"The father is not asthmatic........to the best of my knowledge" She answered the question.

That bloody Deji never said anything about asthma during their time together.

The Doctor scanned her face closely. "Can you confirm that from him?"

She didn't like this man's tone. He sounded like one of those people that have a problem with single mothers. Why was he fixated on Dare's father? Deji was not asthmatic she is only putting a comma on her answer because Deji was a liar who deceived her so she is no longer sure if everything he said about himself was true.

"We need to know these things so we can diagnose our patients swiftly and accurately," He added when he noticed her hesitation. Nevertheless, he moved on. "Does he (Dare) have any other underlying medical condition?"

"No" She shook her head and the Doctor started writing on a new page in Dare's file.

"He was born preterm" She blurted. Not like that's a medical condition but she thought maybe she should put it out there.

The doctor paused again, this time he looked at Dare, his disposition suddenly changed to a serious one and then he flipped through the pages in Dare's file again carefully.

"How early was he?" He asked her, he seemed alarmed.

"About two months" She said.

He turned over to the very first page in the file and she saw him writing so something down there, His brows furrowed in concern.

He was scaring her at that point, she liked it better when he was cracking jokes and throwing shade at her.

"I'm referring you to the Pediatrician, please see him immediately" he handed the file to her and gave her directions to the pediatrician's office.

After a series of tests, they confirmed it was asthma. They gave him medication and he was even admitted for two days but just for observation, he was responding to treatment. Lydia was heartbroken, they said his lungs were not ready when he was born. She cried that day and she blamed herself for failing to carry him to term while her resentment for Deji increased 10 fold.

When she returned to the hospital with Dare for a follow up checkup, she met another Doctor in the office and not that 'annoying' one from the other day, this one was female, so she asked about him before leaving and the new doctor was like "Dr Madaki? He is not a General Physician, he is our Chief surgeon, he was only filling in for me the other day" The woman smiled and Lydia nodded.

*

Some weeks after that, she met Dr. Madaki again at a black tie event, it was a health related fundraiser. Back then, most of Abuja was still under construction so it was like a small town, everyone worked for the FG or some NGO / International agency /Embassy, or Julius Berger and there were just a handful of public places so it was very easy to run into people you know.

She arrived late to this particular event because she was separating a quarrel between her Mum and her Grandmother at home, those two were always at each other's throats.

"Dare's Mum" He said when he saw her. It took her a few seconds before she recognized him, he looked like a human being today.

"Doctor.." She said.

They greeted each other curtly then he asked about Dare, she was surprised he even remembered his name.

"So who is watching him for you right now?" He smiled.

She smiled back, (She knew he was asking her that because she said Dare is Fatherless.) "My Grandmother and my mother" She answered.

He nodded "Send my regards to him" He said then excused himself, He was already  on his way out.

As she walked up the stairs of the venue, she turned back to steal a glance again and their eyes met because he too had turned back, she quickly looked away.

*

The next time she took Dare for another scheduled medical checkup in the hospital she ran into him ...AGAIN on their way out. He was wearing his scrubs and he looked a little bit tired today but not as tired as that first day they met. It looked like he was waiting for her.

He played with Dare small then chatted with her a little as they walked out of the Hospital building. When he saw that she wanted to get a Taxi, he offered to drop them off at home.

She hesitated because clearly, the man was hitting on her and she didn't like it because at the time, she thought he was married.

So, after she ran into him in that black tie event, he started entering her eyes, he was fine, educated, spoke well and he was from her state (Gombe was still under Bauchi back then). So she asked around casually about him but everyone said he was married and then the worst part, he was from a royal family in Gombe. Those ones that their spouses are picked out for them even before they start breathing, so she removed him from her eyes real quick because she felt he was definitely married.

She is not following anybody to do star-crossed love again. She was no longer a stupid teenager, love is a scam.

She sha agreed for him to drop her because he said he had just closed, and was on his way home.

"Where do you live?" He asked as he started his car.

"UN Staff Quarters" She said.

"Your parents work with the United Nations?" He asked.

"No, I do" She smiled "I work with UNICEF"

"That's impressive," He smiled.

