12th Dîsciplê Episode 40

Danica

I couldn’t let go of him; not even for one second. I just hugged him tight, weeping on his shirt.

“Please….” I whimpered again.

“Just take me away from here. If you don’t, I’ll run away”.

He stroke my hair gently, not saying a word.

“Danica!” I heard my name and knew instantly it was grandma.

Gosh! Should I even be calling her grandma? We aren’t connected, right? According to them.

I lifted my head from the prince’s chest to see her scuttling towards me.

“Danica! Danica” she panted heavily and I just watched tearfully without saying a word.

“Oh, goodness! I’m so sorry, Danica. Please, there’s so much to say. Let me explain…”

“You knew about this, granny”, I cut in tearfully.

“You knew about this, yet kept it from me”.

“Believe me,,Danica. I didn’t know until this evening. When the….When the doctor had demanded for a transfusion, I’d ordered to give him my blood, but he told me our blood didn’t match, neither did Kim’s. That was when I questioned Kim privately and she had exposed everything to me -telling me of how she switched you and Bitna just to get back at your mother. I’m so sorry,Danica. Please, forgive me”. She whimpered.

I didn’t know what to believe or say, so I just turned my face from her, still weeping.

Shortly, Bitna’s parents came running towards us as well. Oh! Or should I say “my parents?”

“I…I don’t want to talk to anyone. I don’t wanna see anyone. Please” I gibbered and tried walking away, but granny held me back.

“Danica please.,…”

“Let go of her!” Maya snapped and suddenly pushed granny’s hand away from mine.

There was anger in her eyes.

“Hey; we all need to calm down” her husband chipped in.

“In as much as this could be true, we still need to confirm. We need to run a DNA on both kids”.

I looked at him.

“Is there even a need for that?” Maya asked.

“You heard what they said….”

“Yes. Kim is known to be a liar. It’s possible she could lying about all these. The DNA can be done first thing in the morning. We need Bitna and Kim present”.

“Well, until then, I don’t want to see this woman or her daughter anywhere around mine”.

“I’m leaving the hospital” I suddenly chipped in, taking a nervous gulp. I’m going with the prince”.

“What?”

“Danica,,you can’t” Granny said immediately.

“Please, don’t try to stop me. As at this moment, I don’t even know who my family is. I don’t….I don’t know who to trust. I don’t know who’s lying to me. So, please, I just need to go elsewhere”.

“But you can’t leave the hospital. You’re still undergoing treatment” Maya said.

‘I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me. Please”.

I turned to the prince and mutter:

“Please, let’s go”.

He stared at me, then nodded.

And without any word from them, we left.

*

*

Kim

I was almost at the gates of the palace when I suddenly stopped and cogitated.

Mother’s words came ringing into my head:

“The day you tell anyone the truth about Danica being the 12th disciple, that very day, I’ll kill myself”.

I bit my lips in anger. That was when I was in jail and she had made me promise her I was going to keep my mouth shut – never to reveal the secret.

Oh! Damn. I hated it.

I fisted my hands on both sides and thought of it.

Maya – recalling all the pains and humiliation she made me pass through was eating me up. B’tch framed me and went ahead to influence the judge so he’d give me a sentence that was about my crime – 18 f**king years in jail.

No way; I was never going to forgive her – never. And I swear with my life, I’ll make her pay and make sure she loses her daughter – the same way she made me lose mine for eighteen years.

I turned back and headed home, taking a cab. And after a very long time, I arrived.

On getting to the house, I found two people outside, sitting on the floor.

Huh?

Christina?

I arched my brows and walked towards them and as soon as they spotted me, they stood up.

She was with her son – her grown up son – Leo.

“Christina?” I called.

“Ah! Finally, you’re home. What the hell happened, Kim? I’ve been sitting out here for hours now”. She grouse.

I discovered there were bags of clothes on the floor next to them.

Christina was my long time friend and I might say – best friend – before I was arrested.

“I was….I was busy. But is there a problem? Why’re you here?” I asked.

“Well um…you see” she paused and itched her head.

Her son was just staring widely at me. Well, I knew him to be rude.

“Our rent expired, Kim. You know, I told you about it. And….Leo and I have nowhere to go – for the meantime. Could we just….squat with you? You know? For a few days, only. My brother in Manilla is already making preparations for a house for us already and as soon he’s done, Leo and I are living the house – promise” she enthused.

Hold on..

Seriously??

I scoffed and itched my nape.

“Actually Christina, you know me, I’d love to help. But right now, my mother and I are having….”

“Oh! Kim, please. Don’t push me away. We have nowhere else to go” she whinned.

Oh! Perfect.

I rolled my eyes and thought about it for a while.

“Fine” I mumbled and walked into the house and they followed.

*

*

Danica

I sat quietly on the couch, my eyes glued to the floor, unable to concentrate on the movie that played on the TV. The prince had played it, hoping it’d entertain me

But it wasn’t.

After a while, he showed up.

“Come on, Danica. Time to eat” he tilted his head.

I was silent for a while, my hand on my jaw before replying:

‘I’m not hungry”.

He sighed and sat next to me.

“I understand how you feel. And I want you to know I’m deeply sorry. Somehow, I feel this is all my fault”.

“My prince, please….”,

I turned to look at him.

“You don’t have to blame yourself. You….You didn’t do anything wrong.

“If this didn’t happen, I probably wouldn’t have known I’ve been lied to for eighteen years”.

He exhaled deeply.

“Fine! If you want me to have a peaceful mind, then come with me …you need to eat”. He said, tempting me.

I didn’t want to, but his words were blackmailing my emotions.

I smiled lightly and stood up and he did same as well.

He held my hand and we were about walking away when I suddenly felt a pain trigger from the side of my tummy where I’d been shot.

“Ah!” I winced as I held my tummy.

“Danica…?” He shrieked and I fell on him.

*

*

TBC.