102. “So, just asking… don’t look at me like that Rich. You know I love you and I always got your back and that’s why I want to know and if not from you, from who else?” Joey defended quickly after he saw the look Richard was giving him.
Richard wasn’t a fan of talking about his issues and he didn’t have many friends.
But from that day he talked to a boy who was being bullied from home to school, he had a person stuck to him as a parasite and he liked Joey’s talkative nature and Joey didn’t seem to mind even when Richard was quiet.
All Joey did was talk for the both of them until Richard grew fond of him and well… here they were.
Richard knew for sure that Joey would rather die than tell anyone anything about him and that was why he was here answering the man’s questions.
“Ask,” Richard said and Joey beamed.
“If she didn’t plan to get you, how did you know that she was the one who you did it with?
Of all the women who could have come your way, why her?” Joey asked, trying to analyse the situation.
“I don’t think she planned it because even meeting her was by chance,” Richard said thinking of that first day he met Macy.
“How then did you meet? Tell me and I will be the one to decide whether it was pre-planned or not,” Joey said.
Richard looked at him for a while and then sighed.
“I had left Ash to take care of Mel and he went with her to a hotel to meet his friends and while they were there, Mel left to walk around and she ended up in the utility closet changing her toy and by chance, Macy had been locked there by her sister and…
Yeah, that was basically it.
When we got Mel out, she showed us the other girl who was unconscious and we took her to the hospital.
I don’t know what happened between them during the duration they both were there but from that day on, Mel doesn’t want to stay away from her and by good luck, she loved Mel as much as Mel loves her,” Richard said remembering that incident.
“How did it happen? Tell me in detail,” Joey said still in doubt.
“Mel was playing on the corridor with a marble and it rolled into the utility room. She went in to get it and at that moment, people came carrying the unconscious girl and threw her in after Mel and then locked the both of them inside.
It wasn’t planned J. It wasn’t.
Believe me. I also thought the same way but my investigations proved otherwise,” Richard said and Joey didn’t have anything else to say.
“Wah! It seems like it was all by chance. Maybe nature wanted you to meet,” Joey said as he sat back down and took a sip from his glass.
“But… how come she has such a fever?” Joey wondered out loud.
“I think I caused it,” Richard said in a small guilty voice.
Joey looked at him with an inquisitive expression and Richard designed in frustration.
“Just tell me why you think that,” Joey said.
“I shouldn’t have told her. I should have waited to tell her after we got Jared back but…” Richard said and sighed again.
“Just tell me before you sigh yourself to death.
What are you talking about and who is Jared?” Joey stood up again and walked to where Richard was and sat beside him.
Richard looked at the man who was holding his shoulder and sighed again.
“At first, she thought that the baby died because she had even seen the body.
But after what Angela confessed, we realised that…”
“Angela? You mean Angela Philips and the scandal? What does that have to do with the girl you have in there?” Joey blurted out.
“That girl is the real daughter of the Philips and not Angela. She was the one who was love streaming Angela’s confessions because she wanted revenge and she wanted to show the world the true face of Angela.
Angela was the one behind everything and she hadn’t killed Macy’s baby but had given him up for adoption.
We were able to investigate and find out where he was but when we got there, someone had already tipped the family and they had run away.
We had been told that they had gone to Europe but after I sent my men, who would never fail in such a task, they didn’t find them at the airport or even anywhere near there.
We knew that they had lied and we are looking for them.
What we did find were the pictures of the boy and he looks exactly like me J. He’s a carbon copy of this face,” Richard said and he circled his face with his index finger.
“Wow! Just wow!” Joey said as he tried to fahrom that.
“You still haven’t told me why you think that you are the one who gave her a fever. Did you…?” Joey asked eyeing Richard’s jewels as if he had over done it with Macy.
“Oh, come on! You know me better than that and we haven’t gotten to that yet.
It’s just that…
I first figured that she was the one when she told me about her story.
I have been trying to get her to be my girlfriend for a while and she has always turned me down and one day, she decided to tell me why.
She thought that because she was defiled and even have birth when she was seventeen, I would hate her.
So, she told me the story of how it happened.
She told me of how Angela drugged her and how she was almost raped by the men her sister had set up but she stumbled to my room which, mark you, she didn’t know that was my room.
From her story, I knew right away that it was her and looking at her, I could tell that it was the back we saw in the cameras that caught her get out.
The black flowy hair and that small body…
And then… I had kept that bracelet and she had told me that she left the bracelet her grandma gave her there and you can imagine her shock when I gave it to her.
So, after she questioned me why the boy looked like me and whether I was related to those people or not, I told her the truth.
I told her that I was the man she slept with all those years back and that I am the father of her boy.
She couldn’t take it.
I know Macy as a strong woman and for this to hit ehr like that, I know it must have been hard on her.
I explained to her all that happened and made her understand that I have been looking for her for all those years but she still …
I blame myself and…” he sighed again and Joey, as usual, came to the recuse when words failed this friend of his.
“Rich, I know you as a good man and all that time when you were looking for her I was here.
I helped, remember? I had my boyfriend try to recover the footage from the cameras that weren’t working thinking that you had grown rusty in your hacking skills but no.
I saw how the guilt hit you because she left without your knowledge and you didn’t even know who she was.
Don’t feel guilty and lets just hope that she gets better soon and that you guys find your son.
But the question I have to ask you is, do you love her or do you want just to be with her because Mel loves her and she has your son?” Joey asked.
Richard thought about it for a while and leaned down and bent his elbows against his knees and then held his head between his palms.
“At first, I was fascinated by the fact that Mel loved her so much. I was sceptical after what Cassy did to us and I didn’t want to let anyone else in but Mel made me realise that there are good people out there.
I started opening my heart slowly and before I knew it, I was in love. I found myself wanting to protect her, love her, give her all she needs.
I found myself wanting to crush her enemies before her feet and make them apologise.
I found myself wanting to make anyone who has ever made her suffer suffer triple of the pain she felt.
I found myself wanting to love everything she loved.
It’s because of the love I have for her that I realised that I was never in love with Cassandra but it was gratitude.
I was grateful to her because she showed me worth when everyone else was against me.
I love Macy. I loved her even before I knew that she was the one I had slept with and before knowing that we had a baby together.
I love her J. Truly.”
“Really? Are you telling the truth?” A small voice asked from the bedroom door and they both turned to look.
“Macy? Are you okay?” Richard was with her withing seconds making Joey’s mouth fall open.
He sometimes thought that Richard was a demigod due to how fast he could move when the situation called for it and how well he could fight.
“I am okay,” Macy croaked.
“Come here and check on her,” Richard called to the man who was still frozen at the couch watching the side of his best friend that he had never seen.
“So, he can also fall in love?” Joey asked as he watched Richard pick Macy up princesss style and take her to the bedroom.
He picked his bag and shook his head.
“Wonders,” he mumbled as he followed them.