A CRY FOR LOVE - PART 20

© Tisa Phiri


Ketty…

The night silent winds blew in my face as I stood outside leaning on the veranda, pillars. My heart aching and my mind so busy trying to process things that had clouded it. I was more than frustrated that the guys watching Chisomo lost her on the very day I was supposed to find her. I went with them to see her, that day I was ready to tell my mind to her, I wanted to clarify things and make her know she was not going to take away by baby. It was mine and mine alone and I was ready to use force as mom suggested if at all she proved stubborn

“Where is the house?” I asked the guy in charge of finding Chisomo.

“It’s that one mam, I personally took her there and can never forget the place” he informed me proudly.

“Good, stay here am going in alone” I sighed getting off the car. I looked around as I approached the placing taking in its poor environment.

“How dare she even think of raising my baby in this dirty place” I screamed in my mind as I trotted towards the door.

After knocking twice, a tall dark guy walked out without his shirt on, he stood there and smiled widely at me. “Hello beautiful!” he greeted leaning his arm on the door knob.

“Hello!” I smiled back at him.

“Um, are you the owner of this house?” I asked feeling stupid,

“How could I ask a shirtless man who was the owner of the house?” I sighed

“Am sorry, I mean, Am looking for someone” I corrected myself before he could respond.

“I noticed” he shrugged lifting his muscles up and down he made me feel uncomfortAable, “men in compounds, he has no shame exposing himself at a woman like that” I shook my head paying attention to his response.

“Am looking for a pregnant lady named Chisomo” I finally asked.

“Who?” he asked back his face now turning from a smile to a frown.

“Chisomo, I was told she stays here. Can I please talk to her” I went on.. He looked at me longer than usual and shook his head murmuring,

“Well you have a wrong house, I have no idea who you are talking about. In this part of town there is no lady who matches your description and I have lived here longer than you can imagine so I could have surely known that Chisomo woman you are talking about” he explained seriously.

“No, she is supposed to be here, am so right” I argued. For some reason I knew the guy was hiding something. He looked so guilty and I needed him to give me Chisomo.

“look here, you have no idea who I am, so just let me see Chisomo now and I …” I could not finish my words and he pulled me towards himself, he held my blouse and brought his face so close to me I could see his angry eyes.

“My friend, am not one to be messed with, if you think because you have money and everyone else is useless then you are mistaken. I will not be bullied in my own house, now, turn back around and leave as you came” he made me face where I came from.

“and leave never to return, or you will regret it” he spat and pushed me forward I lost balance going to fall on the ground.

“You are mad! How dare you!” I shouted rising from the dust and looking at him standing tall over me.

“yes, am mad, so get out!” he yelled and I run out like a mad woman, I was so pissed as I got to who I had left in to the car.

“How dare he!” I screamed.

“What happened? Did you find her” the man waiting for me asked.

“I know she is there, that idiot was so mad when I mentioned Chisomo, he must be the stupid boyfriend or something. How did he know about me being rich if Chisomo didn’t tell her?”

“Change of plans” I sighed

‘come back tomorrow and capture that woman, bring her to my mother’s house and I will deal with her from there, let’s see if that idiot will have the guts to push me again” I spat angrily rubbing my now dirt hands with hand sanitizer.

Well, unfortunately my mother’s boys had been going there to try and find Chisomo but nothing, they told me they even broke in when the guy I found wasn’t around but there was no sign of Chisomo, according to them, nothing Indicated she was ever there. I felt so stuck and desperate, she only had a few weeks towards her due date and now I was unable to find her. The fear of never seeing her gripped my throat I swallowed hard wiping my tears as I heard the gate open. I looked up as John opened the gate and there was Mario, he looked so drunk he staggered to get to the steps.

“Mario, you have been drinking like this again.. What is going on?” I tried to hold his hand but he pushed men away.

‘Get out Ketty, just stay the hell away from me! He shouted.

“Well if I don’t help you, you will fall” I went on but he pushed me harder.

“Just get off me! it’s your fault” he pointed his fingers at me,

“Yes, it’s your fault am like this, I loved you, I was okey with marrying you but you thought that wasn’t enough, you wanted a baby that you were incapable of producing, I begged you, yes” he staggered holding the pillar

“I begged you to let me be but you wouldn’t listen, you wanted more than I was able to give you and now I fall in love with her, see.. I love Chisomo more than you, I love her and I need her. You took her away, I want my woman, my warm and calm woman, I need her back” he sighed sadly and walked past me into the house I held my self hands akimbo. He was so much hurting and I hated myself for my actions.

Slowly I followed him inside and sat near him as he lay on the couch his eyes closed.

“am sorry Mario, I truly am, I just wanted to give you more as much as you did me, but I ended up messing us. Forgive me my love, I still love you and I promise we can work on this” I held his hand. He looked at me, shook his head.

“You want to make things right?” he asked.

“Yes, yes I do” I nodded my head hopefully.

“Good, then get me Chisomo, bring her to me right now” he raised his hand.

“I, i..” I couldn’t find words, I didn’t expect his answer and he seemed so serious,

“Are you going to?” he asked now closing his eyes.

“No, I can’t Mario, I love you and…”

“It’s okey” he cut me.

“it’s okey. I will fight for her myself” he sighed and lay back his head sleeping instantly. I tried to shake him so he could wake up but it was all in vain. Slowly I withdrew and went back outside this time taking a glass of wine, I wanted to go and write but I failed to process anything at all.

The following morning I went to see my mother, she was watering her flowers outside the yard when I drove in.

“You are welcome “she looked at me without stopping what she was doing.

“We need to talk” I went to stand next to her.

“What? You cannot find her and now you are mad” she asked

“No, am not mad mother, I want my man back, change of plans, we are no longer kidnapping Chisomo when the boys find her again,” I stared seriously

“Well, what happened now, you are giving up so soon?” she laughed softly.

“mother this is not funny, am serious, Mario has been crying over that girl like a baby, now I want her close more than ever, I have a plan and I don’t want anything that will make Mario hate me for life, instead I want him to hate Chisomo, hate her as much as he has come to love her, so yeah, I won’t do anything to her” I explained my mother looked confused.

“I don’t understand” she shook her head now placing the pipe down.

“I don’t want you to understand a thing mom, now tell your boys to let me know the moment the new search is successful”

“Whatever you say boss, our deal still stands though, whether she is hurt or not” he shouted as I turned to go..

“Don’t you dare hurt her mother, should Mario find out I hurt her deliberately, what do you think he will do? “ I asked her.

“well, does it matter, after all that fool never loved you as much as he claimed, look at how he dumped you at the sight of a new woman” she spat

“Stop calling him a fool mother, you know I love him and he is the only one who has loved me for me…”

“hmm, sure, he loves you when the man goes around crying for a woman you brought to sleep with him, wake up Ketty, the only way here is to get rid of that obstacle you call Chisomo, to solve a problem you need to cut if from the roots” she added and I shook my head walking away.

“By the way, what is your in-law saying about that fake bump you are carrying around like an idiot?” she shouted as I got in the car.

“Just get me Chisomo and let me have a baby soon” I faked a smile and drove out.

Read more episodes here - www.youngicee.com/stories/a-cry-for-love

Episode 18

‘Perhaps I was in a spiritual mood.’

‘I doubt that,’ she countered. ‘I don’t think you would be doing anything spiritual in Nengi’s room unless it’s something fetish and I know you’re not into things like that.’

‘Let it be, Soki,’ he warned her in a soft tone.

‘Why should I? My husband locks himself up in his late wife’s very neat and constantly-kept-clean bedroom for an entire day on the anniversary of her death and you want me to let it slide just like that? I need you to talk to me. Do I need to be worried that this would happen every 14th June?’

He sighed deeply.

‘I can’t make any promises for now,’ he told her truthfully, flicking through the television channels.

‘And I am supposed to be okay with that?’

‘Leave me be, Soki,’ he warned her.

She really should let him be but she found that she couldn’t.

‘You owe me an apology,’ she told him.

His head turned as though he had been struck by a cobra.

‘What for?’

‘You can ask me that?’ she asked incredulously.

‘It was just one night, babe. I’ll make it up to you tonight.’

She stared at him. ‘You think this is because we didn’t have sex last night? Seriously?’

‘I can’t for the life of me think of another reason,’ was his response.

Meaning that his locking himself up wasn’t enough reason for her to be upset. Yes, she had missed being with him yesterday but this was a serious issue.

‘You owe me an apology for what you did yesterday. Your action was most unfair to me as your wife.’

‘I don’t owe you an apology, babe,’ he returned.

‘Don’t you? I didn’t sign up for this.’

‘This conversation is over.’

‘Far from it.’

‘And I don’t have the patience to deal with your whining tonight.’

‘My whining,’ she repeated.

‘Yes, you’re whining. If I wanted to listen to a whining I would have gone outside to the dogs.’

‘What!’

‘I came home because this place is supposed to provide me with some peace and quiet.’

‘You started it,’ she told him. ‘All you had to do was either apologise or just tell me why you did it in order for me to understand.’

‘I owe you neither an apology nor an explanation. What happened has happened. Get over it, babe. You can revisit the issue if it repeats itself next year.’

‘You wouldn’t say that to me if I was your precious Nengi,’ she said petulantly before she could stop herself.

‘It always boils down to Nengi, doesn’t it?’

‘I can’t help it!’

‘Well, let me tell you about Nengi: she knew better than to whine or nag, two characteristics no wife should ever exhibit. She knew that a man’s home was his place of relaxation away from all the hassles of work; that when a man comes home in the evening he would appreciate a good meal; and that when you want to get something out of a man you should never get him upset.’

Soki realised that she should have waited until after supper.

‘You should try to be like her, you know.’

‘Don’t you dare compare me with her.’

‘Why not?’

‘I’m your wife and despite the circumstances under which we got married, I…’

‘I never said anything about the circumstances…’

‘But that’s why you’re treating me like this. Had we married out of love, you would have reacted differently.’

‘How am I treating you?’ he asked, turning fully to look at her. ‘I paid your bride price and bought the customary gifts without complaint. We got married at the registry and in church because you wanted it. I could easily have just paid a bride price to your father and made you move into my home as my wife. I give you fat allowances and I agreed to wait until you are almost done with law school before we start having children despite how much I want to have children. I come home to you every night; I let you know exactly where I would be; and I don’t restrict your movement. How many men in our ‘circumstance’ would have done that? I have been more than fair to you, babe, so don’t you dare talk about the circumstances under which we got married in that tone!’

‘All this just because I asked for an apology!’

‘If that is intended to make me feel guilty, it isn’t working.’

She sighed deeply.

‘Excuse me. I have to go prepare supper.’

‘Don’t,’ he stopped her. ‘I’ll do it myself.’

‘I am…’

‘I said I’ll do it myself.’

‘It’s my kitchen.’

‘Yeah right. Like you decorated the place.’

‘The next thing you’ll be telling me is that I have no right to be there.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous. I’m taking care of supper this night.’

‘Have it your way.’

‘I intend to.’

He left the sitting room and Soki glared at the television as though it was the source of her annoyance. When she heard the bedroom door open and close, she hurried to the kitchen. There was no way he was going to fix supper when she was home. Another time and she would have thought it romantic, but considering their quarrel, she didn’t want him to have something to hold against her in the future.

A frown marred his handsome features when he returned and saw her in the kitchen putting food stuff together.

‘I told you that I’ll be taking care of supper,’ he reminded her.

‘You did, but I can’t let you.’

‘Stand aside.’

‘No way. I am your wife and I intend to cook supper.’

‘And I don’t want to eat your food tonight,’ he returned bluntly.

‘You think I’ll poison you just because we had a quarrel.’

‘No. Indigestion is more like it.’

‘I beg your pardon,’ she said indignantly.

‘I won’t have both of us ending up at the hospital for indigestion simply because you were raving and ranting while preparing our meal.’

‘You are also annoyed,’ she reminded him.

‘But more level headed. Now stand aside.’

‘I won’t and you can’t make me,’ she told him stubbornly.

‘Don’t make me repeat myself.’

‘Or you’ll do what?’

‘I don’t hit women no matter the provocation.’

‘Good to hear. But I’m not leaving this kitchen.’

‘Oh yes you are.’

One moment she was in the kitchen, the next he had put her over his shoulder fireman style and was carrying her out of the kitchen.

‘Put me down this moment, Tarzan!’

‘In good time babe,’ he responded.

He deposited her on the sofa in the sitting room they had vacated earlier. He handed her the TV remote, saying, ‘Now sit here and watch a TV programme like a good girl.’

‘If you touch one pot in that kitchen I swear I shall go to bed fasting.’

‘You can’t even fast to save your life, babe,’ he laughed.

‘I’m serious. I won’t eat at all.’

‘Okay. It would make my job easier,’ he returned.

‘I mean it.’

‘So do I. And I don’t want you within 50 metres of the kitchen.’

He walked away.

*****

Soki couldn’t concentrate on the channel she had chosen. She was hurt and fuming inside while Dienye was in the kitchen singing a track from the 70s. On a good day she would have laughed until she fell to the rug, rolling with her feet up and moving as though she was riding an invisible bicycle. His voice ‘no be here at all’. Off key was an understatement.

‘Are you sure you don’t want to eat?’ he called out to her from the kitchen.

‘No, and you can’t talk me into it.’

‘I don’t intend to.’

He fried some really ripe plantain and Irish potatoes and made an omelette to go with it. He microwaved the chicken drumsticks she had fried the previous evening to go with the dinner he hadn’t eaten.

He joined her in the sitting room with a tray of food and a bottle of wine. The food looked appetising but she told herself that she wouldn’t be tempted.

‘You’re sure you don’t want to join me?’ Dienye asked.

‘No,’ she replied.

‘You are being childish,’ he told her.

‘I don’t care.’

‘You are past the age of minority, I’m sure you were taught that at school. Now, are you or are you not going to join me?’

‘No.’

‘Suit yourself.’

He dug into his food. She watched the food, hungrily. He never said a word to her. She realised that he had every intention of eating the entire food and she was hungry. She was literally salivating and he was ignoring her. She quickly reached out and grabbed the plate from him.

‘Nekwa nwoke Bonny a! (See this Bonny man!) So if I leave you, you will finish the whole food, just like that.’

‘I thought you were making shakara for me.’

‘Go joor.’

He laughed, rising to his feet. He left the sitting room returning a minute later with another plate of fried plantain, potatoes, omelette and chicken. She stared at him open mouthed as she realised that he had actually fixed supper for two and dished out hers. She grabbed that plate from him. When he tried to pick one of the soft plantains with the new fork he had come with, Soki held the plate away from him.

‘You dey see yourself?’ he asked. ‘You ate part of my food and now you don’t want to share yours.’

‘You could have just told me that my plate of food was in the kitchen.’

‘See sense. Nwa Onitsha.’

‘Proudly nwa Onitsha,’ she amended, lifting one hand and bobbing her head.

As she concentrated on the food, he made as though to walk away and quickly grabbed the plate from her, taking off. She chased after him, the earlier quarrel temporarily forgotten.

Read Episode 19 here - https://youngicee.com/2020/01/the-second-wife-episode-19.html

The Second Wife - Episode 18

© Onyinyechukwu Mbeledogu

7:09am
Monday, 14th June 2004

Soki waited until Dienye had left the premises before searching his top drawer for the key to the designated ‘Nengi’s bedroom’. She had she had seen him drop the key earlier on. She found it, separated from a bunch of spare keys and hidden beneath a pocket book. Taking a deep breath and slowly releasing it, she left the master bedroom and headed down the hall for that room. For a long time, she had been curious about what was in the room. She probably would have minded her business but Dienye had pushed her to this point.

He had spent the last 26 hours locked up in that room from midnight until early this morning, without food or water. She had knocked several times but without a response from him. She had brought his meals to him but he hadn’t opened the door, not even when she had brought his phone. He had missed several calls on the phone she soon realised that he had deliberately left in the master bedroom so as not to be disturbed.

A lot of thoughts had run through her mind. If he had been in a different room she would have thought he was having a private moment with God but there was no way he would have picked his late wife’s room for that purpose. She had heard whispers coming from the room as though he was in discussion with another person but he was alone.

When by evening he hadn’t come out of the room, Soki had called Priye to find out if the 14th of June was an important date in the Dienye-Hart family and she was informed that it was the day Nengi had died. That explained a lot. For how long had he been doing this? And for how long did he intend it to continue?

And then this morning he had returned to the master bedroom as though nothing had happened. She had pretended to be fast asleep as he bathed and dressed up quickly, picking up his phone and car keys and then leaving the room.

Soki unlocked the door and stepped into the bedroom. It was clean without a single cobweb. The bed was dressed with a pink and yellow bed sheets, two thick pillows with matching pillow cases and flowered comforter. She noticed the neatly packed paintings in the bedroom. She looked through them and found that they were mainly landscape paintings and the others were paintings of Dienye. On the dressing table were Nengi’s jewellery boxes, makeup kit, perfumes and other cosmetics. The room looked occupied. Was Nengi’s ghost living with them?

That’s a ridiculous thought, Soki told herself. There’s no such thing as a ghost.

She went through the neatly arranged stack of magazines she found in the room and stumbled upon Nengi’s burial programme. Without thinking, she sat on the bed and began to read through the programme, focusing on the biography and the tributes. By the time she was done, Soki felt as though she had been reading about an angel. In the short time she had lived on earth, Nengi had touched a lot of lives as could be discerned from the tributes.

Her life had been unjustly cut short. And not for the first time, Soki wondered if she had anything to do with it. After all, God must have known from the beginning that she, Soki, would find herself in the predicament of raising money to free her beloved father from the police custody and so had made Dienye free in order to be in a position to help her.

‘Don’t be ridiculous!’ a voice inside her head told her. ‘Soon you’ll be taking the blame for things that happened even before you were conceived.’

Getting up, she straightened the bed sheets and left the room, locking the door behind her.

At least Nengi’s pictures no longer graced her sitting rooms. It had taken Belema’s intervention for that to happen. Soki had talked to Dienye about how uncomfortable having the pictures there had made her feel and his response had been simple: ‘This was also her home. You can’t expect me to get rid of all her things just to please you.’

Belema had come visiting once he was back in town. Soki hadn’t been home but she had returned to the two brothers having a heated argument over the rightness of still publicly exposing Nengi’s pictures in the sitting rooms. Neither of the brothers had heard Soki come into the house and they hadn’t seen her just outside the open door of the small sitting room.

‘I know you aren’t over Nengi, Dienye, but you do not have to make it so obvious. It’s been four years. Let her rest in peace.’

‘I don’t want to talk about it.’

‘But you will.’

‘Do I need to remind you who is the older brother here?’ Dienye asked tersely.

‘Age has nothing to do with this. You are married now, you should concentrate on your new wife and let go of the past.’

Dienye glared at him.

‘What I do with my life is none of your business.’

‘Isn’t it? We have been and will always be a closely knit family,’ Belema countered. ‘The day you married Soki, you made her a part of our family. When you told me you were getting married to Soki, I was completely against it not because I felt she wasn’t good enough for you but because I was convinced that you weren’t ready to become emotionally involved with any woman. But you insisted that it was a done deal and I gave you my support you as your brother and friend despite my reservations.’

When Dienye said nothing, Belema continued.

‘Leaving Nengi’s photographs and your wedding albums here is tantamount to being completely insensitive to Soki’s feelings.’

‘She understands the circumstances under which we got married and…’

‘Just because she made herself collateral for the money she took from you that doesn’t mean that she stopped being a human being with emotions! You chose the option of having a permanent relationship with her when you could easily have settled for a payment plan from her father, so that means that her feelings must of necessity count even at this point.’

‘Nengi’s pictures do not affect Soki in any way and so will remain here.’ Dienye told his brother with finality. ‘And I won’t talk about this again. Let it rest.’

‘And why should I?’ Belema queried.

‘Let it rest. Soki understands and that is all that matters.’

‘With over five million naira debt swinging over her face like a pendulum, what else do you expect her to do, fight you on this? I am not Soki and so I won’t hesitate to send those pictures and the albums back to Nengi’s parents.’

‘You wouldn’t dare,’ Dienye glared at his only brother and the latter stood his ground.

‘Wouldn’t I?’ Belema returned.

It was like two Tyrannosaurus Rex having a face off.

‘Nengi’s things belong with her family. Had you still been single or had there been a child from your marriage, that would have been a different ball game, but you are married to another woman. There is no reason for keeping Nengi’s things here like a keepsake. It is sheer cruelty to leave her pictures for Soki to be haunted by and the Dienye I know wouldn’t want to do that to his Soki.’

‘You think I would deliberately go out of my way to hurt Soki?’

‘No, but that is exactly what you are doing, hurting her. You may not be in love with her but she doesn’t need to be constantly reminded by the physical evidence of the fact that you had been married to another woman before her, especially one you had been in love with. Even a woman who married you just to have access to your wealth would protest.’

‘I’ll think about it.’

‘Don’t think about it, big bro. Just get rid of the pictures and the albums and whatever else is in this house that belongs to Nengi. You can keep her memories but not as a souvenir littered all over the place. Focus more on building fresh memories with Soki. If you do not have the mind to get rid of her things, then I can do it for you. Every one of us loved Nengi, perhaps not as much as you did, and she would always be in our hearts, but you have to move on.’

Soki had been so grateful for Belema’s intervention. She had quietly moved back to the front door so as not to give any indication that she had been eavesdropping. She had opened the door and made a ceremony of shutting it once more to give the impression that she had just returned home.

*****

Presently she had her bath and dressed up in a pink long sleeved blouse and knee length black skirt and black shoes with low heels. As a way of keeping busy while waiting for her results to be released by the school and to avoid boredom from being alone in the big house, she was currently running an internship programme at B.B’s law office.

Ms Elizabeth, the lady Soki had met the first time she came to Dienye’s house, still came in three times a week to clean up but Soki handled the cooking now. She worked from 10am to 4pm which gave her time to return home early enough to fix their supper. Her internship involved conducting legal research, joining B.B or any of his lawyers to court every now and then, and filing court processes on behalf of the firm. It felt good being around lawyers and working with them. It gave her something to look forward to. Plus she loved the fact that she wasn’t given special treatment because of her relationship with her boss.

She left the office at about 4:12pm and got home by 5:16pm because of the heavy traffic at Rumuola and subsequently at 1st Artillery. Without traffic it should have taken her a maximum of ten minutes to get home.

Dienye came back a few minutes after she did. He headed straight for their bedroom. Soki wondered if she should wait until after supper to ask him about what had happened yesterday or talk to him before supper. She decided that it was better to talk to him now. After supper he might go out for a long stroll which he did every now and then and she might not get to see him until morning.

She waited for him in the sitting room at about 5:43pm. He had changed from his work clothes to a t-shirt and a pair of camouflage shorts.

‘Hi, babe,’ he said as he settled on a sofa.

‘Hi, darling,’ she responded. ‘How was work today?’

‘It was great. And your internship, how’s it going?’

‘I’m learning a great deal.’

There was silence and then she decided to raise the issue.

‘If it’s okay with you, I would like to talk to you about something.’

He looked at her.

‘Sure. What’s on your mind?’

She took a deep breath and inhaled before saying.

‘I want to know why you locked yourself all day yesterday.’

He looked at her as though trying to decide whether or not to give her an answer. He would rather be evasive than lie to her.

‘You missed Church for the first time. I need to understand-’

‘Sorry about that.’

‘What happened?’

‘It’s not important,’ he replied, picking up the television remote.’

‘It has to be important for you to spend the entire day in there without food or water.’

A CRY FOR LOVE - PART 19

© Tisa Phiri

Chisomo….

Living alone, was not easy, I felt a lot lonelier than ever, I missed my mother more. Every night I would go to bed and cry myself to sleep. I wished time and again, Jay had not spoiled our friendship with his love speech, at least I could be with him and think less about what was about my life.

Esther had always been on his back to make sure she was not letting him out of her sight. The few times I got to see Jay was when he sneaked out and came to see me.

“If it was up to me, I would leave Esther and be with you” he would say even against my protest he never spoke to me about love.

“I love you as a friend you know that, so stop talking about this your love thing again and again because whatever you think will happen between us, it will never come to pass” I would tell him.

“I know why” frowned.

“Know what?”

“It’s that man Mario, you still love him don’t you?” he would challenge me. Of course I never admitted it to his face as much as I tried to avoid thinking about the feelings that I had for Mario. I thought the more I avoided talking and thinking about him I would forget him, well they say whatever you feed your mind is possible but unfortunately for me it was my heart speaking and there was no way my mind would process and make me forget about the man it wanted, so I spent nights and silent days inwardly wishing he was with me. I was laying in my bed one night lost In thoughts, when they came a soft knock from my front door, looking at time I wondered who it was.

“Jay” I sighed realizing he was the person that could possibly come at that time, it was a few minutes past 20 pm. wrapping a fleece around myself, I walked to the door. I didn’t even bother to turn on the lights knowing I would not allow him inside the house.

“Jay its lat…..” I couldn’t finish my sentence as I opened the door the sight of the man standing there made me pause and feel my heart racing.

“Is that his name?” he asked folding his hands across his chest. I wanted to close the door and run back inside but he held it wide.

“Do you love him?” he asked still holding the door and not moving from where he was standing.

“Mario, what are you doing here?” I finally found my voice.

“Why? Tell me why you had to make me go through hell, spend sleepless nights wishing I could only see you. I love you Chisomo, why is it so difficult to understand that? You could have allowed me watch my baby grow from inside you and know how you are doing. “ He went on his voice so cold and sad I swallowed so hard avoiding to look at him, luckily I was in the dark as he stood outside where the outside light shined in his face. I could see him clearly, tears running down his face. He didn’t bother to wipe them out. It was not my intention to make him sad and it hurt so much seeing him that way.

“Mario, please, you have to go, I don’t know how you found out where I am but it’s not right that you are here, please I don’t want any problems, allow me to have peace please” I spoke almost in a whisper, it was like I was afraid someone would hear my inside voice screaming out what I really wanted.

“how is my baby?” he asked ignoring every word that I spoke that moment, I touched myself unconsciously and the baby inside me moved like it was aware the father was close.

“fine, the baby is fine” I answered him and before I could say more he moved close and held my belly rubbing it gently I couldn’t get him not to, I wanted to but my hands remained stuck on my sides.

“I missed you both, I missed you so much” he raised his face at me, I wonder why he was looking direct at me as though he could see my eyes, I assumed he was not able to cause I was still standing in the dark.

Clearing my throat, I held his hand away..

“Mario, you have seen am okey, can you leave now?, please” I asked him.

“Why? Is it because of that tall dark guy I saw you with? Is it because of him that you lied about your feelings for me and ran away? Was it because of him that you gave back the money so that you will not have me by your door?” he asked now pushing me slightly we both stood inside the house.

“Is it that, that.. Man, that Jay? ” he raised his hands struggling to mention Jay’s name.

“Yes!” I found myself answering without thinking through it.

“What?” he asked now closing in to me.

“where is the switch I want to see through your eyes as you speak” he paused looking around, seeing the switch near the door he turned it on and now I could see he was not the same man I knew before, he was so sad, his eyes looked tired and different, it was like he had been working for hours without rest.

“You said?” he asked lifting my face.

At the moment I thought of Ketty, I knew by then they were married and he probably didn’t even tell her where he was, I knew giving in to him would just complicate things for me and my un born baby, there was no way in the world I would trade my child for my self-satisfaction even if it meant for the man I loved. I had to find a way of him staying away and I grabbed the opportunity

“Tell me the truth Chisomo, why have you decided to punish me” he asked again as I remained silent for minutes

“Yes, it’s because of him, I love him Mario, just like you and Ketty have come a long way, so have I and him. He is the love of my life and you know I did what I did with you for money, I needed to help my mother but now she is no more…” I wiped the tears falling as my own lies hurt me so much.

“no, it’s not true, why didn’t you ever mention his name all this time, why hmm, no, you love me Chisomo and you know it, it’s because you never wanted to separate me and Ketty that you left. Well, let me tell you, I cannot forget about you, I love you so much” he giggled sadly.

“I love you don’t do this to me, don’t push me away, I found a way of getting to you and now am here”

“no, I have said the truth Mario, am in love with someone else, the guy you saw me with is the one, please stop wasting your time with me, am not yours, you and Ketty belong together and about the baby, am not giving it up for anything” I told him painfully he went to sit on the chair close by like my words had taken away his strength to stand up straight.

“You love me, I know it, look into my eyes and tell me you love someone else” he quickly stood up coming close again like he had found a way of getting the truth from me.

“I love Jay, I never loved you Mario, I never did, whatever happened between us is in the past and it’s all buried” I spoke without blinking fighting hard to keep up the act, he sunk back defeated.

“I see. I was a fool, Ketty was right, all you wanted was money and you played victim , I was so foolish, dammit!” he hit the chair hard in anger I startled moving away.

After minutes of fidgeting and whispering to himself in anger he stood up, looked at me from head to toe and his expression changed, from the sadness to anger. He came close the last time, looked at my face as I looked down, he lifted my chin and I patted my lips unconsciously.

Shaking his head, he kissed me and sighed heavily.

“you have killed me Chisomo, you have no idea how much, how much I so much loved you, you were the one for me” he wiped a tear, rubbed my belly once more and walked away without looking back.

I slowly closed the door and sat down crying like a child. I held my head in my palms and cried out, I was so mad at myself for hurting him, I was mad for denying the man I so much loved just so I avoid trouble, but I was not going to give up my baby`s well-being as well.

Slowly and painfully I pushed myself to my bedroom and cried the more, the lump on my throat felt so painful as I tried to push the images of Mario`s hurt face.

MARIO…

I didn’t feel like a man as I pulled myself away from her, she just told me in my face she loved another man. “Why my Chisomo, why?” I asked myself as I sat in the car.

I had made it my mission to find her and when Ketty and her plans to find her through her mother started, I took advantage trying to follow up issues so I could find her before ketty` s mother did.

“She is in George Compound? “ I had overhead Ketty talking to her mother one afternoon as I walked in from work.

“Where exactly?” she asked and upon seeing me, she changed the subject…

“Mother, just text me” she cut the line and I knew something was wrong somewhere.

“Who was that?” I asked pretending I heard nothing.

“My mother, welcome back” she smile at me

“Well, now you in good books with your mother huh?” I asked trying to get to open up.

“Not really I just want her to help me find our baby” she shrugged.

“So?” I asked hoping she would tell me what was going on.

“So nothing Mario, stay out of all this, just know that we are going to have our baby, just look at how big I am now” she smiled showing me her fake pregnancy. Shaking my head I went on to change my uniform.

I played her game and followed her around, knowing her mother was using a certain guy to find Chisomo, I too had some junior officers follow him around till they told me they saw him talking to Chisomo and drove her to where she was staying.

“What? Are you sure she is okey?” I had panicked.

“Yes Sir. The guy is playing cool and just dropped her home” my officers reported.

“good, it means they wanted to know where she stays, stay close and let me know if anything dangerous is close to her when am back, I will come straight to see her” I instructed my men. Unfortunately I was sent to work from Kabwe for a week so I could not rush to save her and see her.

The time I got back, I didn’t find her at the house the boys told me and I spend the rest of the days walking around the area in the hope to see her. At home I noticed how upset Ketty seemed it was obvious she and her mother`s boys had lost her too. My prayer was to find her before they did and thank God, one of my boys spotted her entering a wall fenced house near some shops. I followed it up and yes, she was there.

