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  • Touch of Fate (1)

    • Prologue: 
      Somewhere on a campus in Nigeria- 2002

    The four friends in the black SUV had had a great time at the party and were on their way back to their campus in the early hours of the morning. They had written their last papers the previous day and in a few days, they would all be leaving school for the last time. The party had been their way of ‘cooling off’ from all the stress of their final exams as well as hanging out together for the last time.
    Except for the one driving, the others were slightly drunk. As they drove along, they spoke in slurred tones of some of the things that had gone down at the party. The main topic was the fight that had broken out between one of their classmates and another boy over a girl.
    “Men, that Derek is a fool. Why would he fight over a girl when there are so many out there,” one of them at the back remarked.
    “Do you blame him? That babe is really hot! Is it her mesmerizing eyes? Or those ‘killer’ curves of hers?” said his back seat mate.
    “Don’t tell me you’ve been ‘scoping’ her all this while,” the one in the passenger seat in front stated, turning round to look at his friends at the back.
    This caused much ‘yabis’ (insults) being thrown at the one at the back seat who had made the remark.
    They had just driven past the library sometime later when it happened. As the driver turned into the road that led to their hall of residence, he ran into a dark figure that had run across the road. It was a dark spot as there were no street lights by that part of the road. 
    “What was that?” the guy in the passenger seat asked the driver. Their friends at the back had fallen asleep and were dead to the world.
    They both got down and rushed to the figure on the ground. It was too dark to see properly but they could tell it was a female. She lay still, not making any sound.
    “Is she dead?” he asked his friend.
    “I don’t know,” he replied, bending down to look at the figure. He shook her gently on the shoulder but got no response. “Maybe we should take her to the clinic,” he stated.
    “We can’t. What if she’s dead? We will be charged for murder,” he stated, a frightened tone in his voice. Taking his friend’s hand, he said: “Let’s go. There’s nothing we can do for her.”
    The other guy reluctantly got up and they went into the car and drove away. As they left, the prone figure on the ground groaned a little then lay still once more…

