“In the end you'll see who is fake, who's true and who would risk it all for you. And trust me, some people will totally surprise you! ”
                                   —Unknown.
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C H A P T E R 43:

For the first time in a long while, May actually went down on her knees and pleaded with Edric to let Iby go but he refused. He was bent on making Iby see the four walls of prison, forgetting that he was a dough bag himself, a scum but May had only divorced him instead of taking him to court for domestic abuse.

Not like she couldn't arrest him or make him suffer for what he did to her. Been the governor's daughter would've paid off and make it a lot easier of course. But she didn't want to be seen as using her Fathers influence, wealth and authority to her advantage or gossipped to have arrested Edric only because he arrested Iby. There was still something she needed to shape in her life and that was, to stop listening to what the world had to say about her.

It was because of Iby's arrest, she found herself standing in front of Tega's office desperately waiting for him.

Finally, she spotted him, walking casually towards her. They hugged, a brief but awkward one.

"What's up?" Tega asked, studying her face. "You sounded worried on phone."

"Tega," her voice shook with fear. What if Tega choose not to help her? They didn't separate on good terms. "I want you to help me, please.."

He became more interested, "What for? Who's in trouble? You?"

She nodded in negative.

"Or is it Maryam?" He asked.

"No. It's Iby.." The last word she said came out faint but Tega was able to grasp it.

He frowned, "What? You want me to help the guy you dumped me for?"

"It's not like that,"

"It's like how? I showed you how much I loved you. I gave you so many things to prove it. I gave you money, bought you clothes, jewelries.." He shook his head, restraining himself from saying any further how much he has spent on just her and Maryam, "It came to a certain point, I thought you loved me too. Oh how well you fooled me."

"No. That's not it." May disagreed, hoping he would believe her. He looked away from her but she forced him to look at her face. "I loved you. In fact I still do."

His demeanor softened as concern surfaced it, "Then what happened?"

"I love you, Tega but you have to understand that I'm not in love with you. They are two different things and that's what happened." He sighed but she continued, "Love isn't about giving out material things. You don't show love by doing so all the time. As much as I hate to admit it, you know that has always been all between us. We have never been romantically attached and of course, I cannot handle your insecurities, possessiveness and over protectiveness. You were suppose to be a distraction. Iby was away. I badly needed someone to distract me from always thinking about him and some how, you were there for that even if you weren't aware,"

Shock swept across his feature at her last sentence, "What? So I only meant a distraction to you all these while?"

May shifted her eyes to her feet, "No. During the time, I started questioning myself. I started having doubts if it was all for the distractions or if i wanted more." She sighed, rubbing her forehead. "See, let's just forget about this. I know God would give you the love I couldn't give you but that's not the reason why I am here. I need your help. Iby is in prison, he needs a lawyer. You're a lawyer and I'm aware you've never lost a case before."

"Iby sure means a lot to you, don't he?" Tega stated the obvious.

"He does. He means a lot to me. He is important to me," May agreed, holding both his hands in hers. Her eyes, hoping he would give in, "My life is not sweet without him. It's tasteless. My heart belongs to him and that's why I need your help. Please help me."

Tega went silent for a while, looking at her in disapproval. Then, he slipped his hands away from hers which indicated that he didn't want to help her.

A single tear rolled down her left eyes at the thought of this. "You are my only hope but if you ain't going to help me, it's fine. I totally understand..."

"I would help you."

Her pupils widened, "Really?"

"Yes," he deep his hands into his pocket, "I would ignore the fact that you just dumped me for the second time in my life for another guy, and help you out future Mrs. Iby. Because i love you still and that's what true friends do. They stand by each other in times of trials."

Her eyes lit up with excitement. Her heart was jumping with joy as she hugged him tightly and cheerfully, not minding if others were watching them.