Now I was heartbroken, just when I thought my lonely and sad days were over, she just pushed me back to square one. I vowed not to give up my baby though.

“She can have her man and I will have my baby” I spat angrily driving out in a rush. She was punishing me a million times and no matter how much it was hurting, I felt comforted I got to see her again, she looked beautiful in her big bump I kept wishing I got to see more than the fleece she had wrapped around herself…

“Am coming back Chisomo. This is not over” I whispered to myself as I joined the tarred road.

Read episode 20 - https://youngicee.com/2020/01/a-cry-for-love-part-20.html

Episode 17 continued


She was surprised when he returned about half an hour dressed in a three piece suit and carrying a brief case.

Just like that, she thought. No ‘Why are you upset?’ This was definitely not working out as she’d thought. For a man who had been married for seven years, he certainly wasn’t that sensitive to a woman’s mood. Then again she wasn’t his perfect Nengi. Had Nengi been the one in her shoes, Soki had no doubt that he would have apologised without even asking what he’d done wrong or caring if he’d been at fault.

He’d probably return later in the day, eat his supper, watch the news and expect her to come willingly into his arms, knowing that she would. They both had their needs and she had been taught that one should never deny one’s spouse the delight of one’s body even in anger.

He announced to her that he had to get to his training firm and from there he would be attending a few meetings fixed for later in the day. He would be back a bit late.

Soki frowned when she heard the front door open and then close. She was still upset. She eyed the wedding album which remained in the sitting room. What would happen if she was to hide it? She thought meanly. Nengi had been Dienye’s closest friend and not just a woman he had married. Soki lifted her left hand and looked at her rings which seemed to mock her. He should be more sensitive about her emotions even if he couldn’t love her. They had been friends for crying out loud.

She hated the fact that he had to consciously stop himself from calling her Nengi. He did that especially when he got carried away in a discussion with her. It was probably reminiscent of his long conversations with Nengi. In situations like that he seemed to be seeing Nengi while talking with her.

Perhaps she was overreacting. This had nothing to do with Nengi. She had to cut him some slack.

He called her a few hours later to say that one of his meetings had been cancelled and so he would be back around two for lunch. She didn’t have such a long face by the time he returned, and he commented on this as they ate lunch.

‘I feel better now,’ was her response.

After lunch he was ready to step out again. He changed into his sports outfit.

‘I have a squash game with B.B,’ he told her as he laced his sneakers.

‘Can I join you guys?’

‘You don’t know how to play squash.’ He reminded her.

‘I could learn.’

‘I’ll teach you some other time,’ he promised.

‘Can I at least watch?’

‘You’d be bored to death, babe,’ he smiled. ‘Besides, B.B and I have a few things we need to discuss in private.’

‘And I’d be in the way,’ she finished.

‘I didn’t say that.’

‘But you implied it.’

‘You shouldn’t read meanings into my words, babe.’

He got on his feet and picked up his squash racket. He approached her and she lifted her face for his kiss. His lips brushed lightly against hers.

‘I’m glad you’re home,’ he told her.

He straightened up and began to walk out of the room.

‘You owe me a squash lesson,’ she called after him.

‘I guess I do. Remind me later.’

He had just reached the front door before she found herself racing out of the sitting room. She hadn’t told him she was done with her examinations.

‘D.D, hold on for a moment,’ she called after him just as he opened the door. ‘There’s something I need to tell you.’

‘We’ll talk once I get back,’ he promised her, shutting the door before she could say anything.

She didn’t follow him outside. It wasn’t necessary. She would tell him over supper. Her phone rang just as she walked back into the sitting room. She picked it up and flipped it open. She didn’t recognise the number.

‘Hello.’

‘Hi, Soki. It’s B.B.’

‘Hi B.B.’

‘Is Dienye there?’ B. B asked.

‘No, he just left but I’m sure you suspected that,’ Soki responded. ‘After all, we both know your best friend is always punctual.’

B.B laughed.

‘I actually called to say congratulations. I heard you wrote your final paper yesterday. Once you’re done with law school, I’m adopting you as my counsel.’

‘Don’t you mean that you would provide an immediate employment for me?’

‘I would be engaging you as my personal lawyer on a retainership basis.’

Soki smiled.

‘And what happens to your present lawyer?’

‘I’ll discharge him. After all, he isn’t good looking as you,’ B.B laughed. ‘Congratulations once more, dear.’

‘Thanks B.B.’ she smiled, and then curiosity got the best of her. ‘How did you find out?’

‘A friend’s younger sister is in your class. Samantha Ogbebor.’

She knew Samantha. In a class of 112, it was easy to know everyone even if you weren’t friends with them all. They chatted for a few minutes before he hung up. He had promised to send her graduation present through Dienye.

‘Oh dear!’ she thought.

She tried calling Dienye at once, not wanting him to hear the news from someone else. But she couldn’t get to him and it wasn’t something she could send via text.

She really should have dragged Dienye by his t-shirt and made him listen to her!

*******

Soki was on the phone with her dad when Dienye returned that evening. She could tell from his countenance that B.B had made good his promise to send her graduation gift through Dienye.

He looked at her for a moment and then walked away. She heard the master bedroom door open and then close. Rubbing a palm over her face, she quickly concluded her call.

‘I have to go now, daddy,’ she told her father. ‘I’ll call you later. Send my regards to mum.’

She left the sitting room for the kitchen to check on supper which was a pot of beans porridge and croaker fish. She had fried the croaker fish earlier and cut the ripe plantain to go with the porridge. She added the plantain to the food and closed the lid of the pot.

She left the kitchen and headed for the master bedroom. Dienye was in the bathroom. She hesitated for a moment and then left the bedroom. He joined her in the sitting room a few minutes later. She had already dished out their supper and served it in the dining room.

‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ he asked, accusingly.

Soki didn’t bother pretending that she had no idea what he was talking about. ‘I did tell you three days ago when you called me that I would be done with my examinations yesterday. You were even supposed to pick me up.’

‘And when I didn’t show up you didn’t deem it fit to remind me.’

‘I called you but couldn’t get through to you. Besides, you have the memory of an elephant. You barely forget anything and so I expected you to remember,’ she simply told him.

‘Well, I didn’t. I sincerely thought you were writing your last paper today. If I had known differently I would have made other arrangements for Atili.’

‘Not to worry, darling, I took a cab home. I sent you a message to that effect, didn’t you get it?’

‘I just got it this evening.’ He acknowledged. ‘There wasn’t much network service where I was.’

‘When I got home there wasn’t a note from you saying where you were.’

‘That’s because I forgot you were to return yesterday,’ he reminded her.

‘No sweat. I wanted to tell you about it when you were leaving earlier but you were in a hurry and so I decided to wait for you to return.’

‘You had more opportunities to do that before I left,’ he reminded her.

‘I was distracted,’ was her simple response. And then she added, with a sweet smile. ‘I took myself to Bovatti and the moment they heard I had just graduated, lots of persons fell over their feet in a bid to buy me dinner.’

‘And I am sure you basked in all the attention,’ he said sarcastically.

‘But of course. I’m a young woman.’

Dienye sighed deeply. ‘I should have been the one to take you out.

That was my intention.’

‘Incidentally, I had the intention of taking you out last night.’

They looked at each other for a moment and then burst into laughter.

‘I got you a graduation gift,’ he said once he stopped laughing.

His gift was a golden brooch that was a symbol of justice and came with a matching set of earrings.

‘Wow.’ She has never seen anything like it before.

‘Thanks,’ she said excitedly, pushing back her seat and rising to her feet.

She walked around the table to him and hugged him from the side. She kissed him. He stroked her cheek as he returned her kiss.

‘So you owe me a celebration dinner,’ he reminded her once they ended the kiss.

‘But of course,’ she smiled, returning to her chair and then she added slyly. ‘Eat up your food, my darling, you have some serious work to do tonight. Five days is a long time you know.’

She could have sworn that he blushed.

Read episode 18 here - https://youngicee.com/2020/01/the-second-wife-episode-18.html

The Second Wife - Episode 17

© Onyinyechukwu Mbeledogu

Thursday, 13th May 2004
RUSUT

And it was a wrap!

After five plus years as an undergraduate, Soki couldn’t believe she was finally done with her degree examination. She was so glad to be a law student, for final year students in other faculties still had pending examinations. Unless there was foul play, she was certain to graduate top of her class with a first class degree.

She took group pictures with her classmates, some of whom were popping bottles of wine. This would be the last time they would ever be together like this. Some of the students would be having resits and those who passed would end up in different law school campuses. There would be reunions but at no time would everyone attend it at the same time. It was a very emotional moment with long hugs and exchange of emails and home addresses.

She had packed her bags that morning, before leaving for her examination. Dienye had promised two days earlier to pick her up after her exams but around 5pm. It was a few minutes past 1pm so that gave her a few hours to celebrate with two of her closest course-mates, Ebitari and Ibukun.

They took a cab from school to Kingfishers along Olu Obasanjo road.

‘Finally we are graduates,’ said Ebitari.

Soki smiled at her course mate. Ebitari, tall, very slim and with a noticeable limp on her left leg courtesy of an accident that had claimed the life of her parents and kept hospitalised for months. Tari had been two sets ahead of Soki before the accident. After four major surgeries, learning to walk again, and having to rely on the charity of her mother’s relatives, Tari had lost two academic sessions and ended up in Soki’s set. She had felt really bad about returning to school at a time her course mates had graduated, but Soki had befriended her and encouraged her to focus on graduating from the school rather than what could have been. Soki was so happy for her friend. Tari had informed Soki earlier that if she graduated with a minimum CGPA of 3:00, her mother’s immediate elder sister had promised to foot her bills for law school.

‘Abi o,’ said Ibukun in agreement. ‘Just look at us. After many years in the University of Stress and Tension, we are finally free.’

The students of the Rivers State University of Science and Technology had nicknamed the school University of Stress and Tension because a lot of students were put through tremendous stress in order to graduate; and once in a while students were turned into 100m race athletes as a result of the hits or reprisal attacks carried out by rival cult gangs. It didn’t matter what part of campus the hit occurred; once there was a gun shot, everyone took off, half of the time running through lecture room windows and forgetting about the doors. Surprisingly, there had never been recorded any case of a student severing an artery while running through the louvers.

‘What’s left is for us to pray continually about our scripts and results so that nothing goes wrong,’ Soki added.

‘That’s very necessary.’

They ordered plates of jollof fried rice, peppered chicken, salad/moi-moi and packs of juice. Their conversation was loud and their laughter drew attention to their table but they paid no attention to the other persons present. They talked about the years they had spent in school, the various experiences they had both socially and academically. They talked about lecturers they would miss and those they definitely wouldn’t miss.

They were back to school by 4:05pm. When Dienye didn’t show up by 5:00pm as promised, she got worried and called him but his number was busy. It wasn’t like Dienye to be late and if he was running late for any reason he would have called her.

While waiting for Dienye, she bought drinks for her roommates and promised to visit them the next week. When by 6:45pm Dienye still hadn’t showed up or called her, she walked down to the back gate to pick a cab. She sent a text to Dienye telling him not to bother picking her as she would be taking a cab home.

Dienye wasn’t home by the time Soki arrived. One of the guards helped her get her things into the house. She looked around but there wasn’t a note from Dienye explaining where he had gone. He also didn’t call her. She unpacked her bags before undressing and getting into the bathroom where she had a quick shower. She dressed up in a light blue dress and black high heeled knee length boots. She applied a light makeup and picked up her black purse.

She had intended to take Dienye out to celebrate the conclusion of her examinations but since he wasn’t home, she would either get a take-away dinner for him or fix something when she returned home. She had a large bowl of stew in the freezer which she had made last Sunday.

She drove to Bovatti Restaurant, along the Old Aba Road. One slip that she had just graduated from the university and Soki had a number of willing and voluntary sponsors: young men and a few older guys. She found their attention amusing but she allowed herself to have a wonderful time, enjoying the flirtatious remarks and advances. After all, she was still a young woman.

She left the restaurant a few minutes past nine with the food she had bought for Dienye. Dienye’s BMW was missing from its parking space. She called his number once more but couldn’t get him. Where was he? Did he spend the night away from home any time she wasn’t around? Was he seeing another woman? No, she didn’t think that was the case. She also knew he wasn’t visiting his parents for she had spoken to them not long ago. He also wasn’t having a guys’ night out with Belema who was off shore. Or was he with B.B? She wasn’t aware of any JCI programme happening that weekend, or had he been invited for a training outside Rivers State for a training? She didn’t want to consider the thought that he might have been in an accident. God forbid! Someone would have called her if that was the case.

She ensured that the guards and the dogs had something to eat and then waited for Dienye in the large sitting room.

*****



9:57pm

Sapphire room

Riverglade Hotels

Omoku, Rivers State

Dienye lay on the queen-size bed in a white BYC singlet and navy blue jean trousers, with his long legs stretched out and crossed at the ankle. His green t-shirt was tossed over the back of a chair beside the bed in the large, air conditioned room.

‘Thanks once more D-Baby for picking me up from the park and bringing me here,’ the young woman with the red and gold braid held in a ponytail said as she closed the wardrobe. ‘Isn’t it my good fortune that your young wife isn’t around?’ she added teasingly as she turned to him. ‘Had she been home you wouldn’t have agreed to spend the night here.’

She walked barefooted to the bed, dressed in a yellow top with black spots and a tiny pair of black silk shorts that revealed her endless fair legs. She stretched out horizontally on the bed and placed her head on Dienye’s chest with the familiarity of a woman who had been doing this for a long time.

She was in Omoku for a two day seminar starting on Friday and had called Dienye the moment she arrived Port Harcourt. She hadn’t seen him in weeks, although they communicated as often as possible over the phone. She had served as a Corper in a company in Warri and had been retained after service the previous year.

‘Yes,’ Dienye responded. ‘Soki’s in school, that’s the only reason you get to have me here.’ He pulled playfully on one of her braids. ‘Besides, you should also be thanking me for having to endure the terrible network service here just to be with you.’

‘Special people things,’ Atili laughed, her laughter vibrating on his chest. ‘That’s called love.’

‘See your mouth,’ Dienye laughed in return.

‘So how is Soki?’

‘She’s fine. She’s rounding off her degree examinations tomorrow afternoon. I promised to pick her up in the evening. That should give her enough time to celebrate with her friends before I whisk her off.’

‘Wow, that’s great.’ Atili said, clapping excitedly. ‘That means your semi-married life comes to an end tomorrow.’

‘I don’t remember complaining. She comes home every weekend so that makes up for everything.’

‘I hope she’s launched the night attires we gifted her with.’ Atili teased, her eyes twinkling with mischief.

‘Fortunately for me, I married a decent woman,’ he said with mock relief. ‘She wears silk pyjamas…’

‘Shorts…’

‘No, trousers. Not every woman is like you, with all these your tiny shorts. I hope you are not getting those young Warri men into trouble.’

Atili laughed and playfully punched her eldest brother on the stomach.

‘Pyjama trousers, if I hear. I doubt if mum would use something like that let alone a modern day young woman like Soki.’

Dienye shook his head. Soki may not have launched the night wears beyond the lingerie she had worn on their wedding night, but that the nightshirts she wore were far from granny style.

‘You promised me gossip about those Warri boys,’ he reminded Atili. ‘Oya start the stories.’

Atili laughed.

‘I used to think I had a crush on B.B, and then I met this nice guy in Warri. He’s…’

They talked well into the night before they both agreed that Atili had to sleep in order to be up in time for her seminar and Dienye had a long drive back to Port Harcourt.

*****

12:16am

Oroma Estate

Port Harcourt

Soki turned off the television. Dienye was clearly not coming home that night. She went into the kitchen where she took the plate of food still in its plastic take away pack and put it in the refrigerator. She locked up and turned off the lights as she headed for the bedroom.

She couldn’t believe that Dienye had forgotten she was graduating that day. He had the memory of an elephant for crying out loud!

‘I refuse to be upset,’ she told herself, taking a few deep breaths and exhaling.





7:51am

Oroma Estate

Port Harcourt

Dienye pulled into his parking space. He’d left Omoku by 6am in order to get home before 8am and was happy there hadn’t been traffic on the way. He unlocked the door with his keys. At first there was nothing to show that the house wasn’t empty as he had left it, and then he heard humming coming from the kitchen.

Surprised, he headed in that direction. He came to an abrupt stop the moment he saw Soki. He clearly hadn’t been expecting her.

‘You didn’t have to rush back this morning on my behalf,’ he told Soki, pausing to take her into his arms and place a light kiss on her lips. ‘Or was your last paper moved?’

Soki stared at him. He had clearly forgotten their last conversation. And to think she had barely slept, worried about him! Taking a deep breath, she said, ‘I came in last night.’

‘Wow. I had to take Atili to Omoku yesterday evening,’ he informed her. ‘She’s here for a work related seminar. She also sent her ‘warmest greetings’ – in her words not mine.’

Another day, Soki would have smiled and asked how her sister-in-law was faring. But not this morning! She was upset. Had he recalled their conversation he would have called to let her know that he had to drive his sister to Omoku and as such wouldn’t be around, or even better, had his driver take his sister to Omoku. After all, Simon was available most of the time since Dienye loved to drive himself.

Rather than voice out her annoyance, Soki gently extricated herself from his embrace and headed for the small sitting room.

‘What did I do this time?’ Dienye asked as he followed her into the sitting room. She was clearly upset about something.

She rewarded him with a long silence as she picked the remote control and flipped through the channels.

‘You’ll have to talk to me sometime,’ he told her.

She gave him a look that said, ‘Don’t count on it.’ And he actually laughed!

‘We live in the same house, babe,’ he reminded her. ‘You can’t help but talk to me especially if you’ve missed me as much as I have missed you. Although I can’t for the life of me imagine what I have done wrong.’

When she ignored him, he shrugged and left the room, tossing over his shoulder, ‘Let me know when you’re ready to talk about what’s bothering you.’

Soki stared at the television screen, unseeing. There had to be steam escaping from the pores of her scalp. He’d walked away as though her anger meant nothing to him. Then again, what had she expected him to do? Go on his knees and beg her to forgive him for everything he had done, both past and present, and for the things he would do to her in the future.

A CRY FOR LOVE - PART 18

© Tisa Phiri

Ketty…

The sound of the coffee maker was louder than normal in my ears as I watched my mother enjoying the pleasure of me asking her help. I had no other way now that things got to this point. Mario was calling it an obsession, but I called it getting back what belonged to me. I wasn’t going to let Chisomo, take away my man and my baby, for me whether I didn’t get to carry it, I knew it was mine since the man it was conceived from was mine, I was the reason Chisomo even had it so come what may, I vowed to get back what belonged to me, her returning my money was not going to work at all,

“She is mistaken if she thinks I would take the money and forget everything. “ I told myself.

“Hmm, so let me get this straight Ketty, you want to hunt a pregnant woman who slept with your man so that you have the child? “My mother asked me sipping on her hot coffee.

“Yes, are you going to help me or not?” I asked without wanting her to ask a lot of questions.

“hey, hey, easy there girly, am not someone you can just come around and give orders to, am your mother and if you are here for help, you need to work on my terms and put your horses down.” my mother raised her voice at me walking to the living room.

“You know what, I knew coming here was a mistake, I don’t even know why am here forget it mom, i will look for the girl myself” I shook my head standing up.

“oh, if I were you, I would tone down and get what I need first before storming out, besides, I know the entire truth, you cannot hide things from me you know that, that day I came to your house and you gave me some silly laugh about your man, I knew things were not right, I had to carry out my own investigation, for starters…” she paused placing down the mug.

“I know that woman I found was a girl you hired to get pregnant for you, secondly I know she is out of your house and that is why you are looking for her. How dare you? You behave and think as a person in an uncivilized world, how could you give your man to another woman like that? You are so dull I sometimes wonder how you can even be from my womb” she spat chuckling I felt hurt by her words.

“am not dull mother, I already told you it was all planned and whatever you think you know is not the entire truth, I will have things under control soon” I responded but she clapped her hands seeing through my desperation.

“You could have left already If you didn’t need me, now, what is in it or me? You know I will get you what you want, unlike you, am not a failure, sit down and lets discuss this” she spoke with so much determination, I knew I was to get what I needed. She was not a good person for sure and now was not the time to look at good, I needed someone who could get me Chisomo and get her to obey and listen to my command and there was no better person than my mother.

I went on telling her everything as she demanded and I could see her pride swell as she threw it in my face for being careless and thinking low. I had to take it all in, in order to get my results though.

“so, get me my money Ketty, 50 % of the profits you will make from your company for a year will be mine and in exchanged I will give you this poor girl, not only that but I will get your child too” she smiled widely as she led me to my car outside.

“be careful mother, I don’t want anything to happen to Chisomo and the baby In the process I just want what belongs to me that is all” I cautioned her and she smiled at me.

“You know you are not a bad person, and are not capable of hurting anyone, so why not let go of this then?” she teased me.

“Well, am not, you are right though, am sure you will do anything for money, even kill your husband for example, “I stated knowing that will get her of my back for a moment.

“You never stop do you?” she shook her head letting go of the car and I drove out watching her in the side mirror as her house disappeared slowly as I joined the road.

“I will wait for your call mother!” I shouted back.

Chisomo….

I was walking down the road from the antenatal clinic one afternoon, when a car drove by stopping in front of me.

“Good day mam” a man greeted from the window, he wore a nicely tailored suit and wide smile.

“Good day” I greeted back.

“am sorry to stop you my lady, but I need to find out where George Central police station is around here, I have been going round and round but I seem not to find this place. Can you help me with directions? ” he asked with a grin, I looked at him and he seemed not like a bad person at all, he looked gentle and had a soft calm smile, he didn’t look lost either but I had to tell him, it was going to be impolite for me to just tell him that to his face.

“Well, take the straight route and ….” I went to on giving him directions.

“Thank you so much lady you seem to be heading in the same direction?” he asked starting his car engine.

“Um, yes I stay a Few meters away from the police post Sir” I smiled

“Well, then, even better, jump in I take you as you show me the place too” he insisted and after a bit of hesitating, I decided to do as he asked and the rest of the journey he kept asking me questions.

“So you are married?” he asked and I knew he was starting to cross the line.

“Yes Sir, am sure you would not assume I got this pregnancy from the streets huh?” I asked sounding serious he smiled

“Am sorry, you are a beautiful woman and your man is lucky to have you. “he smiled looking ahead and I turned to look at him. He was not the first man to admire me even in my state so I blushed off the thoughts of him the moment he dropped me by the police post as I insisted I walked from there onwards.

Jay was outside hanging his clothes when I got there and he rushed to get the plastic of vegetables and bread I had carried in my hands.

“Welcome back Bana Mpundu” he teased as he always did.

“Say that again and i will punch you in your face, you sound like those call boys in town” I scoffed sitting down on a stool. My pregnancy was now showing at 7 months and i was getting tired easily.

“What?” I asked seeing Jay watching me silently.

“I love you” he spoke without warning and I looked at his face.

“What did you say?” I asked, the first thought upon hearing those words was Mario. It was like he was the only man that had told me he loved me since I was old enough, now whenever I heard the words, I remembered him and it hurt.

“I love you Chisomo, you are my best friend and I love you” he said this time with a smile I knew it was one of those times he played some jokes with me.

“Come on, you and I know that you are the only person I trust and love in this world, you are like a brother to me and you give me so much courage to forge ahead. Even when I wanted to move out and start renting my own house now that my boutique and shop are doing fine you wouldn’t allow me leave cause you feel am not safe alone. I love you Jay and thank you a million times for everything” I smiled grabbing his hand as he stood there tall before me.

“You are my best friend forever” I added

He bent down and before I knew what he was up to, he kissed my lips and smiled.

“No, I love you like that” he smiled again standing up and walking away. I was shocked. for a moment I thought it was a dream and I touched my lips to make sure I was hearing and seeing things right, feeling my lips still wet I realized it was actually happening. But before I could figure out what to say, Jay`s girlfriend walked in giggling teasingly.

“I knew it, you two were up to no good at all. Tell me Chisomo, why do you pretend to be friends with my man when all you want to do is take him away from me huh?” Esther asked standing there holding her waist in her leggings and loose body top.

“Esther” I sighed realizing how much Trouble Jay would be in for his stupid act.

“Yes me, Esther, the girlfriend to that man you are kissing shamelessly in public. What the hell is your problem Chisomo? Jay told me how you slept with another woman`s husband to get pregnant and now you want my own, no, no and no I will not allow it” she shouted her voice so sharp I was lost of words.

“Esther! Esther watch your mouth!” Jay came out pulling her away from me as tears now rushed out my eyes.

“You, you told her everything?” Asked jay now hurt he had blown my story to the whole world.

“Am, um, am sorry Chisomo, she forced me to tell her the truth, I had no..” he stuttered and before he could finish I slapped him hard across the face.

“I trusted you! I trusted you and you told the world about what I told you? How dare you” I spat angrily

“It’s not the world, he told me because am his woman Chisomo, what were you thinking? My man would keep you in here for months without explaining things to me? You are so naïve and pathetic. He is mine “she screamed her voice out I could see some neighbors gathering so I walked into the house and went in my room crying myself out.

“get out ! You are so unbelievable!” I could hear Jay scream to his girlfriend outside and I lay down crying.

“Am I cursed or what?” I asked myself. It was like everything good coming to my life found its way out immediately. First it was my father and brother, they died leaving me with my mother, now she too was gone, I found the unexpected love of my life and it all ended in tears, now this? The man I trusted as a friend confessing love to me and now the drama with his girlfriend.

“When is this going to end?” I asked myself

“When?” I whispered loudly..

I heard footsteps and Jay came standing by the door way.

“Chisomo, please don’t cry please I beg you” he whispered

“Why won’t I cry Jay? Tell me why I should not cry when everywhere I pass people are always laughing me at because you went to tell your girlfriend what I told you in confidence?” I sat up looking at him.

“am so sorry, I really didn’t mean to tell her but you know how she is, she started accusing me that am in love with you and I had no other way of defending myself” he sighed

“Well, now what was that outside, huh? Why did you kiss me Jay?” I asked. He looked down the floor without a word.

“You see, you had to cause that trouble for me for nothing, you are right? It was better for your girlfriend to know the truth but you should have asked me first. Now she has blown the news. Anyway, am leaving. I really appreciate what you have done for me and if it was up to me I would pay back everything but you won’t allow me. I cannot stay here anymore, I just can’t” I shrugged wiping my tears.

“No, you cannot leave, yes, I kissed you because I meant to, I love you Chisomo, I have always loved you. I never had the courage to tell you before and when you came with the issue of Mario and Ketty I was heartbroken but I had to take care of you. After all they say love is greater shown in action than spoken, I love you please don’t leave” he begged holding my hand.

“My God, even you?” I asked him.

“You are the only person I have Jay, you are my friend and my family, now you want to push me away? Why? Why do you want to make life a living hell for me with your girlfriend? Why do you want to become another Mario in my life? Am I cursed that I have to always cross the path of love belonging to another woman?” I shed more tears my heart was bleeding.

Jay apologized for saying something about his feelings for me and insisted I stayed with him, but I could not, I packed out a couple of days later renting a house close to where I had opened my shops within the area. “Am sorry but I have to go” I told him as I left.

“No, am sorry for causing you pain again Chisomo, no wonder I said nothing before because I wanted us to be friends for always. Am sorry”

He was right, now I felt bad I had to avoid him too. I needed him as a friend but with Esther figuring out his feelings for me, I was never going to have peace at all. I had to move on and take care of myself and the baby.

Read the story here - www.youngicee.com/stories/a-cry-for-love

The Second Wife - Episode 16

© Onyinyechukwu Mbeledogu

Saturday, 24th April 2004
Oroma Estate

‘What on earth is the matter with you?’ Soki asked her husband of two weeks. ‘We have been married for two weeks and you have called me Nengi how many times?’

‘It wasn’t intentional, babe.’

‘Not intentional? Haba! Nengi has been dead for four years! That’s a long time ago.’

‘It wasn’t intentional.’ Dienye repeated.

He couldn’t believe that he had called her Nengi. What was he thinking?

‘I heard you the first time. I’m just wondering why you keep doing it.’

‘It was a slip of the tongue, babe. You don’t have to make a big deal out of it.’

‘So being called by another woman’s name isn’t a big deal? If the roles were reversed, would you have found it funny if I called you by my ex-boyfriend’s name?’

‘That’s different. Besides, you never had one,’ he reminded her.

‘Oho! Well, this is a big deal unless it formed part of the silent terms and conditions for helping me out when I came to you. You should have at least put the damned thing in the prenuptial agreement we signed.’

‘Soki, let it rest. It won’t happen again.’

‘I don’t like keeping things bottled up inside so I need to get this out right now.’

He rolled his eyes.

Only last week, Soki had complained about the life portrait of Nengi she had seen in the large sitting room her first visit to his home. She had expected him to remove it after they got married and had been surprised to find it still there after she returned from school. Nengi’s pictures were still around the house including pictures taken with Dienye. He even had a room he kept locked!

‘What’s in that room?’ She had asked him last Saturday.

‘It’s my room of wealth,’ he had responded. ‘You don’t want to go in there.’

‘Why not? What’s in there?’

‘A gruesome sight, that’s what. In it is a young man sitting on a box with money dropping out of his open mouth.’

‘Be serious, D.D. What’s in there?’

‘Some of Nengi’s things. I had to move them from the master bedroom and adjoining room.’

She shouldn’t have taken the fact that he had reserved a bedroom in their home for Nengi’s things for granted. Having his late wife’s things around the house was clearly messing up his mind. What other justification could there be for calling her by the woman’s name?

‘Perhaps the reason you why you keep making that slip is because there are so many pictures of her around the house. I feel like she follows me into every room I go to.’

‘Nengi and I built this house together,’ he bit out.

‘And I just waltzed in to take over. This is also meant to be my home, meaning I need to feel comfortable here. It was different when I came around as your fiancée but I am your wife. I don’t think it is right for you to keep her pictures lying around the place. They are in the smaller sitting room and-’

‘It doesn’t mean anything. I am married to you!’ he reminded her, exasperated. ‘You’re the woman who shares my bed and…’

‘Yes we are married but you still keep her pictures around the place. I won’t be surprised if it’s her pictures you have framed in your different offices.’

Dienye didn’t bother denying it. What was the use?

‘I know you loved her and all but I’m here now. Me, Nwasoka. It isn’t cool to keep on showing me your undying love for another woman.’

‘I admit that I’m still in love with Nengi, but I am trying my best to make this marriage work. You are not helping matters at all by blowing things out of proportion.’

‘Me, ke? Maka na m si na m agaghi aza afa nwunye gi nwulu anwu (because I said I wouldn’t answer to your late wife’s name)? If I let this continue, it won’t be long before you find yourself asking me to loose weight, undergo a cosmetic surgery and stretch my limbs further just to look like her..’

‘You don’t have the same facial or bone structure,’ he reminded her.

‘And if I did, would you have recommended the surgery?’

‘You are the wrong size and height, babe. Besides, this conversation is becoming too ridiculous for my liking.’

‘I look nothing like her.’

‘No. She was very tall and very beautiful.’

‘And I might as well be a plain Jane compared to her, abi?’

Dienye sighed deeply. ‘That was uncalled for. I shouldn’t have said what I did.’

