Other Side of Love

OTHER SIDE OF LOVE

Aris O. Ajagbe

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The Other Side of Love

Copyright © 2019 Aris O. Ajagbe

The Other Side of Love

By Aris O. Ajagbe

ISBN:

Smashwords Edition

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favourite eBook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

E-mail: aoajagbe@gmail.com

Tel: +2348023789752

First Published 2019

All Right Reserved

This book may not be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means-electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise without prior written permission of the author and publisher, the use of short quotations for personal or group study is permitted and encouraged.

Published to Smashwords.com by Ajagbe Aristarchus Oluleke

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I extend my appreciation to my parents Elder and Deaconess Amos O. Ajagbe for their true love, care and education opportunity. I express my special gratitude to Seunfunmi, my charming wife and Emerald, my daughter for their love and support. I will like to mention my brother and teacher Stephen Ajagbe and Bayo Asoro and Dayo Matthew, they remain my first audience and fans; they read the first sets of my writings and were encouraging. I will also like to appreciate Rev. Solomon James, my coach and Mentor, and Rev. and Pastor (Mrs.) David Samuel for the messages and teachings they made available to me at the beginning of my ministry. My sincere gratitude also goes to my Publisher and Friend, Pastor Babalola Beloved John has ignited the writer in me and has helped in publishing this book.

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TABLE OF CONTENT

Dedication

Chapter One

Groom on the Run

Chapter Two

A Future Sold-Out

Chapter Three

Travail of Fadekemi

Chapter Four

Back To Life

Chapter Five

Enviable Lovers

Chapter Six

Gone Worse

Chapter Seven

The Genesis

Chapter Eight

Heart Aflame

Chapter Nine

The Antidote

Chapter Ten

The Revelation

About the Author

Other Books by the Same Author

Author’s Contacts

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DEDICATION

I dedicate my first book to God Almighty who has blessed me with creative writing skills and an unending seal to express it and to Emerald, my beautiful daughter.

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CHAPTER ONE

GROOM ON THE RUN

The Bride’s father handed over his daughter to Pastor Titus, like a lamb before the slaughterer. Then the Pastor proceeded to Marriage Vows and Joining. First, he read the marriage vows to the Bridegroom, who, as instructed, echoed every word after him. Thereafter, he turned to the Bride, and was about dictating the vow when the unexpected happened.

The Bridegroom, in an attempt to steal a glimpse of what was happening at his back, was moving his face across the large congregation. He was happy seeing Aunty Rose and a few other recognizable faces. Along the line, his wandering eye suddenly met with a beautiful but strange female figure. She did not look like anyone he had ever seen, yet he couldn’t shift his focus from her magnetic appearance. He fixed his gaze on her and her looks seemed to be communicating strange but adoring words difficult to decode. Just then, he noticed a ball of tears rolling out of her tender eyes, streaming down her pointed noise, to her lips, and then it disappeared somewhere around the lower jaw. In response, his own tears began to well up on his cheeks. Like a sudden, terrifying revelation, the model transformed to his ever desired, blood-oath soul-tied, called Mercy.

"Mercy!" Femi shouted.

Like an electrified being, the dazed Mercy turned to run.

"Mercy!" Femi shouted the second time from the altar. But Mercy rather left where she was and started walking fast towards the exit door of the big church.

"Mercy, please wait for me!" he shouted again and started running after her, leaving his bride and other wedding crew with the pastor at the altar. When Mercy arrived at the gate, she looked back with her face already soiled with tears and pleaded:Please, go back.

"No, I can’t. Please, come back to me," he begged her.

"Impossible, Femi; it is Impossible." She responded and ran out of the church compound.

"Mercy! Mercy! Mercy! Please wait for me." He wailed and continued shouting while chasing after an empty breeze; yes, an empty breeze, at least to every other person around except the pursuer. People around tried to hold him back but all to no avail. He kept running after the object that was visible to him alone until he was knocked down by a vehicle just at the gate, just outside the church compound.

What a great tragedy on a wedding day! It would have been better a dream, but sadly, a reality. It was like a dream, but if it really was, Femi would have preferred to live therein forever.

