I go die o,Audrey com post na


Wow Audrey I must confess,U are a great writer nd d suspencew is killing us

Yaaaaaa no update yet AudreyTimms na beg we dey beg you know what the begging is all about

Hello everyone. It's not my wish to leave you all in suspense. Been trying to reply comments since on thursday but my posts were being deleted automatically. Been trying to post all morning as well, same problem. I sent the thread prefect Jonathan2787 to you guys but i guess he's been offline. I have however notified the mod in charge. So please let's be patient till in the evening. And my eyes are beginning to have issues. Thanking you.

HelenBee:
add TifannyJ oo...her stories sef na confirm

I've not read any of her stories o. tnx. Make I follow her sharp sharp.

AudreyTimms:
Hello everyone. It's not my wish to leave you all in suspense. Been trying to reply comments since on thursday but my posts were being deleted automatically. Been trying to post all morning as well, same problem. I sent the thread prefect Jonathan2787 to you guys but i guess he's been offline. I have however notified the mod in charge. So please let's be patient till in the evening. And my eyes are beginning to have issues. Thanking you.

never worry madam. We all gat your back We'll wait

Ladies and gentlemen, sorry to tell you that our dedicated audrey is having issues replying comments and update, nairaland is responsible for this short comings and she mailed me appologizing and also asking yall to sit tight as she's making efforts towards setting things straight, she appreciates yall her readers and want yall to be patient for her.

This story is jst so captivating..only f et cud modified into a movie..tz gonn' b a blast!

Seun! Seun! Seun! how many times did I call you Lalasticlala, I know you are the next person responsible for this after Seun cause ummm everyone is always calling you both.... Fix ma'am Audrey's account before I vex and sell Nairaland to Mark Zuckerberg *runs out of thread before they will send police to me*

I almost thought she uploaded something...

Abeg wu knw wia seun n lala go ds hot aftanoon sef?abeg mak una com do somtin here oo.

Hmmm....s
c as pipu dey peep anyhw 4 ds thread,mak una no cus holdup oooo

Whoever is in charge should pls rectify this ish o...stop breaking our hearts

*Continuation of Episode 18*

The man paced silently like a jaguar as his gaze roved around the small living room. Hmm...the Chiwendus had truly come into sudden wealth. The living room though small held gadgets and furniture that spelt wealth. Too small to hold more than the sofa his wife was lying on and an armchair, the electronics comprising of a flat screen television, a classic home-theatre television, DSTV decoders, a DVD player along with rows and rows of DVD inside it showed good money had been spent on them, coupled with the thick gold and brown oriental rug, the bulb fixings and little things here and there which showed no care had been given to the money spent. They even had a cooling unit on the wall, probably due to the harsh weather the north was known for. And his darling wife had frowned at his extravagance once upon a time. Hypocrite!

He moved to where he'd laid the so-called darling wife on the rich burgundy sofa. Indeed, she was what you'd call very pretty. So all she'd needed was to put on a little weight for her beauty to surface? His designer clothes on her hadn't been what she'd needed. She'd needed to discover for herself what made her look good. And damn was she looking good! Her skin was looking all soft and supple and was now more on the fair side than caramel. Even her carefully madeup face, done with more cosmetic than he'd ever seen her use brought out the contours of her face. Even the clothes did her justice and those lovely legs of hers did something to his libido. He took in the curly weave on her head which surrounded her face like a halo and felt like running his hands through it. He needed for her to come back to consciousness for him to see those beautiful hazel eyes which had tormented his dreams for years.

Nkiru slowly came to and wondered where she was. Her head ached and she fell very weak. She noticed then with trepidation that a man was pacing restlessly in her small living room. What? Then everything came back to her. Giovanni!

What the hell was he doing here in real life from her dreams? Who was he and what did he want with her?

As she watched, she saw his dark eyes make an impatient scan of their surroundings. His jacket had gone; that was the first totally incomprehensible thing her eyes focused on. The silver tie with the slender knot had been tugged down a little and the top button of his shirt was undone, as if he'd found the constriction of his clothes annoying and needed to feel fresh air around that taut dark throat. There was a tension about him, a restlessness so severely contained that it flicked along his chiselled jaw line as if he was clenching and unclenching his teeth behind his rather cold-looking mouth. Then the mouth suddenly twisted, and she didn't need to be clairvoyant to know what he was thinking right then. The guy was crazy! 

She must have made a sound because he swirled and focused that dark intense gaze of his on her. She rose a little. He came over and his hand touched her shoulder. Her senses went on overdrive, crawling through her body like scattering spiders and flinging her into a whirling mad panic that jolted her into a sitting position to violently thrust his hand away.

"Don't touch me," she gasped out in shuddering reaction. 'I don't know you. I don't!'

He muttered an expletive.

Water! She needed water. Gio strolled out of the living room to the door on his left and realized he'd entered her neat bedroom. He came out and strolled to the door on his right. Of course, a slick and clean kitchen with everything in place.  He opened the medium-sized fridge and brought out bottled water, searched for a tumbler in the small kitchen and poured the water inside it.

"Here..." Gio pushed the glass of water at her when he came back to the living room and met her in the same position he'd left her- seated with a confused look on her face. "Drink some of this," he urged. "You look like you need it."

Nkiru lifted her head to look at the stranger, his darkened eyes honing directly onto her own, and for a moment she felt herself sinking into those blackened depths again, as if drawn there by something more powerful than logic.