‘But you were being truthful. Remember I have seen her pictures. You need to deal with the fact that Nengi is dead and buried. And I don’t want to fit into her shoes.’

She could tell from the way he tensed that her last words had hurt him.

‘This conversation is over.’

‘Nengi-’

‘Leave my wife out of this.’

She drew back her head.

‘Your wife? Then who am I?’

That was when Dienye realised what he had said.

‘I am exhausted. This confrontation has given me a headache.’

‘And what do you think it’s given me?’

She walked away, expecting him to call her back but he didn’t. She showered and changed into her pyjama top and shorts. Dienye came to the bedroom later in the night but he lay on the bed with his back to her, instead of cuddling her as he usually did.

___

Sunday, 25th April 2004
Harold Wilson Drive,
Borokiri, Port Harcourt.

Soki had Sunday lunch with her parents-in-law. She first stopped at the ‘Heart of the Child’ and stayed long enough to visit with the children who were Dienye’s second love. She had first visited as his fiancée and presently noticed that two of the children she had seen back then were no longer in the orphanage. She was informed that they had been adopted.

According to Dienye, he had conceived the idea of having a decent orphanage at the age of nineteen after he and Belema had rescued a baby they had found in a carton in the midst of a refuse heap on their way back from a party at a family friend’s home.

She dropped the gifts she had come with before heading to town to see Dienye’s parents at their home in Harold Wilson Drive. She had established a good rapport with them and so didn’t have to be anyone other than herself around them. After all, they knew their son hadn’t married her for love.

‘How are you, my dear?’ Nkemdilim Daniel-Hart asked her daughter-in-law while the younger woman helped her in the kitchen.

‘I’m fine, mum,’ Soki responded, grating the carrots for the coleslaw they were making. She had chopped the cabbage into short slim pieces. Done with the carrots, she found the salad cream and mixed the contents of her bowl together.

‘And your marriage?’

‘So far so good, we are trying to make it work.’

Nkem watched her daughter-in-law recalling the day Dienye had called to inform her and her husband that he was getting married again. She had thought he was joking because everyone knew he was yet to get over Nengi. Dienye was close-lipped about his reasons for getting married once more but it was clear that it wasn’t for love.

Soki found herself wondering what Nengi had been like as a daughter-in-law. During the introduction, Dagogo and Nkem Daniel-Hart had been amiable but the atmosphere had been a bit tense.

‘Mummy,’

‘Yes dear?’

‘What was Nengi like?’

That was the least question Nkem expected her to ask. She dropped the knife she using and turned to face Soki.

‘Let me give you an advice dear: don’t ever ask about the other woman. What you hear will hurt you especially when your marriage is not founded on love.’

‘I can’t help it mummy. I feel like I need to know more about her in order to be able to able to properly understand my husband.’

‘I’ll advice that you ask Dienye what he wants, instead.’

‘He won’t tell me.’

‘And as his mother I would tell you that he wouldn’t appreciate your snooping around for information about Nengi.’

‘Who’s going to tell him?’ Soki returned.

‘Who indeed?’ Nkem laughed. ‘Are you sure you really want to know about Nengi?’

‘Yes I do. What was she like as a daughter-in-law?’

‘Every prospective mother-in-law’s dream come true,’ Nkem replied. ‘Nengi, bless her soul, was family long before she got married to my son. They had been friends since forever. She was his dearest friend. They were so close that there were times she spent the night over here but never in his bedroom. She usually spent the night Ibierefagha’s bedroom. She was a good girl and well brought up.

‘When Dienye told me at 23 that he was ready to settle down with her, it didn’t come as a surprise. We felt he was too young but Dienye has always had a mind of his own. She was with him when he started the home and his businesses. She made a room alive just by being in it.’

Nkem paused with a smile on her face, obviously thinking of Nengi. ‘There was no dull moment with her. My husband adored her so much that you would think she was his first daughter. She frequented this place with Dienye and they were inseparable.’

‘How did she die?’

‘She was involved in an accident. She put herself in harm’s way in order to save a child who had been about to be knocked down by a clearly drunk driver. In the course of her fall, she hit her head on the side of the culvert and suffered severe trauma to the head. Her death was hard on Dienye but it’s been four years now. The consolation we had was that she died doing what she loved most – helping others. Unfortunately she died without a child.’

And I had to ask, Soki thought. They were talking about a saint here. One who was breathtakingly beautiful from the pictures she had seen of her and who had an easy smile. Had she been anyone but Dienye’s first wife, Soki would have wished she had met and known the woman. She had clearly been the perfect wife and the perfect daughter-in-law.

‘It’s too early in your marriage to start finding faults in yourself and in your marriage,’ a voice inside her head advised.

The voice was right. She was new to this. Circumstances beyond her control had led to them being together before either of them was ready. They no longer enjoyed that easy communication they had enjoyed before they got married. Reality had set in. Perhaps if they had gone on their honeymoon that would have helped. She had heard that honeymoons gave the newly married couple the opportunity to bond and in the absence of distractions.

The lovemaking was great and one of the things she looked forward to each time. She was financially stable thanks to him but she needed the Dienye she had known before her father’s problem with Nze.

‘Don’t let any of this bother you,’ Nkem told Soki. ‘The fact that you are different from Nengi is not a bad thing. No two people are the same just as no two marriages are the same. Every distinguishing characteristic is in itself an advantage. You just have to find out what works for you and Dienye and hinge on that to make your marriage work.’

Soki thought of telling Nkem about the pictures of Nengi which still could be found in different parts of the house. The wedding albums from 11 years ago were still in their small sitting room for anyone who cared to look. He hadn’t taken down their wedding pictures but had the ones he took with Soki enlarged and also placed on the walls in the sitting rooms. Dienye obviously didn’t see anything wrong with this!

Soki got recipes of his native food from his mum in order to prepare them for him. One thing he couldn’t fault was her cooking. She was a great cook who loved to practice new meals. Give her any ingredient and she would come up with a meal that would make you lick your fingers and moan with pleasure. She’d scored an A1 in Foods and Nutrition with the invigilators almost eating up her food. She had prepared goat meat pepper soup as an appetiser, ji akwukwu nni (yam and vegetable) with ugba, and pounded yam with ofe onugbu (bitter leaf soup) for the two main dishes that had been requested for, and the sweet for the day had been sweet pancakes. She had effectively managed her time and come up with the best dishes for the day.

She held back a laugh as she recalled the reaction of the students when she used ogili which she had gotten from her aunt in Obosi. According to her mum any ogili besides that of Anambra state was fake. The smell of the ogili had filled the food and nutrition lab to Soki’s joy and pride as an Anambra girl.

That evening, she had pounded yam and bitter leaf soup waiting for Dienye. They hadn’t spoken much after the confrontation of yesterday and she was tired of the silence.

Read Episode 17 here - https://youngicee.com/2020/01/the-second-wife-episode-17.html

A CRY FOR LOVE - PART 17

© Tisa Phiri

Ketty….

Months of searching for Chisomo had all been unfruitful, it was like she just vanished into thin air. To make the matters even worse, Mario and I never got married, he completely refused to get married, claiming there was too much on our minds and we needed time to be sure after everything that had happened. I was devastated but I could not get a man to marry me by dragging him to the alter. So I decided to go by his terms.

“Well, since you have denied me marriage and yet you claim you still love me, let’s start staying together. We have past the stage of just girlfriend and boyfriend. So will you move in with me?” I asked him

“I don’t think it’s right Ketty, I mean, I cannot just move in with you, am a man and until we deiced otherwise, we will leave our separate lives” he argued calmly but I didn’t take his response lightly.

“You will not lie to me Mario, you and I know you have changed so much. You should stop lying that you love me and spit it out to me in black and white you no longer feel the same” I cried looking away.

“I do love you Ketty, I just don’t want to enter into a marriage with lots of arguments and unsettled issues. Please understand” he responded.

“By unsettled issues. You mean Chisomo?” I asked him.

“You know what? Am moving in with you, if that will make you happy Ketty” he stood up.

I knew he was just avoiding yet another topic about Chisomo but that was a relief on my behalf, I knew having him that close would make him realise what we had before and maybe come to his senses. He moved in a few days later and unlike before, there was no much interactions as before, I noticed Mario`s schedule had changed. He would go for the gym every day after work, and during weekends he spent the days out with his friends.

Trying to ask him to spent time with me was by force, he always found a way of sneaking out on me.

“it’s all your fault Ketty, you cannot blame a man for this” my friend Sera would throw it in my face.

“well, he is wrong if he thinks am going to let him go on with this, he will one day realise what is important and necessary in his life” I told Sera.

I however never gave up on looking for Chisomo, all I needed was my baby and I was not going to let her have the baby. it was mine and no matter what, I intended to get what I had paid for.

I was lost in thoughts as I drove back home and sighed when I was there In the front, John came to open for me and walked towards me after closing the gate back.

“John, what is it? You look like you have something to say” I looked at him.

“yes madam, I have something for you” he showed me a box wrapped up neatly.

“What is this?” I asked him receiving the package, in my heart I had thought it was a surprise gift from Mario. Excited I went to sit down with a wide smile.

“What time did Mario come here to bring this?” I asked unwrapping the package.

“No madam, it’s not ba boss who brought than in.. it was…”

“What? Who brought it then?” I asked him before he could finish stammering.

“It was madam Chisomo, she told me to give it to you personally and make sure you were the one to open it”

“Chisomo?” I put it down my heart racing,

“Where is that woman? Where is she?” I stood up

“She is gone madam, she just told me to give you that and tell you she is sorry for everything. That was all” he added

“Okey thank you, you can go work now” I dismissed him not wanting him to see how his news delivery had affected me. I slowly opened the package with no idea what was inside it. Finding some money in it I was taken aback.

“What is this?” I asked myself and right at that moment Mario walked in.

“Hey baby! “He greeted throwing his cap on the couch and coming to sit next to me.

“What is that?” he asked seeing I was lost.

“It’s money Mario, its money” I responded in a rush my heart still racing.

“Yeah I can see its money but why are you wrapping it? “He asked leaning back.

“Am not, here, it’s from Chisomo, I was given this by john that that lady had the guts to come to my house in our absence and drop this money, as what? A repayment for the money I gave her, this girl is so messed up if she thinks I will accept this” I snapped.

“What are you talking about Ketty? You mean Chisomo just came and left this money without saying anything? How?”

“Here, how do you explain this?” I handed him the money and a small folded paper fall off, he went down to pick it...

“It’s a note” he sighed and unfolded reading it.

Chisomo had just explained how sorry she was for ruining our love story. She stated how she was appreciative she was that I treated her well.

“I never intended to get Mario close to myself believe me Ketty. About the baby, i have decided to keep it but am sorry I won’t give it to you. Enclosed is the sum of 20 thousand, thought of giving you back what you gave me for my mother and for all your troubles. Am so sorry, Chisomo”

She signed off the letter, Mario sunk back defeated, it was like that letter had made him lose all hopes of seeing Chisomo.

Mario….

I looked at Ketty as she went on speaking ill of Chisomo, in my heart all I could think of was where she was, who was taking care of her, how the baby was growing inside her.

“I miss you a lot Chisomo, I miss you” I whispered to myself after Ketty had left the room in a rush I had no idea where she was going.

A week later, I was driving through town still clad in my uniform in the afternoon, then I saw her, Chisomo was walking slowly crossing the road to the opposite direction, I was almost getting out of the car to get to her when a tall dark guy hurried to her and she turned to look at him with a smile. The two of them walked away they talked happily.

“What?” I asked myself.

“she cannot possibly be with another man like that when she damn knows she is carrying my baby” I was not talking loudly the woman passing where I was looked back and shook her head, she was probably thinking I was crazy.

By the time I got out of the shock of seeing Chisomo with another man and follow her, she was gone, I tried to look around but it was like she had disappeared in thin air.

Frustrated, I drove back home. Ketty was in the living room on her laptop when I got home, I kissed her slightly as we greeted.

“How was work?” she asked me.

“Good, you? How is that book coming on?’ I asked

“Well, by the way I have found a solution to finding Chisomo” she announced pushing aside the laptop.

“Okey, am listening” I stopped in my steps.

“Yes, but I will not give you the details, just know that at the end of the day we will have our baby.” she smiled widely I felt shivers in my body. Her manner of speech scared me for some reason.

“Why won’t you give me the details huh? Ketty, I honestly don’t like your obsession with Chisomo, she is a victim in all this you know.” I tried to get her to reason.

“a victim, is that what you call her, she took advantage of you and manipulate you with her poverty and fake sorrow, she is the reason we are not married and to top it all, she had the guts to throw money in my face and tell me she will keep our baby? “ she shook her head.

“Your baby huh? You practically pushed that girl on me Ketty this is not fair. You cannot spite that girl to plan badly against her “

“It’s not fair? Mario. Tell it to my face that it’s not because of her that we are even talking to each other like this. You know what?, I know money cannot buy happiness for sure, but it will surely allow me to get what I have lost, that baby and you” she shrugged and pushed back the chair standing up.

“By the way, am pregnant and I told your mother that too, she was for the first time happy with me. “ Ketty smiled.

“What? You are pregnant? But… how?” I wondered looking at her holding her stomach.

“well, that baby will one day come in this house and people will have to believe I carried it, so yeah, am pregnant to the world Mario” she spoke and turned to walk away.

I looked at her, now practically worried, whatever she was at was not good.


Read episode 17 here - https://youngicee.com/2020/01/a-cry-for-love-part-17.html

The Second Wife - Episode 15

At that moment there was a knock on the outer door. Instinctively he knew it was Oroma. Relieved that he didn’t have to squirm under the child’s look, he hurried out to open the door. Oroma stood at the door in a flowing flowery dress. She was breathing heavily as though she had been in a hurry. He had judged her too quickly. He had actually believed she would not return for her daughter that evening and he would be compelled to let the child spend the night in his home.

‘Good evening B.B,’ Oroma said breathlessly. ‘I had no idea you would be back so early.’

‘Have you been monitoring my movement?’

‘Not exactly,’ she responded.

‘How did you know I lived here?’

‘I came here a week ago to drop a few things with one of your neighbours and saw you drive in. I asked and was told you lived in Apartment 4C.’

If her story was true, who was that loud mouthed neighbour? It had to be a woman. A man wouldn’t be interested in divulging information about another man while he was with a woman. Did she have clients around here too?

‘I don’t have a lover here,’ she told him, cutting his thoughts short.

‘I don’t remember saying you did.’

‘Your expression said it all. May I come in? Where is Bio?’

He reluctantly invited Oroma in. Biobele hugged her mother. B.B asked Oroma to follow him to the kitchen. He needed to talk to her alone.

‘Why on earth would you put an innocent child in the centre of all this?’ B.B demanded the moment they were inside the spacious kitchen.

‘She is your daughter and has every right to meet with you.’

‘I have told you before I will not take responsibility for another man’s child. If you are trying to extort money from me, this is not the best way to go about it. It is way too obvious.’ He drew his wallet out of his pocket, counted twenty five hundred naira notes and thrust it at her. ‘This is Ten Thousand Naira, and it is not for you but for the girl.’

‘She has a name: Biobele.’ Oroma said exasperatedly.

‘Whatever. Take this money and stay out of my life.’

Oroma looked at the money and hissed without taking it.

‘She is your daughter B.B. If you have any doubt, I suggest you request for a paternity test. You get to choose the doctor.’

‘No.’

‘Why not? What are you afraid of?’

‘I have no intention of spending my precious time and money on something so frivolous.’

‘Frivolous? There is nothing frivolous about accepting your responsibility. Biobele is your daughter…’

‘I hear.’

‘You were the first man I had ever been with, the only man I was with eight years ago.’

‘I hear you. I’m not interested. If you are looking for a man to rope into taking over your responsibility, I suggest you go to one of your numerous customers. Perhaps there is one of them whose wife hasn’t given him a child and who would gladly accept responsibility to salvage his male ego.’

‘What!’

‘You heard me. I know what you do for a living: prostitution.’

Oroma turned to ensure that the kitchen door was properly closed. She didn’t want her daughter hearing things like this.

‘She doesn’t know, does she?’

Oroma took a deep breath and silently prayed to God to help her deal patiently with this man.

‘She doesn’t know about my past and I want it to stay that way.’

‘Poor child. I am sure she had to deal with years of wondering which one of the numerous ‘uncles’ who came visiting, was her father,’ he taunted.

Oroma didn’t bother taking the bait.

‘I love my daughter and she knows that I love her. That is all that matters.’

‘And with the kind of example you would be setting for her, she would most likely lose her innocence before she reaches puberty.’

‘I am bringing up my child in the best way I can,’ she bit out, tempted to slap him. ‘And you have no right to say something like that to me!’

‘Don’t I? You’re the prostitute who is trying to force her daughter on me.’

‘Stop calling me that! I quit that profession a year ago.’

‘Oh good, clap for yourself,’ his tone reeked of sarcasm. ‘And for how long do you intend to be celibate, that is if you are? Until you find the highest bidder?’

He had no idea how low he had hit her below the belt! How could he understand how tempted she had been to go back to that cursed profession when she found herself unable to pay her bills? The pay from the job at the restaurant had been little and not enough to take care of basic needs but she had promised herself never again would she trade her body for money, no matter the sum or circumstance.

It had been like an addiction, something she had thought she couldn’t live without. At first she had gotten into profession because she was desperate but she had continued for some time, enduring the touch of different men and giving in to the lustful desires of her flesh. She had gotten a high from controlling the desires of men and being responsible for their pleasures. But no more! Her daughter was her life, her number one priority. Her desires came second and would gladly be sacrificed for the happiness of her precious girl.

She took inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly.

‘This is not about me. This is about Biobele, the sweetest girl on the planet, and one any man would be honoured to call his daughter.’

‘I refuse to accept another man’s responsibility.’

‘I would gladly subject her to a DNA test to prove you are her father. If it comes out negative, which I seriously doubt, then I would pay you back the money spent.’

‘And how exactly do you expect to pay me back? You don’t have enough money and I don’t patronise prostitutes, not even the very beautiful ones.’

‘Stop calling me that!’

‘My mistake. Which do you prefer? Call girl? Lady of the night? LovePeddler? Harlot? Scarlet woman?’

‘None of the above. I have a decent job.’

‘That’s not what I heard from your neighbour.’

He couldn’t forget how Oroma had attacked her neighbour for revealing her secret to him. She hadn’t exactly denied that she was still a prostitute.

‘Assuming I believe your words that you now have a decent job, does your employer’s wife know about your ‘past’ life? I bet if she did, you would lose your job faster than you can say your name.’

‘My employer knows about my past and unlike you he isn’t judgmental.’

‘I was referring to his wife.’

This man was so different from his best friend. Dienye hadn’t judged her when she told him about her past life.

‘The only way out of this, B.B, is to have a paternity test,’ she said, bringing them back to the topic at hand.

‘And like I said, I will not waste my time and resources.’

‘I am giving you the opportunity to get to know her. I’m the only family she knows and she was so excited about meeting you.’

‘What about your own family?’

‘I was disowned the moment I was found to be pregnant. And so you and I are the only family she has.’

‘I want no part of this. You laid your bed so lie on it. I am not interested in a DNA test and the next time you bring your daughter here, I will have her taken to an orphanage where she would most likely be adopted by a family that would love her and keep her away from you and your selfish intentions.’

‘What exactly do you have against children?’ she asked exasperatedly,

‘You would ask me that simply because I wouldn’t fall for your lies? What exactly is your game plan? To get me to accept responsibility for your daughter, introduce you two to my family and have them of course convince me to marry you and we live together happily ever after?’

‘I’m not interested in marrying you,’ she told him and she meant it. ‘What I want is for my daughter to have her father in her life. You don’t want a DNA test because having a child is going to affect your perfect bachelor lifestyle. Well, you don’t have to worry about me bothering you anymore. God knows I have given you the opportunity to know your daughter and you have chosen to reject her and insult me. No problem, but know this: the only way you would ever have access to Biobele is if you find yourself married to her mother and I won’t marry you even if my life depends on it.’

‘I am not interested in you.’

‘Okay. My daughter is better off not knowing you. I never should have brought her here.’

She opened the door and walked out of the kitchen. B.B followed closely. Oroma called to her daughter, trying not to fall apart before her intelligent little girl. Biobele looked from her mummy to B.B then she rose to her feet and took Oroma’s hand.

‘It’s okay, mummy,’ she said as though she understood what had gone on between her parents. ‘It’s okay.’

After mother and daughter had left his apartment, B.B sat on the couch in his living room deep in thought. He forgot all about the sleep he had been looking forward to. The girl, Biobele, hadn’t touched her drink, and he couldn’t forget the look she had given him before she left with her mother. He couldn’t explain it but the girl seemed to have been expecting a rejection from him from the start, and he felt bad that he couldn’t explain to her that he wasn’t rejecting her because of anything she had done but because she wasn’t his.

He was almost tempted to call them back and request for a DNA test as Oroma had requested for the sake of the child but he couldn’t fall for whatever trap Oroma was laying for him. He didn’t trust her not to have an agenda.

Read Episode 16 here - https://youngicee.com/2020/01/the-second-wife-episode-16.html

The Second Wife - Episode 15

© Onyinyechukwu Mbeledogu

Monday 19th April 2004
7:07am
Hostel A2, RSUST


‘Congratulations Soki!’

Soki smiled as her hostel mates congratulated her on her wedding.

‘Bookworm!’

They teased her about returning to school when she should be away on honeymoon with her handsome husband.

‘My degree exam is by the corner, girls,’ she responded good-naturedly. ‘My darling husband and I can always have our honeymoon after my examinations. It would be a double celebration as I would officially be a law graduate.’

Dienye had dropped her off a few minutes earlier. He had gifted her with a car but the papers were being processed at the moment. However, even if she had the car at her disposal, she was back to the hostel and didn’t feel the need to use a car within school. She could afford to stay on campus without a car since she had just a month to go before her examinations began. And from what she’d heard, the Degree examinations lasted only a week. She had already made plans to be home every Friday and be back to school on Monday and Dienye was fine with it.

She was glad she didn’t have to worry about completing and submitting her project and thus could focus on her examinations. She had prepared ahead of time, choosing three potential project topics during the first semester break in her Fourth year and taking time out to conduct research on them. She had gathered a lot of materials by the time she returned to school for the new semester. Once her supervisor approved the topic “Environmental Crisis, a threat to National Security“, Soki had immediately started work on her project to the surprise and delight of her supervisor. She had already submitted the bound copies.

She would be turning twenty two in July and all things being equal, she would make it for the August law school batch and be called to bar by November 2005 at twenty three. She also hoped to be a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) long before she turned 40.

Smiling, she walked down the long hallway that separated the rooms on either side of her, stopping at Room 26 which was the last room on the left. She was greeted with excited screams by her room mates. It was a full room. Officially twelve students sharing three double bunks arranged in a u-shape but Soki loved the community arrangement. It was a really interesting room. They argued, fought once in a while, partied and prayed together. No one was perfect.

After exchanging pleasantries, the girls wanted full gossip. She had been vocal about her decision to wait until her wedding day before being intimate with a man and, trust the girls, they wanted to hear the whole story about her first time. She didn’t blame them though, in their position she would have done the same thing.

‘Classified information,’ Soki responded with a laugh.

‘Come on.’

‘Classified info, girls,’ she repeated, giggling at their disappointed faces. ‘However, the only thing I can tell you is that it was worth the wait.’

‘See love o.’

‘No be small thing.’

‘Girl, give us gist na.’

Laughing she headed for her wooden locker. The double bunks were arranged in a U-Shape. Her bunk was in the centre. Her bed mate Blessing wasn’t around. She was a science student and had a lecture fixed for 7am. Soki was glad her first lecture was for 9am.

She dropped her knapsack on the mattress and unzipped it, taking out the provisions she had bought the previous day. She filled her locker with the provisions, sorted out the books she needed for the day and threw them into the knapsack. She was already dressed for lectures in a white short sleeved blouse and black skirt that ended just above her knees. Her feet were encased in black two inch heel peep-toe shoes. She took a bike to the law faculty where she would receive another set of congratulatory messages.



6:17pm

38c Rumuola Road

B.B. Briggs pulled into his parking space at the side of Block C. He occupied a two bedroom apartment on the first floor of a duplex which housed four ‘two bedroom’ apartments with two apartments on each floor. The compound had a tight security and a mini tenants’ association which ensured that the premises was clean and well taken care of. One of the attractions of the apartment was the size of the living room and the bedrooms. The master bedroom was en suite and the other bedroom shared the convenience. The price was also good.

He was tired. He’d had a long day at the Court of Appeal, Enugu and had driven straight home once he was done, stopping briefly to have lunch. He hadn’t even bothered stopping at the office. The previous week had been very busy one, spent in preparing for his best friend’s wedding. He had driven to Enugu after the thanksgiving service and reception. While at his hotel, he had gone through his briefs of argument in the two appeals he was handling, taking down extra notes. He had slept late and woken up early to make it to the Court of Appeal before 8:30am. The Justices sat at exactly 9am and there were twelve sets of cause lists to be filled by counsel before the arrival of the Justices.

What he needed was a good sleep.

He took out his travelling bag from the boot of the Honda civic and locked the car. He went up the staircase to his apartment pausing when he saw a girl sitting on the staircase just between his apartment and that of his neighbour’s. She was dressed in a yellow top and blue jeans worn over black sandals. Her hair was plaited with black threads. She was reading a storybook.

She looked up as he approached. He recognised her from the photograph Christabel – Oroma, had left with him the day she came to his office last month. He had seen Oroma at Dienye’s wedding but had been too busy to ask her what she was doing there. Before the wedding the last time he had seen Oroma was outside her home when she punched her nosey neighbour. He hadn’t bothered seeking her out again.

He looked around but Oroma was nowhere to be found. How had she known where he lived? He wondered. Had she been stalking him? He had lived here for almost six years and he barely entertained guests in his home, so a lot of people in his circle had no idea where he lived and he loved it that way. And yet Oroma had found him!

‘Good evening, sir,’ the girl greeted, getting up from the top step.

‘Where is your mother?’ he asked without responding to her greeting.

‘She asked me to wait for her here,’ the girl responded.

She was seven according to her birth certificate but looked younger than that. He hoped her mother wasn’t trying to force her daughter on him! The girl did look like Nengi but that didn’t mean anything. Everyone had a doppelgänger. Oroma had taken advantage of him and she had also been a prostitute. Her daughter was probably fathered by one of her numerous lovers, if Oroma indeed knew which one.

He thought of dropping the girl off at home but he was curious to know exactly what her mother intended by her action. Besides, he was also tired and putting her in a cab might be dangerous. He didn’t want to risk anything happening to the girl. She may not be his daughter but she was a child and her life was precious.

He unlocked the outer door and held it open, inviting her in. She hesitated for a moment, looking down the staircase as though not sure whether or not to go in with him in the absence of her mother. And then she made up her mind. He dropped his travelling bag on the long couch in the living room. He yawned as he picked up the remote control and turned on the air conditioner. His unwanted guest stood watching him. What did you serve a seven year old in the absence of caprison and biscuits? There was no food in the house. Had Eseoghene, his current girlfriend being around, she would have stuffed his fridge with different kinds of fruits and the refrigerator with soup and stew so that all he had to do was make eba or boil rice or yam. But Ese was running a two week programme in Lagos.

B.B wasn’t good with children. He was barely ever around them. Ese, on the other hand was an elementary school teacher and good with children. He thought of Dienye who was always around children. He would have known how to engage a child in a conversation.

Why had Oroma left her daughter here?

He gestured for the girl to sit on one of the leather seats and walked to the fridge in the dining area hoping that there would be something in there. He found a large plastic bottle of jucee. He had forgotten about the orange drink which had been one of the few he had ordered for the last time Priye Daniel-Hart and a few of her friends had stormed his place from school.

He took out the large fruit drink and headed for the kitchen where he got a glass cup. He put the glass cup on a small tray and returned to the living room. He placed the tray on a stool beside the girl’s chair and filled the glass cup with juice. She thanked him but made no attempt to take the drink from the tray. Her eyes watched him curiously before focusing on the enlarged picture on the wall. It was his call to bar picture.

‘How was school?’ he asked her for lack of what to say. Had this been a court room, he would have been fired up but he couldn’t strike a simple conversation with a seven year old.

‘School was fine,’ she replied.

When the silence stretched for some time, Biobele looked at him and said: ‘I know you don’t want me here. I already told mummy it is okay if you don’t want to know me.’

‘I never said…’

‘I may be a child but I know a lot of things,’ she cut in politely.

Biobele was an intelligent girl. When her mother had finally broken the silence on her father and showed her his photograph, she had been excited because she was finally going to have a father like most of the children at school. She had quickly come up with a list of activities she could do with her daddy. The only male figure in her life was Uncle Dienye whom she loved very much. He had bought her story books which she read to the younger children at the orphanage. She had started the new term in a new school and was coping very well. Her mummy had told her that she had inherited her daddy’s intelligence. He was a great lawyer.

Her mummy and daddy had never been married but mummy had assured her that although her conception hadn’t been planned, having her was the best thing that had ever happened to her.

One of her friends in her former school had left school because her parents were getting a divorce. The news had been all over school. Biobele hadn’t known what the word ‘divorce’ meant until she asked one of the women in the compound they had lived in at the time and the woman told her.

She was glad her mummy had moved out of that compound. Living in a communal compound meant that you heard and saw a lot of things. They said all sort of things about her and her mummy especially about her not having a father. But her mummy had taught her to ignore their harsh remarks.

‘You are a special child and if they don’t understand that, it is their loss,’ mummy would always tell her.

‘And my father? Does he know I exist?’

‘I have made contact with him. I believe he would do the right thing.’

And here she was with him!

When he had come up the stairs and seen her, he had looked like he wanted to be everywhere apart from there. He had recognised her, most likely from the picture her mummy had chosen to show to him. Biobele had selected that picture herself from the few she had. She wanted her daddy to have the best picture of her. She had been looking forward to meeting him. Her mummy had singled him out at Uncle Dienye’s wedding but there had been no opportunity to talk to him. Besides, he hadn’t even tried talking to her mummy.

Biobele had asked her mummy a lot of questions after the wedding but mummy had clearly been covering up for him, perhaps to save her from the pain of rejection. But Biobele had understood the words her mother hadn’t said. Her father was yet to accept that she was his.

As much as Biobele had been looking forward to meeting her father, and although she would naturally feel really bad if he finally decided he didn’t want to have anything to do with her like some of the fathers of children she had seen pass through their compound, she was prepared for anything: rejection or acceptance.

‘Mummy wants us to get together but I won’t force myself to be your little girl so you don’t get to hate my mummy for the rest of our lives for doing this to you,’ she told B.B.

She didn’t sound like a child at all. Had life done this to her?

A CRY FOR LOVE - PART 16

© Tisa Phiri

Chisomo…..

The shouting and screaming from Ketty`s room was getting so loud, I tried to cover my ears not to hear them fight but it was in vain. I knew the day Ketty would find out things would be bad, so instead of staying and watch their lives get destroyed because I could not control my feelings for the man I knew didn’t belong to me, I decided to pack my things and take my leave.

“You have overstayed Chisomo, its time you moved on” I whispered to myself putting the last item in my bag. I could not stop my tears so I let myself cry softly as I looked around the place for the last time, I had to find a way of starting over and I knew I had to move out quickly before anyone could tell I was gone. Where I had to go, was not yet decided, all I needed was move out as soon as possible, I knew from the first time things wouldn’t be easy but now, I had to find a way of moving on with my life, since mom died, I had kind of stopped living and the only good thing about my life were the strong feelings I had developed for Mario, I felt I had no right to come between a relationship that was built for some time with love.

