A Love Bargain

026: Meeting his Family 4

Pearl

I was only here to be Kachi's fake girlfriend but if care was not taken, I would be married off to him next month. The thought of that caused a light scoff to escape me since the shock that engulfed me earlier, had subsided.

Even the fork I was holding, was shocked to the floor.

"You're not getting any younger, Kachi, you should get married and give me grandchildren." Mrs Phillips fired at her son and my gaze travelled to him.

Everyone on this table, including Dr Phillips was having none of that.

"Mom," Jonathan, who seemed to have recovered from the water that almost choked him to death, called out to his mother.

But my eyes wouldn't leave Kachi, and I wondered what it would be like to be married to him.

But with the expression on his face, one could tell he wasn't having any of that. Well, what was I expecting him to do? He didn't even believe in love and even if he did, why would he marry his fake girlfriend?

"You and Dad didn't even have kids until your forties--"

"Shut up, Jonathan!" Dr Phillips yelled, causing me to flinch before I slowly, directed my gaze to him. "Don't you ever bring that up again--"

"It's okay honey," Mrs Phillips said to her husband, smiling.

"Do you know what your mother and I went through?" He continued, ignoring his wife. He seemed angry and I, on the other hand, wanted to know what was going on.

"It's okay," Mrs Phillips cooed at her husband, whose eyes were on Jonathan.

Jonathan cared less and with his gaze on his food, he continued to eat. Kachi on the other hand, sighed and sagged back to his seat.

"Sorry Mama," He finally said, after he swallowed a ball of pounded yam.

I didn't know what to do, so I sat there and watched, nervously. Everyone went on eating except for me and Kachi. Slowly I was losing my appetite and from the look on him, I knew he already lost his.

"I am only grateful that I was able to have both of you," she added, with a crack in her voice. When her husband placed his left hand on her right-balled hand, she smiled at him.

It seemed like Jonathan had touched on a sensitive topic.

"It's okay Mom," Kachi said, pulling his back off from his seat.

His mother smiled at him, "I and your father are not getting any younger, and we won't be here forever." She started, and Kachi heaved a sigh of defeat. By the look of things, he didn't want his mother to go back to the marriage topic, and that made the two of us. "We just want the best for you guys, a family you can rely on and come back to, at the end of each day."

Well, that made sense to me.

When she turned to me, my heart skipped a beat, was she going to ask me to pick a date? When she placed her left hand on my right one, I silently released air through my mouth. I was so nervous.

"I don't want to rush you and my son into marriage, you can take your time but not too much time, Pearl." I smiled nervously as guilt took over me. I was so close to pouring out the truth. "I... We had our children when we were in our forties because of some fertility issues," she said, her eyes getting watery and mine mirrored. It then dawned on me what all this was about.

"Honey..." Dr Phillips called out to her.

But without sparing her husband a glance, she continued. "I just want to at least see, even if is one grandchild of mine before I die..."