They talked chatted a bit during the ride. When he pulled up to their house, Dare ran off to meet Kaka and they were alone, he asked if he could come see her again the following day.

She didn't want to lead him on she was not going to be his side piece or mistress or whatever.

You see, the moment she returned from the UK her sisters tried to set her up on dates with different men. The men were usually attracted to her and intrigued by her IJGB status in the beginning but they would take off the moment she mentioned Dare. The only ones that didn't take off were married and they wanted her as a mistress or second wife or their Abuja 'away wife'.

This Amos Madaki guy knew she had a child out of wedlock so, it was only logical for her to assume he wanted to use her to do mistress work.

"Why?" she frowned.

He seemed taken aback by her question but he answered it. "Because I like you," he said without mincing his words.

"I was told you are married man" She said to him disapprovingly. She didn't want to beat about the bush, she has seen his type before.

He smiled. "You need to update your informants" He chuckled.

Dr. Madaki was divorced... twice. His first marriage ended because they did not have kids, they were married for about 10 years. He said he was 19 and she was 16 when their families married them together. His first wife followed him to University and she even got her degree too while he served.

His mother and family frustrated her, the whole time for being 'barren', they blamed her, they called her and her mother witches and eventually her people came to get her out of the situation.

"She remarried and today she has four children," He laughed at himself.

After his ex-wife had her first child with her new husband he respected himself and got tested, he confirmed he a condition called Azoospermia. He told his mother this but the woman said 'It is impossible for a man to be infertile, is your something not working?'

His mother said he just needed a better woman with a fresher womb, then the woman packaged another wife for him, against his wishes, they did a traditional wedding and wife number 2 moved in with him. He was just a Mummy's boy.

He said he went through with second marriage because he felt it would benefit the girl, he put her in school and he took care of her struggling family at least she was gaining something just by being married to him.

But one day she told him she was pregnant, he knew it was impossible his condition hadn't changed he still had zero sperm count.

Initially he wanted to just go with it because he really wanted a child too but he couldn't because that was really a messed up arrangement, so he called her one day and asked who she was sleeping with nicely, she couldn't look him the eye as she broke down in tears.

She said she did it 'for him' because she wanted to 'cover his shame' she said his also mother gave her a 2 year ultimatum to get pregnant or leave. His mother had many more innocent girls lined up and willing to replace her so she slept with her school boyfriend because she didn't want his mother to 'evict' her for the marriage.

He thanked her for her honesty but he ended the marriage. He still pays for her tuition though because she is a good person she was just a victim of his mother's excesses. And he too was not honest with her about his condition so he thought he kinda deserved it.

That was when he realized how toxic and problematic his mother was so he stopped allowing her to meddle with his life and he kinda cut her off.

He decided to remain single, he thought about adopting at some point but he didn't want to be a single father because he knows single parenting is tough. So he kinda shelved the adoption plans.

Funny enough as he told Lydia his story on their first real date, he was laughing at himself the whole time.

She too told him about Deji and they both laughed over it, for the first time she laughed at herself for being so stupid but he was soft on her, he said "You were just young and in love, you should never regret that" He smiled.

"Well I am done with love" She declared and they both laughed.

His positive attitude was very contagious; she learned to stop taking herself too seriously from him.

The first time he asked her to marry him it was also in the form of a joke like that, they were in his house drinking and playing cards. Dare was there too, he was running around playing football. He liked Amos's house it was very spacious compared to her 2bed Apartment and Amos had two well trained German shepherds at the time and Dare loved them.

Amos was a modern guy but he was kinda traditional with their relationship, he never asked her for sex while they were dating despite the fact that she went to his house a couple of times (alone), and sometimes she could even see the hunger in eyes. He wanted to do right by her, plus he was being sensitive to her 'Deji breakfast trauma'.

"Maybe we should get married," He said playfully that day.

"Are you not tired of marrying?" She teased him.

"I want my mother to stop packaging girls for me every other month," He said.

"You should learn to stand up for yourself, you're a grown man now," He was in his late 30s at the time. He just smiled to that then they both fell silent for a couple of seconds then he said;

"I am also,.....lonely, I miss having a partner" He was serious this time. "I really wish you would marry me" He looked into her eyes hopefully.