“Madam, Madam! “ John the worker, called out as I walked towards the gate slowly and sadly.

“Where are you going with that bag? Is the boss coming with you?” he asked walking towards me I didn’t stop to respond, I waited till I was outside the gate then I looked at him.

“Am leaving Ba John, my stay in this house is over and am not coming back” I faked a smiled but the tears betrayed me they fall down slowly he shook his head.

“what is wrong Madam, I am sure whatever it is madam Ketty will sort it out, she is a good woman and I know she can help” he suggested innocently.

“Thank you for your concern ba John but I have to go now, bye” I nodded and walked to the road. The moment I got to stand by the road side, a taxi pulled over and I stopped it getting in without looking back. I was to leave and never look back at all or my feelings would lead me back to the man that belonged to another.

The first place I thought of was my friend`s house in George compound, he was the only person I could trust. Unfortunately I had very few girlfriends and of late I never got to see any of them, I was so carried away taking care of my mother and I lost touch with them.

“Chisomo, what a surprise!” Jared marveled upon seeing me drop in front of his house. I greeted him and moved back to the trunk to get my bag and he stood there shocked.

“What is with the luggage?” he asked not moving an inch to help me with it.

“Um, can we sit inside?” I asked instead as the taxi drive started his engine after I paid him his fare.

“Inside? Okey, come on, let’s go in” he made a surprised face at me as he grabbed the bag and led the way into the house. I looked around the small two roomed house I had known for quite some time. Jay and I were friends from high school, he was our regular visitor even when mom was still alive and I used to visit him so much too.

Like me, Jay had no parents, unfortunately for him, they died when he was still so young he had to start fending for himself when he was only 13, his uncle`s wife chased him from their house and he started doing small jobs renting some room with his friends till he was old enough to start renting his own. After struggling in high school, we both completed and he right away went to study some electrical course and 2 years later he was working with the Chinese guys who were in construction. Jay had refused to move, he always told me his small house was his heaven and until he was sure he was settled, he wasn’t going to move out. I had several times gone to see him, especially when I was not selling on the weekends, of course till my mother’s illness got bad.

“Chichi!” he called my name the way him and my mother usually called it.

“what is going on, after the funeral I barely saw you and the many times I went to your house I was told you were no longer living there, you couldn’t even call to let me know about yourself, and now you show up looking like someone has just died again? What is it Chichi?” he sat next to me so concerned.

“Am done my friend, my life is over” I started now tears coming out and falling to my folded hands.

“What? What do you mean over? , the only time someone would say their life is over is when they are dead my friend, even the dying have hope of living, as long as you have your breath, then know there is a God somewhere and no matter what, hope surrounds us” he smiled as always.

That was one thing about Jay, he always had something to say and he always amused me with his wisdom. in that area, I never knew anyone better at that than him.

I went on explaining to him the entire story, I had no other way out, I had to pour my pain and thoughts to someone and that was just it, Jay watched and shook his head the entire time as I narrated my story from the beginning.

“So here I am, I have wasted so much and now I will not stand in the middle of a great love story. Can you keep me here for a while till I figure out what to do with my life?” I asked wiping the tears from my face. He came and looked direct at me holding my hands.

“am so sorry you had to go through all this Chisomo, I will not say it’s entirely your fault though, you were pushed to the wall and sometimes, we tend to think of only sacrificing for those we love ignoring the daring consequences of our actions. I know it’s painful but I also know you so well, you are stronger than what you are feeling right now and soon all this will be over” he comforted me with a wide smile.

“So now what about the baby you were paid to deliver?” he asked after some time of silence.

“I was thinking as I was heading this way, I am going to sale the house, I mean the one we used to live in in Matero, it’s the only thing I have to my name and since the only amount am owing to Ketty is the down payment of 15 thousand she gave me for mom`s operation, I might just manage to raise that money and pay her back all of it, am not doing this Jay, not anymore, my mistake was to think I could buy someone`s life and my mother is no more. I will not sale this baby again, no way am giving them this child even though it was Ketty’s idea to have a child. Now I have more reason to keep the baby since am in love with the father” I added with a smile Jay sat back shaking his head.

“What happened to you? You used to believe in God so much you could have never done what you did “ he whispered sadly.

“I lost my way Jared, what can I tell you? My mother`s illness got me so tired and weak I had no other option, you saw how I ran around to find money but all was in vain. Am only human my dear and this time I went far off I have no idea how to come back” I told him honestly.

“Anyway, you know this house is open to you, any time. So you stay as long as you want until you figure out something, I have added a room at the back where I had one of the guys renting it but I will ask him to leave so it can be your bedroom for now” he smiled,

“No, no, you had it built so you could raise some money, I will not take that place jay, let me just be sleeping here in this room, I will be okey really” I tried to tell him but he smiled standing up.

“Stop talking nonsense, what are friends for? Besides, the idiot doesn’t even pay rentals anymore, he is owing for several months” he assured me.

“well, let me be the one to pay you then, that way I will not feel guilty of invading your privacy” I suggested standing up too.

“you will pay me whenever you will have enough for yourself and that child you are carrying Chisomo, for now, let’s see how you will get up and start over” he shrugged and pulled the bag to his other room I watched him.

“He is always a good person” I thought to myself and sat back in the small sofa looking around.

Days then weeks passed and Jared kept me so well, he would go for work and come back with some foods for both of us. I was never getting over the thoughts of Mario, every night I dreamt of him, I could see him in my dreams asking me to go back to him.

“I miss him” I told Jay as we ate one day.

“Who?” he asked again pushing the topic away. He always insisted I forgot about Ketty and Mario and only paid attention to my baby. For weeks I tried to find a buyer for the house but I wasn’t luck enough to find one.

“Mario?” I looked at him.

“look, here, I don’t want to hear that name in this house Chisomo, if that man was sensible enough he would have never allowed a woman to manipulate him into believing in such a stupid idea, besides, the idiot could not even decide what he felt for you cause it’s clear it was not love as he claimed. If that was the case, he could have chosen you without debate. Look at you, you are the most amazing person I know, you are beautiful and am sure you are no match for the writer fiancé or wife of his whatever they are.” Jay lamented.

He was right, I had to find a way of moving on and even though my pregnancy was now showing and some neighbors beginning to talk about me being impregnated by Jared, he told me to focus on what was positive till everything was fine.

“Thanks Jay “I smiled honestly.

“Don’t start Chichi, you are my friend and that is what friends do, they stick together in times like this. So now I got good news”

He smiled siting up.

“Really? I asked looking at him.

“Yeah, I found a buyer, I told him your original offer but he said for a one bedroomed house like that he can pay K65, 000 instead of seventy”

But we said K70 Jay, I need some of that money to start over you know that” I argued

“I know my dear, but think of it, it’s the only good deal we have been able to make so far, the guy is willing to pay in cash” Jay continued.

“Well, you are right, that house is old anyway, let us just get whatever he is offering and get over this already. So when can he pay the money?” I asked

“Well, tomorrow I will let him know you agreed and then we see what happens next.

A day later, I was standing by the gate to Ketty`s house. it was silent and I could see from the small opening that Ketty`s car was not in the yard. I knocked softly and John came.

“Madam Chisomo, finally you came” he smiled greeting me.

“Yeah how are you?” I quickly asked not to waste time.

“The boss Mario has been looking for you with his girlfriend, he told me if at all I ever saw you I had to call him and let him know.”

“No,” I stopped him

“please don’t call him, am not here to stay, I just came to leave this for your boss, it’s something I got from her and I want her to have it back, tell her am so sorry for everything and that I appreciate her kindness towards me when I stayed here. I cannot come back though, I need to start over. Please don’t open this package and hand it to her direct. There is a note inside to explain further” I instructed him and he shrugged getting the small box in which I had put a K20, 000, 5000 more to compensate her for the trouble. It was neatly wrapped I was so sure John wouldn’t open the wrappers to check it was money inside the box.

“Come on, let’s go now” Jay called from the car we used.

“yeah, thanks for bringing me here Jay it’s all settled now” I smiled sadly at him as he drove us away using his friend`s car.

“Are you okey?” he asked looking at me.

“Yeah, I will be don’t worry” I sighed looking ahead.



Read more here - www.youngicee.com/stories/a-cry-for-love

A CRY FOR LOVE - PART 15

© Tisa Phiri

Mario……

She kept resisting me but I decided to take a step and show her what I felt instead of begging her with words. Chisomo, felt something for me too I could see it, she had not been responding to my calls and totally ignored me whenever I would go to Ketty`s house.

I recall one day, I found her outside, and she looked at me as I got off the car and walked back inside before I could get the chance to talk to her.

“Chisomo, why are you running away from me?” I had followed her

“Because I don’t want to talk to you Mario. Now go on inside Ketty is in her room” she sighed and walked away leaving me watching her without a word. The impact of her ignoring me just made me want her more and this day, I decided to go and talk to her seriously. As always she argued about my feelings and tried to push me back to Ketty.

“I love you Chisomo” I said the 10th time that afternoon after kissing her. I lost myself I could not hear anything else besides her soft moans as we embraced so close my heart raced at the pleasure she was giving me just wrapping her hands around me.

“Chisomo, I paused looking into her eyes.

“Tell me you do not feel anything for me and I swear I will not bother you anymore” I challenged her lifting her chin to make her eyes meet mine. She looked at me for a couple of seconds and wanted to look away but I could not let her face go, I turned her towards my face again.

“Just tell me the truth” I asked again,

“Please”

“What do you want me to tell you Mario? What good will it do? You belong to another woman and the arrangement was not for us to fall in love with each other, it doesn’t matter what I feel but this is not right, you are getting married in a few days, please just leave, Ketty might come back soon and this is….” She went on complaining.

I let her talk her heart out and even though she couldn’t say for sure she felt love for me, I knew she did. I turned to leave her room and she walked towards her bed sitting down with a sigh. Standing by the door way, I watched her and she was not looking away either.

“Chisomo?” I called her

“yes Mario” was her response and like her voice was the lock to the key that was holding me back, I rushed back closing the door and went on to her throwing her down the bed, she was not fighting me anymore so I went on caressing her until I could see how she needed me too. In minutes we were coined together deeply connected more than before. She had her eyes closed all the time and her body movements were enough to define what I needed, I felt it, it was not Ketty anymore, the woman beneath me felt a part of me, the love and connection between us was so amazing I could not get myself off her till I was calm and down, I allowed her to enjoy the moment longer than last time and was so proud I made her vibrate in my arms she collapsed in them breathing heavily.

Her lips partly parted, she opened her eyes looking at me.

“I love you and am not getting married in a few days Chisomo, I just can’t” I whispered leaning my head on her.

“What? No! You will not do this, no, we will not do this to Ketty, Mario, we will not” she sat up

“What is okey? I marry her with thoughts of you in my head? I cannot it’s not fair that I commit myself to her for life and yet I love you too” I shook my head but she kept on pushing me not to think like that.

In the love moments with Chisomo, I had not realized how many minutes had passed. I had been with her for more than 30 minutes until she practically pushed me out of the room. She was right about Ketty coming back, I found her seated in her bed her face wet with tears. The moment I saw her, I knew she was aware about me and Chisomo.

“Tell me that back there, was just a moment that has past and we are good “she cried standing up and facing me I felt bad at how broken she was looking.

“Am sorry Baby you had to see or hear whatever happened there., I love you and I swear I never planned for this” I started, she slapped me so hard I felt the stinging feeling on my skin where the slap had landed.

“You will not do this to me Mario! No you won’t, you will not tell me in a few weeks you have forgotten about what we have, what we have built in years together” she cried hitting my chest I tried to hold her but now she was screaming loudly,

It was like she had just realized what was happening and now was taking out her anger on me.

“Is it the way of you paying me back for making this decision to have a baby? Is it?” she stopped.

“No, no, yeah I didn’t like the idea before but I didn’t chose to feel this way towards Chisomo, you have to understand me baby please” I tried to calm her down. She was hysterical and screamed out on top of her voice.

She accused me of taking advantage of the situation and lie I loved Chisomo to prove a point she was the one who was wrong to bring another woman between us. Most of what she said were true but the truth was I felt whatever had happened had nothing to do with what I felt for Chisomo, it was so pure and evident I wouldn’t even call it a mistake.

“okey, I will pretend all this did not happen Baby, let’s just get married and after the baby is born, Chisomo is leaving and we will have our lives back” she wiped her tears coming close. I held her back too, and shook my head sadly.

“am so sorry Ketty, but now I cannot get married, I need to clear my head and It will not be fair for you and Chisomo cause am sure I love you both, I cannot hurt her” I told her honestly and she stepped back shaking her head too.

“no., is that a polite way of saying you don’t want to be with me but with that Chisomo?” she spat now fuming.

“No, I mean, I don’t want to hurt any of you baby and I need time to make the right decision. We have to stop the wedding for now and …”

“We are getting married Mario, “she ordered firmly.

“yes, you and I are getting married and we will not allow your pity for that poor girl to come between us, we will have our baby, pay her and she will leave us in peace, there is no way am allowing you to humiliate me like this Mario, never! You hear me, never! You are mine and mine alone, forget about the pity or whatever it is you feel for that girl and let’s get married as per plan” she made her points clearly and serious she was not blinking as she spoke.

I was quiet for a moment, I walked slowly to the bed and sat down watching her. She too looked at me and we both stayed that way or minutes.

“What do I do now?” I asked myself holding my hands in my face.

We heard a loud bang on the front door and the gate opening, my first thought was Chisomo and I rushed outside Ketty coming behind me.

“John, who went outside?” I asked John

“it`s it`s….. Madam, Chisomo” he stammered shaking his head looking at both of us.

“Where did she say she is going?”

“She didn’t say, but she came out with a large bag, she is getting a cab outside and she didn’t look well boss” John explain.

“What? And you let her go?” Ketty responded, I ran to the gate and rushed outside to stop her. The time I stood out, a car was pulling away I saw her seated in the back seat.

“Oh no!” I panicked

“What? “ Ketty asked joining me outside.

“She is gone” I shook my head looking at Ketty.

“Oh my God, she cannot go with our baby Mario, we need her around just for that baby” Ketty cried out I was now mad at her.

“It’s your fault, you kept screaming on top of your voice and now see what you have caused” I accused her pushing her aside and past to get my car. Ketty jumped into the car too,

“Do you think it`s a good idea you come too. Let me talk to her” I told her

“no way am leaving you and that girl together again, and let me warn you, I will not allow you and her alone anymore till am sure this drama of yours is over, am following you cause I really need that baby, now more than ever , I have already sacrificed a lot for this child to give up now” she made a face and I shook my head in disbelief.

“It’s all you really care about huh? The baby? you cannot even care about the feelings of that poor girl you put in so much pain. I almost cannot believe this is you ketty” I shook my head looking ahead as we drove out.

“Is that why you fall for her? Because you wanted her to feel safe, okey or cared for?” she asked without looking at me.

“Can you stop now, let’s just find her and bring her back” I shook my head

“Answer the question Mario! What the hell happened from that girl disgusting you to love? She is just a cheap girl trying to get your attention by playing hurt, it’s not my fault her mother died, it happened and she has to stick her dirty on my man, no, she was paid to get us a baby and that is what will happen, nothing more, nothing less.. I am beginning to hate her guts you know, you don’t even love her like you think I know you. She’s just a …..”

“Shut up! And if you so much insist on knowing the truth, yes, yes I fall in love with Chisomo but not because I pity her and want her to feel safe and cared for, it’s simply because the first time I saw her I felt something special for her, she is a good person and I fall in love with her the first time I lay my hands on her. Is that what you want to hear huh?” I was raising my voice increasing the speed as the road stretched in front of us.

“I love Chisomo and it has nothing to do with whatever you are saying” I added.

She didn’t respond but looked out the window her fingers on her face I assumed she was crying. After some meters on the road in silence with ketty sobbing, I stopped and walked around the car to where she sat.

“Am sorry, I didnt mean to say all that to you. “ I told her honestly.

“Ketty! Baby! “I tried to hold her hand but she wasn’t looking at me.

“Am sorry” I sighed standing up straight.

“She is going to give me my baby at the end of the pregnancy and she will leave, I swear to God if she dares me, if she dares me, I will not let her have her peace. She will know better than mess with me” she spoke scornfully I feared for Chisomo. The coldness I was seeing in her eyes was so much tense one would not say it was the same old and calm Ketty.

“Can we go and find that bitch now? I need her close now more than ever” she spat and closed the door in my face before I could even move. Silently I walked to the other side of the car and started driving back to the road.

The time we got to Chisomo`s old house, she was not there. I tried to ask the neighbours if any of them had seen her go in but they all said they had not seen her in weeks.

“My God where is she?” I asked myself worried sick.

Read Episode 16 here - https://youngicee.com/2020/01/a-cry-for-love-part-16.html

A CRY FOR LOVE - PART 14

© Tisa Phiri

Ketty.

Seeing Chisomo and Mario walk in I felt all my anger less and less, I smiled and Mario came to hug me though indifferently, I could feel it was not the same passionate hug he used to give me but I brushed the thought of knowing I was probably tired and was deducing things wrongly.

Chisomo didn’t sit around much after I greeted her, she excused herself and left to the room.

“My love, is she okey?” I asked Mario leaning on him. He sighed deeply his muscle movement making me move up and down.

“What?” I asked seeing he was avoiding my eyes at the moment.

“Nothing baby, it’s just that Chisomo has been distant the past week, I barely came to see her because she wouldn’t allow me. She looks sad Ketty, am worried because she needs to be okey for the baby. She only called after your mother gave her a hard time” Mario explained sadly, for some reason I couldn’t explain, I noticed he was sad too, he seemed lost even his words seemed random like he was just picking them without really saying everything that was in his heart.

“Look, baby, its okey for a pregnant woman to feel low and sad sometimes, I have researched so much about pregnancies’. My mother`s coming obviously got her upset too but that was before and she told me she understood her. Besides, remember how we got her pregnant, I know this is a bit too much for her no wonder I wanted her around so we both could take care of her. What matters now is that she and the baby are healthy” I stated to him. Mario only shrugged without saying anything and the rest of the time we spent together he kept his end of the conversation short, he would respond with one answer and sometimes only nod without a word.

“Could the issue of Chisomo affect him so much?” I asked myself.

That evening I suggested we went out for some dinner the three of us.

“We can talk about the baby and lighten up the moment for Chisomo” I tried to convince Mario who argued it was not a good idea.

“So, Chisomo, how are you really feeling?” I asked as we ate our food to break the silence between the three of us.

“Um, “ she cleared her throat and looked at me and back in her plate,

“am feeling okey, don’t worry. The doctor told us the baby is okey and that is good news right?” she made her relaxed face and went on eating I looked at Mario and he was eyeing her too.

“Chisomo, I know its good news but trust me I want to know about you as well, I mean are you really okey? Do you feel okey emotionally, physically and all, am just concerned about you” I held her finger across the table and she looked at me. Smiling a bit.

“thank you, am okey yes, the thing is I feel lonely staying with you guys and I was hoping I went to do something for myself, I went up to grade 12 yes, but I can do some small less stressing business as we wait for the baby” she told us both but her eyes were just on me.

“What? You want to leave the house? “ I asked surprised at her decision

“Is there anything wrong the two of us have done to make you feel like leaving Chisomo? You know we need you close “I shook my head not wanting to entertain her idea.

“I will be coming to see you guys regularly and you too can be coming, please let me leave” she insisted and to my shock Mario cut in sharply.

“No!” his voice was so firm and commanding like he was afraid of her going or maybe hated her for the suggestion in could not tell for sure.

“Baby, are you okey?” I asked him seeing he was looking at Chisomo without a blink.

“um, yes. I am baby, just that I don’t want my baby to be anywhere far away, I need her around Ketty, we cannot let Chisomo go just like that, she will be all alone and anything can happen , no, tell her she is not going anywhere” Mario`s voice was sharp I for a moment wondered what was going on. he sounded different and mad too.

At that Chisomo seemed upset and she stood up asking for us to take her back to the house.

“But we are still eating and …” I almost stopped her but she stood her ground.

“am sorry, I feel tired and I cannot stay out here anymore, if you can take me back and come back later the two of you” she insisted refusing to sit back.

The driving back home was filled with tension I was afraid to ask what had really happened to them both after I left them. Mario`s face was out the window as I was driving them. I looked in the mirror and saw Chisomo silently seated her eyes closed as she leaned her head on the car seat.

Back at home, she asked to go and rest and of course I had no objection, I let her go and Mario too walked out after refusing to explain to me what had happened after I left.

That evening I entered Chisomo`s room and sat there silently watching her. She too didn’t say a thing she just waited for me to say something.

“What happened back at the restaurant, don’t tell me it was mom cause we already talked about her and you know she won’t be bothering you again. So what?” I asked her finally.

“What? You guys refused to let me go, that is what happened “ she sighed and moved her hand under her head looking at the screen playing some pictures across the room.

“Tell me the truth Chisomo, did you have a quarrel with Mario whilst I was gone? Did he say something out of way or maybe it’s something he did” I pulled her hand in mine and rubbed it gently.

“Am sorry Ketty, I cannot tell you anything of such sort because there was nothing. I only want…” she paused

“How did you meet with Mario? I mean what kind of relationship you have together” she asked this time with a chuckle.

“Well, we are a normal couple, we fight sometimes but over time we have come to understand each other so well, even the issue of the wedding is just to formalize things no wonder am not so much bothered about it. Mario is my man and I know anywhere in the world he would stand with me. it’s amazing how his mother has failed to break us apart after several years of trying, you know why? Because Mario is a good man and he keeps his promises” I explained to her after giving her history of how we met and she smiled I noticed there was some wetness in her eyes she looked away and wiped it.

“Wow, I truly am happy for you, you two sound perfect together and I hope one day you will be fulfilled and live happily ever after” she commented with a smile.

“Chisomo, look here, one day I believe you too will find that man that will love you for you. You will see, there is a Mario out there for you too, he is waiting for you to show up and love him back” I told her chuckling loudly I felt good we had both eased up.

“A what?” she asked, I knew she could not read the phrasing where I mentioned Mario.

“I mean, there is a good man like Mario out there for you Chisomo” I laughed and she smiled looking at me.

“Well, we good right? No more moving out on us?” I shrugged

“Hmm, am not sure, will think about it, cause honestly I think that is what is right for all of us” she uttered her words but I was okey she had brightened up I didn’t want to ask what she meant, lets I sour her mood again.

A week later, I went to see Sera and her family. I had not had time to see her that week as I had to go to the company and follow up the happenings of the business. My cousin had called me to ask that we both went for the review of the business activities, I was glad everything seemed well. I had nothing to worry about.

“So how is the baby coming up?” Sera asked me as we sat outside under a small mango tree.

“Well, it’s all good, the pregnancy is now into the 10th week and am so excited I cannot wait for the last term” I giggled happily.

“Hmm, it worked after all huh? You are going to be mother. How is Mario taking it now?” she asked.

“Honestly, I don’t know my friend, Mario barely talks about the baby and sometimes I cannot help feel he hates Chisomo. I try to make him understand things but nothing” I frowned sadly recalling how Mario always never talked about Chisomo and whenever he would come home, he never even asked about her or the baby.

“Hmm what do you expect, you forced the man to sleep with a stranger. Give it time he will come around, probably after the baby is born and Chisomo leaves you guys. “Sera smiled combing her baby girl`s hair as we talked.

“He will my dear, now I came to ask if the arrangements for the flowers were done, I have been too occupied the past weeks I sometimes forget am getting married. “

Sera looked at me shaking her head.

“This wedding is the longest planned I have ever seen. Let it pass we all rest easy mwee”

she shrugged and we both laughed out.

I decided to get home after a long meeting with Sera and things were now on point, all we needed was walk to the aisle with Mario and get married. I had seen his mother a few days before and this time she seemed okey. She was not so excited but at least I was just glad she was not being too negative.

Driving in the yard, I saw Mario`s car parked outside and I smiled to myself knowing he was inside.

“Baby! Am home!” I shouted placing the keys on the small corner table and throwing the heels off my feet I touched my feet to relax them a bit as I went to my room thinking Mario was there.

“Where is this man?” I asked myself as I held my hand removing the wrist watch. Then I heard some voices talking.

“sure he is” I told myself now heading to Chisomo`s room.

“I cannot do this Mario, please stop already, just leave me and like you said, pretend I don’t exist, soon I will leave and you will be married to your wife a baby besides you” came Chisomo`s voice I could hear she was crying.

Out of curiosity, I stood there to hear what they were talking about thinking she was trying to get him understand her and not hate her.

His words that moment as he responded to her made me drop the wrist watch that I was now holding in my hand, I quickly picked it before it could get to the floor.

“I love you Chisomo, I have tried to stay away you know that, how can I look into Ketty`s eyes and lie that I don’t like you when my whole being is screaming out to how much I love you. I love you and I need you, I cannot let you go cause I find myself so drawn to you, please do not push me away, I love you” Mario whispered I peeped through a small opening and saw him holding her so close. His hands were firm on her face he spoke without looking away from her eyes.

“What about Ketty?” Chisomo asked him trying to get off him but he didn’t move an inch, it was like he was stuck in the ground and could not let her go. Hi desperation was amazing.

“I don’t know, but I love you too, I love you Chisomo, what can I do? Please I love you!” my Mario was pleading for the woman crying as he spoke I felt myself so weak I went down the floor without making some noise, I was not going to cut that moment short for them, so I sat there for minutes hearing them argue.

I could hear him kissing her and both of them were breathing heavily just after a moment and I stood up running to my room, I could not take it anymore.

Read more Episodes here - www.youngicee.com/stories/a-cry-for-love

A CRY FOR LOVE - PART 13

© Tisa Phiri

Ketty…

I was so excited I was getting back home after a long week touring the country. I could not get my manager to adjust the tour so I had to go by his plan and he was right, at the end of it all we had made a lot of money selling copies of the book. I successfully signed an agreement with some movie publishing director who was interested in running my story and I was super excited.

One thing that fulfilled my heart was my passion to write. In that, I had the entire world to myself, I would go to the ends of the world, explore the best places in the world, eat the best foods and experience the greatest true love just in my imagination and I just loved the satisfaction writing gave me.

I was making a happy dance in my head as I opened the car door to walk inside when John came around looking at me nervously.

“John, are you okey?” I asked him seeing how he was looking.

“Yes madam, nilibwino. Welcome back” he smiled his silly smile.

“What now?” I asked him as he stopped to look at me after pulling the bag off the car.

“um, madam there is…” he could not finish his sentence and my mother emerged from the house elegantly dressed in a classy long black dress and silver heels on her feet she stepped forward like she was on a modeling contest and I clicked my tongue irritated about her showing up at my house. I hated my mother`s shameless acts and she knew of that fact but her mission was always to make sure she threw whatever I hated about her in my face.

“Well, well, the Queen of the house is back! You look tired and old Ketty” she smiled closing in I felt like pushing her off her heels, I swear I thought it more than once before clearing my throat.

“What are you doing here?” I asked ignoring her stupid smile.

“What I want? Won’t you at least say hi to your mother?” she smiled widely. Even though she was playing all young and diva, my mother was ageing and only she could not see that her actions and way of dress was not matching her trying to be young.

“Hi mom! Now what do you want?” I asked walking past her heading in the house.

“I missed you” she let a soft laugh.

“Hmm” I scoffed with a fake smile.

“the past 10 years of my life I have learnt that you only remember me when you are out on money or you have something bad that you want to throw in my face, or better still, to educate me on how to grab husbands and kill the men in your life” I told her sarcastically. She sat in a couch comfortably it was like my words just passed across her ears and never got to her even a little bit.

“When you are done bickering sit down I want to talk to you about your fiancé” she spat

“My fiancée? I asked

“Yes, I heard you two have pushed the wedding further twice now, who the hell postpones a wedding when everything is in place? “She chuckled teasingly.

“That my dear mother is none of your business. Tell me why you are truly here and leave already, am tired. By the way” I paused looking around I just realized I had not seen Chisomo yet.

“Hmmm what now?” she made a face at me.

“Where is the lady, my friend who was in…”

“She left with your so called Fiancée, I found her laying down in your spare bedroom and I asked what the heck she was doing here since I don’t recall her among your friends. I don’t know what games you are playing but that girl called your fiancé and they left the house about an hour ago” my mother said it with satisfaction.

“You know what? You are evil. If am not Mistaken you gave hell to that poor soul dear mother, anyway, who she is or why we have her here is not your business. Just tell me why you really are here” I shrugged still standing.

“Hmmm am here because I was told, no, “she smiled

“I know that that fiancé of yours is a good for nothing Gold digger. I know he has another woman with him. All he wants is to milk you of your money and marry another” she looked at me

“Okey” I smiled sitting down knowing it was one of her scams to get me upset I swore I would not give her the satisfaction.

“Okey? That is all you will say?” she raised her eyes surprised.

“What do you want mom, please” I shook my head sitting back.

“Well, if you want to know, the girl he is seeing is pregnant too. I was told he took her to the hospital and people saw them together there. You know I get what I want and I got the info the girl is pregnant over 2 months. So my dear, I may not be the best mom in the world but I care about you. There is no other reason why your marriage is not taking off, it’s that woman” she explained and sat back I could see her pride. She obviously felt good she had succeeded in making me get mad or heartbroken. She kept looking at my gestures to see my reaction. For a couple of minutes I was silent. Knowing so well it was Chisomo that Mario had taken to the hospital and who ever told mom was obviously working at the hospital and had access to the patience`s medical records.

Instead of saying a thing, I burst out laughing at how pathetic she looked. She was offloading what she thought was a boom on me meanwhile I knew it all.

“What? Are you okey?” she asked finally when I paused from the laughter. I was so much laughing at how stupid she looked she stood up shocked.

“Mom, oh mother, I like your action you know. Well, so be it if Mario is with another woman, so be it. By the way do you know who this woman is?” I asked to see if she was able to tell the person in her story was Chisomo since she had found her home.

“Not yet, but I will find out and soon, you will be crying instead of laughing at me like this” my mother was now upset I felt proud too.

‘Hmm, good, was that all mother? The thing is I need to rest, you see some of us work hard to earn money, we do not wait to grab a man for his money and kill him after we get what we need” I teased smiling at her she slapped me before I could say more.

“Don’t you dare insult me Ketty, I will….”

“What?” I stood up angry at her now.

“One day, just one day, you will swallow your words Ketty. “She pointed her finger at me and I smiled teasingly.

“I hate you, you know that? You are the reason I don’t even pray anymore, I have not prayed in years since dad died because every time I want to, I end up seeing your face and I stop. You have destroyed my life and now there is no place in my heart for you. Am barren because you could not bare me carry a child, a product of rape as you called it. Your so-called nephew raped me and you cared less about my pain and what I was going through, all you needed was your good name, I bet you are happy I cannot have kids. I hate you for that too, so much that I curse you every time i remember what you me go through. Leave me alone already. I send you money every month from the company so you have no reason to snoop around my house. Just leave me alone will you?” I whispered my last words getting close to her she was eyeing me so silent.

She sighed nodding her head and started walking towards the door.

