As things get complicated in relationships, we fight those we might believe are standing in our way of happiness, as we battle to untie our souls from them.
Enjoy this excerpt from Providence – Mystery of the Sou Ties!
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Excerpt
EXCERPT:
Peter contacted Jewls out of the blue, after not speaking to her for almost a year. He was not doing well at his workplace. He was an associate at a huge law firm, but wanted to check if he could join Jewls’ firm as her partner. Jewls’ secretary transferred the call to her without establishing from her first, as to whether she would take Peter’s call. She had no reason to believe she would not want to take the call.
“Jewls Jama…,” she answered.
“Hi Jewls, it’s Peter.”
“Hi, I thought you and I weren’t talking,” she scoffed.
“Well…, we’re not really talking…, about personal stuff I mean. I have a business proposition and please hear me out before you say anything,” he begged.
“What is it, Peter?” she asked gallingly.
“I’d like to join your firm as your partner and bring all my clients with me. We can negotiate the terms, especially how much I might have to put down and so forth…”
Jewls interrupted Peter before he could even complete his statement.
“Peter, that’s not going to happen. What’s wrong with where you’re working? Why don’t you open your own practice? I don’t really need a partner. I’m pretty happy with how I’m working right now,” she added dismissively.
“Wow Jewls, so many questions at once! Anyway, I’m no longer happy here Jewls, because I don’t really get to make major decisions that affect this practice. It also does not look like I’d be made a partner anytime soon,” he lamented.
“Then open your own firm Peter. Trust me, it’s very fulfilling. I have no intentions of taking on a partner anyway,” she said.
“Not even me?” he asked forlornly.
“Especially not you,” she said.
“I thought you and I were in sync Jewls. May I ask why you wouldn’t want to work with me?”
“Peter, surely you don’t think that after insulting my boyfriend and disrespecting our relationship, I’d still want you in my space, did you?”
“Jewls, I was in shock when I first heard about your relationship, but you’ve got to admit, this is highly atypical. For years, you and Mike were like brother and sister and now…, you’re sharing a bed!” he ridiculed once more.
“There you go again! You know…, I don’t actually have to listen to this. In any event, Mike doesn’t want you anywhere near me. Even if I could forgive you, I’d never take you on as a partner,” she said, dropping the phone in Peter’s ear.
Peter was not pleased and decided to do the most idiotic thing ever! He went to see Michael, who had just arrived back at his office from speaking to Jewls’ father, and was in a very pleasant mood, as he reflected on his and Jewls’ impending future.
Having been away from work for almost two hours, Michael had no time to chitchat with anybody and immediately got to work as soon as he arrived. His eyes were fixed on what he was working on in his office, and hadn’t noticed a figure standing at the door, gawking at him and bearing a silly grin.
When he raised his head briefly from his documents, he saw Peter standing there, impassive and still bearing a daft smile. It was clear however, that he was a man with a lot to say.
“What are you doing here? How did you get past my secretary?” Michael asked, his tone hardening as he stood up from his chair, determined to admonish Peter.
“Oh…, relax Doc. I’m just here to say a few things really, and then I’ll leave you in peace,” a conceited Peter said, entering Michael’s office uninvited then closing the door behind him.
“You’ve got some nerve showing up here like this. Who gave you the right to waltz in here as if you owned this place? What do you want?” an irate Michael could not believe Peter’s nerve, as he paced up and down his office insolently, taunting him disdainfully, touching medical instruments he found on Michael’s side credenza then putting them down.
“You know Doc…, I get it now. The reason you’ve never really liked me was because you felt threatened by me, didn’t you? You pervert!” Peter’s bile emerged, catching Michael completely off-guard.
“Careful Peter…, I suggest you leave now before I really lose my cool, you’re a boy and Jewls needed a real man,” he warned, while Peter chuckled contemptuously.
“What are you going to do Doctor Michael Mokoena? Punch me?” he shook his head, revealing his silliest grin ever. “You know… for a doctor, you are very slow. Jewls and I share something deeper than what you and her perhaps share,” he roared, while Michael’s ego was becoming increasingly wounded.