She checked to be sure Dare wasn't watching before she inched closer to him and kissed him intensely then nodded. "I would love to" She smiled.

****

They had a small court wedding, he was a little bit worried about his condition, but she said she was fine with one kid. She let him know she was also open to Adoption If she ever wanted more kids in the future or of he want to.

At the time she was still dealing with the PTSD from Dare's birth so the last thing on her mind was having another baby.

He adopted Dare officially and became his Legal guardian too and their marriage was beautiful. Like Lydia fell in love with him completely after they took their vows. He was an amazing husband; he was sweet, kind and crazy over her. He was mature and he had a lot of experience with women (especially 'in za aza room' lol), but most importantly, he was an amazing father to Dare.

It was such a mystery to Lydia that God decided to make someone like him childless. He was a a better parent to Dare than she was herself.

Meanwhile, that his werey mother said she was using juju on him because she couldn't chook mouth in the marriage, she was very wary of Lydia but, he never allowed anyone disrespect his wife or Dare, he had learned from the mistakes he made with his first marriage.

They were sha living blissfully and enjoying their happy family when one day, they were returning from a vacation and had to stop over in Lagos for a connecting flight and she ran into Deji in the Airport.

Amos had taken a stroll with Dare round the airport to stretch their legs while she went to buy something from a food stand and on her way back to their chair she ran into Him.

"Lydia!" Deji said gleefully.

"Deji?" She squinted, he looked different; he had put on some weight he used to skinny. Both of them were staring at each other as if they had seen a ghost.

"Wow!" He exclaimed "What are you....where.." He was speechless.

"Mummy!" They were interrupted by Dare before she could even say anything the boy was running towards her direction waving a new toy car. "Look what Daddy got for me!" He showed her his latest acquisition but she snatched it from him and he sulked, Amos needs to stop spoiling this boy! She thought to herself.

Deji smiled at the boy "Hello there" He waved at Dare but the moment Dare's eyes met his, the smile on his face faded then he looked back at Lydia then back at the boy. She saw Panic, fear and shock in his eyes, she knew he was trying to do the math in his head. Dare was tall for his age he looked older than a six year old sef.

He wanted to say something but her husband arrived in that instant.

"Deji, this is my husband Amos, Honey this is Deji, he was my teacher in school," She said.

"The corper?" Amos asked as he shook Deji's hand and she nodded.

Deji was so confused and shocked at this point but he tried his best to hide it.

"You're the mathematician?" Amos asked him.

"Yes Sir," He scratched his head as he smiled awkwardly. Amos was much older than he was so he addressed him with small respect.

"Thank you for teaching her" Amos said and Deji nodded. "Dare is also good at math" Amos said casually.

"That's urm...that's nice," Deji said, at this point he couldn't hide his uneasiness.

Amos continued chatting with him as if they were buddies, you know how men just meet each other and start talking. Amos asked what he does for living and she heard him say he was an Engineer with Shell, he was about to catch a flight to Warri. Amos then said he had some Doctor friends working in the oil fields there too. They talked until the final Boarding announcement for Deji's flight was made and he had to go.

That night when they got home, after she put Dare to sleep she sat quietly by her dresser in their room and she kinda got lost in her thoughts while taking off her jewelry.

"Are you okay?" Her Husband asked.

She smiled at him "I am fine"

"Lydia.... i understand he was your first love and Dare's father, it's okay to feel..." He smiled.

"Are you kidding me right now?" She cut him off.

He made some jokes about how they say people never truly get over their first love and in the process of giving her an example, he implied that he still had 'small' feelings for his first wife too and she whacked him in the chest playfully, "It's like you want to start sleeping in the guest room?" She threatened him and he laughed.

She then cradled his face and said "You have nothing to worry about, we are not perfect but what we have is true love. I am a lucky woman and I feel blessed with you every single day, I will never stop loving you no matter what and I could never hurt you" She reassured him.

His second marriage really messed him up, he used to joke about it a lot but she knew it hurt him deeply, so it was easy for him to feel insecure in the beginning, but with each passing day, their bond grew stronger.