Oh, God. Confused, she wrenched her gaze away, pushing the glass aside so she could cover her face with her hands while she at least attempted to get a hold on herself.

His head swivelled down to look at her after glancing away for some minutes to control his lusting thoughts, dark eyes lancing her a bitter hard look. "We need to talk," he informed her as he put the glass of water on the coffee table.

"No," she said on a release of pent-up air, and opened her eyes to look at him with the same perfectly blank expression. 'I don't know who you are and what you're doing here and your name; even though i just finally remembered it fully a few minutes ago means nothing to me." Nkiru didn't like the way she was feeling around him and she needed him to leave in order for her to think.

She might as well have slapped him. He looked away, then sat down on the armchair, his lean body hunching over as he dipped his dark head and pressed his elbows into his spread knees--but not before Nkiru had seen the flash of pain in his eyes and realised that her ill-chosen words had managed to hurt him. 

I'm sorry,' she murmured uncomfortably. 'I didn't mean it to come out sounding...’

'Rude?' he incised when she hesitated.

Her mind did a dizzy whirl on a hot, slick spurt of sudden sensual awareness. 

"Look. Let's start all over again. It's obvious you're here for a reason. And i really don't know why i fainted because i've never done that in my life. I guess it was due to stress at the office today. I know we were in school together but i don't think we ever spoke. I'm Nkiru Chiwendu as you rightly said and you're Giovanni. So how may I help you?"

With the charged and splintering aura of a wild animal at bay, Gio shot a guttural stream of Italian at her, spreading both hands wide in a raking arc of dark, smouldering rage as he rose.

"Really? Really? Nkiru, you want this the hard way? You shameless hussy! Now you want to pretend you don't know who I am because you took money from Jessica and her family. I curse the day I met you."

Jessica! Why did that name ring a bell? Nkiru scratched her confused head. What the hell was he talking about? My God, was she in one of her strange dreams again? But he looked real.

"So because of this," He spread his hands around the plush living room. "you want to deny you don't know me. Your shame is so much you want to pretend we didn't get married on the 19th of January, 2011, Mrs. Ekwe?"

"What the..."

And then she remembered.

Something wasn't quite right here. Gio told himself. Nkiru was behaving in a strange manner. Or was it just pretense? Now that he'd come to tackle her on the events of yesteryears, she was pretending not to know him. Women! He couldn't place his finger on it but he knew there was a piece missing here. Now the shock in her eyes at his words was slowly turning into pity.

"Oh, I'm so sorry for talking to you harshly. I didn't realize it had come back. But why always me?"

Gio's eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about?"

"The interview I read about your...your...insa...emm...I mean your instability. But why do you always choose me as your wife when it happens? I remember, though it's pretty hazy...we went to your house and you said these same outrageous things." Pity poured from her eyes but she shrunk back in the chair when she met his eyes. The raw anger in his hard gaze sent a spooky chill down her taut spinal cord. 

Oh, God, she was alone in the house with a mad man!

Gio had had enough of her nonsense. He was prepared to beat the pretence out of her. He got to her, jerked her up with strong hands and shook her a little. While shaking her, he looked into her frightened eyes and something twisted inside him.

"Where...why are your eyes black? What happened to your eyes?"

Pyscho alert full stream! How could he move from such rage to asking her about her eyes?

"I have contact lenses on. I can't see very well without them," she offered, still in fright.

There was a thrumming tension in the air. She didn't know where it had come from but it unsettled her, brought her skin out in goose-flesh. She stiffened, and watched that so expressive mouth of his suddenly slide into the faintest of smiles. It was there and then it was gone as though she had imagined it, leaving her scrutinising him with uneasy suspicion.

"It was another ploy to hide from me, right? Knowing very well how much i loved your hazel eyes, and would be able to pick you out in a room of a thousand ladies because of them, you chose to change the colour. " He smiled brightly and dropped her hands. "Let me tell you something, moglie, I'm going to stop that wedding from happening even if it's the last thing I do."

Nkiru felt she'd had enough. Who was he, crazy as he was to come into her home, frighten her and threaten to stop her wedding to Ikenna? She didn't care if he was the president's son! Her teeth clenched together and she fought to get a grip on her wildly flailing emotions. She moved away from the circle of his orbit and took few steps to cast wide the door in an open invitation for his departure.

"When next you decide to stop taking your medication, please don't rope me in again or i will go to the police to file a restraining order."

In response to that scornful comment, Gio shot her a seething appraisal, his dark eyes flaming like hot coals. He raised one of his hands and watched it shake in disbelieving outrage. He felt like killing her for continously calling him crazy. Oh, was that the card she wanted to play? She had another think coming if she thought she'd get away with this and run of into the sunset with her so-called fiancee.

Just then Nkechi entered the tension-packed living room.

"NK, who's Wunmi rambling about? She said a hunk of..." Nkechi's words died in her throat when she saw her handsome brother-in-law in the middle of their living room. He dwarfed the room and made it seem choking. She felt like singing "Alleluia' and dancing kokoma. God had answered her prayers. That was fast though. She wondered if she could ask for her own Gio right there and God would bring him within seconds since it looked like it was answered-prayers-at-a-snap-of-the-finger express now.

