Chinwe lay in bed, wondering what her father
would spring upon them this time, since he
would be coming with his lawyer. it would be
a civil discussion of course, but with her
father, one can never be too sure of anything.
She sensed a movement by her door and
expected the door to open but it never did, it
seemed Tokunbo changed his mind, but
before she finished that thought, he came
back and knocked on the door gently but
opened before hearing her reply.
“Hi” he said without really moving into the
room
“Hi”
“I need to talk with you, and before you say
no, you have to listen to whatever it is I have
to say”
“Well, it is your house; you can say whatever
you want to say”
“It is yours too and I would like us to be civil
about this discussion”
“I’m all ears”
“You said some things this morning and I
would like us to clearly discuss it again,
because I swear you got me confused”
“What would you like to clear?”
“The statement of yours accusing me of rape,
if I heard you correctly”
“Yes you did”
“Who is the person I raped please and can I
see her?”
“Why would you like to see her?”
“So she could say it to my face when and
where I raped her”
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Please”
“When did you leave for the US?”
“February 2011”
“so that would make it 4 years that you
traveled out”, she said, making a quick
calculation in her head, the incident that
marred Clara’s life happened January 2011
and with his admission, it makes it clearer.
“Yes, 4 years”
“Okay, that’s all I want to know”
“Well, I would like to know who this person is
for God’s sake, I need to know.”
“Well, if you are insisting you need to know,
it is only making two thoughts come to my
mind.
1. That you have raped more than one person
and you can’t keep tab of the number
or
2. you want to continue to deny it”
“I will continue to say it, I have never ever in
my life forced a woman to do anything for me
or with me. What is the matter anyway, is the
person dead, that I cannot meet her or you
are just bent on getting out of this marriage so
much so that you would cook up any story to
suit your mission?” He replied with a tight
voice as if he would like to blow it all up, but
he decided to not rise to her bait. She
obviously wanted him to lose his cool so they
could suspend the whole discussion again.
“You think I’m making this up?” She laughed
sarcastically, sitting up straight in bed and
looking him straight in the eyes
“Well, if you are not, then let me meet this
woman or is it a man?”
“I’m sorry that cannot happen!”
Tokunbo wanted to scream at her but held it
all back in again, taking a deep breath to
calm himself and then trying again
“You know what, I will make a deal with you.
Let me meet the woman and when she tells
me to my face when and where I raped her
and we can confirm that, I will give you a
divorce. I will sign any divorce petition
against myself and give you the freedom you
so much desire. I know you are here because
your father threatened you, but I swear, let
me meet this woman and I will walk to him
and tell him I want to divorce you.
The deal sounded so good to Chinwe that she
almost answered immediately but decided to
weigh the possibilities of Clara wanting to
come to Lagos to see him or even wanting to
receive him in Uyo. Well she had to make him
know he has a child anyway, she would
agree, Chinwe calculated in her brain.
“Deal!”
“Fine, so when can we meet her? Tomorrow
would be a perfect time” obviously pleased
they are agreeing on that.
“Nope, I need to inform her first and she’s
not in Lagos, mind you”
“Well, distance does not matter and I can get
her ticket to come down here, or we could go
to wherever she is to see her”
“Well, when she agrees we will see her”
Chinwe was smiling triumphantly as she
watched him stare at her. He still looked good
and she would not deny she found him
attractive but she definitely would not be
banking on it, since rapists should be
condemned to death, if it were up to her.
The smile on her face was made Tokunbo to
skip a heartbeat, making him wonder if he
truly was ready for whatever might come out
of this whole mess. He stood up gently and
walked to the door not minding that he still
had many things to say.
He turned back from opening the door and
asked her one simple question
“If you would believe such about me, after
the feelings we shared and the thing between
us; that is if you actually felt it, can I then
conclude that you were just playing me all
those months? Because I swear if anyone told
me a thing about your past that is sordid, I
would have listened to your own side of the
story before crucifying you. I mean it.” He did
not wait for a reply as he gently opened the
door and shut it behind him without any
noise.
The silence after he left made the statement
so large and thick in the room so much so
Chinwe could almost feel it floating over her
head. She wondered if she truly ever loved
him like she claimed and if she was foolish to
have behaved the way she did without
actually listening to his side of the story.
Clara could not have lied about a thing like
that and Henry is a living evidence of what
she claimed. She had met his mom and she
told her about the birthmark, insisting no
other person had that mark. No one else in
their family does. The question about a
second brother was ruled out because there
are just 2 of them. Himself and his sister, who
could not come for the wedding because of
her health condition. She had to stay back
with her husband and kid. She is a couple of
years younger than him but she got married a
couple of years back to a British man.
She thought about it clearly, the whole fold of
events and she unfolded them in her mind
again, starting from the moment her father
dropped the news on her lap that she would
be marrying him to the time she moved out
of the house to stay with Clara who was in
Lagos then. To the time her mother begged
her to come back, to the time she went to the
US to ‘see him’. When she returned to
Nigeria,she helped Clara move to Uyo after
her rent expired and to the time he came to
Nigeria and they started dating officially;
everything seemed just like yesterday.
Could she have been rash in her action? Could
it be she did not love him enough to listen to
his side of the story. But who was she
kidding? All rapists have one thing to say- I
did not do it or, she seduced me; she should
have known better.
