Marital Vice – Episode 4
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Deola pushed the door open and was surprised to see Tolu at home. He had made himself so hard to behold for over four months now and she was beginning to wonder what got him home early on a Thursday afternoon.
“Daddy!” Niyi was first to run to his father who caught him and threw him high a couple of times.
“How is Niyi today?” Tolu asked his son who nodded obviously happy to see daddy dearest.
“What brought you home early?” Deola cleared her throat and asked him, ” No drinking joint on Thursday or they didn’t open for business today?” She remarked.
She had already gotten used to the routine of him returning late every day and half the time, drunk too. Chris had been her only comfort alongside the next door neighbor who moved in recently. A family of five with the last born being Niyi’s peer group. That was where she spent most of her time if she wasn’t worrying about her husband.
“Where were you? I met the door closed and not locked but you’re strolling in now like that’s normal,” Tolu said finally looking up at her.
“Since when did you care? Well, I went to Mama Sade’s place. Our new neighbor that you don’t know.” She told him emphatically and went to pull the curtains open since she had closed them when she went out.
“Okay. You didn’t go to the hospital today?” Tolu asked calmly making his wife turn back to him, a little surprised by his coolness.
“No,” she replied slowly.
“Okay,” Tolu simply said unable to find words to say to her. He had really drifted from his wife in a matter of four months and now he was finding it hard to start a decent conversation with her.
“I have to iron some clothes. They might cut off power soon,” Deola said and turned to leave.
“Let’s go out and stop by at an eatery. You could use some air,” Tolu suggested.
“Waoh, now I’m confused. What is your game, Tolu?” Deola had to ask folding her arms across her chest.
Tolu laughed, “No game. Get dressed and let’s go,” he simply told her and gestured for her to start moving.
Deola stood there hesitating for a while on whether to believe him or not. Maybe she was just being unnecessarily suspicious after all, she thought and left the living room.
—————
Tolu looked at his wife as she sat opposite him in the eatery, her attention on Niyi who she carried on her thighs. She looked a little more brighter, he thought and looked away.
He wondered how long he was going to keep up with his present facade. Especially now that he was in a bigger trouble than he bargained for. But that was just what he would get for getting his judgment clouded in a brief moment. He had allowed his mother’s threat push him to the worst advice he could ever get from a friend and now he would need to deal with the consequences.
“Your phone has been ringing. You won’t pick up?” Deola’s voice jolted him out of his cogitation.
“What did you say?” He asked her again.
“I said your phone,” she pointed at the mobile phone on the table.
“Oh!” He exclaimed and looked at the screen to see five missed calls.
The phone had been on silent and he wondered how Deola had noticed its ringing. His heart stopped for a second on seeing the callers’ ID. He was deleting the call from the call history when a message beeped in. He opened it and knew he was finally done for.
His stupidity in getting drunk under Kay’s watch, someone who didn’t give a damn about a thing, had put him in this. This crazy Lydia girl wasn’t going to let him off easily, it seemed. Her text message context showed that as it read,
You aren’t picking my calls? You plan on bailing out now, sweetheart?
He should have known better but chose this path himself.
“Won’t you call the person back?” Deola asked him noticing his shift in comfort.
“Why? No, it’s not an important call,” he assured her simply and prayed silently that Deola remained in the dark until he got a hold of himself.
—————-
Tolu rubbed his eyes and got up from the sofa wishing whosoever was at the entrance would just disappear especially with the really hard knocks that was threatening to bring down the door. Couldn’t he get a second of peace in his life any longer? He thought angrily.
‘What sort of person is this?’ He muttered angrily and went to open the door.
He nearly slapped himself to confirm he wasn’t having a nightmare on seeing who stood at his doorstep.
“Why are you staring? You won’t move and let me come in?” A plump dark skinned lady who was barely five feet tall was standing there with her arms across her chest, fuming.
Tolu couldn’t at first find words to say and only stared at her. How on earth did the she find out his residence and what had come over her to come to his home? Where he stayed with his family! Tolu nearly had an heart attack coordinating himself.
” Who told you where I lived? And what are you doing here?” He finally asked her stepping out and shutting the door behind him.
“Why? Is she at home? And Kay gave me your address, so stop shouting,” Lydia waved him down, pissed at his temper.
“That ‘she’ is my wife and have you gone nuts to come here?!” He yelled at her.
“I had no other choice, Tee. And that woman needs to know she has a viable contender. So don’t try to shut me up,” Lydia withdrew her hand from his grip.
At that minute, all Tolu could think about was how to get this wretch away from the compound, which occupied two bungalow flats, before his wife returned from her visit to her friend. She was to get back anytime from six p.m. and he had already tuned his t.v. to listen to the 6p.m. news on STV before Lydia turned up which meant Deola had a huge chance of meeting her. His luck couldn’t run much worse, he lamented within himself.
“Well, get out of here first. You go somewhere else and I will call you. You can stay at Kay’s. I’d come before the day ends,” Tolu promised and finally seemed to convince Lydia to leave probably because of his calmer voice though he didn’t plan to fulfill that promise.
“If you don’t come, Tolu. I will come here tomorrow and the day after and then the next until you acknowledge me,” Lydia ended in a note of warning and hissed loudly before leaving the fenced compound which was without a gate.
Tolu breathed slowly and watched her leave before stepping back into the flat unaware of the next door neighbor who had been listening intently to the conversation from her bedroom window. She eyed the retreating lady and shook her head as she watched Tolu return into his flat.
She had been right about him after all, she said to herself.
—————
Kay looked over at Lydia who sat fuming opposite him at his joint. He had to hold himself from laughing at her. To think she had foolishly gone to Tolu’s house immediately he finally spilled the address. Kay shook his head at her as she drank straight from the beer bottle. Tolu was a real fool in taking decisions blindly, he thought though he was a very big part to that decision.
“That your silly friend is so scared of his wife. He pushed me out before I could bit*ch-slap him,” Lydia hissed again tapping her feet.
“You these women never learn, do you?” Kay lamented her behavior.
“What are you saying, Kay? Do you expect me to have an abortion just because he has a wife? Didn’t he think of his ‘adorable’ wife when he slept with me for three months? Coward!” She exclaimed angrily.
“Shhh…. Stop shouting. I’m not yet that popular in this joint,” he said looking around at the other nightwalkers staring at them.
Lydia simply eyed him.
“If you need somewhere where you would get the attention you so much crave, I could redirect you to a more suitable point,” Kay cleared his throat and started.
“Don’t even start joking. I’m not in the mood,” Lydia told him and focused more on her bottle of beer.
“Was I joking when I gave you Tolu’s address?” He asked her, getting only a quick glance.
“What now?” Lydia finally began taking him more seriously.
“You need to meet Tolu’s mum, sweetheart,” Kay told her, a naughty smirk playing about his lips.
… to be continued
