Dysfunctional Family - Season 1 - Episode 27

Episode 4 years ago

Dysfunctional Family - Season 1 - Episode 27

~The past always catches up with us~

A few years earlier…

After so many years, Juliet finally la!d eyes on the man who had scarred her for life. The man who had mercilessly raped her and murdered her unborn baby while at it. She had been having a smoothie with David when she spotted her rapist whom she lost sight of as soon as she’d la!d eyes on him.

That experience shook her immensely and as if that weren’t enough, she saw another man from her past a few days later.

Juliet had been taking a nap one fateful day when her phone rang, her ringtone told her it was Donald calling as his was specific. Begrudgingly, she picked up. “Yes?”

“Don’t tell me you’re sleeping?”
“Yes I am, Donald. What is it?”
“I’m bringing two people over so please prepare us something to eat.”

“Is that all?” She yawned as she got off the bed to stretch herself.
“Yeah,” Donald agreed. “Just be quick.”
“Okay.”

They told each other how much they loved one another and hang up. Juliet lazily dragged her feet to the kitchen and took chicken out of the freezer and placed it in the microwave to defrost. She then got her phone, went to music player and plugged headsets into her ears. She didn’t care that she was home alone, she knew the house was safe. Besides, the kids weren’t knocking off from school anytime soon. She hummed and sang along to different songs as she chopped carrots, onions and tomatoes. Once done, she began peeling potatoes and slicing them into cubes.

Over an hour later, she’d prepared potato salads, rice, grilled chicken and had even set the table. Donald and his visitors arrived a few minutes later and in the spirit to welcome them, she went to the porch. That’s when she saw him and her jaw dropped.
Christopher, her first love and first everything on the other hand only spotted her as he, David and Donald approached the porch.

They locked eyes.

David was first to notice how they stared at each other.

“You two know each other from somewhere?”

Hurriedly, Juliet replied, “No..Welcome. Please come in.”

Christopher would have agreed he knew her but decided to play along with her charade. Donald too beckoned they go into the house as Juliet ushered them straight to the dining table where they all sat, her inclusive.

“You’re a life saver,” Donald told her with pride. “We’re starving and have something urgent to tend to so thanks.”
“Am just doing my job, sweetheart.” she emphasized the word ‘sweetheart’ and shot Chris an eye dagger as she sipped on the juice she’d just poured for herself. Donald noticed the tension between her and Chris and asked, “You sure you two don’t know each other?”

“No..” it was Chris who replied this time around. “I just have that face that everybody thinks they’ve seen somewhere. The familiar kinda face.”
“I bet you do,” scoffed Juliet. And then, “Let’s eat.” she dished out for the men.

“This food is finger licking good,” complimented David honestly. “You’re a great cook, Juliet. Donald is a lucky man.”
“Thanks, a few would actually believe that,” Juliet blushed while Donald beamed and said, “So are you a lucky man too, David. Chanda’s one hell of a great cook. The lunch she brings you is superb.”

They talked about random stuff as they ate while Juliet wondered how Chris was related to either Donald or David.

Chris on the other hand couldn’t believe Juliet the village chicken was living the life of a queen cause clearly Donald treated her like one while he(Chris) was unemployed and currently squatting at his half sister and her husband’s house. Juliet cleared the table and was serving chocolate cake for dessert when David said, “Have we introduced Chris to you, Juliet?”

“No.”
“Pardon our bad manners,” Chris said, staring from David to Juliet. “Should have been the hunger.” he chuckled and offered to shake her hand. “Am Christopher Shamabanse but everybody calls me Chris. Am David’s brother in-law by the way.”
She forced a smile and shook his hand. “Am Mrs. Juliet Musongo and people call me Amake Amos(Amos’ mother), Mrs. Musongo or just Juliet. But please never call me Julie cause my first boyfriend used to call me that and I hated it.” “Noted,” their handshake was brief.

After serving dessert, Juliet rushed to the bathroom and locked herself in. She leaned against the door and wondered what game fate was playing with her. First her rapist appeared at a shopping mall and now the man who’d hurt her countless times and yet she couldn’t bring herself to loathe him as he deserved? Yes, what she felt for Chris was what they call love-hate, if at all there’s such a thing.

She had tried hard to hate and convince herself that she indeed hated everything about Chris but seeing him today looking as handsome as ever made her heart flutter.
“I’m not supposed to be feeling this way,” she loudly told herself. “I’m not.”
On their way from Donald’s house to their destination, Chris paid no particular attention to David and Donald’s conversation. It had hurt him to see Juliet looking happy and satisfied with life while he on the other hand could pass for a nomad with the way he was moving from house to house. Like the way he was leaving his half sister’s house for Ndola the following day. If he could do something to ruin Juliet’s marriage, he would jump for the opportunity which apparently presented itself many years later.

