24/09/2026
ONE WRONG CHOICE, EPISODE 29.
James stood speechless, staring at his father.
His mouth opened, but for several seconds, no words came out.
He glanced at Amanda, then at the phone in her hand, and finally at his mother, as though he was looking for someone who could save him from the situation he had found himself in.
“Dad, I…”
He swallowed hard.
“Amanda is just lying.”
Amanda stared at him in disbelief.
“Lying?”
James nodded quickly.
“Yes, you're lying!. I don't know why she is doing this. Maybe she just wants to cause trouble or—”
“Enough!!.”
Mr. Andrews' voice was hoarse.
James became quiet.
Mr. Andrews pointed at the phone Amanda was holding.
“You mean that phone is not yours? You know your mother got that phone for you through your aunt. You want to say you didn't give it to her?!”
James hesitated.
Amanda stepped forward.
“Sir, let me show you.”
She unlocked the phone again and began scrolling through the messages.
Her hands were shaking, but she was determined.
“These are our conversations. He sent these messages to me. He was the one who kept asking me to come to his house. He was the one telling me that he loved me. He was the one making promises to me.”
She turned the phone toward Mr. Andrews.
“Look at this one, sir. And this one too. There are so many of them. I didn't create these messages. I didn't send them to myself. He sent them.”
Mr. Andrews took the phone and looked through the messages carefully.
Amanda continued speaking, her voice breaking as she remembered everything.
“He would ask me when I was coming again. Sometimes, when I didn't answer quickly, he would ask why I was ignoring him. He made me feel like I was important to him. He made me believe that he genuinely cared about me. That was why I trusted him so much.”
She looked directly at James.
“I believed you, James. I believed every word you told me. Even when Sarah warned me, I still defended you because I thought you loved me. I never thought that the day things became difficult, you would stand in front of your parents and pretend that you don't even know me.”
James looked away.
Mr. Andrews raised his eyes from the phone.
“Is this your number?”
James remained silent.
“James, I asked you a question.”
“Yes.”
His voice was barely audible.
Mr. Andrews' face hardened.
“So these messages are yours?”
James swallowed.
“Yes, Dad.”
Amanda closed her eyes as tears rolled down her cheeks.
Mr. Andrews stared at his son in disappointment.
“You stood here and called this girl a liar when you knew very well that those messages were yours? You know you're responsible for the child, James!”
“Dad, I…”
A hard slap landed before he could finish.
James staggered backward and held his cheek.
Lucia immediately rushed toward him.
“James!”
She stood in front of her son protectively.
“Andrews, what is wrong with you? You have slapped him twice already because of this girl!”
Mr. Andrews stared at her.
“This girl has a name.”
Lucia shook her head.
“I don't care what her name is. I will never accept this. I will never accept a local girl coming into this family and tying my son down with a pregnancy.”
Mama Bisi's eyes widened.
“Madam, mind what you are saying.”
Lucia ignored her.
“My son has a future. He has everything ahead of him. He is not going to throw all of that away because some girl from nowhere suddenly claims she is pregnant for him.”
Amanda's tears flowed freely.
Mama Bisi stepped forward.
“Some girl from nowhere?”
Her voice rose.
“Is that how you see another person's daughter? This girl has a mother who struggled every day to raise her. She may not have money like you, but that doesn't make her less human.”
Lucia scoffed.
Mr. Andrews raised his hand.
“Enough.”
He looked toward Mama Bisi.
“Madam, please. What is your name?”
“My name is Mama Bisi.”
“And who are you to Amanda?”
“I am her neighbour. I've known her and her mother for years.”
Mr. Andrews nodded.
“What happened to her mother? Is she aware of the girl's pregnancy? Why isn't she here?”
Mama Bisi sighed.
“Her name is Ngozika. She is a widow and Amanda is her only child. She has been the one taking care of her since the girl's father died. She sells buns, akara and bread by the roadside and does whatever she can to keep this girl in school.”
Amanda lowered her head.
Mama Bisi continued.
“Right now, Ngozika has chased Amanda away because she is angry and heartbroken. She had so many hopes for this girl. She wanted her to finish school and write her WAEC. Now she feels that everything she sacrificed for has been destroyed.”
She looked at James.
“I didn't bring Amanda here because we want your money. We came because your son needs to face what he has done. If he got this girl pregnant, then he should not abandon her and pretend that nothing happened.”
Mr. Andrews listened carefully.
When she finished, he nodded.
“I understand.”
He looked at Amanda.
Then he looked at James.
“James will take responsibility.”
Lucia immediately stepped forward.
“Andrews!”
He didn't even look at her.
“I said James will take responsibility.”
“But you cannot just decide that!” Lucia yelled angrily.
“I am his father, and I am deciding what is right.”
James suddenly spoke.
“Dad, I can't take responsibility for something I didn't force anyone to do o.”
Mr. Andrews slowly turned toward him.
“What did you say?”
James became nervous.
“I mean… I didn't force Amanda to do anything. We both knew what we were doing.”
Mr. Andrews' jaw tightened.
“You are still talking as if that excuses you.”
James shook his head.
“I'm just saying I'm too young for this.”
Mr. Andrews raised his hand again to slap James , but stopped himself.
He took a deep breath.
