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Kola rushed after Jumoke but he wasn’t fast enough, she locked the door against him. He banged at the door twice then stopped. It was late and people in the neighborhood might be disturbed by the noise. Raising his voice, he called.
” Jumoke please open the door. Let’s talk.”
” Talk about what?” She asked from the other side. ” What is there to talk about? You’ve shown me clearly this evening that you value your mistress more than me. If not, you wouldn’t keep me in suspense and waiting for you, while rushing to attend to her.”
Kola became angry at Jumoke’s choice of words and he pointed it out to her. Why on earth would she refer to deaconess as his mistress? It was a wrong insinuation, displeasing to the ear and sacrilegious. Kola raised his voice a notch louder. ” I take exceptions to your use of words. Why on earth would you refer to deaconess as my mistress?”
” Because she is,” Jumoke shouted.
” You better take back those words this very minute.”
” I won’t, and I’m eager to know what you will do if I don’t. Beat me?”
Kola sighed in frustration. ” Jumoke please open the door.” He pleaded.
Jumoke felt like calming down. Whereas, she had made her point. She’d gotten a tangible fact. Kola had agreed that he went to the Deaconess’ house before heading home. He said that he was helping her to balance something. Jumoke wished they could leave it at that, but something was pushing her to make more trouble. She felt an uncontrollably pressure to continue talking and talking and talking. She wanted to pour out all her frustrations in her speech, washing her mind until it is clear of all anger and doubt. She was rest assured that they would soon settle their differences. They’d never kept a grudge for more than 24hrs. But then, Jumoke wanted to say what would make Kola’s ear tingle that he would never forget. They would settle later.
If Tosin happened to be here, Jumoke knew the kind of advise she would give to her. She would beg her to calm down, that two wrongs won’t make a right. Tosin had the capacity to take things calmly. But Jumoke is not Tosin. She wouldn’t remain calm.
It seemed that Kola was tired of begging her to open the door. She sensed that he was moving away. Not good. She wanted him to stay back and keep on begging or at least, exchanging words with her. Something was energizing Jumoke from within, possibly the force behind the frustration of the night.
She wouldn’t allow Kola to just walk away. And then by the next morning, he would beg her and they would settle as usual. She would go into the kitchen, get last night rice out of the fridge and warm it. She would also warm the pepper soup and serve Kola. Later in the day, Kola would drive her into town. She would make him branch ‘ drinks and bites’. They would get two big ragolis bottle of kunu aya, and she would gist him on what she learnt about its efficacy in raising libido. Kola would giggle and look at her with ‘one kind of eyes’. Their weekend would turn out fine, but by Monday, Kola would go to work and still visit the deaconess before returning home. No! Even if there’s nothing funny going on between them, Jumoke wanted Kola to have nothing to do with the Deaconess again. That’s what would give her rest of mind.
No! She cried and hurriedly opened the door. She balanced herself before Kola. ” I want to know what that woman gave you that made you to prioritize her above me.”
Kola shifted back a little. ” Why would I place anyone above you. You know you are my first priority,” he said. “Deaconess Beatrice gave me a very sensitive task. Something that required utmost confidentiality. She emphatically said that she trusted me and that was why she gave me the responsibility. She begged that I make it as discrete as possible.”
” Meaning that even your wife shouldn’t know that you’re doing something for her?”
” I made a mistake by not letting you know that I would be working on something in her house on most evenings. I wouldn’t have told you what it was about anyway, but I should have hinted you that I would be working with her. I think I felt I could just take it as an overtime, since she was paying me for the job.”
Jumoke calmed down a bit and asked in a sarcastic tone. ” And where does the secret job stand now?”
” Everything is almost concluded. We just need few meetings and all would be over.”
Jumoke frowned and pointed eastward. ” You mean you will still be going to her house? I’m not comfortable with you going there. So many things are at stake.”
He drew her closer. ” Why are you making a mountain out of a molehill? There’s nothing at stake?”
She wriglled out of his embrace. ” Why can’t you bring the job home?”
” I just told you that it is very confidential. By the way, why are you making an issue out of this? I’m very disappointed with your action.”
Jumoke eyed her husband and smirked.
” For crying out loud,” Kola said. “Have I ever given you a reason to doubt me? Even when I had temptations from left, right, back and front, I’ve always been straight forward. Even when I got advances from beautiful and well endowed ladies…”
” Beautiful and well endowed ladies,” Jumoke repeated after him. ” Thank you for reminding me that I’m not well endowed.”
” Please stop it,” Kola screamed. ” Now you are really getting on my nerves. What has come over you? I was making a point and you are busy reading meanings into what I said. I just want you to know that I’ve always been clean. Both before I married you and after our marriage. You’ve always been the only woman I know and will remain the only woman in my life. Even if a naked woman is left alone with me in the room, I have the capacity to resist her. I don’t lust after other women. I have an inbuilt self control that has been there all these years. Nothing can pull me down.”
Kola pulled his wife closer to himself. He raised her face to look directly into his eyes. ” There’s nothing untoward between me and deaconess.”
” Then look for someone to complete the job you are doing for her.”
Kola drew back and looked at his wife like she was speaking a strange language. ” You mean I should…”
” If I mean so much to you as you claimed. If you are sure that there’s no amorous attachment to deaconess, leave her job, break every relationship, stop going to her house…”
” Stop it.” Kola screamed. ” I never knew you are as selfish as this. Put yourself in her shoes. Do you know the nature of what I’ve been doing for her. Do you know how much we’ve spent on logistics and other things? How do you want her to feel if I abandon her at this point in time? Is it her fault that she’s a widow. Does being a widow mean that she would snatch every man that comes her way? See!” He pointed at Jumoke. ” Enough is enough. I am going to finish what I started with her. Period.”
” Thanks for letting me know where your preference lies.” Jumoke sulked.
” Believe whatever you want to believe,” Kola said shrugging. ” I’m done here.”
TO BE CONTINUED
An adage says that when the handshake has gone beyond the elbow, then there’s a cause for alarm.
Let’s take it that Kola made the mistake of sidelining his wife in his decision making, but I personally think Jumoke has taken things too far.
Even when one is right on an issue, you might end up getting blamed if you keep on hammering on your right. My people will call it aseju.
Now that Kola is angry, what’s your advise for Jumoke
