Two Mistakes Ago

Chapter 16

"It was my second year in the University of Cape Coast as an English major. Grace was the teaching assistant for one of my literature courses. She was the epitome of beauty. Her deep eyes and brown skin, her ravishing smile and her wonderful sense of fashion. It was love at first lecture. We became friends after I started taking my studies seriously and contributing to important class discussions. She had a weird way of gazing at me and I always smiled back charmingly whenever our eyes met. Three weeks after our unusual friendship, I scored a 9/10 in one essay I wrote and the lecturer invited me into his office to come for my script. The lecturer was so pleased with my essay and took me out to lunch. Grace was with us. After the meal, the lecturer left to attend a viva voce, leaving me together with Grace in his office alone. We had an interesting conversation and before I knew it, my lips were pursed against hers. The feeling was sensational. I had never felt something like that all my life. She didn't stop me when I kissed her at that time and she never did all the time we were together. I doubt she would stop me today even if I walk into her office at Multimedia to go and kiss her. I knew I was taking a very big risk kissing a T.A in a professor's office. That was the beginning of our secret but loving relationship. We were deeply in love. You know that mad young love. I was more than willing to die for her. She was older than I was, but I treated her like my little girl. She was indeed very fragile. The type who would come crying into my arms for a reason as trivial as misplacing her lecture notes. We kept our relationship from our ever suspicious mates and lecturers. That's how come despite our remarkable past, we are able to cope being at the same work place, without any form of conversation. Grace can be very secretive. We devised means of speaking with our eyes when we were on campus and everything was moving on perfectly, till the unexpected happened in my final year. Grace lost  her mother. It was a big blow to her. She spent endless nights in my hostel weeping. It was around that time I realised she was pregnant."

"Daniel. This..this is unbelievable. You and Cruella? The sweet fragile woman you are talking about here is not Cruella!!"

"Trust me she is my Grace. Grace and Cruella are the same person."

"I can't believe this!"

"Listen to this. We had plans of getting married once I started my national service so we decided to keep the baby. Our baby. Grace wanted to meet my parents but I was too ashamed. Unlike her who had perfect, wealthy and loving parents, I had just my middle class citizen mum who was a Senior High School Mathematics teacher and wouldn't dare talk about my father. I grew up knowing very little about my father. After her mother's funeral, I decided to meet her father and make my intentions known. I had a feeling I would be rejected. I was not the perfect suitor for his princess. I was broke and young, without any prominent family name but still I had courage. My mum offered to go with me.

Grace was excited to see us that day but my mother froze. She knew Grace. Grace was the daughter of the woman whose home she was wrecking. Mr. Hamilton came out to greet us. He was shocked to see my mother and I. Apparently, my mother and Mr. Hamilton were lovers or ex-lovers maybe.

"What!? Daniel! This is impossible!"

"That's not the worst part. Grace and I are half siblings. Mr. Hamilton is my father! He was terrified to see me! We look exactly the same. If I had met him once before that day, I still know he was my father. The resemblance was striking. It never occurred to me we could be related even though we had the same surname. Maybe the love I felt for her so much was brotherly love but Sheila, it hurt so bad. Grace was broken. Her father had betrayed her mother all these years by keeping a lover. I was devastated. My own father never met me once. He had his own perfect little family somewhere. All he did was to send some money to my mother for my upkeep. My mother was very foolish to have allowed herself to be the mistress and I, the mistress' son. We were both angry at our parents! They both wept and tried to explain the reason for their crime of passion but Grace and I were strong headed.
That was the end of our relationship. Two weeks later, she aborted our baby without thinking twice. I was furious. She felt guilty that our father had deprived me of my right to be loved. She gathered all her money and inheritance and bought me this mansion. She apologized for killing our baby. That day, we shared our last kiss. Grace died and Cruella was born. She severed ties with her father when the old man had the audacity to marry my mother. I did same. I am never going to speak to my shameless parents ever!!!"

"Oh Daniel, you do not have to cry. I am so sorry you had to go through this given it was your first shot at love."

"Yes. That was when I stopped believing in love. Sometimes I feel I still love Cruella but it looks like I love her only because she is my big sister. She has become so distant now. We do not speak to each other because we would both cry endlessly if we attempted to do that. What we had was beautiful. She adopted Fred immediately to distract herself. She even got married at some point to Karen's father. Karen is the teenager you tried to protect at DNA. Yeah. Later, I heard from Karen they had a divorce. Karen knows she is my niece but she can't come any closer. Cruella forbade her to do so. She doesn't even love her kids or anyone these days."

"Daniel.."

"Sheila"

That confession by Daniel was a shocker! Cruella and Daniel? Lovers turned siblings? I felt sorry for them now, considering the pain they had to go through. So this is what has made them heartless. Their love was shattered. I felt they fell in love despite their age difference because they were blood related. It came naturally. They ought to understand this and move on, but Daniel had a different opinion. He loved Grace purely as a woman.