Yes, It's Another Cliché Love Story

Twenty Five

“Did your friend leave?” I asked pointing at the half empty bottle and the almost empty glass next to it.

“Oh, no, he got a call but he’s coming back. He’s actually the person I wanted you to meet,”

“Who is he?” before he could answer, an older man came and took the empty seat.

“Sorry I took so long, work issues,” he looked at me then at my uncle then back at me.

“Joey, this is my friend Francis Koigi, Frank, this is my nephew, Joseph Michaels but we call him Joey,”

“You look just like your mother,”

“You know my mother?”

“I do. We lived together for six months before she left me,”

“What? That's not possible. My mom only ever lived with one man and he was…”

“I’m your father, Joey,” I was frozen. I didn’t know what to say or do at that point.

I was a kid when I wanted to meet the man infront of me. I had pestered my mom so much until she agreed to contact him but at the end, he bailed out on me. I had been so distraught thinking he didn’t want me, that I was unlovable and that was why he’d refused to come see me. It took a lot of convincing from both my grandparents and mom to get me to believe in myself again.

“You could have told me who I was meeting so I wouldn’t waste my time and yours,” I finally said to my uncle.

“I knew you’d refuse and that’s why I didn’t say anything. I don’t know what your mother told you about your father but listen to his side of the story before you judge him,”

“She didn’t tell me anything about him. The little I know about him is from my own experience and honestly, I could live the rest of my life without knowing him,”

“I know I wasn’t there for you growing up but I want a fresh start between us. I have a good reason as to why I wasn’t around,”

“I don’t think it’s possible because I want nothing from you but please humor me,”

“Your uncle and I became friends at the age of fourteen. We met at the same ‘rika’ orientation program. It was through our friendship that I met your mother. Your mother was a spoilt princess back then, she got what she wanted when she wanted and wouldn’t take no for an answer. 

I was so taken by her that I did everything possible to get her. I found out why she wasn’t interested in me by coincidence. She had an account where she had a mutual friend with me and in the account she said she was a lesbian,” he looked at Uncle Paul then at me and I looked at Uncle Paul and I realized I hadn’t reacted to that piece of information.

“Wait, wait, I didn’t get what you said. My mom? A Lesbian? Are you sure?”

“She’s always been one that’s why she never got married,” Uncle Paul said.

“When we confronted her about it, she said it was just something she was curious about,”

“Was that when she accepted to be with you?”

“No, I left her alone after that. She was the one that came to me a few months later and said she was interested in me. We were great for a while but then she changed. She didn’t want me to touch her and did things to provoke me.

I would leave but when I got back she would accuse me of cheating on her. Then one day she left and the police came for me. She said I had tried to kill her and that I had gotten some high school kid pregnant.