Noah's POV

Ever since Ijeoma confided in me about how she was feeling, I noticed a change in attitude. I didn't know if it was what I said or something else entirely but she wasn't as gloomy as she used to be. She wasn't exactly all smiles but she was moping around the house, there was an air of determination around her.

I actually thought the new attitude would falter immediately after we had our first visitation. I remember checking up on her every five minutes the morning after because she was extremely quiet after we left Kunle's house. I expected her to recline into her shell after seeing Zozo for the first time in weeks and having to leave her behind with them but she didn't. In fact was more determined than ever.

Due to the fact that two parties lived in different states which were kilometres apart from each other, we had to make the visitations once a month. We wanted to make the visits as frequent as possible but the mediator advised against it. It wasn't economically wise for us to fly over to Lagos and back twice in a month even though we weren't complaining.

As we drove into the Ayorinde's residence, I wasn't surprised to see the edifice that stood firm in the middle of the compound. It was after all the home to a governorship aspirant, I didn't expect anything less. It was a large storey building, painted peach with cream crevices and slabs. Properly groomed flowers rested on the walls that surrounded the compound. To the side of the house laid a freshly mowed lawn. A small pawpaw tree was planted at a corner of the lawn. From what I could see, the beautification of the house was done with great care.

Once we got down from our car, a man in a blue stripped uniform approached us. He kept his conversation with us as minimal as possible while he led us to the side of the house. A set of five black outdoor chairs were placed around a circular table on the lawn. There was a circular hole in the middle of the table where the pole holding a large umbrella passed through.

The umbrella provided a well appreciated shade from the hot afternoon sun. After indicating that we wait for Kunle on the outdoor chairs, the man in blue disappeared into the house.

We waited for about ten minutes before, a young lady in the same uniform as the man appeared with a tray. The tray held a Chivita apple juice box and two empty glasses. Ijeoma eyed the tray warily as the young lady set it down on the table.

"Do I pour it for you?" the lady asked

I held up a hand to her. "No, thank you. We're fine"

She nodded and walked away.

Mrs. Funmilayo appeared almost as quickly as the lady left. She was dressed in a black boubou, a black matching turban sat on her head and her face all made up like she was about to step out.

"Sorry for the wait. Welcome" she said as she approached us.

Ijeoma and I stood to exchange handshakes with her out of curtsey. They were after all the ones who housed our daughter, some form of cordiality needed to be observed.

"Fadekemi would soon be out. She's having her lunch" Mrs. Funmilayo said

"Fadekemi?" Ijeoma asked with furrowed brows

"Chizolu... we gave her a Yoruba name. I mean she didn't have one and her father is a Yoruba man" she stated. "It's only right"

Ijeoma took a moment to digest the information. "Is it official?"

"Of course. We had it added to her birth certificate" Mrs. Funmilayo replied nonchalantly

There was a short lived silence before Ijeoma spoke up.

"What?! Wait... hold on, you added a name to my daughter's certificate without informing me. Is this a joke?" Ijeoma spat out, her eyes squinted in annoyance.

"We didn't see any reason why you should be informed, it's not like we changed her surname. After all, we didn't even have a say in her first name" Mrs. Funmilayo said

"Should I be happy that you didn't change my daughter's surname? Your son chose to be absentee father that was not my fault. You had no right making such a decision without talking to me first" Ijeoma spat angrily

"I would argue that we do in fact have the right" Mrs. Funmilayo said tauntingly.

Before Ijeoma could utter her next words, I took her hand in my mine and made a rubbing motion on her palm. She was quickly losing her temper and if this first visitation didn't go well, it could prevent us from having anymore visitations. She gave me a quick glance before closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath.

"You know what its fine... its fine. Can we just see her?" She said looking back up at Mrs. Funmilayo

"Of course. I'll go and get her" Mrs. Funmilayo said before retreating into the house.

"Are you okay?" I asked, still drawing the circular patterns on her palm.

"I'm fine. I just can't believe that they would such a decision and not deem it fit to consult me." She poured out. "I leave my child with them for a couple of weeks and they've already given her a new name. I mean what's next? A tribal mark?"

"I swear to God if anybody goes near my daughter's face with a blade, they would see my true colour" she declared seething.

"Mummmmmyyyy!!!!"

Zozo's scream pierced the air. We both turned simultaneously to the source of the sound. Ijeoma barely had enough time to step out of her seat before Zozo slammed herself against her. Mrs. Funmilayo followed at a slower pace than Zozo and we both watched as Ijeoma showered Zozo with kisses whilst holding her like her life depended on it.

"Dadddyyyyy!!" Zozo screamed out after Ijeoma finally released her and launched herself at me.

I noticed a slight wince from Mrs. Funmilayo when Zozo called me 'daddy'. I caught Zozo and lifted her into the air before placing her on my chest. The excited squeals that escaped her filled me with an indescribable feeling.

"My angel" I said, placing a big kiss on her cheeks.