    Ten years later…
    The banking hall was crowded as usual that Friday morning. Don, a tall, slim man in a blue shirt and black trousers, stood at the entrance, wondering how long it would take him to transact the business he had come for. He made his way to one of the queues and was taking his place behind the last person on the line when he heard his name. 
    He saw a young lady sitting at a desk in the open space behind the counter waving at him.
    He went over and stood by the counter. She looked strangely familiar though he couldn’t remember where he had seen her before.
    “Come inside,” she invited him, pointing to the small opening near the wall.
      The lady called Helen turned out to be a school mate of Don at the university. She had in fact been course-mates and a friend of his cousin Tasha who had been two years his junior.
    “Sorry, I didn’t recognize you. You look so different,” he stated, looking at her closely. He could remember her as a somewhat skinny girl with a pimply face who always wore her hair in braids. That student of many years ago was in sharp contrast to the pretty-looking, confident lady in a dark suit with her hair in a long, sleek weave. She had put on some weight and it suited her.
    She smiled at his words.
    “I understand what you mean. Sometimes I hardly recognize myself when I look at my old pictures,” she noted. 
    “You are looking really fine,” he stated in an admiring tone. “You work in this bank?” he asked, looking round the office.
    “Yes. I’ve been here for about four years.”
    “That’s good. Hope you are enjoying the job…”
    They sat chatting about school days and old friends they had not seen for years.
    “What about Tasha? I’ve not seen or heard from her for a long time,” she stated. Don told her she was based abroad and was married with kids.
    “That’s nice,” Helen said quietly.
    Later, after she had assisted him in his transaction at the bank, she saw him off to his car.
    That was when he noticed the limp. She walked as if one of the legs was shorter than the other and it affected her gait. Since it could not have been caused by high heeled shoes as she was in a pair of flat pumps, he wondered what could be responsible. He could not remember her walking that way back in school.
    He got into the car and before starting the engine he glanced at her legs then up at her face.
      She noticed him staring and sighed.
    “I know you must be wondering about my leg. It’s a long story, something I will tell you some other time,” she said. 
    “Let’s meet up for lunch one of these days then,” he stated. They exchanged numbers before he drove off.
    Shortly after, Don travelled out of town on official business. He was so busy that he forgot all about his lunch date with Helen. It was on his return that he got a call from her.
    “Oh! I’m so sorry! I know I should have called but I’ve been really busy at work. You know how it is,” he said apologetically.
    “Is it just work or its something else?” she asked in a teasing tone of voice.
    “Like what?” he asked, sounding puzzled.
    “Like girls, perhaps. You used to have quite a reputation of being a ladies man back in school,” she said.
    He laughed at that.
    “That was then. I’m a changed person now, much more serious-minded,” he noted.
    They chatted for a while and before hanging up, Don said he would love to take her out for dinner that weekend. She agreed to the date then hung up.
    “Who were you talking to that has put such a big smile on your face, Helen? That is making you look so happy,” asked Tina, a colleague who sat close to her.
    “I’m always happy,” she replied, as she checked some figures on the computer.
    “I know. But today, you are glowing. Tell me the secret,” she persisted.
    “Just face your work, ok. Busybody,” Helen said scornfully.
    “Or is it that tall, fine bros that came the other day? Is he your new boyfriend? Gist me now!” Tina asked again.
    “Mind your business!” Helen said, getting up and walking away towards the restroom.
    “Hmm. Some people are so stingy; they don’t know how to share. What’s wrong in giving me a little gist about the guy? Na wa oh,” Tina said to herself before resuming her work on the computer.
    Some days later, they went for dinner at a nice restaurant not far from her office.
      “Why are you smiling?” Helen queried, looking across the table at him. They had placed their orders and were waiting for the food to be served.
    “I’m comparing that skinny little girl on campus all those years ago with the beauty I’m looking at now,” he said, smiling at her. “Whatever happened to her?” he asked.
    She gave a short laugh before saying:
      “Well, she grew up. I was in my teens back then. And teenagers grow up,” she pointed out.
    “You are right. It’s a good thing you didn’t look like this back then. You wouldn’t have escaped,” he stated.
    “Escaped what?” she said, taking a sip of her drink.
    He pointed at his chest. 
    “Me,” he said, grinning broadly.
    “So, I was right then. About your bad boy reputation,” she said.
    “Yeah. We did a lot of crazy stuffs in those days. We were young then…” he said, his mind going to a certain incident that happened on a dark, moonless night all those years ago.
    It was about a week later when they met up for drinks that she told him about the accident that broke her leg.
    “It was towards the end of the session and it was exam period. I had two more papers to write so that evening I had gone to the library with a friend of mine. She had however, left just before midnight, saying she was feeling sleepy. I stayed for another hour or so before deciding to return to my room,” she stated.
    She said it was on the way to her hall of residence that the accident occurred.
      “Everything happened so fast. I was close to the library and I remember crossing the road when a car came on high speed round the corner and knocked me down. It was a dark night and there were no street lights at that spot. Anyway, I must have been unconscious for I woke up the following day at the school clinic. I had a lot of bruises all over my body and my right leg was broken as well.” She added that her parents later came and took her to another hospital where they tried to set the bones on her leg. “They really tried. But the damage to the bone was much. So, by the time the leg healed, I ended up with a limp,” she said.
    “I’m really sorry to hear about this. It must have been terrible for you. Can you remember the day this incident happened?” asked Don curiously.
    “Of course. Its a day I can never forget,” Helen stated, telling him the date.
    “And the car that hit you? Can you remember it and the person driving it?” he asked earnestly.
    She shook her head.
    “I told you it was dark. I never saw the driver of the car. But I remember the car looked big, like a jeep…”
    At her words, a cold chill like the type that descends on one about to have a fever, came upon him. He stared at her, a dazed look on his face.
    “It can’t be. It can’t be. No way…” he kept muttering to himself.
    “Don! What’s the matter? You look as if you’ve seen a ghost!” Helen said, looking worriedly at him…

     

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  • My Best Friend’s Husband (3)

    My Best Friend’s Husband (3)

    All the pent up feelings I had for Eric and which I had suppressed all this while resurfaced. I held him tight as if I did not want to let him go again. That night, Eric did not go home. He stayed at my place, leaving early the next morning.

     That was how my affair with Eric began. You might think I’m a scheming bitch who went after her friend’s husband. But it’s not true. I never planned it to happen. Granted I had always fancied Eric. I liked him from the first time I set my eyes on him. But I decided to let go when he started dating Patra.

     After what happened between Eric and I, I felt some guilt, that I was betraying my friend. I made up my mind that it was going to be a one night stand, that I would stay away from Eric for the sake of my friendship with Patra. But it was easier said than done. The moment I set eyes on him again, all my resolve melted and I was back in his arms. The feeling was mutual as Eric too, could not stay away from me.

     From weekend visits, he began to come over during the week. Though I enjoyed his company,  I could see the risk.

     “Don’t you think you are coming here too often? At this rate, it won’t be long before Patra finds out,” I stated one evening. I had returned from work to find him waiting for me by my gate. Upstairs in my apartment, I prepared a quick meal for him and while he was eating, I went to take a shower.

     “Mmm, you smell really good. I like your perfume,” he said, coming over to bury his face in my neck. I wriggled out of his embrace and stated:

     “You’ve not answered my question. Patra might see you here one of these days and what will you say then?”

     He shrugged before saying:

     “So what? I’m a grown man and I can go anywhere I please. And I like being with you,” he said, reaching for me again. I just could not get him to face the situation we were in squarely and I decided to simply go with the flow at least for a while.

