The Sacred Lust (episode 7
One man’s poison is another man’s food, that’s to say no matter how broken, rejected and battered you are, there is someone that would pick up every broken pieces of your heart and make it whole again. There’s someone that would set eyes on you and never look away, someone that would love you unconditionally and assure you everyday that they want to be with you and in your life, there’s someone that would take a walk into your life and never walk out again and there’s someone that would forever be in awe of you.
The greatest injustice you can ever do to yourself is to stay in an unhealthy relationship just because you believe you might not find love again, so in a bid to be at a safer side, you choose to remain with your abusive partner. What you fail to realize is that you can never know what awaits you at the other side of fear. Most times, taking a leap of Faith is all you need to do and then God will take the wheels from your hands. If Isabel didn’t walk away from her emotionally abusive ex-husband ‘Jerry’, she might have never made room for the blessings God was about to beautify her life with. Despite the shame, embarrassment and mockery she got from people after her divorce, she tried to maintain a positive outlook on life and not let the negative energy she was getting steal her zeal to wake up each day and give happiness her best shot. We might not be able to control the things that happens to us on a daily basis but we can sure determine how to respond to it and how much it affect us.
It’s clear that Isabel had succeeded in making a lasting impact and good impression in the life of the mysterious young man at the care giving home that happened to be the grandson to the old woman she had been taking care of every week. There was this instant connection they both felt immediately their eyes jammed together. It was more of a ‘love at first sight’ thing for the young man but as for Isabel, she wasn’t in a hurry to let anyone into her heart; not after the hell she went through in the hands of her ex-husband ‘Jerry’. Despite the fact that she was a bit attracted to the mysterious gentleman at the caregiving home, she was also careful not to let her feelings show. It’s apparent that a phenomenon ‘love story’ was about to be born but neither of them was aware yet that there was love in the air.
After few seconds of a very awkward silence, Isabel finally spoke up for the first time since she arrived. “Hi mama, Goodafternoon. I have missed you all week” she happily said as she walked towards the excited old woman to give her a warm hug. “My beautiful daughter, I miss you too. This is my grandson Richard, he came to visit me today” the old woman replied with a smile on her face when they were done hugging each other. It was when the woman acknowledged her grandson that Isabel proceeded to greet him too. “Hi, my name is Isabel; It’s nice meeting you Richard” she calmly said, “Nice meeting you too Isabel, the truth is that I have heard so much about you from my grandma and have been longing to see you walk through that door since I came here. You have a really great personality and strike me as someone with a good heart. Thank you so much for taking care of my grandma, I appreciate you” He calmly said
The manner at which Richard spoke to Isabel made her heart glad and leap for joy. It’s been a long while since someone appreciated her so it felt really good to hear those nice words from him. In order not to forget her main reason for being there, she began to clean up grandma’s room.
While Isabel was busy tidying the room, Richard couldn’t stop stealing multiple glances at her as he spoke to his grandmother about random things. Despite pretending not to be aware of what was going on, the old woman was very much aware that her grandson was love struck. It gladden her heart that her son was showing massive interest in Isabel because she was indeed a good woman who anyone would love to have in their lives as a daughter inlaw. That day was undoubtedly headed towards a good direction and all we can do is pray that the spark that had lighted in the hearts burns further.
After about an hour of nonstop cleaning, Isabel was finally done with the room. She said her final greetings and goodbye to grandma and was about heading to another room for more cleaning but as a sharp guy, Richard followed and blocked her at the corridor. “Are you leaving too soon?” He calmly asked, “Yes I have to because I have other rooms to clean” she replied. Without hesitating, he made a fast move on her. “I’ll really like to see you again. I don’t mind waiting till you are done with your volunteer work so we can go grab lunch. I’m almost done with my grandma but I can wait till you are ready to leave” he calmly said.
There was just something about Richard that made Isabel’s heart melt. He gave off peaceful vibes and there was nothing she wanted more than anything in life than peace. As Isabel stared into Richard’s eyes in search of even the slightest deceit, she found none. She smiled faintly and calmly said “Yes” to his request. That answer immediately Lit up Richard’s face with happiness. He thanked her and told her to let him know once she was done cleaning. At that moment, even a blind person could tell that there was Love in the Air.
While Isabel cleaned the rest of the rooms she had to tidy, her mind couldn’t stop thinking of Richard. Deep down, she felt happy to be wooed and desired again because it’s been a long time since an attractive man such as Richard made advances towards her. The fact that she hadn’t looked her best since after her divorce due to the state of her mental health made it quite surprising to her that a man as handsome and poise as Richard would even look her way twice. It all seemed like a Miracle and she was here for it.
In a twinkle of an eye, three hours had gone by and finally, Isabel was done with her volunteer work for the week. She cleaned up herself and changed into another set of clothes which she usually carried with her whenever she came for the volunteer work so she could change into something fresh before going home. Luckily for her that day, she brought some really nice spare outfits so it was kinda befitting to go on a date with Richard.
“I’m done” Isabel calmly said when she walked into Richard grandma’s room and without hesitating, he got up and pecked his grandmother on her forehead and gave her a hug. “I’ll be leaving mama, see you soon and I promise it won’t be for long” he said with a smile on his face. His grandma blessed him and Isabel before they took their leave. The old woman was really happy how things turned out between her grandson and her favorite care giver. It was such a beautiful day for her to be alive!
