The Second Wife – Episode 13

The Second Wife – Episode 13

© Onyinyechukwu Mbeledogu

9:31pm
Oroma Estate

Soki had fallen asleep on the couch in the smaller sitting room. The telly was on and on the Mnet Action channel in which ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Twin Towers’ was currently showing. However she had turned down the volume earlier to take a call and hadn’t bothered increasing the volume once she was done.

She had picked up her large Jurisprudence text book while waiting for Dienye’s return. However, somewhere along the line, exhaustion had won and she had fallen asleep, the text book falling from her hand to the rug. She had endured a very busy week in school. With her Degree examination by the corner she had to study harder in order to graduate with a first class.

Dienye had called earlier to inform her that he would be late as he had been caught up in traffic on his way home. She was done cooking and although she was hungry, she hadn’t bothered eating, preferring to wait for Dienye to return. She wasn’t sure how things worked but she had served the security men their meals and also ensured that there was enough food for the 2 large dogs she had noticed in the cages when she had gone round the premises with Priye.

She had bathed and changed into a grey sweatshirt and three quarter jean shorts. Her nightie was too skimpy to wear around her fiancé. As a Jaycee, she had spent conference nights with both male and female Jaycees in a hotel room blocked by the LOM President but in a pack of at least six. However, this was different. Those Jaycee guys were platonic friends. She would have to make do with her knee length dresses and three quarter shorts for the duration of her stay here.

She was so tired that she didn’t wake up when the front door opened and Dienye let himself into the house. He went into the master bedroom, suspecting that Soki would be in the adjoining room. He knew her that much. She was probably asleep. He knocked gently on the door thinking of how ridiculous it was, but choosing to respect her privacy. He pulled the door open and looked inside the room. It was empty. Her short night gown lay on the bed and he tried not to imagine her in it.

He didn’t hear the sound of running water and so she couldn’t be in the bathroom. He thought of having a quick shower but decided to go in search of her first. He took off his shirt and in his white BYC singlet and trousers he went looking for her. Only the sound of the air conditioning announced her presence in the smaller sitting room.

He picked the large jurisprudence text book from the rug and placed it on the glass stool beside the couch. Soki turned in her sleep and curled into a foetal position. He smiled and let her be, going into the kitchen. He was greeted by the delicious smell of jollof rice and chicken. There was also salad and fried plantain neatly chopped into cubes. She had taken time to fix supper and although he wasn’t one to eat much he couldn’t let her efforts go to waste.

From the untouched state of the pot, Soki hadn’t taken supper. She didn’t have to wait for him, he thought as he dished out their food and placed it in the microwave. Done, he set it on the trays, took hers out to the sitting room first before returning to get his. He took out a pack of juice from the fridge and two bottles of water.

Soki was still asleep. Poor darling. She must have been really stressed from school. He squatted before her and gently stroking her cheek, called her name. She made a sound but didn’t immediately wake up until he gently shook her shoulders. She turned, her eyelids gently lifting. When she saw him, she jerked to a sitting position, her eyes wide.

‘I’m so sorry,’ she quickly apologised as her eyes took in the trays of food. ‘I didn’t hear you come in. I would have…’

‘You were tired,’ he told her. ‘I didn’t want to wake you up.’

‘You should have woken me up instead of stressing yourself,’ she told him.

‘You clearly needed the sleep,’ he smiled. ‘You were sleeping like a well fed baby. You shouldn’t have waited up for me, darl.’

Without waiting for her reaction, he placed a tray on her laps and filled her glass with juice.

‘Thanks,’ she told him. ‘You shouldn’t spoil me before I get used to it.’

‘Don’t worry, it’s just this night,’ he assured her with a laugh, ‘and perhaps when you’re pregnant with our children.’

She gasped at the thought and quickly took a spoon of rice, swallowing hard. She literally gulped down the glass of juice and he filled her glass once more. They ate in silence but he stayed amused while her skin stayed flushed. When they were done, Soki put the trays together and put the plates and glasses in the one on top, carrying them to the kitchen where she quickly washed them, put them in their rightful places before turning off the kitchen lights.

Dienye had changed the channel to CNN, increasing the volume by the time she returned to the sitting room. She bid him goodnight and without waiting for a response began to walk out of the room.

