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Rajosh:
that feeling you get when she's talking about places you know . I felt same way too when she talked about akure. Audrey is so vast in knowledge that she carries all her readers along. from Italian to Igbo to yoruba to hausa. I'm so loving this men.

Essyprity:
I did my NYSC at Jigawa, Dutse precisely so I can relate with some places here. And yes, its a peaceful place.

Seriously? When did you serve there? Maybe we met.

Good morning, beautiful people. I hope we had a great weekend. Long time, abi? Na phone hijacking cause am since i no dey hear word. Sought a second opinion over the weekend but same old, same old. The same advice was given. Use your eyedrops and glasses. Shikena. So i'm going to start writing today. Will post it any day i'm through with that episode since i'm still taking things easy until i get to the normal eye pressure. I have missed you guys like kilode. I cherish you all for being there. Thanking you.

Good morning, great people. Hope we're good. I went to see my doctor yesterday. My eye pressure has reduced considerably but it needs to reduce some more. I was advised to keep using my eyedrops and come for monthly checkups. My photochromic glasses are not out yet. They are still waiting for frames to be delivered. Naija! So no writing for now until i get them since my eye pressure hasn't dropped to normal. But let's keep our fingers crossed for the weekend. It might happen, it might not. It all depends on when i get my glasses. Though i hope it will happen because i am so boooorrrreeedddd!! Hubby doesn't allow me look at screens except that of the television because it's far from my eyes. He was mad at me when he saw me writing on my ipad last week. I had to beg. Even to look phone na wahala. I've sceretly named him, 'Oga Eye Doctor'


I'm sorry i can't reply your comments individually. I only have limited time to spend with my phone. I appreciate you all for your love, support, prayers, encouraging words and understanding. May God Almighty shower you all with blessings.


Thanking you.

mitchyy:
AudreyTimms pls give us update on your eye when you come online. Did you try seeing another optician? Have you gotten your glasses? Remember also that sleeping at night with the lights on puts a strain on your eyes.
You'll be fine okay? Just don't yourself worked up over lack of updates here. As you've been told, we'll all wait. Health first! *hugs*

Sleeping at night with the lights on puts a strain on my eyes? But i'm scared of the dark. Yes, as old as i am, i'm scared sh*tless when there's no light. I sleep with a torchlight on when there's no light and claim i don't want creepy things to climb my body. Blame it on an over imaginative mind. I will see another optician as soon as i can travel. My glasses should be ready by monday. I only wrote for a short while early in the mornings and after using my eyedrops which reduce my eye pressure. I'm not straining the healed eyes. Thanks dear

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Loisemm:
Permit me to be angry with u a little, Sis. Why trying to write when protective shields and the rest have not come yet? pls and pls we need our eyes to be alright first or at least till the exacerbating factors are lessened. We know u already as a steadfast updater. Thanks for trying to do this for us but no thanks. Na ur eyes be our concern now ma. Luv u

Please pardon me, ma. The voices in my head were driving me crazy. Had to put them down. Seriously though, i just had to write something little to keep the creative juices flowing. When i started writing the story, i left it for only a week and it took me almost a year to get back to it. Yep, i suffer from procrastination. I even started writing this story before Waiting For The Bouquet yet that one is complete while i'm still battling to write this one. I totally understand you and will take correction, Mummy And i'm grateful to God that i no longer suffer from migraines, sight haziness, white sheen, jumbled words and rainbow colours around light surfaces. I'm healed in Jesus name. Amen. Thanks for watching out for me.

Happy Easter, beautiful people. May Christ's victory over death bring about various victories in the challenges we are facing in Jesus name. Amen. How una dey? I have missed you all in no small measure. Thanks for all the prayers, well-wishes, health suggestions and love. They mean a lot to me.


So i stubbornly wrote last week. Wrote a scene before i realized i wasn't doing myself any good still staring at my ipad's screen without any form of shield whatsoever. So i decided to halt writing even though i believe faith without works is dead. Hopefully, the glasses should be out this week. Letting Go will be back next weekend by His grace. Thanks for your patience and understanding. Have a fruitful week ahead.


