Dare's POV

"Baby?" He said when she finally opened the door after TY arrived. She had already packed up her bags and was dressed up to leave. She ignored him as she passed one of the bags to her friend.

TY was very puzzled at this point, her eyes darted wildly between the two of them as she stood by awkwardly.

He grabbed her hand. "Hey,... let's talk about it" He pleaded.

She paused but only to look him in the eye, it seemed she wanted to say something in that moment but didn't know where to start so she just shook her head in disappointment instead.

"Let's go," she said calmly to her friend.

Dare watched forlornly as they drove off. She had every right to be mad at him, he deserved it. He knew there was nothing he could say to her to justify him withholding such information from her so, he decided to give her small space to calm down first.

He walked back to the kitchen, drank up his bourbon, and sighed in frustration. He started thinking about how her mind must have gone into overdrive in the past hour trying to make sense of the whole situation, Sofi that can overthink for Africa normally?.

He found himself dialing her number again after another 15 minutes but she didn't answer so he texted her.

Dare: I'll come over tomorrow so we can talk. I'm so sorry.

Dare: I love you.

She didn't respond to the text but he could see that she had read it. He started typing again he wanted to give her some background behind the whole drama so she could at least understand but, he stopped himself real quick.

She needs her space. She always wants her space first. Let her sleep over it.

In fact, he needed to deal with his own issues too, he was still in a bad mood thanks to his little meltdown with Chief earlier. This is not even a good time for him to have a deep conversation with her about the whole thing, he was still very irritable that evening.

He was not even aware that he still held so much resentment towards Chief. His outburst surprised even him because he thought he had forgiven the Man. Not like, he has ever admitted it to himself that he needed to forgive the man for anything, he has never acknowledged this resentment. As he grew older, he buried his anguish and just assumed he was just being childish. He didn't want to be bitter person.

In addition, Mr. Bakare has never asked him for forgiveness or explained why he was an absent father. The Man just carries on as though their situation is totally normal but it drives him crazy sometimes, like the first time they met in the UK about 15 years ago.

(A/N: Throwback)

After that his Lagos adventure, Dare's Parents moved to Japan thanks to his Mother's job. His Father moved with them this time too because he also got a clinical research job with a university teaching hospital in Tokyo.

So Dare had to leave the boarding school in Abuja to complete his education in a new Country. Akin had a nice time teasing him about how he was going to eat only 'frogs' and 'raw fish' in Japan (Dumbass lol). Last last sha, the only downside was, he lost a year and had to learn a new language despite the fact that he attended an international school for foreigners and most of his friends were foreigners.

Japan turned out good, he loves the Japanese culture and lifestyle, plus his sister was born there. The cute little munchkin made everyone happy, especially his Dad. He had never seen his Father so happy before. He left for University just before she turned three.

Now, University was rough for him in the early days because he kinda felt alienated deep down and he struggled with some identity crisis because he also realized he didn't want to be a Doctor. But, he was too scared to tell his parents.

You see he has never doubted his father's love for him but he felt like his father's love was 'indirect love'. Like, he was getting the 'residual love' Dr. Madaki had for his Mother. He also had the impression that his Mother (especially) loved Diana more since HE was more of a reminder of her biggest mistake.

This kinda threw him in a dark place and then he felt guilty for even feeling that way because Diana is the most adorable and beautiful creature ever and he would straight up die for her.

He thought more, almost obsessively about his own biological father and why his birth didn't make the Man happy enough to stay in his life. He spent a lot of time on the internet, searching for him frantically every day. His pictures weren't hard to find he was one of the 'big men' of Lagos at the time. He found a very clear picture of him on one random 'richest men in Nigeria' list on Nairaland and he kept visiting that particular thread every single day to check for new comments about this 'Deji Bakare'. Unfortunately most of the comments were about Dangote, Adenuga or the Ibrus and then the others were just hurling insults at the politicians that were even on the list.

Dare was doing great academically but mentally those were his darkest days, it was very easy for him to slip into long spells of depression especially during the winters.

