Hello LivelyStones,

What caught my attention the moment l stepped into our sitting room that evening was the plate on the dinning table. The plate of rice l served Chuks, my husband, in the morning before leaving for work, was still there. It looked very untouched. I could see the spoon, the fork, the knife, all looking clean. I walked across to the table and opened the dish. It was still intact, the lap of chicken was still on top of the rice just like l had served it.

I shrugged, wondering what was the matter with him. I just couldn’t figure out what the problem was, this was so unlike him.

All l could tell was that Chuks walked into our apartment the previous night, with this forlorn look that was frightening. l tried to ask him what was wrong, but he just completely ignored me. I thought he was just tired, and needed some rest, so l let him be.

He didn’t even join me at the dinning-table for dinner as usual. Infact, he never came out again, after he had showered and went into his bedroom.

Now, this matter of leaving his dish untouched. Chuks was a great eater that always devoured his food with so much gusto. So l was greatly concerned by this his new habit.

Few hours later, he came into the flat with that sad expression again. I inched closer to take his briefcase from him. But he just held onto it tightly as if l was a stranger.

That surprised me the more.

“Chuks, please what have l done this time?

He stopped, stared at me coldly and began to walk into the bedroom. Not satisfied, l went after him, hoping to settle whatever the matter was, there and then.

“Chuks, l was asking you what the matter was,” I said, inching closer to help him remove his tie.

“What did l do?”

“Chinyere,” he replied, stepping back so l wouldn’t reach him. “Search yourself properly. You know what you have been up to. You know the evil-schemes you’ve been hatching against me. So don’t stand there pretending as if you are a saint Okay!”

The look on my face sure portrayed confusion.

“I can’t understand a bit of what you’re driving at, honestly,” l said,

But he just ignored me and went into his room. I tried following him into his room, but he immediately banged the door shut behind him so furiously, as if the door had an hand in the offence, he was hinting at.

For the next two weeks or so, Chuks subjected me to a very bitter “silent treatment.”

He would leave for work very early in the morning, without saying a word to me. Then come back very late at nights, sometimes as late as 9:00 pm. He would just enter the flat, go straight into his bedroom, take off his clothes, shower, then go straight back into his bedroom, lock the bedroom door from the inside; and that was it for the day, without even taking any notice of me. All my attempts to engage him in a conversation were futile.

Sometimes l would knock severally on his bedroom door at night, wishing that he would just let me in, so we would spend the night together, like we ought to do as couples, but all to no avail.

lt was just pure emotional torture for me and l was dieing inside.

At last, l just couldn’t take it anymore, so that night, l decided to take the bull by the horns and settle whatever the problem was with him. So l sat on the Couch in the sitting-room, watching TV, while waiting for him to come back from work.

It was the sound of Chuk’s bedroom door opening the next morning that awakened me. I quickly checked the time on my phone, lying on the table next to the Couch, and discovered that it was 5:32am.

It was then that lt dawned on me that l had dozed off on the Couch, the previous night, while waiting for Chuks to come back.

And he didn’t even bother to wake me up, and guide me to my bedroom, when he entered and saw me sleeping on the Couch!

The Chuks of old would have even carried me in his arms like a baby, innocently dropped me off on my bed, cover me up, and made sure that l was lying properly, before leaving, if he ever came in and saw me sleeping on the Couch. But this was an entirely different Chuks. This Chuks scared me. This was not the man that blew my heart away. This was not the Love of my Life; the man that l sacrificed so much to marry!

I was still deep in thoughts, when Chuks emerged from his bedroom already prepared for work. He was making his way to the door, when l rushed and knelt down before him, blocking his way, while holding on tight to his legs.

“Please darling, what is it?, why are you hurting me so much? why don’t you want to tell me what the problem is,” l said amidst tears.

“My problem has been solved because l’m smart enough to recognise it on time,” he reluctantly said.

“My problem is just you. I wish you could give me a break. Maybe a separation or whatever,” He added.

“Give you a break or separation!, what do you mean by that?, what have l done to deserve all this Chuks?”, I asked perplexed.

“l don’t need you anymore Chinyere, that’s what l mean, because you go from one spiritualist to another, trying to kill me! so you can go and marry Kenneth, like your people have been urging you to do ever since, you think l won’t find out abi?” he asked mockingly.

I was so stung by his words, that l just knelt there, gaping at him marvelled. So he continued;

“As you can see, l’m hurrying off to work, so l don’t think this is the best time for this okay!”

“Please Chuks, hear me out,” l kept pleading, still holding onto his leg,

“l want to tell you what actually happened. How can I plan to kill you? I mean, l love you so much that l would be dead without you.”

“No, you hate me so much that you would be glad to see me dead, Chinyere,” Chuks replied,

“So stop deceiving yourself, if you are in your right senses, l think the best thing to do is to leave my house. You know why? Because l don’t want it to degenerate to a situation where l have to throw you out myself.”

“Chuks, l didn’t do what you are accusing me of, yes l went to see a spiritualist, but… it’s not what you’re thinking, l actually went to…”

Chuks rudely cut me short,

“Ehee…now you are talking, confession time!, blessing time!,” He mockingly said, while clapping his hands like a church singer.

Then before I could utter another word of plea, he had rudely kicked away from me, and stormed out of the house, almost stomping on me.

That morning, l cried. I cried more than l had cried before. Because all of a sudden, l was watching my blissful marriage crumbling. The fact that the marriage was barely two years old didn’t help matters at all. What would people think? What would my parents say?

I knew all l had gone through when l told them that l wanted to marry Chuks. There had been bitter arguments. The problem was just ethnicity. He was from Anambra State. And my parents being conservative, had argued that as the first daughter from an Abiriba (a town in Abia State) family, that it was discouraging to marry outside my town.

My parents, especially my mum had tried everything possible to dissuade me from marrying Chuks. They even suggested that l marry my Dad’s best friend’s son named Kenneth; who was one of the richest young men in our town. But l stood my grounds as solid as the Rock of Gibraltar.

It was finally when my parents realized that l was hell bent on marrying Chuks, that they reluctantly consented to it. But with a condition. The condition was that, if anything happened to the marriage, that l shouldn’t come running back to them. That l should just stay anywhere l liked.

The thought of all l had gone through to get married to Chuks, and all l was witnessing in the face of Chuk’s present threats made it more bitter, more sickening.

Quietly, l came up with a solution. I was going to seek advice from my aunt. I would tell her everything.

To be continued……

https://livelystones.ng/true-life-story-how-adultery-saved-my-marriage/

Good fiction

Really good story line

Continue

Good one

Nice write up