“Ketty, am your mother and no matter what I did, I don’t deserve this”

“Yes you do mother, who the hell kills her husband by poisoning his beer and leaves him to die in his car? Who on earth as a normal mother grabs her friend`s marriage, a man who used to be best friends with her husband months after his death, what kind of mother calls her own child a rat and plots to grab back the inheritance left my her father, you know what? Just the thoughts of what you have done make me so angry I don’t trust my actions towards you, so please, I beg you to Stay away from my life. Stay the heck away! You hear!” I yelled the more I could see the maids startling as they were hiding in a corner watching I was too mad to say anything to them.

My mother wiped a tear from her eyes and stepped backwards. She opened the door, gave me a last look and walked away without a word.

“I hate her, err!” I gnarled angrily sitting back down and crying myself to relieve the pain I was now feeling. Her presence was always enough to get me in a bad mood. Now I was no longer making happy dances. I called the maid to give me water and drunk the cup furiously throwing it to the wall it broke in pieces the maid jumped startled.

“Get me my phone!” I screamed at her she rushed to grab my bag and took out my phone rushing out quickly.

“And you!” I stopped her before she could leave.

“Yes mam” she paused

“Next time any of you allows that woman in this house, you will be fired, have I made myself clear?” I asked her holding my phone.

“Yes mom, it’s just that she…”

“Did you hear me or not?” I asked her before she could explain herself.

“Yes madam, sorry” she responded and rushed out almost immediately.

“Where the hell have you both gone to? Am back home!” I yelled in the phone the moment Mario picked it.

“Baby are you okey?” he asked and I realized I just burst my anger on him.

“Oh, My God. Am sorry Mario, just that I found my mother home and you know how she is. Are you with Chisomo?” I calmed down hearing his voice.

“Yeah, she called me that your mother had given her a tough time, I had to get her out before she got to know what is going on” he explained

“Yeah, that was okey Baby you did well, she already has a story running I will tell you when you come. Come back both of you I miss you” I told him pulling off the shoes from my feet.

“yeah, we are coming right away don’t worry and stop being mad okey?’ I could hear him sigh.

“Am sorry baby, am okey now, just come soon alright?” I smiled as I hang the call.

To be continued

Episode 14 contd

‘What!’

‘You heard me. I know what you do for a living: prostitution.’

Oroma turned to ensure that the kitchen door was properly closed. She didn’t want her daughter hearing things like this.

‘She doesn’t know, does she?’

Oroma took a deep breath and silently prayed to God to help her deal patiently with this man.

‘She doesn’t know about my past and I want it to stay that way.’

‘Poor child. I am sure she had to deal with years of wondering which one of the numerous ‘uncles’ who came visiting, was her father,’ he taunted.

Oroma didn’t bother taking the bait.

‘I love my daughter and she knows that I love her. That is all that matters.’

‘And with the kind of example you would be setting for her, she would most likely lose her innocence before she reaches puberty.’

‘I am bringing up my child in the best way I can,’ she bit out, tempted to slap him. ‘And you have no right to say something like that to me!’

‘Don’t I? You’re the prostitute who is trying to force her daughter on me.’

‘Stop calling me that! I quit that profession a year ago.’

‘Oh good, clap for yourself,’ his tone reeked of sarcasm. ‘And for how long do you intend to be celibate, that is if you are? Until you find the highest bidder?’

He had no idea how low he had hit her below the belt! How could he understand how tempted she had been to go back to that cursed profession when she found herself unable to pay her bills? The pay from the job at the restaurant had been little and not enough to take care of basic needs but she had promised herself never again would she trade her body for money, no matter the sum or circumstance.

It had been like an addiction, something she had thought she couldn’t live without. At first she had gotten into profession because she was desperate but she had continued for some time, enduring the touch of different men and giving in to the lustful desires of her flesh. She had gotten a high from controlling the desires of men and being responsible for their pleasures. But no more! Her daughter was her life, her number one priority. Her desires came second and would gladly be sacrificed for the happiness of her precious girl.

She took inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly.

‘This is not about me. This is about Biobele, the sweetest girl on the planet, and one any man would be honoured to call his daughter.’

‘I refuse to accept another man’s responsibility.’

‘I would gladly subject her to a DNA test to prove you are her father. If it comes out negative, which I seriously doubt, then I would pay you back the money spent.’

‘And how exactly do you expect to pay me back? You don’t have enough money and I don’t patronise prostitutes, not even the very beautiful ones.’

‘Stop calling me that!’

‘My mistake. Which do you prefer? Call girl? Lady of the night? LovePeddler? Harlot? Scarlet woman?’

‘None of the above. I have a decent job.’

‘That’s not what I heard from your neighbour.’

He couldn’t forget how Oroma had attacked her neighbour for revealing her secret to him. She hadn’t exactly denied that she was still a prostitute.

‘Assuming I believe your words that you now have a decent job, does your employer’s wife know about your ‘past’ life? I bet if she did, you would lose your job faster than you can say your name.’

‘My employer knows about my past and unlike you he isn’t judgmental.’

‘I was referring to his wife.’

This man was so different from his best friend. Dienye hadn’t judged her when she told him about her past life.

‘The only way out of this, B.B, is to have a paternity test,’ she said, bringing them back to the topic at hand.

‘And like I said, I will not waste my time and resources.’

‘I am giving you the opportunity to get to know her. I’m the only family she knows and she was so excited about meeting you.’

‘What about your own family?’

‘I was disowned the moment I was found to be pregnant. And so you and I are the only family she has.’

‘I want no part of this. You laid your bed so lie on it. I am not interested in a DNA test and the next time you bring your daughter here, I will have her taken to an orphanage where she would most likely be adopted by a family that would love her and keep her away from you and your selfish intentions.’

‘What exactly do you have against children?’ she asked exasperatedly,

‘You would ask me that simply because I wouldn’t fall for your lies? What exactly is your game plan? To get me to accept responsibility for your daughter, introduce you two to my family and have them of course convince me to marry you and we live together happily ever after?’

‘I’m not interested in marrying you,’ she told him and she meant it. ‘What I want is for my daughter to have her father in her life. You don’t want a DNA test because having a child is going to affect your perfect bachelor lifestyle. Well, you don’t have to worry about me bothering you anymore. God knows I have given you the opportunity to know your daughter and you have chosen to reject her and insult me. No problem, but know this: the only way you would ever have access to Biobele is if you find yourself married to her mother and I won’t marry you even if my life depends on it.’

‘I am not interested in you.’

‘Okay. My daughter is better off not knowing you. I never should have brought her here.’

She opened the door and walked out of the kitchen. B.B followed closely. Oroma called to her daughter, trying not to fall apart before her intelligent little girl. Biobele looked from her mummy to B.B then she rose to her feet and took Oroma’s hand.

‘It’s okay, mummy,’ she said as though she understood what had gone on between her parents. ‘It’s okay.’

After mother and daughter had left his apartment, B.B sat on the couch in his living room deep in thought. He forgot all about the sleep he had been looking forward to. The girl, Biobele, hadn’t touched her drink, and he couldn’t forget the look she had given him before she left with her mother. He couldn’t explain it but the girl seemed to have been expecting a rejection from him from the start, and he felt bad that he couldn’t explain to her that he wasn’t rejecting her because of anything she had done but because she wasn’t his.

He was almost tempted to call them back and request for a DNA test as Oroma had requested for the sake of the child but he couldn’t fall for whatever trap Oroma was laying for him. He didn’t trust her not to have an agenda.

Read Episode 16 here - https://youngicee.com/2020/01/the-second-wife-episode-16.html

The Second Wife - Episode 15

© Onyinyechukwu Mbeledogu

Monday 19th April 2004
7:07am
Hostel A2, RSUST

‘Congratulations Soki!’

Soki smiled as her hostel mates congratulated her on her wedding.

‘Bookworm!’

They teased her about returning to school when she should be away on honeymoon with her handsome husband.

‘My degree exam is by the corner, girls,’ she responded good-naturedly. ‘My darling husband and I can always have our honeymoon after my examinations. It would be a double celebration as I would officially be a law graduate.’

Dienye had dropped her off a few minutes earlier. He had gifted her with a car but the papers were being processed at the moment. However, even if she had the car at her disposal, she was back to the hostel and didn’t feel the need to use a car within school. She could afford to stay on campus without a car since she had just a month to go before her examinations began. And from what she’d heard, the Degree examinations lasted only a week. She had already made plans to be home every Friday and be back to school on Monday and Dienye was fine with it.

She was glad she didn’t have to worry about completing and submitting her project and thus could focus on her examinations. She had prepared ahead of time, choosing three potential project topics during the first semester break in her Fourth year and taking time out to conduct research on them. She had gathered a lot of materials by the time she returned to school for the new semester. Once her supervisor approved the topic “Environmental Crisis, a threat to National Security“, Soki had immediately started work on her project to the surprise and delight of her supervisor. She had already submitted the bound copies.

She would be turning twenty two in July and all things being equal, she would make it for the August law school batch and be called to bar by November 2005 at twenty three. She also hoped to be a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) long before she turned 40.

Smiling, she walked down the long hallway that separated the rooms on either side of her, stopping at Room 26 which was the last room on the left. She was greeted with excited screams by her room mates. It was a full room. Officially twelve students sharing three double bunks arranged in a u-shape but Soki loved the community arrangement. It was a really interesting room. They argued, fought once in a while, partied and prayed together. No one was perfect.

After exchanging pleasantries, the girls wanted full gossip. She had been vocal about her decision to wait until her wedding day before being intimate with a man and, trust the girls, they wanted to hear the whole story about her first time. She didn’t blame them though, in their position she would have done the same thing.

‘Classified information,’ Soki responded with a laugh.

‘Come on.’

‘Classified info, girls,’ she repeated, giggling at their disappointed faces. ‘However, the only thing I can tell you is that it was worth the wait.’

‘See love o.’

‘No be small thing.’

‘Girl, give us gist na.’

Laughing she headed for her wooden locker. The double bunks were arranged in a U-Shape. Her bunk was in the centre. Her bed mate Blessing wasn’t around. She was a science student and had a lecture fixed for 7am. Soki was glad her first lecture was for 9am.

She dropped her knapsack on the mattress and unzipped it, taking out the provisions she had bought the previous day. She filled her locker with the provisions, sorted out the books she needed for the day and threw them into the knapsack. She was already dressed for lectures in a white short sleeved blouse and black skirt that ended just above her knees. Her feet were encased in black two inch heel peep-toe shoes. She took a bike to the law faculty where she would receive another set of congratulatory messages.



6:17pm

38c Rumuola Road

B.B. Briggs pulled into his parking space at the side of Block C. He occupied a two bedroom apartment on the first floor of a duplex which housed four ‘two bedroom’ apartments with two apartments on each floor. The compound had a tight security and a mini tenants’ association which ensured that the premises was clean and well taken care of. One of the attractions of the apartment was the size of the living room and the bedrooms. The master bedroom was en suite and the other bedroom shared the convenience. The price was also good.

He was tired. He’d had a long day at the Court of Appeal, Enugu and had driven straight home once he was done, stopping briefly to have lunch. He hadn’t even bothered stopping at the office. The previous week had been very busy one, spent in preparing for his best friend’s wedding. He had driven to Enugu after the thanksgiving service and reception. While at his hotel, he had gone through his briefs of argument in the two appeals he was handling, taking down extra notes. He had slept late and woken up early to make it to the Court of Appeal before 8:30am. The Justices sat at exactly 9am and there were twelve sets of cause lists to be filled by counsel before the arrival of the Justices.

What he needed was a good sleep.

He took out his travelling bag from the boot of the Honda civic and locked the car. He went up the staircase to his apartment pausing when he saw a girl sitting on the staircase just between his apartment and that of his neighbour’s. She was dressed in a yellow top and blue jeans worn over black sandals. Her hair was plaited with black threads. She was reading a storybook.

She looked up as he approached. He recognised her from the photograph Christabel – Oroma, had left with him the day she came to his office last month. He had seen Oroma at Dienye’s wedding but had been too busy to ask her what she was doing there. Before the wedding the last time he had seen Oroma was outside her home when she punched her nosey neighbour. He hadn’t bothered seeking her out again.

He looked around but Oroma was nowhere to be found. How had she known where he lived? He wondered. Had she been stalking him? He had lived here for almost six years and he barely entertained guests in his home, so a lot of people in his circle had no idea where he lived and he loved it that way. And yet Oroma had found him!

‘Good evening, sir,’ the girl greeted, getting up from the top step.

‘Where is your mother?’ he asked without responding to her greeting.

‘She asked me to wait for her here,’ the girl responded.

She was seven according to her birth certificate but looked younger than that. He hoped her mother wasn’t trying to force her daughter on him! The girl did look like Nengi but that didn’t mean anything. Everyone had a doppelgänger. Oroma had taken advantage of him and she had also been a prostitute. Her daughter was probably fathered by one of her numerous lovers, if Oroma indeed knew which one.

He thought of dropping the girl off at home but he was curious to know exactly what her mother intended by her action. Besides, he was also tired and putting her in a cab might be dangerous. He didn’t want to risk anything happening to the girl. She may not be his daughter but she was a child and her life was precious.

He unlocked the outer door and held it open, inviting her in. She hesitated for a moment, looking down the staircase as though not sure whether or not to go in with him in the absence of her mother. And then she made up her mind. He dropped his travelling bag on the long couch in the living room. He yawned as he picked up the remote control and turned on the air conditioner. His unwanted guest stood watching him. What did you serve a seven year old in the absence of caprison and biscuits? There was no food in the house. Had Eseoghene, his current girlfriend being around, she would have stuffed his fridge with different kinds of fruits and the refrigerator with soup and stew so that all he had to do was make eba or boil rice or yam. But Ese was running a two week programme in Lagos.

B.B wasn’t good with children. He was barely ever around them. Ese, on the other hand was an elementary school teacher and good with children. He thought of Dienye who was always around children. He would have known how to engage a child in a conversation.

Why had Oroma left her daughter here?

He gestured for the girl to sit on one of the leather seats and walked to the fridge in the dining area hoping that there would be something in there. He found a large plastic bottle of jucee. He had forgotten about the orange drink which had been one of the few he had ordered for the last time Priye Daniel-Hart and a few of her friends had stormed his place from school.

He took out the large fruit drink and headed for the kitchen where he got a glass cup. He put the glass cup on a small tray and returned to the living room. He placed the tray on a stool beside the girl’s chair and filled the glass cup with juice. She thanked him but made no attempt to take the drink from the tray. Her eyes watched him curiously before focusing on the enlarged picture on the wall. It was his call to bar picture.

‘How was school?’ he asked her for lack of what to say. Had this been a court room, he would have been fired up but he couldn’t strike a simple conversation with a seven year old.

‘School was fine,’ she replied.

When the silence stretched for some time, Biobele looked at him and said: ‘I know you don’t want me here. I already told mummy it is okay if you don’t want to know me.’

‘I never said…’

‘I may be a child but I know a lot of things,’ she cut in politely.

Biobele was an intelligent girl. When her mother had finally broken the silence on her father and showed her his photograph, she had been excited because she was finally going to have a father like most of the children at school. She had quickly come up with a list of activities she could do with her daddy. The only male figure in her life was Uncle Dienye whom she loved very much. He had bought her story books which she read to the younger children at the orphanage. She had started the new term in a new school and was coping very well. Her mummy had told her that she had inherited her daddy’s intelligence. He was a great lawyer.

Her mummy and daddy had never been married but mummy had assured her that although her conception hadn’t been planned, having her was the best thing that had ever happened to her.

One of her friends in her former school had left school because her parents were getting a divorce. The news had been all over school. Biobele hadn’t known what the word ‘divorce’ meant until she asked one of the women in the compound they had lived in at the time and the woman told her.

She was glad her mummy had moved out of that compound. Living in a communal compound meant that you heard and saw a lot of things. They said all sort of things about her and her mummy especially about her not having a father. But her mummy had taught her to ignore their harsh remarks.

‘You are a special child and if they don’t understand that, it is their loss,’ mummy would always tell her.

‘And my father? Does he know I exist?’

‘I have made contact with him. I believe he would do the right thing.’

And here she was with him!

When he had come up the stairs and seen her, he had looked like he wanted to be everywhere apart from there. He had recognised her, most likely from the picture her mummy had chosen to show to him. Biobele had selected that picture herself from the few she had. She wanted her daddy to have the best picture of her. She had been looking forward to meeting him. Her mummy had singled him out at Uncle Dienye’s wedding but there had been no opportunity to talk to him. Besides, he hadn’t even tried talking to her mummy.

Biobele had asked her mummy a lot of questions after the wedding but mummy had clearly been covering up for him, perhaps to save her from the pain of rejection. But Biobele had understood the words her mother hadn’t said. Her father was yet to accept that she was his.

As much as Biobele had been looking forward to meeting her father, and although she would naturally feel really bad if he finally decided he didn’t want to have anything to do with her like some of the fathers of children she had seen pass through their compound, she was prepared for anything: rejection or acceptance.

‘Mummy wants us to get together but I won’t force myself to be your little girl so you don’t get to hate my mummy for the rest of our lives for doing this to you,’ she told B.B.

She didn’t sound like a child at all. Had life done this to her?

At that moment there was a knock on the outer door. Instinctively he knew it was Oroma. Relieved that he didn’t have to squirm under the child’s look, he hurried out to open the door. Oroma stood at the door in a flowing flowery dress. She was breathing heavily as though she had been in a hurry. He had judged her too quickly. He had actually believed she would not return for her daughter that evening and he would be compelled to let the child spend the night in his home.

‘Good evening B.B,’ Oroma said breathlessly. ‘I had no idea you would be back so early.’

‘Have you been monitoring my movement?’

‘Not exactly,’ she responded.

‘How did you know I lived here?’

‘I came here a week ago to drop a few things with one of your neighbours and saw you drive in. I asked and was told you lived in Apartment 4C.’

If her story was true, who was that loud mouthed neighbour? It had to be a woman. A man wouldn’t be interested in divulging information about another man while he was with a woman. Did she have clients around here too?

‘I don’t have a lover here,’ she told him, cutting his thoughts short.

‘I don’t remember saying you did.’

‘Your expression said it all. May I come in? Where is Bio?’

He reluctantly invited Oroma in. Biobele hugged her mother. B.B asked Oroma to follow him to the kitchen. He needed to talk to her alone.

‘Why on earth would you put an innocent child in the centre of all this?’ B.B demanded the moment they were inside the spacious kitchen.

‘She is your daughter and has every right to meet with you.’

‘I have told you before I will not take responsibility for another man’s child. If you are trying to extort money from me, this is not the best way to go about it. It is way too obvious.’ He drew his wallet out of his pocket, counted twenty five hundred naira notes and thrust it at her. ‘This is Ten Thousand Naira, and it is not for you but for the girl.’

‘She has a name: Biobele.’ Oroma said exasperatedly.

‘Whatever. Take this money and stay out of my life.’

Oroma looked at the money and hissed without taking it.

‘She is your daughter B.B. If you have any doubt, I suggest you request for a paternity test. You get to choose the doctor.’

‘No.’

‘Why not? What are you afraid of?’

‘I have no intention of spending my precious time and money on something so frivolous.’

‘Frivolous? There is nothing frivolous about accepting your responsibility. Biobele is your daughter…’

‘I hear.’

‘You were the first man I had ever been with, the only man I was with eight years ago.’

‘I hear you. I’m not interested. If you are looking for a man to rope into taking over your responsibility, I suggest you go to one of your numerous customers. Perhaps there is one of them whose wife hasn’t given him a child and who would gladly accept responsibility to salvage his male ego.’

‘What!’

Episode 14 contd


He began to speak but advised himself to be quiet. She was right. When he had kissed her, he had known he had been kissing Soki because he had asked her to relax, promising not to hurt her. However, the moment he had her on the bed in the semi darkness of the room he hadn’t used in years, he had been transported back in time to a moment when Nengi was alive and Soki was immediately forgotten.

Until he realised that the woman in his arms was a virgin!

Nengi’s name had frozen on his lips even as Soki had frozen beneath him. Reflexively she had roughly pushed him off her. He was lucky she headed straight for the bathroom instead of the adjoining bedroom.

‘Now that I am in your home, am I to expect you to call me Nengi every time you see me or is to be at any time we have sex?’

‘You are blowing this out of proportion,’ he bit out, unable to help himself.

‘Am I?’ she returned. ‘Perhaps I would have been indifferent if I had been with another man before you.’

‘I’m glad you weren’t,’ he said quickly.

‘Of course you are.’ She inhaled deeply.

‘I can’t take back what happened, babe,’ he said, contrite, ‘but I would like the opportunity to make it up to you.’

She drew back her head as though struck by a snake.

‘There is no way on earth that I am getting back into that bed with you tonight.’

‘Be patient,’ Dienye cautioned himself even as Soki settled herself on a couch in the room, her legs folded like she was meditating.

His action would determine whether the rest of their nights would end up like this, with her rejecting him. It was like driving a car, he thought. If you had a minor accident and didn’t immediately get back behind the wheel, you risked the likelihood of giving up completely on driving. And so like driving a car it was not in the best interest of their marriage to allow things wait until some other time.

He was married to a very passionate woman and although he had messed up, he couldn’t risk her unconsciously rejecting his touch because of what had happened. He could easily sleep on the couch and let her have the bed but that wouldn’t be a wise decision. He had been married once and so knew from experience that if he let this wait he would be in trouble. And so this had to be resolved tonight.

‘I am sorry,’ he apologised once more.

‘I heard you the first time, and other times,’ she replied.

‘Am I forgiven?’

He looked so repentant that she found herself forgiving him.

‘I forgive you,’ she told him, ‘but forgetting this incident is a different ball game.’

‘I can deal with that,’ he assured her. ‘What happened was unforgivable and I promise you it would never repeat itself.’

Soki wasn’t sure he was in a position to keep that promise but she didn’t counter his statement.

Dienye sat at the edge of the bed in a pair of shorts while she remained stubbornly on the couch. She had thought he would go to sleep and let her be but he just chose to wait.

‘You really should put on a shirt or something,’ she told him, drawing her eyes away from his body.

Having wanted him for so long, how could she stay mad at him when all he had on was a pair of tiny boxer shorts that left very little to the imagination? She was tempted to reach out and run her fingers over his well sculpted torso, muscular arms… no she wouldn’t be distracted. But Dienye wasn’t about to make it easy for her. And she wasn’t comfortable with the desire in his eyes as he looked at her. There was a reason why lingerie was effective for seduction!

She swallowed hard and looked away. Damn the weakness of her body where this man was concerned! She finally gave in, telling herself that it was because he had genuinely apologised to her. She would give him a second chance but if it happened again…

Dienye made it up to her, self-conscious so as not to call her by Nengi’s name. And while she slept, he asked himself if he had been wise in remarrying. Not just because he still loved Nengi but because he was foreseeing a situation where she would rightfully expect more from him emotionally than he could offer her. He wasn’t a man in love, at least not with his current wife!



Sunday 18th April 2017

7:01am

Dienye was up early and as part of the atonement for his sin the previous night, he went into the kitchen in a pair of shorts to fix breakfast for Soki. He wasn’t the best cook but knew his way around the kitchen. He made her an omelette and served it with five slices of toasted bread. Since he wasn’t sure how she liked her tear, he placed a jug of hot water, tea bag, sugar and milk on the tray and took it to the master bedroom.

Soki woke up just as he opened the bedroom door. She quickly pulled the comforter over herself, hiding her body from his eyes. He was amused by her reaction but didn’t show it lest he incur her wrath so early in the morning. He was clearly still on probation.

‘Good morning babe,’ he greeted.

‘Good morning, D.D,’ she responded looking everywhere but at him.

She had to get used to seeing him in this state of UnCloth, he thought as he placed the tray on the bedside table on her side. With her eyes she gestured for her lingerie on the rug and the short kimono she hadn’t picked up the previous night. He handed them over to her and still clutching at the comforter, she put on the lingerie before pushing her hands into the sleeves of the kimono and quickly tied the knots.

‘I brought you breakfast,’ he told her.

‘Thanks. You didn’t have to.’

She yawned and turned so that she was sitting on the bed but with her feet on the rug.

‘Yes I did,’ he countered gently.

‘I already told you last night that I had forgiven you.’

‘And this is my way of saying thank you for giving me a second chance.’

She was silent for a moment.

‘What time is service today?’ she asked.

‘Ten o’clock,’ he replied.

That would give her time to fix lunch before they headed for the thanksgiving service. She loved cooking and so looked forward to making lunch and subsequently dinner. She yawned once more. Was it compulsory for the couple to be in church on the Sunday after the wedding? After all there were couples who travelled out for their honeymoon the same day.

It made no sense coming to church knowing that all eyes would be on you and that people would know that you had been intimate the night before and who knows, even the early hours of the morning. Good God, how would she even look her parents in the face! Her skin flushed. Even her little sister Nkolika would know something had happened.

The second Sunday would have been preferable for a thanksgiving.

‘What’s on your mind?’ Dienye asked her as she reached for the tray.

‘I was just thinking of how I was going to look my parents in the face today.’

‘Why?’

‘They would know that we were intimate.’

This time Dienye laughed.

‘Oh my God, babe, that is to be expected. After all, we are married.’

‘Don’t you dare laugh!’ she warned him. ‘I am being serious here. My father sees me as his innocent little girl, for crying out loud.’

Dienye was still laughing. He couldn’t believe the kind of thoughts she was having. At least the previous night’s mistake was forgotten albeit temporarily.

‘Wait until you visit them with a protruding stomach. That would leave them in doubt as to what you and I do with our free time.’

He neatly dodged the pillow she threw at him.

‘You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?’ she gave him a feigned glare but that didn’t stop his laughter.

He lifted both hands as a sign of surrender.

‘Once you’re married there is the assumption that you are intimate whether or not it is true. Fortunately for you, I doubt if your mum is anything like my adorable maternal grandmother who teased me yesterday about finally getting my ‘equipment’ greased. Can you imagine that?’

It was Soki’s turn to laugh. She wasn’t surprised. She had met his grandmother whom he referred to as Mama Nawfia as a way of distinguishing between her and his paternal grandmother. The woman was well educated and had a bad mouth. She said things as they were and without apologies. She would be turning 80 in October.

Soki had fallen in love with the older woman upon meeting her three weeks earlier in her home in Nawfia, Anambra State. Dienye had informed her that his grandmother would have chewed off his head if he hadn’t brought Soki to see her before their wedding. He was her favourite grandchild and she didn’t joke with anything that concerned him.

Although she had been excited that her grandson was marrying from her state, it didn’t stop her from grilling Soki in order to make sure that she wasn’t taking undue advantage of her special boy. Once she confirmed that Soki was legit, the woman had embraced her and switched from English to Igbo language telling her things about Dienye’s childhood days.

From his grandmother, Soki had learned that Dienye spoke all three major Nigerian languages fluently courtesy of his education. By default he understood Igbo because of his mother and grandmother and also because of the fact that a lot of Bonny indigenes understood Igbo. He had graduated from Kings College, Lagos, spending six years in Lagos before proceeding to Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria to study Business Administration. His service year had been spent in Ekiti state. He had also lived in Lagos for two years before returning to Port Harcourt to set up his businesses.

‘An equipment she had warned me would become rusty and useless if I didn’t put it to use soon.’

Soki shook her head. She couldn’t wait to visit the old woman again. But first she had to have a long soak in the bath to deal with the discomfort she felt between her thighs. It was going to be a long day.

Read Episode 15 here - https://youngicee.com/2020/01/the-second-wife-episode-15.html

The Second Wife - Episode 14

© Onyinyechukwu Mbeledogu

Saturday 17th April 2017
10:24pm
Oroma Estate

Soki quickly lifted herself from the bed and hurried into the pink lingerie that was a gift from Dienye’s sister Inyingiala Haastrup. His sisters had gifted her with different forms of sexy night wears as though to ensure that their brother couldn’t get his hands off her. They had clearly known about his celibacy and the said celibacy was to blame for her current move.

Without a word to her husband, she walked into the adjoining bedroom, locking the door behind her. She was upset and with good reason. This was her wedding night and Dienye just had to ruin her memory for life!

Everything had been going on quite well; he had succeeded in distracting her with his long deep kisses and his touch. He had made her relax despite her fears. She had known this night would come, when she would have to give herself to him completely. And she had been looking forward to it. He was her husband, her body belonged to him and his belonged to her till death did them part. She had given in to her desires and given him control until he did the unforgivable: called her by his late wife’s name.

She felt like a hooker in the arms of a man who called her by his wife’s name. Then again, a hooker wouldn’t have minded because what she was more concerned about was getting her money than anything else.

In all the time she had been in his company, he had never called her by Nengi’s name, not even the Easter weekend she had spent here and certainly not when they shared kisses.

Not once!

Well, she should have seen this coming when he had told her he hadn’t dated anyone since Nengi died and that he wasn’t sure he was open to love anyone for now. That was a sure sign that he wasn’t emotionally available. She should have accepted the sign for what it was and prepared herself in advance for what might happen. But no, she had been too carried away by her attraction for the very handsome widower she was getting married to and completely grateful that her father was out of police wahala!

She took off the lingerie and went into the shower stall. The water from the shower head washed her tears as they flowed. What had she gotten herself into? Would she have to deal with being called by another woman’s name every time she was intimate with her husband? Or had it been a one off thing because it was his first time with a woman after the death of his first wife? She wasn’t sure how to handle this.

She ignored the knock on the bathroom door as she turned off the shower. What did he want? Surely he had realised what he had done to her, the gravity of his offence?

‘Soki, babe,’ Dienye called out from the other side of the door.

‘Leave me alone.’

‘I’m so sorry,’ he apologised. ‘It wasn’t intentional.’

She gave a snort of disbelief.

‘What wasn’t intentional? The fact that you were thinking about someone else while in bed with me?’

‘It wasn’t intentional,’ he repeated.

‘And I guess you would have easily accepted an apology if I had been the one to call you by another man’s name.’

‘That’s different.’

Men! She thought exasperatedly. Like seriously?

‘How is it different? Because you are a man?’ she inquired angrily, dragging a white towel off the rail and venting her annoyance on the soft material as she dried herself with it.

‘That isn’t what I meant.’

She unlocked the door and he stepped aside as she walked past him.

‘Another time and I would have forgiven you but not tonight,’ she told him. ‘For crying out loud, this is our wedding night, our first time together. I should have been the only woman in your thoughts.’

This wasn’t how she had envisioned her wedding night. After reading so many romance novels, she had been looking forward to this moment despite the stories she had heard of women hating their experience the first time because of the dreadful pain involved. She had imagined candle lights, soft music and the softest and gentlest of touches as her husband, completely in love with her, made it all about her and about her introduction into a world yet explored.

Okay, so she and Dienye were not in love. There was no candlelight or music which would have made a great memory to share with her daughter once she was of age. But he had been gentle and patient with her until the last moment.

‘I said I was sorry and I meant it.’ Dienye told her.

‘I’m sure you did.’

Soki wished at that moment that she had a grandmother’s night gown with her. It would have served Dienye right. Well thank God she also had been too shy to put on the pink transparent teddy Priye had naughtily gifted her with or this would have been oh so embarrassing.

Dienye stood watching her, his expression unreadable. He knew he had messed up. He hadn’t seen it coming. He had taken it for granted that he was stronger than this. If he had married Soki because she reminded him of Nengi then he would have been excused, at least to an extent. But there was nothing remotely similar between Nengi and Soki and so he had no excuse for making such an expensive mistake.