Oh, and he looked good. He also looked...livid, shimmering dark golden eyes flaming over her, telegraphing anger and strong censure.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't another lying member of the Chiwendu clan," Venom poured out from every syllable as he took in her attire. She too had become beautiful and her sky blue jumpsuit fit like a second skin and made her look resplendent. How amazing! Had it been money they wanted, he would have signed over his entire inheritance to Nkiru just to get her to continue pretending she loved him.

Oh, oh, things weren't quite okay yet, Nkechi noticed. Her sister's face was moving from anger to confusion and back to anger again. She took it that the sight of her husband hadn't triggered her memory. How come? Was her amnesia that bad? Or had it taken too long for them to be together again to trigger her memory? Indeed, if you keep water in your mouth for too long, it turns into saliva. Damn! 

"Who is he? And what is he doing here?" she asked her sister tentatively, trying to find out what she knew.

Nkiru shrugged and set a weary look on her sister. "Senator Ekwe's son. It appears that interview on him is true after all."

"Lu...Nkiru, if you call me crazy once more, I'll show you what it really means to be crazy, you filthy gold digger." Gio's anger burst forth like a lit furnace.

Damn! This wasn't going as planned. Nkechi was almost in despair. But she couldn't help noticing the attraction that was still there between them. Gio she could see, couldn't keep his eyes off her sister and she knew her sister was disturbed by his presence not necessarily his so-called madness. Time to salvage the situation.

"Emm...Mr. Ekwe. Thanks for your visit. Please state your intention and leave. Thank you." She tried to be as polite as she could.

Gio raised a mocking eyebrow. "Even you too? Fine, let's play your game. I have been searching for your sister for the past three years now in order to divorce her. But now that I've found her, I have changed my mind. There's no way in hell I'm going to give her a divorce and watch her marry another man. It's not a threat. It's a cast-iron promise. You can take it to the bank. And he'd better not have laid a damn finger on her, else I'd destroy him for adultery."

Yes! Yes! Yes! They are still married! Nkechi's face was blank but her heart was singing in waves. Great! All they needed now was for Nkiru to remember her husband.

But of course, Ikenna had to call Nkiru at that moment. Gio sneered when he saw the word, ''Honey' on the face of her BB10 mobile phone which was beside him on the coffee table. By the time he was through with them, that name would be changed to 'Bitter leaf'.

His wife rushed forward to pick the call and she left the living room to go outside. Nkechi thanked God for small mercies and moved to stand before her brother-in-law.

"Gio, please I beg you in the name of God. Please leave. I know you don't understand what's going on now but I promise to explain everything to you. Please just give me time to talk to Nkiru. Please trust me."

Gio wasn't moved. "I'd rather trust a viper than trust any member of your family again. I wasn't joking with my words. I'll be gone tomorrow because I have very important clients to see but I promise you I'll be back. I'll come with proof of our marriage to your lying, deceiving sister. Then we'll know who is mad then. And i meant my threat. If her so-called fiancee has so much as seen her in her underwear, then he's a dead man."

He lifted his jacket from the arm chair, sidestepped her and walked briskly out of the room. He didn't spare a glance on his wife who was still on the phone, neither did he look in the direction of her neighbour who was seated in front of her flat, combing her gold-tinted hair. He just needed to get out of there to put his thoughts together and set his plan in motion. Nkiru and Ikenna would have to kill him before they made it to the altar.

Nkiru told her fiancee she was okay for the third time before she rang off. Her whole body shook. What just happened? Ignoring the curious look Wunmi was giving her, she entered the living room and went straight to their room where she knew her sister would be undressing.

"Nkechi, what is it with this mad guy and I? Why does he keep calling me his wife? It was a few minutes ago that I remembered the incident in his house some years ago when he claimed the same thing. Senator Ekwe should have his son committed or something. How did he even find me?" She hissed and sat on the huge bed which took almost all the space in the room. Nkechi loved her sleeping space, hence their descion to get a big bed else she'd climb Nkiru's body in the night.

Nkechi, stripped down to her matching green bra and panties wondered if it was time to tell her sister the truth. That in fact, she was the semi-crazy one here for not remembering such a wonderful husband. No, it wasn't time yet. She was just too worked up to listen. And now that Ikenna had called her, her thoughts would be on him. In a few days, she would tell her everything. It was left for her to decide if she wanted to divorce Gio no matter what he said or continue their marriage with him.

But things didn't bode well from her view. How had Nkiru not been able to remember Gio at the sight of him? From the way things stood, Nkechi shook her head sadly. Nkiru would choose Ikenna.

The shade of a tree will always come back.

**********

"Mummy, Gio is back." Nkechi didn't waste time with pleasantries when she called her mother the following morning after her sister had left for the office.

"Obara Jesu!" the woman shouted over the phone.

You can say that again, her daughter muttered.

"How...when...tell me everything," she pressed.

Nkechi went on to tell her how a day before, Nkiru had been complaining of seeing Gio and their wedding in her dreams ever since she got engaged to Ikenna and how Gio showed up the following day threatening fire and brimstone.

"My God, what kind of rubbish is this? Why now?"

"Mummy, that's not even the worst," Nkechi said but inwardly, that was the best part to her. "They are still marred. Gio didn't file for a divorce."

"Oh, God. Why didn't he get a divorce? What kind of a stubborn man is he? He just wants to ruin my Nkiru's life. God will not let him," she vehemently said.

