Replay Of Shades

15

CHASE

I was soon preoccupied with going through some other files after Enid was gone, having set aside the ones we were both working on. I was certain that by tomorrow, we would perfect everything and be able to discuss it with the other executives this Thursday.

I was halfway doing this when my phone started buzzing. Looking over at it and seeing 'Dad' being displayed on the lighted screen, I was reminded of yesterday all over again. When I'd been at his place and had overheard a part of his conversation on the phone with someone who I figured to be his ex-wife.

It was crystal clear from what I heard that he wasn't Enid's real father, and Enid herself had been kept in the dark as regards this till now.

Although appalled, I had a lot of questions to ask him on the spot.

'You can't tell Enid what you heard, at least not for now. It's for her own good. Trust me.' Were his exact words after he asked me if I overheard his conversation on the phone and my reply had been yes.

Straightaway, I made him realize she was old enough to know, but his words had remained the same. Instead, he pleaded with me to make a promise to him that I'd keep it a secret. I refused his request, knowing it wouldn't be right if she were to find out on her own.

To convince me further, he told me it would totally break her if she were to find out who her real parents were.

Demanding how that was so, I realized how desperate he was for me to make the promise to him when he had gone ahead to search up a news article from twenty-seven years ago. It was the one of a couple who'd died following a house fire that was deliberately started by the husband.

The wife was heavily pregnant at the time. By the time the two were rushed to the hospital in an ambulance, both badly injured, having suffered severe burns, it was too late. The wife tragically passed away shortly after an emergency caesarean section was carried out to deliver the baby a week later. The husband, on the other hand, died three weeks later while receiving treatment.

Before the incident, the husband had always been over possessive of her, and had been in the habit of accusing the wife of having an affair based on no reasonable ground, and of abusing her on several occasions.

It was the wife who was a childhood friend of my dad's. He blamed himself for not paying much attention when she had called him on the phone one day crying. He should have gone to check on her even when she had told him he didn't have to.

She was someone to whom he owed a huge favour, and that was the reason why he took it upon himself to do everything within his power to keep the baby safe by all means since both of her parents were orphans leaving Enid with no relative to care for her.

In the news, it was stated that the bady died also, but that wasn't true

At the time, Mabel, his ex-wife, had been pregnant too, but the baby had died at childbirth. Using his connections, this wasn't released to the press, and they had raised Enid, who he had been taking care of in secret for a while in place of their own dead daughter.

He swore he would tell her the truth when the time was right, but just not right now. Maybe, after she was married. He didn't want that to be the reason why she would hate men because even without knowing, she had refused to date anyone for the past four years.

I wished I didn't have to, but I ended up making the promise to him.

The buzzing stopped right at that moment, only for it to start again.

"What is it, dad?" I demanded upon picking up.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything?"

"You are, I'm kind of busy right now." I replied.