"I missed you" she exclaimed

"We missed you too" Ijeoma said as she took Zozo back into her arms.

Ijeoma was beaming with smiles. It was almost comical how two seconds ago she was fuming and now, she was smiling and laughing without a care in the world.

"Wait... Isn't Kunle supposed to be here?" I asked as soon as his absence occurred to me.

"Yeah..." Ijeoma looked up from Zozo to Mrs. Funmilayo expectantly

She was completely carried away by seeing Zozo for the first time in such a long time that she forgot Kunle was supposed to be here as well.

"Yes but he's being held up at work. Don't worry, he left me to take care of everything" Mrs. Funmilayo answered

"This is the first visitation we have with his so called daughter, I would've thought that he would be here for it but its fine. I expected nothing less" Ijeoma said, muttering the last part underneath her breath

Judging from the frown that graced Mrs. Funmilayo's face, I knew she heard that last bit. We moved on to spending whatever time we had left with Zozo and Mrs. Funmilayo thankfully kept her distance allowing us some alone time.

Ijeoma tried her best not to overwhelm Zozo with questions in her bid to know if she was being treated properly. She also did a physical examination on her to certify that she wasn't abused or beaten by anybody. At the end of her motherly inspection, she was somewhat satisfied with her results. Zozo was fine. Although, when there was a mention of Kunle to Zozo who she had registered as her uncle rather than father, there was a change in facial impression. She didn't really like him that much.

According to her, he wasn't friendly and he always shouted at her. The piece of information didn't sit well with me. We tried probing her for reasons why he always shouted at her for but all she did was shrug her shoulders. What could a child possibly do to warrant yelling at them, so much so that's the only thing they know you for. I mean this is supposed to be your daughter, right? The one that you legally fought for?

When the day drew to the end of the visit and our allocated time had been exhausted, it was a hassle trying to explain to Zozo why we still couldn't take her with us. She had to be carried into the house kicking and screaming by one of the servants while we walked to over to our car.

Ijeoma maintained a hard resolve until we drove out of the premises before allowing tears to roll down her eyes. I had one hand on the steering wheel and the other on her lap, gently rubbing it to comfort her. As soon as we arrived at her parent's house, she announced that she was turning in for the night. I figured that she needed some time to herself as well so I filled her parents in on how the visitation went before eventually joining her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Yeah. I'll be coming in tomorrow" I said into my phone

A couple of 'yes' and 'of course' were uttered before I finally hung up the phone and placed it on the side stool.

I had resumed work a few days ago. We had no idea how long this battle would drag on for and judging by the amount of time we had before the court of appeal summoned us, it was paramount that I got back to work. Due to the amount of days I took off work, I returned to a pile of work so right now I was trying to compile my medical notes.

The tapping sound of my keyboard was the only sound that filled the living room for the next two hours. A chime sound followed soon after as a notification popped up on the side of my screen. I clicked on it and the headlines swiftly caught my attention. It was talking about the dates that had been selected for the incoming JAMB examinations and also something about reprinting.

Ijeoma had used my laptop to check out her JAMB stuff so I wasn't surprised to see notifications about it popping up. She must've set it up to remind her.

I placed my laptop on the sofa beside me and then proceeded to stand. I did a quick stretch, sitting in one spot for hours stiffened my muscles. I made my way up the stairs to Ijeoma's room and then placed a subtle knock before walking in.

She was seated on her bed, her legs crisscrossed in front of her. There were a couple of books sprawled out before her, some of which were closed and just laid beside her. She looked up at me as soon as in walked in.

"Hey..." I drawled out as I walked over to her

She gave me a small smile. "HI"

"I see you're reading" I gestured to the books before her

"Yeah... The dates for my exam have been decided so hence..." she pointed at the books

"I just got a notification from some site saying the same thing" I said

"Oh yeah, I allowed notifications from that site. Anyways yesterday, I googled it so if the dates were out and they were so I already knew" she replied

"So you're going to take the exam" I said, more like asked

"Of course" she nodded

"Really? Well, I'm glad that you are. I was worried that you might not want to especially with what's going on?" I said

"I actually wasn't at first but then I decided I'm done sitting around, feeling sorry for myself. I've done the whole moping around the house depressed thing in the past and it didn't work well for me." She said. "I want to be stronger than that. I need to be stronger than that... which is why I'm pulling myself together and doing what I have to do while we wait for a miracle"

"I want to be able to look back at this time in my life and feel happy that despite everything that was going on, I was able to accomplish something. I know this situation would one day be a thing of the past and we would have our daughter back with us. It's only a matter of time and believing."

"Wow... I'm so proud of you" I said in awe

She smiled. "I'm so proud of me too"

"I'm going to leave you to it so you can concentrate" I said before heading for the door. "Well done"

"Thank you"

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If you happen to notice any grammatical errors, kindly point it out so I can take care of it. I couldn't go over it again because I wanted to put it out as soon as possible.

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