Love Over Everything — Chapter 17

After three days of being on bed rest, Christopher finally stepped out of his apartment. To Chris, it wasn’t really a bed rest because he drowned himself with work since it was the only thing that could keep his mind off Naomi. He sent her text messages which did not deliver and when he finally had the nerve to call her, it went straight to voicemail.

Susan, his younger sister had been the one taking care of him. The bumps on his face had gone down, the bruises had faded but not completely and his jaw pains finally went away today.

Christopher had not seen Vivian since he came back from California, neither had he picked up her calls or replied to any of her text messages, he just read and ignored them. The more he thought about his painful breakup with Naomi, the more his hatred for Vivian increased.

Since it was chilly outside, Christopher settled for a dark long sleeve shirt with matching pants.

He was expecting to be bombarded by the press as soon as he stepped out of his building but to his disappointment, the place was press free. Perhaps they didn’t think he would be going out tonight. They’ve toiled around his building for days, hoping they will get to see him and get information about his upcoming wedding. Vivian made the public announcement and had been ranting nonstop about the wedding on her social media pages. People were starting to suspect the wedding was forced and arranged because of Christopher’s silence but he couldn’t care less about what they thought.

Chris got into his white Lamborghini and drove straight to Ruben’s house. Ruben invited him to dinner with his family and Andre would be there too.

Christopher pulled up in Ruben’s driveway, he got down from his car and made his way to the entrance. He pressed the doorbell and waited for someone to open up.

“Hey man, we were already thinking you wouldn’t show up.” Ruben teased before pulling Chris in for a brotherly hug.

“Well I’m here now and I hope dinner is ready because I’m starving.” He chuckled as he returned the hug.

Ruben pulled away from the hug, ushered Chris into his home and then locked the door behind him.

Christopher knew his way around Ruben’s house so he went straight to the living room.

Ruben’s house was a medium-size modern family home. It had three bedrooms upstairs, a guest room, a laundry room, a kitchen, a living room and an office downstairs.

“Uncle Christo.” Chris heard the voice of his favourite little human in the world. Sophie ran to him and hugged his legs tightly. He chuckled before picking her up and showering her face with kisses which caused her to giggle loudly.

“I missed you uncle Christo” She pouted.

“I missed you too cupcake.”

“What happened to your face?” The little girl asked concerned as she caressed his forehead with her right thumb. It was the bruise that hadn’t faded completely. Susan had made jest of him, telling him to use some of her makeup kits to disguise it.

“I hit my head against something really hard.” He said to Sophie who was looking at him curiously.

“Is it paining you?” She whispered and a smile found its way to Christopher’s lips.“Not anymore cupcake.”

“Wow, see who finally showed up.” A familiar voice said. Christopher looked up and saw Andre walking towards him with a glass of wine.

“Uncle Andre and I helped mommy bake a cake,” Sophie said proudly, she was still in Christopher’s arms, her head resting against his left shoulder.

“Really?” He asked and she nodded against his shoulder.

Christopher looked at Andre in disbelief. Andre shrugged before raising his glass to his lips.

“You know there’s no one that can be as manipulative as Debbie. She made sure I gave her a hand in the kitchen.” He defended.

“I heard that Andre,” Debbie said as she walked towards the trio who were standing in the centre of the living room.

“You should quit being lazy and learn to be useful in the kitchen. It will help your future wife a lot.” Debbie added.

Andre’s face turned into a frown at the mention of a future wife. He wasn’t a playboy and neither was he gay. He was just not used to this relationship thing. He was used to being on his own and he loved it.

“You couldn’t even crack the eggs properly.”

“Debbie....” Andre groaned, “You don’t need to embarrass me; at least I tried.”

Debbie turned to her husband and Chris who were laughing their asses off. “It was more like I had two children to look after. Andre and Sophie ended up covered in flour and eggs. I had to give them a clean bath.”

“I had my bath myself Debs, stop exaggerating.” He defended.

“Anyways how are you? Mr soon to be husband..” Debbie teased before kissing Chris on his left cheek.

Sophie stretched out her hands to her mom and Debbie carried her after which they all took their seats.