     ***

     Things went on this way between us without Patra suspecting a thing. I was very careful and never gave a hint of what was going on- that I was dating her husband. On his part, Eric could not be bothered. It was like, he wanted her to know about us. There was a time he came over during the weekend and refused to return home on Sunday evening as we had agreed on. Worse, Patra had called me, complaining about his absence.

     “He said he was going for a business trip and would be back today. It’s already six p.m and I have not seen him. I can’t even reach him on his phone as it is switched off,” she said.

     I reassured her, telling her he would show up soon and not to worry.

     At that moment, Eric was snoring deeply in my bedroom. I went to wake him up, so he could get dressed and return home.

     “What’s the rush?” he grumbled, sitting up on the bed. “The day’s still young. Let me rest a little; and come and join me. I miss you,” he stated, stretching his arms for me but I evaded his embrace.

     “Eric! It’s nearly 7 o’ clock! You need to go home. Patra is worried about your whereabouts,” I told him.

     “That’s her problem. I have peace here. Why should I go home to face her nagging and bad attitude. When I’m ready, I’ll go. Besides, I thought you liked my being here. Or don’t you love me anymore?” he queried.

     “That’s not the issue now. Much as I love you and want to be with you, Patra is still my friend and I care about her. I don’t know how she will feel if she finds out about us,” I noted.

     “Well, forget about your friend for now. Focus on us. So, are you coming to bed or not?” he asked.

     It was obvious, Eric had become quite obsessed with me. He preferred being with me than his wife, stating I made him feel loved and appreciated. I could have taken him from my friend if I had wanted. But I just could not bring myself to do it. We were more than friends- she was like a sister to me so how could I take her husband from her? I knew a time would come when I would have to choose between my happiness, my love for Eric and my relationship with Patra which I cherished a lot.

     Believe me it was a hard choice. But in the end, I decided to choose friendship over love. So, about six months into the affair, I told Eric we had to end things between us. As I guessed, he did not take it well. He said I could not do that, that he could not live without me.

     “How could you do this to me, Una! I can’t do without you. I love you!” he said. He pleaded and begged and for a moment, I almost weakened. I loved Eric and it was killing me that I had to let him go. But it was something I had to do.

     “You can live without me. Afterall, you still have your wife. Go home and resolve things with her. It’s over,” I said firmly. And with that, I practically had to push him out of my house. He kept calling and sending text messages but I stood firm in my resolve to end things with him. It was hard for me as well as my heart still longed for him.

     I thought that was the end of the matter until some weeks later when I found out I was pregnant. I am carrying Eric’s baby! Something that is supposed to be a thing of joy under normal circumstances is giving me sleepless nights. On one hand, I want to keep the baby since its for the man I love. Then again, since Patra and I are so close, there’s no way I can hide the paternity of the baby from her; what will be her reaction when she finds out I’m pregnant for her husband?

     And what about Eric? What will he do when he learns about the baby which he will eventually do? Will he do something crazy like leaving Patra for me as he had threatened several times? I’m in a real dilemma!

     What should I do? Both about the baby and Eric who still keeps pestering me to come back to him? Should I take him back because of the baby? The mistake has already been made, getting involved and falling in love with my best friend’s husband. It was all due to my weakness for Eric. But right now, I need to resolve this issue. So, I’ll appreciate readers’ advice on the way forward for me. Thank you!

    The End!
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  • My master’s son (4)

    My master’s son (4)

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    I quickly picked up the paper and my heart froze as I read the story. The report was about Edward. It stated that he had been involved in a car accident a few days before and that he was in a critical condition in an undisclosed hospital.

    ‘While the doctors are battling to save his life, a source close to the family disclosed that his parents are making frantic efforts to have him taken to a hospital abroad,’ I read. I stared at the paper in disbelief, not believing what was before my eyes.

    Edward in an accident? How did this happen? Different thoughts kept swirling through my mind. I was walking away from the vendor’s stand in a daze when the man said: “Aunty, you never give me money for the paper o!”

    I apologised, paid him and left. Throughout that day, I thought about nothing else but the accident.

    I kept praying that he would be alright. I longed to get an update on his situation but there was no one I could reach immediately. My mother had stopped working for the Addamsons some time ago after my grandmother fell seriously ill. She had resigned and had relocated to the village to take care of the old woman. As soon as I closed from work, I took a cab and rushed to the family house. 

    The place had not changed much since I left. The security men at the gate, on recognising me, let me in. None of the family members was at home, they said. It was one of the maids, Charity, who gave me a bit of information on the situation. She said his parents were travelling with him that night to a foreign hospital.

    “We are all praying so Oga Edward will recover soon,” she said. 

    It took months before Edward had recovered enough from his injuries to return to Nigeria. And it was not a full recovery as I found out when I went to visit him at home. He was in a wheelchair, a result of the spinal cord injuries he had sustained in the accident. Though I was so happy to see him alive, I felt bad seeing the once vibrant and lively Edward sitting in a wheelchair, unable to walk. 