‘What? No goodnight kiss for the love of your life?’ he teased.

She paused and turned around shyly walking up to him on the couch. She lowered her face to his and brushed her lips lightly against his. He cupped the back of her head before she could move away and deepened the kiss. Her arms went around his neck and he pulled her into his embrace so that she sat on his laps. He broke the kiss after a full minute and held her gently away from him.

‘Now that’s what’s called a goodnight kiss,’ he said, ‘This should help me sleep like a baby tonight.’

To her surprise, Soki found herself walking towards the door instead of racing out of the room. She paused at the door to ask, ‘Would your sister and the kids be having breakfast tomorrow?’

‘I guess so,’ was his reply. ‘She should be here as early as 7.’

‘Okay. Good night, sweetie.’

‘Good night, babe. And dream of me.’

‘I always do,’ she winked at him and could have sworn that he blushed lightly.

She shut the door of the bedroom behind her. She yawned twice in a space of five seconds. She undressed and changed into her nightshirt. She said a word of prayer and as her head hit the pillow she was fast asleep.

Dienye watched the news and then listened to music on the MTV channel for some time before locking up and turning off the lights. In the master bedroom, he turned on the air conditioner and had a quick bath. He pulled on a pair of shorts but didn’t bother with a shirt. Even as a child he had hated pyjamas. Priye would always tease him about being an alien for he could sleep in just his shorts in an air conditioned room without a blanket and yet not catch a cold.

Before going to bed, he checked on Soki. He found her fast asleep in her short nightie which barely covered her full thighs. Another woman and he would have thought it was an attempt at $eduction but not his Soki. She would faint if she found out that he had stumbled upon her dressed like this and she would most likely not be able to look him in the eyes again. He smiled as he picked the remote of the air conditioner and tapped the ‘on’ button. He pulled the comforter over her body, tucking it right under her chin.

He sat beside her for some time watching her sleep. Either she was naturally a deep sleeper or exhaustion had knocked her out. Her Degree examination was in a month’s time. She had told him that her current CGPA was 4:81 and she was looking forward to graduating with a first class degree. She studied really hard. A lot of students wouldn’t carry their lecture books around during the holidays, but not his Soki.

His Soki.

That sounded possessive, he thought with a little laugh.

She looked so innocent and child-like in her sleep, like she had no worries whatsoever. Watching her sleep reminded him of the age difference between them and ignited the need to protect her from anything and everything that might hurt her.

He rose and turned off the lights as he crossed to the master bedroom. He looked at the large canopy bed. It was new but it was still in the bedroom he had shared with Nengi. This was so complicated. Seeing Soki in the adjoining room didn’t have much impact because Nengi never slept there. It was just her own personal space to do her own things. They had shared the master bedroom every night unless either of them travelled.

He sighed deeply. Settling down on a long couch in the room, he was immediately bombarded with memories of Nengi in this bedroom. She had been so excited on their first night here. They had been living in a two bedroom apartment in Rumuomasi for years before their home had been completed. They had planned to have three children, hence the six bedrooms with one of the bedrooms intended to serve as a bedroom for guests.

Another bedroom had been converted into a gym and equipped with a treadmill and few other gym equipment – there was no need registering with a gym when one could exercise within the comfort of one’s home. Nengi utilized the gym a lot more than he did, keeping fit such that she looked good in anything she had on. Her figure was a priority and she had taken the time to maintain it.

They had both agreed on the idea of having a large bungalow instead of the common storey building people put up these days. After all, by the time the children were all grown up and had left the nest, the house would be big and empty. Their home in Bonny which he had completed before this one was bigger and had more bedrooms since it would be playing host to traditional weddings and lots of grandchildren and other relatives.

He had bought the land at the estate with his savings several years earlier. The price had increased with time and he was glad he had been smart enough to invest in the 4½ plots. He had learned early in life that land appreciated rather than depreciated and he made it a point of duty, after conducting a complete search, to buy land especially in places that were yet to be developed but which he foresaw development coming to in the future. He fenced off each land and had economic trees planted in there which were harvested by widows and orphans as part of his contribution to them.