"Thank you.. I owe you one."

~~~~~

If Tega wasn't a smart lawyer, Iby would've been sentenced to either life imprisonment or ten years in prison with hard labor. Because he was, Iby got a shorter sentence of two years for pleading guilty. Tega had brought some witnesses who knew about Hammer and how Ebiere was shot to prove that Iby didn't make up the story. When Edric's lawyer asked about the where about of Hammer, it was explained to him that Hammer and his girlfriend, Dorothy, was dead. They had died the day after Ebiere was shot and Elene died. Hammer had white foams trailing down his mouth to his neck. While his girlfriend had stabbed herself to death.

Doctors made a test claiming Hammer was poisoned. Later, people arranged the puzzle and later found out that Dorothy had poisoned Hammer for trying to kill Iby. Since she couldn't live with the guilt of killing her boyfriend because of another boy that can never be has, she committed suicide. Such a tragedy.

Even if Iby was given a lesser bail sentence, May wasn't satisfied. She wanted his release and it hurt that she couldn't do more. It was more like in the hands of the prosecutor to close the case, set him free and settle everything privately but Edric wasn't willing to no matter how May pleaded. In fact, he wanted Iby to suffer more than that.

"What would happen now?" Iby asked May who visited him in prison with food and water.

"I don't know." She sighed, in a sad mood.

"Would you get back together with him?" Iby asked.

"Who?" May asked confused.

He motioned his head towards Tega, who had accompanied May to the prison and who was standing at the far end of the hot room, waiting for May.

"No." She told him, "The only man I want to get back together with is you."

"But I'm in prison. I'll be here for two years—"

"I'm willing to wait for you."

Iby placed his hand on hers that were on the table separating them, "You seriously don't have to do this. I've only spent almost two months here and it already feels like years. I don't want you to wait for me. Let yourself to love someone else.. Study hard to get a degree, be a good mother and get married to a good man."

"You're that good man, Iby. We are the perfect match."

Iby sighed in frustration, "You not going to give up, are you?"

"No. Not when it concerns you."

Iby smiled, "Thank you again for helping me with your lawyer friend but you seriously didn't have to,"

"It's nothing. Aren't you the one that told me that I should fight for what's mine and never let it go? I'm not certain that's exactly the way you had put it but that's what I tried to do..." She pouted a little, "I failed."

"Eh eh. You didn't fail." He disagreed. "I didn't get a full jail term like other hardened criminals and that's because of you and Tega's effort. Thank you."

"You welcome. Does your body pain you?" May asked him, noticing that he was weak and didn't look like himself.

"Yes. You know, I sleep on the prison floor with unfriendly mosquitoes as my guests every night." He explained, shrugging his shoulder, "I'm used to it now."

"Does the other prisoners bully you or beat you like they did the first time you were thrown in there?"

"Not anymore. They are now my paddy men."

"Good." She stressed her hand over to touch his arm, "Just two months and you've emaciated. I really need to add more spoons to the meals I bring here."

He chuckled lightly, "You don't have to. Asides you, My mom, Ebiere and my younger sisters brings food to me on a regular basis so that's obviously not the reason for my emaciation. This place isn't just good for me that's why."

"Madam your visit time is up." Shouted one of the police officers, informing May.

She shuffled to her feet, "Take care of yourself for me."

Iby smiled, "Yea. You too." As he was escorted back to the cell, he turned around to wave May and Tega goodbye.

......

Edric opened his room door to attend to the person knocking on it. He was surprised to see May standing outside his door step. Did she miss her direction? Or what has he done to attract such visit?

"I am here to give you a piece of my mind before I leave." She went straight to the point before he had the chance to ask, "Before you had Iby arrested, I pleaded with you to forgive him but you refused. I want you to remember that Elene was my friend. She treated me like I was her own sister. It hurts me that she's gone but still, I think Iby deserved to be forgiven. You never saw reasons with me, totally forgetting that you are no good yourself but I forgave you."

She was getting emotional. Her eyes became stubbornly teary as she couldn't help herself, "I forgave you, Edric. If I hadn't, I would've charged you to court for abuse and rape. It would've been easier since I have reconciled with my parents. I'm sure you know what would've happened to you if my father got to know about how bad you treated his daughter?" She wiped her tears with the back of her palm.

"Aside that, I have witnesses to testify against you in cult. People like Tina, Efua, Iby, Aunty Caroline, who sure heard my screams when you were hitting me. Few other neighbors, doctors report to show that I had tried to commit suicide because of you and of course our daughter, Maryam but I choose against hurting you back as twice the way you did me so I let you go without a fight. The least you could do was to forgive Iby on behalf of me. But no? Your heart is too hard to do that. It only made me realise that you don't deserve my forgiveness as well." She sniffed, wiping away the tears that kept pooling down her eyes, "I lived with you for seven years but you never gave me happiness. It was until I met Iby, I felt again what happiness was truly like and just like that," she snapped her fingers together to make a sound, "You took away my happiness from me and had him thrown into that smelling prison. What did I do to deserve all this? Why don't you want me to be happy? Why do you keep bothering my life? Eh?" She pushed his hard chest, "Tell me, what exactly did I do to you?"

Since Edric decided it best not to utter a word, she continued. "I am leaving this house for good. Since I attend school, Maryam can't live permanently with me but I'd make sure she comes to stay with me during weekends. Good bye Edric, I hope you're happy for successfully ruining my source of happiness."

Just like that, she left. Leaving Edric in deep, worried thoughts.

What exactly did I do to you?

Her question kept ringing in his head, that he became restless, disturbed. Which was the reason why a week later, he was also standing in front of her door because;

She deserved to know the answer to her question.

~~~~~

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