    That first day, I spent a long time with him and it was like old times even though circumstances had changed. He was married now, had survived a near fatal accident and was confined to a wheelchair. His wife, Cherry was hardly around as she still lived in their marital home while Edward was at the family home during his recuperation period.

    Anytime, I visited, Edward was always very happy to see me. We would spend many hours chatting, watching movies together or playing some board games like Scrabble which he loved. It got to a point that he even suggested I should move back to the house so I could be closer to him. It was in the evening and the nurse who attended to him at home, had closed for the day.

    “What about your wife? How will she feel when she hears that a former girlfriend of yours had moved into your home?” I asked. 

    He smiled wryly before stating:

    “My wife? How many times do you see her here?”

    “Maybe she is busy with her job,” I suggested.

    “What job? Cherry doesn’t work! She is probably too busy with her shopping and hanging out with her equally rich and idle friends to have time for her crippled husband!” he said with some bitterness. Besides his wife, I wondered about his parents reactions too. Afterall, it was due to their interference that Edward and I had broken up. Though to be fair to them, since my return, they had been very friendly especially seeing how my presence made their son happy and less depressed about his condition.

    Back to base

    With no objections from his parents, I moved back to the house. Truth was, I wanted to be close to him so I could help in any way in his recovery. So, I did not mind the relocation. Each day, after closing from the office, I always looked forward to going home so I could be with Edward. With time, he became almost like his old self and less prone to bouts of depression and self-pity.

    Things went on this way until about a year after I had been living there. I returned from work one evening to find Edward looking despondent. Thinking he was in pain or something, I asked if I should send for the nurse to give him some drugs.

    He shook his head.

    “I’m fine. Nothing’s wrong with me,” he said.

    It was much later I found out what had been bothering him. He told me that his wife, Cherry had filed for divorce and wanted out of the marriage.

    “Can you believe she broke the news to me by text message? She did not even have the courtesy to come here and tell to my face that she is no longer interested in the marriage. All because I’m now wheel chair bound! She says she is too young to be saddled with a husband who is virtually a cripple and can’t perform his duties as a man anymore! And that she has fallen for some one else!” I could see he was getting really upset so I tried to calm him down.

    His parents were equally shocked when they heard what Cherry had done. 

    “What kind of wife would abandon her husband in his hour of need?” said his mother one day when she was discussing the issue with a friend of hers who had come to visit Edward.

    “It shows the state of the world today. Most young people don’t take their marital vows seriously. They jump ship at the first hint of trouble. No patience at all!” the friend chipped in.

    Some months later, after the breakdown of his marriage, Edward’s mother sent for me one day. We had a long chat, with the main focus being Edward. She pleaded with me to overlook the past, particularly the shabby way her husband and herself had treated me while Edward and I were dating.

    “I realize now, we made a mistake. We should not have stopped you both from being together.  I can see that my son really loves you and you genuinely care for him. Look at the way you’ve been caring for him since his illness. You have stood by him while the stupid, so called wife has abandoned him,” she said.

    She told me that Edward had spoken to her about resuming our old relationship, that he even wants to marry me.

    “I want to plead with you to please accept his proposal when he eventually summons the courage to ask you. Chief and I can now see that you are the only one who can make him truly happy. Please, Laura, my dear, he needs you now. We are ready to do anything you want. All we ask is just be with our son and make him happy again, be his old self once more” she stated earnestly.

    True to her words, Edward proposed to me a few days after his mother spoke to me. He said he had not stopped loving me and could not imagine being with anyone now except me. I did not turn him down or accept. I simply told him to give me sometime to think about it. 

    “I’ll be travelling to the village to visit my mother. I’ll give you an answer on my return,” I told him. He did not seem to mind, stating he was ready to wait as long as ‘my answer would be favorable to him.’

    Though I still loved Edward and it would make me very happy to be his wife, I had not fully forgotten the pain his parents put me through after they broke up our relationship. Now, they are begging the same person they did not want anything to do with their son because of her poor background, to marry him. How ironic! What will happen tomorrow if Edward recovers fully and they remember my roots and want to kick me out again? The last tests by some specialists doctors who had examined Edward showed he could regain the use of his legs with time and proper care. A physiotherapist had even been engaged to work on him.

    So, this time around, I want to be careful. My trip to see my mother in the village is to seek her advice on the matter. She is older and wiser and would advise me on the best decision to take. 

    I also want readers of my story to make an imput, to advise me about the issue- should I accept Edward’s proposal or not? Thank you.

    Concluded

    Names have been changed to protect the identity of the narrator, Laura and other individuals in the story.