*

One day she got to work and she met Deji waiting at the reception of her office building. This was about 2 months after they ran into him in the Airport.

"We need to talk?" He said politely.

"Is he.....my child?" he asked when they got to her office.

She shook her head.

"Lia, that boy........he is at least 6 years old" He continued in confusion.

She glared at him, she was irritated he was still calling her 'Lia'.

"Does your husband know?" He asked.

"Does your wife know you are here?" She retorted.

He sighed then wiped the tiny beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

"I just want to know if he is my Son.....please "He pleaded desperately but she wasn't moved by his display, he is a good actor.

"To what end?" She asked coldly.

"Because......he is definitely my Son and...and ....this...this is paternity fraud," He said.

She ignored him.

"You have to tell your husband" He said seriously. "If you don't, then I'm going to tell him myself," He added angrily.

She laughed at him wickedly.

"Oh.....He knows?" Deji nodded as he figured this out on his own.

He said he wanted to be introduced to Dare and he wanted her to change his surname immediately, she said no. They got into a short argument and he threatened to take her to court.

"Go ahead Deji, your case will be dead on arrival, you have no claim here, he has a legal father," She scoffed at him. "Also, I don't think you would want your wife or her father to find out about this, so go on Deji, sue me I'll be waiting" She taunted him.

He just stared at her in horror then stormed out of her office angrily.

She was prepared for something like this, she had done her homework already, and she was ready for Deji. She had many of her fellow UK IJGB friends based in Lagos and over time, she gathered more information about Deji while contemplating what to do after she found out he was married.

She found out that he got married 3 years ago, his wife's father owns one of the biggest construction companies in the country.

She also heard his in-laws were not in support of the marriage in the beginning because her Father does not trust Nigerian men, especially Yoruba men (As he should!). Anyway, word on the street is Deji is walking on eggshells in the marriage and trying so hard to prove to his in-laws that he is not a Yoruba demon lol.

***

Three weeks later, Deji sent his military friend (Colonel Sambo) to seize Dare from school. It was a crazy episode;

Usually she drops Dare off in the mornings and his father picks him up at noon because that is the time he gets off work. (Dr Madaki used to fix his surgeries between 3-7am, he said that is the time of the day in which his dexterity is at its peak) but on this particular day, Dr. Madaki had two consecutive surgeries to perform so he asked her to pick Dare up from school.

When she got to his school though, they informed her a 'Colonel Sambo' picked him up. The soldier said he was a friend of Dare's father. Back then military men were powerful no one questioned them.

At the start, she just assumed Amos probably forgot he had asked her to pick Dare and he probably sent someone to get him, the town was very secure then crime rate was low so she didn't panic.

However, when she got home Dare wasn't there.

She called the hospital to ask her husband what was going on but he was still in a theater, the whole thing seemed off to her so she quickly made some calls to some of her friends that were Army wives and within an hour she had the Colonel Sambo's home address it was in a military barrack.

Before she left the house, her husband called back but she didn't tell him anything she didn't want him to go into the next surgery with worry on his mind. Moreover, she had figured out what was going on already. One of the women she called told her this Colonel Sambo guy was recently posted to WARRI, and that was all the clue she need to know It was Deji.

She just walked quietly to her car, started it and drove straight to the address.

"Tell your Boss to send out my Son, I am here to pick him up" She said assertively to officers that were guarding the gate. One of the officers ran in to deliver her message.

She stood in front of the house boldly as she waited for them to send her Child out.

After about five minutes, someone came onto the balcony and she just knew it was the Colonel Sambo. He looked at her face and she stared back at him back without blinking. He went back into the house and the officer that ran in earlier came back and asked her to come with him.

While she waited in the living room she could hear the Man arguing with his wife upstairs. They were trying to keep their voices down but she heard the wife say ; 'This is an abduction', 'You can't do this to a mother' she heard the Man's wife whisper-screaming to him in Hausa.

When he joined her in the living room she greeted him politely.

"I was informed you picked up my Son, Thank you, I have come to collect him," She said calmly.

"You should wait for his father to get here first before you people go," He said tensely. He didn't look like he was proud of what he had done or perhaps his wife's scolding had gotten to him.

