NKEM 17

 

She  ran part of the way and walked too. All the while, her heart was pounding hard in her chest. She kept looking back and around her, afraid that someone who knew her might recognize her. 

How was she to explain what she was doing in a married man's house when the wife was not there? What if Ibe decided to spill the bin? She was really going to be in trouble because she was someone gradually gaining acceptance with her in-law and now to be found in a questionable position. Another part of her justified her actions. Was she to blame? The man who put her in the family way does not think she exists. There was no attention from him and so she must get it from someone else.

The good part of her mind chided for her loose behaviour. She tried to silence but it was more than she could control. What if something happened to the pregnancy? What if it was even one of her in-laws that caught her in another man's room with the door bolted? How was she to explain her innocence? The questions made her heart even pound harder in her chest. How will I Ibe see her from now on? A loose morally bereaved woman? 

She was nearing home and it was best she began to formulate a believable excuse of where she had been all morning. Since the man of the house hardly took notice of her, she was left to her own devices. She wondered what would have happened if she was discovered. Would anyone blame her? They were not even married in the real sense of the word. It was only the pregnancy that connected them. So, much damage will not be incurred.

There was no one at home by the time she got in. Her mother-in-law could be in the farm or the market. She entered the room, undid her wrapper and examined her protruding stomach in the mirror. If only she could give birth to a boy, perhaps, her disinterested husband would give her the much needed attention.

She pulled off her clothes and tied a new wrapper in preparation for the bathroom. She slapped a towel on her shoulder. Just then she heard footsteps approaching the room. 

"Mama…mama are you there?" the voice asked. She knew who it was and she decided to play along. She threw away the towel.

"I am here".

She undo her wrapper as soon as he came to the door, allowing him to feast his eyes on her naked body as if to tell him what he was missing. He did stare but quickly recovered himself.

"What is this nonsense you are doing?"

She didn't answer him. Instead, she sat on the bed and spread her leg wide so that her interior was very visible to him. He swallowed hard, suppressing the temptation of losing himself.

She smiled, enjoying the torture he was putting him through.

"Will you stop that nonsense, you prostitute?"

The smile on her face evaporated. She closed her legs and her heart pounded on her chest. Did Ibe tell him anything? When she waited and he didn't say anything further, her mind relaxed and she turned the anger back at him.

"Look at you calling me a prostitute! Didn't you enjoy it when I offered it to you?"

"Did I ask you for it?"

"Did you reject it when I offered it to you? Hehn? Or did I force it on you?"

"Look, I don't have the time to argue with you. Just leave me alone".

He turned to leave but she held him by his hand. Her face assumed the look of a lonely wife appealing to her absent-minded husband.

"What does she have that I don't have? Hehn? Tell me Nkem? What can I do to make you love me?

He looked at her but he wasn't falling for her tricks. He yanked off his hand and left the room.

Hi, there! Hope you enjoyed this? Let's meet again next time. I am Yours Truly,

Julius Topohozin.