CHAPTER 3

Memories of what happened played in his head as he headed home. Jude had parked in a quiet street and pleaded with Chioma to forgive him. He unstrapped his seat belt and moved closer to her; to kiss her or maybe not. He can’t remember. The next thing he remembers is being on top of her and her struggling with him.

Why was she struggling with him? The boy was too drunk to understand the reactions he was getting from Chioma, so he assumed she was just playing hard to get. While pulling her black gown up, she said “No” or was it “Yes”? His brain couldn’t remember either. All he remembered was that he had sex with her and enjoyed it so much. Afterwards, he looked into her eyes, with all the love in his heart but she looked back at him with disgust and hatred.

He didn’t mistake the look. It was a signature he gets from people he loves the most but never loves him back. It hurt him so much that it came from her. So he told her sorry, got off her, wore his pants, settled into the driver’s seat again and drove her home.
“What have I done?” and “Why did I do it?” Jude asked himself silly questions as he parked into the driveway of his father’s house. He hit the steering wheel so hard, so many times that his palm became red and sore.

The lights to the main house came on and he saw his father storm out of the main building. The built man walked towards him with his mother tottering at the back trying to calm her husband. Jude got out of the car.

“Where did you go?” Jude’s father confronted him.
“I went for my graduation party, I told mum before I left the house.” Jude responded
“What graduation party? You this ungrateful boy! You will never amount to anything in this life do you hear me?” Jude’s father said spitting the words right in front of his son’s face. His mother pushes her husband away.
“Enough!” “That is enough” Jude’s mother yells at her husband.

Jude walks past his parents and heads for his room, leaving his vibrating phone in the car. The expression on his father’s face was what he recognized on Chioma. His heart hardens as he walks into his room. She deserved everything she got that night “such a girl can never get his love”. His little brain thought to himself and coming to this conclusion made him feel so good. He jumped on his bed and fell asleep within minutes.

********************************************************************


Jude woke up the next day with a headache, he checked the time and it was almost noon. “What?” Was he that drunk last night? As fast as he could, he took a quick shower, got dressed and headed out of his house with his car keys in his hands.
He walks out of his house and heads straight for the driveway, thankful that he did not bump into his mother or father or the both of them. Over time, his mother is now nothing but a weakling to him. He opens the driver’s door, gets in and sights his phone showing a low battery. He takes the phone from its slot at the center of the car and checks all his messages.

“Haba! 35 missed calls?” “What does Chioma want?” he said to himself as he dialed the number back. It rang and rang until it stopped ringing. Jude dialed the number back again but this time it did not connect. So, he takes out his car charger, plugs his phone into it. He slots in a mix CD on his mp3 player, and skips songs until he gets to Rihana’s “FourFiveSeconds”. The young man increases the volume to the loudest as he drives out of his house; the part of the song that made him very relaxed is the part that said “All of my kindness was taken for weakness”.