UNTOLD

Chapter Sixteen

Maria is sitting on the sofa in her sitting room. She is writing a book with her laptop. She was so engrossed in the book that she didn't realize when Mrs. Spiff came and stood beside her. Mrs. Spiff noticed her presence was not acknowledged and so she spoke up.
"Madam lunch is ready"
Maria looks at her.
"Okay, thank you. I will eat later"
"Okay ma" She leaves and Maria picks up her phone and sees she has some messages.

*Just like that?* Lucy sent and Maria smiled.

*Just like that my dear, the whole result shows my BP is perfectly normal* Maria sends.

*Wow! Unbelievable, Steve will be so glad* Lucy sends almost immediately.

*He is, he says he'll no more stand against whatever I do for God* Maria replied.

*I think I'll be switching church now, I can get my husband in his church, the church I've been going nothing is happening there* Lucy sends.

*Oh, don't be a miracle seeker, be a God's seeker, be faithful where you are* Maria sends.

*oh please! Maria, I am switching churches. I have a business partner who attends his church. That lady I told you about, whose husband was partially blind* Lucy sends.

*Lucy!* Maria sends.

*Maria you are married, don't come in between me finding my husband. I will even go there this evening* Lucy sends.

*Do They have service this evening?* Maria sends.

*Yes, the lady always tells me to come every Friday evening* Lucy sends.

*I can't stop you from changing church if you want but your intentions don't seem right, you seem to not look for God but just a husband* Maria sends.

*The two, God and husband* Lucy sends.

*Fine then, if I'm not busy I can come with you, I haven't seen him since I got healed, I only called him to tell him* Maria sends.

*That will be great, I'll stop by your house* Lucy sends.

*I said if I'm not busy* Lucy sends.

*You are coming* Lucy sent and Maria smiled.

*Okay, yes ma'am* She sends and stands up to go and have lunch in the dining.

◆★◆
Hours later Lucy drives inside Maria's compound, Maria comes out to join her and they drive out. In about an hour they arrived at the church, Maria came down and looked at how big the church was, a lot of people were already there trying to keep sits. Lucy and Maria went inside, the first to the fifteenth roll was already filled and they sat at the sixteenth roll, a lot of people were there, and in a short while they started with worship, Maria enjoyed the worship, singing along but Lucy continues to distract herself with everything. After a lot of activities, Ade comes to minister. His ministration was powerful and the prayer session great, a lot of people were falling under the anointing. Room was given to a few persons to ask questions and they closed after the questions were answered. A lot of people lined up to meet him immediately after the close of the service.
"We can't wait to see him," Maria tells Lucy.
" But We have to see him, Maria we are friends, we don't need to join this cue, come!" Lucy and Maria went to a minister. "Excuse me, sir!" Lucy says.
"Yes ma'am," he said politely.
"Please can you tell Pastor Adekunle that Maria and Lucy are here, he knows us very well," she says. "Okay!" He went inside Ade's office.
"You'll see, we'll get preference as long as you are here," Lucy said and Maria looked at her.
"Meaning?"
"You'll see"
"What do you mean?" Maria asked.
"When I told him about what happened to you he was very affected, I think you are important to him," Lucy says.
"And you aren't?"
"You know there's something about you that always steals people's hearts, Maria, I don't have that thing you have"
"You're so ridiculous Lucy!"
Ade follows the man and he points Lucy and Maria to him, he looks at them surprised as his eyes are fixed on Maria, the two of them are discussing, and he goes to them.
"Maria!" Ade said Surprised and they looked at him.
"Good evening sir!" Maria greeted.
"Good evening sir!" Lucy greeted.
"Lucy! I'm surprised to see you two, when he told me you were here I said I'll come and see for myself" he said and they smiled. "You didn't tell me you were coming," Ade tells Maria.
"A little surprised is not a bad idea, is it?" Maria says smiling and he chuckled very happy to see her, Lucy is already used to being so sidelined around Maria.
"And how did you find your way here?" He asked her.
"Lucy!" Maria says.
"Oh! So Lucy you know this place and you had never come?" He asked Lucy.
"Starting today I plan on attending here," Lucy said and he smiled.
"Is that so?" Ade asked Lucy and she nodded smiling, he looked at Maria. "You too?" He asked her and She shook her expressing no.
"I wouldn't deny I enjoyed the meeting a lot but I already have a place where I fellowship and I'm fine there," Maria says and Ade nods.
"What matters is being where God is," he says and she nods.
"When Lucy told me she was coming I just thought of coming since I hadn't seen you after I received my healing," she said and he nodded.
"True, I have been really busy," he tells her.
"It's not easy to pastor such a big church. I didn't know the church was this big" Maria says.
"All the kudos go to the owner of the church, our well-capable Groom," he said and Maria smiled.
"Yes," they looked at one another for a while.
"I think we should be on our way now, I'm sure my husband has gotten home," Maria says and Ade looks at her a bit jealous.
"Alright," Lucy says. "But pastor I want to get married, I've heard testimonies I want mine too, I always meet stupid men," Lucy says very seriously and Ade laughs, especially because of her seriousness.
"We'll have time for counsel" he says and She nods.
"Alright sir, we would be on our way now," Lucy says.
"Alright" Ade says.
Lucy and Maria leave and Ade stands there for a while before going to his office, he sits in his office thinking of Maria, she surprised him tonight. He didn't know she'd been there all the while the service was on.