Every woman deserved a memorable first time and he had given his wife one: a negative one. He couldn’t even begin to make it up to her.

‘You hurt me tonight, Dienye,’ she said, ‘and I am not referring to the discomfort that comes with being deflowered. I don’t even know what hurts more: taking my virginity and calling me by another woman’s name or the fact that you looked surprised as though you had just discovered that you were in bed with me and not the woman who had shared your bed for the seven years you were married.’

A CRY FOR LOVE - PART 12

© Tisa Phiri

Mario.

My mother looked at me and smiled,

“What is making you so happy mom, is the fact that my wedding day is pushed further or that you are hoping I and Ketty are no longer together?” I asked her. She shook her head and sighed siting up.

“come to think of it my son, every time your wedding comes closer something comes up and its pushed further, first it was my accident, then the priest to officiate your marriage goes out of town, hmm don’t you think that is a sign?” she giggled

“Mom it’s not funny, if only you had not insisted on pushing the wedding, all this could have not happened” I looked at her.

“Don’t start Mario, just tell me how you are doing, it’s been long. Your brother told me you have practically moved in with your girlfriend. Isn’t that too early? Can’t you guys wait for the wedding?” she let a laugh teasing me.

“it’s not like that mom, it’s that we need to take care of Chi…” I paused before I could spill the news about Chisomo.

“Forget it mom, Sam is not saying the truth, I always go home, its just that we have a lot to do for the wedding and …”

“Shut up! Stop lying to me Mario” my mother cut me short.

“hey Mario, you are here?” I was relieved my chat with mom was cut short. my father walked in and sat near mom, I liked my father`s company because we talked about other things apart from marriage staff. He and I had been good together but not as close as he was with Sam, I liked the way he spoke about things, he really cared less what I was doing provided I was doing things in a morally good way.

“So how is Ketty?” he asked me after inquiring about work.

“She is fine though she is out of town, she went on some tour, she has to launch her book” I responded with a smile,

“Well, that is good, she really is good huh?” dad nodded his head at me.

“She is pretty good dad, I have read one of her books and she is good, unfortunately am not so much of a reader so I guess I have not tried to read another one. She loves writing and I will try support her”

“Hm, a woman moving about towns for a week and you to say she is marriage material” my mother chirped in sarcastically. I just looked at her and back at dad.

“I should get going now, I just came to check on you guys.” I stood up.

Passing through a mall I picked up some fruits and other food stuffs with Chisomo in mind, it was a day after I told her I was in love with her and she clearly gave me no reason to believe she felt the same for me.

“I don’t know what to do man, this girl is driving me crazy” I told my friend, the husband to Sera, who was too best friends with Ketty. He looked at me and shook his head.

“The moment I heard what you guys are organizing I knew trouble was on its way my man. I mean, how can you?”

“hey, don’t put this on me man, it wasn’t my idea, you know how much I tried to shoot down this Ketty`s thinking but she wouldn’t listen to me. Now I cannot stop thinking about Chisomo man, she makes me feel, how can I put it?” I stood holding the trolley I was pushing still.

“she makes me feel like myself, I mean, it’s like I feel I could tell her anything you know, I don’t act like someone I am not, she never lets me down with whatever she says, she always says the right things and I cannot forget her soft body, i…”

“Oho woo! Man slow down” my friend stopped me.

“Don’t tell me you no longer love Ketty Mario, she is your girl and you guys are over the moon for each other, what? You have suddenly lost interest in the woman you are getting married to in a few weeks?” he asked.

“No, I love Ketty man”

“Hmm, you love her, you are just from fantasizing about another girl and you say you love her? Are you okey?”

“um, am confused man, honestly, Ketty is my woman, she understands me, we have a good relationship for years and have come a long way, she is mine and I know am marrying her in a few weeks as you put it but, I don’t know . I cannot stop my heart from feeling this warmth towards Chisomo” I told him honestly.

He looked at me and sighed, went on telling me I had to make a choice, and he insisted I stuck with the woman I was getting married to. He was right, I felt I had to make that decision as fast as possible before I hurt ketty of even Chisomo, they both were amazing women and I wanted to see them both happy.

That day as I drove to Ketty`s I received a call from Ketty telling I had to go check on Chisomo.

“Am on my way there baby don’t worry, how is the trip going there?” I asked to avoid further discussion about Chisomo lest let myself say what I never intended to say. She just reminded me I was to take Chisomo to see the doctor.

Chisomo was seated in the couch watching some movie the time I got there. She was clad in a wrapper and a sleeveless body top. I stood there watching her, she smiled as she watched.

“Wow, how amazing, she has a sweat smile” I thought to myself leaning my head on the door not wanting to interrupt her. She giggled at some scene and I smiled too. Clearing my throat, she quickly turned to look at me and sunk back in the couch.

“Hey” I greeted her going to sit near her but she moved to the edge.

“Mario, what are you doing here? “She responded instead

“I came to check on you Chisomo, besides, Ketty told me you are supposed to be checked by her doctor today and I thought I could come take you” I explained.

“Well, I don’t feel sick am okey, I don’t need to see a doctor” Chisomo spoke almost in a whisper.

“We will still go Chisomo, you know what I mean, you are not sick but you are pregnant, your appointment day is due and we will have to go and do likewise” I insisted, she looked at me and stood up.

“Well, let me change then” she walked on and I watched her admiring her every part of the body. I rebuked myself to behave.

That day when the ultra sound was done on her, I could see her smile when the doctor showed her the screen for the baby`s heartbeat, she looked so excited for the first time since she had that pregnancy and I couldn’t help feel good with her.

“That is the baby Mario, you see it? “she giggled looking at me.

“Yeah, it is, so heart taking I would say. So doctor is everything okey” I asked nervously.

“Yes, everything is fine my dear, the baby is coming up well and the mother too. Tell Ketty her sister is doing well” he added as we left his office.

The way back to Ketty`s was filled with chit chats, it was like the news of that baby had brightened up Chisomo`s heart and she talked more that day.

“Well I never knew I would feel like this” she confessed the moment we got to the house.

“Me neither, am so excited.” I responded as a matter of fact, we laughed softly, unconsciously I held her hand as we went sitting she looked at my face.

“Chisomo i…”

“Well, let’s make something to eat am hungry now” she tried to stand up but I held her back.

“Wait please” I begged without taking my eyes off her face.

“Don’t start Mario please, you…..”

Without hesitation i pulled her close to myself and kissed her gently. She tried to stand back but I wasn’t letting her go that moment. After a couple of minutes with her in a dilemma, she held on to my back I smiled in my heart as her hands wrapped around me.

Excited, I lifted her up and walked to the room she was sleeping in. she pulled back trying to say something but I could not let her. In her eyes I could see her passion and desire for me. She was fighting so hard to keep away but her body just like mine was betraying her for sure.

“Stop fighting it, I feel the same too. I love you” I whispered rubbing her fore head as I lay flat on her. Her soft breaths touching me and making my head clouded with emotions I could not explain. I felt belonging being so close to her.

“This is wrong Mario, we got to stop before things blow out of proportion” she whispered

“it’s too late, am already out of proportion now, I can’t, I missed you Chisomo, I cannot stop thinking about you, I want you to myself and I know am being selfish but what can I do?”

“Stop coming on to me like this Mario, don’t make my life harder than it is already” she started crying.

“I have nothing, my mother is gone and the only thing that is keeping me here is this baby am carrying, the moment the child is born I will be gone and you will be married to Ketty, so please stop torturing me with your love talks, stop looking at me the way you do and let me be” she was now crying looking at me. I wiped away her tears.

“Don’t do this Chisomo please, I want you” I whispered

“What about Ketty? “She asked sniffing in her tears.

“I, I don’t know, I …” I struggled to say a thing. I knew I was being unfair but I was not willing to let her go either, she was like a magnet that was pulling me close every time I wanted to stay away from her.

“Let go of me Mario, enough okey? You and I both know you will never be with me so why are you doing this?” she managed to push me away and stood by the window crying. I hated she was in pain and I needed to help her feel okey.

Slowly I moved to her back and hugged her from behind.

“Stop crying Chisomo, you are making me feel bad, I cannot have you cry, please stop”

“Do you still love Ketty?” she asked unexpectedly

“I love her yes and….” I responded not letting go of her.

“Then why are you standing here with me Mario?” this time she was facing me.

“I don’t know, I really don’t know Chisomo. Am I a bad person for loving two women? I love you both in different ways… ketty is my best friend we are great together, we understand each other and are so passionate and I love her, then there is you, you are like a fresh breeze, you make me feel myself and at peace, I love you at the same time I love her “

“Go on and leave Mario, it is evident you don’t love me as you think, maybe you pity me and that is all, but not to worry, am going to be okey. Am going to survive this and before you know it I will be gone. So leave already and please never talk to me about love or anything else, stop getting so close to me, concentrate on your marriage to Ketty and forget about me.” she empathized her points whilst pushing back her tears I could see her struggle.

“No, I…” I almost went close but she held her hand at me.

“Don’t come any close Mario, please. I have to rest now I feel tired” she shook her head as I tried to say another word. She went on and stood close to the window her eyes outside and I knew she was being serious, painfully I walked out and left the house.

“Chisomo, why are you pushing me away, I can see it in your eyes you feel something for me. What do I do now, my God what is happening to me?” I talked to myself as I headed home.

I was in a dilemma I had no idea what I was going to do, I felt my mind was so much confused I went to the Mess to have a couple of beers trying to get my thoughts off what was happening.



Read more here - www.youngicee.com/stories/a-cry-for-love

The Second Wife - Episode 13

© Onyinyechukwu Mbeledogu

9:31pm
Oroma Estate

Soki had fallen asleep on the couch in the smaller sitting room. The telly was on and on the Mnet Action channel in which ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Twin Towers’ was currently showing. However she had turned down the volume earlier to take a call and hadn’t bothered increasing the volume once she was done.

She had picked up her large Jurisprudence text book while waiting for Dienye’s return. However, somewhere along the line, exhaustion had won and she had fallen asleep, the text book falling from her hand to the rug. She had endured a very busy week in school. With her Degree examination by the corner she had to study harder in order to graduate with a first class.

Dienye had called earlier to inform her that he would be late as he had been caught up in traffic on his way home. She was done cooking and although she was hungry, she hadn’t bothered eating, preferring to wait for Dienye to return. She wasn’t sure how things worked but she had served the security men their meals and also ensured that there was enough food for the 2 large dogs she had noticed in the cages when she had gone round the premises with Priye.

She had bathed and changed into a grey sweatshirt and three quarter jean shorts. Her nightie was too skimpy to wear around her fiancé. As a Jaycee, she had spent conference nights with both male and female Jaycees in a hotel room blocked by the LOM President but in a pack of at least six. However, this was different. Those Jaycee guys were platonic friends. She would have to make do with her knee length dresses and three quarter shorts for the duration of her stay here.

She was so tired that she didn’t wake up when the front door opened and Dienye let himself into the house. He went into the master bedroom, suspecting that Soki would be in the adjoining room. He knew her that much. She was probably asleep. He knocked gently on the door thinking of how ridiculous it was, but choosing to respect her privacy. He pulled the door open and looked inside the room. It was empty. Her short night gown lay on the bed and he tried not to imagine her in it.

He didn’t hear the sound of running water and so she couldn’t be in the bathroom. He thought of having a quick shower but decided to go in search of her first. He took off his shirt and in his white BYC singlet and trousers he went looking for her. Only the sound of the air conditioning announced her presence in the smaller sitting room.

He picked the large jurisprudence text book from the rug and placed it on the glass stool beside the couch. Soki turned in her sleep and curled into a foetal position. He smiled and let her be, going into the kitchen. He was greeted by the delicious smell of jollof rice and chicken. There was also salad and fried plantain neatly chopped into cubes. She had taken time to fix supper and although he wasn’t one to eat much he couldn’t let her efforts go to waste.

From the untouched state of the pot, Soki hadn’t taken supper. She didn’t have to wait for him, he thought as he dished out their food and placed it in the microwave. Done, he set it on the trays, took hers out to the sitting room first before returning to get his. He took out a pack of juice from the fridge and two bottles of water.

Soki was still asleep. Poor darling. She must have been really stressed from school. He squatted before her and gently stroking her cheek, called her name. She made a sound but didn’t immediately wake up until he gently shook her shoulders. She turned, her eyelids gently lifting. When she saw him, she jerked to a sitting position, her eyes wide.

‘I’m so sorry,’ she quickly apologised as her eyes took in the trays of food. ‘I didn’t hear you come in. I would have…’

‘You were tired,’ he told her. ‘I didn’t want to wake you up.’

‘You should have woken me up instead of stressing yourself,’ she told him.

‘You clearly needed the sleep,’ he smiled. ‘You were sleeping like a well fed baby. You shouldn’t have waited up for me, darl.’

Without waiting for her reaction, he placed a tray on her laps and filled her glass with juice.

‘Thanks,’ she told him. ‘You shouldn’t spoil me before I get used to it.’

‘Don’t worry, it’s just this night,’ he assured her with a laugh, ‘and perhaps when you’re pregnant with our children.’

She gasped at the thought and quickly took a spoon of rice, swallowing hard. She literally gulped down the glass of juice and he filled her glass once more. They ate in silence but he stayed amused while her skin stayed flushed. When they were done, Soki put the trays together and put the plates and glasses in the one on top, carrying them to the kitchen where she quickly washed them, put them in their rightful places before turning off the kitchen lights.

Dienye had changed the channel to CNN, increasing the volume by the time she returned to the sitting room. She bid him goodnight and without waiting for a response began to walk out of the room.

‘What? No goodnight kiss for the love of your life?’ he teased.

She paused and turned around shyly walking up to him on the couch. She lowered her face to his and brushed her lips lightly against his. He cupped the back of her head before she could move away and deepened the kiss. Her arms went around his neck and he pulled her into his embrace so that she sat on his laps. He broke the kiss after a full minute and held her gently away from him.

‘Now that’s what’s called a goodnight kiss,’ he said, ‘This should help me sleep like a baby tonight.’

To her surprise, Soki found herself walking towards the door instead of racing out of the room. She paused at the door to ask, ‘Would your sister and the kids be having breakfast tomorrow?’

‘I guess so,’ was his reply. ‘She should be here as early as 7.’

‘Okay. Good night, sweetie.’

‘Good night, babe. And dream of me.’

‘I always do,’ she winked at him and could have sworn that he blushed lightly.

She shut the door of the bedroom behind her. She yawned twice in a space of five seconds. She undressed and changed into her nightshirt. She said a word of prayer and as her head hit the pillow she was fast asleep.

Dienye watched the news and then listened to music on the MTV channel for some time before locking up and turning off the lights. In the master bedroom, he turned on the air conditioner and had a quick bath. He pulled on a pair of shorts but didn’t bother with a shirt. Even as a child he had hated pyjamas. Priye would always tease him about being an alien for he could sleep in just his shorts in an air conditioned room without a blanket and yet not catch a cold.

Before going to bed, he checked on Soki. He found her fast asleep in her short nightie which barely covered her full thighs. Another woman and he would have thought it was an attempt at seduction but not his Soki. She would faint if she found out that he had stumbled upon her dressed like this and she would most likely not be able to look him in the eyes again. He smiled as he picked the remote of the air conditioner and tapped the ‘on’ button. He pulled the comforter over her body, tucking it right under her chin.

He sat beside her for some time watching her sleep. Either she was naturally a deep sleeper or exhaustion had knocked her out. Her Degree examination was in a month’s time. She had told him that her current CGPA was 4:81 and she was looking forward to graduating with a first class degree. She studied really hard. A lot of students wouldn’t carry their lecture books around during the holidays, but not his Soki.

His Soki.

That sounded possessive, he thought with a little laugh.

She looked so innocent and child-like in her sleep, like she had no worries whatsoever. Watching her sleep reminded him of the age difference between them and ignited the need to protect her from anything and everything that might hurt her.

He rose and turned off the lights as he crossed to the master bedroom. He looked at the large canopy bed. It was new but it was still in the bedroom he had shared with Nengi. This was so complicated. Seeing Soki in the adjoining room didn’t have much impact because Nengi never slept there. It was just her own personal space to do her own things. They had shared the master bedroom every night unless either of them travelled.

He sighed deeply. Settling down on a long couch in the room, he was immediately bombarded with memories of Nengi in this bedroom. She had been so excited on their first night here. They had been living in a two bedroom apartment in Rumuomasi for years before their home had been completed. They had planned to have three children, hence the six bedrooms with one of the bedrooms intended to serve as a bedroom for guests.

Another bedroom had been converted into a gym and equipped with a treadmill and few other gym equipment – there was no need registering with a gym when one could exercise within the comfort of one’s home. Nengi utilized the gym a lot more than he did, keeping fit such that she looked good in anything she had on. Her figure was a priority and she had taken the time to maintain it.

They had both agreed on the idea of having a large bungalow instead of the common storey building people put up these days. After all, by the time the children were all grown up and had left the nest, the house would be big and empty. Their home in Bonny which he had completed before this one was bigger and had more bedrooms since it would be playing host to traditional weddings and lots of grandchildren and other relatives.

He had bought the land at the estate with his savings several years earlier. The price had increased with time and he was glad he had been smart enough to invest in the 4½ plots. He had learned early in life that land appreciated rather than depreciated and he made it a point of duty, after conducting a complete search, to buy land especially in places that were yet to be developed but which he foresaw development coming to in the future. He fenced off each land and had economic trees planted in there which were harvested by widows and orphans as part of his contribution to them.

Business had never been better. He operated on the biblical principle of giving and it had been working for him since he was a teenager. And he was also hard worker and risk taker! His main principle in life was to do things with integrity and a touch of excellence and this made him stand out.

This room held so many memories, he thought. Having reached an agreement never to take their quarrels into their bedroom, it had served as a place of peace and love. No other woman had understood him like Nengi had. She knew his strength and his weaknesses. She knew exactly how to get him out of a bad mood. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that she had known him almost all her life.

He smiled as he recalled the numerous times she would have him serve as her fashion police, trying out one dress or the other. She had learned early never to ask him to help zip her dress up unless they were both rushing out as he would rather lower the zip and feast his eyes than do the opposite.

Her laughter rang like music in his ears. The laughter of a woman in love and secure in the love of her man. She would have made an amazing mother and the hottest one at that. He sighed deeply. There was no way he was sleeping in here. He left the room and headed for a guest room, waking up in the early hours of the morning to go jogging.

.

******

Soki was up early. She took a bath before going to the kitchen to fix breakfast for Dienye’s sister and her children. She turned on the coffee maker for Dienye. She had just finished frying the pancakes and ensuring that there was enough Caprison for the children when the front door slammed open and little feet ran into the house.

‘Uncle D.D!’ squealed a child and the sound would have burst Soki’s ear drums had she been in the same room.

Their guests were here.

Soki took a deep breath. She loved children and spent quite some time with her little cousins so she wasn’t afraid of having them here. What gave her concern was whether or not Dienye’s sister would approve of her. She hadn’t seen Dienye yet. Although she hadn’t checked the master bedroom, something told her that he wasn’t a late riser. Surely, he wouldn’t leave her alone to welcome his family!

She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard his voice. She found them in the hallway. Dienye had balanced a toddler on his head, both chubby legs hanging on each side of him and pudgy hands gripping his chin as the little girl squealed with delight. The four year old twins Deipriye and Abiye clung to his legs in a hug. That the children loved their uncle was evident in their reaction to him and he was laughing really hard. It was no wonder that his sister and her husband would gladly leave the children there when they could have just been taken to their grandparents’ home.

When he caught sight of her, he beckoned to her to come for the introductions to be made. Soki straightened her t-shirt over her shorts and approached them. A tall woman in a red top with the inscription ‘Hot Babycakes’ and a pair of black shorts that ended up about three or four inches above her knees came through the open door with a pink school bag draped over her right shoulder and dragging a little pink box. Her long feet were encased in black flat shoes.

The only thing that gave Ibinye away as Dienye’s sister was the popular Daniel-Hart eyes which the six siblings had inherited from their father. Besides that, she looked nothing like her elder brother. She placed the pink box which obviously belonged to her daughter next to the two small travelling bags before reaching out to embrace her brother and leave a red lip stick smudge on his right cheek. Her daughter’s hands pulled at her braids and she carefully extricated herself before she found herself bald in some places.

‘Yes, princess, you’ll be spending the next 48 hours with your uncle D.D,’ she told her daughter.

Before Dienye could handle the introductions, Ibinye introduced herself to Soki. ‘I am glad you could make out time to be here,’ she started. ‘I am Ibinye and these are my darling terrorists, Ibimina, Deipriye and Abiye.’

‘I am Nwasoka, but you can call me Soki.’

‘Good to meet you Soki,’ Ibinye said, reaching out to grab Soki’s hand and pull her along with her to the kitchen. ‘I guess we have some time to engage in some female gossip before my husband comes to pick me up.’

Dienye’s protest was ignored.

Soki’s fears were for nothing as Ibinye took to her easily. She was clearly happy that her brother was getting married once more and although Soki could tell that Ibinye was really curious about how Soki had met her brother considering the age gap, she chose to wait before getting it all out of her. She was more interested at present in learning more about her sister-in-law-to-be.

Soki ended up returning home on Easter evening, spending Easter afternoon with Dienye’s parents and Priye. She had enjoyed having the children around, running around the place with them and playing various games. She could easily tell why the children adored their uncle: he easily brought himself to their level and played with them like he was a child. She admired that about him and could easily imagine him with their children. He would make a great father and she was glad to be the one who would give him his own children.

Resd the next Episode here - https://youngicee.com/2020/01/the-second-wife-episode-14.html

A CRY FOR LOVE - PART 11

© Tisa Phiri

Chisomo……

I kept looking away as Ketty and Mario made out in front of me, she was super excited and kept kissing and holding Mario every time she took a break from cerebrating my pregnancy. In all honesty, I had never seen her that happy since the day I met her. She actually had a wide lovely smile, her face was beaming I knew she really wanted the baby.

“Chisomo, am so happy and so grateful you agreed to do this for us, I promise to keep the end of my bargain and you will get all the money you need. Right now am starting to put the baby`s room in order, I have pictures of what kind of room I would love for our baby” she danced about happily.

“Baby, don’t you think you are taking it too far, the pregnancy is only a few weeks old, let’s take it easy” Mario spoke his eyes on me and as was my trend I could feel myself avoid his gaze so I looked away.

I watched them as they argued and debated about the sex of the baby like I was not even there. Then it clicked, “That is all these people care about, the baby I was carrying and nothing more. I could feel I had no place around that house and even when I already knew that fact, it didn’t stop me from feeling bad. I felt my eyes fill up as I took in the thoughts of how my life would be.

“Um, excuse me, I got to go now, I just came to tell you both that” I stood up wiping the tear from my eyes, and Ketty came close worried I looked that way.

“Oh my God, Chisomo am so sorry my dear, I have been so much into celebrating this baby I forgot to inquire how you are feeling, how are you coping up with all this?” she asked and I knew she wasn’t being a hypocrite she was actually concerned about me.

Instead of responding to her, I started shedding tears,

“Am sorry” I sniffed in failing to hide my inner pain.

“Chisomo, Chichi, oh No am sorry love, are you feeling okey?” she hugged me so close I could feel her nice cologne. For a minute she held me in an embrace, though I could not see the face of Mario since I had my eyes closed, I could tell he was looking at me too.

“It’s okey, I understand, this is too much for you Chisomo, I, I “she stammered looking at my face.

“Am so grateful you are doing this huge sacrifice for us, I swear to God I will never forget it, the rest of my life I will owe it to you “Ketty pulled to sit us both down.

“am okey, it’s just that so much has happened of late and my mother`s condition is not that good. Am sorry for crying like a baby in your presence” I told her honestly.

“I understand. I do, and am sorry for your pain too. Listen, here is what we are going to do, you are pregnant now and you need extra care, since your mother is in the hospital and you stay alone, why not move in with me.” she smiled holding my hand.

“What? No “ I quickly responded.

“Why not, right Baby?, she can come over here, that way we will help her all the months till she gives birth. What do you say?” she looked at Mario who sighed deeply looking at me.

“Look Chisomo, you are part of this family now, you, Ketty and myself, are more than strangers, we are family now that the baby is on the way, so there is no problem, I for one would want you close” he paused am sure he was watching his words.

“I mean, for the sake of the baby too” he quickly added and Ketty nodded her head to agree with him.

I was left to think over what they had suggested and I told them I would call and tell them my decision after talking to my mother. Ketty even suggested it was good that my mother came over too when she was discharged to avoid me having to worry about her. She was of the idea, that a maid would be hired to take care of us both till I gave birth to the baby.

“What have you done, Chisomo?” my mother whispered painfully after I told her the entire truth.

“Am sorry, I had to mom, you were dying and I had to do something, don’t worry I will have the baby and give it to them, then the two of us will move on with our lives” I told her but she shook her head sadly.

“Stop talking nonsense my child, there is no mother in this world that would let go of their child just like that. The moment you see the baby you will never want to let it go. Stop lying to yourself child, this is not going to give you what you are looking for, it will only bring you pain, regrets and misery so much you will not live at peace with yourself” she had warned and looked away sadly.

I sat there beside her bed rewinding every word she told me. my heart was heavy with pain already and even though I wanted to act things were okey, I knew there was truth in my mother`s words. I started remembering the good old days when she was strong and healthy, how much she talked about me finding happiness, my mother was born in a family of 5 and apparently she was the only surviving child of her parents. Some of the children to her elder brothers and sister were alive somewhere but in my growing I never met many of them, the few that I met were not that friendly and never valued external family, so it was always my mother and I since Daddy and my kid brother died in an accident.

“What a cruel world” I thought to myself wiping the tears from my face. My mother turned to look at me and her last words marked my heart. She said,

“You should have let God take control of my life and yours Chisomo, now you have sacrificed yourself for nothing, for you will not live to see my face any longer. I hope that one day, you will find peace in your life my child and that baby you are carrying there, even if not brought in a right manner, may it be the one to help you find yourself and true happiness” my mother whispered her last words. I was there sobbing as the words pricked my heart when she closed her eyes and peacefully went silent. At first I thought she was asleep but then seeing how stiff she had become, I tried to shake her but nothing, her chest movements had stopped and by the time the doctors came in to confirm her death, I was so let down and broken.

“What have I done?” was the question I kept asking myself as the world around me went into slow motion, all I could remember was that I called Ketty and announced my mother was no more. I don’t recall any other thing after that as I found myself, laying flat on a wide bed in Ketty`s room. I looked around and Mario was standing there watching me in silence.

“Hey, finally” he smiled weakly walking towards me.

“How long have I been here?” I asked him.

“About 2 hours, you were in some kind of shock and Ketty and I decided to bring you here. Am sorry about your mother Chisomo, I truly am, I wish with all I got she had gotten better especially after what you have sacrificed for her. Don’t worry am here for you, am not letting you go through pain alone, if you need anything just let me know” he sighed sitting close by holding my hands.

He went on to tell me they would take care of my mother`s funeral and all burial arrangements and they kept their promise. The few people that showed up at the funeral helped me mourn my mother till we buried her.

Two months later………………

I woke up feeling dizzy, the effects of the pregnancy was really getting to me. looking around, what had become my room, I found a bunch of fresh flowers on my table and I smiled, I knew Ketty loved flowers and always asked the maid to get some in her room and now mine every morning, according to her, flowers had a way of brightening one`s day.

However, that morning the flowers were not as they used to be, it was a huge bunch nicely wrapped and decorated I stood up and went to hold them smelling them. Sadly, the moment their scent got to my nose I felt my nausea increase I rushed to the bathroom to puke.

“Oh my God, are you okey?” I heard a familiar voice I wondered what he was doing there at that time of the day.

“Are you okey?” he asked again as I walked out of the bathroom breathing heavily.

“No, actually am not, I cannot stand the scent of these flowers” I responded going to sit on the bed. He came and sat close to me.

“Am sorry, I didn’t know this would happen, I couldn’t have brought them” he apologized.

“Well, what is the occasion? Is it my birthday or something?” I asked surprised he got me flowers.

“Why, a man cannot get flowers for a woman he cares for?” he asked with that warm smile I quickly looked away.

“Hm, not in my world, I see such things in movies where a man gets flowers for the fiancé or wife or girlfriend. But am none of those so?” I shrugged moving up the bed I felt weak after vomiting.

“Why do you always do that?” he asked me.

“Do what?” I narrowed my eyes not really getting what he was talking about. It was evident I had avoided being close to him and I never wanted to find myself alone with him. One of the reasons, was I never wanted Ketty to feel bad or uncomfortable, she had been so good and supportive to me. the other, was that my body had started betraying me and I tried to stay away from him lest I get myself to do what I dared not to.

“Why do you always push me away?” he finally asked

“I don’t” I shook my head.

“By the way, where is Ketty and why are you here this early?” I asked changing the subject.

“You have forgotten? “ he asked

“What? oh no!” I winced realizing what he meant.

“The book thing” I smiled

“Yeah, she is going to launch her book, the tour is starting today and she will not be back home until after a week. Since we still have a couple of weeks before the wedding, she said she will manage her tour. She has all the nine provinces of Zambia to go to before coming back.” he explained what I already knew only I hated that their wedding date was pushed further due to reasons I never wanted to ask.

“And, to answer your question, she asked that I watch you and take care of you in her absence. So here I am” he raised his hands chuckling loudly.

“no, am not a baby Mario, am a woman and am not sick, so you can rest easy, besides, we have a maid to help here I will not be doing anything to stress myself as you two call it.” I told him.

“Well, you know her, she wouldn’t stop when she aims at something and there was no way I would say no to her, so here I am. Besides, I need to spend time with the mother to my baby too, you need me” he smiled passionately I could see that same look I used to avoid.

Clearing my throat, I asked for him to leave me so I could dress up since I was still in a night gown, he told me he was going to prepare breakfast for me and would be back when I was done. At first I thought he was joking but when he came back, he surely had made breakfast, with lemon tea just the way I wanted it,

“You didn’t have to do this you know that” I told him my mouth full.

“I had to, I missed being this close to you.” He started and I shook my head murmuring to stop him from talking.

“I love you Chisomo” he straight away spit it out without warning, I spat my tea chocking.

“What? Are you mad?” I placed the cup of tea on the tray and looked at his face.

“Yes, I might be, how else will I explain the feelings I have for you? I love you I cannot help it anymore, I had to tell you” he added now closing in to me I stood up abruptly like I was burnt.

“Enough! now leave me alone!” I raised my voice at him.

“am not sorry for this, hate me and call me names, ignore me all you want but it’s true, I love you” he insisted before leaving the room and I watched him walk way my legs weak I slid my body on the bed sighing deeply before leaning my face in my palms.

“My God, this man will kill me” I whispered to myself

Read the remaining episodes here - www.youngicee.com/stories/a-cry-for-love

A CRY FOR LOVE - PART 10

© Tisa Phiri

Mario…

I was just knocking off from work, it being a Friday, I had plans with the guys, so I planned on getting home and change quickly before we could go out. I wanted to go with Ketty but she called me to say she had to finish the book she was working on. Knowing her, when she was buried in her computer, she barely moved till she accomplished her target.

