𝟑𝟎 𝐃𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐥

~~ 73. ~~

*When you hold resentment toward another, you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free. — Katherine Ponder*

Mrs. Jolaoluwa sat in the owner's seat of her car, staring at the house in front of her. Her bodyguard sat quietly looking out through the window in front of the car.

It wasn't a surprise that the once beautiful, gigantic, talk of the town, the house people admire when walking past was no longer in its glory. It was far from it. It was old looking, faded, and not fascinating as it was twenty-something years ago.

It was different from the house she had worked in for three years. Although, it was still the same with the structure. But the only difference now was the color of the paint had been changed and was already peeling off at the bottom. The walls were also old. Some of the flowers that design the pathway were dying and some were dead with just only a few dead branches left. The water fountain was dry - no water was coming out of the hand of the statue at the center. Not a single drop of water was in it and algae were growing on the walls of the fountain.

It proved that things change and everything has its season.

She had promised herself and her son that she won't come to the house ever again. But due to the current circumstances and much thought and persuasion from her mother, she decided to visit. And it took everything in her to do so.

And there she was in Lawrence Ninalowo's once mansion.

She saw some people walk out from the polished front door of the house to the balcony. And it was the young man that had visited her repeatedly with Lawrence's younger brother whose name she had heard to be Jerry and two other ladies that came out of the house, standing at the balcony, looking at her car.

"You should wait here for me. I won't take long." She said to the bodyguard that had followed and driven her. And he nodded in response.

She opened the door at her right, came down from the car and held her purse firmly to her side, and walked up slowly to Lawrence's children.

"Good morning ma. Thank you for coming." The young man, Jerry was the first to talk. He sounded grateful and excited. She could see how much he look like his father. Like her son.

               Which was pitiable and quite unfortunate.

"Good morning." The other young girl of sixteen and a lady who could probably be in her early twenties greeted her at the same time. The two women were standing close to their elder brother, barely looking at her face. She assumed they were the young man's younger sisters due to the slight resemblance. The two ladies were more like their mothers when she was their age.

               She replied with a small smile. "Good morning." She has no problem with his children. He has a beautiful set of children. But she wasn't going to be mad at the innocent children who had nothing to do with what their father had done. They were already suffering enough watching all their lives wreck before them. They couldn't live in luxury anymore like they were brought up in because of what their father had done, which was catching up with him.

"Come in ma." The young man said politely. And she followed his lead into the house. At the same time, she looked around the house which still smell the same. But the interior design and a lot of things had changed in it. And it was well furnished and properly taken care of than the outside part of the house.

They were few people inside the house. Their faces weren't smiling at all and they were talking quietly with one another.

"Mom." The young man called and that woke her from her reverie. She was so curious to know what Beatrice looked like after many years. And she followed the man's direction and she saw her.