After driving out of the church Lucy heads to Maria's house.
"You see what I was saying?" Lucy says.
"What?" Maria asked.
"He almost didn't even realize I was there, why are you like this Maria?"
"How?"
"How do you always manage to get people to yourself? Even me, I always chased people away but I couldn't resist you" she says.
"It's just God's grace"
"Well you will be my ticket to always get to him," she said and Maria chuckled "I know the reason he came out wasn't me but you," Lucy said and Maria looked at her, remembering how she over-rated what she meant to him. "You seem very important to him" Lucy added.
"I'm not, I'm just normal to him, like everyone else," Maria says.
"Well I don't think so," Lucy says.
"I'm surprised Steve hasn't called" Maria changes the topic, she's not ready to get her hopes up for nothing. Ade treats her like she's very important to him this minute and the next as though she's just like everyone else, so she can't afford to pay the price of assumption.
"It's only 6:40 pm," Lucy says.
"Maybe he's not home yet," Maria said.
"Yes"
Lucy dropped Maria off and went home.

◆★◆
After Steve returns and they had dinner Maria sits in the bed as Steve lays down.
"I went with Lucy to Pastor Ade's church, it was so wonderful there, you believe Lucy wants to change church because she believes she can get her husband there?" Maria says and Steve chuckles.
"Lucy is funny, what happened to her church?" He asked.
"My problem is even the intentions, I tried convincing her to stay at her church but she refused"
"She's desperate for a husband and Dave for a wife, you think we should link them?" Steve asked.
"I hadn't thought of that, Dave is a nice guy, I have known him since childhood and Lucy is a wonderful person, I think they will be perfect for one another, they are both rich, and at least Dave wouldn't be scared she's a gold-digger and she wouldn't be scared that he's out for her money as many men have been, they will be perfect" Maria says smiling.
"When he comes back from his trip to L.A, I'll suggest her to him, I hope he doesn't meet some Mexican woman and marry there," he says and Maria smiles.
"If he does then he's not Lucy's, I believe whatever is yours always has a way of coming to you," Maria says and Steve nods. "So I was working on a book today, you want to hear about it?" Maria asked.
"No Maria, I've had a long day I need to sleep," Steve says.
"Here I am offering you a bedtime story"
"I'm not a child, when our baby is born tell him or her bedtime stories," he said without looking at her, and she looked at him and frowned even when he couldn't see her face.
"Good night honey, I love you," He said as he hugged his pillow and slept off, Maria looked at him, he doesn't like listening to her stories.
Why did her mind not even think of Lucy and Dave, they are both single, rich, and nice people who want to settle down, at least Lucy will not have to leave her church to pastor Ade's church because of a husband. Talking about pastor Ade his ministration was so powerful. She thinks of him and realizes how much she admires him, he is a true man of God. Would things have been different if she had married a minister of God? Maria asked herself, someone just like Ade. He supports her work and adores all she does, although she doesn't understand his actions sometimes, she cannot deny he cares for her even though Lucy has taken note. She enjoys his company and appreciates him a lot. Should she call him or text him?
Whenever he went with her for her ministry she texted him in appreciation, shouldn't he be the one to at least call or text now that she went to his ministry?
She picks up her phone, does that matter? Just as she contemplates calling him or not she sees a text.

