RED FLAGS
EPISODE 2
My mum and Bimpe ran after me calling my name when they both regain their composure but it was too late because I was already outside and fortunately for me, a cab was coming my way so I flagged it down and got in before they could meet up with me. I was having mixed feelings of emotion on my drive home because I don’t know if I should laugh or cry so I kept laughing as hot tears spilled down my eyes uncontrollably. It even got to a stage the cab driver was kind of scared because he thought I was some mental asylum patient who ran away and I could see how scared he was as he keeps checking me through the rear mirror not until I alighted from his cab when I got to my destination before he heaves a sigh of relief. I paid him and headed inside with my heels in my hands as I walked in barefoot.
I flopped down on the couch immediately after I got inside. My phone has been ringing non stop from my mum,bimpe, Suleiman, some of his colleagues who has my number and some unknown numbers I don’t know of. I didn’t pick any of them as I just sat down drown in my own thoughts. I kept having notifications on all my social media handles since my data was always on so I decided to check since it doesn’t involve me talking to anyone and I nearly had a heart attack immediately I logged into my Instagram account because my proposal video was all over the internet and posted on different blogs with different caption even the popular blog “Love update” wasn’t exempted.
My account was tagged in some post and I wonder how they got to know my social media handles and I realized we are in the internet days so nothing is hidden. I started reading the comments one after the other and I could say it is not something to talk of because the comments were so calumnious. Some kept hurling insult at me saying” Why would she lead the guy on for good four years and turned him down when she knows she didn’t love him, she wasted the innocent guy’s time , she will never find a man to love her again, she will be forever bitter, she is a disgrace to a womanhood, who no fear woman no fear God ….” I can’t blame this people because what those bloggers wrote as the caption were all lies because they painted me as the villain and who am I to blame them because they can only assume and give different reasons why I turned down Suleiman’s proposal since the truth was hidden from them.
I didn’t bother logging to Facebook and Twitter because I knew for Instagram to be on fire like this then Twitter and Facebook will be worse. People kept sending me death threats and curse through my messenger , Instagram and Facebook accounts so I decided to switch off my phone so it won’t weigh me down because trust me, it takes a strong person not to commit suicide when your name is being tarnished everywhere. I just turned my phone off when the entrance door was suddenly opened as my mum stormed in angrily.
“Anisha, you disgraced me and yourself today and if I didn’t carry you for nine months I would have said you are a bastard. Why did you turn down Suleiman’s proposal? You have been in a relationship with this guy for good 4yrs and he has been extremely nice to you and me all these years so I wonder the kind of evil that consumes you to turned him down publicly like that. I knew you were up to something since you never open up to me about your relationship and anytime I asked you when Suleiman is going to propose you flared up and say” he was the one that hasn’t proposed not knowing you were the architect behind it all”. If truly you still take me as a mother and you sucked on this my two breasts for one and half years then you need to give me a good reason why you pulled that stupid stunt ” My Mom stated angrily.
All this while she was talking I just kept looking at her as my tears flow uncontrollably down my face. I allowed her to vent her anger and once I noticed she was done, I stood up and wipe my tears with my two palms, and turned my back at her as I shed light on what was keeping her in the darkness in my relationship.
“Mum, you have the right to be angry at me since I am always the secretive type about my relationship so I don’t blame you when you judge me. Do you think I intentionally turned down Suleiman’s proposal? No! Do you know what I went through in the hands of Suleiman for the past four years? I went through hell Mummy , but you could not even see through my facade appearance. I saw a flag in my relationship with Suleiman when I first started dating him but I thought he was going to change but instead it kept getting worse every day. Suleiman has the best qualities you will ever pray for in a guy but he has one but which was “short temper”. Do you know anytime Suleiman and I had a little quarrel he collected everything he has once bought for me and damage them beyond repair not minding how expensive they are . He has once raised his hand on me when I went to visit him. He got angry when I told him I won’t be spending the night with him that day though I promise him I was going to spend the night at his place as per our agreement but my boss assigned me to meet a client the following day and I knew I couldn’t make it if I sleep over in his place”.
I came that day to tell him am sorry but instead, he flared up and said:” Between me and your job who is your priority?” I told him in as much I haven’t got married to him then I am my own first priority and can decide who am to obey and disobey because no one knows tomorrow. He flared up immediately I said those words and said:” You are very ungrateful despite everything have done for you and I can see you women are not to be taken with soft hands . If you can’t obey me now then you can’t obey me when we get married”.
I tried to beg him that day not to allow little things to cause a rift between us and even promised him I will make it up to him but the next word that came out of his mouth was that ” I should pull off the lingerie beneath my dress and give it to him since he was the one that brought it for me on Valentine’s day. I refused to and told him I can’t do that even if he was the one that bought it for me and the next thing that landed on my cheek was a hot slap . Suleiman has never seen my nakedness before because we both believe in marriage before sex but it was on that day I knew the devil he was capable of becoming when he loses his temper.
I held my cheek in shock because I couldn’t believe he could do that to me. He came closer to me and try undressing me himself so he can get the lingerie he bought for me and we started struggling with each other and the more I struggled with him the more I received a thunderous slaps on my cheeks and face. It got to a stage he overpowered me and torn my dress including the lingerie on my body and brutally raped me and took away my pride.
It was after he was done that he realized the gravity of what he has done and he knelt down in front of me and started begging me but that day I realized I was dating a two-faced person. I was starked naked in front of him with tears streaming down my eyes while he kept begging me. The funniest part of this was that, Suleiman knows how to cry and beg perfectly well after abusing that if care is not taken you will ended up seeing him as the victim. It was that day I decided enough is enough. I knew he wasn’t the right man for me and I am not a psychiatrist doctor to heal him.
I managed to leave his place that day in his shirt and trouser but I couldn’t come home so as for you not to see my bruised face. Mum, I had to sleep in a mosque for six days to nurse my bruise lying to you that my boss sent me on an impromptu trip to Abuja . When I was completely healed I sent him a breakup message but you won’t believe the drama Suleiman came to performed in my office the following day. He came to my office with a knife saying he would kill himself if I don’t take him back and to avoid him creating a scene I had no choice but to forgive him since I knew what I was going to do. Suleiman kept begging me and bought a lot of gifts for me but I rejected them because I knew I don’t want anything to do with him again so I just keep tagging along with him to find the right time to dump him. He became extremely nice after that incident and keeps his short temper in check so when he proposed I could accept his proposal thinking he has turned a new leaf but I knew it won’t take long for him to lose it when we get married and he might kill me someday.
“Mum, people looked at my relationship with Suleiman and even wish for the type of relationship we had not knowing it wasn’t the perfect or beautiful one but the worse and ugly so how do you expect me to accept that kind of man’s proposal? He is not going to change and I am not ready to change him because my relationship with him are quirks with bright red flags flapping violently in the wind that must be simply acknowledged”.
My mum was drenched in her tears listening to me. She moved closer to me and hugged me and I let loose of the emotion I am trying to hold as we both cried in each other’s arms. We were still crying in each other’s arms when we heard a knock on the door. My mum asked “Who is that ?” with me still in her arms and we heard the voice I never wanted to hear.
“Open the door, is me, Suleiman”
I quickly look at my mum and said do you lock the door when you came in and with the shock expression on her face that means the door was not locked and we both dread what was about to happen to us.
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