Thanking you.

cekhoe:
With her fingers on her phone, she was reading on a popular Nigerian forum,it was a story by Audrey, and then something told her to lift her head,there he was walking towards her,he had a stethoscope hung around his neck,he was such a hunk, and totally kissable,each step he took closer made her heart skip and her heart beat faster,and when he got closer,he said "hi,I am Dr Giovanni", madam wey my money, ask the conductor, that's when I realized I was day dreaming, I think I need to stay away from this story till it's done,chai!

Lmao! Thief There's a writer in everyone of us.

Thanks everyone for your prayers and well wishes. I feel so loved. See funny comments.


Okay. So i went to see the doctor this morning. Hmm...I was given negative reports which made me start crying until i called my Gio and he told me not to accept the reports because the minute i do, it means they become true about my eyes. So i refuse to accept the reports.

The reports say the devil has only twenty percent vision left because eighty percent has been taken by the glaucoma, the devil's eye pressure is very high which needs to be brought down by some God damn expensive eyedrops which i don't even have the money to purchase considering it isn't the end of the month yet and all i spent on various tests today and finally if the devil is not careful he will go blind which is irreversible. It was even said that the devil is lucky to still have sight. All i know is that the glaucoma has overstayed its welcome and it has got to go. By the time i go back for check up and more tests in two weeks, i want make that doctor open mouth in shock. I no fit spend 10k on eyedrops alone every month. Hian! That one no be former price of a whole bag of rice? So that's the situation report for those of you who sent me messages to ask. I am still going to continue writing because that is what God has called me to do and i know He will not forsake me now at my hour of need. Besides, Gio and Ikenna no lemme rest since. They have been fighting. If i don't put them in writing...make i no start to kolo like Gio o. I won't take chances. I will rest my eyes properly and write for only thirty minutes everyday. I pray o. The doctor said once the pressure goes down, the migraine, haziness and jumbled words will stop and i can still look at screens pending when my anti-glare glasses will be ready. The main focus now is bringing down the pressure with the eyedrops. My eyes are fine. Okay. Rambling over. I love you all. Let's see how the weekend goes. Thanking you.

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Sorry, latecomers. I had to remove the concluding part of the story because of plagiarism. I can't have people using my story (which I took pains and eye issues to write) to make money while I watch from the sidelines. I'm not in for the monkey dey work, baboon dey chop policy. I hope y'all understand.

You can get a copy from okadabooks through the link below. Thanks.

http://www.okadabooks.com/book/about/letting_go/12780

Sorry, latecomers. I had to remove the concluding part of the story because of plagiarism. I can't have people using my story (which I took pains and eye issues to write) to make money while I watch from the sidelines. I'm not in for the monkey dey work, baboon dey chop policy. I hope y'all understand.

You can get a copy from okadabooks through the link below. Thanks.

http://www.okadabooks.com/book/about/letting_go/12780

Sorry, latecomers. I had to remove the concluding part of the story because of plagiarism. I can't have people using my story (which I took pains and eye issues to write) to make money while I watch from the sidelines. I'm not in for the monkey dey work, baboon dey chop policy. I hope y'all understand.

You can get a copy from okadabooks through the link below. Thanks.

http://www.okadabooks.com/book/about/letting_go/12780

Sorry, latecomers. I had to remove the concluding part of the story because of plagiarism. I can't have people using my story (which I took pains and eye issues to write) to make money while I watch from the sidelines. I'm not in for the monkey dey work, baboon dey chop policy. I hope y'all understand.

You can get a copy from okadabooks through the link below. Thanks.

http://www.okadabooks.com/book/about/letting_go/12780

@barbienazom, you're welcome, dear.


@Aishat39, thanks dear.


@amyvals, you're welcome, dear.


@HelenBee, you're welcome, dear.


@Jumizie13, lol. Thanks dear.


@mofy1, God bless you too.


@Suzzytee05, you're welcome, dear.


@orla01, thanks dear.


@mitchyy, please tell them o. Thanks dear.


@Tife101, lol. Thanks dear.


@Mztemmy, hmm...


@ammy4id, amen.thanks dear.


@Teespice, hahaha! Thanks dear.


@chii8, lol.


