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