Nkechi shook her head. "Mummy, I don't think it's like that. From what I saw yesterday, I think he still has feelings for her. He said he'd been looking for her to divorce her but doesn't want to do so anymore. He was just so angry yesterday, thinking Nkiru was pretending and also with the misguided notion that we took money from the Azubuikes, hence our elevated status."

"Mtchew. Took money from the Azubuikes? I'd rather beg for food from a mad man."

Her daughter chuckled. "Mummy, see, I think we should just let them work things out on their own. Let's tell him the truth and Nkiru as well. If she remembers him, fine. If they want to start afresh again, fine. I feel now that they've found each other again, we should just let them be."

"May thunder strike your anus and make you not go to the toilet for three days," Mrs. Chiwendu yelled. "How dare you say such! After all your sister went through just because of him? Don't you know Jessica is still waiting in the wings, bidding her time to strike again. Yes, I know calamity befell her family but don't you think revenge will be the uppermost thing on her mind right now?" she questioned angrily. "Whatever you do, make sure Nkiru doesn't remember him. In short, start looking for another house. Maybe you guys should come back to Lagos. It appears that Dutse is very small that was why he could find her easily. They couldn't find us when we were in Lagos. After the wedding, Nkiru can move back there to be with Ikenna. Have you heard me?"

Nkechi pouted. "Mummy, I don't think..."

"Nkechi, Nkechi, Nkechi...how many times did I call you?" She didn't wait for an answer before continuing. "Alone a youth runs fast, with an elder he travels slowly but together they go far. I know you mean well but if you reveal the truth to your sister, I will deal mercilessly with you. This is real life not all those mushy romance novels you and your sister read. By next week, highest the other week, I want both of you back in Lagos. I will tell Nkiru we're no longer comfortable with the security challenges over there though we thank God nothing has happened in that state so far. Do you understand me?"

Nkechi rolled her eyes and hissed silently, grateful her mother wasn't there to see her. "Yes, ma." She felt like reminding her mother of a proverb she'd told her a long time ago that no matter how many spirits plot a man's death, it comes to nothing unless his chi (personal god) has a hand in the deliberation. She was certain her mother would send her a sharp knock through the phone.

"I will tell everything to your father when I get home this evening. Nkechi, please don't go against my words. Remember how your sister suffered. Please don't make her pass through that again. Please. Even if she gets inquisitive, dodge her questions. If she remembers him just as you're about entering the plane to Lagos, still push her inside it. Please. Tell her to come and discuss it with us."

"Yes, ma."

Her mother told her what was going on in the lives of their other family members, asked her how her salon was doing before she rang off.

Nkechi flung the phone on the bed before sitting on it. Her brow furrowed into a frown and she bit a nail on her finger. What was she going to do? She understood her mother's fear, but it's been three years. No one knew the whereabouts of Jessica. After her uncle died, her dad was sent to prison and her mother relocated to the village. Things were different now so why would Jessica come and try to put asunder again? They were still married for crying out loud! And despite Gio's anger yesterday, from the way he looked at her sister, she could bet her entire salon that he still loved her and she knew if Nkiru was made to remember him, she would still love him too.

Nkechi stood and paced the room. But there was Ikenna in the picture now. How was she going to get him out of way in order for Nkiru to be with Gio? He was quite a gentleman but she wasn't fooled one bit. His persistency in wooing Nkiru made her know he wasn't a pushover. How would he react when told his fiancee was married, and married to the son of a senator? He was sure to feel intimidated. She hoped he wouldn't take it out on poor Nkiru. Not everyone believed in the existence of amnesia. Heck, she hadn't even believed it until it happened to her own sister. As she paced, she wondered what it felt like not being able to remember a part of your life. Poor Nkiru. How terrible! Poor Gio as well. He didn't know his wife couldn't remember him. But the mind was indeed funny. Why would Nkiru not remember a love so perfect? Why would her mind choose to forget a man she'd loved so much? It really showed the Jessica issue had hurt her more than she let on. Or was she, Nkechi about to make a mistake in trying to bring them back together again? Had their love just being a fluke? It had looked too good to be true and even made her sister act out of character.

Nkechi paused when she remembered how that love had transformed the couple. Nkiru had being alive for the first time in her life. Her eyes had glowed at all times, she'd been willing to have a total makeover just for him and had damned all consequences to marry the man she loved. Gio too, she'd heard from Nkiru had changed from the cold fish which he'd apparently gone back to now, to his formal funny, lively and wonderful self. But now both their eyes were dull and lacked life.

No! Even if Amadioha sent thunder to strike her buttocks or other parts of her body, she didn't care. She couldn't stand by doing nothing while her sister ended up with a man not created for her and Gio ended up a bachelor all his life. How she wished Nkiru had gotten pregnant then. But who knew? Maybe the chances of the baby growing had been destroyed after her attack. Had there being a child now, she was a hundred percent sure Ikenna wouldn't be in the picture. The man was looking for a perfect wife and had found such in Nkiru. What a laugh when he realized his innocent Nkiru wasn't so innocent after all.

It was time to go and bring out the small box she'd been hiding. If she had been able to succeed at the Get-Gio-At-All-Cost scheme then, then she'd surely be able to handle Get-Nkiru-To-Remember-Gio-At-All-Cost now.

Don't fear planting cassava in a field full of spear grass.

Tnx ma'am

**********

Who is Jessica?

