TemiGURL:
You are truly theblessedman. You are the best dear. I love u

Awnn, am technically flattered dear.. Love you too

cenaman:
monitoring spirit, TheBlessedMAN how do u know he is a first time commenter?

Lolsssssssss...just by checking all his previous posts...

TheBlessedMan its been a long run but we're getting there

TheBlessedMAN:
Lolsssssssss...just by checking all his previous posts...

YOu took your time to check that.....shai

TheBlessedMAN:
Lolsssssssss...just by checking all his previous posts...

Ok

Wow m in love with this update. You're good....... hmmmm nice piece

More ink to ur pen bro �

u r just gud,,keep d zeal my guy.........waiting 4 more

while you wait for update you can jump on this thread https://www.nairaland.com/4779441/asexsion-politics-crime-love-sex

A very brilliant update by theblessdman himself. Keep it up dear

SmartestPopQUEEN:
A very brilliant update by theblessdman himself. Keep it up dear

mama mabel

In a land of myth and a time of magic, the destiny of a great kingdom rests on the shoulders of a young man, his name Merlin. Tbm thanku for this memo

SmartestPopQUEEN:
please guys, don't derail the thread.

noted.

Wow, is all i can say

U are awesome

Chai i taught the story av finish o so bad i hav 2 join the line
Just started reading dis wonderful pice 4 d past 1 week

and am out of words this story is just 2 Good

Updating soon.

TheBlessedMAN:
Updating soon.

TBM, today is my birthday, drop update for me abeg..

adamsbadoo:



TBM, today is my birthday, drop update for me abeg..

wow! Happy birthday 2 ya little under-40years old self. May God grant u all the necessary strenght to desist from all those thing that will stop u from witnessing more 180 versions of this days inWhateverYOUbelieve's name. Amen. Cheers bro.

TheBlessedMAN:
wow! Happy birthday 2 ya little under-40years old self. May God grant u all the necessary strenght to desist from all those thing that will stop u from witnessing more 180 versions of this days inWhateverYOUbelieve's name. Amen. Cheers bro.

Thanks alot,...i appreciate.

Update please !!!

TheBlessedMAN:
Updating soon.

how soon?

I started this story about about fivw days back. What got my attention on dis story was de number of views, i was surprise to c over 1.4 million viewers hmm i hav'nt c 9 hundred sef. its super, duper interesting and centilating. TBM u kept me glue on literature section, u r too....... too gud if not de best!!!!! Make una epp c African Shakespare....

I am loving this..... Keep it dude

Tbm, how are yhu bro? Upd8

oga still update na chioo we don tire to dey check everyday

I guess TheBlessedman na amaka.. Em don keep us waiting sotey we don dey lose weight for his "updating soon"

Shelyklose:
I guess TheBlessedman na amaka.. Em don keep us waiting sotey we don dey lose weight for his "updating soon"

keep calm bro, am updating soon... And that soon surely expires today. Am still typing it as at the time of this comment. Keep calm and await the update that will shorten the life span of this story to only three episodes. Thankssssssssssss

TheBlessedMAN:
keep calm bro, am updating soon... And that soon surely expires today. Am still typing it as at the time of this comment. Keep calm and await the update that will shorten the life span of this story to only three episodes. Thankssssssssssss

Ok oooooo
Patiently waiting

Oga, we dey wait o. 4 ur blockbuster

Dedicated to the birthday boy. Adamsbadoo. Age more with grace.

Happy new month famz. Four more updates and the Epilogue. Countless will be over.



145. COUNTLESS.



Evidently, I was feeling queasy-like as I approached the door with a growing apprehension in all the individual components that collaborated to form my 32years old body. Mind you, this door am approaching remains the only thing standing between me and what I anticipated to be the dreadful, complicated and most delicate moment of my life.
Without mincing words, the door am about to knock literally appears to be the only thing standing between me and the task of facing Adejoke, my wi...fe, the woman I had abandoned at the hospital on the night of our wedding which (as at the time of this event) was already over three months ago. Not to mention all the bad things I'd done against her in the past.

