The Father We Chose (the last part)

The first month with their father felt like a dream. They were finally getting the love and attention they had always wanted. They laughed with him. They went places with him. They listened to his stories. And for a while, they forgot every warning their mother had given them. But the happiness didn't last. By the second month, Ayo began noticing things that didn't feel right. Her father would sometimes disappear for hours without explaining where he had gone. There were strange people coming around. There were things in the house she wasn't allowed to touch. Whenever she asked questions, he always found a way to change the subject. At first, she ignored it. She didn't want to believe anything bad about the man she had spent her whole life wishing to meet. But one night, everything changed. Ayo woke up and needed something from the fridge. As she quietly walked through the house, she noticed her father outside. He wasn't alone. She stopped. What she saw made her heart freeze. Her father was hurting a man. Ayo covered her mouth to stop herself from screaming. She watched in horror as the situation became worse. Then she heard something that made everything her mother had ever said suddenly make sense. Her father was involved in things far more dangerous than she could have imagined. He was a kidnapper. And there was something even worse. He was involved in ritual killings. Ayo couldn't breathe. She quietly returned to the room. For the first time, she understood why her mother had been afraid. Why she had begged them to stay away. Why she had never wanted them to know this man. Ayo didn't sleep that night. By morning, she had made up her mind. She had to get her siblings out. She told Ola and Semi what she had discovered. At first, they didn't believe her. “How can Dad do something like that?” “I saw him,” Ayo whispered. “We have to leave.” They were terrified. But they knew they couldn't stay. So they waited for the right opportunity. When their father was distracted, they gathered what little they could carry and tried to escape. They hadn't gone far when they heard a voice behind them. “Where do you think you're going?” They froze. Their father had caught them. They ran. But there was nowhere to go. He caught them before they could get away and dragged them back inside. This time, there was no kindness in his eyes. He locked them away. The three children cried and begged him to let them go. But he refused. Meanwhile, back home, their mother had never stopped worrying. She knew something wasn't right. Before her children left, she had quietly asked someone she trusted to keep an eye on them. She didn't tell the children. She didn't want them to know. She only wanted to make sure they were safe. Then one day, the person she had planted to watch them finally came to her. “There is a problem.” Her heart dropped. “What happened?” “They're in danger.” Their mother didn't ask another question. She immediately contacted the police. Within hours, she was on her way with them. She had spent years protecting her children. And she wasn't going to stop now. When they reached the father's place, the police surrounded the building. The door was forced open. The children heard the noise from where they had been locked up. “Mummy!” Their mother heard their voices. “Where are my children?” The police searched the house. And finally, they found them. Weak. Frightened. Crying. But alive. Their mother ran to them and held them tightly. For a moment, nobody said anything. They just cried. Their father was arrested. And for the first time, the children understood the truth. Their mother had never been trying to keep their father away from them because she hated him. She had been trying to keep them alive. Days later, they sat in front of their mother. Nobody knew what to say. Ayo finally broke down. “Mummy, we're sorry.” Ola began crying too. “We should have listened to you.” Semi wiped her tears. “We were just happy because we finally had a father.” Their mother stared at them. Her eyes were filled with anger, pain and tears. “Was everything I did for you not enough?” The children cried harder. “I was your mother,” she continued. “I raised you. I protected you. I gave you everything I could. And when I warned you, you thought I was your enemy.” “We're sorry, Mummy,” Ayo cried. “We were blinded by his love.” “We were blinded by the love we never had from a father,” Ola added. Their mother looked away. She was hurt. Deeply hurt. But these were still her children. The same children she had carried, raised and protected all their lives. After a long silence, she pulled them into her arms. They all cried together. “I forgive you,” she whispered. The children held onto her tightly. And in that moment, they finally understood something they had failed to see before. They had spent their whole lives searching for a father's love. But the person who had loved them every single day... had been right there all along. Their mother. And perhaps the greatest mistake they had ever made was choosing the father they wanted over the mother who had never stopped choosing them.

The Father We Chose

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