“Afternoon Sir!” one of the staff sergeants greeted me as I passed him towards the car park. My Phone rung and when I noticed it was Ketty, I rushed to get into the vehicle so i could talk properly,

“He baby” I responded upon settling down.

“Hey, can you come over? Chisomo called me and she asked to meet us both here, it could be good news huh, we have not seen her in two weeks” she informed me and my heart raced at the mention of Chisomo`s name.

I had been with her a couple of times after Ketty practically made us make love the first time but not in an intimate way. It was never my intention to look at the woman in the way my heart had started and I hated I was being so soft. She was so calm, she spoke with so much passion and her desire to save others for me was just amazing.

The time we met next, I had followed her to the hospital. She had disappeared on us for a week and Ketty told me she was probably still feeling guilty about what happen,

“She will come around you know” she assured me, all I did was nod my head. I didn’t want to talk much about her, revealing to Ketty I enjoyed being with a strange woman the entire night, was not going to make things any better, so I let her assume I just did it in a rush and the two of us patted ways.

That evening I went to the hospital, not really knowing what to expect, I just found myself waiting outside, I didn’t have her line, nor did I ask about her mother`s name to find out the ward she was in, so stood outside the car park. I was there for almost an hour, when she suddenly walked out her arms folded around herself she looked exhausted.

In the moment I took time analyzing her and realized how beautiful she was. Her dark skin was so appealing I wouldn’t want her to change it a little bit, she was of medium height and in her chitenge wrapper I could see the nice curves. My eyes went up her face and now the darkness did me no favor as I could not see it clearly I was so far away.

I watched her for some time and saw her walk to the roadside carrying a small bag. When she stood by the road, I knew she was waiting for some sort of transport, so I started driving in her direction.

“Hey Chisomo!” I greeted her popping my head from the car window. She turned to look at me and looked right down.

“What do you want Mario?” she sighed

“How are you? And how is your mother today?” I asked instead ignoring her attitude.

“She is getting there, though the surgery has brought other issues in her body. Now what do you want? Did Ketty send you again, it’s just been a week and I cannot tell if am pregnant now” she shrugged like chasing me away.

“Where are you going? We can talk in the car and I can tell you why am here as we move” I smiled. She shook her head.

“Come on, get in, see there is a car behind me we cannot keep that man from passing” I insisted seeing her hesitate.

She came in and sat silently. I moved to fasten her seat belt and she looked at me surprised, I smiled so close her face.

“Seat belt” I chuckled and she pulled it round herself fastening it as she leaned back still uncomfortable.

“Where to?” I asked as I joined the road.

“Home, in Matero” she responded looking ahead without a blink.

“I already know that, just wanted to be sure we heading home, thought you wanted to spend the night at my place again, you um…”

“Mario, stop this now!” she cut me looking at my face and back at the road.

“What? What should I stop?” I teased with a smile

“That! Stop acting like we are in a relationship Mario, you are engaged to Ketty if I may remind you and I told you last time that night we spent together was a mistake, that was not part of the deal, the breakfast in bed, the whispers, the kisses, all that, whatever!” she raised her hands her voice now raised too.

“It was a mistake Mario” she added shaking her head.

“Oh, oh, don’t do that to me Chisomo, am not the one who brought this idea, and I should remind you too that I never planned for things to turn that way, it seemed the two of us are naturally attracted to each other and…”

“Enough!” she stopped me

“Say another word and am getting out of this car, besides am not and is never going to be attracted to you. You are just a man I slept with to get pregnant for your fiancé.” she yelled this time facing me I tried to smile but she was dead seriously.

“Well. Am sorry, I get it, no wonder you went silent on us after that day” I sighed increasing the speed as the road cleared ahead of us.

“Yes, I did my part and let’s just wait for that child, if am pregnant and the child comes, I give the baby to the two of you and you will never see me again. That is the deal” she emphasized the word deal and I could not say any more.

Upon reaching her house, I walked her out to the front door and she insisted I went back but I asked if she could hand me some water.

“Am thirsty Chisomo, I need water” I lied wanted to spend more time with her. There was something about her calling to my name and I tried to push my mind to ignore it but i ended up pulled towards her. Not that I was not happy with ketty, in fact, we had been okey after mom was out of the hospital the two of us would visit her. We could sit and laugh, do all the things normally and I wouldn’t say I loved her less, just that, that thing for Chisomo was coming on slowly and the more I decided to push it back, the more I recalled our night together, the warmth of her body, her small snores when she slept and the peace and calmness that surrounded her face as she slept. I wanted to be close to her and that past week was like a torture. I couldn’t get myself to forget her.

“What? Are you going to drink the water or you keep staring at the cup?” Chisomo asked me pulling me back to the moment.

“Yeah, sure” I sighed getting the water from her hands.

“It’s a small house “I stated not having anything else to say. After drinking the water.

“Thank you for pointing that out Mario” she raised her face at me and I stood up realizing it was an inappropriate comment.

“Am sorry, I didn’t mean it like that, it’s just that,” I stopped looking at her face as she waited for me to explain myself.

“I missed you” I finally said it and she pulled her hands back.

“Go home Mario, it’s getting late” she cleared her throat.

“But why? I want to be here” I spoke without thinking through my words and she shook her head.

“Asking me to sleep with you so you two can have a baby is torture enough, now you want to start playing your man games with me. Get out Mario! Just leave me alone” she spat getting upset.

‘You know that is not true, I have not intended to play any games with you. What happened between us was real, it was passionate and you cannot tell me I was playing my man games with you back then.”

“Leave then” she said indifferently.

“No, am not leaving so soon, tell me you have forgotten that night we had together, tell me you cannot remember a single thing and I will leave” I stood up

“You are being stubborn for nothing Mario, come on get going I need to rest.” she opened the door for me to leave but I pulled her back in an embrace I felt her gasp and stiffen in my arms.

She tried to push me away, but I made her look at my face and our eyes met, that moment I saw it, the small brightness in her middle eye that was shining so bright. I don’t know if I was imagining it, but it was there. She whispered my name asking me to leave her but I couldn’t let her go.

“What is wrong with you man?” I heard my inner voice warn me loudly but I ignored it. Slowly but with so much determination, I kissed her and she stayed there without doing a thing. For a couple of minutes I played around her partly opened lips and pulled back when she was not responding.

“I should get going “I sighed rubbing my eyes as she kept looking at me without a word.

“Yeah, that is right” she finally spoke and I walked out of the door pushing myself to the car outside. Sitting inside, I saw her watching me and drove away before I could get myself back in that house.

That was the last I heard and saw her. I decided to stay away and Ketty kept telling me she was okey and her mother was not yet fully recovered. I could not get myself to see her again even when I so much wanted to. I couldn’t just keep betraying my fiancé and the right thing to do was to keep myself away from Chisomo.

Now the call I have to face her again, made my throat dry with nervousness I felt like an idiot who couldn’t control his hormones. Putting the keys in the ignition, I drove to Ketty’s house.

“Here we are” Ketty smiled at me and Chisomo after I had arrived some time later. Chisomo looked at me and back at Ketty, I noticed she was avoiding my face but said nothing, she was seated across the couch, Ketty and I sat on the same couch she was holding my fingers.

“Am pregnant” she announced without warning, Ketty jumped up in excitement she was screaming her joy out. I on the other hand folded my arms not knowing what to do.

“What?’ I finally managed to say

“Mario, baby, she said she is pregnant. Isn’t that good news? Oh baby am so happy, thank you Chisomo” she went on to hug Chisomo who was silent watching her jubilation

“Mario?” Ketty gave me an eye I stood up faking a smile.

“Yeah, its great news baby. Finally you have achieved what you wanted” I smiled at her she jumped to kiss me and for some reason I pulled back faster than I intended looking down at Chisomo who had her eyes on us, she looked away the moment our eyes met.

“Well, come on, we plan the coming of our baby “Ketty sat excited she could not stop smiling. My eyes went to Chisomo who was evidently so emotional I could see her face clouded with sadness.

Read the complete story here - www.youngicee.com/stories/a-cry-for-love

A CRY FOR LOVE - PART 9

© Tisa Phiri

CHISOMO.

The people moving about, some in a rush whilst others took their time, standing and checking out some items from the shop windows, others smiling as they tried on some second hand clothes as they assumed they looked good in their newly acquired clothing’s. My eyes went round analyzing the surrounding as I stood near the street in town lost in thoughts one would wonder what I was doing standing there by myself.

Well, for me everyone around looked okey, I had no idea what they had going on in their lives only that mine was actually a crooked road that I could not see directions clearly. I felt like I was on journey which I had no idea what the destination would be. My mother was still recovering in the ICU, I had no idea whether she would make it out and make my sacrifice worthy while, or she would die anyway, of which I would end up in a mess since now I was pregnant with a man I barely knew.

In my hands as I stood in the street was a piece of paper that was some evidence I was carrying a child that I had not even in my dreams dreamt of having at that moment in my life. I felt some hot liquid flow down my cheeks and I raised my left forefinger wiping it away.

“you don’t have to cry now Chisomo, this is not time for tears but time to face what lay ahead” I whispered inside myself and decided to cross the road without following the simple road crossing rule of looking right, left and right again before crossing.

The loud honking of the vehicle made me stop in the middle of the road I covered my ears I was so sure I was dying any second.

“What is going on with you woman? You want to kill yourself or something?’ the loud voice of a man made me realise I was still alive I looked at him my eyes wide open, he had to pat my hand to wake me up.

“Hey! Are you okey?” the man asked I nodded my head without saying a word to him.

“Well, you better watch were you are going or you will die before your time young lady” the man added and for the first time I took my chance to look at him. He was an elderly man who spoke so gently am sure he felt pity for me. My reaction was so confusing even to myself.

“Am sorry, I was not watching my steps and were am going” I managed to say at last and the man shrugged telling me it was okey.

Walking to the bus station, I got on a bus to Woodlands. I had to tell Ketty and her fiancé I was carrying their most wanted child. I sat in the middle seat of the small bus and looked out the window as the bus started moving. That moment I allowed myself to remember what had happened a month past.

Flash back…….

I was seated beside my mother`s bed in the hospital reading her the verses from the bible as she had requested when my phone rung.

“Hello!” I responded not really paying attention to the number calling.

“Chisomo, we need you today, tomorrow was bad I failed to call you over. There is a change of plans about the wedding but our deal still stands.” Ketty had told me.

“Yeah sure, I will be there” I whispered looking at my mother who narrowed her eyes trying to get what I was up to.

“Who was that?” she asked me and I sighed not wanting to spoil her mood by telling her it was Ketty. She had questioned where the money for her surgery had come from and I lied I borrowed it from a friend.

“never lie to me Chisomo, don’t tell me you got that woman`s deal for this money” she had asked in a sad tone.

“No mom, come on I didn’t. Now, I have to go something has come up and I mighty come back a little late. Your food is in that food warmer okey?” I rubbed her hand before leaving.

Getting to Ketty`s house, I found her alone crying laying down on her couch. She sat up and wiped her tears seeing me walk in.

“Am sorry, I didn’t mean to walk in like this but John told me I would find you here” I whispered standing there as she looked at my face I could see she was hurting, a photo of her father was laying their close to her.

“Its okey am just having some bad moments in my life, these are times when I miss my father so much” she sniffed in and patted the couch for me to sit next to her.

“Look here Chisomo, I know this is uncomfortable for you, I mean, what am asking you to do. But now more than ever, I need that baby, if am going to end up with Mario, then I need that baby Chisomo” she held my hand, squeezing it.

“Um, oh “ I murmured not really knowing what to tell her, her sadness was too evident.

“so I want you to go to Mario`s house, no” she paused,

“I will take you to him and you two will continue what you started, he is hurting too right now cause of what his mother has done and he will be easy to get down with you. So let’s go and do this” she stood up but I remained seated wanting to beg her to reconsider her plan,

“Ketty” I called her still seated.

“Yes, what is it?” she asked me and I kept quiet for some seconds.

“Hey, what is going on? Is your mother okey?” she asked me now turning to look at me.

“Um, yeah, I mean she is still in the hospital but there is hope for her at least. What I mean is that I don’t think I can do this, it’s not right and its hurting you... I thinks its best i….” I stopped, swallowing hard as her face went down.

“What do you mean you cannot do this, we had an agreement and now it is easy that the two of you already started this” she shook her head pulling me to sit down.

“Or what? You suddenly want to change your mind? Did Mario hurt you? Are you feeling okey? Are you scared, I can talk to him and make sure all is well” she spoke panic in her voice.

“No, actually we didn’t do anything the other day Ketty, we both could not get to do it” I finally told her seeing how the issue was affecting her.

“What? You played me for a fool huh? You and Mario didn’t do ….” She sighed deeply standing up.

“Now, listen to me Chisomo” she came back at me this time so angry

“am trying to be patient with you right now and I swear you are just getting on my last nerve and you don’t want to get me messed up right now, I have issues with my mother in law and the last thing i need is some games played on me. Now, I will pretend I didn’t hear that and right this minute, stand up and let’s get going. You are spending a night at Mario`s and if I have to, I will stay and watch till you two do what I want. I paid you and I need results” she stormed out and I watched her in silence as she went upstairs coming back a minute later with car keys.

Without a word I followed her and the drive to Kamwala south was silent. She kept looking ahead and I had no words to tell her, she was right to get mad at me, I had her money and even though my heart was screaming for me to do the right thing, I still had to pay for it all. The sight of her sadness prompted me the more to help her.

An hour later, I was seated in Mario`s bed looking down the floor. He too was standing by the window watching the vehicles pass by the road side.

Clearing my throat, I walked towards him and touched his shoulder.

“Am sorry Mario, I have no idea what is going on with you and Ketty but today we cannot lie to her, you both seem tense and I need to get back to my mother” I spoke softly. He kept looking out until finally he decided to face me.

“Chisomo, why are you doing this? “He asked now leaning his hand on my shoulder I felt my legs shiver with him that close.

“I need to help my mother I already told you that” I stammered but he lifted my face to look at him.

“No, why are you really here Chisomo, you could have let it be. Your mother, am sure would not allow this. I don’t mean bad but everyone dies at some point. So why are you here?” he asked me seriously.

“um, I know it’s hard for you to understand Mario, but for me my mother is all I have, my father and elder brother died in a road accident years ago when I was still a little girl, my mother had to suffer working her life off to get me where I am today, she gave up her life for me and I am just trying to return the favor. We have no relations I would run to for help and so I had to find a way myself. Another thing..” I paused looking at him to make sure he was getting me. It was the first time I was actually speaking it out.

“also, am doing this for love Mario, I heard a cry for love of a desperate woman. I saw that sad look in Ketty`s eyes and heard it in her voice as she asked me to give birth to a baby so she can have you. I am a woman and I know how hard it is to find true love in this life. Now that she has it, she is afraid she could lose everything. She is suffering just with the thought am with you right now, but she is willing to forego it all so that she makes you happy Mario, that is the reason I got in that car today and allowed myself to come over here and make her wishes come true.” I explained with tears in my eyes he sighed looking at me in a different way.

He looked away again.

“We have to do this for your woman Mario, we have to. “ I added and went to sit on the bed.

“My mother hates her Chisomo, she hates my fiancé just because her family didn’t work out, she hates her because she is a woman with wealthy, I swear I love that girl. She makes me happy and I love her, now we have to push forward the wedding ….” He went on explaining what was going on and I felt bad for them both.

“What a love story” I whispered in my mind.

Without warning he had come close to me and lifted me up. I didn’t expect it, but he kissed my lips so gently. Feeling him close made my insides go wild I wondered why I was feeling that, instead of being disgusted with him, I felt myself respond in a way I had not planned to.

“You are a good person and I am beginning to like you” he paused looking at me I kept my head down. That wasn’t the plan, I thought there won’t be talking or touching, all I had in mind was him getting on with it and get me pregnant without chit chats and close whispers.

“Are you okey?” he asked me his voice getting to my throat I swallowed hard.

“Um, am.. am scared” I told him honestly, only I wasn’t sure what I was scared of myself, either because he made me feel uneasy since he belonged to another or the fact that I was liking the idea of being so close to the man I barely knew.

“I know, I am too, but I guess its double scare for you who has never done this before” he smiled and I felt myself relax he curved his arms around me laying me down to the bed.

“I will try be gentle okey?” he looked into my eyes and I nodded.

Well, the rest of the minutes after were shockingly wonderful, it hurt a little bit but later on I forgot where I was, he made it so gentle I felt like a woman for the first time in my life. He kept looking into my eyes and smiling all the way, it was like I was being introduced to a whole new world and at the Moment my heart felt home, peaceful and full of hope. My body was filled with sensations I so much enjoyed.

“Did I hurt you?” he asked laying back down.

“A little at first but am okey” I whispered feeling shy.

He tilted my head and made me look into his face.

“Thank you” he whispered I noticed he did it with a smile. That night he made things worse insisting I spend a night since it was late. He assured me the first thing in the morning he was to take me to my mother at the hospital. I so much wanted to go sleep alone in the other room, but he insisted there was nothing more to be afraid of since we already had met. He came on to me again I understood his need as a man, or did I just want him too?

Well, whatever the reason, we made ourselves husband and wife for a night and it didn’t hurt as much as I imagined it would.

To be continued

Read more here - www.youngicee.com/stories/a-cry-for-love

Episode 12 continued

Soki.

She was so young and so naïve in a lot of things. He figured that it was her innocence that had drawn him to her from the beginning, bringing out that powerful need to protect her like some kind of dream hero. He hadn’t seen her since their pre-wedding photo shoot last week but they talked on the phone. He had been very busy with work and was glad that B.B. was handling a lot of the wedding plans with a woman Soki’s mum had recommended. It made his job a lot easier. He would be taking a few days off from work and so had a lot to do so as not to have a lot of work waiting for him by the time he resumed fully.

When he had invited Soki to spend the weekend in his home starting from today, he had registered her unuttered fears, one of which was that they would end up in his bed. He had felt her hesitation to accept the invitation especially when he had informed her that it would give her the opportunity to meet his sister and her family. That had made it difficult for her to come up with a really good excuse. She had probably weighed her options. She was marrying into his family and so needed to meet his siblings before their wedding. She had spent Easter all her life with her family and so could forgo this one. However, she would be alone with him for the first night and then for an additional night with only three young children as chaperone.

Although traditionally they were husband and wife by virtue of the bride price he had paid, Dienye promised Soki that he wouldn’t have sex with her until she moved into his home after their white wedding and he intended to keep that promise. This promise was very important to Soki, given the circumstances under which they had decided to get married. He had no doubt that if he came unto her, Soki wouldn’t deny him but he wanted it her way. He had been celibate for four years, another 8 days wouldn’t make a difference.

So far they had shared nothing but short kisses. He smiled lightly as he recalled the first time he had kissed her. It was a week after Valentines’ day. He had dropped her off at school and just as he was about to give her a goodbye kiss on the cheek, she had turned and it ended up on her lips. Neither of them had moved and so an accidental light brush of his lips against hers had built into a short but deep kiss. He recalled touching his lips with his right index finger, a smile on his face.

He took two things out of that first kiss. One, he had missed kissing a woman. Two, they had each being curious about what a kiss from the other would feel like. And so the kisses came with every meeting.

3:26pm

Oroma Estate

Dienye had just started the engine of his car when a taxi drove into the premises. Although Priye had called to say they would be there by 4pm, he knew instinctively that Priye and Soki had arrived.

Turning off the ignition, he stepped out of the car and approached the taxi. The taxi driver lifted the boot of his car and took out the Soki’s luggage. Dienye asked him how much the fare was and paid him. As the older man drove off, Dienye gave his sister a hug before pulling Soki into his arms and kissing her lightly on the lips. She looked good in her black top and blue jean worn over pink sneakers. Her short hair wore fresh curls and her large channel O earrings dangled. That was her trade mark and he was used to it. It suited her.

‘How are you, babe?’ he asked her.

‘I’m fine, my darling,’ she responded shyly.

In the past, they traded endearments without the least bit of shyness on her part but since their first kiss, her skin flushed with each endearment she uttered.

He hefted one of her bags. Had he been in the best emotional frame he would have dropped it immediately, put both hands on his waist, and with a feigned look of shock. He would have teased her about having an adult human hiding inside her ‘box’. But he lifted the other travelling bag and led the way into the house. He dropped her bags in the hallway announcing that he had a meeting to catch up with. He escaped, shutting the door behind him.

Priye immediately led the way to the master bedroom, pulling one of Soki’s bags with her.

‘I don’t think there is any need unpacking my things,’ Soki told Priye even as she took in the sight of the large neatly arranged bedroom. It was massive and was en suite. It was like being in a mini suite you would find in a hotel but bigger. The décor of the room was evidence of a woman’s touch and Soki tried not to think of the woman who had being in occupation of this bedroom before her.

Her court wedding was on Tuesday and their white wedding that Saturday. By mutual agreement, she was to move in most of her things this weekend and the rest on Friday. It seemed so unreal. She was getting married to her friend but they hadn’t really talked since the proposal was made, at least not seriously with respect to their marriage. There were so many issues she had heard that couples discussed about before marriage, like the number of children, family finances etc. The only thing they had talked about was the wedding plans.

Her bride price had been paid in a little ceremony strictly for family. A lot of people she knew had been giving her unsolicited advises, telling her that her decision to wait until after the white wedding before moving in with her husband was a dangerous thing to do as she would be leaving room for some other woman to come into her life and have him return her bride price, but beyond Priye and Belema no one else knew the condition under which she had agreed to marry Dienye and frankly it wasn’t anybody’s business. What was important was that Dienye had agreed to her plan and she would forever be grateful for that.

Priye looked thoughtfully at her friend and sister-in-law. She was relieved that Dienye had finally decided to clear Nengi’s things out of the master bedroom and the adjoining room although she doubted if her brother had slept in this room or would have done so before next Saturday if Soki had not accepted his invitation to spend the weekend with him.

Priye missed Nengi whom she had known all her life, as a sister and as a big friend. Nengi’s sudden death had dealt a big blow on the Daniel-Hart family. Had she been sick it would have given everyone time to say their goodbyes and prepare to live in a world without her sunny smile and beauty.

To know Nengi was to love her. She never bore grudges and never had a bad word to say to or about anyone. She was that good and fitting into her shoes was something no woman wanted to find herself doing because she might never meet up. And that made her feel sorry for her good friend Soki. She would constantly be compared with Nengi whether intentionally or otherwise but Priye hoped her eldest brother would move past Nengi to embrace Soki and her differences.

Soki was good in her own right or Priye wouldn’t have easily welcomed the thought of her being her sister-in-law so easily. She would be good for her big brother. He had been alone for too long.

She followed Soki into the walk-in closet. The section Dienye had left for Soki was empty with lots of hangers, shelves and drawers for clothes, undies, shoes. His expensive shirts, suits and tuxedos hung in his own section and Soki looked at the number of shoes, mainly brown and black, and different pairs of sneakers. She was tempted to look into his drawers but didn’t give in to the temptation.

‘Don’t forget that Ibinye would be bringing her children over here tomorrow,’ Priye told Soki. ‘You would get to meet Ibinye and her family and spend time with Mina, Deipriye and Abiye. The children adore their Uncle Dienye.’

‘And you won’t be here,’ Soki surmised.

‘I’m spending the holiday with my parents.’ Priye replied.

‘You want me to spend the weekend here alone with Dienye,’ Soki looked at her friend, arms at akimbo.

‘What did you expect?’

‘I thought when you agreed to come here with me that you would be staying the weekend.’

‘And I’m sure you also noticed that I didn’t have any bags packed.’

‘We both know that you have some of your clothes already here as a constant visitor.’

Priye laughed. ‘You’re on your own, girlfriend.’

‘Who keeps a goat and a tuber of yam together?’ Soki complained.

‘What-’ Priye almost choked on her laughter. ‘Oh my God. No be small goat and tuber of yam. My brother is a highly disciplined man unless you fear that you would take advantage of him if left here alone with him.’

Soki arched her eyebrow but Priye only laughed.

‘Is that why you looked at everything in the bedroom deliberately averting your eyes from the bed? Don’t be such a prude, sister dearest. That is where my additional nephews and nieces will be conceived, so get used to the idea.’

‘Did you really have to go there?’

Not for the first time did Soki appreciate the fact that she wasn’t fair skinned. Geez, the thoughts that immediately came to her mind were far from ‘innocent’. Priye’s reaction was to laugh and unzip the large black and red bag. Shaking her head, Soki began to arrange her things with Priye’s help. She folded four tops and two pairs of jeans and separated them.

Wicked Priye laughed as her friend took the folded clothes to the adjoining room, placing them on the bed. She may have fantasised so many nights spent beneath the sheets with Dienye but she wasn’t in a hurry to act out that fantasy. Next week Saturday she would be completely his and they would share the master bedroom. Thank God she had the option of the adjoining room. How could she possibly spend three nights in the same bed with him without something happening? That would be tempting fate considering how she felt about him. Even something as simple as a good night kiss would put her in trouble. After all, body no be firewood.

She noted with pleasure and relief that the adjoining bedroom had its own bathroom too and she wouldn’t have to share one with him. It also had another door which took her straight into the hallway without having to go through the master bedroom.

Talk about privacy!

She was hungry by the time they were done unpacking and exploring the house except for the locked bedrooms. She called Dienye to ask him what he wanted for supper.

‘Just make yourself at home, babe,’ he told her. ‘Don’t worry about me.’

‘I’m hungry,’ she told him, smiling shyly although he was miles away. ‘I was about to make supper.’

‘Anything you make will be okay for me,’ he assured her.

‘Okay.’

‘I’m out of here,’ Priye announced once Soki was done with the call.

‘Out of where? You better follow me to the kitchen,’ Soki told her.

‘I hear. Even if I spend the night here, remember that you would be sharing an adjoining room with Dienye and what would happen would still happen with me adjacent to you two.’

‘Really?’ Soki snorted.

‘Yes. I have to get back to school before it’s late. I need to sort out a few things before I go to Borokiri tomorrow morning.’

Soki thought Priye was joking until the other girl asked her to see her off and the moment they were out of the estate, got a taxi and headed right for school.

Na so dem dey take disown friends o, Soki thought as she walked back to Dienye’s home. Priye should have at least spent that first night before the children arrived with them!

Dropping her phone on a work table in the kitchen, she walked into the store to see what was available. She opened the large freezer and quickly located the frozen red tomatoes, already cut chicken parts and pepper. There was a recently opened bag of rice and she noted this as she returned to the large kitchen. In the shelves she found the rest of the ingredients she required to fix a pot of jollof rice. She would make pancakes in the morning.

Read Episode 13 here - https://youngicee.com/2020/01/the-second-wife-episode-13.html

The Second Wife - Episode 12

© Onyinyechukwu Mbeledogu

12:17pm
Mundy Thursday
8th April 2004
Oroma Estate

Dienye was moving Nengi’s things from the master bedroom and its adjoining room to one of the guest rooms. It was one of the most difficult decisions he’d ever had to make, but he didn’t have any other choice. He was getting married the next weekend and his new wife would be moving in here.

He was clearing the bedrooms because of Soki.

He didn’t want their marriage to start with issues that could easily have been resolved before then. He would have had a lot of explaining to do as to why he couldn’t make use of the master bedroom. Belema had been on his case when he had come visiting. He had advised his elder brother to completely get rid of Nengi’s things since he was starting his life with another woman. However, Dienye saw no need for that. This was Nengi’s home. She had designed this building herself and done the landscaping. It was her dream home. It was so unfair that she didn’t get to live in her home more than a few months before she passed on at the young age of 30.

He stroked the wooden frame around one of the paintings Nengi had made of him. Besides her architectural skills, Nengi ventured into painting although her husband was her favourite model. Dienye smiled sadly as he recalled the moments he had to pose for her paintings.

‘These are my personal and very special possessions,’ she would tell him. ‘For my eyes only. I can’t have all those girls ogling my husband even in private.’

‘You know my heart beats only for you,’ he would respond with a twinkle in his eyes, lifting her into his arms.

‘Sure, but I don’t want to be responsible for their erotic thoughts.’

Once he had made the decision to move her things, he had placed an order for new beds for the master bedroom and the adjoining room. They should be arriving this morning. He had been up since 3:30am carefully putting Nengi’s things together, finding himself going down memory lane. The pain of her death had hit him the moment he stepped into the bedroom for the first time in almost four years. He had kept the room locked since he had moved his things from the room to a guest room just after her burial in Bonny.

There had been lots of cobwebs and dust in the two rooms and he had cleaned the rooms himself. He had lovingly moved Nengi’s clothes, shoes, cosmetics and jewelleries she had left in the bedroom before her death to one of the three other bedrooms in the house. It didn’t matter that her cosmetics had all expired. He couldn’t bear to throw anything away. Her uncompleted architectural designs lay on the bed in the guest room. She was so good at everything she set her mind to do!

He sighed deeply, bending to pick a large pink comb that had earlier fallen to the ground recalling the many times he had helped her comb her long very thick hair which she had inherited from her paternal grandmother.

‘You do know you can comb your hair yourself, right?’ he would ask her.

‘Yes, but I wouldn’t have you all over me now, would I?’ she would return with her signature smile, made even more beautiful by her gap tooth. ‘Tapping current.’

She wore her hair mostly in braids but every now and then she would let her natural hair have breathing space. The simple act of combing her long hair was in itself a really intimate act. And he had loved doing it.

Moving around the house constantly reminded him of her. Her touch was in every part of their home; from the architectural design to the furniture. Had it been a rented apartment he would have had a choice but this was their home. He could easily have engaged handymen to handle the move but he didn’t want anybody disrespecting her things and so did it himself. The men from the furniture company would be here soon.

He was giving the beds to charity.

Soki and Priye would be coming later in the day to bring over some of Soki’s things. He was dealing with the reality that he was getting married again. Even paying her bride price in February hadn’t brought out that reality as much as this move did. By this time next week, the court wedding would have been conducted and she would be in every sense his wife. The white wedding was just an addition.

He had imagined so many anniversaries with Nengi including their diamond anniversary. They had made great plans for the future. Now he had to share these anniversaries with another woman!

He thought of Nwasoka.

She wasn’t Nengi but having agreed to marry her he would take good care of her and not give her cause to want to leave the marriage. However he doubted if he had it in him to love her the way a man should love his wife. He cared a great deal about Soki but his heart had long belonged to Nengi.

He sighed deeply. He would have to move his things back to the master bedroom. His earlier intention was not to spend the night there until after his white wedding but having invited Soki over for the weekend, he couldn’t afford to have her wondering why he was running away from his bedroom. The only way he could deal with Nengi’s loss was by pushing her into the recesses of his mind. It wasn’t easy but it was something he had to do.

When he was done with moving Nengi’s things, he moved to the guest bedroom he had been occupying and began packing his things. They were neatly arranged, courtesy of his experience with Nengi. He hadn’t been this organised until a few years into his marriage. This was one of the numerous things knowing Nengi and being married to her had done for him.

He took down some of the clothes in the large wardrobe and returned to the master bedroom, opening the door to the walk-in-closet there. He had left the right side of the closet and half of the centre shelf for Soki. Hopefully, he would be done and gone before Soki and Priye arrived. He wasn’t presently in the emotional state to be with her. He would see her later in the evening.

His sister Ibinye Amachree was coming over on Friday morning with her children but she would be leaving his nephew and nieces with him until Sunday when she and her husband Sotari would pick them up and take them to Abonema to spend the Easter with his family. This would give Soki the opportunity to meet another member of his family before their white wedding.

