I was shaking when I dialled that number. I was consumed by anxiety but I needed to confirm my fears. I had waited for many years to do that, so that night, I knew I just had to do it. Luckily at the first dial, the phone on the other end rang out and then cut. I tried it again. I heard buzz. then a whistling sound before it rang again. At the third ring, someone took the call.
Hello, I said ” May I talk to Joseph Adindu, please”
“He is not at home right now,” Who is on the line please?
“Edyth is my name. I am calling from Nigeria,” I told her.
“Any special message Edyth?” The voice said.
“Would you like him to call you back?”
“Yes, I replied. “May I ask who I have been talking with please.”
“She laughed complacently. “I am Amanta Adindu, Joseph’s wife,” she announced.
“Okay”, I said, breathed out heavily and hung up.
For a few minutes, I did not know what hit me.
A lot of people had insinuated that Joseph had dumped me but I wanted to be really sure. On my own, I had tried to wave aside such impressions, but somehow, they kept coming to me. What actually nailed the coffin was the phone number Ada, a close friend of mine got from her cousin in Holland.
“This is his home line. I went out of my way to get this line for you because I want you to move on with your life. How many years will you wait on this Joseph Admdu?” she had told me.
The fear of embracing the truth, somehow restrained me from calling the number. Ada even formed the habit of asking if I had called but I kept offering one lame excuse after another. But that night, I decided it was time to call.
I was half-way to the land of sleep when my phone rang. His furious tone rattled me back to alert. He wanted to know why I called his home line. He wanted to know who gave me the number. He wanted to know what I told Amanda, which got her restless. He wanted to know many things at a time.
“Cool down, let me explain:’ was all I could manage to utter but he did not care to listen.
He seemed to be in a hurry to drive home his point.
“Edyth, let me tell you something,” from the way he spoke, he must have clenched his teeth.” I can see that you are bent on bringing problems to me. And that is what I do not want at all. Who on earth authorized you to call that number? You have been trailing me, right?
Well, that’s where you got it all wrong, because I won’t tolerate that. Never!”