"His FATHER is at work, and he won't be getting off any time soon," She said firmly.

Colonel Sambo sighed, "Madam, you have to understand that you cannot continue like this" He appealed to her "His real father has a right to.."

"So Deji asked you to kidnap MY child?" her voice was becoming unstable because her anger increased as she confirmed without a doubt that Deji was indeed behind it.

He fell silent.

"Colonel, if we all start calling the people we have in power to intervene in this matter, it's only going to get ugly" She continued, that was a subtle threat. But a real one because her boss has the President's number, Amos's elder brother is a top ranking officer in the Air force, they had people too.

Deji cannot be flexing muscle on her with Army Colonel, is he mad!

"I have asked around and everyone speaks nicely of you" She continued, "I don't know what Deji told you to make you do this, but I am appealing to you to please give me back my Son"

She gave him a brief summary of how Deji abandoned her and how she had not seen him since he left her in Bauchi over 6 years Ago.

The Colonel listened attentively then he sighed and switched to advice mode.

"I am just going to advice you two to consider resolving this like adults. There is a child involved here and whether you like it or not, Deji is his biological father. For the sake of this boy, you people should come up with an arrangement that won't end up hurting him, okay?" He looked genuinely concerned.

He admitted he didn't know the full story, he said Deji just told him she refused to give him access to the boy and he asked him to help him bring Dare to Lagos.

Imagine!

The Colonel then called his Wife to bring Dare and she thanked him.

Dare looked excited when he saw her, he didn't even know what was going on, he had a juice pack in his hand. Lydia looked up at the Colonel's wife and mouthed a silent thank you to her, the woman smiled back with a nod. A Queen!

"Have you eaten?" She asked Dare in the car.

"Yes" He smiled, "I ate with Gowon then we played video games"

"Who is Gowon?" She asked him.

"My new friend in that house" he said and she smiled.

"Mama I want a video game too"

She eyed him.

*

She had a small fight with Amos that night because he was upset she went there alone, that was dangerous. She could have called his brother, she could have informed him. She apologized, said it was mother-hen phenomenon, plus she panicked.

"You have to give him (Deji) access to the Boy" Amos said seriously.

"No" She shook her head as she broke down in tears. "He is only doing this because of his Ego, he doesn't care about Dare, if I was still single, he would be paying me to keep quiet. He just wants to destroy our family"

Amos tried to talk some sense into her, he told her forgive him for Dare's sake but she was not ready to do that, Deji ruined his chances when he tried to intimidate her with his connections.

*

The next day Deji stormed into her office looking pissed as hell.

"So you are using your position to keep my son away from me!" He played victim.

"He is not your Son!" She snapped at him "His father is who I say his father is"

"You will pay dearly for what you did yesterday, Deji. I swear to God you will never see him again!" She raged.

"Why are you doing this to me?" He asked her helplessly. "I didn't know you were pregnant" His eyes welled up with tears.

"So you had no plans of coming back?" Her voice was weak. "You were supposed to come back after a month! You made me wait for you" She continued.

"You stopped writing me," He said.

"I never stopped! and even if I did, why didn't you come find me, you knew my house?" She said.

"I was having a hard time too..." He put his head down.

"Hard time? My father tried to kill me, he disowned me, I still can't go back home!"

"I am sorry" He fell to his knees "I am so sorry Lia" He begged her.

"Mrs. Madaki" Lydia said.

He looked confused.

"Don't call me Lia, my name is Mrs. Madaki!" She glared at him.

After that, she asked him to leave and he never bothered her again.

Deji's POV

Months after the drama she sent him a picture of Dare, copies of his birth certificate, medical records and report card. She said that was the most she could do for him in terms of access because she didn't want to confuse the Boy. She said she would send him the updates at the end of each school term. 

He wrote back and appealed for small visiting rights and she said No, They sha agreed to tell Dare about him as soon as he turns 18 and Deji agreed.

She kept to her promise and she sent him those updates no matter where they were in the world. He still her had postcards from New Zealand and Japan in his safe. Sometimes he would even call Dr. Madaki directly to talk about Dare, Dr. Madaki was much more diplomatic with him than Lydia....the Career Diplomat. 

