helinues:
Good write up

FairCritic:
Nice update.

WuraSerano:
Amanda was pretty, cool and vivacious.

Jide was convinced there wouldn’t be any harm in trying. For three years now that he had been married, he had never cheated his wife. Somehow, this intending tryst gave him a secret thrill.

‘Let’s go,’ he said, quite irrelevantly as she was set to leave. She nodded as if it mattered. The office was on the eight floor of one of the numerous skyscrapers that adorned the sky of Marina, Lagos. Standing shoulder to shoulder, they rode the elevator to the ground floor. He had to resist the impulsive urge of grabbing her and crushing her lips with kisses right there. He grinned as he refrained himself.

A security man in the lobby at the ground floor saw them to his car. As usual, Jide gave him a tip.

‘Ah, God bless, sir,’ the guy said, smiling boyishly.

Jide waved at him. The engine of the SUV roared into life. In a late hour like this, he preferred to go home in his car, rather than the official car.

‘What’s the plan tonight?’ she asked at last.
‘I’m a little bit tired,’ he replied casually. ‘I think I’ll just drop you and be on my way.’

He drove the car towards Obalende where he hoped to make it to Ikeja via the Third Mainland Bridge.

‘You’ve always overworked yourself,’ she reminded him. She had said it before. ‘Why don’t you just take it easy?’

He felt like laughing, but grinned instead. He was not totally ready to commit himself into this relationship. It was one in which he hoped he would not be ensnared passionately.

There must never be strings attached. All the same, from all indications, Amanda was prodding him on.

‘I enjoy the work,’ he replied shortly.

‘I know.’ She loosened his red tie a bit, like a real caring lover. ‘But that’s no excuse not to relax on the job. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.’

This time around, he couldn’t suppress the laughter. ‘For God’s sake, you’re sounding off like my mother.’

Was that a compliment or a reproach? She did not mind whatever it was. She joined him in the short laughter.

‘You’ll give yourself stress if you continue this way,’ she said seriously.

He didn’t argue with her but nodded. They talked about this and that, his mind veering on and off. After thirty minutes of driving, he got to Maryland bus stop and stopped. She lived in an estate around that place.

‘We’ll have a good time out tomorrow,’ he told her. It sounded like a promise and she nodded. She didn’t really like the seemingly blank promise, but managed to look indifferent. He gave her a peck just before she slid out of the car.

‘Good night, then.’

‘Goodnight,’ he replied and engaged the gear of the car. It was a few minutes to eight in the evening and he knew his wife would be looking forward to his coming home.

Despite the fact that Yeni hadn’t given him a child, he still so much loved her, or so he felt. He briefly had a reminiscence of his relationship with her.

He had met her in a friend’s birthday party, fallen in love on the first sight and – barely eight months after – wedded her gracefully. She had all he wanted in a woman: she was tall, beautiful, regal and bewitching. He had called her ‘the total woman’.

It was a blissful affair. Besides many other good qualities, she was good at the home front. Jide had, true to his words, taken on a caring and homely one. As for her miscarriages, he believed the problem would soon be over and he would become a proud father.

His mother had expressed serious reservations about his wife’s state, most of which – unfortunately – were unpleasant.

‘All these modern girls,’ she had often said in vitriol, ‘they would end up with such problem after they had seriously messed around when single. All those abortions!’

‘Oh, no, mummy,’ he would say. ‘Don’t talk like that.’

He had tried as much as possible to dispel her insinuations, but with little success.

It was almost eight o’clock when he got to the gate of his house. He hooted the horn to draw the attention of Audu, the security man.

WuraSerano:
As usual, Yeni was there, staring at the thirty-two inches flatscreen and already in her sleepwear. It was a very transparent and sexy one, all for dear hubby. She stood up to give him a smile and a welcome.

He clasped her waist in his hands and swooped on her luscious lips with kisses.

‘I’m sorry I’m late,’ he said, just as he did the previous night. ‘It’s the work. Don’t worry, I’m going to cut down on those hours so that I can always be with my darling wife on time.’

‘You must be tired.’ She helped him out of his coat, helped him to loosen and remove his tie, and then removed his shoes and socks.

That was Yeni, the caring wife.

‘You must be tired,’ she repeated.

‘You’re right. Talking about those legal documents and those legal mumbo jumbos. Sometimes, I wished I hadn’t left the law chamber. Private practice could be fun, you know.’

She nodded as if she knew. ‘But you don’t have to complain, darling. The pay is good and … ‘

‘I know, I know.’ He grinned. ‘In fact, if not for the prospects, I wonder why I should be holed up in an office all day long.’