Nkiru asked as she tried steading her breath. She'd just woken up from a nightmare where the said girl had chased her while she'd been standing with the crazy Giovanni. And the Giovanni had mentioned her that day he came to ply his crazy trade. He'd even accused her of collecting money from the Jessica.

Careful not to disturb her sister, she slid down the bed and made her way quietly in the dark to the living room where she put on the light. With her arms folded around her and her black silk nightgown covering her figure, she paced the living room. Ever since Giovanni showed up three days ago, she'd been having dreams of him.

But something wasn't right. She felt as if a part of her brain was locked and needed a key to open it. She remembered being told she'd lost a part of her memory in an accident some years ago. She remembered she hadn't recalled everything yet according to Chichi but was Giovanni a part of the lost memory? But they'd all told her after their visit to his house that he was as crazy as a loon. But then again she'd started dreaming of him just before he surfaced. What the heck was going on here? And she couldn't ask her sister who was as usual having her three-day painful period. Nkechi threw up and wept in pain anytime her period was here. No form of drugs or home made remedies ever helped her until the pain decided to let her be. 

She'd wait. She'd wait and ask her questions. She felt Nkechi was hiding something. She'd noticed the way her sister had stared at Giovanni with so much joy in her eyes. Or was it that she'd been eyeing the hunk of a guy? She couldn't deny the fact that Giovanni was indisputably the most handsome guy she'd ever seen. She'd even reacted sensually towards him. Something she'd never done around Ikenna.

Ah, Ikenna. He was mad at her for keeping things from him but she wanted to make sense of all that was going on around her. With his sense of possessiveness, he might just go and look for Giovanni to tell him off. Something she'd read made pyscho stalkers aggressive. She didn't want anything to happen to her darling Ikenna. They were already planning their wedding even though they'd clashed in some of the decisions. It was now she was beginning to realize that they had different tastes. Ikenna wanted things one way while she wanted it the other. They would sort themselves out in future, she believed. 

She loved him. She loved him with her whole heart even though at times she felt there was something missing. He was her dream man. Good looking, hardworking, God fearing, loving, caring. The only fault she could find in him was that he was quite possessive and wanted his own way most of the time but which man didn't? She usually just went meekly with whatever he said, usually too tired to argue with him but she'd put her foot down in going to bed with him. When he'd tried seducing her at his place when she visited one day, she'd vehemently told him she wasn't going to give herself to a man until her wedding night. So shocked that she was still a virgin, he'd agreed and treasured her more from then on but his possessivness had increased. They shared kisses every now and then but she made sure they were chaste. Not that she felt anything whenever they happened. Maybe she was frigid and would gradually find her sensual feet after their marriage; which was why the way she'd felt around Gio scared her. He'd come close to her and her heart beat had ran a marathon. Maybe it was just fear. It was definitely fear. She just had to run away from him whenever he came near her again.

That was why she was seriously considering moving back to Lagos like their parents had suggested. Nkechi had told them about Giovanni's visit and being scared that his madness had come back, coupled with the security challenges in the north, they'd wanted them to come back to Lagos until after her wedding. But what about her job? It was quite a good job and she doubted if they were going to give her that long a leave just for her to prepare for her wedding. And what about Ikenna? She was going to miss him. 

She decided there and then that if Gio came to disturb her again, she would explain things to her fiancée and relocate to Lagos temporarily. She doubted Gio's madness would allow him come again if he found out she was married to another guy. She hoped so because she didn't want any incident on her wedding day.

With that decision made, she went to the kitchen to get a glass of water, gulped it down before going back to her room to lie beside her sister on the bed.

What a man does not know is greater than he.

Watching in 3D and waiting in anticipation.

**********


"Faith, Faith," Felix's mother called from her position under the tree in her compound. "Please bring me some water."

"To drink?" A vocie replied.

"No, for baptism. I.diot!" The angry woman replied as she dropped her spoon in her plate of rice on the stool. 

Felix chuckled on his chair beside her. His mother and her housemaid were always at loggerheads and it always made him laugh. The Faith girl was as dumb as a rock. She never got her errands right and always asked the most stupid of questions. But it was fun watching her and his bad-mouthed mother from time to time. He sighed.

He'd come home for the weekend to see his mother. After quitting his job as a result of his fight with the cameraman two days after his dog chase, he'd become restless. The stupid cameraman was fond of leaving his camera on him during commercial breaks during his Top Ten Jamz programme or the news. There was a time during his show when he'd asked for them to go on a commercial break in order for him to quickly scratch his butt as a result of him reacting to a new brand of detergent he'd used to wash his boxers, the fool had left the camera on him. Not knowing the camera was still on him, Felix had quickly started scratching his butt only for their other crew members to tell him he was still on air. He'd quarreled heatedly with the cameraman and the guy had not deemed it necessary to apologize to him. 

What had caused him to punch the lights out of him and drop his resignation letter was when it was time for going on another break during the 7pm news, the silly man had left the camera on him again, making him squirm until he'd had to continue the news. Just when he'd continued the news, he'd removed the camera. Felix hadn't wasted time getting up and going to punch him on that big ugly nose of his. Was it his fault that the man's mother had slept with a gorilla and birthed him? Felix had heard how bitter the guy was at his handsomeness and the way girls threw themselves at his feet wherever he went. Was it his fault? 

He'd felt peace when he left the place though some of his colleagues had begged him to come back. But he was already sick and tired of the job. There'd been no need waiting for the owner to fire him. His uncle would be disappointed, he knew but he wasn't bothered. 

