"So we are convinced that every detail of our lives is continually woven together for good, for we are his lovers who have been called to fulfill his designed purpose." --Romans 8:28 (TPT)

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Godswill sat still facing Fola. They were in his office at The Mouthwaterers and he had requested that they shouldn't be disturbed except there was an emergency that required his attention.

Fola hadn't said a word more since they closed from service and drove to his office. He could see that she had been crying. So, he also kept quiet to give her some time.

She probably had an encounter in the service.

He heard her clear her throat as she raised her head up. She did everything she could to avoid looking at him. So, she fixed her gaze on an object just beside his face and made several attempts to speak. He didn't know what was bugging her so much that she couldn't even make a sentence.

"Fola, what's wrong?"

Her eyes made their way to his again before she looked away.

"You know how I said I didn't know Ewa at the party?"

He nodded.

"Well, I do know her. Sort of."

Godswill was silent as he waited for her to continue.

"I'm sure she said some things to you. So, I'll go straight to the point." She was silent for so long that Godswill thought she wasn't going to speak anymore.

"My parents died when I was ten years old and I had to live at one relative's place or the other. Most of the experiences while living at those places were not palatable. I was treated like a house help, a burden, a slave. But I had to live there because they were paying my fees for school, even though it wasn't without begging and pleading but they did. I was about to gain entrance into the university when the last relatives I stayed with said they couldn't afford to take care of me anymore. It was then I finally landed at Aunt Fife and Uncle Mark's. Aunt Fife was a second cousin to my late dad but she loved me like hers. They didn't have any children of theirs, so they lavished that love on me. And did they have a lot to give? They really loved me but the damage had already been done. I thought I had to be good to please people and give what I had to get what I want, good or bad. I was cunning and sly, coquettish when I wanted something and manipulative when I didn't get it. They did their best and still loved me through it all. They still do." She smiled before it died on her lips as she continued.

"In the university, I started sleeping around. First, with classmates or colleagues because I believed that's all they wanted from me. And when they couldn't handle my finances anymore, I went on to lecturers and older men. Ewa's dad was one of them. I thought it was the only way I could pass my exams and pay my way through school even though I didn't have to struggle for money."

Fola glanced briefly at him. He sent her a small smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"My aunt and uncle were doing their best to give me things I needed but I had become discontent with just having the basics. I wanted more. So I continued with all my sugar daddy escapades."

**********

The air around them felt still, but Fola felt cold and bare. She still didn't look at Godswill but instead wrapped her arms around herself as she shivered visibly. She could feel his eyes on her but she didn't, no couldn't, look at him. She could already imagine what she'd see in his eyes if she looked up — disgust, derision.

She wasn't so naive to think there'd be one person who would be okay after hearing about her past and she had never really bothered with giving any guy a second glance or chance to become more than a crush. However, Godswill was different. He had become a close friend and someone she could open up to about this even though she could perceive the outcome. It was like she was watching the end of their conversation on a TV. She sighed resolvedly as she wrapped her arms around herself and rubbed her arms as if to pat herself for her courage.

The quietness of the room was beginning to get to her and she was ready to walk out the door and out of his life. He couldn't possibly want anything more to do with her now, could he?

Stay, child. Stay.

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

Godswill kept silent as he watched all the emotions play out on Fola's side-turned face. A plethora of questions came rushing into his mind like lorries barrelling at full speed on a highway. But there was one that couldn't be silenced and he didn't even want to.

"Are you okay?"

She seemed not to have heard him as evidenced by her confused look.

"Are you okay?"

"I-I am. I think."

She still had that confused look on. "It couldn't have been easy to tell me all these and I can see it wasn't."

He watched as she opened her mouth and shut it several times without a sound coming out.

"There's no one who hasn't had a rough patch in the past, though some are more life-altering or have more impact than others. And I don't have any right to judge your past."

He left his seat opposite her and sat beside her on the other single straight-backed chair. He turned to face her and reached for her hand. Fola stared at their hands for more than a minute before looking up at him.

"Your past is past, Fola. God isn't holding it against you, in fact He can't even remember it. And I don't have any right to even think about holding it against you. No one else does. You aren't that person anymore. And that's that."

***********

Up till that moment, Fola thought she knew what his reaction would. Her imagination had gone far and beyond what was happening right now and she thought her five physical senses were playing tricks on her. She definitely wasn't expecting this. Not the warmth of his hands on hers, not the soft tone of his voice, not the slight catch in his voice as if he could feel her pain, not the compassionate look in his eyes, and definitely not the tell-tale signs of tears he was struggling to keep at bay.