I prepared myself mentally and took a very deep and solemn breath. A breath I hoped will ursher into me the strenght needed to overcome the daunting task ahead.

I opened my eyes and before I knew it, the knock has landed on the door from my hand. I swallowed hard and waited for her voice to invite me in. Five seconds passed but no voice was coming forth. I became more nervous as I prepared to deliver another knock on the wooden door. I squeeze my eyes shut and sent another knock against the door, albeit louder this time around.

"come in...the door is not locked..." That came the reply from the room.

Hearing that alone was enough to make me turn around and run away from the looming warrant am about to face but just because I've already prepared my mind to see this through no matter what, therefore I was able to muster up the courage to open the door and step inside the room with a very slow step.

Little or no glancing around was all that was required of me to locate her position inside the room. There she was, evidently sitting on a chair beside the computer desk that virtually aligned with the big bed. Her face was filled with total shock, no...not shock, shock is like an understatement. Shockhorror is the rightful adopted word.

Her eyes instantly possessed by shockhorror upon sighting the idiot that has brought nothing but pain to her life and to take matters to the superlative of bad (worst), he had ran away on the said night while leaving his injured wife and child to the mercy of death.

Sighting that horrific look on her face, I swallowed hard quickly and was completely dumbstruck.

"what tha hell!?" She blurted out and dropped the mouse in her hand. She stood up and leaned against the desk so she could stare daggers directly to my face.

"am....am...am...." That was me stuttering nervously while she maintained that frightful gaze at me. "Jo...ke...Jo..Jo...ke....ple....please..let...."

"get out!" She suddenly screamed ontop her voice.
I was frozen to the spot, evidently finding it difficult to choose between complying or disobeying her order, hence I remained rooted to the same spot.

"please...am begging you to hear me out....its the devil...." I managed to tell her that after she reduced the hard look on her face.

But as I put another step forward thinking she's getting soft, she blurted out again.
"I SAID, GET OUT NOW!" She picked those words one by one and declared with a very firm tone.

"please, am begging you....let me explain....please Joke, let...."

She shook her head slowly in a pathetic way and started approaching me. She got to few inches from me and stopped.

Suprisingly, she smiled and placed a hand on my shoulder before talking.

"Mr Dare, calm down. You are still not getting it... You have to do it the way I advice you to do it, unless you don't want it to work." Therapist Sarah said in a relatively calm tone.

"how again? What am I not doing right?" I voiced out with a frustrated tone. I was getting tired of the whole mental preparatory thing. This last rehearsal makes it the fifth time we have been doing it and she keeps on cutting it midway saying am not attatching enough emotion to it.

"please, calm down,..." She stated calmly. "lets have a sit." We both settled down on the available chairs in the room.

"make no mistake, this thing we are doing is very important. You need to be very prepared mentally and very well to boost your courage and confidence to face her...."

"I know, but don't you think the fact that you are not really her, might scare me off when I eventually see her?"

"hmmm, you are right...but...."

"maybe thats why its not working."

She pondered on my claim briefly and rested her back against the chair.
"so, what do you want to do now?"

"as how?"

"should we stop or find another method to prepare your mind?"

She asked with a tone that makes me feel like she thinks am not appreciating her efforts. So in order to excavate those thoughts from her brilliant mind, I said, "hmm, maybe we should give it two more tries, and if it doesn't work...."

"then you will have to get to that bridge first and hopefully, you'll be able to cross it. " She completed for me.

"good.,..."

"lets go again." She said concludingly and we returned to the rehearsal.

_


At past four in the evening of the following day, which was a thursday, I was having my usual workout session inside the gym section of the hospital when the ringtone of my newly purchased S3x phone rang out. The sound still seemed very strange to my hearings since I'd spent the larger part of the last 3 months of my life without phone or internet. Even, it wasn't until two days ago when I started using the Atm I retrieved from my car that I decided to buy the phone and two new simcards. I still had more than fifty-five million naira in my savings account.

I had a separate account for my car dealing business. Unless my accountant, Mr Adamsbadoo, whom I had tested and confirmed to be an honest man with integrity have changed otherwise, I have a strong belief that my business will never be affected by my absence and discreet whereabouts.