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  • ‘I caught my husband in bed with his mistress’ (1)

    ‘I caught my husband in bed with his mistress’ (1)

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    • Now my home is in disarray!
    This is the story of Jessica, a lady who out of the love she had for her boyfriend overlooked his murky past, with dire consequences. She fell in love with him and believed him when he promised her paradise; but in the end, hell was all she got!
    ***
    “Everyone is inside having fun and you are here, just staring at  the garden. What’s so fascinating about those plants?” I had been so engrossed in my thoughts, I had not noticed the man who had come up quietly to stand besides me on the verandah. He was of average height, not much taller than me with a quiet confidence about him. 
    “Just taking in some fresh air. It was getting too hot in there,” I told him. It was a birthday party of a friend of my flatmate Trina and as the night progressed, the party was getting more raucous by the minute.
    “Yeah, I get you. All that loud music, cigarrette smoke and chatter of the guests can give one a migraine. I’m Kel by the way. And you are?”
    “Jessica,” I introduced myself.
    We got talking after that. He was a friend of the boyfriend of the celebrant, he told me and had been practically dragged to the bash.
    “I have a very important presentation to make at the office on Monday and I need a lot of time to work on it. But Jerry said all work and no play will make me develop premature grey hair. So here I am!” he said with a grin.
    “Same here. Today is the fifth anniversary of my mother’s death. I wanted to have a quiet time 
     for remembrance but Trina would not hear of it, stating that my Mum would not be happy wherever she is to see me so sad,” I said.
     “I think your friend is right. Life is for the living; the best way to honour her memory is to live well. And talking about living, I think it’s time we hit the dance floor. So, lady, can I have this dance?” he said. And taking my hand, he led me inside the house where the Kokomaster D’Banj’s hit tune was blasting from the speakers…
    That was how I met Kel. After that evening of the party, we became friends and began seeing each other regularly. Kel was the first man in three years I had become close to and it surprised my friend, Trina. In the past, she had set me up on dates with guys she knew but I had simply not been interested. That was until Kel came on the scene. 
    A dark past
    At the beginning, she seemed to like him too, stating that I must have been waiting for someone ‘like him’ that’s why I turned down the other men who were interested in me. Then, about four months when Kel and I began dating, she told me things she said she had heard about his past that nearly ended our growing romance.
    “I know you will say it’s none of my business, Jessy but you are my friend and I don’t want anything bad to happen to you. Kel is a nice guy and he’s loving too but there’s something you need to know about him,” she said one night at home. I had just returned from work and I was having a late dinner.
    “What are you talking about?” I asked her as I took a sip of fruit juice.
    She gazed at me for a while before speaking.
    “I heard he was married in the U.S when he lived there and even has a child.”
    “I know. He has told me about it. The boy is about seven years old and he lives with the mother in the States- they are divorced. So, what about it?” I queried.
    “Did he tell you why they got divorced?” she said.
     I shook my head.
    “He only told me they were having problems and he left and returned to Nigeria when he could not cope with the situation anymore,” I told her.
    “That’s not the whole story,” she noted. She then went on to give me the full gist of what happened to Kel while he was abroad, how he used to regularly abuse his wife physically to the extent that the police became involved.
    “I learnt he served a short time in prison for wife battery, domestic violence and other offences,” she added. “You know over there, the authorities don’t joke with cases like that- its a serious offence for a man to beat his wife. It’s unlike here where such incidences are often swept under the carpet and the women suffer in silence,” Trina added.
    I was shocked at her words. While Kel had told me a lot about his time in the States, first as a student, then as a staff in an IT firm, he never mentioned his going to prison for domestic violence. My Kel, a wife beater? I found it difficult to believe that the gentle looking man I had been seeing these past months was capable of beating a woman, much less his wife. 
    Trina assured me she had got the story from an authoritative source, ‘someone who knew him from his days in the U.S,’ as she stated.
    That he had spent time in prison was bad enough but keeping it from me was worse. How could he do that, I fumed.
    “He should have told me about it,” I murmured to myself feeling upset.
    “I think it’s best you ask him. I can see you like him a lot and he is obviously smitten with you. I see the way he looks at you; it’s the look of a man in love. But before you guys go further in the relationship, you need to be more open with one another. Keeping secrets can ruin a good relationship,” Trina advised.
     The following day, a Saturday, Kel came in the evening to pick me up for an outing we had. I sat him down in the living room and confronted him with Trina’s story. Initially, I thought he would deny it and call it the handiwork of ‘idle gossips’ but to my surprise, he readily admitted to serving time in prison. 
    “I know I should have told you about it, but it’s in the past, and it’s a time of my life I want to forget. Some bad things went down while I was in the States; I used to drink and smoke a lot and I did some things I’m not proud of today including doing hard drugs. But I have put it all behind me. And I want you to do the same, Jessy. I’m a changed person and have put behind me my rough past. I’m sorry for keeping it from you but I felt it might affect the way you feel about me. And I don’t want to lose you now that I have found you,” he stated.
    “No matter what my reaction might be, you should have still told me about it. I don’t feel good hearing about it from someone else,” I grumbled.
    “I know, dear. It was bad of me. Please forgive me,” he pleaded earnestly. He sounded really contrite and my resolve to take a break from the relationship, to cool things a bit, died at that moment.
    At that point, I realized I was in love with him and the thought of leaving him at that stage was unthinkable. He had become an important part of my life and I just could not leave him then. Besides, as he had pointed out, it was all in the past and he was a changed person. So, who was I to judge him based on things in his life that happened years before I met him, I reasoned.
    ***
    Instead of breaking us up, the issue of his past brought Kel and I closer. Though very busy because of his job, Kel nonetheless created time to be with me. Most times, we would go on some outings like parties or visiting friends or just stay at home chilling. At a point, I was spending more time at his apartment than in my own place and Trina began to complain about my long absence from home.
    “I never knew when you started seeing Kel that he was going to snatch my best friend away from me,” she said one Saturday morning at our flat.
    “What did you say? Who is snatching who?” I asked, looking at her wonderingly.
    “Is that not what he has done? I hardly see you these days! I’m practically living alone in this house because you are never around,” she stated.
    “Ha, ha ha! You are funny Trina! Nobody snatched me from you. You will remain my friend till eternity,” I assured her.
    “It’s easy for you to say. I don’t even see much of you now. What will happen when you two get married?” she queried.
    “Who’s talking about marriage? Anyway, wait till that time comes. Stop stressing yourself now over that,” I told her.
    “I have to. You are my best friend. Until your Kel came and has taken over your life. Now we hardly see,” she said in a grumbling tone.
    “I know your problem. You are just jealous!”
    “Jealous ke? I’m just saying the truth. And the truth is that he’s nothing but a best friend snatcher!” she declared.
    I laughed and went to my room to get my dirty clothes for washing. I wanted to finish all my chores that morning as Kel was coming round in the afternoon to take me out to some where ‘special’ as he had put it…
     Names have been changed to protect the identity of Jessica and other individuals in the story