She thought she had cried all the tears she wanted to cry but they came unbidden again, in a flood with quiet sobs. She was ugly-crying in front of a possible life mate and for the life of her, she couldn't stop. It was like the more she tried to stop the tears, the more they flowed out like the Niagara Falls. She felt tissue upon tissue being pushed into her hands as she wiped her face over and over again. She felt a movement but didn't look up. She was too mortified to.

It wasn't until after some seconds had passed, when the tears had stopped and the snot had reduced to a minimum, that she raised her head and noticed that Godswill had gone out of the room. Fola stood and made her way to the attached restroom and freshened up. As she came out of the room, Godswill was also coming back in with some iced tea and snacks on a tray.

She could see that his eyes were a bit red and she couldn't resist asking. "Were you crying too?"

"Hmm. No, not at all. Someone was dicing onions in the kitchen and I'm super sensitive to them."

That wasn't true but she couldn't argue and risk embarrassing them both.

They smiled at each other as the atmosphere lightened a bit.

It was still quiet as they both were lost in their thoughts.

"So how did you become a believer?"

"My aunt and uncle played a huge role in me coming to God. You know I told you they didn't and still don't have any child of their own. I was always baffled at how they could still hold on to their faith in God and serve Him wholeheartedly. They weren't just churchgoers, they were the real deal. I remember how my aunt used to sometimes call me out of the blue when I was in school and tell me to leave where I was. It happened one too many times to have been a fluke. It was always like she knew when I was doing wrong but that didn't change or stop me."

"Then one day, during my last semester in school, she called me like that. I was just about to go see one of my many sugar daddies, but she called to tell me vehemently not to go. The way she said it, I was scared too. I was defiant at first. I even left for the meeting point but turned back home halfway."

"It wasn't even up to an hour when I heard that there was a fire at that place and no one made it out alive. I was shaken. I couldn't move for minutes as I broke out in a cold sweat. For days, I couldn't comprehend what had happened. I would have been dead too if I had gone or even if I survived it, I would have been left with scars, both emotional and physical. But Someone saved me. And I had to know Who."

"I travelled back to my aunt and uncle's place in a daze. They were surprised to see me and I narrated what had happened. That was when they even knew of all the things I had been involved in. My aunt then told me of how she woke up with an unrest in her spirit that morning. She said she began to pray and then she saw a fire and she saw me there. That was when she called me. She said she continued to pray for me even after then. It was later that it occurred to me that that was probably why I turned back home midway."

"Wow. God is mindful of you," Godswill enthused.

"I know right. That was the exact same thought that occurred to me at that point. I began to cry and mumble some words. My uncle later told me that I was saying "God, forgive me. Help me. I need you.""

"That was how I received the life of God and became His child."

"That's an awesome experience to have. I'm so happy for you. And thank you for telling me this. Really."

He was staring at her with something akin to awe, like someone lost in a trance or something. And Fola felt too self-conscious.

"Do I have something on my face?"

"Yes, you do."

Why does he sound so serious?

Hesitantly, she asked. "What is it?"
She picked her bag and began to rummage through it, in search of her compact mirror.

"Gorgeousness."

Her hand stopped in its search abruptly as she raised her head slowly to look at him. With a sound akin to a mini-shriek, she punched him.

"Ouch!"

"That was very cringe-worthy, guy." She shivered visibly and punched him again. "Don't say such lines again. Learn better, non-cheesy ones."

He snorted and that made her dissolve into another row of laughter. The atmosphere around them was warm and free, as they enjoyed each other's company.

Fola was a different picture of herself compared to just a few hours before. She felt like a weight had been lifted off her and she could move forward now.

Thank You, Abba.

She could almost feel the smile coming from Him. And that made her content. Full. Satisfied. Rested.

*******

"Pardon?" I am gonna get whiplash because of this lady.

She repeated herself and added. "That's my answer."

Godswill didn't know what to do. He just sat still with his fork inadvertently poised at the perfect angle in his red velvet parfait. All of a sudden, he jerked with the fork still attached to his hand and splattered cake on Fola's face.

The bewildered look that came on Fola's face was enough to make him understand what the statement "It is finished" meant.

It was really finished. Everything was finished.