@Jhymrod, thanks dear. God bless you too.


@sammyendowed, thanks dear.


@heemah, lol. Thanks dear.


@jessytra, lol. Thanks dear. Amen. God bless you too.


@Naledi14, thanks dear.


@Onodray, thanks dear. Pm sent.


@virtuedagirl, you're welcome, dear.


@handmaid, you're welcome, dear.


@smileysmiley, lol. Thanks dear.


@Olaide59, you're welcome, dear.


@cekhoe, see drama! Lol. No, I ain't made at you.


@DzTzl, thanks dear.


@divinemine, lol. Thanks dear.


@Rajosh, lol. Nope, it's today.


@bummybummy, thanks dear.


@Jumizie13, happy palm Sunday to you too. 


@Debbie16, thanks dear.


@Jordi, lol. Check okadabooks. Thanks dear.


@bookhy, thanks dear. Amen.

mhiztee:

me too

I'm sorry for the late reply. Please mail me at audreytimms83@gmail.com

Ray1251:
Me too....

I'm sorry for the late reply. Please mail me at audreytimms83@gmail.com

obianuju95:
I have also been trying to buy dat novel but to no avail pls show us anoda link to get it pls am begging pls pls pls pls pls

I'm sorry for the late reply. Please mail me at audreytimms83@gmail.com

christabeli:

I sent an email to you about my inability to buy this novel from Okada books two days ago but you didn't reply me.

I'm sorry for the late reply. Please mail again at audreytimms83@gmail.com

teeghurl:
Hi Audrey, how can i pay for this book with another currency other than Naira cos i've tried it wt no avail. Thank u

I'm sorry for the late reply. Have you tried getting it from okadabooks?

**********


Nkechi stood in shock as she watched her sister pulling clothes from their clothes hangar and haphazardly throwing them inside the big travel box on the bed. She was weeping as she was doing this.


Her sister stood by the door and wondered what happened in her absence. It was a Saturday. She'd just come back from a busy day at the  saloon and thought to have an early night but dealing with her sister's tantrum was going to put paid to that. Had she quarreled with her fiancée? Was that the reason why she was so upset? 


Her parents had called her, even Nnamdi too had called to warn her to make sure Gio stayed away from Nkiru. They'd already told them to start putting their things together because they wanted them home in Lagos at the end of the month. Nkechi had stubbornly said she wasn't leaving her salon, a business it had taken her time to build. Insults had rained on her head from her mother and she'd conceded by agreeing to put someone to oversee the place pending her return after Nkiru's wedding. The anger she felt at the stand her family members were taking concerning Gio burned like a furnace within her. She understood their fear but why couldn't they just sit back and watch things play out? Nkiru might divorce Gio just to be with Ikenna.


Now she was sure they'd probably called her elder sister and talked some so-called sense into her again, hence her sister's haste in packing. She'd sensed Nkiru's old self was coming back when she'd told her parents she wasn't going to leave a lucrative job because of a pyscho. Nkechi had winced at Gio being called crazy but that was what her sister thought her husband was. Their parents had ranted and raved, their mother had even threatened coming over to help do their packing for them but Nkiru had stood her ground much to her admiration. But here she was now, throwing shoes as well into the box. How did she expect to close it?


"NK, what's going on?" Nkechi asked in a tired tone after flinging her handbag on the tiled ground and removing her shoes. Since her sister was flinging things into the box, there was no need hanging them.


Nkiru halted her hasty movements and focused her gaze on her sister with tear-stained eyes.


"We have to be in Lagos tomorrow."


"Why? What happened?" Nkechi grew alarmed. "Nobody is sick or dying, abi?"


"No, nothing like that." Nkiru sniffed.


Nkechi removed her hand from her chest as relief flooded her face. "Thank God. Then what's the problem?"


"He was here," she responded fearfully.


"Who?"


"Giovanni. The senator's crazy son."


"Please stop calling him crazy," Nkechi snapped.


"But he is...and he brought along with him disturbing things. Chichi, he brought wedding pictures of us. A certificate of court marrige between us. My God! I thought such only happened abroad. But why me?"


"Is that why you're crying?"