Like this particular winter when he declined to go home for the Christmas holidays. He told his parents he wanted to study more but he just didn't want to go to Nigeria for Christmas. It was going to be Diana's first time in Nigeria and he wanted to remove himself from the picture completely, to give them time with the perfect child they both REALLY wanted.....deep down. He knew they had no plans of going to Gombe but he knew his 'Father's people' were going to troop into Abuja in swarms to see the 'Miracle' child. He didn't want to ruin the moment for his mother by being there, it was bad enough that he even existed. These were just some of the negative things he told himself back then.

Anyway, during this break a friend invited him for a New year party one day like that, he never used to go for those parties because he hated...hates crowds. He always thought he was just introverted but he would come to discover (in his second year at Redrock) that he had severe social anxiety.

He sha agreed to go for this party because some girl he had a crush on was going to be there, and he was comfortable going because he reasoned that since school was not in session it won't be packed with people as usual.

Boy was he wrong; somehow, that party was packed with a lot students and so many other young people from every other school in Oxford. It was like a freaking concert.

At a point, someone started smoking in the section where he was hanging out with his friend and he knew he should have left, but he did not. Plus, he was drunk,... so drunk that when he started wheezing he didn't even realize he was having an asthma episode because the alcohol numbed the pain in his chest. It was when he started feeling dizzy that he knew he was fucked but it was too late, he was already having a seizure.

*****

The first time he opened his eyes after gaining consciousness, he was in-between procedures, he saw that he was in an ICU, the doctors were removing the intubation tube because he was finally breathing on his own then it was replaced with an oxygen mask shortly. He heard the lead physician telling the others to scan his chest because "it looks like he has developed Pneumothorax or Hemothorax".

Dare was still in the preclinical years of medical school but he knew what that meant, he had read most of his father's medical books plus he used to read ahead of syllabus a lot back then. He knew it meant he had air or blood trapped inside his chest outside his lungs.

He almost laughed to himself at that point because well....'if problem no dey finish was a person'. How was he even still alive? Honestly, he thought he had died back at the party.

****

The second time he woke up, Mr. Bakare was there. It was the second day of his hospitalization; he was being prepared for the pneumothorax surgery in fact this time around, he could feel the pain sef, no one had to tell him how far.

He heard the voice first; Nigerian accent. Then he saw him signing the consent forms for the surgery. He heard him ordering the medical team to make sure they do 'everything possible' to save him. At this point, his vision was a little bit blurry, he couldn't make out his face clearly, but he knew it was the 'Deji Bakare'.

One Doctor was on a call with his Father (Dr. Madaki) then the Doctor handed the phone over to Mr. Bakare. Before he could process why his Dad was on the phone while 'this one' was here instead, Mr. Bakare turned to him and their eyes met. He saw that Dare was awake so he quickly rushed to his bedside.

He took his hand with both of his. "Dare?......Can you hear me?" He said urgently.

"You'll be fine okay, you're doing great" he assured him. "Hang in there"

Tears welled up in Dare's eyes as he nodded weakly.

"You're going to be alright, I am here," Mr. Bakare added. The Man appeared distraught himself and those words were soothing to Dare at that point. He didn't know he needed to hear those words. He didn't know that seeing a familiar but not so familiar face would make him feel better.

***

When he regained consciousness after the surgery, he opened his eyes slowly. It was nighttime and he was now in a private ward, the oxygen mask was gone and Mr. Bakare was sitting on the visitor chair reading a newspaper.

What Dare felt this time around was anger, confusion but the pain from the incisions they made during the surgery didn't allow him to even process his emotions accordingly.

He looked at the man quietly for a few more minutes, he didn't see any resemblance, just the eyes, he had his eyes and perhaps his lips. Like, you have to look hard to see it.

'So i had to be on the brink of death for him to show up?' Dare thought to himself.

He didn't even realize he was glaring at the Man until Mr. Bakare put down the paper in his hand and saw that he was awake.

"Dare! I didn't know you were up, How are you feeling?" He stood up.

Dare nodded. Not just because he didn't feel like talking to him but also because his mouth was dry and he was in pain.

"There was a rare snowstorm in Japan, that's why your parents are not here yet. Flights were cancelled," Mr. Bakare said as he tapped the call button for the nurse. "They will be here tomorrow"

Dare nodded again.

