DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
EPISODE 6
Shana took a step back when she saw Ayomide coming close to her, she knew that the bottled up feelings she had for him could give way to actions that could ruin her few hours old marriage.
Shana: “Ayo, please. Don’t come any closer; I am your elder brother’s wife”.
The door suddenly opened and Femi walked in.
Femi: “Wifey, you are not ready yet? The guests are already waiting for us”.
Ayomide: “Your wife is almost ready. I actually interrupted her makeup session because I wanted to congratulate her for making such a good choice for a husband”, he bowed his head and walked out of the room leaving the newlyweds behind. Shana had observed that ever since Ayomide got back and heard the news of their engagement, the relationship between the two brothers had been strained. Ayomide had even vowed to her that he wouldn’t attend their wedding but had changed his mind after much persuasion from his family.
Femi: “What are you thinking of? Ayomide? I see that you love him”.
Shana: “I don’t know what you are talking about”.
Femi: “Do not lie to me, Shana. I see the way you were staring at him when he left the room, I see the way your eyes sparkle anytime we talk about him. Tell me, are you already regretting this marriage? Do you wish that you had married him instead?”
Shana: “It is you that I love, Ifemi and that is why I married you. Ayomide is my brother in law and that is what it is”.
That assurance was all that Femi needed to put his insecurities to rest and he gave his bride a peck and led her out. They had travelled to Dubai afterwards for their honeymoon and their marriage had been blissful until Shana began to get worried because she could not conceive despite the fact that she was having s*x with her husband almost every day.
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*BACK TO PRESENT*
Shana returned back to reality from thinking about her past and how the journey with Femi started. “Could it be that Femi is cheating on me because I am yet to conceive after six years of marriage?”, she asked when she got out of her subconscious to the reality that Femi had left the bedroom for her simply because she confronted him with his infidelity. “No, I can’t allow things get out of hand like this. Femi and I cannot be in the same house and we will sleep in different rooms, no way”, she got up from the bed and walked to the guest room. She saw him lying on the couch in the sitting room with his duvet over him. She knelt down beside him. “Ifemi, my pride, I am sorry I over reacted. Please forgive me. Come back to the bedroom to my bed where you belong”.
Femi although awake ignored her and continued to stare at the ceiling.
Shana: “I am talking to you, Ife. I said I am sorry now, Crown”.
Femi: “Ohhhh! What have I gotten myself into like this? I was in the bedroom, you didn’t allow me sleep. I left there for you and now you won’t allow me sleep here too?”
Shana: “I said I am sorry, now. Okay, let us sleep here together then”, she made to lie down on his chest but he stood up angrily.
Femi: “I see that you are in the mood for trouble tonight. Whatever it is that is pushing you to me, tell the thing that you didn’t see me”. He walked to the guest room and locked the door shutting her out.
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Shana woke up feeling feverish the next morning, she had spent the good part of the night weeping and had fallen asleep at the wee hours of the morning hence she didn’t know when Femi left for work in the morning. She made to get up from bed but she felt week and she decided to lay back in bed.
Few minutes later, she felt a rumbling in her stomach and she ran to the bathroom and threw up. That was the first time in years that she was vomiting and she felt strange. She went back to bed and in no time she was vomiting again. Then she realized that she hadn’t seen her monthly flow for two months. “Could this mean that…”, she couldn’t complete the question because she was afraid of dashing her hopes. “God, could this mean that I am pregnant? I just wish it would be true, then I would live all my life praising you”. She summoned all the strength she had and drove to the pharmacy down their street. There she bought a pregnancy testing kit and came home to test herself. Two pink lines appeared on the test stripe, a confirmation that she was indeed pregnant. “No, this is too good to be true, there must be a mistake somewhere”, she thought. She tried it again and again, using different stripes and they all gave the same result. Her joy knew no bounds. She picked up her phone to break the good news to Femi but he did not pick his calls and she decided to wait for him to break the good news to him. This was too precious news to be broken to her husband via text message, she thought.
That evening, she took special care to brush her hair and apply her makeup. She was going to be a mother and she didn’t care if Femi went out with all the women in the world, the baby forming in her was all that mattered to her and she was not going to allow Femi’s infidelity dampen her spirit.
Femi closed from work at about 8pm that day and headed for home. He had called Licia earlier in the day to cancel his date with her because he had a slight headache and needed to sleep. He had however promised himself that should his wife give the slightest impression of nagging, he would leave the house and sleep out at his mistress’ place, an act he never contemplated before now.
When he got to the house, he observed that his wife was looking brighter, despite the fact that they had a quarrel the previous day. As soon as he was done eating his dinner, she came close to him.
Shana: “Guess what, Ifemi”.
Femi: “I really can’t guess anything right now. My head hurts and all I need is to rest”.
Shana: “Ife! Ah! You have changed o. Anyway, I, no, we are going to have a baby”.
The news hit Femi like a thunderbolt and he jerked up and moved over to her sofa.
Femi: “What did you just say?”
Shana: “I am pregnant, Ifemi”, a tear of joy escaped from her eyes.
Femi grabbed her in a soulful hug, the type he used to give to her when they were dating and when they were few years into their marriage. He was happy and instantly began to regret all the pains that he had put her through because of her inability to conceive six years after marriage.
Femi: “I am so happy, baby. You know what excitement does to me, it makes me speechless. Right now I can’t even say anything. All I know is that I thank you for making me a father and I promise to be the best husband to you and the best father to my child”.
Shana: “Today is the second best day of my life, the first was the day I walked down the aisle to be with you forever. Thank you for making me a mother”.
Femi: “I owe you all the thanks. In fact, what was I doing having another woman’s phone number in my phone?”
Shana: “I know for you? You better change o, you are soon going to be a daddy and you better start behaving like one”.
Femi: “I have changed already o. Don’t be angry with me, mummy”, he teased her.
She was glad that finally their happy days were back. This was the jovial Femi she married, the one that made her laugh all the time. In her heart, she blessed God for giving her a child at a time when her marriage was sailing on turbulent waters, there was no better time than now for such a priceless gift.
Femi: “So tell me, which hospital confirmed the pregnancy? I mean you didn’t even tell me that you were going to the hospital today, I would have given you some money”.
Shana: “I didn’t go to any hospital”.
Femi: “Really? So how did you confirm the pregnancy?”
Shana: “I did home test using pregnancy stripes”.
Femi: “You mean you raised my hope based on the result of a pregnancy stripe? That thing that is not reliable?”
Shana: “I am certain, Ifemi. I tried it so many times and then I haven’t seen my period for more than two months now”.
Femi: “How many times have you missed your period for months in the past only for it to end up coming back after a while?”
Shana: “What are you insinuating?” she was getting worried because there was an atom of truth in what he was saying. Several times in the past, she had missed her period for months only for it to return dashing their hopes.
Femi: “You have to go for a proper test in the hospital tomorrow, until then, count me out of this celebration”, he wore his slippers and left for the bedroom leaving her worried of what the hospital result will be”.
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After Femi left for work that morning, Shana got dressed and hurried over her breakfast of corn flakes and drove to her hospital in Wuse Zone 3. She was driving but her heart was beating wild out of fear of a contradicting result at the hospital. She was in a hurry to get to the hospital for she felt like she was going to die of anxiety. She was over speeding and didn’t know when she contravened traffic light and collided with a car that was coming from the opposite direction. As she crashed into the other, she lost control, screamed and passed out.
WATCHOUT FOR EPISODE 7
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