"Felix, one who borrows a cloth does not dance proudly. Your uncle got you that job. You should at least have respected him by going to report to the manager instead of fighting with that degenerate. It's the one who is begging for something that his hand is longer." His mother continued their conversation. He'd thought she'd forgotten it in her quest for a cup of water.

"Mummy, i was already sick and tired of the job. The whole backbiting thing and all that. I'll look for another job, abeg."

Oh, God, please save my son. Mrs. Eromosele prayed inwardly. Ever since the death of that Ivie girl three or so years ago now, her son had never remained the same again. What a tragedy! Had she known that it would end that way, she would have handled the matter differently. Her energetic son was nowhere to be found anymore. He'd even cut off from his friends, Ose and Kenneth, leaving only Oghenero who he saw once in awhile. They'd tried persuading him to go for his masters degree but he'd refused. He was sick and tired of education. They even had to grease some palms in his school for them to waive a paper he'd had a carry over in, which would have cost him an extra year. He wasn't aware of it though. 

"Felix, omi mhen (my child), let it go. I know Ivie's death is still very much on your mind. Please let her ghost go. Please." Felix's mother didn't need to beg for the tears that made their way down her semi-wrinkled face.

Felix looked away. He hated such conversations with his mother. Who told her he was still langunishing in sorrow? He was just restless.

"You made a mistake. I made a mistake but please let it go. You've been living your life in the shadow of her death for the past three years. I have watched you transform from that my handsome son who could make me smile even when i'm as angry as a volcano ready to erupt into a man who rarely smiles. It hurts, i know but please let it go. Stop carrying the past with you. It's clearly weighing you down. Please."

Her son rose and moved behind the large tree shading them. Damn it! Why couldn't she leave him alone? He didn't want to think of Ivie. He didn't want to remember the orphan he'd hurt badly. What was there to smile about these days? He was just so tired. So tired of everything. Things weren't just the way they used to be anymore. He couldn't say it was as a result of Ivie's death. He felt it was the natural restlessness in him. Gosh! He needed to get laid. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had some. Damn, he'd lost touch indeed. He who couldn't do without it for a whole week was going almost three months without it.

It had amazed him that Rhema had not come to seduce him that night. So there were still decent girls around? He'd lost a budding friendship when he'd spent a night in the guy's house and the girlfriend had tried seducing him in his room. But Rhema had made sure he heard the click in her door when she'd finally gone inside to sleep that night after keeping him company in the living room. Thinking that was just pretense, he'd been surprised to wake up with a crick in his neck the following morning and all his clothes on. She'd even come out already dressed for work and not in the sexy nightgown he'd anticipated. His respect for her had grown that night. 

With that, he'd gone to her house the following evening after work to return her bathroom slippers and had spent an hour with her again and also ate dinner there. She was a damn good cook! Whether she washed her whatever inside wasn't his business, he just enjoyed the savory taste of her meals. His taste buds had gone to heaven at the taste of her jollof rice that first evening. Then the ogbono soup he'd tasted, garnished with every animal he could think of--he was sure even a chamelon had been inside it--had blown his taste buds away. She sure knew the way to a man's heart. He felt himself beginning to like her. She was good, humble, decent and a good cook. What more could he ask for? Maybe she was the spark he needed at that moment. When he went back to Benin, he would try pursuing friendship with her, then he'd see if they were compatible enough for a relationship. He would have to leave his present abode though. He was now being called 'Ekita (dog) man' in his street. How silly! The stupid dog had had to be put down after it went from street to street terrorizing people. Good riddance!

"I didn't want you to end up being the shameless womanizer your father is today." He heard his mother say and thought he was hearing things. He poked his head from the large tree and his gaze merged with hers.

She smiled a little through her tears.

"You thought I didn't know, did you?" She questioned as he walked away from the tree to resume his seat on the white plastic chair beside her.. "I haven't been married to him for thrity-six years for nothing. I know about his exploits with small girls in this village and in Abuja."

Felix was dumbfounded. He could only stare with widened eyes at his mother.

"I knew that was the seed of discord between the both of you. For him to have said it was because of your womanizing ways was just sheer foolery on his part. I knew then that in your own womanizing, you must have caught him and it had angered you. I felt proud to have you for a son. It felt good that I had a son who would stand up to his father on my behalf. It makes going out my way to have you more than worth it."

"Mummy, i didnt..."

"Ssh...it's okay, my son. I would have left him but for you and your sisters; my children. A lot of women are in loveless marriages simply because of their children. Dogs do not actually prefer bones to meat; it is just that no one ever gives them meat. After quarreling with your father countless times and keeping malice over the issue all to no avail, I decided to be grateful he still came back home to me and took care of me and my children. That was the most important thing to me. The mouth which eats does not talk. I try my best to revive the romance sometimes but it's all dead and gone now. Somewhere along the line, I must have done something to lose him forever. I don't know.

That was why I fought every girl who came your way then. I didn't want your wife to be like me. Living in a sham called marriage. But I didn't know you'd met your so-called missing rib in Ivie. Had I known, I would have encouraged her to start nipping the things she didn't like about you in the bud then. I'm very protective of you, son. But I realize now I'm too protective. Someday I will tell you the story of your birth which made me so protective of you. But I really should have allowed you live your life, make your own mistakes, after all, you're a man. I'm sorry, son. Please find it in your heart to forgive me and also try to forgive yourself. You will meet another Ivie. Please treasure her even more than the late Ivie. Every woman needs a man to call her hero. When your father disappointed me, I made you my hero which was wrong of me. That's what happens when your partner disappoints you and you channel all your love and energy on your children. Find a woman who'd be proud to call you her hero and her, your queen."

