Temptation Alley (Part 15)

I could not go to work the following day…I went to Irene’s office, hoping to find her there but she didn’t come to work. Her boss said she had called in to request a few days off to take care of some family issues. Her boss asked me if everything was ok; I’m sure I must have responded with some ridiculous answer.
I wanted to ask for the number that Irene called from but I was already raising suspicion so I had to leave. At that point, I knew I could not help but get our families involved...so I called my younger sister.

My sister was quiet for a while after I told her what happened…then she said
“I knew your leopard could never change its skin…I knew you would find a way to ruin this”

She went on and on about how disappointed she was and how she thought I had changed. She told me how Irene used to swear, when they were growing up, that any infidelity in her marriage would automatically end the marriage. How she broke up with a guy she had dated for 5 years and was engaged to, because he cheated on her.

Irene had told me about this guy and how she would have married him but he ‘messed up’…she never told me what he did though.

“You really crossed a line…that’s why I was not fully in support of this relationship when it started. I knew there was no way on earth you could pull it off” My sister continued.

I was like a thief caught red-handed, I couldn’t even defend myself…I just kept begging my sister to see if she could find any clues to Irene’s whereabouts. She promised to make some calls and get back to me. When I didn’t hear from her that evening, I summoned courage and called my mother-in-law, I figured Irene had to be with her…after all, I had sown some goodness that way and it was time to pull out the 'goodwill card'. To my surprise, Irene was not with her mum…she hadn’t even told her what happened.

Mama told me she heard from her, earlier that day, but it was from an unknown number. She said she had even tried to call her back but her phone was switched off.
I had to come clean before her mum, I told her everything that happened and begged her to help me appeal to Irene. Mama said it was not a big deal especially since I was sober and sorry for what I did…however she mentioned that Irene was not very forgiving when it came to infidelity. She also mentioned the guy Irene was engaged to, and how she tried to mediate when Irene called off the engagement but she wouldn’t budge. Mama promised to call me as soon as she heard from her again. I felt a little relief because someone had heard from my wife and I was on the path to reconciliation

“There’s no way she wouldn’t forgive me…Haba! We have a son and we are expecting another baby. If she doesn’t consider me, she’ll consider the children” I thought to myself as I laid on the couch and later slept off.

I got Mama’s call at about 6:30am, she said she had spoken to Irene over the phone but her response was that there’s nothing to talk about…however she would be coming home that weekend so I should try to be there as well. She said she would call some family members and they would help us to resolve it. I thanked her for the information and promised to be there

I couldn’t wait for the weekend…I was a completely different man at work. Even the guys knew something was different about me…Akin made a sly comment that I had become ‘born again’. Every night when I got home, I would beg God to intervene and help me restore my marriage. I made many promises and vows…thing I would do if God helped me.

I left Lagos around 5am on Saturday morning and was in Ibadan by 6:15am…I went straight to my mother-in-law's house but didn’t let her know I was around till about 8am. She let me in and scolded me for what I did. She told me how her husband (Irene’s dad) was an unrepentant chronic womanizer and had met his waterloo when he left the house without telling anyone where he was going…he never returned from that journey. They later found out that he had actually gone to drop off one of his girl friends at the University of Ife but was attacked by armed robbers on his way back; they killed him, dropped his body in the bush and made away with his car.
It took the family 2 weeks to find out…they had searched everywhere and there were no mobile phones at that time. Mama said it was a terrible experience that scarred Irene for life.
I had never heard that story before; I only knew Irene’s dad had passed…but I never knew that was how.

I apologized profusely and promised never to do it again. We waited and waited for Irene but she didn’t show up. At around 5pm, I was beginning to get worried…then mama’s phone rang and it was Irene. She was really mad at her mother for telling me that she would be there. She said she saw my car when she got to the gate and turned back. Mama tried to calm her down but she said her mum should choose between her daughter and I…


PART 14                                                                                       PART 16 

Picture Credit (c) beyondblackandwhite.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental 

© 2015 Lanre Olagbaju All Rights Reserved

Temptation Alley (Part 14)

I kept stuttering and mumbling…my brain could not seem to catch up with my mouth.

“I can explain” that was all I could manage to say after almost 5 minutes of awkwardness.