Debbie and Andre sat on a couch while Ruben and Chris sat on another couch opposite them. Sophie was seated on her mother’s lap.

Chris sighed before he spoke. “I don’t think I’m going to show up for that wedding.”

“Vivian will surely be crushed,” Andre mumbled with a wicked smile on his lips.

“I’m sure your parents would not be happy with that either” Debbie added.

“I’m trying to put myself first in this situation. It’s not even looking like I’m the one getting married. I never proposed to Vivian, I never agreed to marry her, it’s just something She and my parents came up with. She keeps texting me and sending me pictures of her bridal shower, the menu for the wedding and all of that. I blame myself for being in this type of situation.”

“She’s really something else and I’m disappointed your parents are leading her on,” Ruben said.

“She played her cards well, I give her credit for being smart. My parents are just blinded by the fact that she’s expecting their grandchild so they believe by getting married to Vivian, we will take care of the baby together and I will fall in love with her in the process.”

Debbie looked at Chris with a sad face “Maybe if you tell your parents about Naomi they wouldn’t force you to do what you don’t want to, marrying someone you don’t love is like being in bondage and raising a child in that type of relationship is not healthy.”

“I thought the same too. I was planning on telling my parents about Naomi after spending the weekend with her but everything got so complicated and I had no idea the wedding date had been set for Saturday.” Christopher replied.

“Mom called me yesterday. Well, she’s been calling for a while but I only picked up yesterday. She persuaded me to show up for the wedding. She said even if I don’t want to get married to Vivian, I should do it for the sake of the baby.”

“It’s just so sad, if the situation was reversed, Vivian would have cried out for rape and you would be dealt with. But unfortunately, we have no evidence against Vivian and no one will ever believe she put something in your drink to have her way with you. But no matter what your decision is, we will support you” Ruben assured. Andre and Debbie nodded in approval.

Christopher chuckled, “I don’t even know what I want or what I will do. Naomi made it clear that everything is over between us. She said she won’t be the reason why the baby will grow up without a father so I should go back to Vivian.”

“I know I’ve asked you this but I will ask again. Are you sure the baby Vivian is carrying is yours?” Andre asked. “I don’t trust her.”

Chris heaved a sigh and then spoke “I’ve known Vivian since we were in kindergarten, I know she’s manipulative and ruthless but at the same time I know the lie she’s capable of telling. The baby is mine, I was just stupid not to see it coming that she was going to trap me with him or her.”

Chris looked around and he saw the sympathy on everyone’s face. “Enough of the pity guys. I left my house to come and have fun, so please let’s forget my arranged marriage for a while. Hopefully, I will come up with something before Saturday.”

“So we shouldn’t throw you a bachelor party?” Debbie teased, trying to light up the mood.

“Nah, I don’t want one.” He replied with a frown.

Debbie excused herself to go set up the dining table and when she was done, She called the boys into the dining room. They settled down, Debbie said a short prayer and they dug in.

“Are you sure you’re okay with feeding her? You have not even touched your food.” Debbie asked Chris.

He smiled at her “It’s fine.”

Sophie insisted she wanted to sit beside Christopher. He did the honours of feeding her and cutting her meat into tiny pieces so it would be easy for her to chew. He filled her sippy cup with an orange juice and passed her the cup.

Sophie told him ‘Thank you.’ accepted the cup and gulped down the juice.

“You’re going to be an amazing dad.” Debbie praised.

Chris chuckled. “I hope so. I’m still trying to process the thought of me being a Father. In a few months, a little human will begin to look up to me for everything. It’s crazy.”

“Yes, it is but you will do just fine.” She assured.

“Vivian invited me to her doctor’s appointment tomorrow,” Chris said before raising his glass of wine to his lips.

“I assume you will be there,” Ruben said.

“Sure, It’s Vivian I have issues with. I’ll always be there for the baby.”

“Do you want it to be a girl or a boy?” Andre asked.

“That’s a good question. Honestly, I haven’t thought about it but I guess I’m okay with any gender. I just want to raise my child to be a better person than his parents. If it’s a boy I’ll teach him how to respect women and never be a playboy like me and also I don’t want my child to have Vivian’s manipulative behaviour.”