STORIES

 

 

THE JOURNEY AFTER (EPISODE 1)

"Hello love, have you gotten to work?'', my hubby asked at about 8:30am that Wednesday morning as per his usual practice. ''Yes darling, I have. I am just putting some finishing touches to that presentation in time for the meeting at 9:00 a.m." ''Don't worry Nimi, I am sure you will knock them dead simply because you are Mrs Toluwanimi Peters. The most beautiful and brilliant woman that ever worked the face of the earth". I could not help the bout of laughter at the level of flattery my husband has resorted to. ''Thank you, Mr Jaiye Peters, for never seizing to inflate my already inflated ego and confidence. I love you for that. Babe, I have to go now, I will talk to you after the presentation''. ''Okay love, all the best. I love you''. I was still smiling when we eventually ended the call after a series of I love ‘yous’.

I love my husband; I love him more than anything. We got married 6 months ago and I have been doing everything to make sure I have the best home. The sex is absolutely sensational and constantly constant. I try out new food recipes every week so he is well fed; I make sure we go on date nights once a week and we have a great financial savings plan. We have a joint account where we both put 50% of our salaries for home responsibilities and individual accounts where we put the remaining 50%.  Marriage simply does not get better than mine. Jaiye and I dated for just over a year before getting married and I can absolutely say it has been my best decision ever. Even our fights and disagreements are filled with love. We waited for 3 months after the wedding before we started trying for babies and I have a feeling I am finally pregnant. I am still keeping the information from Jaiye though. I need to be sure and make an elaborate plan on a surprise announcement. I totally love surprises. 

Later that afternoon, when I finally got back into my office after a hectic morning with 3 meetings and dashing down to the hospital for a quick pregnancy test which took a another one hour, I finally sat down relieved with my pregnancy confirmation in my hands. I put a quick call through to my best friend, Chisom. I definitely need her ingenuity to plan a surprise for Jaiye. ''Hello sweetie'', Chisom said as soon as she picked the call. Guess what? ''What?'', she said. I said guess, didn't I? Anyway, I am pregnant. The shrill of the noise that attacked my sensitive ears over the phone was enough for me to take the phone off my ears for a bit. Chisom, calm down will you? What's with the noise though? Aren't you in the office? ''Why won't I shout? I am about to be a godmother and no, I didn't go to work; I told you I am on leave remember? Oh okay, I remember, anyway I want to plan a surprise way of breaking the news to Jaiye and since you are the ultimate planner, I am calling her royal majesty for her expertise. We went back and forth on different ideas and we finally decided on making a customized cake with the message and I was to take it to his office during lunch on Friday. It's quite easy to get the cake done since Chisom is one of the top bakers in Abuja.

On Friday afternoon at about 1:30 pm, I drove into Jaiye's office excited to see his reaction. Thank God he has a private office so I was really planning for some private kinky moments after giving him the news. I picked up the cake wrapped in a box to prevent prying eyes and walked happily into the office building. I walked past the reception area which was currently empty and straight into the office all smiles for my husband and stopped just inside the door. I needed to process the sight I was seeing. One minute I am smiling into the office, the next minute I am seeing a woman bent over my husband with her big ass turned to me. Immediately I slammed the door close, they both jumped apart startled. Everything that happened from that moment was reflex. I dropped the cake on the table and dragged her by the collar of her chiffon shirt. I landed her the slap and tore her shirt wide open. Jaiye immediately dragged and pulled me. I wasn't listening to anything. I was just screaming and shouting profanities, the likes of which I don't ever want to remember. Jaiye dragged and pulled me all the way to my car and dropped me by the side of it. The only thing I heard was, ''don't you ever come back to my office again''. I watched him walk away and I was fuming. I called Chisom immediately overwhelmed by the rage that was threatening to consume me. I didn't even let her speak before ranting out the whole story. As soon as was I done, she said, "Nimi, hold on a second, what did you see them doing exactly? Were they kissing or hugging?" I don't even know exactly. She was actually backing me and covering the view so I didn't see well but the way she bent, they must have been kissing. Seriously Nimi, so you went to embarrass Jaiye in the office over something you aren't even sure of and in your current state? Abeg joor, he already knows he has a jealous wife, why will he be letting anybody stay in a compromising position like that? Nimi, you need to calm down. Just go home and wait for him and better be ready to apologize. That is how you ruined the surprise announcement with your brashness. Whatever, I will make it up to him. He still owes me an explanation for what happened.

I had finally calmed down and was already feeling guilty at about 7pm that night when I heard Jaiye's car drive into the compound.I already planned my strategy of acting a bit angry first and apologize before bed time. If only I would have prepared my mind for what actually happened eventually. As soon as I opened the door and he walked into the house, there was no time to put plans in motion as he simply showered me with two hot slaps. I fell back on the sofa both from shock and pain. How dare you Nimi? How dare you?...