It's been over a month since Lima's
murder and Shulamite's retirement.
The police could never find any
evidence against Ima because her
father made sure that he did not
leave any loopholes for the police
to find. Ima and her father have
not been talking since the incident
happened because he is very mad
at her for what she has done. The
last time they had any conversations
at all, was the day that he returned
because his wife called him to
come and clean up the mess that
she and her daughter had created.
When he returned on that evening,
he met his daughter all battered
and bruised by her mother. He was
so frustrated that he couldn't say
anything to neither mother nor
daughter because sometimes, he
just hates having those two around
and wishes that he can just do away
with them.
When he entered Ima's room that
evening, he was so enraged that he
almost slapped her. He discharged
the maids so that they will not hear
anything that will be said in the
house because a secret is no longer
a secret after another person has
heard it.
He walked up to his daughter as
he raised his voice at her and said
"what have you done! We have tried
our best to make you comfortable
and satisfied but you refused to be
satisfied because you want
everything to go your way and
when it doesn't, you go cuckoo.
This is the last time I will help you
clean up your mess because the
next time you create another one,
you're going down for it."
Ima was already frustrated with
the way her parents were treating
her. Her mother refused to
understand her feelings and came
in a while ago to beat her up. Now,
her father is here raising his voice
at her like she is a baby. She hated
that kind of treatment as she
wanted to be treated like an adult
that she is. She raised her head
and looked into her father's face
as she said, "stop yelling at me. It
is all your fault. You saw how
those girls humiliated me by
taking what belongs to me and
you couldn't fight for me because
the only thing that you and mum
ever cared about were yourselves.
Doja's father gave you some money
to boost your business back up
and you forgot about your daughter
because your primary reason for
getting me to marry Doja has
been fulfilled. You never thought
that I was in love with him for real
and that I am hurting."
Her father grabbed a chair and
sat before saying, "you are no
longer a child and I expect you
to know that not everything goes
according to our plans in this life.
You cannot force a person to love
you and that is one thing your
mother and I have been trying to
explain to you all this while but
you have refused to understand.
Doja has never loved you. He was
only with you out of respect for
his father and I. You should be
very happy that he got out of the
marriage as at when he did
because your life would have been
miserable if you had married him.
Ima, I am sorry for making it seem
like your feelings do not matter
when they actually did. I promise
you that you will find someone
better than Doja and when you do,
you will be very happy that you
never married him."
Ima cried more tears and shook
her head as she felt that no
matter how she explains herself,
nobody will understand her. With
her head down, she said "there is
no use explaining myself to you or
anyone because none of you seems
to understand me. None of you
seems to understand that I don't
want anyone else who is not Doja.
I can't meet anyone new because
he is the only man meant for me
in this life. The only way that I
will not take my revenge on those
ladies and leave them alone, is
if you can get Doja to come back
to me because without that, I will
make sure that I kill every lady who
ever comes close to him."
Her father stood from the chair
and said "I am saving you from
prison but it seems the only place
that you can ever learn is in prison,
so I wish you a safe journey. I have
tried all that I can to explain to you
but you are bent on heading for
destruction. I just want you to
know that when you finally get
into trouble, do not call me
because you wouldn't have a
father by then. I am not the father
of a criminal or a murderer." He
walked out of her room and since
then the two of them have not
spoken to each other.
Chris got the second lead role in
a movie which also involves her
singing. She is already in the
second month of her pregnancy
and that's the reason she wants to
work very hard before it starts
showing because the moment
her baby bump starts showing,
she wants to stay away from the
public until she gives birth to her
child.
Since the last time she went to the
hospital with Doja, she has missed
all her appointments and have been
evading Doja also. The thought of
going to the hospital and knowing
that she was going there because
she is pregnant really freaks her
out. Sometimes she feels so lonely
that she needs her friends but she
couldn't talk to them because of
the problems going on in Candace's
family. Jay is a man and will not
understand what she is talking
about, so it's better to stay away
from certain topics when she is
with Jay. Anyway, Chris is very
grateful today because with his
encouragement she has found a
new passion and now she also
knows that there are a lot of
things that she can do confidently.
It's been a month since Richard
duped Candace and her family and
left them. Candace has picked
herself up and began her life again
because staying down for too
long will make Richard win. After
Candace picked herself up, the
first thing she did was to change
her daughter's name. She changed
her daughter's name from Mica to Elise.
At first, her daughter never wanted
to accept the name because she is
used to people calling her Mica
and she likes her name also.
Candace took her daughter to an
ice cream shop because the girl
likes ice cream a lot. After buying
her daughter three different flavours
of ice-cream which she knew was
bad for the girls health but because
she wanted the girl's consent on
something, she had to please the
girl. When she saw that the girl
was emersed in eating her ice cream,
she took her hands and said
"Mica, do you know why I want to
change your name? Your father
named you after his aunt whom
he thought was a good woman
but we later discovered that your
father's aunt is a very bad woman.
