UNTOLD

CHAPTER SIX

Kunle is in his prayer room, praying, the time is 12:41 am, He paces around the room appreciating God's faithfulness in his life, ministry family, and business. God has never failed him. He sings some worship songs. Thinking of the place God brought him from makes him so grateful.
"Lord, who am I that you are so mindful of me? I've done nothing to deserve so much love from You. I know Lord that I haven't earned all You have given me, no how could I? I can't Lord, that is why I'm truly grateful. Thank You, Father, in Jesus Name, amen"
He rounded up his prayer and went to check his children in their room, he saw that they were peacefully asleep. He went to them as he laid hands on each of them. "let the Presence of God fill you tonight, so mightily that the devil will have not even the smallest room to operate in Jesus Name. Your generation will hear the voice of God through you. Amen. Thank You, Lord"
He came out of their room and went to his room, he didn't find his wife in the room, maybe she was in the sewing room, He remembered that she told him she received very urgent work from a customer that she couldn't refuse. Kunle sits on the bed, he's very exhausted, will he be able to sew throughout the night? He sits on the bed for a while, if he feels this way what about his wife, she must be very tired now. He stood up and went to the sewing room where he met her sewing, she looked very tired. He went to her.
"Go to bed, I'll continue from here," he said and she looked at him gratefully.
"But you had all night yesterday, you haven't slept since then," she said
"Don't worry, I'll leave the house late tomorrow" he said even though he knew he could not determine that.
"You know you can't say that because one of the members may call you for prayers early tomorrow morning and you'll have no choice but to go"
"Don't worry about me, I can see how tired you look, stand up" he said and she stood up.
"Thank you, sir"
He sat and she showed him the measurement on the paper, and he started to sew.
"what will I do without you?" She said and he looked at her.
"I just pray God keeps you till old age with me. You've spoilt me too much my Pastor" she said and Kunle smiled.
"It's my duty to, now come on go and get some rest, the time is already passed 2 am," he said and she nodded.
"Thank you, sir," she said and Kunle nodded. She walked out of the room.
Kunle continues to sew till about 5 am.

◆◆◆
After Kunle finishes the last dress, he sits on the chair for a while, very exhausted, he looks at the time, it's 6:32 am. Surprised at how time flies he stands up and leaves the sewing room, he went his room and meets his wife peacefully asleep. He went to the children's room and saw that his little girl was just seated on the bed, trying to wake her two brothers. Damilola is four years old, she sees her father and just looks at him. He went to her and carried her from the bed.
"My jewel! how was your night?"
"Fine Daddy," she said. Just then Tope, Kunle's second son wakes up as well, he's six years old.
"Daddy, good morning sir!"
"Good morning Tope"
"Good morning sir!" Damilola greeted and Kunle chuckled at her imitation of her brother.
"Morning my jewel"
Kunle went to his eldest son Tobi and tapped him, he took some time before he opened his eyes and more time before he understood the environment.
"Your younger ones are already awake and there you are still sleeping, you don't want to go to school today?" Kunle asked.
"I want to," he said whining his eyes.
Just then Victory opened the bathroom door, he came out of the bathroom and saw Kunle in the room.
"Good morning Daddy" he greeted.
"Morning Victory, hope you saw Jesus in your dream," Kunle said and Victory laughed.
"I saw Him" he answered unsurprised but amazed. He sees Kunle as his prophet because many times Kunle has specifically told him things happening that he is not supposed to know about. One time Kunle told him a new member had joined his family only for him to ask his father on the phone and he told him one of his wives had just given birth, Victory wasn't even aware she was pregnant. He is a fifteen-year-old boy who has been staying with Kunle's family since he was ten, helping out with the house chores while Kunle trained him through school and paid his father his monthly salary. He was brought from the village when Kunle and Sholaye were newly married and she needed assistance. She Informed her family in the village and Victory was sent to them with the terms of training him through school and paying his father thirty-five thousand every month. He had been a good boy and Kunle had never regretted bringing him in. He is already longing for God and sees Kunle as his role model, learning a lot from him even from a distance.
"I hope you wrote it down," Kunle asked.
"Yes sir"
"Alright, for now, you all get ready. When you come back you will tell me about it"
"Okay sir"
"Daddy, why haven't I seen Jesus in my dream?" Damilola asked.
Kunle laughed.
"Do you want to see him?"
"Yes daddy"
"Then tell him you want Him to Visit you before you sleep tonight. I will ask Him too" Kunle said and she gave a broad smile.
"Okay daddy"


