MY DAUGHTER MY WIFE
Episode 22
After Chuks my friend drove off, I became so weak I couldn’t walk steadily to my room. My mother saw me as I walked in, and even though I had tried to maintain a better disposition as I got inside the house, my mother could tell that something was troubling me.
“Ekààlè iyà mì” I prostrated and made to walk away, but this woman called my name sharply, making me turn around in fright!
“So Andrew, you’re going to kïll yourself because of that possessed girl that God has liberated you from?
“Her êvïl mother left you in pains, and chose to also leave her daughter to continue from where she stopped, and in your uncontrolled appetite for sëx, you fell hook line and sinker for it, marrying that manïac, against all reasonable logic.
“Providentially, God chose to send her away and save you from the troubles she was brewing for your life, and now you think I have to sit by and watch you kïll yourself because of her?
“What is it with you men and sèx? Tell me Andrew, apart from s*x, what else did she offer you that has made her so unforgettable that you want to keep mourning her departure?
“For how long am I going to keep telling you that God himself chased that girl away from your house and your life?
“So now Andrew, instead of thinking of how to get yourself a good wife and give me grandchildren, the ones you’ll be able to raise before old age comes knocking on your door, you’re here weeping over a deliverance God gave you on a platter of gold!” my mother yelled, obviously tired of calmly begging me to move on.
We had talked about Madonna’s issue several times, and I agreed with everything she said about forgetting Madonna, and even told her she was in my past. But what I didn’t tell her was that I had decided not to try again.
So while she scolded me that night because she imagined I was thinking of Madonna, I was too lazy to argue or to even keep a thing to myself. I didn’t know how to explain to her that Madonna had shattered my hopes of ever having my own kids.
But I just found myself telling her everything about Sola, and how I was going to standby and watch my very good friend live happily ever after with the woman I have come to like so much.
My mother listened to me like a friend but when she told me Sola was mine and was going to remain do, I became angry with her.
For a moment, I thought she was like a friend, a true one, that will tell me the truth and admonish me to move on, but there she was, giving me false hopes, and adding to my sorrows.
I thanked her and walked to my room. The clothes on my body found their way to different parts of the room, as I continued to fling them with annoyance, finding an avenue to vent my frustràtion.
My phone rang as I sat on my bed, but I was also too reluctant to take the call because I was so sure it was Chuks calling to tell me about Sola or to ask me how he could make her accept him, so ignored the call.
The phone began to ring again, and I answered, intent on telling him to let me be, but I heard a feminine voice.
How could I not recognize her voice? How could I not know it was her, when as soon as I heard her say the simple “hello”, my heart began to thud heavily.
“Helllooo Sola, heard from Chuks yet?” I asked her after we exchanged the regular pleasantries.
“No, is there something he should have told me? Did you ask him to tell me something?” she asked me amusedly.
“Yes, and I’m sure he’d see you soon” I told her, but the sound of excitement in her voice as she told me she’d be waiting for him, made me nearly break down in tears, even before I hung up.
“Why does she seem so happy that Chuks was coming to see her? Has she been secretly wishing he asked her to be his girlfriend?
“Oh God! So Sola has fallen in love with Chuks. Very soon now, they will get married and have kids running around their home and I’ll be the one left in cold and loneliness!
“Why is my life like this? Maybe if I had told her how I feel about her, it would have made her consider being with me.
“Who knows? She may have even given me children that are biologically mine! Why is everything about my life like this?” I soliloquized, turning restlessly on my bed, and unable to sleep.
That night, when I finally fell asleep, I had a nightmare! I saw Chuks walking down the aisle with Sola but she kept looking at me and cursing me for making her remain sad for so long.
The priest officiating the wedding asked me to come to the altar and asked why I allowed the best man walk the bride to altar while I stood watching.
I tried to explain that I was afraid about certain things and wanted to have my friend walk with her and be sure she’d truly walk to the altar before I walked there to take her, and the priest got so furious with me, and called some youths to flog me for being a còward.
I woke up running from the heavy strokes of cane I was getting from the dream and even after I woke up, I was still sweating profusely.
“What could this mean? How can I be beaten so bãdly because I didn’t walk down the aisle with her when she’s sounding so happy to hear from Chuks?
“Was it a bad decision to tell Chuks I wasn’t feeling a thing for her when I’m dying to have her tell me she loves me as much as I love her?” I asked myself
It took me a long while to get prepared for work, and a longer time to decide to walk into my office without going into her office to see if Chuks was there.
As soon as work closed, I ran off, not willing to stay by and see Chuks and Sola walking out hand in hand to tell me they’re now together
I rushed into my car and was about to drive out when I saw Chuks and Sola seated in his car.
She was smiling happily and the look on Chuks face made me see that they were so happy with whatever it was they were talking about.
I drove out immediately and made to rush home, but a thought struck my mind, and I found myself reversing and driving right back to the office.
“Oh God! Don’t let me find them kissing already!” I thought as I rushed back to the office.
Sola was sitting on the bonnet of Chuks’ car, but I couldn’t see him anywhere around.
It seemed Sola was crying, but I didn’t want her to see me. She must have been overwhelmed by Chuks’ proposal, I guessed, so I walked into my office and decided to drink while I waited for Chuks to meet her up.
I must have drank too much and for too long, because when I heard the door to my office open, I was way too drunk to see clearly. The light in my office was on, but the person approaching me, looked more shadowy than a human.
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*TO BE CONTINUED
