The Second Wife – Episode 14

The Second Wife – Episode 14

© Onyinyechukwu Mbeledogu

Saturday 17th April 2017
10:24pm
Oroma Estate

Soki quickly lifted herself from the bed and hurried into the pink lingerie that was a gift from Dienye’s sister Inyingiala Haastrup. His sisters had gifted her with different forms of sexy night wears as though to ensure that their brother couldn’t get his hands off her. They had clearly known about his celibacy and the said celibacy was to blame for her current move.

Without a word to her husband, she walked into the adjoining bedroom, locking the door behind her. She was upset and with good reason. This was her wedding night and Dienye just had to ruin her memory for life!

Everything had been going on quite well; he had succeeded in distracting her with his long deep kisses and his touch. He had made her relax despite her fears. She had known this night would come, when she would have to give herself to him completely. And she had been looking forward to it. He was her husband, her body belonged to him and his belonged to her till death did them part. She had given in to her desires and given him control until he did the unforgivable: called her by his late wife’s name.

She felt like a hooker in the arms of a man who called her by his wife’s name. Then again, a hooker wouldn’t have minded because what she was more concerned about was getting her money than anything else.

In all the time she had been in his company, he had never called her by Nengi’s name, not even the Easter weekend she had spent here and certainly not when they shared kisses.

Not once!

Well, she should have seen this coming when he had told her he hadn’t dated anyone since Nengi died and that he wasn’t sure he was open to love anyone for now. That was a sure sign that he wasn’t emotionally available. She should have accepted the sign for what it was and prepared herself in advance for what might happen. But no, she had been too carried away by her attraction for the very handsome widower she was getting married to and completely grateful that her father was out of police wahala!

She took off the lingerie and went into the shower stall. The water from the shower head washed her tears as they flowed. What had she gotten herself into? Would she have to deal with being called by another woman’s name every time she was intimate with her husband? Or had it been a one off thing because it was his first time with a woman after the death of his first wife? She wasn’t sure how to handle this.

She ignored the knock on the bathroom door as she turned off the shower. What did he want? Surely he had realised what he had done to her, the gravity of his offence?

‘Soki, babe,’ Dienye called out from the other side of the door.

‘Leave me alone.’

‘I’m so sorry,’ he apologised. ‘It wasn’t intentional.’

She gave a snort of disbelief.

‘What wasn’t intentional? The fact that you were thinking about someone else while in bed with me?’

‘It wasn’t intentional,’ he repeated.

‘And I guess you would have easily accepted an apology if I had been the one to call you by another man’s name.’

‘That’s different.’

Men! She thought exasperatedly. Like seriously?

‘How is it different? Because you are a man?’ she inquired angrily, dragging a white towel off the rail and venting her annoyance on the soft material as she dried herself with it.

‘That isn’t what I meant.’

She unlocked the door and he stepped aside as she walked past him.

‘Another time and I would have forgiven you but not tonight,’ she told him. ‘For crying out loud, this is our wedding night, our first time together. I should have been the only woman in your thoughts.’

This wasn’t how she had envisioned her wedding night. After reading so many romance novels, she had been looking forward to this moment despite the stories she had heard of women hating their experience the first time because of the dreadful pain involved. She had imagined candle lights, soft music and the softest and gentlest of touches as her husband, completely in love with her, made it all about her and about her introduction into a world yet explored.

Okay, so she and Dienye were not in love. There was no candlelight or music which would have made a great memory to share with her daughter once she was of age. But he had been gentle and patient with her until the last moment.

‘I said I was sorry and I meant it.’ Dienye told her.

‘I’m sure you did.’

Soki wished at that moment that she had a grandmother’s night gown with her. It would have served Dienye right. Well thank God she also had been too shy to put on the pink transparent teddy Priye had naughtily gifted her with or this would have been oh so embarrassing.

Dienye stood watching her, his expression unreadable. He knew he had messed up. He hadn’t seen it coming. He had taken it for granted that he was stronger than this. If he had married Soki because she reminded him of Nengi then he would have been excused, at least to an extent. But there was nothing remotely similar between Nengi and Soki and so he had no excuse for making such an expensive mistake.

Every woman deserved a memorable first time and he had given his wife one: a negative one. He couldn’t even begin to make it up to her.