It was a standard ironic statement. In the real sense of it, Jide loved his job.

Perhaps, he needed to make more biting statement to blame something on his shortcoming as far as connubial commitment was concerned.

‘Let me check if your dinner is ready,’ she put in. She always called his office just about official closing time to ask him what he would like for dinner. He had told her he wanted pounded yam tonight.

As usual, the pounding machine would be on the rescue. His favorite snail-grilled egusi soup would complement the delicacy.
By the time she came back, he was already decked in pajamas.

‘It’s ready.’

He smiled and followed her to the dining table in the large sitting-room. The food smelt delicious, and so was the taste.

He enjoyed it tremendously and he made sure he passed the appropriate compliment at the right time.

She ate in silence while she savored the food and his commendations.

The unexpected call she had received that evening was still giving her a lot of concern, although she had been playing it cool as much as she could.

She had decided not to tell him for now. It was still better not to involve him for now.
The dinner was over and the maid servant came to clear the plates. The couple returned to their bedroom upstairs.

‘How far with your writing?’ she asked.

She always showed a great deal of interest in his writing. Yeni was an avid reader but his kind of writing wasn’t exactly the kind she loved to read.

She preferred the romantic stuff and would go for anything written by the likes of Daniel Steele.

Jide would laugh at her choice and call it the ‘effeminate feminine’ stuff.

‘You should try some hard stuff,’ he had suggested several times.

She had actually tried some of them and had decided they gave her the aches. She couldn’t simply stand the violence and the gory thrills.

On the question she asked, Jide replied that he was making good progress and was already in the tenth chapter.

He reaffirmed his belief that when eventually it appeared in prints and in the market, it would be a block buster.

‘I know you’re capable of becoming a great writer,’ his wife told him encouragingly.

She always marveled at his high sense of optimism and had been careful not to be a discouraging block.

‘Just let the millions start rolling in, and I’ll get you that villa I promised in Switzerland.’

Yeni laughed. He had a high sense of humor and he was at it again.

‘You said you’ve not been to the Caribbean Island, right?’ he did not wait for an answer. ‘Don’t worry, we’ll go to any place of your choice, be it the Bahamas or Trinidad & Tobago.’

She laughed shortly again.

As soon as they entered the bedroom, he lifted and they flopped on the bed together.
‘My oh my,’ she exclaimed. ‘You could’ve broken my back, great lover.’

He feigned surprise. ‘I didn’t really know you’ve got such a delicate backbone, but I’m sure we can fix it.’ i

‘Can you? Are you sure you can do that?’

‘Why not? Let’s say I have the Midas touch.’
‘Really?’

He was on top of her and there was an etched lustful look on his face.

‘You’ve just eaten, mister,’ she reminded him. ‘Won’t you wait for digestion?’

‘Of course, I will, doctor.’ He smiled. ‘I’m sorry I forgot all about ethics.’

He lay by her side and she placed her head on his broad chest.

‘Your heart is beating, thump, thump, thump,’ she said.

‘And how’s your own beating? Or is it not beating at all?’

‘You’re such a lousy assessor.’

‘Thanks for your compliment. How was your day today?’

She shrugged. ‘So, so.’

‘Does that mean it was good?’

‘You could say that again.’

‘I’ll give you another surprise package one of these days.’

‘I know.’

‘You did? Well, I have a surprise one for you right now.’

He didn’t give her a chance to say anything further. The kiss was long and enervating, and they were short of breath when it was over.

He was about to repeat the act when a telephone rang.it was Yeni’s own.

‘Oh, damn,’ he swore softly. ‘Now, who could be calling at this hour?’

He picked the call before she could do.

‘Hello?’

There was silence from the end of the line. After seconds of not hearing anything, he cut the connection.

‘Who was it?’ she asked.

‘An unknown number, and there was no response.’

Her mind dashed to the infamous call she had received hours ago. She wondered if that could be Biyi that was calling.

She didn’t save the number he had used to call her. Yeni became unsettled again. If it were him, that meant he was up to some terrible mischief.

She knew the kind of person he was and was not very pleased about some past deeds and misdeeds.

But she continued to wonder how Biyi got her number in the first place. Perhaps a mutual friend had given the returnee.

Her mind hovered on telling her husband about the call, but – again – she quickly dismissed the idea.

She would handle it all alone, she thought. Indeed, it seemed unfair to bring him in. she had involved herself in a mess, which – she believed – she must get herself out of, all by herself.

Jide forgot the unanswered call and made passionate love to his wife. He was always good in that. Unlike him, she was only pretending to be enjoying the act. Her thinking was distant and troubled.


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BigBasher:
Go on.