BEING THE OTHER WOMAN...diary of a mistress (3)

    And I waited and oh how I longed to hear his voice, to listen to his explanation, of course I was so angry as well, I was going to give him a piece of my mind, but I knew I was also going to forgive him, I was already in love with this man.
    I figured work was so stressful and he was under a lot of pressure and he totally forgot to call, or maybe he lost his phone, or he got mugged, I mean it's not uncommon in this country, right?, oh what if he had been killed! And his body was lying in a ditch somewhere, I imagined his last thoughts where about me, too much to expect? Oh well I gave up my ghoulish thoughts and focused on my school work and my friend and mom. Easier said than done.
    Uju and I returned back to school on Monday morning, I had a free lecture period- the professor had at the last minute decided that he needed a new haircut, yes hard to believe, I know- but that's how it was and I was honestly really glad for the time, I needed to think, I wasn't ready for socializing just yet. So into my room, I went, Uju had a practical or something, I wasn't listening to her when she told me, I love her but I needed to be alone. I kept running everything over and over in my mind, where did I go wrong? Was it something I said? Didn't he like me enough? Or did he think I was too young for him? Again I conceded that there must be a perfectly reasonable explanation. That afternoon a class was fixed but I didn't attend, I just couldn't face it, I didn't know what was wrong with me, but I remembered the last time I felt this way, when Daddy died. I knew I was depressed, I refused to go out, to eat, to find anything funny in a good joke, I hated people around and yet wanted nobody to leave me alone, but I was still in denial, I insisted I was fine when Uju starting pestering and poking around.
    By the seventh day, I had had it! I wasn't going to stay around moping in the hostel all because some nut job refused to call, it was his loss anyway, I deserved better. And so I moved on, I didn't go home that weekend, I stayed back in school to catch up on all I had missed in class, assignments, notes, it was exhausting but I pulled through and by Sunday morning, I had all but forgotten about Lanre Ademola. So that was why on Sunday evening when my phone rang, my heart didn't race, my stomach didn't turn, my head didn't feel giddy, I was actually reading a good novel and I casually picked up the phone without a glance at the caller ID, "Yo!, hello?", there was silence, but I could hear someone breathing on the other line, I got automatically impatient, "Hello! Who is there!?" Then I heard his voice, it was like a whisper, so smooth and calm, "Akunna? Akunna, its me, darling, please don't hang up the phone, I know how angry you might be".
I was speechless, I am never speechless, ever! I didn't know whether to cry or laugh or be relieved, so I hung up. He called back, I picked on the sixth ring , took a deep breath and calmly asked, " What is it that you want, Lanre?"
"Darling, I am so so sorry, I can explain everything, let me just know where you are, I could pick you up and well talk, I really want to explained things to you. I have really missed you. I am sorry, please just a moment to explain"
    I listened to the sincerity in his voice, tears stinging my eyes, I believed him, I needed to see him too, but I knew he had to suffer for a while for hurting me like that. Maybe if Uju had been in the room that evening, she would have stopped me from making a decision that would change my life forever or maybe not, maybe I wouldn't have even listened. Well it didn't matter, I agreed to meet with him, convincing myself that it was to see if any of my theories checked out or not, but knowing within me that this handsome, older man had a strong hold over me. I quickly dressed nicely, put on a light make up, sprayed a very feminine scent and waited for him to call that he was already in the parking lot. He came just on time. I guessed he really did miss me. He called for me to come down the stairs to the car park, I walked really slowly, yeah, he has to stew for a while, curiosity got the best of me again and I almost ran outside, when I saw his car, my heart began to race, and my stomach began turning, I thought I would vomit. It took much effort to walk steadily towards him, he had gotten out of the car and was standing in the front looking really contrite. He had this really huge smile on his face and when I got to him, he wrapped me up in an bear hug, "God, I've missed you badly". And with just that little bit of tenderness, all the encased emotions of that past week just came crashing down on me, suffocating me and I blurted out, nearly screaming " How could you. How could you just leave without calling or anything . I was so worried. I was so hurt. I was lonely. Why?. What did I do wrong? Two weeks!", I was crying by now and he just stared at me gently, raised his index finger to my tearstained face and wiped my tears and said in that reasonable but annoying voice, "Technically, Pudding, its exactly eight days today", and he smiled, oh that smile, I couldn't help it, I began to laugh and laugh and he joined me and we just kept laughing and then he kissed me, I responded hungrily, we were at it for maybe two minutes ( it felt longer) and when it was over, we were both out of breath. It was really amazing.
    I pulled myself together, cleared my throat and asked , "So what's your reason for what you did last week?!". He looked me in the eye  sighing and he urged me to sit down. I refused, it was a serious matter and he needed to know how angry I was, he held my hands, took a breath and said, " I won't lie to you, Pudding, I do care about you a lot, in fact, I love you, I thought about you all through last week, I kept wanting to call but there just wasn't an opportunity to". I just kept staring at him, waiting, I was playing all my theories in my head, which of them fit?. He went on, still holding my hands, " you see, darling, there's another woman, actually, three other women, baby, you have to understand, I never meant to hurt you...".
"What!?, you have three other girlfriends? Are you kidding me? What about us? Are we even in a relationship?!".
"Honey, I wish it were that easy, no, I do not have any other girlfriends, I am married and I  have two daughters, I understand if you do not wish to see me again, but I need you to consider it, we can work things out".
TO BE CONTINUED...

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