She kills little children in their
sleep and she has threatened to
kill you also if we do not change
your name. Do you want your
daddy's aunt to come and kill you
while you are sleeping? "the little
girl looked at her mother with fright
in her eyes and said "so I am named
after a very bad woman who kills
children?" Candace looked very
serious as she answered her
daughter "yes that's true and she
has killed many children. This is
why it will be wrong for you to
answer her name except you want
those little children whom she has
killed to be angry with you." After
the little girl heard that fake story
from her mother, she couldn't wait
to change her name as she now
felt that the name is for only people
who kill children in their sleep.
After the little girl accepted the
name, she held onto her mother
and asked her "what is the meaning
of Elise?" Candice was very happy
after she realised that her daughter
has accepted the new name and
knowing her daughter for who she
is, she knows that her daughter
will never let anyone call her Mica
again. She smiled at the little girl
and said "Elise means oath of God."
The little girl got excited after
hearing the meaning of her name
and kept asking questions all
through the afternoon.
Candace's mother was never in
support of Candace changing her
daughter's name because to her,
it sounds very childish. She and
Candace had a very lengthy
conversation about that but in the
end her daughter won. She
remembered that morning when
Candace woke up and announced
that she is changing her daughter's
name as she cannot live with the
thought of knowing that her
daughter is answering her
husband's mistress's name. Her
mother walked up to her and said,
"Candace you can't do this. You
can't just wake up one morning
and decide to change the name
that a child has been answering
for years. Your daughter is a very
smart girl and she will not agree
with you on that. Which is
something you also know."
Candace refused to agree with
her mother said "she is my child
and I will do anything I want to
do with her. I have every right to
change her name if I wish to. Why
don't you put me in your shoes
and tell me if you will be able to
live with that knowing that your
daughter is answering the name
of your worst enemy. Well Mum,
if you can do that maybe I am
not as strong as you are because
I can't do it so please respect my
decisions." Her father had to join
in on the conversation as he told
Candace that a name is just a
name and it doesn't matter who
bears the name. As long as the
person who bears the name is
okay with it, then there's nothing
wrong. He told her that her daughter
likes the name and it's a fine name.
After Candice argued with her
parents and succeeded in changing
her daughter's name, the next line
of action was to change her
daughter's school. She withdrew
her daughter from school even
before it was the end of the schools
term. She told the school that she
will be traveling and she wants her
daughter to come with her and
she also told her daughter that
they will be going on a vacation
to South Africa. Her daughter was
very excited after hearing that
she will be leaving the house and
going to another country on
vacation so she agreed and told
almost everyone she comes
across that she is going on a vacation.
Jade was very happy for her friend
that her friend could pull through
the whole trauma and depression.
Nobody ever spoke about Richard
in presence of Candace for fear
that she might remember what
he did to her and become sad
again. Despite the display of
courage which Candace puts on
during the day every night, she
still goes to bed in tears. Most
times she cries herself to sleep
because she is still heartbroken
and somewhere within, she still
wants Richard back. Sometimes
she even imagines Richard coming
back to her and apologizing. Well,
all that was just wishful thinking
because she knows that she can
never accept Richard back and
things can never go back to being
the way they were between them again.
She took her daughter to South
Africa and they were supposed to
spend two weeks there but they
came back after a week because
of something that her daughter
saw and wouldn't let go of it. They
were at the beach one afternoon
when her daughter ran up to her
and said "Mum I saw Dad and we
were talking at the other side of
the beach." Candace got scared
and started looking around for
Richard but couldn't find him
anywhere and that was when she
asked her daughter "when you saw
your father what did he tell you?"
Her daughter smiled and showed
her a bracelet on her hand as she
said "Daddy gave me this bracelet
and he said he loves me. He said
that he knows that you are angry
at him but he's sorry and he also
said that he will come back for
me." After Candice saw the bracelet
and also heard what her daughter
said, she became scared and took
her daughter home from the beach.
Immediately they got back to the
hotel, she began to pack their
bags and told her daughter that
she will like them to visit
somewhere so that they can be
back on time to go back to the
beach the next day for her to see
her father again. She knows that
if she tells her daughter that they
are leaving her daughter will never
want to go with her because she
will want to see her father again.
Even with that lie that Candace told,
her daughter still did not want to
leave and she felt they might come
back late and miss her father at
a beach. She even suggested to
her mum to take her to the beach
so that she can wait for her father
there while her mum goes to where
she wants to go. Candace smiled
and told her daughter that there
are many ice creams where she
was going to and if her daughter
doesn't come with her, she won't
get any ice creams.
The little girl couldn't resist after
she heard about the ice creams
in the place that her mother was
going as she began to picture
eating different flavours and
shapes of ice creams when she
gets there. She quickly brought
her clothes to her mum to dress
her up so that they can get there
on time eat ice creams and come
back to the beach.
Candace smiled when she looked
at her innocent and naive daughter
and hope that the little girl will
understand someday and not
hate her for things that are not
her fault. The little girl got suspicious
when they got to the airport as
she began to question her mother
but Candace being an adult, outwithed
the little girl with her answers.
An hour into the flight, Elise started
crying because she knows that her
mother has deceived her. She cried
until she fell asleep and when she
woke up, she refused to talk to her
mother because she felt that her
mother has denied her the only
chance she had to see her father
again. She cried all the way back
home while they were in their taxi
and immediately they got home,
she threw herself into her
grandmother's arms and wailed.