CHAPTER 73: FIVE MONTHS LATER.
Raphael blew his bubble gum as he put his right hand inside his pockets while looking around. It’s been five months since everything happened and a few things had changed in his life alongside others.
A man approached him and bowed. He collected the travel bag that Raphael was holding and pulled it away to the trunk of the car while Raphael got into the car before shutting the door after him.
As the driver drove, his eyes ran across the whole building. He left the country three months ago for a business trip and he had been busy…a lot of things piled up for him and he felt emotionally drained. As the car went past a couple standing by the roadside, showcasing their love publicly, Raphael’s heart ached and he touched the position on his chest before rolling up the window.
After a few minutes of driving, the car finally arrived at the mansion. Raphael exited the car and walked into the mansion while the travel bag was brought in. The first person he saw was his father who was smiling energetically at him.
“Welcome home, son.” Micheal greeted him and pulled him into his embrace. Raphael looked behind to see Vegas and his mother staring hard at him. If looks could kill then he would probably be six feet under the ground by then but since it couldn’t, it was his turn to enjoy things to their pain.
Yeah, when he thought everything had changed in the family, he meant it had changed. His father had been more welcoming to him in the past few months and he had been close to him than he was with Vegas since birth.
This somehow was causing an abrupt division between the perfect trio.
“Thank you.”
“I am proud of you.” Micheal kept smiling as he patted his son’s shoulders and gave a slight press. Raphael could only look at his happy father with a gaze of sadness and a tinge of happiness. For the past twenty-six years of his life, his father told him that he was proud of him but the time he was hearing this was not worth it.
“Thank you.”
“Raphael.” A calm voice called from behind and Raphael turned around. Yeah, it was the dumb Queen Bee. She was full of smiles and holding a bouquet as she ran to hug Raphael. The latter didn’t catch her not wrapping his arms around her to reciprocate the gesture.
“Erica, you should be careful so you wouldn’t slip and fall,” Raphael warned, clearly uncomfortable from the embrace. It was too tight. Erica chuckled and gave him a peck before handing over the flowers. She was behaving like a teenager who had fallen in love.
“Aww, you do care about me. Thank you and I will put that into consideration. Here are flowers for you, I hope you love them.”
Raphael signaled a passing maid to help with the flowers.
“Thank you. I will go upstairs to take my bath. It’s pretty late.”
“No problem, do so and join us for dinner. We have a lot of things to catch up on.” Micheal urged him and went back to his seat while Raphael climbed the stairs.
Vegas’s eyes were bloodshot as he found it hard to contain his anger. His eyes tailed his step brother as he finally left their midst. All of these were for nothing in the end.
Erica followed Raphael possessively.
That was his situation with her. Their engagement was this week’s Saturday and it felt as if he was getting married instead. He had no choice but to do this.
“Erica, can you please go downstairs? You can’t follow me to my room and then my bathroom.” He said as they got to the door of his room.
“I can wait for you in your room.” Erica offered.
“That is inappropriate. I will love my privacy seeing as I just came back. Please give me some breathing space.” He pleaded.
“No problem but after dinner, would you like to go on a date with me?” Erica blinked seductively. What the hell was going through the girl’s mind? Raphael thought. Maybe she was possessed or obsessed.
“Why should we go on a date when we must have had dinner here? That isn’t logical.”
Erica laughed when she realized her folly, “What I am trying to pass across to you is that you should go out with me tonight to enjoy the City’s night so it’s a date. A date doesn’t contain eating alone.” She explained to him. Raphael sighed and placed his hand on the door’s handle.
“Please, Raphael.”
“I will do it just for you.” He accepted.
“Thank you. I will see you downstairs then.” Erica blew him a kiss and Raphael forcefully smiled before opening the door and entering as quickly as he could to avoid her staring at him.
Erica blushed. She couldn’t believe that she was fully into Raphael. She was indeed a fool in love, she’s got a grip on him. They were worthy of each other, she believed that some people’s love needs to be forced so they can enjoy it later. Raphael didn’t want to be with her but after a bit of action, he was slowly accepting her.
“I will do it just for you.” She repeated his words and chuckled like a down maniac.
*_*_*_*_*_*_*
In the Gulf Mansion, every family was gathered around the dining table as expected. No one was absent because of work and the Matriarch felt pleased to see her sons and their family try to unite.
Things had become much easier ever since she gave the rules that the kids should go for whatever course or occupation they wanted to and that as the elder, they had her full support. Their parents consciously gave in.
She reasoned within her why she would be the reason for the family to want to break apart and decided that it was time to set things right before going to the world beyond.
The Matriarch looked around again, gauging each member’s expression until her eyes landed on an empty chair and she frowned.
“Elizabeth, where is your son?” She asked her. Elizabeth glanced at the empty chair before looking at the aged woman.
“Mother, are you pretending to not know or you don’t know?”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“If your grandson isn’t back home at this time, where do you think he will be?” Elizabeth asked.
“With his girlfriend.” Queen chipped in and everyone giggled while Elizabeth scowled at her sister-in-law.
“She is not his girlfriend.” Elizabeth retorted.
“Are you in denial, mum?” Mark, Elizabeth’s first son and grandson in the family asked her with a teasing smile.
His mother snorted and put a fried potato into her mouth before chewing on it aggressively.
“Someone should put a call across to him or Kira,” Henry instructed.
“Let me do that.” Princess, the second to the last grandchild chipped in and brought out her phone.
“You have her number?” Andrew, her brother asked.
“I am a lady so yeah.” Princess replied with a ‘duh’ tone but before she could dial a number, Richard walked in and did a twirl.
“He isn’t a bastard.” Eugene, the second grandson of the family after Mark commented and quickly stole a piece of cut chicken when everyone looked towards Richard but he somehow got caught.
“I am home,” Richard replied affectionately and kissed his mum’s forehead from behind.
“Welcome.” Everyone chorused and waited for him to settle down.
“So what’s the good news, bro?” Andrew questioned. Richard placed his hands on his chest and looked towards the ceiling affectionately. He did that for about two minutes and everyone had to look at the ceiling to figure out what was happening up there.
“What is he staring at?” Queen asked her husband.
“Ask him, isn’t he your son?” Philip replied he was the second son of the Matriarch.
“Kira and I kissed.” Richard finally spoke and winked.
“Ewww, bro.” Andrew’s face scrunched up.
“Dude.” Eugene glared.
“Bro, you needn’t tell that to our face, not anymore, we pray thee.” Mark joined his palms together and rested his head on them. Everyone laughed at his version of speaking.
“How is she doing?” The Matriarch asked as everyone prepared to eat.
“She is fine, grandmother. She has been busy quite often and I have exams to prepare for so I just go over to read to avoid the distractions I would get here.”
“Cough…cough,” Princess said and picked up her cutlery.
“Objection to his words,” Andrew added.
“I repeat, cough…cough,” Princess smirked.
“Distractions indeed. Just be modest, I don’t wanna be an Uncle now.” Mark was the speaker as he put a filled spoon into his mouth. Everyone laughed except Elizabeth. She just kept stabbing her poor chicken. The Matriarch noticed this and finally calmed everyone down.
“That’s good. You should invite her over sometime. Now, let’s enjoy our dinner in peace.”
Everyone began eating fully in joy and hilarious moments.