“You don’t have to” Irene said and she reminded me of the ONLY thing she asked of me before she agreed to marry me. She was sobbing as she told me the story of a 'loud' girl that came to the Salon about an hour after she got there. The girl seemed to be good friends with the hairdresser as there were no details spared in all the gist she had for her. One could tell that they attended the same secondary school.

Irene said she wasn’t interested in the lecherous things they were talking about at first…but when the hairdresser asked where the 'loud' lady had been all the while and she mentioned a conference in Abuja, she (Irene) started to pay attention.

The lady asked the hairdresser if she remembered the cute 'corper', Mr. B, that ‘served’ when they were seniors at their secondary school in Ibadan…the hairdresser was still racking her brains when the lady added “Mr. Babs…my life crush”. At that point, the hairdresser remembered and asked for more details.

The lady then started the story of how they met in the plane, how he was even sexier and more handsome than he was back then. How fate put them in the same hotel, how she paid ten thousand naira to the man at the counter so she could get the room that was directly opposite his.

She talked about how Mr. Babs was playing hard to get at first, but finally fell for the old ‘flaunt what you got’ trick and played ball…hard. She shared everything that happened without sparing any details.

“At first I thought it was all a weird coincidence and I was trying to process the information in my head…but then she showed the hairdresser a wristwatch.”

 “She said she took it as a souvenir…to remind herself, that if she set her heart to anything she could achieve it” Irene said.

She said there was no way she would not recognize the wrist watch because she bought it through a friend that travelled to the United Kingdom from her office and it was customized.

To be doubly sure, she checked the wristwatch on the lady’s hand while pretending to check the time.

At that point, I knew the game was up…I started to beg Irene, blaming the devil for my unfaithfulness.
I told her how hard I tried to keep away from the girl and all the things I did, to avoid being entrapped...but my wife just sat on the floor, sobbed hard and said nothing.

It was as if someone died in our house…I must have begged from afternoon till midnight. Nobody ate…she only got up to feed our son who was crying. Irene cried and cried till she slept off. I was thinking of what to do to pacify her or the gift I could get to make her forgive me. That night, I regretted everything I did at Abuja…I regretted the kind of company I had been keeping at work and how that contributed, in a way, to the mess I got myself in.

We couldn’t go to church on Sunday…Irene just stayed in the room and wouldn’t come out. My son sat with her and consoled her in his own little way. He was a little over 2.

“Stop crying mummy…who beat you?” he said as he put his right hand on her head (a gesture meant to console a crying child)

Irene held him and tried to stop crying but I could tell that her heart was shattered. I felt really bad…I even cried at a point.

I started to pray in my heart that God should let her forgive me. My mind went back to the promise I made when I cheated on her with Dammy.

Later in the evening, I went out to get some food so she could eat…I begged her to eat, even if it’s because of the baby. The mention of the baby even made her cry some more.

I must have slept off at around Midnight…it was a sad weekend in our house. I had to go to work the next morning because I had a presentation; Irene had called her boss that she wasn’t coming to work, because she wasn’t feeling too good.

I begged Irene that I would come as soon as I was done with the presentation…she looked at me but didn’t say anything. I got back home around 2pm but Irene was not there. I called out but nobody responded…I called her phone, it was switched off. At first I thought maybe she went to the Daycare to get our son since he didn’t really have to stay there all day

I sat in the living room for a while and decided to go check the room...that was when I noticed she had taken some of her stuff. I called the Daycare to check if she had been there but they said our son was absent on that day.

I continued to call Irene but the phone was still turned off…I sent her many text messages, hoping she would get them as soon as the phone was turned on.
It was as if my whole world was collapsing around me, the thought of what this could mean and where this could lead, pervaded my mind. I called a friend of hers at church but she said she hadn’t heard from her since Friday.

I didn’t want to call family members at first…I was hoping she would see my text messages and respond. I couldn’t sleep all night as I kept calling Irene hoping she would have switched on her phone. I realized, around 3 in the morning that she left her SIM card on the little dresser by the bed...

PART 13                                                                                       PART 15

Picture Credit (c) swagg Trendz
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental 

© 2015 Lanre Olagbaju All Rights Reserved