DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
EPISODE 3
Shana was driving with the intention of catching up with her husband when she decided to dial his number to see if he would pick and lie to her about his whereabouts. His phone continued to ring and he didn’t pick up and this infuriated her more. She felt her hands quivering around the wheels of the car and she was struggling to stable her hands when a taxi man overtook her to beat the traffic which turned red signaling her to stop. “Shit! Oh my God, this traffic is crazy. Why tell me to stop now, mehn? Gosh they have gone past the traffic before it stopped me. How do I catch up with them now?” she cursed under her breathe. When the traffic turned green, she drove quickly but she could not find any trace of her husband’s car. She drove to the end of the road and when she came to a ‘T-junction’ she turned back and drove home quietly.
As soon as she got home, she went in front of the mirror to stare at herself. She found out that she was slightly shivering.
“This is not you, Shana. Why are you doing this to yourself? Look what your insecurity has caused you, imagine you driving around town just to embarrass your husband. You need to stop this before you push your man out for good”, she had formed the habit of soliloquizing and telling herself the truth since she was a teenager. This has helped her to retrace her steps anytime she was beginning to lose focus. Although she was still very angry, she composed herself and waited patiently for Femi to return. She was determined to confront him with his infidelity that day and she was looking forward to the lies he would come up with.
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After Femi dropped his colleague at the front of her house, he drove to Licia’s house, he was super excited, any moment with Licia was literally heaven on earth for him. He was whistling to himself as he drove, few years back, if anyone had told him that he would ever have reasons to cheat on his wife, he would never have believed for he used to love his wife more than his life. Today, fate and circumstances had pushed him into the arms of another woman and he had no regrets about it.
He drove into her estate and he caught her staring at him from her bedroom window. She smiled and winked at him when their eyes met. He got up stairs and she opened her door and jumped on him. Even though this was what she did every time he came to visit her, he never got used to this her excessive show of emotion and today, he almost lost his balance and crashed on his feet when she jumped on him for she was fat.
Femi: “Hey! This lady wants to break my waist o, my orobo sweeti”. He teased her as he entered her room.
Licia: “I can’t break your waist, now. If I break your waist, na me go suffer o”.
Femi: “Hahaha, I know where this your talk is headed. Anyway, where is my food? I am famished!”
Licia: “Right over there on the dining table. Come let me feed you”.
She led him over to the dining area and when she opened the dishes, he was disappointed at what he saw. “What is this?”
Licia: “Noodles with carrots and green beans and fried eggs. All for your eating pleasure”.
Femi: “Noodles? You mean I drove all the way from the office down to this place just for me to eat noodles as dinner?”
Licia: “Yes? What is wrong with having noodles and eggs as dinner?” she asked with a pint of anger in her voice”.
Femi not wanting to offend her faked a smile and rolled up his sleeves to eat. “Of course there is nothing wrong with it, I am glad to have this as dinner”. He began to eat even though he knew he didn’t have the appetite for noodles. Few minutes later, he lied to her that he was full and rose up to leave.
Licia: “Ah-ah, you didn’t finish your food again? You didn’t even drink water”.
Femi: “Oh, water. I forgot”. He picked the glass of water before him and gulped it down.
Licia got up from her seat and drew close to him. She began to remove the button of his shirt. “Now that you have eaten, can we make love?” she began to draw imaginary lines on his chest with her pepper red acrylic nails.
Femi: “I would have loved to but I need to rush home now”.
Licia: “Home? This is just few minutes past 8pm. What are you going to do at home?”
Femi: “It is an emergency, I will see you tomorrow”. He picked his brief case and walked out, leaving her dumbfounded.
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When the door bell rang and her husband came in, Shana was glad and all the anger she felt at him driving another woman in his car faded away. After his bath, he asked for his dinner which she gladly served him. That night, before retiring to bed, he went into the toilet to ease himself and his phone which he left on the bed began to vibrate.
Shana: “Real Deal calling again? I must pick this call this time around”.
She picked the call and waited for the caller to talk first.
Licia: “Hello, baby. I just want to ask if you got home safely and to tell you that I am missing you already…”
Shana, infuriated ended the call and dropped the phone back on the bed.
Femi got out of the bathroom and made to lie down when he noticed that his phone was ringing. He picked it up on seeing who the caller was, he dropped it.
Shana: “Why don’t you pick your call, Ife?”
Femi: “Don’t mind all these customers, jare. I don’t know why a customer will be calling by this time of the day. Do the bank pay me to attend to customers at night?”
Shana:”Customer? He or she?’
Femi: “He o, one man like that. He came to my office this afternoon to say that he needs his statement of account and I told him to return tomorrow. He collected my number saying that he would call me before coming tomorrow. I don’t know why he is calling me now”.
Shana: “Really? But the caller is a lady and not a man as you claim”.
Femi: “And what is that supposed to mean? Are you saying that I am lying?”
Shana: “Well, I picked the call while you were in the bathroom and I heard…”
Femi: “You did what?” he ran to where she was standing and pinned her to the wall, choking her. “How dare you pick my call? Is something wrong with your head?”
Shana: “You are hurting me, Ifemi. Let go of me”.
Femi: “Do not force me to do something that we will both regret in this house”. he released her and pushed her to the ground.
Shana: “What has come over you, Femi? Why are you doing this to me? You are cheating on me, Femi. I put it to you that you are having extra marital affairs. I caught you and a woman driving shamelessly all around town today”.
Femi: “Has it gotten to the level that you now monitor my movements?”
Shana: “Why are you doing this, Femi? We used to be happy together, what are other women giving you that I am not giving you? Or is it because I haven’t been able to bear you children? Am I God that gives children?”
Femi: “There you go again, Shana. Who is talking about children here? You know what? You can have the bedroom all to yourself”, he picked his duvet and stormed out of the room.
Shana: “Femi, you now call me by my name. Oh God, what have I gotten myself into? Okay, come back to the room, I am sorry I over reacted”. He ignored her and banged the door of the bedroom behind him. Shana collapsed in tears as she began to think of how the journey to becoming Femi’s wife began six years ago…
WATCHOUT FOR EPISODE 4
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