Ibinye and her husband were based in Lagos. Except for Belema and Priye, the rest of his siblings were based outside Rivers State and Soki had only met his parents, a few uncles and aunts who had come with him to Onitsha for the introduction and payment of her bride price.

CRY FOR LOVE - PART 8

© Tisa Phiri

Mario.

“Doctor is she going to be okey?” I asked the doctor after seeing him coming from the ward were my mother was.

“Yes, she will be okey my dear. Your father is in there right now and I can tell you certainly that she will recover though it might take a little bit of time” he explained with a smile I felt relieved.

“Oh, thank God this is a relief” I told him honestly and watched him leave before I went to Join Sam seated on the bench.

“What did he say?” he asked me as I sat next to him.

“She will be fine though it might take time, her leg has a small crack and with her age, the doctor said it will take a bit of time for her to stand straight on her feet. Her wounds outside will heal faster though” I quickly narrated the explanation and he too sighed in relief.

“Well thank God. That bastard will hear from me, he was lucky I had concentrated on rushing mom here and I let the police get to him first, what is wrong with people, drinking this time of the day?” Sam spat angrily I patted his leg to calm him down.

“Don’t worry yourself too much, she will be okey.”

“By the way your girl called and I told her what happened to mom, she must be on her way here” he handed me the phone I grabbed it and before I could call back, I saw Ketty and Sera rushing to where we sat.

“Baby! Am so sorry, how is mom? What happened really? Is she going to be okey?” she asked one question after the other.

“Yes, yes baby, she will be okey. The doctors said she will recover eventually though she is still being observed for a couple of days or so to help her with the small crack on her knee bone.”

“My God! That is a relief, I was so sick worried, were is she now? Can we see her?” Ketty looked around stepping away from me.

“Yes you can go in now” My father is the one that responded walking from my back I turned to look at him.

“Go on and see her, she asked for you Mario and since Ketty is here too, she had mentioned your names.” My father shrugged and we wasted no time walking in to see mother. She lay there her eyes half closed and beamed up in a smile seeing me walk in which faded the moment Ketty walked up front following me.

“Hey mom, how are you feeling?” Ketty found her voice first and smiled at mom who shook her head.

“Am very much in pain, my legs hurts so much I cannot bear it. I don’t think you two will get married this Saturday. There is no way my son is marrying without my presence” my mother uttered without giving both of us a chance to say a thing.

“what?” was the first word that came from Ketty`s mouth and am sure she regretted it the moment she realized how my mother eyed her.

“am, sorry mom, but how can we cancel the wedding when all the things have been set, the venue, the cakes, the dance group and the food, let’s just say everything is in place. We cannot just cancel it” she tried to reason with her and I nodded my head to support her.

“She is right mother, the doctors said you will be okey, we will have someone push you even on a wheel chair for you to be present, it’s not a big deal you know” I added holding her hand and she pushed my hands away,

“You don’t care about me anymore Mario, am sick, I was hit by the drunkard fool and my legs are so much in pain I cannot even move. I have bruises all over my body and all you can think of is your stupid wedding? Go out of here then stop pretending you care for me! It’s alright my husband and son will take care of me you go on and get married whilst I rot in the hospital bed” my mother started crying her eyes filled up I felt guilty,

“Mom please, it’s not like that, you know I love you. Please don’t do this to me, please” I begged her sitting down beside her Ketty remained standing her face truly sad I felt bad my mother was pushing he too much.

“I have not stopped you from getting married Mario, all am asking is that you wait till am well enough to walk to your wedding, it’s a big day in my life and I need to be there in good health. I cannot guarantee I will walk in 3 days you know, but since you insist, go on and get married without me” she added and looked away.

I tried to talk her out of it but as stubbornness was her nature, she refused to bless me and let me get married. Ketty wiped her tears and walked closer to my mother I looked at her and held her hand to comfort her. The look in her eyes made me feel uncomfortable my mother was too harsh on her.

“Mom, am sorry that you are hurt, I know this will be a big loss on our part but we will postponed the wedding till you are well. I want to marry your son with your blessings and I cannot go against a mother`s wish.” She spoke and I stood up to her.

“No, baby come on we cannot cancel the wedding.” I shook my head but she shrugged dismissingly,

“We need her blessings baby and if what it takes is to wait till mom is fine, then its fine by me” she swallowed hard I saw she was almost crying,

“Thank you Ketty, I appreciate you understand my pain” my mother looked at her and back at me.

“Ketty can I talk to my mother alone?” I asked her and she walked out leaving us. I looked at my mother who was watching her leave and turned to look at me.

“What is going on mother?” I finally asked her seeing how pleased her face was.

“What do you mean? You cannot see am injured and needs healing?” she responded carelessly,

“You know what I mean mother, what is wrong with you? Why are you bent on hurting my fiancé? “I asked this time seriously.

“Look here Mario, that girl is a spoiled brat, she is rich and all but she is not good for you, haven’t you heard of how badly her family ended? You want the same for yourself huh?” my mother frowned.

“no, stop with that mother, I have known Ketty for over 2 years and she is nothing of what you say about her, she is a decent woman with morals, she does not boast about her wealthy and she is hard working. What is it now? All she has done since I introduced her to you is try to impress you even when you push her so hard” I lamented but by mother shook her head.

“you cannot see it because you are blinded by what you think is love, come on Mario, every person is something from her family and that girl’s true colors will one day come out. Just…”

“Enough mom, huh! Enough! what is this? Am going to marry Ketty on Saturday with or without your blessings, just get well soon am leaving now” I stood up and stormed out ignoring her call for me to go back in.

Ketty was standing outside besides her car the time I went out her friend close to her she was whispering something I could not clearly get.

“baby, am sorry about that back there, don’t mind her though, we are not going to wait for anyone, everything is set and the wedding is on this Saturday” I stood in front of her trying to loosen her hands which were folded to hold her.

“Mario, we cannot get married like this, no. your mother has spoken so we shall do as she wants I love you so much Yes, but if we have to live better lives together it’s important we have everyone on board with one heart for us to be together.” she cried her tears falling her cheeks I hugged her close.

“No baby, we are not ...”

“Enough, Mario please! We both know whatever your mother means to do will pass so just drop it, let’s call the people we can manage to get in touch with and inform them about the changes, we can try negotiate with the venue owners for a push up of dates and other things too” she added sniffing in her friend kept shaking her head.

“Mario, just drop it already, just try to sort this out the two of you and find the way forward” Sera looked at me.

“will see you later Ketty, let me get to the matron`s and tell her you will talk to her later and let the dancing guys go back.” she patted Ketty’s hand and walked away after Ketty nodded her head to agree with her.

We drove to her house our vehicles following each other. Sitting inside the house, we both were silent each one lost in thoughts.

“Baby am so sorry about...” I almost spoke but she raised her hand at me.

“it’s okey, we will start making calls this minute and see how we can push things forward” She spoke trying to sound okey but I knew she wasn’t.

An hour later we argued until we decided to push it forward by two months, the main reason was that the weeks after our set wedding date were all taken at the venue, so we decided to get the only free day after 2 months, of which we thought was okey since by then we assumed my mother would be well enough to attend.

I was disappointed with my own mother but I didn’t want to get married with people having different undesirable thoughts. I wanted all things well done and my father later on told me to hang on as mom wanted, he told me his effort to reason with her had failed and since that was my last hope, we all settled for another date.

“Thank you for understanding my Son, am sorry with how I reacted to your girlfriend but since you two love each other, am not going to stop your marriage only that I want to be there when my first born son gets married” My mother smiled that evening when I went to check on her.

“Mom, she is not my girlfriend, she is my fiancé, my wife to be and the minute you decide to look at her that way the better for all of us. “ I shook my head at her.

Read more episodes here - www.youngicee.com/stories/a-cry-for-love

CRY FOR LOVE - PART 7

© Tisa Phiri

Ketty....

Closing back the door to the bedroom I had Mario and Chisomo locked up, I shouted i would go into town and rushed out to my car speeding off and stopping outside the gate crying loudly.

"What am I doing ?" I cried leaning my head on the steering wheel Feeling the pain of giving my fiancee to another woman. It was unbearable, I felt like going back Inside and telling them to stop.

The voice of his mother came to my head..

"I love my son Ketty and if it were up to me I could have chosen a woman for him. A woman who I know would take care of my son like I did. A Decent woman" she smiled. I knew why she was so cold with me. It was like me having money and being raised in a rich family was some kind of a curse.

I understood I never had the best parents in the world but I had learnt quiet a lot growing up. Especially with Sera's mother. Every time she would explain things to her daughter I would get some lessons and held them dear. I knew the value of respecting others, how to behave around people. She always talked about how blessed it was to do good. That everyone loves a person that shows kindness and love no matter what surrounds them, money would never buy happiness" she would say and I always respected her more than my own mother who never really had time to sit me down and tell me all those good things parents tell to their children.

Worse off, she ended up with Dad's best friend a few months after his death and I could not bear to see her anymore. The moment i turned 19 I stood my ground and chased my mother from the house. Well, it would sound bad but I had to. I could not stand her bringing her boyfriend in the house.

"Mom, you have over stayed in this house and since it is mine, i want you out" I told her, she giggled loudly her boyfriend seated next to her.

"Are you mad or something, Am your mother Ketty and I will not allow you to humiliate me like this. Come on, get out of my side before I spunk your silly face"she stood up angry.

"Am giving you tonight mom. Tommorow find your way out of my house " I raised my eyes at her and walked away she screamed my name calling me back.

Before I could stop, she yanked me back and slapped me across my face and I shook my head.

"You have just defined the end of your stay in this house mother. This very minute I want you out. Pack your things and leave. Dad was right, I should have never allowed you to stay in here the moment he died. Now get out or ..."

"Or What? " She spat holding her waist like a crazy person.

"Well, I got the money, I got the power to chase you out Mom, this is my house as you already know. From today onwards I will not have you around me. You and your silly boyfriend think you can have everything but you are so wrong. Dad left it all for me and I will not wait till you find a way of taking away everything. So am calling the cops to flush you out if I come back and find you here" I spoke coldly and walked out leaving her watching me. Am sure she was wondering if I was mad or something.

That was two days after I found out my father's supposed accident was planned by her and her boyfriend. I knew she thought I was not aware of her plans to get back all that my father left for me.

With the help of dad's lawyer, I knew my rights and how to keep myself safe from my mother's evil plans. I was determined to have her out and that night when I went back home, I found her still in the house and I called uncle Jacob, the lawyer who called the cops to come throw my mother out. .

"Are you really going to do this Ketty?" She asked me the cops waiting for her to move.

"You have never really been a mother to me so it's not going to be any different now, only this time I will not have to see the face of the person who killed my father and who himulates me with her bad behaviour all the time. Go on and live your life Mom, never come back to this house. Just get the car since my father got it for you. " I added seeing her off.

I had rushed back Inside crying myself to sleep. My life was never the same after dad passed on. Even as I studied, my heart was not at peace. I always found solace in writing and after my first book at 22 I made writing part of me and never went to work for anyone.

My father's businesses where running successfully, my cousin was helping me manage it and I had nothing to worry about.

All i wanted was to find a way of being happy but I could see no way with the past always crawling back to my life every time I would think of moving on.

Till the day I met Mario, I had not loved any person. My previous boyfriend was evidently a gold digger I had to let go of him.

My only hope was to have a marriage free of head ache so that I would not have to re-live my past life. I wanted to have a peaceful marriage and the talks of Mario's mother left me heart broken.

I could not tell her I was not able to get any children because I was raped as a young girl and my mother forced me to have an abortion that left some parts of my womb damaged.

"Have you heard what I just said?" Mario's mother looked at my lost face as we talked.

"Yes mother. That you hope am not the type who never wants to have kids cause then you will personally throw me out of your son's life" I narrated her words and she smiled nodding her head.

"Good. You are learning fast my dear. My son loves you and that is the only reason I accepted him to marry you. I heard about your mother and family from a friend of mine and since then I have never looked at you differently, prove me wrong and maybe i will some day." she added and I looked at her face.

She was right, initially she had liked me but after her search into my past, she learnt how badly my family ended and since then she had never looked at me the same. She thought I was a spoiled brat that inherited her father's wealthy and chased her mother way.

Back to the present...

Wiping my face, I calmed myself and started driving away from the gate. I had to leave the place before I could get myself to check what was going on inside between Chisomo and Mario, it was my doing but it doesn't mean I was not hurt by it.

"Ketty, my friend, why on earth are you punishing yourself like this?" Sera pulled me in an embrace when I told her what I left home.

"Its not too late to change tour mind you know" she insisted but I shook my head.

"I need that baby Sera. There is no other way. I love Mario and he is the only man that has loved me for me and not my Money. Just let me endure this and later all will be Well" I whispered trying to stay strong inside and not wanting to think through and imagine Mario with another woman.

After some time, I went back home and Mario walked out smiling at me.

"What? Done?" I asked him.

"Baby I.. I.."

"What? Don't tell me you didn't ..."

"Yeah it's done. Just the way you wanted it" he held my hand and I sighed.

He watched my face as though he could see I was hurting inside as we watched Chisomo leave. But I was not going to show misery after all the decision was mine.

"Baby, are you not taking a bath?" I asked him after we sat down in my bed him leaning his head on my laps.

"I don't think so. I had bathed before coming here why bother?" He smiled biting on the cucumber I had given him.

"You know, I thought you would wash off after...um. You.." I stammered failing to mention he made love to another woman.

"Oh yeah, That," he sighed like he had forgotten and I smiled at him.

"Go now and bath I prepare something for our dinner. You cannot sleep here, it's days before our wedding and I wouldn't want people talking bad about us" I shouted leaving him he shook his head.

"Tonight only baby come on!" He made a face.

"Nope, not today. Go and bath now Mario and stop being a child" I hit his chest and went back to the door.

The rest of the evening I kept stealing glances at him to check if anything had changed about him but he was the same man, he would look at me and smile. He would steal small kisses and say silly jokes as though nothing had happened earlier.

"Well, if that girl will have no impact on my man then am okey with her around" I thought to myself and smiled back at him.

"What?" He asked coming on to me and holding me pushing me to the door.

"Hmm. I love you and am sorry for pushing you to lay with another woman " I told him honestly.

"Can we not talk about that now?" He chuckled

"Sure. So what do we talk about then?" I looked at his soft eyes and he pulled me closer and kissed me, his grip around my body tightening.

"Baby you have to go now" I withdrew hating I had to push him away even when every fibre in my body wanted him so close. I could not have him after him being with Chisomo.

"But I want you today, it's been ages you know" he winced but I stood my ground. Kissed him good night and saw him off to the car outside.

"Will see you tomorrow morning for the final rehearsals " he waved me without saying a word.

The following day, I called Chisomo before going to check on the line up group. She told me her mother was in the surgery and I reminded her she had to meet with Mario again.

"Can't I come tommorow? The thing is I want to be with my mother after she is out and..."

"No, come today as agreed. You need to get pregnant and I will not have you make changes to our agreement. " I cut her short and hang up throwing my phone on the couch, Sera shook her head standing there waiting for me.

"Can we go now?" I looked at her

"Sure whatever you say love. By the way is Mario already there?" She asked me.

"Yeah that reminds me we need him today, let me just call and find out" I spoke walking out the door .

Mario's phone went unanswered the first time and later on his brother answered it.

"Sam why are picking your brother's phone? Where is He?"

"Am sorry, but Mario is with the doctor , my mother was involved in an accident and we just rushed her to the hospital.

"What? What happened to mother?" I panicked stopping myself from opening the car door.

"She was hit by the road side at home. She is badly injured Ketty" Sam explained.

"Oh my God! am on my way there" I shouted indicating for Sera to get in the car.

"What is going on?" She asked the moment I put the car into motion.

"Mario's mom had an accident. She was bashed by a car outside her house. Something like she was crossing the road. " I quickly explained and Sera gasped in shock.

"Oh God today of all days. We have 3 days towards the wedding. What now?" She uttered but I had no strength to answer her, my mind was where we were headed.

Read Episode 8 - www.youngicee.com/stories/a-cry-for-love

A CRY FOR LOVE - PART 6

© Tisa Phiri

Mario…

Rushing to her house, I arrived 20 minutes after the time she called me to go see her. I couldn’t tell what it was she wanted to see me for but the agency in Ketty`s voice made me leave what I was doing and rushed to see her.

“Ba John, how are you?” I asked the gate man and worker at Ketty`s house the moment he opened the gate for me.

“Am okey, njala chabe” the man giggled and I knew he wanted another tip.

“Here, get your self-something to eat and make sure you don’t spend this money on beer” I handed him a K50 walking to the front door. I was greeted by a smiling Ketty and she planted a soft kiss on my lips.

“Baby, are you okey?” I asked her worriedly.

“Am more than fine my love, come in I have a surprise for you. “She led me inside and I followed her wondering what was really going on with her. Instead of telling me she went into another room and came back with the lady I saw from my mother`s house, I stopped my mouth from saying a word.

“What is she doing here?” I asked myself looking at Ketty and back at the lady.

“Baby, this is Chisomo. The lady I told you about, she is the one to give us a baby” Ketty introduced me.

“Chisomo, my hubby to be, Mario. “She held her hand at me. I was silent, I don’t know what was going on in my head but realizing the woman I helped the previous day would turn out to be the one to sleep with me for a child, made me stuck in my thoughts I kept looking at her even though her face was down.

“Baby can I talk to you” I finally spoke up.

“Why? Anything wrong? “Ketty responded,

“Please” I begged standing up.

‘Chisomo, go on sit let me talk to him, don’t worry all will be well” Ketty assured the lady now I was aware her name was Chisomo.

“What the hell is this baby? You said I will get to lay with the woman you will find after we are married, why in a rush, its exactly 6 days towards the wedding” I raised my eyes at her.

“calm down Mario, that girl might change her mind after giving her the money, so to make sure she does as required I want you to sleep with her the days before the wedding and make sure she gets pregnant since she is ovulating right now, the chances are high that she could get pregnant” she explained full of excitement she sounded so off I wondered what she was really thinking.

“No, am not doing it, especially with her” I answered point blank and she stood up evidently let down.

“Why? And what do you mean especially not her?” she challenged me.

“Listen, that girl there is a sad soul, she is so serious and it seems she has issues, we cannot have her to give birth to our child Ketty come on. Let’s try to find someone else” I tried to get her to see my point not wanting to tell her I knew the girl.

For almost 20 minutes we argued and to make the matters worse, she wanted me to go and lay her that very evening. She told me she had paid her already and explained the girl used the money to pay for her mother`s surgery and she was now ready to start according to her, working.

“Oh God Ketty, this is insane” I sighed giving up arguing with her.

“Okey let’s get this over with my love it seems you will never let this go after all” I shrugged and she smiled.

“Good. Now stay here, no need for you to get to know each other, so am bringing her to you and you get to it” she announced and walked out before I could say another word. She came back a few minutes later and pushed the silent and scared Chisomo in the room and kissed my lips walking out she locked the door behind her like we would try to escape.

There was total silence between us after ketty left, she shouted she would come back later as she had to check on something In town. I wondered if she was playing some joke to try me but when the sound of the car was heard from outside and the gate opening and closing, I knew she was being serious.

Clearing my throat, I looked at Chisomo.

“Hey, am Mario” I introduced myself again feeling stupid. She didn’t move an inch she remained in the same position her face still down,

“Look here, am not comfortable too but we are here and my fiancé will not let this go” I spoke up.

“am sorry I didn’t tell her about our meeting at my mother`s place, things are complicated as they are already and am sure you both have agreed to keep this a secret. So how is your mother?”

She looked up at my face and the sadness in her eyes made me swallow hard.

“your wife gave me some money yesterday and today the doctors gave her an appointment for a surgery tomorrow morning, am not what you think I am, am just a woman desperate to save a mother`s life and I had to agree to what your wife offered weeks ago” she spoke almost in a whisper.

“Okey, so you met my wife to be weeks ago? Well, that is a relief I almost thought you met her the other day.”

All this time she remained standing and I could not get her to sit down beside me. How on earth was I going to sleep with a total stranger, a person I had no feelings for later on know her back ground.

She noticed I was not doing a thing to her but seemed she wanted to get over the thing already she started removing her blouse and before she could get it all out I stood up and went to her touching her hand to stop her.

“Stop” I ordered holding her hand she turned to look into my face.

“I want to go and see my mother and I have been paid for this, please be gentle with me I have never done this with any man before.” She whispered, that even made things worse as I could not get to break her innocence too.

“You mean, you are a virgin?” I asked still having her palm in mine. She nodded her head slowly.

“Promise not to hurt me so much... I, I” she almost cried out but I shut her pulling her to sit with me.

“Am not touching you today Chisomo. Am not doing it, don’t worry yourself about a thing cause I am not doing this with you” I assured her and she went down on her knees begging me,

“Please Sir, I cannot break the promise I made to your wife and if she finds out I didn’t do as told, she will not be pleased with me. I just want to save the life of my mother please, what is nine months of sacrifice as compared to the many years I could live with my dear mother. Please don`t push me away please I beg you. okey hurt me if you have to but let me do this” she cried begging me her tears were falling on my shoe I felt my heart break.

“How much does your mother need for surgery and all the costs?” I found myself asking

“30 thousand” she responded rubbing her hands together as she sobbed.

“What? K30 000, are you serious?”

“Yes” she responded.

“Ketty offered me more than that, she told me I would get 15 to start my mother`s surgery and later on I will get another 15, the remaining 40 she will give me after I deliver the child. So sir, please don’t push me away” Chisomo was now holding my knees.

“Oh my God, Ketty what is this?” I looked up the roof, if only I could afford such an amount of money I could have given the woman before me to get her mother well. But I was not as rich as Ketty was and I had no other way of helping the woman out.

“well, let’s talk about something then, since she said we will be meeting till the wedding day, we still have time ahead of us, I cannot do this today Chisomo am sorry” I told her lifting her and taking her down on the bed again.

She looked at me and back to the floor.

“She will know we lied to her and…”

“shshs” I stopped her and went to sit in the corner of the bed looking at her seated uncomfortably.

Later, ketty came back and we walked out with pretence we did what she wanted to.

“Well that wasn’t hard after, all was it?” she kissed me as we saw Chisomo out, she had given her money for a taxi outside.

I looked at her face and noticed she was hiding her pain of me being with another woman but was playing strong. I hated I was not telling her the truth about what happened but it was better she had her hopes up. It was clear she wanted it that way and I was to support her if that would make her happy.

I did not do it that day for sure but I knew we would not lie to Ketty for ever, the baby had to come and there was no other way but to do what she wanted.

To be continued

Chapter 11 continued

****



Sunday, 28th March 2004

8:28pm

Oroma stood by the roadside with Bio waiting for a taxi to take her home. They stood before the restaurant she worked in as a cook cum waitress. She worked there from 6am to 8pm every day of the week. The pay wasn’t much but this was the first job she had taken since she had given up prostitution a year ago.

She had made a lot of mistakes in her young life. Going after B.B Briggs years ago had set off a chain of reaction. She had ended up pregnant, alone and disowned by her family. She figured she could have easily solved her problem by having an abortion, after all a lot of females did that. If she had a successful abortion, no one would know, not even her parents and she would have completed her education. However, she had chosen to keep the baby, for reasons she still couldn’t fathom. But once Bio had been born, she had fallen in love with the baby and would do anything for her.

She had resorted to prostitution after Bio developed a medical complication as a baby and required a surgery she couldn’t afford. Her parents wanted nothing to do with the daughter who had brought disgrace to the family name. Had her grandmother being alive, she would have taken Oroma in and cared for her great granddaughter. But at the time Oroma’s choices had been limited. She had the choice of joining a robbery gang or becoming a prostitute. She didn’t even think about other forms of hustling at the time. She had gone in search of a job but the jobs were limited even for graduates let alone one who had dropped out of school.

She had gone into prostitution telling herself that once she raised the needed money she would stop. However, like every sin of the flesh, she had been drawn into the forbidden world. No matter the excuse she gave, she knew she wasn’t justified. She should have thought of more things to do. There were people in worse situations than she had been in who had never thought of prostituting themselves, or at least hadn’t actually done it.

For five years she had given her body to nameless men and been responsible for their pleasures. Several times she had contemplated leaving the profession but always gave in to the temptation until a year ago when she had been attacked by a violent client and almost lost her life. That had brought her to her senses. She had almost left Bio alone in the world. For the first time in five years, she had to reconsider her lifestyle and ask herself if this was the kind of life she wanted for her daughter.

The restaurant job had come as a blessing. Yes, the pay wasn’t it and she had to deal with the unwanted attention of some men but like a cocaine addict she was on her way to full recovery. She hadn’t been with a man in a year. She hoped to maintain that status until she met the man who would marry her despite her past.

She hadn’t approached B.B before now, for two reasons: the anger on his face when he had sent her out of his hotel room and secondly, she didn’t have his contact. She hadn’t seen Ibierefagha since her convocation. But she’d heard that the other woman was married and lived in Jos with her family. She knew about Dienye’s businesses but hadn’t been able to summon the courage to approach him for his best friend’s contact details. She had only reached out to him recently because Bio had come home from school asking about her father and why he wasn’t a part of their lives.

B.B had told her he wouldn’t accept any child from her but this was beyond any of them. She could hustle even if it killed her in order to care for her daughter without him but no matter how she looked at it, no matter what she did, every child needed her father whether there was money or not.

She sighed deeply. She had to put her life together. First was to get back to school and have a proper tertiary education even if it was here in Port Harcourt. She had saved some money from her days as a prostitute as the current job didn’t pay her much. Her rent wouldn’t be due for another three months. Thank God.

They had been standing for sometime when she thought it best to start walking home. It had rained heavily so there was probably traffic somewhere around the area which could be responsible for the lack of bikes and taxis/buses.

She noticed the man who had just unlocked the door of a black car. He tossed the bag containing the goods he had bought from the supermarket into the back seat of the car. She recognised him easily. He and Ibierefagha were so alike. This was Ibierefagha’s elder brother Dienye. She felt self-conscious in her sky blue t-shirt and faded jean worn over her old okrika shoes and wondered if she should call out to him. She looked at her tired daughter and decided to draw his attention. She hadn’t seen him in years and he might not even recognise her.

‘Dienye,’ she called out.

Dienye turned when he heard his name, surprised. His eyes took in Oroma and then Biobele who was watching him with curiosity. The woman looked familiar, though.

‘I’m Oroma. You may not remember me, but I was a friend of your sister Ibierefagha, I went by the name Christabel back then. We met at her convocation party.’

Dienye looked at the little girl properly and could see the resemblance to his Nengi. He smiled as he looked at Oroma. This was the shy girl who couldn’t take her eyes off B.B during his sister’s party, and who had ended up in his best friend’s bed.

‘Hi. It’s been 8 years.’

She didn’t look like the shy type anymore but this was Christabel all right.

‘What have you been doing with yourself?’

‘This and that,’ she replied evasively.

‘You’re through with school and service, right?’

He recalled her saying something about becoming a paediatrician in the future.

‘No,’ she replied, quickly asking, ‘How is Ibierefagha?’

‘Married with three kids.’

He crouched so that he was on eye level with the child beside Oroma. He stretched out a hand to her saying softly, ‘I’m Dienye and you are -?’

Biobele hesitated for a moment but Dienye’s smile assured her that it was all right to place her little hand in his large one. ‘I’m Biobele,’ she replied shyly.

‘My daughter,’ Oroma added wondering if he could see any of B.B’s features in child. If he did, his expression didn’t give him away.

‘It’s a pleasure to meet you Biobele,’ he said.

‘Do you have a little girl, too?’ Biobele asked him, smiling shyly.

‘No, but I am getting married soon and we hope to have our own little girl.’

If her memory served her well, hadn’t he been married back then? Oroma thought. Perhaps she was mistaken.

Biobele who didn’t take easily to men liked Dienye instantly. He was a rich man but he was still kind to her mother.

‘So where are you headed?’ Dienye asked Oroma.

Oroma told him.

‘That’s on my way. I’ll give you a ride.’

‘Thanks.’

He got into the car, unlocked the passenger doors. Biobele sat on the back passenger seat behind Dienye while Oroma sat beside him. Dienye fastened his seat belt, turned the key in the ignition, lifted the hand brake and set the gear on Drive and they were on their way.

‘You went shopping?’ he asked.

‘No. I work at the restaurant close to the supermarket.’ Oroma replied.

‘Her madam is not a good woman,’ Biobele said. ‘She shouts and curses too much.’

‘Bio mummy!’ Oroma cautioned.

‘But the money is good.’

‘Really. How good?’

‘N10, 000, because mummy works from 6 to 8.’

‘6 to 8 for N10, 000!’ Dienye asked incredulously but the child obviously believed the sum was okay.

‘It puts food on the table,’ Oroma said in defence.

‘I bet it does. And your rent?’

‘Already taken care of.’

He said nothing until he dropped them off. He took out a complimentary card and quickly scribbled down something behind it. He handed the card to Oroma.

‘I have added Ibierefagha’s number in case you want to get in touch with her.’

‘Thanks so much for the ride.’

It wasn’t until she had entered her apartment that she realised that he hadn’t only scribbled down his sister’s number but also an address.

The Proprietor

Heart of the Child Orphanage

115 East West Road, Port Harcourt

She didn’t have to be a university graduate to understand that he wanted her to apply for a job there.

*********

She took permission from work and applied for a job at the orphanage. She submitted it and was asked to return the following morning for an interview.

She had to come up front about her history to Dienye after the interview. The orphanage was large with its own resident paediatrician and a sick bay. There was also accommodation for the staff.

‘I need you to be completely honest with me, Oroma. Is there something about your past I should know about.’

‘I submitted my CV as well as -‘

‘Oroma!’

She realised at that moment that he must have found out about her past as a prostitute.

‘You already know about my past, don’t you?’

‘These children are special and we want what is best for them. I wouldn’t want anything to pose a threat to them.’ Dienye replied.

‘Then I am not the person for the job.’

‘Let me be the judge of that. Is there something you would like to share with me?’

She hesitated for a moment, wondering how much he knew and concluded that it was best she told him everything. She told him about getting pregnant at 18, being disowned and having to care for her baby alone. How she had made the wrong decision by becoming a prostitute in order to raise money to fend for herself and take care of her child, money she had used to ensure that her daughter had an education.

‘I did what I felt I had to do in order to survive,’ she concluded. ‘And if you think that makes me an unlikely candidate to take care of the children here, then I’ll leave.’

He adjusted his glasses.

‘Have you given up completely on prostitution?’ he asked but his tone wasn’t judgmental.

‘Since January 2003. And I have no intention of going back.’

‘Unless you have no other choice?’

‘I have given up for good. If you don’t -‘

‘I am in no position to judge you,’ he cut in. ‘You did what you felt you had to do in the circumstances, rightly or wrongly. You passed the interview and I will not deprive you of the job. Can you start immediately?’

‘Oh my God. Yes. Thank you so much.’

The job would give her time to be with her daughter. He asked her to meet Mrs Roberts to sign her contract of employment and discuss her monthly salary. The job, she found out, came with a fully furnished one bedroom apartment in the premises and the pay was far better than she could imagine. She figured Dienye loved the children so much that he ensured that the staff was well paid to avoid situations were persons were tempted into selling children.

You can read Episode 12 here now - https://youngicee.com/2020/01/the-second-wife-episode-12.html