That day was such a good day as Isabel and Richard got to know themselves better over dinner. They talked about so many things and Isabel’s marital status wasn’t excluded in the conversation. With every layer of her life she unveiled to Richard, tears almost fell off her eyes but she fought them back from falling. It was such an emotional conversation because that was kinda the first time someone has genuinely listened to Isabel’s side of the story without prejudice. Instead of being judgmental towards her, he was rather sympathetic and empathetic because he could feel her pain in every word and tears she held back from falling. It was such an emotional yet beautiful day in both their lives.
After that first date, more followed and just like that, it seemed unending. In a time frame of a month, Richard and Isabel were technically best friends that did almost everything together and also knew everything about each other. Their friendship was really admirable; It was peaceful and filled with laughter.
Deep down, they liked each other but didn’t want to rush things just yet. They loved the idea of being friends first before any other thing. In just the short while they have known each other, Richard had given so much meaning to Isabel’s life than Jerry ever did in 3 years of their marriage. He gave her absolute peace of mind, made her feel protected, gave her many reasons to laugh, provided for her and made himself reliable. As more time went by, they became almost inseparable and always had each other’s back even without officially being lovers.
While Isabel was regaining her laughter, joy and happiness with Richard, we couldn’t say same for Jerry and Nicole. It turns out that a DNA test confirmed that the two kids Nicole had birthed in their few years of being married wasn’t Jerry’s. Surprised much? Now here’s how it all happened.
When Jerry and Nicole started seeing each other at the initial stage of their relationship, Nicole was also seeing her ‘on and off’ ex-boyfriend whom she also loved as at then. They made love occasionally while she was also seeing Jerry at the time. When she took in, she was convinced it was Jerry’s baby because he was the last person she slept with before finding out she was pregnant, not knowing that she took in a week before she made love to Jerry and the baby belonged to her ex.
Moving on to when Nicole and Jerry were now officially married, she took in again for their second child but it wasn’t Jerry’s too. Turns out that Nicole cheated on Jerry one time they had a big fight that made him leave town for few weeks to cool off. While Jerry was gone, Nicole felt really lonely and at that vulnerable moment, an unexpected text from her ex poped up requesting that they meet up to talk. Initially, Nicole declined the invitation because she didn’t want to cheat on her husband but couldn’t hold herself back anymore and sadly visited her ex at his beach house where they made love again and again without protection.
At the time, Nicole was on birth control but it sadly failed her without her knowledge. The next week, Jerry returned back from his trip and made love to his wife after they reconciled. When Nicole found out she was pregnant, she felt it was her husband’s baby because he was the last person she made love to and for all she knew, she was on birth control pills at the time she slept with her ex.
Sadly, Jerry found out the truth about the paternity of his kids when they fell sick and he tried donating blood to them but their blood types were unmatched, same with Nicole so that kinda raised suspicion that something could be wrong somewhere. Behind Nicole’s back, he conducted the DNA test and it came back Negative.
For a split second, Jerry’s whole world came crashing and burning right before his eyes. Just for a moment, he felt the pain Isabel felt when he betrayed her. Everything just didn’t make sense anymore and the truth of the matter was that death felt so much better than life for Jerry. Confronting Nicole was probably one of the hardest things he had ever done because the confrontation further proved indeed that his two kids weren’t his. That reality was a hard pill to swallow but it was already too late to rewrite his destiny to choose a better fate. It was terrible!
Without hesitating, Jerry angrily threw Nicole and her kids out of his house. He was terribly hurting at that moment and couldn’t think rightly. The last person he ever wanted to set his eyes on was Nicole, talk more of being in the same space with her. It was really sad to watch the two kids he dearly loved and cherish leave with their mum. That fact that not even one of them was his child, broke his heart beyond reasonable comprehension. It was really a dark and sad day for Jerry but could we call it Karma? Who knows!
While hell broke loose in Jerry and Nicole’s marriage, Richard and Isabel were now the ones living their best life. At that time, Isabel wasn’t aware of what was happening in her ex-husband life and to be frank, she cared less.
It’s been two months now since Isabel and Richard became friends. They really liked each other and as time went on, Richard knew it was time to officially ask her to be his girlfriend. He lacked the courage to confess his feelings for her but the strength to do so came one beautiful evening while they sat at a nice park talking about life and random things. They spoke at length and after a while of talking, Richard held Isabel’s hands and looked into her eyes.
“Isabel, there’s something I have been wanting to say to you. I know we have been friends for just two months now but I honestly feel this is the right time to tell you that I don’t just like you, but I Love you very much. You make me really happy and I just can’t picture myself without you anymore. I know you have been through so much and probably still hurting due to the betrayal you got from your ex, but I just want to let you know that I’m nothing like him. I promise to be consistent in my love for you and I promise to never let you go not matter what. If you can’t conceive in the future paraventure we get married, we can always adopt. Life shouldn’t be so difficult as we make it look. I’m willing to go on this new journey with you and promise to remember the promise I made to you this day whenever things gets tough. I love you Isabel, I honestly do love you with all my heart” he calmly said while looking her in the eyes.
Filled with so many unidentified emotions, Isabel began to tear up. She looked into Richard’s eyes, smiled faintly and replied; “I Love you too”.
✍🏼 Written by Sonia Okehie
