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!” “Joseph, I just wanted to talk to you. I called to talk to you not Amanda or anyone”, I explained. “And please don’t forget that I am Edyth Eze, your fiancee.” “That does not give you the right to call the number. You know how to reach me, why did you choose to go through another channel if your intentions were not sinister?” Joseph barked.
“What do you mean sinister? Joseph, so you have now forgotten what I had to do for you to travel to Europe? It is five years now, are you not supposed to return to marry me? So what you want to use in paying me back is to scold me for calling a mere line?” I said.But that seemed to have inflamed the situation. Joseph simply exploded. I was listening to his rantings but I was not hearing. But I knew the words’ sounded like he was ready to refund me whatever I spent to get him across to Europe. I believe, he also talked about me leaving him alone to face his challenges, since I was out to be a source of distraction to him. The moment I tried to galvanize the words to harness the meanings, Joseph hung up on me.
That left a void. I don’t need to stress the fact that he had murdered sleep. I was just up most of the night, thinking. I was just pondering what my fate would be. I had placed so many hopes on Joseph right from the day he proposed to me a few years earlier. And that was why I went out of my way to arrange for him to travel to Holland. It had come with a price. And I was the person who bore the burden. From the passport to the visa to the ticket and accommodation in Amsterdam, I was the person who took charge of the expenses. I was doing that in the hope that his lot, our lot, would be improved.
At that point, Joe had been quite ecstatic and hopeful. He had assured me that in less than two years, everything would be okay. He promised that he would make some money. Come back and get married to me. But two years had elapsed to five years without anything meaningful happening. Each time I told him about his promises, he would just laugh and ask for a little more time. Time was the excuse until Ada, my friend opened up to tell me that I was the fool in that relationship. “Edyth, I do not think your Joe is still single:’ she pointed out; that is bow our boys in Europe behave. They will give you the impression that all is well and they would be doing another thing. Please move on with your life,” ., .
But there are certain truths that are difficult to, swallow; the truth of Joseph’s situation was one of them. I could not just fathom it. How could I? After all I had done for him, I remember the night I went for the money he would use as his BTA(Basic Travel Allowance); it had rained so heavily that day, that traffic in Lagos metropolis was so bad. Everywhere was a gridlock because of the traffic situation. It was so bad that at about 1.30am, I was still stuck in traffic at lke]a UnderBridge. Yet all these meant nothing to Joseph! When it was obvious that I had lost the battle for Joseph, I took the war to the God.
I handed the matter over to him in fasting and prayer, and eventually, I went to Ikeja Underbridge, the spot where I was stuck in traffic that same night and laid a curse on him, to conclude my fasting process. I was a woman in trouble, so I got there and stood as if I was waiting for someone and said these words, with tears running down my face; “Father, you are the all- knowing God. You remember the night I was stuck in traffic here, for the sake of Joseph and his promises to me. Now that he has failed in his promises, father, may you fail him in your promises, And most of all, may he not find the pleasures of another woman in marriage!”
After I had spoken these words softly, I dropped. a hundred naira note and walked away. With that, I felt I had sealed my request. It may sound childish but I just needed to do something that would free my mind. I had heavy hearts, and the more I tried, the more the burden tended to affect me negatively. I was convinced that I needed to do something that would let me float again. Hell hath no fury, then a woman scorned. My outlook changed after a while. It became glaring that I was no longer Edyth Eze, just a shade of her. Somehow, people, especially those who were close to me started noticing that something was wrong with me.
But I kept carrying on as if nothing had happened. Some of them, who really got persistent like Mrs Rita Nwosu, however got me talking one day. I took time and I explained my situation to her and she was comforting. advising that 1 should move on with my life. “There are many fishes in the ocean”, was how she described the fact that there were still dozens of men out there who would accept me for Who I was, Mrs. Rita Nwosu, later took it upon herself to make sure that I got myself a man, She made several introductions to me, but it never got beyond a limit.
Not that the men were running away from me, I discovered that usually got fed up with them after a while, Some had to have sex with me hut it was not with that zing, that constituted life. Everything was just boring and meaningless. It. got so bad that Mrs. Nwosu, recommended me to a psychologist. 1 kept the appointment but the solutions he was offering were much the same things I had heard over and over again.
He eventually placed me on a therapy, which I was sure, would not change a lot. It took more than five years for me to get back my groove. Slowly time healed all those wounds, and rather beautifully. I was in my new office one day, and the intercom buzzed. “Hello”, the reception said. “Miss Bze, there’s a man here to see you. He’s … MikeAdindu.” “Mike Adtndu?” I asked. Obviously, the name rang a bell. Joseph’s surname was Adlndu and he had a younger brother named Mike. Could he be the person?
…To Be Continued
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