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  • My best friend’s husband (1)

    My best friend’s husband (1)


    The first time I set my eyes on Eric, something told me I had met 'the one' I had been searching for. My soul just went out to him as romantic writers would describe it. Unfortunately, it was all one sided- Eric did not reciprocate my feelings. Instead, he had eyes only for my best friend, Patra. Patra and I had known each other since we were very young. Infact, we grew up together in the same neighbourhood and had attended the same secondary school. Later, her father, who worked in a government parastatal, was transferred to Abuja and we lost contact for a while. As fate would have it, she was posted to Lagos for her youth service programme and that's how we got reunited. By then, I was running my own business, a wedding planning outfit. When Patra finished the NYSC, I invited her to come and join me in the business. We have been working together for about four years and the business has grown in that period. And we have not had any personal problems, that is until Eric came on the scene. I first met him at a client's house. She was Eric's sister who had contracted us to plan her wedding. She was still living with her parents and Eric, who lived elsewhere in town, was on a visit to the family. I pride myself on being someone who is not easily carried away by emotions especially where men were concerned. But meeting Eric changed all that. I think I was attracted to him from the first time we met, which was a record as it usually took me time to get to like a guy. Anyway, after that first meeting, I did not see Eric again till some weeks later. Patra and I had finished another meeting with Sharon, his sister and were on our way out when he arrived. My heart grew warm at the sight of him, wishing he had come earlier. "I see you ladies are done already," he said as he stepped out of his car. I told him we had another session with Sharon in a few days. "I hope my sister is not giving you a tough time. She can be quite stubborn you know," he stated, his eyes all the while focused on Patra. Then lowering his voice in a conspiratorial tone, he added: "This is top secret. She has been like that since we were young. I feel sorry for the young man she wants to marry. The poor guy doesn't know what is about to hit him!" And with that, he waved at us and walked briskly towards the house, leaving us gaping after him. One day in our small office, Patra and I were going through some files on her laptop when her mobile rang. She walked towards the window and spoke for sometime on the phone, then turned to me, a surprised look on her face. "Who was it?" I asked indifferently, my eyes on the computer. "It's that guy Eric, Sharon's sister. He wants to take me out for a drink or something. He says you can come too if you are free," she said. At the mention of his name, I looked up quickly, fully interested. "Why would he want to do that?" I asked. I remembered the way he used to look at Patra the few occasions we had met him and my heart fell. God, I hope it's not what I'm thinking, that he likes Patra. He can't because I want him for myself, I silently prayed. "Who knows, Una? Maybe, he just wants to show appreciation for all the hard work we have put in planning his sister's wedding," she stated, with a shrug. Deep within me, I knew it was more than that...   Losing Eric My worst fears were confirmed during the outing with Eric. He took us to an open air garden bar by the lagoon front in the city. We sat close to the water front where some water hycinths grew profusely. That evening, it was clear to even the blind that Eric liked my friend. It was not just because he paid more attention to her, but the manner he looked and interacted with her. At a point I simply sat, glumly staring at a few boats that were speeding away on the water, leaving a trail of foamy water in their wake. Though it was a nice outing, I felt unhappy at the way things had turned out. Eric whom I liked so much had obviously chosen my friend over me. And she seemed to like him too as she confessed to me when we got home later that night. For one of the few times since our friendship began, I was angry with Patra. I felt betrayed and resentful, feeling that because of her, I had lost Eric. How can you lose someone you never had in the first place, the reader might wonder. Truth is, from the first moment I set my eyes on him, in my mind, he was already mine. Now, my friend had taken him from me! I knew I was being unreasonable but I could not help myself. I was consumed by jealousy, wondering what was so special about my friend that Eric would chose Patra over me. I kept all these thoughts to myself and never allowed how I felt about Eric to show. Even when they started dating fully, I wished her the best in the relationship. Deep inside me however, I prayed it would not last and that they would break up within a short time. My prayers stayed unanswered for with time, their relationship seemed to wax stronger and stronger. My friend had fallen in love and it showed in the glow in her eyes whenever she talked about him. She never hid anything from me concerning their relationship, both the ups and downs. Whenever they quarreled, I was the one she ran to, complaining bitterly about his 'difficult ways' and how controlling he could be. At such times, I would put my jealousy of her aside and console her as a friend. It was painful seeing them together but at least I took consolation in the fact that my friend was happy. Gradually, I began to accept the relationship, feeling they were meant to be. There was nothing I could do about it and I had to move on. But try as I could, the strong feelings I had for Eric never waned. It was to have dire consequences later as my story will show...   Names have been changed to protect the identity of Una, Patra and other individuals in the story