"Yes. No. I don't even know why I'm crying. What has my tears got to do with anything?" Nkiru asked in anger. Her sister shouldn't know she'd allowed Gio kiss her in such a stimulating way and was still feeling the effects hours later. Hence her fear and need to escape.


Nkechi smiled in spite of the situation. Nkiru was slowly coming back. Her sister cried only once in a while but she'd cried plenty when she met Gio. She just needed a little push.


"So you mean he showed you all that; wedding photos, wedding certificate, yet you couldn't remember him?" Nkechi asked. Was Nkiru's amnesia that bad or was she the one unconsciously pushing the memories away? Maybe because of Ikenna. The doctor had said it had to do with a psychological trauma as well. Nkiru was still hurt by the incident of three years ago? Nkechi was getting confused why her sister would see all that and still not remember. It begged the question- would she ever?


"Of course, I didn't remember him. Why would I remember...but i had flashes...flashes of being with him in some places...you dancing with him...Oh, God! Am I the one going bonkers? But i..." Nkiru halted when something her sister said came to her consciousness. "What do you mean, Chichi? What are you talking about?"


Oh, Mummy, Daddy, Nnamdi, please forgive me but I can't do this anymore. I can't watch two people who used to love each other enormously suffer anymore. God, please protect my anus from thunder strike.


"Chichi, talk to me. Why would I remember him?"


"Because he's your husband!"


Nkiru's took deep breaths to stop herself from swooning at such information. She was beginning to get light headed. 


"You got married to him in Akure on the 19th of January, 2011. You lost your memory shortly after that because someone tried to kill you. He's not crazy. He's your husband. You're Mrs. Nkiruka Amanda Ekwe, married to Giovanni Chukwuma Ekwe."


Nkiru lost consciousness.


Wisdom is like a goat skin bag; every man carries his own.


*To be continued on Sunday*


Thanking you everybody. I apologize for not replying the previous comments. It was due to circumstances beyond my control. I hope to reply the next set, if nairaland permits me. Before I decided to incorporate amnesia into the story, I carried out a lot of research and even read books on it. 

Thanking you.

**********


"Oh, my God! It's you again. Why can't you just leave me alone?" Nkiru grumbled helplessly as she fixed her eyes on Gio standing at her door.


Gio didn't say a word. He scrutinised her with narrowed eyes. Flames of desire fired his body as he took in his wife's appearance. When did she start dressing like this? Was it because of the hot weather in the north or because she was now so comfortable with unclothedness, it was no longer a big deal to her? And she'd even answered the door wearing only the lemon green bum shorts and olive green tank top. Since when did she start wearing green?


She made to slam the door in his face but he put out a hand to stop her. He was having none of such nonsense today. He'd come here at a very tight schedule just to throw his proof of their marriage in her face and by God, he was gong to do it and relish it as well. He made his way into the living room and crowded her, intimidating her with his height like a ruthless bully. She cowered and took steps back, rapidly. 


With such dark, intense gaze, Nkiru felt naked. With those midnight black eyes of his, he undressed her. Oh, God. She needed to put on some more clothes. Rape could be on his mind.


 God, please help me, she prayed inwardly. 


She was alone in the compound and her phones were down due to a faulty transformer and generator set, so she couldn't call Ikenna or anyone for help. If she tried bolting, he would surely grab her and have his way with her; he certainly was tall enough and looked strong and fit enough to do such.


"I'm going into my room right now to put on some decent clothes. By the time I come out, I want you out of this house," she warned with false bravado.


"Why bother?' he drawled flatly. 'It wouldn't bother me if you were stark naked. I've seen you in your birthday suit a number of times. Do you still have that cute birthmark near your belly button?"


Nkiru turned a rosy hue and rushed inside her room to slam the door and lock it with the key twice. How did he know about her birth mark? Oh, God. This was more serious than she thought. Oh, why her? Should she stay in here until her neighbours came back home? Nkiru wondered as she pulled a denim trouser from her clothes hangar and looked for a sweatshirt to cover her body. In this heat, she didn't care if she suffered heat stroke. She didn't want Giovanni making her feel the way she'd felt when he stripped off her clothes with his eyes.