Femi took his physical attribute, height, complexion, and facial looks from his father, chief Otunba. But his rigid stand on personal beliefs and opinion was a complete reflection of his mother, Kemi. Any of the two, when strongly holding a point can go to any length to defend it. And in most cases, their actions were always on just cause. As he sank on the floor that noon, his mind went on the happenings of the past years. Left for him, today’s wedding would have been between him and Mercy. Else, he would have remained adamant to his mother’s pleading to find an alternative and get married. Even after Mercy’s death, it took him several months before he was able to make another choice. Nonetheless, he seemed to have developed a strong passion for his new found love, especially when he was able to confirm in his spirit that she was the actual substitute for Mercy.

As some concerned individuals ran out of the service to look for him, majority of the congregants became curious of what was wrong with him. It was sordid seeing the handsome Bridegroom almost lifeless in dirty water that drizzling fateful noon.

Like most days in the month of June, it had rained throughout the previous day to the ceremony. As the cloudy canopy covering the earth unleashed torrential waters on the earth, cooks and others had to defy the showers in preparation for the wedding. And one would have thought that on the day of wedding, the illuminating globe of the sky would compensate all for the heavy outpour of the prior day, but the atmosphere was misty and drizzling.

Nevertheless, there was absence of rain and Femi and his bride were happy that the wedding was well attended. The absence of rain must have been as a result of several prayers that were released into the air by the prayer crew of the church and the families. People turned up for the event in spite of the misty dawn but most ran into traffic jam. There was a serious traffic holdup all through the dawn till the mid-day jam. Quite a distance from the church, and right at the church car park were ushers labouring hard to control the traffics, and to ensure that cars were packed at the right places. Cars were too many for the capacity of the car park, and because most guests have come with their individual preferences, there was collusion of interests.

Earlier that morning, Femi personally led Yetunde’s convoy to the special lot of the Church’s car park, which was directly opposite the path that led to the auditorium. In the four-car convoy, the Bride was inside a BMW C-class, labelled "about to wed" on the place where the number plate was designed to be, with her were little bride’s maid, chief bride’s maid and others. There, they all patiently wait for the pastor to call in the Bride.

Femi, who was already seated inside the auditorium, smiled when he got a chat from his ecstatic wife-to-be. Mostly on wedding days, groom’s heart leaps for joy seeing his bride in happy mood. After all wedding day is bride’s glorious day. While yet in the park, his bride had sent a chat to his Facebook Messenger: Darling, indeed I’m blessed this day; so blessed. Seeing this great multitude, watching these motorists struggling to find a place at the park, trigger my heart with bubbling joys. Lord, all these people for us? Femi was lifting his head from reading her post when Mr. Adejumo, her father walked out of the church to fetch in his daughter, the bride.

Yetunde's attention caught the sight of her father, who was walking and smiling with pride towards her girl, fully gabbed in beautifully lace material-sown agbada. It was probably the first time everybody around was seeing Mr. Adejumo in such a gorgeous outfit. He was known with his usual khaki jacket, and shirts and trousers that were usually crowned with short ties. His modest ways of dressing will suggest that he was an educationist, a teacher with special interest and skill in teaching. He was one of those teachers student referred to as wicked; strict and principled, always with canes whenever or wherever you find them in school premises. He had a well-built figure, slim and tall- almost 6.5ft. He was covered with a very fair, rough, hairy skin. His upper lip was roofed by bushy wool. His two sockets and cheeks were dug in, looking quite terrific and forming parts of his dread in the heart of students. In church Mr. Adejumo was the vice president of the Sunday school teachers and was loved by everybody for his mode of teaching. Even Yetunde was happy seeing her father so handsomely garbed and she threw back some smiles at him as he came to take her to the waiting hand at the altar.

Each time Mr. Adejumo calls his daughter's name, Yetunde, his mind would roam on issues behind her name. The name means "mother has returned" in Yoruba language, and his daughter was so named because her mother, Mrs. Adejumo, gave up the ghost as soon as she delivered her. According to the story, it was