She just hated him so much.

It was after this drama that Deji quit his job to join Mrs. Alabi and the others to bid for the blocks. He didn't want to join them initially because it required them to quit their jobs first. Mrs Alabi was the first to quit, she had her husband as back up even if they failed in the venture. 

He had no one to fall back on, his job was the only thing that gave him small dignity in the eye of his father in-law, he couldnt afford to end up jobless. 

But he took the leap because he had a new drive;  He wanted Lydia to regret replacing his Son's surname with another man's own.

Present Day.

Sofi's POV

A/N: So basically, Lydia just summarized the whole throwback for Sofi it was not this elaborate and it was PG 13 lol. (Plus, Chief's angle was not relayed.)

Contd.

Mrs. Madaki showed Sofi some of his baby pictures from her facebook album on her phone. There were some embarrassing pictures of him and the two of them laughed.

She said they later conceived Diana via IVF after Dr. Madaki had a very complex procedure done in Japan that improved his medical condition.

No wonder there's a 16 year gap between her and Dare. It finally made sense to Sofi.

She told Sofi how he was bullied by his cousins for years; she didnt know they were bullying him, she thought he was being a snob (as per IJGB) when he refused to play or hang with them. 

"He had social anxiety but he is much better now" She continued. She said she even had to join his therapy sessions years back because his therapist recommended it.

Sofi froze, she thought about how he kinda gets uncomfortable in crowded spaces and it actually crossed her mind that time they did his birthday in the office but she forgot about it completely. Suddenly A lot of things started making sense to her.

  Why didn't he open up to me?

"I know you are wondering why I am telling you all these?" Mrs. Madaki continued.

"You see the thing is...Dare...." She paused "Sometimes he thinks I...we don't love him as much as we love his sister, or that he was my mistake" Her eyes were teary at this point but she didn't want to cry.

"He was not a mistake, I decided to keep him against all odds and I have never regretted that decision, I wanted him. We (As in her and Chief) were both young and unwise but he was conceived out of love. His Father (As in Dr. Madaki) loved him too, Dare made him a father first, Dare is my husband's first child"

"So Sophia, anytime he starts feeling that way, I need you to protect him from himself and I need you to echo this to him" She dabbed her eyes with a napkin.

Sofi nodded, as her own tears poured uncontrollably, at this this point she was ugly-crying, she didn't even care about table manners sef. Since the woman started the gist, she has been holding back her tears but this final line just broke the camel's back.

*

She was asking Sofi something about her Mum as she walked Sofi to the hotel entrance, they were just casually gisting.

"Thank you so much for telling me, it means a lot" Sofi smiled in gratitude when they got to the entrance.

Lydia smiled back "You take care of yourself okay and take it easy with the job, don't be a workaholic like him" The woman knew everything about her already.

Sofi just smiled and nodded shyly.

The valet pulled up with Sofi's car and alighted from it then held the door open for her and she started walking towards her car, the way the valet held the door open for her reminded her of Dare. Dare always held the doors open for her even if Soji or a security man was there to do it he just always did it for her like clockwork.

That's how much of a Unicorn Dare was....is. When she got close to the door she paused, for some reason in that instant she just pictured how his mother fought everyone in her way, just to keep him and she became overwhelmed with emotion, she turned around and went back to Mrs. Madaki and hugged her tight.

"Thank you for keeping him" She said to the woman as broke into tears again because imagine if Dare didn't exist!

***

She tried calling him when she got home but she could not reach his London number.

Maybe he is in Singapore or maybe he is sleeping.

She wanted to unblock him on Whatsapp but his account was deactivated. He actually started using Whatsapp in Naija.

She listened to his voice note again and cried because now that she has more context around the whole issue things were much more clearer to her.

She realized how she was actually the selfish one in the relationship and how the only thing she cared about was herself and her career, all she did was take all the love and attention he gave her without really giving him anything meaningful in return..... other than sex.

Sex that he can get anywhere!

A/N  Phew!!! This is the longest chapter in this book! and honestly i think this is why it was delayed, i had to summarize alot of events and scenes.

*Dare and Gowon don't remember eachother in the present day because that was the only time they met when they were younger.

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