Mr. President’s

His eyes bored into hers pleadingly, as he held her close in his arms. He wanted her and she wanted him but if another woman had the ring, and she had his heart, what happens in the future? Why couldn’t he take back his ring and end things with Jane? The more Mercedes thought about it, the more uneasy she felt Seeing she hadn’t given him a response, Nathan asked again

“You ain’t gonna leave me are you?” He was nervous. Nathan Legend was nervous and scared of rejection. Well, every man had a breaking point.

Mercedes was going to let him off so easily. She wasn’t ready to be a Thanksgiving turkey. “That depends. I can’t be with you in secret while another woman carries herself as your fance. You have to choose.

Nathan’s grip tightened around her waist. “No, I only have one woman and that is you but I can’t leave Jane because.”

Mercedes felt too weak to hold it in. Why was it so easy when Griffin introduced Penelope but with Nathan, she was being selfish and greedy. She didn’t want to share him. Perhaps the obsession was mutual. “Because what?” she urged him on, ignoring her shattering heart.

“She has my son.”

Mercedes gaped loudly, taking a deep breath through her mouth, as she pulled herself away from him, adjusting her clothes and wiping her tears. It was a painful reality. Nathan didn’t want a child with her because he already had one. It made everything he ever said to her fibs. She didn’t feel comfortable continuing the conversation because it seemed useless.

How could she compete with Jane who had his son? They were bound by something precious and she wasn’t going to take a man away from his family, most importantly a father away from his child. “I have to go,” she said, heading to the door but Nathan sensed something and said,

“Before you judge me, why don’t you ask for an explanation?” Hearing his voice, she stood at the door, her back turned to him. She turned to come face to face with him, just as Nathan’s phone began to ring but he ignored it. This was more important to him than any call

“What difference does it make? I want to get married, have five children and live a happy life. You don’t want marriage and you already have a son. I will be a fool to hope that you will be mine, Mercedes spat the bitter truth and swirled around,

Before she could open the door, Nathan wrapped his arms around her, while she tried to push him away. “Don’t fight it, Merce. Please listen first. If you still want to end it, I won’t force you.” he said gently. When he realized she was calm, he led her back to the sofa and sat beside her with little distance between them.

“Growing up as a child, I lost my mum at age five. I grew distant from everyone. A year later, my father married another woman, Sarah. She was nice to me but I always felt she was faking it because of stories people said about stepmothers. She had a best friend, Bernice – Jane’s mother. She always came around with Jane. She was just two when she started coming to our villa so I took care of her. We became close as we grew up and since Sarah had miscarriages and never had a child of her own, Jane was like a sister to me and I loved her so much”

I got to college. I

“God, I did. I felt disgusted by females as I grew up but as a sister, I always wanted her close and was protective of her but when I was her senior and she was my junior so I graduated before her. I visited her from time to time with Lanre and she would joke that I was her boyfriend. I never disproved, which I should have done because I thought she was crazy. I waited to meet her boyfriend but she never introduced

any man to me”

“A couple of times, I would see her close to guys and she would call them friends. I never felt for her, anything other than a sister’s love but one day, she invited me to dinner. I had already eaten with Lanre so I told her I was full. She insisted we have a drink together because she had something important to tell me. I was concerned so I went over to her house. She offered me wine. It wasn’t the first time I ate or drank with her so I didn’t suspect anything but after taking that wine, I didn’t recall anything, only waking up naked beside her the next morning”

“I felt guilty. So guilty, I couldn’t look her in the eyes. It seemed to me that I slept with my sister because I felt no sexual attraction to her. She was crying the whole time but I couldn’t console her as I used to do when she was depressed or anything. She told everything to her mum, then to my dad a month later, when she brought the pregnancy test result.”

“My dad didn’t want her to give birth out of wedlock so he insisted that I married her. I knew I wouldn’t make her happy if we got married so I tried to talk her out of it but she got upset and called me a loser. She threatened to abort the child. I couldn’t allow an innocent life to be lost because of my foolishness so I accepted to get engaged to her. I couldn’t help it but ever since the sex thing, things were never the same between us. I never saw her the same and felt uneasy with her presence. Perhaps it was my guilt working discomfort in my brain so I begged for a three–year break to put myself together, so she lived with my father and stepmother in Spain.”

“I thought that perhaps. I would get over the guilt and marry her. The day I met you at the club, my father had called to remind me to begin arrangements for the wedding. I still wasn’t ready so I was just drinking my misery away. Then you appeared out of nowhere like a sexy angel. After everything that happened between you and me. I realized that Jane was hiding something. How could I not have recalled everything when I vividly remembered everything that happened between you and me even when I had drunk so much? I felt she drugged me and I’m not going to take it kindly with her

“Since I refused to marry her, she refused to allow me to see my son. Together with my dad, they use him as a bargaining chip. I’m a father and 1 don’t even know my son. It hurts but I won’t make it worse by marrying a woman I don’t love, Merce. I could use every means to get my son but they are under my father’s protection and he is the only one I can’t go against. Meeting you. I feel the guilt I lived with for close to three years no

inore because I’m certain that she drugged me,” he sighed after the long narration,

Mercedes was moved with tenderness, Tm sorry you went through that but what would you do now?” She asked with uncertainty.

Nathan smiled, but it wasn’t a happy one. It was one with a premonition. I’m going to fight back if only you agree to be with me. I can’t promise you marriage now but as soon as I get my son. I will make you my wife and I hope you will love him,” he sounded remorseful as he spoke,

Mercedes went into deep thought. She was going to be in a relationship without a name till he got his son back. How soon could that be! She recalled how Nathan bonded with Oliver and began to piece it all together. “Is that why you took a keen interest in my brother? Somehow, did you feel like you were doing for him, what you would have done for your son?”

“Yes,” he abruptly responded. She realized that he didn’t hate kids as he thought. He was just in a dilemma and a web woven by Jane.

Td love to meet your son too, she smiled, their eyes locked in admiration for each other.

“I need something else, Nathan said, making her anxious. Perhaps it was becoming too much for her but she was still anxious,

“What’s that?” She asked him

Nathan paused for a while, staring at her quizzically. “Spend the night with me,” he blurted out. Mercedes felt her heart skip. She missed him too but was it the right thing to do at a time like this?

“Your fiance is back and she will be in your house. She was poking to know if Jane was going to live with Nathan. She didn’t know how she was going to take it if that was the case.

“Please stop calling her my fiance and don’t think about where we are going to spend the night. I just need your confirmation. I miss you Merce