𝙻𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙱𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚒𝚛𝚎'𝚜 𝚂𝚘𝚗.

Chapter 19

She'd finally found a gift for Damola and Chelsea. For Damola, she got a watch and Chelsea, she got a necklace. She decided to head to the provision store where she'd get gift wrappers and maybe shop for some stuff she'd need. Luckily, Aunt Waje had insisted that she took the driver with her. That way, she had lesser things to worry about carrying with her. She also considered shopping for a dress, but she knew it'd be useless since she wouldn't bother wearing it after the engagement party would be over. It'd simply end up being a waste of her money.

As she walked into the store, she got herself a trolley. In it, she put all the stuff she needed to shop for. And while she pushed the trolley around the store, in search of the items she was looking for, her mind went back to her conversation with Damola.  On the bright side, she was happy they were back on speaking terms. She was equally glad he was settling down. However, she knew she was equally sad, too.

She didn't know why, but she was. And no matter how hard she tried to shove it aside, she couldn't. "Get a grip, Kunmi. Are you even mad?" She chided herself, with a huff. Unknown to her, her little comment had earned her a weird stare from a nearby customer. And when she did turn towards the customer, she gave off a sheepish grin and hurriedly pushed her trolley further away from there.

While she searched through the shelves of the store, in search of a suitable gift wrap, she had unknowingly bumped into someone. A loud yelp escaped the lips of whomever it was she had bumped into, before she turned to see said person now on the floor. She didn't expect to see a child, around the age of two or three, on the floor and with a glare marring his face.

"I'm so sorry." She said to the kid, and tried help him up. The boy groaned, and soon his eyes began to water.

"I'm injured," his lips quivered, as he stared at the scratch around his upper arm. A small trickle of blood managed to escape the small wound, and Kunmi bent down towards the kid. She figured he must have gotten the injury from the rough edges of the shelf.

"Sorry," she said, careful not to frighten the boy any further. "Can I see the wound? I'll help clean it up. I think I have a Band-Aid in my bag." She said, and the boy shook his head, no.

"My mommy says it's bad to speak to strangers." The boy said.

Kunmi smiled. She remembered her mom also telling her that when she was just about his age. "I won't hurt you. I'll just help stop the wound from bleeding."

The boy shook his head in refute. "My mommy's probably looking for me," he picked himself up from the floor. "And I—"

"Lanre!"

Kunmi froze right on the spot. That voice... She knew she'd heard it before. Something about that voice made her skin crawl, and she tried her best to shake the thoughts that began crawling into her head. It couldn't be who she thought it was. They were far away in Lagos. She couldn't be the one.

The boy stared at Kunmi, and his tears began to roll off his eyes. "My mommy's going to be angry that I got hurt. And it's your fault." He sniffed, and Kunmi felt bad.

She immediately snapped out of her daze, and searched her purse for something to clean the blood on his arm.

"Lanre, come here!" The exact same voice yelled, and Kunmi swore she was doomed. This couldn't be happening.

But to her horror, Chioma soon emerged from the other section of the store, and when her eyes caught sight of her crying son, and Kunmi standing right next to him - she totally lost it for sure.

"Kunmi!" She yelled, as anger flashed before her eyes. She couldn't believe the witch was here, and with her son. "Get away from my son." Chioma's hurriedly walked towards the both of them, and Lanre simply sniffed.