"hello my awesome therapist" I said to the phone after seeing the caller I.d as T.P Sarah.

"how are you doing my wonderful client?" She asked in the same jovial tone.

"hmm, am doing gym-ically fine."

She released a small chuckling sound. "is that your way of telling me you're working out at the gym again?"

I smiled. "I admire your 5g way of thinking...."

"thats good of you...clap for yourself..."

"I'll do that later, one of my hands is presently busy...."

"see you. You can't just stop being funny, can you?..."

"gawd knows I tried to stop, but it just keeps happening, sadly, its out of my control..." I replied with an arrogant tone.

"I know you'll say that...."

"are you saying you have the ability to see what will happen before it happens?"

"seriously you are damn right. Infact, I admire your 5g way of reasoning." She said in a tone that means she's using my own words against me.

"perhaps you can tell me what will happen on sunday when I eventually meet my wife..."

There was a pause from the other end. She was probably caught unawares by my question.
"you want my candid opinion on that?"

"yes, I want to hear the opinion of Sarah and not the Therapistical one...."

"okay,...." She paused. I quickly changed the phone to the left hand and sat down on the divan beside the entrance while anticipating her reply. "unequivocally speaking, I think....I think there will be multiple rainfall on that day..."

"like seriously?"

"yes o, thats the candid possibility."

"hmmm...."

"except this time, the water will not be falling from heaven..."

"ahahah, see you, you don spoil am. Where does rain water come from if not heaven? Abi na from inside fish pond?"

She laughed at that before talking. "to be precise, the rain water will fall from the eyes of two beloved lovers namely Adejoke and Oluwadamilare...."

"hun, abi Adejoke and Oluwadarousmart...."

She laughed again. "Oluwadarousmart Ko, Satan-darous-dull ni..."

"chai, see remix..."

"you better start acknowledging your real name before you get to heaven and they tell you Darous is not registered with them."

"thats not a problem na? And I will quickily do affitdavit right there..."

"who go do am for you? Besides who told you that they are doing such in heaven?"

"they are doing it. All I need is just 500 copies of inter-heavenal passport and a permanent voters card with my WAEC result and the Inec in heaven will declare me qualified to enter heaven...."

"ah....this is serious. Lets assume you are right, who will do the affidavit for you?" Her question carried a great sense of humor that confirms she's equally enjoying this conversation.

"who dey do affidavit for heaven?" She asked again after noticing my hesitation to reply.

"who dey do am before? No be the same same angel Uriel wey do am for Saul before he became Paul still dey do am?...."

"ahahahahahah....no kill me with your unbiblical blasphemous laughter ooooo...."

And that was the statement that signalled the begining of the two minutes of laughter that followed.

The laughter eventually died down before she changed the topic to the reason why she called.

"Mr Dare, which of your friend's number do you remember off hand?"

"which of them?"

"any of them...."

"why do I need to remember any of their numbers?"

"ok. I was thinking if you can atleast call one of them to verify whats going on in that part of the world so you can have a hint of what to expect before going there on sunday..." She explained comprehensively.

I got into thinking mode after her sensitive explanation to try to see if I can remember any of the said numbers. But after spending more than twenty seconds of uninterrupted silence on it, my brain told me to give up. The only numbers that were popping up in my brain were just the crammed plate number, engine number and chasis number of the car I parked outside. And they are un-diallable numbers.

"any one?" Sarah's voice jolted me back to the present.


"none at all..." I replied disappointedly.

"not even that of Jide? Your closest buddy?"

"I remember..."

"then..."

"I mean I only remember the 080 but I can't remember its remaining
desciples..."

She laughed again.
"poor you. You remember Jhesus, but you can't remember any of his desciples...."

"don't blame me na, atleast I remember the line inside the phone those spider thieves stole from me... I dialled it yesterday ganself but it was switched off..."

"you say?"

"The line was switched off when I dialed it." I repeated.

"thats of no use. my airtime is about to finish, let me get airtime and call you back... Use that chance to think of any other number that can be useful to us." She said.

"what of my mummy's number can it work....?" I said when I suddenly remember it.