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  • My master’s son (4)

    I quickly picked up the paper and my heart froze as I read the story. The report was about Edward. It stated that he had been involved in a car accident a few days before and that he was in a critical condition in an undisclosed hospital.
    ‘While the doctors are battling to save his life, a source close to the family disclosed that his parents are making frantic efforts to have him taken to a hospital abroad,’ I read. I stared at the paper in disbelief, not believing what was before my eyes. Edward in an accident? How did this happen? Different thoughts kept swirling through my mind. I was walking away from the vendor’s stand in a daze when the man said:
    “Aunty, you never give me money for the paper o!” I apologised, paid him and left. Throughout that day, I thought about nothing else but the accident. I kept praying that he would be alright. I longed to get an update on his situation but there was no one I could reach immediately. My mother had stopped working for the Addamsons some time ago after my grandmother fell seriously ill. She had resigned and had relocated to the village to take care of the old woman. As soon as I closed from work, I took a cab and rushed to the family house.
    The place had not changed much since I left. The security men at the gate, on recognising me, let me in. None of the family members was at home, they said. It was one of the maids, Charity, who gave me a bit of information on the situation. She said his parents were travelling with him that night to a foreign hospital.
    “We are all praying so Oga Edward will recover soon,” she said.
    It took months before Edward had recovered enough from his injuries to return to Nigeria. And it was not a full recovery as I found out when I went to visit him at home. He was in a wheelchair, a result of the spinal cord injuries he had sustained in the accident. Though I was so happy to see him alive, I felt bad seeing the once vibrant and lively Edward sitting in a wheelchair, unable to walk.
    That first day, I spent a long time with him and it was like old times even though circumstances had changed. He was married now, had survived a near fatal accident and was confined to a wheelchair. His wife, Cherry was hardly around as she still lived in their marital home while Edward was at the family home during his recuperation period.
    Anytime, I visited, Edward was always very happy to see me. We would spend many hours chatting, watching movies together or playing some board games like Scrabble which he loved. It got to a point that he even suggested I should move back to the house so I could be closer to him. It was in the evening and the nurse who attended to him at home, had closed for the day.
    “What about your wife? How will she feel when she hears that a former girlfriend of yours had moved into your home?” I asked.
    He smiled wryly before stating:
    “My wife? How many times do you see her here?”
    “Maybe she is busy with her job,” I suggested.
    “What job? Cherry doesn’t work! She is probably too busy with her shopping and hanging out with her equally rich and idle friends to have time for her crippled husband!” he said with some bitterness. Besides his wife, I wondered about his parents reactions too. Afterall, it was due to their interference that Edward and I had broken up. Though to be fair to them, since my return, they had been very friendly especially seeing how my presence made their son happy and less depressed about his condition.
    Back to base
    With no objections from his parents, I moved back to the house. Truth was, I wanted to be close to him so I could help in any way in his recovery. So, I did not mind the relocation. Each day, after closing from the office, I always looked forward to going home so I could be with Edward. With time, he became almost like his old self and less prone to bouts of depression and self-pity.
    Things went on this way until about a year after I had been living there. I returned from work one evening to find Edward looking despondent. Thinking he was in pain or something, I asked if I should send for the nurse to give him some drugs.
    He shook his head.
    “I’m fine. Nothing’s wrong with me,” he said.
    It was much later I found out what had been bothering him. He told me that his wife, Cherry had filed for divorce and wanted out of the marriage.
    “Can you believe she broke the news to me by text message? She did not even have the courtesy to come here and tell to my face that she is no longer interested in the marriage. All because I’m now wheel chair bound! She says she is too young to be saddled with a husband who is virtually a cripple and can’t perform his duties as a man anymore! And that she has fallen for some one else!” I could see he was getting really upset so I tried to calm him down.
    His parents were equally shocked when they heard what Cherry had done.
    “What kind of wife would abandon her husband in his hour of need?” said his mother one day when she was discussing the issue with a friend of hers who had come to visit Edward.
    “It shows the state of the world today. Most young people don’t take their marital vows seriously. They jump ship at the first hint of trouble. No patience at all!” the friend chipped in.
    Some months later, after the breakdown of his marriage, Edward’s mother sent for me one day. We had a long chat, with the main focus being Edward. She pleaded with me to overlook the past, particularly the shabby way her husband and herself had treated me while Edward and I were dating.
    “I realize now, we made a mistake. We should not have stopped you both from being together.  I can see that my son really loves you and you genuinely care for him. Look at the way you’ve been caring for him since his illness. You have stood by him while the stupid, so called wife has abandoned him,” she said.
    She told me that Edward had spoken to her about resuming our old relationship, that he even wants to marry me.
    “I want to plead with you to please accept his proposal when he eventually summons the courage to ask you. Chief and I can now see that you are the only one who can make him truly happy. Please, Laura, my dear, he needs you now. We are ready to do anything you want. All we ask is just be with our son and make him happy again, be his old self once more” she stated earnestly.
    True to her words, Edward proposed to me a few days after his mother spoke to me. He said he had not stopped loving me and could not imagine being with anyone now except me. I did not turn him down or accept. I simply told him to give me sometime to think about it.
    “I’ll be travelling to the village to visit my mother. I’ll give you an answer on my return,” I told him. He did not seem to mind, stating he was ready to wait as long as ‘my answer would be favorable to him.’
    Though I still loved Edward and it would make me very happy to be his wife, I had not fully forgotten the pain his parents put me through after they broke up our relationship. Now, they are begging the same person they did not want anything to do with their son because of her poor background, to marry him. How ironic! What will happen tomorrow if Edward recovers fully and they remember my roots and want to kick me out again? The last tests by some specialists doctors who had examined Edward showed he could regain the use of his legs with time and proper care. A physiotherapist had even been engaged to work on him.
    So, this time around, I want to be careful. My trip to see my mother in the village is to seek her advice on the matter. She is older and wiser and would advise me on the best decision to take.
    I also want readers of my story to make an imput, to advise me about the issue- should I accept Edward’s proposal or not? Thank you.
    Concluded
    Names have been changed to protect the identity of the narrator, Laura and other individuals in the story.
  • Creativity at graduation