What was wrong with her? Since he came looking for her two weeks ago, she hadn't been able to get her thoughts off him. And something always nagged at her when she thought of him. Sometimes it was just within reach, as if she was about turning a door knob, then something would just snatch it away. Maybe it was best if she heard what he had to say. Maybe he was here to trigger something. Besides, she'd heard pyschos tended to be hostile when ignored. Quickly slipping a razor blade inside the pocket of her denim, she rushed to open the door and prayed he'd gone. No such luck.


"Don't go fainting on me again now that you've decided to be foolish by putting on a sweatshirt in this heat." He sank down with indolent grace into the armchair and regarded her with utterly unreadable black ice eyes fringed by long, luxuriant lashes.


In a red Lacoste shirt and blue jean trousers, he had a dark exotic splendour that was undeniably riveting. For an instant she collided with his eyes and she couldn't breathe, couldn't move.


The atmosphere was fraught, full of vibrations that skimmed along her nerve-endings, filling her with the strangest excitement in spite of her weary bewilderment. He was like a powder keg, she registered. She had no idea why but she had never been so aware of the potent magnetism of powerful masculinity.


"Take a look at these before you call me crazy again. And please quit the pretense. We have a future to discuss." Gio threw the brown envelope he came in with on the coffee table. "It's a good thing I didn't destroy them in my rage."


Nkiru hesitated by the door to her room. Did she really want to look at what the brown envelope had to offer? Wouldn't it be like opening pandora's box? Was she willing to know her connection with Giovanni? But since she needed her questions answered and Nkechi had been tight-lipped, she had to be brave. That door in her head needed to be opened. And sincerely, she was beginning to get scared. Scared that he was right and she might just be the crazy one.


"Come on, I don't have all day," he urged impatiently.


Taking slow steps, she moved to the coffee table and lifted the envelope. Slowly, she brought out its contents and gasped in shock. The first was a marriage certificate made to her and Giovanni. 


It can't be! Oh, yes, falsified records, she reckoned. Anyone could fake such these days. But why would he go to such length to do such?


What she brought out next however struck her dumb. Pictures. Wedding pictures. Laughing. She was laughing up into the face of the handsome groom. Laughing up at him, this man dressed in a dark suit with a white rose in his lapel and her hands on his broad shoulders. He was laughing too, but there was more--so much more to his laughter than just mere amusement. There was love.


An image was coming. Him dancing. Dancing with Nkechi. Another. In a car. In a bedroom.


Abruptly she closed her eyes, shutting it out, shutting everything out as her body began to shake violently, a clammy sweat breaking out across her chilled flesh. She couldn't breathe again, couldn't move. And a dark mist was closing round her.


"Nkiru! Nkiru!" Gio quickly rose and shook her when he saw the effect the pictures were having on her. "My God, what happened to you?"


Nkiru opened dazed eyes and stared at him. All she could think of was the beautiful specimen he was of the male specie and how he made her feel. Familiar. His scent was familiar. And so wretchedly familiar that she wanted to eat him all up. She finally admitted, she was so hopelessly attracted to Giovanni she could barely think straight, and that was a major shock to her system and her knowledge of herself. Ikenna had never made her tremble just by looking at her. Her fiancee had never made her crave his touch. So when Gio lowered his lips to capture hers, she welcomed it with all her heart.


Gio loosed a kind of strangled groan and took her mouth so hotly that she scorched in shock, unprepared for a frontal assault of such blatancy. His tongue drove between her lips, searching out the moist interior, and an electrifying excitement shot through her, leaving her weak with longing.


It was as if time stopped dead for Nkiru as the kiss went on and on. Her heart was pumping blood so hard, she was as out of breath as if she had been running. There was a singing sound in her eardrums and her whole body felt oddly light and full of leaping energy. She looked back at him, wide, very black eyes steady for possibly the very first time, and sank without trace in the glittering intensity of his appraisal when he finally lifted his head. 


Snatching in a stark breath, she met his stunning eyes and felt the burn of reaction deep down in her pelvis, an enervating sensation that made her weld her slender thighs together in fierce embarrassment. She hurriedly moved out of his arms, folded her arms protectively round herself, still in shock.