"Your Mother called me," He continued. "Someone had to sign the consent forms for your surgery and your......" He paused "Dr. Madaki feared you might need a blood transfusion" He explained.

"But you are a strong man! You won't even need one," He added goofily.

The atmosphere was awkward for a bit then Mr. Bakare said;

"Do you... do you know who I am?" He appeared nervous when he asked him this one.

Dare didn't want to answer that, the Man was stressing him mentally by being there, but he had home training so he just nodded yet again.

Mr. Bakare wanted to say something again but luckily, the nurse appeared. She helped him sit up and administered some painkillers, replaced his IV bag with another and asked him some questions. He didn't even know what day it was or how long he had been out.

"So, how is your study going?" Mr. Bakare continued immediately the Nurse stepped out.

Dare sighed then said his first word to the Man. "Great"

Mr. Bakare seemed taken aback by the deepness of his voice, he kinda raised his eyebrows then smiled warmly, he wanted to say something else but he was speechless for a while.

'Did he expect me to sound like a toddler?' Dare thought to himself angrily.

The Man balanced very well and started talking, he mentioned something about how he used to dream of going to Oxbridge (Cambridge/Oxford) back in the days but didn't get accepted into either so he had to go to the US. He praised Dare, said he was a smart boy. He said a lot of things to Dare that night but conveniently left out why he has been absent for the past 19 years.

Dare just watched him quietly as he went on from one random topic to another. At some point, he started breathing hard again and he felt more pressure around his chest so he called the nurse's attention himself. The nurse asked Mr. Bakare to allow him 'get more rest' and Dare was glad.

His Parents arrived the following morning with his Sister. His mother was terrified, she was crying non-stop and was so dramatic. He felt bad they had to travel to London just right after they left Naija for Japan some days back.

This was like his 5th day in the hospital, he noticed Mr. Bakare was a little bit awkward with his Mum but he was cool with his Dad. He was so attentive and respectful as his Dad explained the condition to him all over again plus his Dad is like 10 years older than Mr. Bakare.

After this is incident sha, Mr. Bakare kept in touch with him. He started calling like twice a month to have their dry awkward talk, he would send birthday and holiday messages. It was after this event that Yinka tracked him too so Dare figured he must have finally mentioned his existence to them.

When he started his career in Wall Street, Mr. Bakare would call to seek random financial advice or talk about the price of Crude oil or the oil and gas industry because at the time Dare was an Oil and Gas analyst.

Sometimes he would even ask to meet in person to talk 'business' whenever he was in the US. Dare knew the man just wanted to create bonding activities because he had many financial experts at his disposal he became a Billionaire the year Dare graduated.

Then about 6 or 7 years ago when Dare moved back to London after his MBA, one day like that Mr. Bakare invited him to his Mayfair home for dinner with his new wife; Amanda.

He said he wanted them to meet. It was awkward as usual but Amanda is amazing, she is like an icebreaker between the two of them and she is cool. She even came with Mr. Bakare to his father's (Madaki) funeral in Abuja, like months after that.

It was Amanda that actually persuaded him to come run the Company after Chief asked. (Yinka warned him not to do it, lol). The thing is, when he first heard about the stroke he stayed up all night because, this one hit different. He always thought he never cared about the Man but, he was a little bit shaken and he came to terms with his own mortality. He wondered if he too would have to deal with similar health issues when he gets to that age and he was reminded of how short life can be, it was just like the time he saw his mother's first strands of grey hair.

So anyway, when he came to Naija he was intentional about resolving his issues with Chief, he wanted to ask him those burning questions he had thought about for the most part of his life, he wanted closure. He wanted to learn more about his roots, about this side of his heritage that he also low key resents.

However, he didn't achieve anything, the resentment didn't go away, it only got worse.

You see ehhn, Dare's is at a point in his life where he is ready to settle down; he wants to have kids and start a family and he has been thinking about it a lot lately because of Sofi. He knows he loves his future kids already like, they are not here yet, but he knows he would do anything for them already; he is going to raise them himself and over his dead body for another man to raise them. So, this awareness somewhat heightened his resentment for Chief.

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