‘You hurt me tonight, Dienye,’ she said, ‘and I am not referring to the discomfort that comes with being deflowered. I don’t even know what hurts more: taking my virginity and calling me by another woman’s name or the fact that you looked surprised as though you had just discovered that you were in bed with me and not the woman who had shared your bed for the seven years you were married.’

He began to speak but advised himself to be quiet. She was right. When he had kissed her, he had known he had been kissing Soki because he had asked her to relax, promising not to hurt her. However, the moment he had her on the bed in the semi darkness of the room he hadn’t used in years, he had been transported back in time to a moment when Nengi was alive and Soki was immediately forgotten.

Until he realised that the woman in his arms was a virgin!

Nengi’s name had frozen on his lips even as Soki had frozen beneath him. Reflexively she had roughly pushed him off her. He was lucky she headed straight for the bathroom instead of the adjoining bedroom.

‘Now that I am in your home, am I to expect you to call me Nengi every time you see me or is to be at any time we have sex?’

‘You are blowing this out of proportion,’ he bit out, unable to help himself.

‘Am I?’ she returned. ‘Perhaps I would have been indifferent if I had been with another man before you.’

‘I’m glad you weren’t,’ he said quickly.

‘Of course you are.’ She inhaled deeply.

‘I can’t take back what happened, babe,’ he said, contrite, ‘but I would like the opportunity to make it up to you.’

She drew back her head as though struck by a snake.

‘There is no way on earth that I am getting back into that bed with you tonight.’

‘Be patient,’ Dienye cautioned himself even as Soki settled herself on a couch in the room, her legs folded like she was meditating.

His action would determine whether the rest of their nights would end up like this, with her rejecting him. It was like driving a car, he thought. If you had a minor accident and didn’t immediately get back behind the wheel, you risked the likelihood of giving up completely on driving. And so like driving a car it was not in the best interest of their marriage to allow things wait until some other time.

He was married to a very passionate woman and although he had messed up, he couldn’t risk her unconsciously rejecting his touch because of what had happened. He could easily sleep on the couch and let her have the bed but that wouldn’t be a wise decision. He had been married once and so knew from experience that if he let this wait he would be in trouble. And so this had to be resolved tonight.

‘I am sorry,’ he apologised once more.

‘I heard you the first time, and other times,’ she replied.

‘Am I forgiven?’

He looked so repentant that she found herself forgiving him.

‘I forgive you,’ she told him, ‘but forgetting this incident is a different ball game.’

‘I can deal with that,’ he assured her. ‘What happened was unforgivable and I promise you it would never repeat itself.’

Soki wasn’t sure he was in a position to keep that promise but she didn’t counter his statement.

Dienye sat at the edge of the bed in a pair of shorts while she remained stubbornly on the couch. She had thought he would go to sleep and let her be but he just chose to wait.

‘You really should put on a shirt or something,’ she told him, drawing her eyes away from his body.

Having wanted him for so long, how could she stay mad at him when all he had on was a pair of tiny boxer shorts that left very little to the imagination? She was tempted to reach out and run her fingers over his well sculpted torso, muscular arms… no she wouldn’t be distracted. But Dienye wasn’t about to make it easy for her. And she wasn’t comfortable with the desire in his eyes as he looked at her. There was a reason why lingerie was effective for $eduction!

She swallowed hard and looked away. Damn the weakness of her body where this man was concerned! She finally gave in, telling herself that it was because he had genuinely apologised to her. She would give him a second chance but if it happened again…

Dienye made it up to her, self-conscious so as not to call her by Nengi’s name. And while she slept, he asked himself if he had been wise in remarrying. Not just because he still loved Nengi but because he was foreseeing a situation where she would rightfully expect more from him emotionally than he could offer her. He wasn’t a man in love, at least not with his current wife!

Sunday 18th April 2017

7:01am

Dienye was up early and as part of the atonement for his sin the previous night, he went into the kitchen in a pair of shorts to fix breakfast for Soki. He wasn’t the best cook but knew his way around the kitchen. He made her an omelette and served it with five slices of toasted bread. Since he wasn’t sure how she liked her tear, he placed a jug of hot water, tea bag, sugar and milk on the tray and took it to the master bedroom.