“James, listen to me carefully because I will not repeat myself. Nobody forced you, you planned and decided on your own to become a father at eighteen. When you make a decision, you don't get to choose only the part you enjoy and run away when the consequences arrive.”
James looked down.
His father continued.
“You cannot tell a girl that you love her, keep encouraging her to trust you, and then the moment she comes to you with a pregnancy, you suddenly forget her name. That is not how a responsible man behaves.”
Lucia shook her head.
“So because of this poor girl, you want to turn against your own son?”
Mr. Andrews faced her.
“This is not about whether she is poor or rich. This is about our son's actions.”
Lucia scoffed.
“And what if I refuse?”
Mr. Andrews' voice became firm.
“Then I will do what I have to do.”
James looked up.
“What does that mean?”
“It means you have a choice. Take responsibility for your actions, or stop being my son.”
The room became silent.
Lucia stared at him.
“You want to disown your own son?!”
“If that is what it takes to make him understand that actions have consequences, yes.”
James' face changed.
“Dad, you can't be serious.”
“I have never been more serious.”
Mr. Andrews pointed at him.
“You have enjoyed everything this family has provided for you. You have never worried about where your next meal would come from. You have never worried about school fees, clothes or money. But if you think all those privileges mean you can do whatever you want and leave another person to suffer for it, then you have misunderstood everything I have taught you.”
James remained silent.
“I will block your accounts. I will take away your cards. I will remove every privilege you have been enjoying if that is what it takes to teach you responsibility.”
Lucia stared at her husband in disbelief.
“So you will really do this because of a common poor girl?! Andrews!”
Mr. Andrews' face hardened.
“I will do worse if necessary.”
Lucia shook her head angrily.
“I can't believe you.”
She turned and walked toward the staircase.
“I will not stand here and watch this.”
She climbed the stairs angrily and disappeared upstairs.
Mr. Andrews turned back to Mama Bisi.
“Madam, don't worry. Bring Amanda here tomorrow.”
Mama Bisi looked surprised.
“Sir?”
“She cannot continue moving from one place to another. If she is carrying my first grandchild, she will not be left outside without somewhere to stay.”
Amanda began crying again, but this time her tears were mixed with relief.
“Thank you, sir.”
She wiped her face.
“I don't even know what else to say. Thank you for listening to me. Thank you for believing me.”
Mr. Andrews nodded.
“You don't have to thank me for doing what is right.”
Mama Bisi bowed her head.
“We will come tomorrow morning.”
“Good.”
Mama Bisi turned toward Amanda.
“Come, my daughter.”
Amanda arranged her handbag.
As she walked toward the door, her eyes met James' eyes one more time.
There was no apology in his face.
Only anger.
He glared at her for a moment before turning his face away.
Amanda looked down and followed Mama Bisi out.
The door closed behind them.
Mr. Andrews stood quietly for a few seconds before turning toward James.
“Do you know what disappoints me the most?”
James said nothing.
“It is not only that you got a girl pregnant at such a young age. It is that you stood in this house and denied everything even when the evidence was right in front of you.”
James looked down.
“Dad, I'm too young to father a child. I don't even believe I'm ready for this. I never thought I would have to become a father now.”
Mr. Andrews sighed.
“Then you should have thought about that before behaving as though you were already ready for adult responsibilities.”
James clenched his jaw.
“I just don't believe I should be responsible for a child at my age.”
Mr. Andrews looked at him sharply.
“Don't deny it again.”
James became quiet.
Mr. Andrews walked over to the couch and sat down. He picked up the remote control and turned on the television.
After a few seconds, he spoke without looking at James.
“You better prepare yourself to be a father.”
James stared at him.
“Since you decided that you were old enough to involve yourself in things that come with adult responsibilities, you should also be ready to face the consequences. You cannot pick only the part you want and reject the part you don't like.”
James' fists tightened.
His face was filled with anger.
Without saying another word, he turned and rushed upstairs.
He pushed open the door to his room.
Lucia was pacing from one end of the room to the other, still angry.
“Mum.”
She turned.
“What?”
James shut the door behind him.
“Please tell me you're not going to let me become a father.”
Lucia stared at him.
“You should have thought about that before going after that girl.”
“Mum, I didn't.”
“James, stop lying.”
“I didn't get her pregnant.”
Lucia sighed.
“The evidence is clear.”
James looked away.
“I don't know how all those messages got there.”
Lucia gave him a hard look.
“Don't insult my intelligence. I know those messages are yours.”
James remained silent.
Lucia smirked bitterly.
“I don't care what your father has decided. I am not going to sit down and watch that girl enter this family.”
“Mum… dad says she should come tomorrow. He's going to force Amanda on me. I don't want that, mum.”
Lucia turned toward him.
“If that girl has decided that she will use this pregnancy to enter a wealthy family, then she has made a serious mistake.”
James frowned.
“What are you saying?”
Lucia's face hardened.
“I am saying that if she ever steps into this mansion thinking she has already won, she will discover that I am not the kind of woman she can take for granted.”
She turned away from him.
“Let her come tomorrow.”
James stared at his mother.
He could not understand what she was planning.
Lucia only folded her arms and looked toward the door.
“Let's wait and see.”
James remained silent, his face tense as he wondered what his mother was about to do.
TO BE CONTINUED...
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QS: Do you think Amanda's life will be easy if she stays in the same mansion with James? Will Lucia make life easy? Will Amanda survive what's coming next?
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