Ikenna! 


Oh, God! She'd just kissed a man who was claiming to be her husband in such a way that she'd never kissed her fiancée before. And all those memories. Giovanni was part of her past. But why couldn't she remember him? Those pictures! Where they really married? Seperated? Divorced? Oh, she was so confused. And she was beginning to have a terrible headache from trying to remember. Why had that door which had begun opening suddenly just shut itself? Why? She needed to know. But he had to leave. His presence was so disturbing.


"Giovanni, please go. I don't care if we were married or anything of that nature. I just need to be alone right now to think."


"Luna..." Gio called softly. He'd caught a glimpse of his luna there in her eyes a few minutes ago. Something was wrong with her.


"Please go!" she yelled. And told him things that would make him leave. "Please take your insanity somewhere else. Please leave me alone. I'm engaged to be married soon and I don't ever want to see you again." 


Gio smouldered, he vibrated, he emanated violent rage into an atmosphere that positively sizzled, ready to burst into open flames And all in silence. If she hadn't been a woman he would have knocked her through the wall for daring to call him crazy again.


"Now listen to me, Nkiru. I don't know what's going on with you but I'm going to find out. But better get something into that head of yours. There's no way in hell you're going to marry Ikenna. Even though I no longer consider you as my wife, you're going to stay married to me until I find out what happened to you three years ago and why you threw away love for money." The distaste he could barely hide from her, the angry shame in his gaze cut her to the bone. "It's a promise." With that, Gio swung on his heels and strode out of the house.


Nkiru crumbled on the floor as her eyes became watery. What was happening to her? What was the key to that door that kept shutting in her face?


A disease that has never been seen before cannot be cured with everyday herbs.

**********

"Is somebody trying to seduce me?" Aunt Peace questioned the handsome man who was seated at the other side of the candlelit table. 


Senator Ekwe chuckled. "Is it working?"


Aunt Peace grinned and tilted her head a little to the side. "Maybe."


They'd just finished having a sumptuous meal ordered specially by the senator from Sheraton Hotel. Now they were sipping their red wine and smiling and staring at each other. The obvious love in their eyes could swallow an ocean whole. The senator pushed himself to his feet and lifted a hand towards his sister-in-law. She smiled like a shy school girl, placed her small hand in his and alllowed him lift her from the chair with her wine glass in her other hand. They swayed to the window and looked out of it to the darkness and lights called Abuja in each other's arms. They stayed like that for awhile, just feeling the world was a perfect place to live in.


"Sweetheart, I love you so much. Please let's make it official," Gio's father whispered into her ears.


Aunt Peace chuckled. "Make the whole world know we're an item. No need for that."


He turned her around slowly. "No, that's not what I meant. I mean you being Mrs. Ekwe."


"What?" Aunt Peace asked in bewilderment. She moved out of his arms and turned her back on him before walking to the table to drop her unfinished glass of wine.


"Chuks, we can't do that. We can't get married," she informed him as she walked back to him.


He moved to stand before her, trying to catch her eye but she moved them all over his room, clearly flustered. 


"Why can't we get married?"


"Because..." she hesitated.


"Because what? We love each other. "


"Society," she blurted out.


His lips thinned. "Damn society, Oby! Damn society! It's been twenty-eight years, Oby and you're still talking about society?"


"Yes, it's been twenty-eight years and counting. Twenty-eight years of a late wife, a late son and three children. It's twenty-eight years too late!" Her tears dropped.


Senator Ekwe made to hold her but she moved away to the window and stared out of it.


"Oby, please. Please stop bringing up the past. I know..."


She angrily cut him off. "Chuks, we can never be together that way. You know that."


He slashed his hand in the air angrily. "No, I don't know that. All I know is that I want to be with the woman I love. I'm sick and tired of this hide and seek."


Aunt Peace kept him silent for some minutes. "I'm looking...I'm searching for something. The day I find it...if I ever find it, then we might have a chance."


"What are you talking about?" he inquired but she just continued staring out the window unseeingly, tears blurring her vision.


He smacked his hand against the wall in ferocious anger.


Why were the Ekwes jinxed when it came to love?