Not your divorced!

"I am not getting a divorce!" Yelled Xandria as she flung the papers in her hands, she held her head and slowly sank to the floor, she sobbed hard as flashes of her childhood came rushing.

Nostalgic moments like these are the worst for Xandria cause everything about her early years haunted her, she remembered the horrors, traumas, pains and torment she experienced as a child growing up in a broken home, she had to shuffle between parents who were extremely busy to give full care and attention to her, some weekends were spent alone in a large house with just a nanny and most times by herself, she cried herself to sleep most nights as no dada or mama were there to tell bedtime stories or keep the boogy man away...

"Mommy" came the voice of her 4 years old daughter, Lunar from the stairs. She wiped her face hastily as she turned to the child with a forced smile. "Hey baby" she said in a shaky but soft tone.

"I can't sleep" said Lunar in a drowsy tone

"Did you lose your toot toot again?" Xandria responded in their familiar play tone.

"Toot toot is fine, i want daddy, where is he, he's not in his room" whined Lunar.

Even though the words were that of an innocent four year old demanding her father's attention, the words cut Xandria's heart in two, she forced a smile while seriously fighting back the ripples that were about to come pouring down and said to her daughter "Daddy isn't here cause he's on a job"

"What's a job mommy?" Asked Lunar

"You'll know when you're older, come on, let's get you back to slumber" she picked her daughter up and made for her room, her room is a typical nursery with lots of colors and cartoon drawings on the wall, she placed her on her princess framed bed and lay beside her. "What story do you want hon?" Asked Xandria

"Story about dad" answered Lunar. If palpitations caused sudden deaths, Xandria died at least four times today and her daughter isn't helping, she sighed cause she knew the connection Lunar has with her father and she really didn't blame the girl for her requests, she would too if she were in the girl's shoes.

"What story about your daddy do you want to hear about?" Asked Xandria in an endearing tone.

"Um...when daddy puffed the flour and made the kitchen look like snowland!" Replied Lunar with giggles.

Xandria giggled too cause she'd told this story countless times, Lunar just can't have enough and this is the funniest dad moment she's experienced. "I'm telling it one time, okay?"

"Hmm...ok!" agreed Lunar

"It was Brown's 11th birthday morning and daddy wanted to make him a three layer cake so he could have more than enough to share with his friends and classmates and you bon, daddy had set all ingredients aside and was set to get a bakey when he remembered he hadn't grated the...?"

"Nutmeg!!" Chorused Xandria and Lunar

"Good girl, you remembered...and just as he reached for the nut cracker, a balloon popped and he knocked the bowl of flour in shock, down came the bowl and the flour on his face, on you, on Brown, on maxine, and the kitchen indeed looked like snowland..." Xandria giggled, she smiled as she saw that Lunar's already fallen asleep. "Everytime, it gets her everytime" she stood up quickly like one who was suddenly pricked by a needle, adjusted the covers on Lunar and walked out of the room, she couldn't afford to weep before her daughter and corrupt her innocence with worries. She walked past her son's bedroom and peeked into the room, as usual Brown is asleep with his racket under his arm. She smiled and shut the door, the next door further the hall was theirs, "theirs" that word would soon be in the in the past. She walked into the room, a room with sadness lurking in places laughter once occupied and emptiness in a place love and romance once dominated. She remembered all the romantic and love making moment shared on the bed, the corners of the room, even the bathroom. She took a long deep breath, stared hard at the room, took another long deep breath then she sat on a sofa that had a large teddy bear by the side, she squeezed the teddy's hand and it started singing a love song she's loved back in the day and still do till date, it was her favorite cause it was released the same year she fell in love and it happened to be his favourite love song too, she sobbed as she held the teddy tight, how can something once precious and lovely go sour in a short moment?. She cleared off the thoughts that were almost going wild in her head, It's nothing compared to the problem she's facing in real time. After a series of thoughts and careful strategizing, she concluded on the next line of action to save her marriage.

she laid on the bed facing the ceiling as events of the past came playing over and over in her mind, she searched through the images displayed in her mind to spot any flaw or problem that might have led to her current demise, all to no avail. she sighed and concluded that fighting would be the only option, if there was love before, there still can be love again and she would fight hard, really hard to make sure her home is saved,

"No kids of mine will shuffle amongst parents"

.....

Daemon banged the door of his car in anger, events of the day came flooding through his mind. He hated the idea of separation and starting over.

