. I am really humbled.”

“You are welcome and please don’t tell anyone about this until the names are published.”

“I promise I won’t. I have waited for this for such a long time I won’t mess it up.”

I am bursting with excitement and I can’t stop thanking Bishop. This is a dream come true for me.

“You have thanked me more than enough.”

“I can’t help it.”

He laughs, ” “How are things with your husband?” He asks.

“Okay.”

“Just okay?”

“Things are better now that I have a job. We hardly argue, I am helping out with the house bills because business isn’t stable for him.”

“He still won’t come to our church?”

“No. He is actually still not okay with me switching churches. He just doesn’t talk about it anymore because he knows my mind is made up.”

“He is being used. All this is his sister’s doing.”

“Maybe if he knows about what his sister is doing he will make better decisions.”

“This is not the right time to tell him.”

“Okay. Whatever you say.”

“You are a beautiful woman. That man should man up and become the provider he was created to be or else someone will take you away from him.”

“He is obviously trying his best to make ends meet. I am sure things will be okay someday.”

“And he still hasn’t yet impregnated you?”

“I think it will happen in due time.”

“You seem to love this man.”

“I do..”

“But?”

“There’s no but.”

“You can be honest with me.”

“I wish we could have gotten married under different circumstances. We rushed into the marriage because of the child that didn’t even make it.”

“So you regret getting married?”

“Ya, I should have finished school first.”

“I see.”

We finish eating and I start to clear the table but he asks me not to, “you are my guest I will do it.”

“Okay,” I head back into the living room and continue sipping on my glass of wine.

When he walks back into the living room, he sits next to me, “I have already mentioned how beautiful you are right?”

“A number of times,” I laugh. I am on my second glass of wine and I sort of feel a little more relaxed than I did when I first came in.

“The first time I saw you, I knew I wanted us to be close.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I want us to be really close. I want us to be able to call each other at any time. I want to be able to take you out and spoil you and show you the finest things that life has to offer.”

“That’s too deep,” I gulp down my glass and beckon to Papa K to pour me another, which he does immediately. I gulp that one too and ask for another one.

“Relax.”

“I didn’t expect to hear all this from you.”

“There’s so much I will do for you if you accept to be a very close friend of mine. Of Course we would have to keep our friendship away from the church and pastor Ruth shouldn’t know about it. It will be our little secret.”

“But you are a man of God are you even allowed to have close female friends? Is this private dinner even in order?”

“Tia! I don’t do anything without getting a directive from God .”

“And you are saying God asked you to do this?”

“You carry a special kind of Grace that’s the only reason you were connected to me. With the kind of anointing that I have, you will be able to flourish in whatever you do if you stay close to me.”

“Oh.”

“So what do you say?”

I rise to my feet, “can I use the bathroom.”

“Yes. It’s down the..”

I get dizzy all of a sudden from standing up too fast after having almost four glasses of wine. His arms go around my waist, and he holds me steady.

“Thank you,” I laugh.

He turns me to him, eyeing me intently and I begin to feel hot. His intense stare strips me leaving me completely exposed.

“It should be the wine. That’s why I am feeling this way.”

What happens next happens so fast I barely have time to think straight. One minute he is staring at me and the next he is kissing me. I don’t want to kiss him but my lips have a mind of their own. Without giving it a second thought, I wrap my hands around his neck and kiss him back aggressively. Lord, he tastes so good, clinging to him, I sink into the kiss my hands all over him.