Olaronke waited impatiently for her best friend to answer the phone. It had been eight weeks since they talked and she knew it was cruel of her. Aina loved her like a sister. She was happy when dhe was and frustrated whenever she was sad. She could remembered how they had met at school. Olaronke was staying with one of her classmates back in secondary school waiting for the third supplementary admission lists to be released. She had been writing JAMB for the past three years to study her dream course Mass Communication. But her dream was threatened by POST UME, she was always two marks behind the cut off. Her mates were already in their finals and she felt out of place and isolated.
It was when she broke down in tears as she checked her admission status at the cafe she met Aina. The latter had shushed her and took her outside.
“Why did you embarrassed yourself like that?” Aina asked
“I was not given admission” she cried.
“I can’t go back home my mates are serving already” she added
“Just calm down. What course did you choose?” She questioned
“Mass comm” she answered.
“I can pull some strings for you. I am not sure you will get your desired course but you will be accepted into this university. Let’s go” she promised.
That was how their relationship started.
Her voice came to the line”Adunni?”
“Ore miiiii” she screamed back while Aina sighed.
“It’s been eight weeks” Aina was horrified
“I am sorry” she apologized
“You just went into ghost mode” she said again
Olaronke chuckled “Yea. How are you?”
“I am sick of worry. I received your text message and afterwards I couldn’t reach you. Where are you? ” Aina asked.
“Girlfriend, you will have to calm down. I have some great news to share that might tip you off a cliff” Olaronke grinned waiting for the squeal. It came, but louder this time.
“I am strong enough to hear it” was her reply
“I got married two days after O…”
“After Oluwaniyi left you” she screamed
“Wow! To who?” She asked
“Babawande, you remember him?” Olaronke asked but the answering machine informed her, her airtime was exhausted.
She waited for few seconds before her call came through
“Who?” Aina asked
“Babawande” she replied
“Your boyfriend from cradle” she said laughing.
“Yea” Olaronke said
“How’s it?” Aina asked
“Fine. We are over the storm. Do you still have Lizzy’s contact?”
“Yes, why?” Aina asked, she was in her parents house preparing for the coming wedding anniversary.
“I need to buy sexy under wears. One I can wear for a wedding night. It’s about to happen” Olaronke grinned.
“Ha- I have her contact, I will forward it to you”
“Thank you. What’s up with you? Any new guy?” Olaronke asked
“No, just that doctor. You remember him? Stevie, we are together now” Aina laughed hearing her friend screamed in shock
“What’s change? I mean you hated seeing him” Olaronke said.
Men are funny creatures. How Stevie could still chase after Aina was a puzzle. She could recalled how her friend treated him with hatred.
“That was then and all in the past. He’s been the only one who loved me all these years. All the men I dated did not want me for their wife. But Stevie wants to make me a wife” Aina said
“Are you happy?” She asked
“Trust me, I am”
“Well am happy for you. Stevie is a good guy” Olaronke said
“Yeah and rich and looking presentable. Do you know he removed that disfigurement; his front tooth? She asked
” Yea, I heard that” Olaronke replied
“I will be opening my restaurant in the next three days, will you come?” She invited her
“That’s my parents wedding anniversary day, have you forgotten so soon?” Aina asked
They talked about everything before they ended the call.
Aina laughed, Adunni knew how to help her. She made her job easier.
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********************
Three days later,
“I presume you came in here for the most important reason, Adeola” Wande said, his tone although cool was tinted in anger. He had warned his temporary Secretary never to allow Grace into his office. After yesterday, he knew he could not live through another drama.
There was a moment’s pause”Sir, there’s a reason ” .
Adeola replied unsure, his boss tick over everything these days.
“And that is…..” He prompted, praying her reason was dammed good or else he would show her the door
“A lady…..” She began but he jumped him
“I hope its not Grace” he asked through gritted teeth
“No sir. A lady who refused to give me her name gave me this envelope for you” she said waving the envelope
“Take two steps backward, take another four, take another six. Take another three” he instructed till her back was resting at the door.
“Good. You don’t know your job, do you? How can you allow a stranger to drop the letter without informing the security to search her” Wande breathed, he was frustrated with the girl “It could be poisoned or a letter bomb for all we know. Now open it and read”
With shaky hands, she opened the sealed letter
“It’s about your wife. She’s deceitful. Have you had a seconds to think about why she married you after her failed nuptial to a man who dated her for three years? A man she was hopelessly in love with? She is pregnant. She and her father decided to pass the….”
“Are you sick?” Wande barked at her
“No sir”
“How dare you speak ill about my wife?” He was on his feet now roaring in anger.
“Sir I read the letter” she said helplessly
“Leave” he ordered.
The girl left in a hurry and forgot to close the door.
He strode towards the door and shot it in anger. The envelope was still lying on the floor of his office. He picked it up examing if there was any address written on it. None was written. He checked the rest of the contents. It contained his wife pictures with her Ex. They look good together. She was clearly in love with him. Adunni was pregnant. No wonder she was eager to be intimate with him. His gut warned him but like a fool he shoved down all his suspicions and where did it lead him?