"How did we get here?" He said out loud without knowing. He reminisced on how perfect and desirable his relationship with his wife was, memories of the good good days came rushing. Goose pimple appeared on his skin at every vibration of thought, his heart ached badly cause it knows what it wants, and "that" is what is before him but the idea of being vulnerable was his major defect, he wants to fight to keep the marriage, he want his kids to continue with the sweet love filled life they're used to, the thought of divorcing his dear wife caused his bile to release bitter toxins that stuck at the back of his mouth and ew!, how he hates the taste of bitter sorrow and regrets. He reached for a bottle in the car's fridge and took long satisfying sips, he laid back the car's seat and stared at the artificial constellation on the roof of the car, he fought hard to keep back the tears that filled his eyes cause the memory that came flashing was his wife naming and doting imaginary line across the stars forming shapes and all kinds of animal. Damn! He felt like kicking the car door open and walking into his-"their" home and hugging his wife tight that she may struggle with air for a while. He loved this woman, still loves her and would continue regardless what transpired or what outcome the future holds, how can he get over the feelings and strong emotions he feels whenever her name is mentioned, her image is plastered permanently at the back of his mind, his neurons and hormones will forever react at the sight of her, she's all he had ever wished for and will ever need, she is his soulmates, in flesh and in spirit. The tears he had been fighting hard to keep finally broke free, he sobbed hard and wish he could turn back time's hand to unsee what he saw and unsay what he said that evening, he loved his wife so much, he's lived and gotten used to her so so much, he desired her touch, her smell and her words right now more than all the wealth attached to his name. His kids are a whole world of sunshine, laughter and completeness, he'll forever be haunted by the guilt of separating them, how on earth is he about to ruin something so beautiful and precious as this?! His phone rang and rescued him from drowning too deep in thought, he looked at the caller ID and it was his wife, his heart stopped and his chest tightened, he had to look through the tinted window of the car to check if she was standing close or peeking at him through a window or door cause she's the last person he'd expected a call from, especially after what went down that evening. The call went into voice mail cause of the delay in response, he was too numb to pick, the phone rang again and this time around, he used the smart assistant to take the call.

"We need to talk!" Came his wife's voice on the other end, the unapologetic firm but gentle tone pierced his soul, he was star struck, before he thought of what to say, the call ended.

"Damn it!" He cursed under his breath, how he was rendered helpless and completely weakened by a woman amazed him.

"Nah! I'm definitely calling back, nobody orders me a..." His phone pinged the moment he was about sending the call, a text came in, stating a location and time for the meeting. "Hmm...interesting, that's the tiger i recognize" he smiled to himself and turned on the ignition, the engine roared and died.

"What the heck universe? Wrong place and wrong time" he kept trying to get the car to start but to no avail. He cursed and yelled, what is he going to do, there's no soul for miles, the closest building is fifteen kilometres, there's no point finding a hotel or motel cause he ain't getting none, the fortress is in the middle of nowhere, without an invite, no body would ever imagine a place exists like this. He tried a few times before leaning back in frustration on the laid back seat and thought of what next. He couldn't hold still for a while, especially with his mind replaying different images.

"Hmm, i'm going in, this is my house, my life and my family. why should i run away... who does that? who would do that?" he talked to himself repeatedly, sometimes challenging himself, sometimes motivating.

"you can do this". he opened the door and walked up the pavement, made it to the door, he was about to grab the handle when he froze, he took a deep breath and took few steps backward. How can he face his wife, what explanation will he give his kids if they don't see him for a while after tonight, and how does he break it to them when the divorce goes through? The divorce.... his heart ache at the sound of it. How did he mess up this big, where did he go wrong and how is he going to fix this now. He paced on the pavement, thinking of how to resolve this mess. He's a man of integrity and most of all, he loves his wife dearly so there's no cause for separation.

"We'll talk things out as adults, get counseling and all the help we need, this can be resolved and it will be" he exhaled and walked back to his car, stared hard at the mansion, got into his car, turned on the ignition (it worked this time).

"ah! universe!" he drove out of the fortress, into the road and....

**...**

Daemon sat lost in thought in the witness box, his knees feeble and his fists clenched hard. He can't believe he just got divorced, his chest tightened and he felt dizzy, he was just a line away from hyperventilating, he tried hard to gasp air but his throat felt dry, with his eyes tightly shut and his hand on his chest he inhaled hard-really hard. At this point, he was losing it really fast, his hands started shaking...

