K.C Philips

Chapter Twenty-One

Good thing I came with my credit card.

K.C felt a rush of adrenaline saturating him with each passing second. The adrenaline temporarily died down when he realised that he didn't know his way around the city. After running through a online directory on his phone, he boarded the nearest taxi and set sail for Sheraton Hotel.

Not long after he arrived in the hotel, he checked in, got a room and made his way towards the room, the room number being 231. That was the number he was given. At least, that was the number he thought he was given. Everything was happening too fast. He arrived in front of 231 and twisted the door handle. Something was wrong, terribly wrong.

It's open.

Nevertheless, he went in slowly, choosing to think of the door incident as a hotel mishap. But there was a bigger surprise awaiting him. Across the room stood a lady dressed in a wedding gown, standing in front of a mirror, staring at him in surprise. He knew the face too well; the face didn't look quite happy to see him.

"K.C! How...how did you find me?" Jessica asked, flabbergasted by K.C sudden, unexpected arrival.

But K.C said nothing. He looked down at his keyholder. It read 213. He thought wrong, after all. It seemed to K.C that destiny had deliberately brought him to the wrong room at the right time.

K.C remembered he had a question to answer. "Wrong room, Jessica. I didn't actually know you were here-I mean, in this hotel. The thing is, I came to Abuja to convince you to ditch this wedding, to return to me, Jessica. I can't fold my arms and let this wedding happen."

Jessica did not, in any way, take K.C's statement lightly.

"Are you out of your mind? Do you think I came this far only for you to ruin everything for me at the last minute? Just forget me and go back to your child, K.C!"

K.C closed his eyes. He should have seen this coming. "Okaro had a miscarriage."

"Miscarriage indeed. You can do better than lying to me, K.C ."

"I'm serious. See, I have to break it to you here and now. Nasiru's using you to get through to me and my company. He extracted information from you. He set me up with Okaro and Fisayo these past few months and..."

"Stop being a child and accept responsibility for once in your life, K.C. You weren't forced to screw them, were you?" Jessica hesitated, turned away from K.C and continued, "Just go back to Lagos, K.C. I can't back out at this point. It's too late."

Slowly, K.C approached her, knelt down behind her and said slowly, "You aided Nasiru to get back at me. But I'm not angry. I hurt you too. And I'm sorry for everything. The thing is, I just can't stand seeing you get married to any other man, let alone Nasiru Dagogo, and I know you can't stand marrying him. Come with me, Jessica. I love you too much to see you go this way."

Jessica turned towards him. She had tears in her eyes. She began to cry; K.C stood up and made to touch her, but Jessica stopped him abruptly. She wiped off her tears and said, "The fact that two people love each other does not mean they must end up married. Go to your room, K.C. Return to Lagos. Forget about me. I'm going through with the wedding. You've hurt me enough."

K.C let the tears fall from his eyes. He stood up and walked slowly towards the exit. As he grasped the handle, he looked back and said, "No matter what happens Jessica, I'll never forget you. Good luck with the wedding." He left the room after that. He had lost. Jessica would never be bound to him; it was all his fault. He got to his room, sank to the bed and dozed off in the process of praying for the bed to suck the life out of him.