"hmmm, yea, lets try that...."

"let me call you back. I still have enough credits to read the whole contents of Edet lives in Calabar to you."

"funny you..." The line went dead after that.

I called her back and she told me to make a conference call to my mum so she could also listen on the conversation and below was how it all went down after my mum had picked the call.

"hello..." I said with a scared tone cause I don't know how much damage Nike has done in my absence.

"hello, ta lo n soro?(who is talking?)" My mother replied in the local dialect.

I paused briefly to prepare myself.
"its me mum, Damilare...." There was a sudden shout of joy from her when she heard the introduction.

"Damilare mi, eh, Adigun iko, omo olokun ola, omo kinikan, o fi kinikan...." She continue to voice those primitive euologising address to the website of my head. I didn't have the luxury for that but since I've known her, there's no way of stopping her once she has entered that mode unless she coughed. I don't have any choice than to listen and pray she coughed very soon.

"sorry ma..." She eventually coughed and I heaved a deep sigh. I started formulating ways of asking her questions that will make her reveal the situations on ground for me before she shocked me with the next thing she said.

"oko mi, (my husband) se o de daa bee? (is it good like that?)"

Geez! Thats it. Nike and Joke have told her everything. How am I going to handle this now?'

I could hear the low breathing sounds of Therapist Sarah from the other end. Evidently, she was also affected by what my mum just said.


"erm...erm..." I fumbled for what to say to my mum but couldn't find anything until my mother spoke again.

"bawo lo se maa travel lale ojo igbeyawo e, nitori business? Too maa fi iyawo e sile nikan? (how can you travel on the night of your wedding because of business?, that will now make you leave only your wife at home)" She said with a concerned tone.

At that moment, my mind was in a very confused state. It was as if I was in a frenzy. I don't know what to say or do at that tensive moment. But as I was still ensnared in that situation, I heard a silent whisper saying 'BEG HER.' I instantly knew it came from Therapist Sarah.

"am..am sorry ma...." I said slowly, still not sure of what to expect from her.

"sorry for yourself. Se ko sa kin se pe tori obinrin mii lo se travel? (hope you didn't travel in the disguise of business to meet another woman?" She asked.

"ah, rara o..(no oo). It was strictly for business ma..." I answered.

"hmmm, a fi ko yaa je bee...( it has to be like you say)"

"bawo lawon aburo mi?(whats up with my siblings?)" I intend to change the topic with that question.

"they are doing fine o. Dare, do you know that Ayobami brought one Oloju yoboro girl to me last week that he wants to marry her, I don't like that girl one bit. She can't dress decently and she doesn't have respect atall. To greet person na wahala...."

"how is Eniola? have she finished her Masters?" I said that to cut her off, since there is a third party listening to our conversation.

"Eniola? She's writting her final papers next month o. I pray she pass out in flying colours."

"what of walking colours?" I chipped in teasingly.

"o tun ti bere? (you don start again) ma je ki owu se e lese...(don't let jealousy to kill you)." That was how we started our usual mummy and son comical jests.

That Eniola is the most brilliant of us all.

She was still in Js1 when she first helped me to solve the logrithim assignment I was given in ss2. She always run away whenever I offered to help her do hers.

In our house, we always tell anyone Eniola can't help with assignment to consult the oracle.

"so, se o de ti de bayi? (so are you back?)" My mum asked along the line of our conversation. That question caught me off-guard, as I don't know what reply to give but as fate would have it, Sarah was on standby to bail me out.

"erm, yes, thats why I called you..." I answered back.

"then let me speak with your wife. I've not been able to reach her this past month. Her number is not going. Is she there?"

This time around, I didn't need any Sarah to feed me what to say. As an experienced liar myself, I was able to reply her convincingly and the call was annihilated thereafter.

"hmm, I think something is going on." That was Sarah's voice after I'd ended the call with my Mum.

Continuation of 145.


"I think so too. A lot of questions unanswered."

"but do you trust your mum not to hide any truth from you?."

"I trust her with my life. If not for anything, atleast you heared her telling me how she doesn't like the lady one of my brothers brought home. I know her for not shying from anything called truth no matter how bitter it is." I explained.