*You surprised me tonight, I was glad to have you attend our meeting, I hope to have more
of your presence Maria*
She smiles as she reads the text. She types
*I will if you come with me to the old people's home next week*
Ade smiles as he reads her text
*Has it become a deal?* he sends
*You were concerned for my health before, I'm perfectly fine now*
Ade reads her message, it wasn't her health he feared before, it was her love, her trap that was what he feared. He looks at the message, okay, one more time will not entangle him more than he is, will it? One more time.
*Alright I will* he sends
Maria smiles like it's Christmas, why is she so happy spending time with him?
*Okay sir* She sent and kept her phone.
She looked at Steve and lay beside him, she prayed before sleeping.

Ade thinks of Maria, the more he runs from her the more she comes, how much can he run considering how much she means to him? He had to control himself from expressing the way he felt seeing her tonight. He truly feels something for that woman.
"Oh God help me! Save me from me please, I don't know or understand this thing I feel but I can't deny it, help Lord!" He lay on the bed and Sholaye came in, she looked at him and lay on the bed. Maria's issue had made him very uncomfortable, will she notice? He looked at her and saw she was sleeping soundly, who could he share this with? He asked himself.
Someone who will not condemn or judge him but advise and help him. He knows people generally always have issues with pastors, especially anointed and well-known ones like himself, so he has to be careful but he feels he needs to talk to someone but who? He's falling more and more for this woman and she's married, he's also married.


◆◆◆
The next week Ade parks his car in the old people's home with Maria, after parking well he stays quiet for a while, being beside her like this feels very beautiful to him, and he looks at her.
"So we have to go down," he says.
"Don't mind me, I just get very lazy this day, the child is making me unnecessarily lazy"
He looks at her, he should be used to this now but whenever she talks about her unborn child or her husband, she reminds him of his place and it hurts.
"I told you to not stress out"!He looks at her for a while. "You appear stubborn to me," he said and She looked at him as she laughed. Ade just watched her in admiration, whenever she smiled or laughed, she looked more beautiful.
"Everyone who truly gets close to me says that, well I'm not, I'm only pessimistic," she says.
"If everyone says it then it must be true"
She looks at him.
"Well maybe that's the reason people enjoy my company," she said and he looked at her. "Lucy says I always steal the hearts of people when they get close to me," she said and Ade looked at her for a while.
"I would have called it a charm but no charm works on me," he said as She looked at him. "I can't tell you how many charms I've destroyed, some people only get close to me and discover that their charm has stopped working," he said and She smiled
"So you mean my charm is not working on you?" Maria asked as she raised her brows smiling. Ade looked at her for a while, whatever she is using on him is definitely working very well; Ade's phone rang and he happily answeredthe call as a way of dodging her question, he gave her a sign they should come down from the car. They came down and walked inside as Ade answered his call.
"Ask mummy, is my wife not there?" Ade tells the caller.
"She said she doesn't know where the dress is," Anita says.
"But she sewed it yesterday, check around the store and ask her if she left it in the machine room at home?" Ade says.
"Okay, Daddy!"He hangs up as he goes inside with Maria and everyone comes to welcome them as usual. They talked, had a fun time, prayed and Maria taught them the word of God. Ade admired how she preached the word of God with such simplicity that even a toddler would understand her message. Ade got lost looking at her many times and only adjusted because of how Job's eyes were on him looking at Maria, the old man is truly experienced, Ade tells himself. After the preaching, Ade brought in the things they bought for them and they were so excited. They saw them off to the car and Ade zoomed off.
"Pastor Ade" Maria called a few minutes into the drive and he looked at her.
"Yes, do you want something?" he asked concerned.
"Yes," she says and he looks at her, she is already keeping a baby face. Ade smiled as he stopped himself from looking at her before he got into an accident.
"What do you want?" he asked.
"I am hungry," she says like a child.
"Okay, let's stop by any restaurant to get food for you"
"No, that is not what I am craving for," she said and Ade looked at her.
"What are you craving for?"
"There is this local isiewu joint in Ogbogoro, I want to eat that isiewu," she said and Ade looked at her. He's not used to going to places like that but he loves Maria too much to refuse her.
"Alright, just direct me," Ade said and Maria clapped her hands.
"Yay!"
Ade smiled at her childishness.