~Five months prior to Juliet’s getting busted~
Juliet received a call from a strange number one morning as she was washing Donald’s and her clothes. The maid was around but Juliet lately preferred to do her husband’s and her laundry.

When the phone rang, she wiped her hands and checked the caller ID. The call was unknown.

She picked up anyway. “Hello..”
“Juliet, it’s Chris.”

She felt chills run down her spine. “Yes, Chris. Are you stalking me?”

“Nope.”
“Then how do you explain you calling me right now?”

“Let’s just say I stole your line from David’s phone..By the way, I’ve seen you two kiss before.”

The nerve of the b-----d. “Am I to assume you’re blackmailing me, Chris?”

“Kinda.”
“What’s the catch?”
“You of course.”

She burst out laughing. “I thought am damaged goods to you, Chris. And what makes you think I’d be dumb enough to fall for your empty threats?”

“Check your whatsapp,” he hang up.
With shaking fingers, Juliet turned on her mobile data and opened her whatsapp. The first message was from an unsaved line.
‘Here’s the proof of how unfaithful you’re to your husband?��?’ below followed a string of pics of her and David kissing.

She recalled the scene pretty well and even though her and David were yet to get intimate, the pics were incriminating enough to ruin her marriage so she angrily gave Chris an audio call.

“Wazzup?” he picked up in a playful tone.
Juliet was stern. “I’ll sleep with you once if you promise to delete all evidence against me and disappear from my life. Kindly crawl back to the d--n hole you’ve been hiding in all along, Chris!”

“I’ll try.”
Several hours later, Juliet found herself at a lodge where Chris was hungrily waiting to screw her. No sooner did she enter the room than he pounced on her, aggressively undressing her. The sex was so rough it might as well pass for rape, just the way the maniac liked it.

“We can’t do this again,” Juliet said as she got dressed.

“Yeah we can’t,” conquered Chris. They ended up defying their own agreement as they had three more sexual encounters in the next few months.


☆☆☆

Amos, Lily, the scary looking guy Bruno and the other guy Bruce were seated in an unfinished building. Amos knew those weren’t their real names but he didn’t bother asking. What mattered was he was in the gang now.

Lily handed him a packet of white stuff and said, “This will be your first assignment, to deliver this to one of our clients.”

Amos swallowed and was hesitant to collect.
“Come on,” nudged Bruce, “don’t tell me you didn’t have an ounce of a clue as to what you was getting yourself into.”
“I did have a clue. I just didn’t know I’d be doing such stuff this soon. I mean-”
“Do you want to be in our gang?” Bruno cut him short.”Yes or no?”

“Yes.”
“Then do as you’re told,” scolded Lily who handed him a pistol.”For your protection.” She later gave him the address where he was to meet the client.

Amos was shaking from head to toe as he made it to the agreed spot which was in a secluded area.

I can bail and go to the police or something, he thought in fear.

He was afraid things would spiral out of proportion sooner than expected. The client turned out to be a smartly dressed man in his early 40s. He’d brought with him a Jeep which he was leaning against when Amos arrived.

“Hey..” Amos nervously introduced himself, glancing over his shoulder.
“The package?” the man didn’t smile.
“Oh,” Amos removed it from his pocket and handed it to the man who grabbed it and pocketed it. He turned to unlock the Jeep.
“My money, please?”
The client slowly turned, “Go and tell your boss I have no money.”
Lily had strictly told him not to go back without the money so he pressed, “Give me my money!”

In a swift move, the client produced a gun and aimed it at Amos’ forehead. “Why don’t I shoot you right now?”

“Because I’ll shoot you first,” Amos tactfully produced the gun Lily had given him and without second thought, pulled the trigger.


☆☆☆

Now she was pregnant and her former teacher/lover/ex-husband/whatever other complicated relationships Juliet shared with him was the father and had been missing in action for weeks now. Not that that was the biggest issue at hand seeing as she had some explaining to do.

“Answer me, Juliet!” spoke Donald through gritted teeth and while shedding tears, Juliet edited the story as to how she was pregnant. In fact, she twisted it and told her husband Chris had raped her and threatened to murder Amos and Alice if she told anyone.
“Why don’t I believe you?”
“Because you don’t feel like believing me, that’s why.”

“And why should I be obliged to believe whatever crap comes out of your mouth, Juliet? I at least deserve to be told the truth, you know.”

“Am telling you the truth!”
“I don’t believe you, I’m sorry.”
Donald made a decision that night and presented Juliet with divorce papers the following day.

“If you have any dignity left in you, Juliet, you’ll sign these papers.”
She felt too guilty to cling to this marriage. She was a terrible person and knew Donald deserved better.

“So this is it for us? Our end?” She asked, twirling a pen between her fingers.
“I guess so.”

She shut her eyes and signed. What she didn’t know was that she was walking out of her marriage literally empty handed.