Bounded By A Deal

Chapter 25

Isabelle's POV

It had been a week and two days since the interactive class. I can never forget how annoyed I was when Bryan told me he thought Racheal was cool just because she freely said she'd repeated a class and that it is her sister that trains her. *hiss*

To compensate for my annoyance, I decided to piss him off. I told him that I thought Ire was handsome and cool and that it was nice that he was interested in Literature. Bryan and I ended up not talking to each other the whole day.

Looking back, it was childish and funny.

I heard two quick knocks on my door. Before I could say "come in", the person entered. As expected, it was my dad. He was the only one that knocked like that.

"Hi! Good evening, Isabelle!"

I'd gotten used to him greeting me, it was his way of making up for how irresponsible he'd been.

"Good evening, sir!"

"Stop. I don't deserve to be called sir." He sat at the edge of my bed with his head bent. I looked at him pitifully.

"How was work? I believe it has been good these days?" I needed to direct the topic of discussion away from what I knew he wanted to talk about but then I realized that bringing up work may just lead to the topic I was avoiding.

"Work is fine... awesome, actually. I'm going to work extra hard so that the Adegun's won't need to support us anymore, so that I can be an actual head in this family."

I nodded. "How are they supporting us?"

He sighed. "They pay you and Ashley's school fees, Mr. Jide, that is. And, he gives us a monthly payment worth six hundred thousand naira. Then, he put in a good word for me, or so, so that I can get the job I have now and the one mum has now too. Plus, the car..." he sighed again. "I'm gonna work hard though... so that I can pay him back."

I was shocked at his aspiration. "Daddy, you want to pay him back? he gives us six hundred thousand per month. In a year that's-" I stopped to calculate for a few seconds. "-Seven million, two hundred thousand naira, plus every other thing he has given us, plus the money he would give us in the coming years. How would you pay that back?"

"That's why I want to work really hard. That means I'm going to be very busy this period. I don't want to keep on living off his money any more. I'm going to strive until I've stable enough to stand on my own and give you guys the life you deserve. I want to make sure you won't get married to that boy."

I sighed. "Please don't talk about the marriage stuff."

"Do you want to know something?" He looked at me with gleaming eyes.

"What is it?" My curiosity, as always, got the best of me.

"There is a way you can live without that marriage. There is a way you can stay without marrying that boy."

I was surprised. What is it?!"

"If the marriage deal for some reason needs to be aborted, except because of the death of one partner or both, I would have t pay the sum of fifty billion naira."

I gasped. "Seriously?! Fifty billion naira in exchange for the deal t be broken?"

"Yes. That's why I want to work extra hard. So that, if you still don't want to marry him, I would be able to pay Mr. Jide off."

"Daddy? We were never 'I-can-give-out-fifty-billion-naira-like-it's-nothing' rich. In simpler terms, we were never rich enough to give out fifty billion. What makes you think..." I heaved a sigh of confusion. "I don't know anymore."

"I'll save up, by that time I should be able to pay."

"How can you be saving up to gather fifty billion when you still have to take care of us?"

"I'll... I'll be working and I'll save my salary. I won't use it. I would just be using the six hundred thousand monthly payment to fend for you guys."

I was at a loss of words. Nothing was making sense anymore, nothing really made any sense in the first place. I let out a sigh - it had become a regular action of mine those past few months.

"Ok!" I managed to say.

"I don't just want you to be in a messed up marriage. And I also want to give you a luxurious life. I know I've made a lot of stupid decisions just in an attempt to provide you with that luxurious life, and I keep making more stupid decisions to fix the previous stupid decisions." He sighed. "It doesn't make sense, I know. These past years, I've been driven by the want to still be that rich, affluent man. I was ashamed that I could no longer provide for you guys the way I used to, so I made impulsive decisions, more and more impulsive decisions. But I want to fix everything by starting from scratch and working back to the top, like I should have done years ago."

I nodded. "We all need to change and make improvements in our lives."

He smiled and looked at me, patting my head with his palm. "I'm glad you turned out well."

I smiled back. "Thanks!"

"I'm very lucky to have you as a daughter. You've been a very big blessing to this family since your birth."

I chuckled. "Mum never treated me as such until the marriage deal."

He let out a breath. "She was going through a lot of things. I know she loves you, she always has. It's just been hard." He looked at my curious face. I really wanted to understand his words. " You don't need to understand. It's complicated."

I turned away from his gaze. His reply was a direct answer to my thoughts. It was weird and awkward, for me, at least.

Dad stood up. "I'm going to cook something for us to eat. We'll keep some for mum too, she's working late at the store today."

"Oh! I see! I'll cook, you don't need to stress yourself."

"No Isabelle, I am going to cook for you and Ashley. You guys... or girls deserve it, especially you."

I laughed. "You are saying it like food is so much of a huge deal."

"It is, food is much of a deal." With that, he left the room.

I lay down on my bed and started thinking about the year so far. It had been extremely dramatic, and the year hadn't even gone halfway.

What will happen between now and the end of the year? I could only just imagine. Also, what did dad mean by it's been hard for mum but she has always loved me?

I thought again of how my dad was. He really made a lot of mistakes, but I can't judge him. At least he's trying to fix everything. He might just be able to pay Mr. Jide that huge amount of money and then I would not need to marry Bryan anymore. But then, I asked myself: 'Do I really not want to marry Bryan?'

At the moment, the idea of marrying him did not sound half bad. But I didn't know how things would be later. I doubted that I would still like the idea in the future. But again, I was too young to be thinking of marriage.

Well... let's see how it goes.

A/N:

Another chapter!

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