Michael kept his fists clinched and was about to put them to ‘good use’, as his cellphone rang. A brief glance at the screen revealed that it was Jewls calling. He ignored the call, as there was an intruder in his office that needed to be dealt with, before he could call his woman.
“You’re not going to answer that?” Peter taunted.
“Peter, I’m not going to engage with you about my relationship with Jewls. You know very well that she never loved you. Who’s an idiot in this situation huh? How can a man force a relationship with a woman who never wanted him to begin with? Now that’s pathetic. GET OUT OF MY OFFICE BEFORE I THROW YOU OUT!” Michael scolded angrily, observing Peter’s outlandish behaviour and became agitated, eager to teach him a lesson. He managed to control his temper after a while though, knowing the repercussions that would ensue, should he even dare touch the man.
Peter remained impudent, as he continued hurling insults at Michael and taunting him, determined to see him crumble.
“I called Jewls today and… despite your having poisoned her mind against me, we spoke at length and she’s considering taking me on as a partner.” Peter’s blatant lie pierced deep into Michael’s heart, deeper than any of the insults he had hurled at him ever could. He believed what Peter was saying to be true.
Despite the fact that Jewls had given him her word, that she had cut ties with Peter and had never spoken to him until that day when he called her, Michael chose to believe Peter’s lies. He recalled how Jewls had sought to bring him on as her partner anyway. He believed that she went against his wishes and invited the man to join her nonetheless.
Peter enjoyed watching Michael squirm on hearing the news.
“GET OUT OF MY OFFICE BEFORE I DO SOMETHING REGRETTABLE!” Michael screamed, increasingly becoming agitated.
“Oh…, hold your horses…, I’m leaving.” Peter lifted his hands up, whistling as he left Michael’s office, thrilled to have rattled the cage and seemed to have gotten a kick out of exasperating Michael.
Poor Jewls…, she had no idea what was happening as she tried once more to contact Michael on his cellphone and then eventually contacting his landline. He answered the phone.
“Dr Mokoena…”
“Mike, I’ve been trying to reach you. Is everything alright?”
“Yeah…, I know… I was busy,” he answered, his tone dry and indifferent.
Jewls could sense that something was wrong and sought to find out what the problem was.
“My love, are you alright? You sound odd.”
“I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?” he snapped.
“Mike, you’re snapping at me. What did I do wrong?”
“Why don’t you tell me Jewls, seeing as you discuss me with your ex and even contemplate defying me about bringing him on as a partner?”
“Mike, where do you get that from?” she asked fretfully.
“That little boyfriend of yours was just here. He insulted me in my own office, my own building…, telling me how you two spoke like old times and how you’re considering bringing him on as a partner.”
“Mike, honestly now! Can’t you see that Peter is stirring trouble? Yes, I spoke to him but he called me, not the other way round. He said he had a proposition for me to join my firm and I refused. Why would you believe him outright, that I’d go against your wishes anyway? What does that say about our relationship Mike? I don’t like this.”
“What was I supposed to think Jewls? You did consider bringing him on as a partner before, so you can’t expect me not to think that you haven’t been harbouring those feelings.”
“Mike, I gave you my word and why is that not good enough anymore? I don’t understand your reaction to this lunatic’s assertions, I really don’t,” she said, fuming.
“So, are you saying you’re not considering bringing him on as a partner?” he asked, despite what Jewls had said to him.
“I’m saying this conversation is over Mike…,” she seethed, dropping the phone in Michael’s ear, utterly furious at Peter and perhaps more at Michael for believing such lies.
She called her brother Tomas, to tell him what happened and he could not understand why Michael would believe Peter’s lies just like that. He did recall Michael’s severe dislike of Peter however.
Michael’s talk with Jewls about Peter some months ago, had clouded his judgment and he never even once, entertained the thought that the man could have been blatantly lying about Jewls. Tomas was protective of both Michael and Jewls and despite not having been a fan of their relationship initially, once he got used to the idea of them being together, he did everything in his power to protect their relationship.