THE FORBIDDEN STEP-SIBLING AFFAIR

Chapter 7: The paradox of happiness

The coach was mesmerized by how brave she was. In fact, it made him wish he was her legitimate step-dad. The confidence and feeling of being owed an explanation no matter who was in control, wanting to be in the loop of decisions that directly affect her was just amazing. But now he had a problem at his hands. He wasn't supposed to talk and moments back he had just confirmed that indeed he and her mum were having a secret affair that had gone on behind her back for months.

Being a man who enjoyed controlling his own fate he chose to report himself after an hour of thinking. He picked up his iPhone and called her.

"Hi B"

"Hello munchkin, I wasn't expecting your call"

"I can't miss my girl?"

"Okay, go ahead. You have five minutes, I got patients and they need me more than you"

"Can we talk about yesterday"

"Not the time or the place" She quickly brushed him off.

He was afraid she was going respond like that. The three months they had been together he had noticed how much she didn't like talking openly about her feelings, an apology when she messed and when he did and that was the end of it. No follow up, No discussion. When he brought it up he thought maybe that was how she handled herself and since it was her only daughter they were talking about maybe Bethany was going to loosen up a little and let them talk like a normal couple who could count on each other for support.

"There will never be a right time, you always do that, say it's not the right time and never talk about it"

"Okay, so she walked on us having a moment. Which by the way you insisted, so what?"

"Excuse me, are you seriously blaming me for that?" Coach asked surprised, the phone was on loud speaker and he was swinging on the chair, bouncing the ball on the wall and catching it with his hands, he was nervous.

"Who's to blame? You were not even supposed to see me Watson we had a deal. As for my daughter don't worry I know how to handle her. Just stay out of it! Raising a daughter is completely different from raising a son”

That was a mood breaker, an exact opposite of what he was hoping to achieve. Apart from finding a way to blame him he had no window to report himself to her because he had already done exactly what she was telling him not to. Interfered and probably made the situation worse. Back to the blame, if he remembered so well and trust me he didn't have any mental retardation, memory lapses or amnesia, she called him. His plan was to enjoy the comfort of his palatial home and just have some wine, good music, watch movies and see how the boys were going to do without him...a break from reality but it all went to the gutter when she called him for a quickie after coming home earlier with a headache, boy his driving was worth a cameo in the fast and furious franchise. What happened was, they lost track of time and he wanted to run so that Ethan found him at home with his supposed "flu" but she insisted on one last kiss until the twelfth one when Ivy walked in on them. So, who do you believe was at fault here?

"Are you still there?"

"Yeah, that warning might have come a bit late"

"What did you do?"

"Don't get mad..."

"I'm not mad, do I sound mad?"

Definitely, the anxiety and pitch in her voice said otherwise but he believed her anyway.

"She knows how we've been together and she made it clear she doesn't need a step dad. Look I was just trying..."

"You've done enough. Goodnight!"

"It's not even...shit she hung up" he said smashing the ball on the wall, it somehow came back and hit him in the face as he went for the phone. When he called her again she didn't pick, he was going to apologize for trying to help when her anger subsided which could be hours or days depending on the weight of his mistake. On a scale of one to ten, this was an eight but we both know someone who'd wished it was an eleven so that the next text he received was “I wish you a good life”

******

Ivy

After Ophelia dropped me off our neighbor and church matron Mrs. White asked me to help with the kids, aged between eight and twelve they were there for bible study. I was one of her best graduates in the bible study group some few years back she could always count on me to pass on the meticulous teaching and I was also good with kids. Mrs. White was wiry with grey curls on her head, her eyes were huge like saucers with a spark of joy, a lazy smile that went on and off. Her hands were soft as a baby’s bum, radiating warmth and she walked steadily.

"You guys know who this is?" She asked the kids.

"Ivy!" Came a chorus.

Ethan might have been a celebrity at Hunt academy fraternity but at church that was my niche, they all knew me there and young ones wanted to be like me.

"You're popular" she whispered on her shoulder, "You guys don't give her a hard time, I'm going to the store I'll be back soon"

"Don't worry, they are just kids. I've been a kid once"

"Good"

The moment she got out of the door I threw my bag pack on the couch and took the center, they were seated half round table style on the grey fluffy soft carpet. The curriculum had not changed, I had a few questions to pass time. First things first, they introduced themselves and I crammed their names. A bunch of cute, innocent little boys and girls.

"How many books are there in the bible?" All hands shot up and the conundrum was who to choose and not to, "Ladies first, Ruth"

"Sixty-six!"