"No, no, no! Wrong place!, wrong place!" He said in a firm but quiet tone. He reached for his pockets for his pills but alas, there were none. He had forgotten to refill his pill wallet with dosages of prescribed medications, he literally has not been himself the past months, especially with the divorce process going on, he has been tardy, drunk on some occasions and completely disorganized. He hated this version of himself and blamed it on no one but himself, there really wasn't time to regret a lot of things cause his seizure was graduating to the next stage. It usually starts from dizziness to his hands shaking profusely then the vibration seeps through his entire body, then, black out! Sometimes the black out lasts for hours, minutes and if he's lucky enough, few seconds. He prayed earnestly in his heart that it doesn't grow past the hands shaking cause he can't afford letting the world know of his ailment cause he has tried darn hard to keep it a secret from everyone, including his wife and family, only his mom knew and she did a great job from keeping it locked tight between them, she knew it would ruin his chance of having a normal life if people knew cause they would treat him as fragile, whenever he experienced a seizure at school and the school asked, her response was that he was reacting to some medications from a distant continent. He chuckled now at how ridiculous that sounded but it always worked, he seldom experienced much seizures at school cause his anxiety was always in check, sometimes off completely but right now it's going through the roof, he struggled hard to keep the hands from shaking too much. "Oh no" the vibration has begun to spread across his ribs and soon it'll move up his rib cages affecting his breathing and once his oxygen supply is interrupted, it'll shoot up his spine in chills and shut his brain off. He started breathing hard and fast, he looked around to check if anyone was watching or might notice but to his favor, everyone had seem to forget about his existence and for once he was happy not being noticed, he breathed in a labored manner, he tried so hard to stand cause standing slows the process but his legs were jelly at this point, he felt like groaning out loud but that would draw attention to him, the vibration at this point is at the chill stage, just few seconds before his brain goes off, he took hard deep breathes knowing at this point it's game over, his secret will be out, the world will know and he could imagine the headlines of the news articles already.

"Billion dollar empire heir collapse after divorce" ''heart break or health break?''... Just as the last thought was about escaping his mind, the chill was at this point graduating to his brain, he could feel it almost shutting, in seconds he would be out out, he started the count down in his mind.

"5..4...3...2..."...

"Daddy!!" Came the voice of his four years old. He gasped hard, took four long deep breaths, exhaled like that'll be his last. The sound of his daughter's voice stopped his brain from shutting off completely.

"K...kaila" he stuttered as he tried hard to gain control of consciousness, he stared at her but all he saw was blurred dark visions of who stood before him, he blinked hard to get a clear view. She pressed tight against him in a warm embrace, her little hands wrapped his neck.

"i want you daddy" came her voice in a teary tone. "Kaila!" He managed to call her name amidst his struggling.

"Mommy said you don't want to be her bubu anymore, why daddy?" Said kaila in between sobs "i want my daddy, i want you!".

"O kaila" Daemon said in a soft and comforting tone, this time the chills had weared off alongside the vibrations, his hands still shook but he could move them, he hugged his daughter dearly and sobbed a few.

"Daddy isn't going anywhere. Look kaila" he freed her from the tight embrace and brought her to face him. "I love you kaila, always, i may not be mommy's bubu anymore but i'm forever kaila's teddy, yeah?"

"Yeah"

"I'll forever be you and khalid's dad, nothing can stop that ok?"

She nodded in affirmation still sobbing.

"There dear, it's ok" he held her close, his heart ached so much for his little daughter, he didn't know how to process the whole divorce thing cause he grew up in a love home, his parents never got divorced, this is all new to him though he had few friends who came from divorced homes but it was never an experience to relate with, if he's lost and helpless in this situation, he can only fathom how his kids are processing it, at this point he felt his world shattering as he peered into his daughter's eyes and saw the heavy sadness that sat there. He heaved a heavy sigh of relief as he gathered his thoughts, he looked around the court room, although crowded, he felt alone and abandoned, he held his daughter's hand and with the strength he drew from it he stood up, this time with an amazing amount of strength and vigor, he walked to where his son was seated.

"Hey khal" he rustled through his hair playfully. "Dad!" Khalid responded with laughter in his tone. Daemon squat to meet eye and eye with his kids "how are you guys holding up?"

"I miss mom" replied khalid in a sad tone

"Yeah, me too, but hey! We are one unconquered team yeah?"

"Yeah!" Chorused khalid and kaila

"Mom left without saying goodbye, doesn't she love us anymore?" Khalid said tearfully

"Hey, she loves you both so much. Look, some things in life are best letting go of, you both will forever be a part of her world and she'll never forget you both in a hurry, she loves you so so much. Here" he hugged both of them in a tight embrace, he really was trying hard to keep his emotions in check, someone tapped his shoulder he turned to see his sister smiling softly, she had the most charming and comforting smile, he felt light flooding through his heart. "Bibi"

"Bob" came his sister's response "mom's waiting in the car" she nodded towards the exit.

"Alright guys, let's go meet gran gran". All four of them made for the exit...

**...**