BEHIND THE FINE FACE
EPISODE 3
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My family came together to impose the decision to get married again, on me. Their reasons were justifiable, but the fear of what I’d been through from my previous attempt, made the tussle a bit longer than it should have been.
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I finally agreed to settle and from the list of options they made available to me, I made a choice.
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Grace has always been a girl I admired from afar (even though we were more like family). She is the second born daughter of my mother’s best friend. She was usually that little girl her mother would send over to deliver a message at our house, but every time I tried to bring up a conversation, she was usually too shy to hold one with me.
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As at the time I finally decided to settle down again, Grace was just rounding up with her university program and awaiting her NYSC call up letter. Grace was all grown, with eye-popping; jaw dropping; neck turning contours, now perfectly formed in the right places.
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I could hardly believe my ears at first, when during a conversation; Grace told me that she had no boyfriend and even more so, that she was still a virgin. I mean, how many university graduates can say that these days?
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It took me a while to believe any of these without certain verifications, but when I finally had my doubts doused; it became the beginning of a different mental battle.
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The moment I confirmed that Grace was still a virgin, I began to nurse ideas within myself. Then I finally concluded that she was “a no-go area” for me; for a wife.
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I mean, “what if the reason why I’d had all that evil befall me, not so long ago, was because I deflowered Rachael (my wife); after the countless other girls I’ve rendered their “punani without grip”, for the unfortunate men who’d eventually find them and settle?” I thought to myself.
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It took rounds of countless counseling sessions, to make me see past the possibility that Grace could be a replica of Rachael and instead, see her as a gift to me.
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My wedding with Grace was not as grand as mine with Rachael. I still had a lot of theories at this point, as to why things ended up the way it did, the first time. “Maybe it was someone from the crowd or a gift we were presented with. Maybe it was from the money we were sprayed at the reception, or from just having been seen by an evil eye.” I wondered.
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My list of theories was endless, and it was on this note that I decided to make my wedding with Grace, small but classy. Everyone in attendance were people we knew. It was strictly based on invitation; from the caterer handling the food at the reception to the D.J; down to the ushers in attendance, were all people I knew, personally.
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I wake up every day, expecting to hear that something bad has happened to an establishment of mine, but each day, I go back to sleep that night, having made a tremendous profit from unexpected sources. But I still didn’t want to believe any of it. Besides, it took two long years before the real issues with my finances began, when I was married to Rachael.
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Three years passed, and my business had never been more flourishing as it had been, in the past three years. This was when my love for my wife; for Grace, truly began.
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Five years passed; I was in the hospital, pacing its hallway, impatiently; waiting for a nurse to come out and announce to me that Grace; my wife has put to bed, our third child when a sudden scream and shout of “emergency” got me looking towards the entrance of the hospital, where nurses had now begun to scamper towards.
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Apparently, an accident had occurred, involving the person that’d just been stretched past me, but instead of this being what the word “accident” primarily implies, it was more of a suicide attempt by the victim.
The driver had rushed this victim to this hospital, hoping that this person would make it.
And no! It wasn’t Rachael.
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To be continued…
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Moshood Avidiime