Sholaye opens her eyes, she reluctantly shifts from the position she was on the bed to reach for her phone, she looks at the time and sees that it is 7:00 am.
"My goodness!" She sat up and ran to the sewing room, she didn't meet Kunle there but she saw he had sewn everything, she smiled relieved. "my man!" She looks at all the clothes, they are so beautiful and he uses the exact measurement that she gave him. After looking at the clothes for a while she comes out and sees the children already in the parlor with their school uniform. She sees Victory holding their school bags.
"Good morning ma!" Victory greeted
"Good morning ma" the three of them greeted.
Morning lovelies, I see you are ready for school. Where is Daddy?"
"He fell asleep in our room," Victory said.
"Really?"
"Yes, Daddy came to wake us up but before we had our bath and came out he was already sleeping. I wanted to wake him to go to his room but Victory said we shouldn't wake him up" Tope said.
"Wow, he is so tired, have you had your devotion?"
"Yes, mummy!" They answered.
"Okay, Victory what is left now?"
"We were just about to go to the driver to take us to school"
"Okay, there's food in your lunch bags?"
"Yes ma"
"Alright, go well"
"Thank you ma" Victory said and they left.
Sholaye went to the children's room, she found Kunle sleeping as he snored slightly. She looks at him he always goes out of himself even if he has to for her and the children, if not for him she doubt if she would have sewed even half of those clothes, she was really tired yesterday. Kunle is such a loving husband, he does both his business, his family, and his ministry without allowing anyone to disturb the other, the highest he does is overstrain himself and he wouldn't even complain. She's so privileged to have this man. As she stood and thought about her husband, her phone rang up, she quickly put the phone on silent because Kunle is a light sleeper, any little thing can wake him up. She can't spoil this rest for him, he needs it. She comes out of the room to answer the call.
"Hello!"
"Hello, good morning ma" the caller greeted.
"Good morning Mrs Christy"
"Ma, please I'm calling because of the clothes, right now I'm even in your company. Remember I told you that the children will need them this morning for the presentation. I have less than an hour to get the clothes to them"
"I remember but I didn't know you'll come so early in the morning, anyways the clothes are ready but they are with me at home"
"So how can I get them from you?" She asked.
"Can you give me thirty minutes to just get ready and come to the company?"
"Alright but please it shouldn't be more than thirty minutes because if I get there when the presentation is over then it'll be of no use again" she explained.
"Alright, I'll get ready now".
"Okay, thank you ma"
"You're welcome" Sholaye hung up and went to the room to get herself ready, Ade was still sleeping. In a few minutes, she gets herself ready. She picks up her car keys and leaves the house.


◆◆◆
Steve has gone to work, leaving Maria at home with the nanny that they recently employed, she's an advanced lady in her fifties. She washes the plates and cleans the house while Maria is upstairs writing her stories.
Someone rings the bell to the house, and the nanny goes to open the door but sees that Maria has already come downstairs and is standing beside her
"Don't worry Mrs. Spiff" she said.
"Okay, ma!"
Maria opens the door and sees the supply boy.
"Good morning ma'am" he greets.
"Good morning" Maria responds.
He stretched a package to her.
"I was asked to bring it to this house for Mrs. Maria Steve," he said.
"I'm her" She receives it from him.
After delivering the package the delivery boy left and Maria entered the house and closed the door. She went upstairs with the package, as soon as she sat on the bed her phone rang up and she picked.
" Hello ma, Have you received it?"
"Yes, I just got it now"
"I hope you like it"
"I haven't opened it yet, I just got it just now"
"Alright, I sent size 45 as you asked but some 45 are big and some small, I sent the small 45. But if it's too small for him, you can return it and I'll give you the big 45"
"Alright, he'll have to try it first, thank you"
"You're welcome," She said hangs up. Maria opened the package and saw the shoe, it was so lovely, way finer than the picture the girl sent.
"Wow!" She picks up her phone and calls the girl.
"Hello!"
"I love it, it's so lovely, thank you," Maria said and She chuckled.
"I'm glad you like it and thank you too. We don't fail our customers" she says proudly and Maria smiles.
"Alright, I hope this won't be too small because I already love it but if it is I hope I'll get exactly like it for the big 45?" She asked.
"You will. Just call if it's smaller" she assured her.
"Alright thank you"
"Okay, have a nice day"
"You too," She said and hung up. Maria picks up the shoe from her bed.
"This is so beautiful, Steve will love it," She said smiling.


