His face changed. His eyes grew red. I didn’t need anyone to tell me I had got him really, really angry. “You will do what, Anita? You want to take my son away from me?” he snarled at me, his voice loaded with intense anger. He looked at me eye ball to eye ball and smiled wryly. Then, he leaned forward and, with palpable threat in his voice, he said,”You will not dare!”I returned his smile. “Try me, MD, just try me first!” I said coldly, meeting his gaze.“So, you’re actually threatening me, Anita? This is a threat, right?” MD asked. “No, MD, it’s not a threat, it’s actually a warning,” I shot back at him. “All I am saying is that if I find out that you actually do not have any intention to make our wedding a reality, then you will leave me no choice but to simply carry my child and walk away. I am sure that with a child in my arms, I will still find men who will be willing to marry me and accept to play the role of a father in my son’s life. And, to be honest with you, that’s exactly what I’m looking for right now.”The man didn’t like the words that were coming out of my mouth one bit. From the look on his face, if he had his way, he could forcefully take Junior away from me and disappear for good. But I doubt if MD could do that sort of thing to me. MD was quiet for a while. He was obviously thinking how he could get me to get that thought out of my head. The very thought that I could disappear with his son really didn’t sit down well with him. It scared him to death. He knows me. He knows I would do exactly as I have said if he does not do what I have asked him to do.“Listen, Anita, you do not need to take rash decisions that you could end up regretting later,” he cautioned me. “Where do you want to go? Who do you want to go and meet?” He was not asking me the question, it was a rhetorical expression. “Of course, I have my own family, have you forgotten? Or you think I just dropped from the sky?” I snapped at him. “And this is why I think this wedding needs to hold because it is time you meet my family and do the proper thing!”The man was still dazed. The very thought that he could suddenly wake up one morning and find that I had disappeared with his child simply knocked the sails out of him. He just couldn’t imagine it could actually happen to him.“Listen to me, Anita, I hope you were merely joking a while ago when you said you would walk away with my son?” he asked, his eyes filled with palpable fear. “Joke? Why would I joke with a thing like that?” I retorted, meeting his gaze. “But I hope you know you can’t do that, right?” he was trying to lace his voice with a little threat. But he couldn’t quite pull it off. He was too scared and too badly shaken to force any threat. “And may I ask, MD, why are you bothered about the possibility that I could disappear with your son when all you need to do to stop that from happening is put a ring on my finger and make me your legally married wife. Or, you don’t have any such plan for us? Is that what your fear is all about?“Of course not, Anita, why would I not have such plan? I just told you to give me some time to put things together, didn’t I?” he responded, sounding very desperate to convince to totally abolish the thought of running away with his son from my head. “I will make sure we do something about it, all I need is a little time.”“Are you sure about that?” I’d thrown at him, still unconvinced. “I swear to you, dear, why don’t you trust me any more?” he assured me.“Okay, then, if you’re sure the wedding will happen, the next step should be meeting my people, so when will that be? I need a date please….”He thought about it for a while. He seemed to be making a great effort to be able to come up with something and I didn’t like that. I wanted to see that it came from his heart. And that was not what I was seeing. But all the same, I stayed calm, hoping to get the best response from him. MD sighed. He was ready to talk. “Give me two months,” he finally said, his eyes looking everywhere but at me.“Two months?” I retorted. “Is that not too long for a small family introduction? No, MD, that is not acceptable,” I said to him.“Come on, Anita, two months is only a few weeks away,” he explained. “Remember, I need to plan this carefully. And besides, we are going to travel, aren’t we? Your parents are not here and I may have to take one or two people with me. So, it is not quite as small as you think it is, it still requires planning.”“So, you can’t give me a date now?” I demanded, my face plastered with desperation.“No, dear, not now,” MD answered. “I need to look at my business schedules in the office, look at my free dates where I have no serious business engagements and then pick a date from one of them.” “Okay, MD, I hear you, and I hope you will keep to your word because it won’t be funny if I inform my family that you’re coming and then you end up not showing up and asking to reschedule the visit again, I will be very mad. And do not blame me then for whatever action I take,” I let out a subtle threat. “There you go again, still threatening to do something stupid,” MD returned, rubbing his hand on my face and trying to get me to smile.“Something stupid, you say?” I returned, looking at him with a glint of anger in my eyes. “I swear, MD, you won’t find it amusing any more if you continue to treat me the way you’re doing. I am not a girl you picked on the street, for crying out loud, I am the mother of your child, your only child for that matter! And I guess I have to keep reminding you of that fact.”MD smiled. He drew me closer. “You have nothing to worry about, my dear, I have assured you this countless times. And you do not need to remind me, I know you’re the mother of my child, my ONLY child for that matter,” he whispered in my ears, emphasising ONLY the way I emphasise it when I say the same words to him. “Then treat me like one, MD, treat me like I mean something to you…Put a ring on my finger, or is that too much to ask for? Two months, MD, two months and not a day more, otherwise, it is over between us!” …To Be Continued