Soki woke up just as he opened the bedroom door. She quickly pulled the comforter over herself, hiding her body from his eyes. He was amused by her reaction but didn’t show it lest he incur her wrath so early in the morning. He was clearly still on probation.

‘Good morning babe,’ he greeted.

‘Good morning, D.D,’ she responded looking everywhere but at him.

She had to get used to seeing him in this state of undress, he thought as he placed the tray on the bedside table on her side. With her eyes she gestured for her lingerie on the rug and the short kimono she hadn’t picked up the previous night. He handed them over to her and still clutching at the comforter, she put on the lingerie before pushing her hands into the sleeves of the kimono and quickly tied the knots.

‘I brought you breakfast,’ he told her.

‘Thanks. You didn’t have to.’

She yawned and turned so that she was sitting on the bed but with her feet on the rug.

‘Yes I did,’ he countered gently.

‘I already told you last night that I had forgiven you.’

‘And this is my way of saying thank you for giving me a second chance.’

She was silent for a moment.

‘What time is service today?’ she asked.

‘Ten o’clock,’ he replied.

That would give her time to fix lunch before they headed for the thanksgiving service. She loved cooking and so looked forward to making lunch and subsequently dinner. She yawned once more. Was it compulsory for the couple to be in church on the Sunday after the wedding? After all there were couples who travelled out for their honeymoon the same day.

It made no sense coming to church knowing that all eyes would be on you and that people would know that you had been intimate the night before and who knows, even the early hours of the morning. Good God, how would she even look her parents in the face! Her skin flushed. Even her little sister Nkolika would know something had happened.

The second Sunday would have been preferable for a thanksgiving.

‘What’s on your mind?’ Dienye asked her as she reached for the tray.

‘I was just thinking of how I was going to look my parents in the face today.’

‘Why?’

‘They would know that we were intimate.’

This time Dienye laughed.

‘Oh my God, babe, that is to be expected. After all, we are married.’

‘Don’t you dare laugh!’ she warned him. ‘I am being serious here. My father sees me as his innocent little girl, for crying out loud.’

Dienye was still laughing. He couldn’t believe the kind of thoughts she was having. At least the previous night’s mistake was forgotten albeit temporarily.

‘Wait until you visit them with a protruding stomach. That would leave them in doubt as to what you and I do with our free time.’

He neatly dodged the pillow she threw at him.

‘You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?’ she gave him a feigned glare but that didn’t stop his laughter.

He lifted both hands as a sign of surrender.

‘Once you’re married there is the assumption that you are intimate whether or not it is true. Fortunately for you, I doubt if your mum is anything like my adorable maternal grandmother who teased me yesterday about finally getting my ‘equipment’ greased. Can you imagine that?’

It was Soki’s turn to laugh. She wasn’t surprised. She had met his grandmother whom he referred to as Mama Nawfia as a way of distinguishing between her and his paternal grandmother. The woman was well educated and had a bad mouth. She said things as they were and without apologies. She would be turning 80 in October.

Soki had fallen in love with the older woman upon meeting her three weeks earlier in her home in Nawfia, Anambra State. Dienye had informed her that his grandmother would have chewed off his head if he hadn’t brought Soki to see her before their wedding. He was her favourite grandchild and she didn’t joke with anything that concerned him.

Although she had been excited that her grandson was marrying from her state, it didn’t stop her from grilling Soki in order to make sure that she wasn’t taking undue advantage of her special boy. Once she confirmed that Soki was legit, the woman had embraced her and switched from English to Igbo language telling her things about Dienye’s childhood days.

From his grandmother, Soki had learned that Dienye spoke all three major Nigerian languages fluently courtesy of his education. By default he understood Igbo because of his mother and grandmother and also because of the fact that a lot of Bonny indigenes understood Igbo. He had graduated from Kings College, Lagos, spending six years in Lagos before proceeding to Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria to study Business Administration. His service year had been spent in Ekiti state. He had also lived in Lagos for two years before returning to Port Harcourt to set up his businesses.

‘An equipment she had warned me would become rusty and useless if I didn’t put it to use soon.’

Soki shook her head. She couldn’t wait to visit the old woman again. But first she had to have a long soak in the bath to deal with the discomfort she felt between her thighs. It was going to be a long day.

To be continued

 

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