Oh, God. Tears glistened in Felix's eyes. This was the first time his mother had spoken to him this way. He rose to go and give her a bear hug.

Faith rushed out of the house just then with a big bowl of water and set it beside them.

"Fada (Reverend Father) don go? Who wan baptize?"

When the girl saw the devilment in her madam's eyes, she took to her heels but not before Mrs. Eromosele had drenched her with the bowl of water.

Felix laughed with his whole heart. It felt good to be home.

It is the fear of of fence that makes men swallow poison.

*To be continued*

I must confess, u are really wonderful. I love u most especially DAT u'never leave ur wk unfinished


dis suspense is killing but I lyk it.

thanks for did update

Episode 19


The most difficult aspect of moving on is accepting that the other person already did.
- Faraaz Kazi


Something wasn't right.


Something about Nkiru wasn't right. He couldn't place his finger on it but he knew the pieces of the puzzle called his wife weren't complete. There was something about Nkiru that just wasn't adding up. Why was she pretending she didn't know him and calling him crazy at every turn? Nkechi had pretended at first but later showed that she knew who he was and even pleaded with him to keep his peace. So Nkiru was the only one pretending in the picture. But why? What happened three years ago that made her hate him so much she was willing to pretend now that she didn't know him? Was it because they'd collected money from that witch and her family? That looked flimsy an excuse. Or she just didn't want to have anything to do with him again and didn't know how to go about it? That wasn't right either. She would have just come out to say it. She'd stared at him blankly in her house the same way she'd stared at him that cursed day in Abuja. Only when he'd come within inches of her had she come alive. Those damn contact lenses made him unable to understand what was going on behind that head of hers. It was said that the eyes were the mirror to the soul. There were times in the past when he was able to guess what she was thinking in those beautiful eyes of hers. 


Damn! He really should quit trying to remember how good his wife looked. It wasn't going to do him any good feeding his head with fantasies of taking her to bed, after all, he'd been celibate all of three years without her. Of course urges had come and opportunities had presented themselves in form of girls who were willing just to be his s.ex buddies with no strings attached but he'd always held himself back. He'd always subconsciously remembered he was still a married man and assuaging his lusts would be tantamount to adultery although his wife, he believed hadn't had such thoughts while he was living a monk's life.


Gio's hands tightened on his armchair. If that Ikenna of a guy had had s.ex with his wife, he was going to kill him! They'd better not have exchanged kisses. Heck, he'd better not have kissed Nkiru on that smooth cheek of hers. Pushing back the chair in anger as jealousy warred in him, and going to stare out the dark through his office's window, Gio had to admit to himself that he was being unreasonable. Ikenna didn't know his so-called fiancée was married. It was all Nkiru's fault. But seriously? Would she really have gone ahead with the marriage just like that if he hadn't found her? Didn't she know anything about court marriages? Didn't she know she had to sign divorce papers? It riled him to think she'd cast aside their wedding as if it never happened. What about their wedding night? What about those days and nights they'd spent pleasuring each other? She was able to throw them away? God! Women! They were evil creatures.


"Excuse me, sir. Please may I take my leave now? It's almost 7pm." Anna knocked tentatively on the wooden door before taking timid steps into the room. She didn't understand her boss anymore. Ever since he came back from Kano a week ago, he'd not been himself. Everyone at the office were standing on hooks and tentacles because his temper was on a short leash. He snapped at the slightest cause and behaved like a wounded bear. It was already beginning to make the rounds that maybe his insanity was beginning to come back. People were already talking of looking for another job in case their boss had to be hospitalized and the firm shut down.


Anna had to ask for permission again before Gio heard her. He turned around, apologized for keeping her late for no reason and told her he'd be leaving shortly. He realized then that he had to go home and felt guilty at leaving Tano home alone all day. The poor boy was already used to being alone but that didn't mean he had to add to his loneliness. He left the office while his secretary locked up.


His thoughts were still on his wife as he drove home, drove through his street and pushed his horn at his gate and his gateman opened it. He couldn't afford going to Jigawa anymore. He had very important clients to see, assignments to submit and tests to read for. But could he leave things as they were for now? Was Nkiru going to bolt on him again?


Gio went into his posh house, went to his bedroom, took a shower, changed his clothes and walked into his dining room where he knew his cook would have kept dinner warm and waiting for him, with thoughts of Nkiru still flooding his mind. He picked at his ravioli until he noticed his younger brother standing at the other side of the table with a frown on his handsome face, so like his. Tano had grown into another handsome Ekwe, and truth be told, the handsomest of them all.


"Gio, what's going on?" the teenager asked. He'd been standing there all of ten minutes before his elder brother noticed him.


"Nothing. I just have a lot on my mind." Gio took a sip from his glass of water.


Tano looked crestfallen. Undeterred however, he pulled out a wooden chair, sat and faced his brother.


"Gio, please not you too. I'm sick and tired of being treated like a kid. I'm sixteen years old for Christ's sakes! I'm going to school and live in a foreign country soon. If Dad could trust me to let me go, then it shows i'm old enough to know what's going on in our family," the poor boy pleaded. "Please tell me what's going on. Ever since you came back from your sudden trip to Kano, you haven't been yourself. Please talk to me."