"Correct, clap for her" a round of applause filled the room, "How many books are in the New testament?" Again, several hands shot up. They were all eager to answer, reminded me of me some years back when I had the entire bible on my finger tips and won biblical trivia and facts three years in a row.

"Boys turn, girls keep your hands down" Nick argued and the girls dropped their hands, having fought for gender balance it was only fair if he got to answer.

"Yes, tell us Nick"

"Twenty-seven"

"Correct, Girls, how many in the old testament" the boys proved to be smarter and kept their hands down, I pointed at Mary seated at the far-end.

"Thirty-nine!" She said happily.

"Clap for Mary everyone!"

They all clapped in a beautiful pattern, syllabus might not have changed but the round of applause surely had. Music to my ears, while thinking of what to ask next I asked them to clap for themselves. Something popped up in my brain that lit up my face. A tough one to get their small brains to work.

"Good, now" my eyes roved across all their pretty faces, so innocent and giving me some sort of young sister fever, "What is Pentateuch?"

Got them, surprise was written all over their faces and they looked at each other, eager to see who was so smart to know that very tough question. Except that it wasn't tough, just a big scary hard to spell word that got them all worked up. A minute went by and none of them was brave enough to try.

"Wrong answers only, boys your turn" my eyes landed on John, he almost jumped out of his skin sending the others into a frenzy of laughter, their angelic voices roared in the living room.

"A priest in the bible" he said with zero surety.

"Girls your turn, wrong answers only!" Mary took the burden to fail on behalf of the daughters of Eve, the other gender that betrayed Jesus calls them the snake whisperers, “Yes"

"He was a Servant in the Egyptian Kingdom"

"Good trial, Also, known as Torah, the law books or the books of Moses, the Pentateuch are the first five books of the bible. Name them!"

All hands went up and I was liking it, maybe there was a chance I was going to make a great a Bible study teacher in the future from the enthusiasm of the entire class.

"Let's all start as a group!"

"Genesis! Exodus! Leviticus! Numbers! Deuteronomy!"

"Wow! So great" Mrs. White pulled over at the parking lot, time had flown by so fast, “She is here, it was fun hanging out with you. Be good boys and girls"

"Thank you, Ivy see you again" Mary gave the vote of thanks, she was such a sweet girl like a mini version of me.

"I'll come again...that was fast Mrs. White" I went to help her with the groceries. Funny story about her, as much as she loved church and dedicated her life to serving Christ and his people, her husband was a wet sponge and once in a while when so tipsy he would be heard screaming how much of a scumbag Jesus and his followers were. So, picture this, an extremely religious woman living under the same roof with a staunch atheist who would rather drink an entire crate of beer than sit in church listening to what he referred to as misleading stories written and translated by fickle humans like him.

"Call me Abigail, did they give you a hard time?"

"Not really, you got a bright class here"

"But you're still the brightest, my greatest creation. You have no idea how much proud I feel when the community showers you praise" she said holding my hands, her touch was magical every time. It was soothing, only compared to an Alpha in the werewolf folklores who can take away someone's pain, stress and anger by mere touch.

"They do that? Never heard them say anything nice about me"

"That's because they are afraid pride might get inside your head and make you change for the worse"

I knew what she meant. In Swahili they say; Mgema akisifiwa tembo hutia maji_ which roughly translates to When a brewer is highly praised they start making poor quality alcohol. Doesn't make sense, right? Pride and arrogance are always associated with losing success, some can even say they go hand in hand. Pride comes before a fall and it's God's loyal servants who are highly tempted, Abraham in the bible being asked to sacrifice his only son is a cliche, how about Abigail and her atheist husband? I was about to join the lot but with a different case.

"That can't happen, I will always make you proud"

"Promise"

"I promise. Have to go"

"Thank you for stopping by, remember dear. When you're at your highest point, be careful that's when the devil comes for you"

"I'll remember that" I said before leaving through the back door.

No, I didn't remember that until it was too late. The information was also coming in too late, the devil was already stalking me. As a matter of fact, he started stalking me that day in the lift. Soon, I was going to understand how complicated society is, they ask you to do what makes you happy and be yourself just not the way "you" want, meaning your happiness and being yourself is still tied to what society approves. But you can agree with her, Jane Austene said, in verbatim.

"I wish, as well as everybody else to be perfectly happy but, like everybody else, it must be in my own way"

Turns out, you can't be fully happy and your happiness sometimes means those around you don't get to be happy, we call it compromise or sacrifice, society does but I call it the paradox of happiness.