UNMARRIED AT THIRTY
EP 11
Jumoke breathed in heavily and sank to the chair, she was already exhausted after unsuccessfully with her husband tried to persuade the loan company to have a reconsideration about the terms of the agreement. Jumoke’s husband had taken a loan of five million naira from a loan company for his wife Jumoke to start a business using their house as collateral.
Unfortunately for them, the entire business plan went south and they were in a huge debt beyond the strength of their shoulders. The couple had kept this horrific development away from everyone as they ran around gathering every resources to offset the loan but the more they run around the more their debt piled up. The loan company constantly gave them nightmares as they threatened to take ownership of the house if the loan amount and the cumulative interest wasn’t paid before the expiration of the three months period of grace.
Every tangible home appliances of theirs were conscripted to the market and most of them were discarded half the price they were worth. Her husband had successfully taken a loan of two million from his company, the amount realised from the selling of their properties was one million six hundred and twenty three thousand naira. They still left with the sum of two point four million naira to meet up the loan amount with interest inclusive. Like rat whose house was on fire, they never had a single day of less worry. Jumoke husband had ran to his siblings but they all despicably snubbed him with the excuse of not having money.
If in two weeks time, the full amount wasn’t repaid, they d’ become the latest homeless people. Jumoke knew Toluwani had such amount but the distasteful behaviour she had shown her elder sister made her shivered at the thought of baring to her their disgraceful predicament.
Jumoke husband had fallen sick due to over thinking, the doctor had strictly advised him to reduced his excessive worry and rest more to avoid further escalation and deterioration of his heart. But can a man whose wife and son will be thrown out into the ugly and unkind street in a week’s time if he fails to repay the loan reduced his worries?. That’s tantamount to killing him to keep him quiet.
He walked home rejected with his head bent down like his neck wasn’t strong enough to carry the weight of his troubled head. He sank to the chair like a rotten piece of useless wood. “Honey, I’m sorry about everything we are going through” Jumoke apologised as she brought her husband the only plate of food left in the house.
“It’s not your fault dear, the business failed because we both didn’t planned accurately. We started too big from an unstable foundation when we had no previous experience” he pet his wife pretending to be strong outside while his soul was already flooded with tears. “Don’t worry, we would be fine dear, always remember that i love you and whatever happens, we will be fine. You and Saviour should eat the food , i ate something with a friend before coming home” he lied. He had not eating anything other than the two pieces of akara he ate in the morning. His intestine were definitely fighting a war in his stomach. He loves his wife and child, they was no way he could swallow the food knowing his family hadn’t eaten. Saviour, their son joined them and Jumoke fed him half of the rice and shared few spoonful left with the husband.
After the three of them shared the one plate of rice, she sent saviour who was already two years to bed and joined her husband at the parlour. “My husband, i know how much you have ran tirelessly around for the money. I also understand the impending doom if we’re unable to meet up. I have mistreated my elder sister ignorantly for being unmarried, asking her for a help would mean loosing my pride. But, i know she is a good elder sister, she had actually made a quantum of contribution in our family. I really didn’t know what came over me. I will go to her house tomorrow and beg her, you have done so much for the family and if i don’t do this, it means I’m a wicked wife” Joke said as she sat on her husband’s laps. He gently touch her cheek at intervals as she consoled him. He also felt a breeze of relieve hearing Jumoke words. “You are an amazing wife dear” he said and gently placed a kiss on her forehead.
Early that day, Jumoke’s husband had gone to the loan company to have a colloquial jaw jaw with the manager but he was inhumanly treated and warned about the impending doom if he was unable to meet their demands. The manager, a corpulent man who prodded himself against the armchair, he breathed through both the nostrils and his mouth. He smirked repugnantly at Jumoke’s husband whose face defined that of a tired old rat who no longer crave for a living. “I can only tell you to go to other loan companies and borrow money to repay this one first then you can find a way around it” the manager said nonchalantly with no care in the world. Jumoke’husband was in total abhorrence towards the insensitive manager who showed no sense of empathy towards his predicament, he wished to bite off his ears but well, that would mean biting his own self so he left disappointedly.
TBC
I’m Victor Achegbulu Oinu your local writer
©Oinu 2023
**** No one has it all. You can be confident about yourself, proud of yourself but don’t mock other people unreasonably because you will need them when your trouble clock start ticking.