Business had never been better. He operated on the biblical principle of giving and it had been working for him since he was a teenager. And he was also hard worker and risk taker! His main principle in life was to do things with integrity and a touch of excellence and this made him stand out.

This room held so many memories, he thought. Having reached an agreement never to take their quarrels into their bedroom, it had served as a place of peace and love. No other woman had understood him like Nengi had. She knew his strength and his weaknesses. She knew exactly how to get him out of a bad mood. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that she had known him almost all her life.

He smiled as he recalled the numerous times she would have him serve as her fashion police, trying out one dress or the other. She had learned early never to ask him to help zip her dress up unless they were both rushing out as he would rather lower the zip and feast his eyes than do the opposite.

Her laughter rang like music in his ears. The laughter of a woman in love and secure in the love of her man. She would have made an amazing mother and the hottest one at that. He sighed deeply. There was no way he was sleeping in here. He left the room and headed for a guest room, waking up in the early hours of the morning to go jogging.

.

******

Soki was up early. She took a bath before going to the kitchen to fix breakfast for Dienye’s sister and her children. She turned on the coffee maker for Dienye. She had just finished frying the pancakes and ensuring that there was enough Caprison for the children when the front door slammed open and little feet ran into the house.

‘Uncle D.D!’ squealed a child and the sound would have burst Soki’s ear drums had she been in the same room.

Their guests were here.

Soki took a deep breath. She loved children and spent quite some time with her little cousins so she wasn’t afraid of having them here. What gave her concern was whether or not Dienye’s sister would approve of her. She hadn’t seen Dienye yet. Although she hadn’t checked the master bedroom, something told her that he wasn’t a late riser. Surely, he wouldn’t leave her alone to welcome his family!

She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard his voice. She found them in the hallway. Dienye had balanced a toddler on his head, both chubby legs hanging on each side of him and pudgy hands gripping his chin as the little girl squealed with delight. The four year old twins Deipriye and Abiye clung to his legs in a hug. That the children loved their uncle was evident in their reaction to him and he was laughing really hard. It was no wonder that his sister and her husband would gladly leave the children there when they could have just been taken to their grandparents’ home.

When he caught sight of her, he beckoned to her to come for the introductions to be made. Soki straightened her t-shirt over her shorts and approached them. A tall woman in a red top with the inscription ‘Hot Babycakes’ and a pair of black shorts that ended up about three or four inches above her knees came through the open door with a pink school bag draped over her right shoulder and dragging a little pink box. Her long feet were encased in black flat shoes.

The only thing that gave Ibinye away as Dienye’s sister was the popular Daniel-Hart eyes which the six siblings had inherited from their father. Besides that, she looked nothing like her elder brother. She placed the pink box which obviously belonged to her daughter next to the two small travelling bags before reaching out to embrace her brother and leave a red lip stick smudge on his right cheek. Her daughter’s hands pulled at her braids and she carefully extricated herself before she found herself bald in some places.

‘Yes, princess, you’ll be spending the next 48 hours with your uncle D.D,’ she told her daughter.

Before Dienye could handle the introductions, Ibinye introduced herself to Soki. ‘I am glad you could make out time to be here,’ she started. ‘I am Ibinye and these are my darling terrorists, Ibimina, Deipriye and Abiye.’

‘I am Nwasoka, but you can call me Soki.’

‘Good to meet you Soki,’ Ibinye said, reaching out to grab Soki’s hand and pull her along with her to the kitchen. ‘I guess we have some time to engage in some female gossip before my husband comes to pick me up.’

Dienye’s protest was ignored.

Soki’s fears were for nothing as Ibinye took to her easily. She was clearly happy that her brother was getting married once more and although Soki could tell that Ibinye was really curious about how Soki had met her brother considering the age gap, she chose to wait before getting it all out of her. She was more interested at present in learning more about her sister-in-law-to-be.

Soki ended up returning home on Easter evening, spending Easter afternoon with Dienye’s parents and Priye. She had enjoyed having the children around, running around the place with them and playing various games. She could easily tell why the children adored their uncle: he easily brought himself to their level and played with them like he was a child. She admired that about him and could easily imagine him with their children. He would make a great father and she was glad to be the one who would give him his own children.

To be continued

ALL EPISODES

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