    Creativity at graduation

    CREATIVITY and style were on display recently in Lagos as the latest batch of the Ameabi Integrated School of Art and Design, Lagos completed their training. At the graduation ceremony and fashion show last week, the 49 graduating students drawn from the Niger Delta region as part of the Amnesty Programme of the Federal Government, showcased their designs, crafts and other handiworks to the admiration of the guests that had thronged the Peninsula Hotel and Resort, Ajah, Lagos State for the event.

    In a runway show that could rival that of any international catwalk, the students’ designs were displayed by models on the black carpet in different categories such as formal and traditional wear, bridal and evening wear, children and beach wear, casuals and accessories. Fabrics like lace and ankara featured prominently in many of the designs such as gowns, blouses, skirts, trousers and separates among others. Special recognition awards were also presented to the best graduating students.

    The Managing Director of the school, Ibiba Don Pedro, in her remarks noted the graduation ceremony was a celebration of the lives of young people who have been empowered to make a difference in the Niger Delta as well as the nation as a whole: “to paint the Niger Delta red but not in a negative way but through creativity and innovative designs,” she said.

    She stated that without the programme, a lot of the graduands would have ended up as ‘idle hands’ who would have become a nuisance to themselves and the society at large. “Some of these students were barely literate, some were quite weak and knew practically noting about designing or making an outfit but today, their designs can compete with those of designers anywhere,” she enthused.

    Also speaking at the ceremony, Hon. Larry Pepple, (Technical Assistant to Hon. Kingsley Kuku), who represented Kuku, the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Chairman, Presidential Amnesty Programme, was full of praise for the work and designs of the graduating students. He commended the designs, stating that the attention to detail of the clothes and accessories he had seen on the runway was ‘phenomenal’. “I’ve attended other fashion shows and what I’ve seen here today is great especially the attention to detail which is phenomenal,” he said.

    Spicing up the show were music and dance by local troupes such as the Ijaw Cultural Troupe and Kalabari troupe. New music sensation, Double-K also performed as well as AK.dot and Queen Hadiza.