Maria directed Ade to the place and they arrived there shortly. Ade packed his car.
"Let's go down," Maria said.
"No, I will wait here," Ade says.
"No, I want you to have a taste too," Maria says and Ade looks at her, he is trying to kill the feelings he has for her and it looks as if she is looking for ways to water it to grow more.
"I don't want to," Ade says.
"Why?" Maria asked.
"If people see us together in a place like this, they may read another meaning. A lot people know me" he says and Maria nodded.
"You are right, let me go and buy it and we will eat it inside the car. The glasses are tinted so they will not see us and read another meaning. I want you to taste it" she says and Ade looks at her for a while.
"Okay," he says and Maria comes out of the car to go and buy it. She came back after almost thirty minutes. She gives Ade the isiewu, it's in a takeaway pack. She opened hers and started eating, Ade watched how she ate the food so enjoyably.
"The joy of this isiewu is the pot they normally serve it with. The problem is just humans and their assumptions" She sighed as she looked at Ade and saw his eyes on her.
"Why are you not eating? Taste it, you are going to like it" she said and he nodded and opened it and tasted it. It's very nice, Ade thinks.
"It's delicious, this is goat meat," he says.
"Goat head," she said smiling. "So painful you couldn't have it with the isiewu pot just because of humans. They always think stupid things, how can someone even imagine that a spiritual man like you will go out with another woman" she sighed. "You know the first time I brought Lucy here she kept complaining. It's local, it was a war to get her out of her car. But when she tasted it. We came here almost every weekend, I wasn't married then" she said smiling and Ade listened smiling. "I know another joint, I will take you there another time" she whispered and Ade laughed. Where has this woman been? He asked himself.

After eating together, Ade drove Maria home, he could no longer hear her voice after some time and he looked at her and saw she was sleeping. Spending time with her is so pleasurable, that she makes him forget he is a grown man. He loves how she plays like a child. Ade takes a deep breath, if only he knew of Maria, he would have waited for her all his life if he had to and looked for her to the end of the earth if he had to. He sighed because of the frustration. When Ade packed his car in front of her gate, he tapped her and she woke and greeted him before going inside the house to continue her sleep.

◆★◆
The night of the same day, Ade lay on his bed thinking of a person to call to explain things to. He needs someone to advise him. He stood up from bed to the sitting room, as he paced to and fro.
"Father please come and rescue me, I don't know how I got here"
As Ade paced he heard the footsteps of someone and he turned and saw his second son.
"Daddy" he called.
"Son, why are you not asleep?" Ade asked.
"I want to stay with you Daddy," he says and Ade smiles, he has a very special connection with him.
"Alright come, let's go to your room" Ade takes him to his room and falls asleep there.