For some reason, Tano's desperate plea got to him. Ten years his junior, he couldn't begin to imagine what it felt like to be in the dark always about the goings-on of your family. Maybe Tano would even be the oracle to give him the answers he sought.


He opened his mouth but nothing came out. Tano became sad.


"Gio, please. I do not like what our family has become. Please, I just want to know what's going on. No one wants to talk to me. What happened between you and Fi? Why did you and Nkiru break up? Why don't you relate with Dad anymore? Please make me understand."


Hmm...he wanted to be a man, right? Gio wondered. Ah, to hell with it! He was feeling reckless enough. He proceeded in telling him everything without leaving out a single detail. When he was through, Tano just sat there looking mystified. His elder brother chuckled. There was absolute silence for awhile.


Tano cleared his throat. "So...you're a married man."

Gio laughed. "Yes, I'm a married man. A man whose wife disappeared for three years after collecting money from his enemy, resurfaces, denies every knowledge of him and calls him crazy at every given opportunity."


The bitterness in his brother's tone flapped around Tano. "Sincerely, Gio, that doesn't sound like the Nkiru I met. She wasn't moved by money at all. Are you sure nothing happened before you guys met that day in our living room?"


"That's what i intend finding out."


Silence fell again.


"Is that why you refuse to forgive Fi? I guess she was selfish and self-centered but Gio, she has paid for her sins."


His elder brother's eyes darkened. "Change the topic, Tano."


Tano pressed on. "You should see her. She's in a sorry state. So lonely. I was at home last week and felt so sorry for her. Gio, please let her come and talk to you."


Gio rose abruptly and flung his napkin on the table. "End of discussion, Tano."


Tano rose as well. "Gio, please. She's sorry."


His brother paused as he made to leave the dining table. "Sorry?" he scoffed. "She doesn't know the meaning of the word. Does she know how it felt to have my own sibling, my own blood, take sides with an evil stranger? Why? Simply because I fell in love. Was she planning on marrying me or what? Did her love transcend beyond sibling love? I have tried to reason it over and over again why she did what she did that day and it all boils down to what she told me after she lied. All because of Nkiru Chiwendu. Maybe, just maybe, I wouldn't have been married to that gold digger right now if it weren't for Fi and her lies."


Gio halted his words at the look on his brother's face. He took a deep breath and let it out.


"Tano," he began slowly. "I'm a pretty messed up person. You've always known that. I agree I wasn't there for her and y'all when you needed me but just when Nkiru made me realize that, Fi joined in taking her away from me. And plundered me back into the darkness I was in for years. If she can get me out of it again, then she might have a fighting chance of getting her brother back. The operative word being 'if' because experience has shown that the one person who can lift me out of that darkness is my wife who doesn't want to have anything more to do with me."


Gio strolled hastily out of the place. "Good night , kiddo."


Tano sat down heavily on the chair he's earlier vacated. Wow! That was some deep sh*t he'd just heard. For the first time in his life, he was beginning to understand who his elder brother was. A garbage man. Gio had so much garbage inside him he needed a cleaning crew in order to let go. And then there was Fi. Why had she lied? Then his dad and Aunt Peace. Like seriously? They were dating?


Wow! How had he ended up in such a messed up family?

**********

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


Senator Ekwe chuckled. "Is it working?"


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


"Why can't we get married?"


"Because..." she hesitated.


"Because what? We love each other. "


"Society," she blurted out.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


He smacked his hand against the wall in ferocious anger.


Why were the Ekwes jinxed when it came to love?

**********


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


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


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


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


 God, please help me, she prayed inwardly. 


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


Ikenna! 


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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

first to read....thankz a bunch aunty Audrey

**********


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


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


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


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


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


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


"We have to be in Lagos tomorrow."


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


"No, nothing like that." Nkiru sniffed.


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


"He was here," she responded fearfully.


"Who?"


"Giovanni. The senator's crazy son."


"Please stop calling him crazy," Nkechi snapped.


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


"Is that why you're crying?"


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


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


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


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


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


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


"Because he's your husband!"


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


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


Nkiru lost consciousness.


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


*To be continued on Sunday*


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

Thanking you.

Let me thank you before I read...Eshey maa

Nkechi, God save u say u talk. I for come slap sense into ur head. BTW, i want more of you Audrey

God bless u ma'am. U just made my night.#wink

Thanks for the update Audrey. As usual Felix and his mother's episode is hilarious. Thank God Nkechi finally told Nkiru d truth. Can't wait till Sunday.

Thanks a million for the updates ma'am, u are good @ wat u do.

Jonathan2787:
Ladies and gentlemen, sorry to tell you that our dedicated audrey is having issues replying comments and update, nairaland is responsible for this short comings and she mailed me appologizing and also asking yall to sit tight as she's making efforts towards setting things straight, she appreciates yall her readers and want yall to be patient for her.

baba which one b yall??abeg bone grammer make u dey yan us with broken next till....if you dey oritaforgo Wey we boyz dey....u no feet dey speak English o

Thanks Audrey. Nairaland pls let our Audrey be and stop stressing her account.
Nkechi you just made the best and bravest decision ever since the start of this story. Please help your sis and don't chicken out. True love cannot be allowed to burn out.
#Team Gio/Nkiru