THE OTHER WOMAN (2)

Hey People,

Hope y'all are having a great weekend.
Here's Part Two...

Love,
C. Uwakwe

Jessica had never been so shocked in her entire life. For a few seconds, she was certain that her heart had stopped beating as she stood there like an ice statue. The woman who had just spoken to her had the calmest expression on her face, topped with a very sinister smile.

Speak! Move! Don’t just stand there! Do something!

But at that moment, her brain could not get her body to act accordingly. Her eyes stayed fixated on the beautiful middle aged woman in front of her as if she was in a mind trance.

How did I get here?

Nearly one year ago, she was standing in this same spot desperately praying for the door to open and a potential customer to walk in. She had been five months at the job and her sales figures were not looking too good. She was on probation for the previous week’s poor performance and her supervisor had threatened to query her and report to HR. It was Thursday and all she had sold was one television set on hire purchase. So leaving her house that morning, she was determined to pull out all her cards to get in sales.

The door had eventually opened and she was the first to meet the man at the door with a flyer and a big smile.

“Would you like to try our new 3D evolution plasma TV sir?” she had said with an urgent tone in her voice practically shoving the colorful flyer into his hand.

He took it with a bewildered look on his face and replied, “A good day to you too ma’am”

Jessica felt a little embarrassed. She had been so eager to make her sale she had forgotten to use to standard greeting which included a “hello” and a “good day.”She had immediately apologized and went on to introduce herself and the products they had on display. While doing that, she took time to look at the tall, handsome well-built man in his early forties. He had on a pair of horn-rimmed glasses and even with his dashing appearance, he had that noticeable air of un-sureness about him.

After her routine introductions, he went on to explain that he was just looking to purchase a new tablet as his had gone caput this morning and wasn’t sure he could survive the day without one. She had been disappointed as she led him to their phone and tablet section to hand him over to the salesperson there. To her surprise, he noticed her dampened spirit and asked her what the matter was. She recalled looking straight into his eyes and feeling a sort of warm comeliness that made her tell him all that she had been through that week. To her surprise, he became so concerned and asked if she didn’t mind, he could purchase a home theatre system for his kids’ room.

Is he an angel or something?

She had been attracted to him from that very moment. He seemed like a sweet, caring man and it had been a while since she had met anyone quite like that. There was only one problem; He was happily married to a beautiful woman who was in studying in the US. They had exchanged contacts and after a few weeks of texting and calling each other, they had decided to have dinner together. When she arrived at the venue, he had prepared a romantic dinner at the Chinese restaurant where they ate and talked for hours. By the end of the evening, she was certain that he too was attracted to her.

“What about your wife?” She had sincerely asked as she lay in his arms later that night. He had pulled her closer to himself, kissed her right ear and whispered into it softly, “there’s enough love in my heart for you both.”

She knew he truly loved her and she loved him to. He was everything she had hoped for in a man and more. He took her to nice places and bought her expensive gifts. Above all, he cared about her family and her general well-being. One time, he had sent a birthday present to her mother and in her excitement, her mother had insisted she brought him home so that he could ‘do the needful’. She recalled tactfully changing the topic because the last thing her mother would want to know was that he was already married with two kids.

All was going on fine until three months ago when she called him for their usual night chat and he didn’t answer. She called him a couple of times more before she got a busy tone. She had been worried that something bad had happened to him especially when he still didn’t answer the next morning. During her break, she took a cab to his Ikoyi office and to her surprise his reception asked her to go into his office and meet him. He seemed happy to see her and she told him she had been worried about him.

“My wife and kids came home late last night,” he said as his face became really sad. She sank heavily into his office sofa as she felt like her whole world was collapsing underneath her. “So what happens to me?” She had asked with her eyes to the ground so he couldn’t see the tears welling up in her eyes. He sat down next to her and took her face gently in his hands before he replied, “I still love you Jess.”

She wanted to believe him but the next few weeks showed that everything had changed. It wasn’t just the unreturned calls and the cancelled dates or even the ten-minute love-making session in their favorite hotel room before dashing home to meet his curfew. Everything was different; her head and her heart felt it. She had tried talking to him about her feelings but he had reassured her with romantic messages and some expensive gifts.

She wanted to hold on and see if it would change until the night he called his wife’s name while making love to her. He had stopped for a second to confirm if she had heard him but her face didn’t betray what she had heard loud and clear. That night after he left, she cried herself to sleep because she knew it was all over. She stopped taking his calls and refused to see him even when he came by the store. He left her countless voice messages and texts, pleading for forgiveness for whatever he had done but she was not moved. She was determined to ignore him until he gave up and left her alone.

Why had SHE stopped sleeping with HER husband?

How do I begin to answer such a question?

TO BE CONTINUED