The night of the same day Steve just entered the house, he heard sounds from the kitchen and went there to see what was happening, he met Maria cooking.
"Honey, you're back?" She said smiling.
"Maria I've told you not to stress yourself with all these, that's what Mrs. Spiff is here for, by the way, where is she?" He demanded.
"I can do this and besides it's a special day, so I want to make something special for this special evening," she said.
"And what are you celebrating?" Steve asked.
"It's us and not just me," she said raising her brows and Steve thought, wondering what they were celebrating.
"I'm not going to tell you, think and tell me," she said and He looked at her.
"Maria you know I'm not good with this, just tell me" he pleads.
"No, think, you have time, so while you freshen up and get ready to come for us to have a special dinner think and I'm sure you'll remember," She said and he looked at her.
"Alright today's date is April 9th," He thinks.
"What is special about April 9th?" He asks himself.
"Try harder and you'll remember," Maria said.
She continued cooking and Steve went upstairs to freshen up. He came downstairs in his pajamas in a short while and saw that the dining was ready. His favorite meals are on the table.
"I haven't still remembered, just tell me already" he pleads.
"Bad!" Maria frowned and he chuckled.
"Forgive me, honey, too much is on this head"
"Alright, sit" He sits and she sits with him.
"Today is the day we met last year," she said.
"Is it?" Steve asked and she frowned.
"It is, the day David introduced us," Maria said and he thought "At the beach" Maria reminded him.
"Oh yeah, when you were doing your youth service," he said smiling.
"That day was April 9th?" He asked and She looked at him.
"Oh yeah! It was in April, I was made manager in April yeah! I remembered" he said smiling.
"You are right, I and David went to the beach to celebrate my promotion, wow! Honey, you remembered!" He said smiling, she just looked at him.
"I remember how beautiful you were in your Nysc uniform. I couldn't get my eyes off you that day. I was already admiring you from afar before David saw you and called you, saying you were his childhood friend" Maria nodded and he looked at her.
"You don't know how I begged Dave for him to convince you to sit with us. Right from that moment I knew it was you Maria" he said and she smiled.
"Honey I can't believe you remembered it," he said amazed.
"I don't forget such things," Maria said.
"You're so sweet, everything is so fresh in my head now. When I wanted to go after you I had to be clear with David because I didn't understand him, he said you were just friends but he was unnecessarily defensive towards you"
"David was only a friend right from time. We attended the same secondary school and stayed close before they relocated from Lagos to Port Harcourt" Maria said.
"Yeah he told me, but I still think he liked you then and only stepped down for me, I mean who wouldn't want such a beauty queen" He looked at her.
"And you are still very beautiful Maria. David said to me 'She's beautiful Steve' and I said 'You should be used to that being her childhood friend' and he said 'She was before but now she's over the bar. Maria changed so much' David seemed confused. I don't blame him anyway. Your beauty confused me too" Steve said, making Maria laugh so hard.
"I had to get permission from him before coming and he told me to go ahead. His friendship means a lot to me" Steve said seriously.
"He's good at being a friend, he even told me you were a nice guy, especially when you were in such a hurry to marry me and I was unsure. It was about six months later we got married"
"Yes, I didn't want another to come and take you from me," he said and she chuckled.
"Well you must be happy now," she said and he nodded like a child.
"Well I got you something for the anniversary of our meeting" She brings out the box of shoes and gives it to him. He opens it and sees the shoe.
"Wow! This is huge" He looks at her and she nods.
"Maria this must be very expensive," he said.
"You deserve it and more. This shoe is normally one million naira but because it's her birth month she gave a thirty percent discount"
"Wait! Maria you mean this shoe is seven hundred thousand naira?" He asked and she realized her big mouth had made her indirectly tell him the price.
She stayed quiet.
"I know you like expensive shoes, I can't buy less than what you'll like," she said.
"And you bought more"
"Is it?" She asked.
"Sweetie, this is too much. All my shoes are a hundred and fifty thousand at most. This is waste!" He said.
"You give me so much money and Amazon pays me good money too"
"That's the thing, Maria I don't give you money to give me back, this is a waste of money, I can't accept it. How can I wear a shoe of seven hundred thousand? We can add some money to it and get you land" he said.
"I don't consider it too expensive for you," she said.
"It is and I can't accept it," he said and she looked at him.
"You're kidding, right?"
"I'm not, I can't have you use almost all your money to get me a shoe. These kinds of shoes are for celebrities or people who don't work so hard for their money. I see the sleepless night you have many times just to write and then how can you take such an amount to get a shoe? We will soon be parents. It wouldn't always be like this. I can't have you squander your money" he said.
"And I said it doesn't matter to me, I consider you more than it to me"
"I can't accept it"
"Steve I went through a lot to get it for you"
"You'll have to take it back and collect your money," Steve said firmly.
"They wouldn't take it back," she said sadly.
"They will" He drops the shoe in front of her.
"I cannot accept it, honey, thank you but return it," he said and Maria looked at him hurt. "Okay?"
"They wouldn't take it back"
"They will"
"Steve..." Maria was still trying to talk but Steve cut her off.
"You know I don't like it when we drag an issue unnecessarily, let's enjoy this nice dinner," he said and Maria looked at the food realizing she had lost appetite, what kind of a man is Steve, will a normal man not accept this with joy? Why is he different, she looked at him as he opened the pot on the table and gave her the spoon to serve. She collected it and served him and served only a small portion for herself, she has learned to let the dog lie with him to avoid unnecessary issues. They eat the food together but Maria eats unhappily.