It wasn’t his day. Not his week, month or even year. Caleb was fed up. There is only so much a man can take after all. He could feel his heart pounding aggressively in his chest. His mind wandered to his last memory of his father seated silently in tears, at the back of their old low-cost house, some 23 years ago. He always wondered why a grown man would cry. He didn’t need to wonder anymore. Now, he knew.
The frown on his brow deepened as he sank further into his anger. It was all he could do to stop the tears building in his heart. His logistics business packing up, he could deal with. “Money comes, money goes” after all. Infidelity from his wife of 8 years? That was tough but he could swallow it. Finding out he isn’t the father of his twin boys? That… that was too heavy a blow.
He drove into the parking lot filled with cars and found an empty space. He got out of his SUV and walked towards the office building. Barrister Kennedy was his last hope and he needed to see him. “There must be something Barrister Kennedy can do to help,” he reasoned. A way he can sue his soon-to-be ex-wife. A way he can pour out his pain and anger before it devoured him.
Caleb walked up to the receptionist. As she lifted her head, he stood still. This must be a dream. “She can’t be real,” he thought.
But there she was, smiling. The same smile he had worshiped all four years in the university. The peaceful smile from Veronica. The smile that somehow gave him strength and optimism. The smile he lost 12 years ago when she moved away abruptly. He stood staring at the smile and he could feel his anger seep away. His brain knew his life was in shambles but joy was creeping into his heart. He could barely believe the power of that smile even as he felt the sides of his mouth curve into one of their own. He could barely believe he was seeing the beautiful Veronica again and he sure as hell could barely believe her smile and the fact that… after all this time, it still works.
Ijeoma Obidike
Charity Ijeoma Obidike is a graduate of Mass Communication, National Open University. She is a poetry lover and short story writer.
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