“Babawande calm down” he spoke to himself looking through the architectural glass. He picked up the letter, examining each words.
“She’s deceitful” he read
Well she was. He agreed to that.And read the other sentence.
Was it possible for a jilted lady in love to remaary just in two days? He pondered over this pacing about the room.
Even widows waited for years before they remarry. There must be a reason behind it. A secret was more like it. And her father’s action was suspicious. Why did he called him last year December to come home and marry his daughter, and February he was marrying her off to another man. She must have been pregnant.
“Maybe she got pregnant deliberately to avoid marriage to him” he thought over that. It made sense.
“Pregnant women don’t menstruate, do they?” He asked himself thinking about that night four days ago. He was too busy handling her body; well the upper part of her body to noticed any difference and at the bathroom the bathtub didn’t turn red.
“If she was pregnant, she should be showing by now, it was May already” he thought over that.
“Did she abort the baby, was that why she claimed she was menstruating?” He asked himself.
His head began to pound as several thoughts poured in and out. He read the note further. She was trying to pass another man’s baby as his. It was true. Right from their wedding day, that cloth she wore was red; bold and seductive revealing her boobs. Afterwards, she was always wearing revealing clothes. He thought he was the smart one all along. He treated her with kindness, allowing himself to care for her, to believe in a future together and he sped the process; never allowing her to grief for an hour.
Yet, she and her father no doubt had been laughing over his gullibility. Her father had known he had no choice but to marry her by involving his uncles. And Bolarinwa, when did he became devious? He had said something about family loyalty? Was that what it was called these days? Duping a friend because of family? No, he didn’t believed he would do that to him. Olaronke and her father were the devil.
He would not lie down to coercion. He was a man, not a fool even though he had been behaving like one years ago. A short buzz alerted him that his next appointment had arrived. Business as usual was much more comfortable than drowning in destructive emotions.
***********
In the afternoon,
Wande weighed carefully in his mind whether it was the best revenge to travel to Abuja for his business and in the process missing his wife restaurant grand opening or served her divorce papers. No, no, no. That would be too quick. He could humiliate her by giving her five months more. By then she would be popping out a baby. If she had not abort it already. He sighed. Who could have sent those pictures and letter? Could it be Grace? No. He discarded the thought. Grace knew nothing about his wife. It has to be someone who knew Adunni. Was it her step mother? Yes. It could be her. She was closer to Adunni’s family to be privy to such information. Whoever it was, was either trying to separate them or really speaking the truth. Whether it was the truth or not he could read the mind of the sender. Her aim was separation.
He would not leave his wife. He might thought her devious, but she was giving and generous at the same time. He would stay married to her and gave her months to detect if she and her father were playing him. There has to be a secret behind it. A woman who was in love with a man do not attempt to jumped into bed with another. That was her aim since the beginning of their marriage.
****
“First of all” he heard his wife well spoken voice
“I would like to welcome you all to the grand opening of the brand new Ronny Restaurant. Today May 5th 2017 is an historic day in my life”
Wande heard his wife’s voice through the microphone as he strode along the corridor towards the restaurant hall. Her tone intrigued him despite his anger at her. Just as he reached his seat, his eyes locked with those of his wife’s. Her speech faltered as she flashed him a quick smile that almost melt his insides. Almost if not for her deceitful act. His eyes roamed over her figure resting itself on her stomach. She was dressed in an orange jewel gown. It hugged every inch of her and her boobs were unusually big. Was it the pregnancy?
“It looks like your marriage to my sister is having a very good effect on you. Your eyes are just fixed on her body. You didn’t even say hi to we your friends” Bolarinwa teased clapping him on his back.
Wande turned to see the stupid grins on his friends face. He was done for. Everyone of them looked like they had something to say.
“He’s in love with her” Kunle said grinning
Wande rolled his eyes heavenward. He regretted inviting them over.
“Would you guys please display some manners, a beautiful lady is on the stage addressing us” Wande scolded and the others burst out laughing
“I told you guys, Wande is in love. Ever since he got married, he has lost his sense of humor. I teased him about his clingy Grace and he almost knocked my teeth off” Bayo said chuckling
“Ha clingy Grace, that girl called me tire. Begging me to talk to my brother in-law to marry her” Bolarinwa said frowning
“I can imagine how you must have felt” kunle said.
“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Bayo asked, his eyes following that of Wande’s
“She’s my wife” was his hard reply. He doubled the effect by glaring at them. They rewarded him with a knowing smile
“A man is in love when he is ready to go violence because of his woman. You had a sister this beautiful and you could not introduce her to me” Kunle said to Bolarinwa
But Adunni’s voice drowned whatever her brother was about to say.
“And now I will like to call on stage my husband Babawande Adufe Williams. My beloved husband that made this happened” Olaronke grinned at him.
He walked to the stage and plastered a quick kiss on her forehead. That was the last she would ever got from him. He swore.
…to be continued
