By 8am, Edmond and Austin were already in my compound, and without much ado, we headed to the office.
Everyone who saw Austin and Edmond were amazed at their resemblance.
Without passing through any protocol, we headed straight to the MD’s office.
I was the last to enter her office owing to the fact that I was not yet convinced of her true nature.
Immediately she saw us, she stood up in fright. She tried to say something, but she ran out of words.
“You? You are… Who are you people?” she managed to voice out, but in a calm manner.
Edmond tried to respond, but was interrupted by her.
“Whoever is Austin should just keep shut. You know you are not supposed to be seen anywhere around this premises.”
“Errmmmm, Madam. Let me tell you what is going on here. Edmond here claims you are…”
“Who is Edmond among them?”
I turned to them and asked, “Who is Edmond among you?”
None of them responded. It was a calculated act. We all agreed not to reveal who among them was Austin to avoid being arrested as he was barred by the court from entering EWEE Oil & Gas premises.
“I am not even able to identify them, but please, you have to listen to what we have to say,” I paused as I looked at them all.
“Edmond here claims you are his wife, I mean you were his wife. However, there is a problem. Take a look at these pictures,” I handed her Edmond’s phone and she carefully looked at the pictures.
“Jesus Christ!” she exclaimed. “I am lost. This…this woman looks like me, but I don’t have any of these clothes neither have I been to any of these places. How come? Are these her children?”
“Yes! Her son and her daughter. But the problem here is… she… she… she is dead. Sorry to ask, have you died before?” I asked.
At the mention of “dead”, the phone slipped off her fingers and she reclined back to her seat.
“How can you say such a thing? Do I look like a dead person? Do dead people even…? Wait ooo. Whoever among you is Austin, why didn’t you tell me you had a twin? I didn’t know keeping secretes was one of your many bad traits.”
“I am Austin. I had no idea I had a brother. My father told me this scar emanated from an accident I had when I was a child. When I came to your place yesterday to see the kids before they return to school, I met Edmond. I was as shocked as you are. He told me about you, how you sacked him the moment you saw him and…”
“Yeah! I thought you changed your identity so you could continue stalking me. When I ordered for his file, I discovered his name was Edmond. That made me hate you the more. He is reinstated with immediate effect.”
“Edmond and I were joined on the head. Conjoined twins. Our parents, our biological parents had no money to pay for the operation that was to be made in India. It was my father, the one you know, that volunteered to foot the bill covering the cost of the operation with the condition that our mother would give out one of us to him in appreciation for his kind gesture.
That was how I ended up with the Donwells.”
“Wait! Wait! Wait! You mean Late Chief Donwell was not your biological father?”
“That is how it has turned out to be. Donwell was not my biological father.”
“How do I even believe you? So I had been married to an abstract all these years?”
“Remember my white scrotum? Edmond also has same. He…”
“Madam,” Edmond interrupted, “My mother told me everything when she was still alive. Everyone in our family has these white patches.
My brother and I are identical. What I still don’t understand is how you got into my life. How you became my wife and even bore children for me. How you died and got buried, but at the same time, you got married to my twin brother and also bore him children too. We need explanations.”
“Edmond, I don’t know what you are talking about. I have never died before.
I am equally as confused as you are. Yes, I resemble your late wife, but those kids are not mine, and I am not the lady on those photos.”
“Excuse me please,” I tipped in, “Edmond, what was your late wife’s maiden name?”
“Her name was Rukiyat Adewale Ambode, from Lagos State.”
“You see? That’s not me. My name is Rukiat Ayodele Bola. I am from Ibadan.”
“Yes! That’s her name. She’s from Ibadan. That’s where I married her,” Austin confirmed.
“There is only one solution to this. We will have to go to Ibadan to make findings. My mother is still alive, maybe she will help us to unravel the identity of your late wife, and if we cannot find anything there, we will proceed to Lagos for more findings. If it turns out to be true that I had a sister, then I will forever cherish her.”
“What of Papa?” Austin asked.
“Papa died about a year ago.”
“And no one told me?”
“Told you as who? The moment we got divorced, you ceased to me a member of our family. So who lives or who dies does not concern you.”
Austin bowed his head, brought out his handkerchief and wiped tears from his eyes.
That was the first time he knew that his ex-wife’s father was no more.
“So how do we get to Ibadan?” Edmond asked.
“That won’t be a problem. We will fly from Uyo,” Austin assured.
“Fly? I hope you are not talking about flying on airplane? No way. There is no way I’m getting on that thing,” I protested.
I was afraid the MD would crash the airplane and as a demon, disappeared into thin air.
However, I was later convinced and we left for Ibadan by air.