There was temporary silence from the other end. "if thats the case, then it leaves us with one thing..."

"and whats that?" I asked curiously.

"someone doesn't want to expose you." She declared.

"how?"

"your mum doesn't appear to know of your past judging by your earlier conversation with her, unless, " She emphasised on the last word twice before she continued. "unless , no offence meant, she's a perfect pretender..."

"which I seriously doubt...." I reiterated furtherly.

"so, going by that claim, I think its either, your wife's younger sister, Nike, sticked to the promise she made in the text she sent you on the day you first attempted suicide, you remember?...."

"hmmm, yes...that if I know whats best for me, I should stay away from her sister and Chris...."

"perfect. It means your disappearance have made her keep the secret to herself, orrrr," She emphasised on the 'orrrr' again to catch my undivided attention.

"or what?"

"or she only told your wife about everything and they both decided to make it a secret..."

"but why would they do that? I mean why would they keep it a secret?"

"its true we women are not known for our strong suit at keeping secrets but perhaps because their mother was involved. Remember, she gave birth to your child, they will want to keep the bad side of their mother away from outsiders and I think thats enough reason."

It took the digestive part of my brain three precious minutes to fully digest everything Therapist Sarah just said. "hmmm, which means, my friends are also in the dark?"

"probably, but except that your friend that you said was at the hospital with you...."

"you mean Lewis might be aware of everything?"

"its possible...." She claimed.

"No, I don't think so. There's no way the whole thing would have remained a secret if he's a part of it. Another word for Lewis is gossip. He can't control his emotions."

"hmmm, then going by your assertion of him, and if truly, he doesn't know anything, then it means your inlaw, Nike is a master at handling situations like this. I admire her for that. How she would have managed to hide the situation of things from Lewis, when the latter would have definitely went back to the hospital the following day and found you missing? I can't even begin to think of how your inlaw would have handled the situation...."

"am not suprised o....I think I told you how she handled it when she saw me hiding under the bed in her mother's bedroom,.."

"yes, you said she gave you a thumbs up and never raised alarm..."

"that shows you how capable she is." I added.

"and such woman is capable of doing anything...." Sarah said ambiguously.

"what does that mean?"

"like how she still went ahead to sleep with you despite having a guess of what was going on between her mom, and you..."

"you are damn right. Can I call her crazy?"

"you'd be wrong unless you add 'smart' to it."

"a smart crazy woman?"

"perfect!" She remarked.

We both laughed briefly before Mtn gave me a low credit notification. I quickly ended the call and dialed 710 to purchase another 3,000naira credit.

"so, what does this latest revelation says about my re-appearance on sunday.?" I said after Sarah had picked the call the second time.

"it doesn't change anything. Infact, it only boosts your chances of getting your life back. You don't owe anyone else anything except your wife. Tell her the truth and confess to her sincerely"

"but what if Nike has told her everything?"

"it still doesn't stop you from doing your own part. And let her first hear from the horses mouth in case Nike never told her anything...chikena..."

"hmmm, how this conversation would have been more sense-making, assuming you are here...." I said with an awful tone.

"eehya...you are right...but this one too try na, except the thousands of airtime that payed for it."

"hun-hun, thats one of the advantages of being a rich man...."
We both bursted into laughter.

"see you next week when hopefully, I would have been with my wife and child." I said with optimism as I imagined what might happen next week.

"hmm, lets just hope the rain water from both your eyes will not flood your house away....."

"if it happens, I'll gladly build a new one..." I joked.

"another advantage of being a rich man..." She teased sarcastically.

I smiled at that. "take care please." I said with almost a teary eyes.

"pyne...pyne." Sarah replied in a baby tone.

I withdraw the phone from my ears and stared at the screen for twenty precious seconds unable to touch the red icon.

This is the type of person that makes pressing the red icon a difficult task.

Do you have such PEOPLE too?


TBC

wow !!! ....I Can't believe my eyes when i first saw "Dedicated to the birthday boy ...."....a whole episode....

TBM, i appreciate alot.