p@rt 3
“I ~LOVE YOU, BUT..~ ❤️
” You don’t say!” Winter said very bewildered
“I can’t believe Freeman would say that to me.” Beauty said in tears
“Sorry”
” I can’t believe Freeman would break up with me that easily and sharply because his wife found out about us. He could have denied it!” Beauty continued her tears
” This is not good for you.” Winter said at last after about three minutes of silence
” What?”
” Her knowing about you. When a wife gets to know there is a side chick involved in her marriage, the wife usually goes on the defensive. Depending on who the wife is, some side chicks never live to tell the story.”
” You mean she may want to kill me!”
” Tell me about her, Who is she? Because if she is one of these born again Christians, just know that the relationsh!pis over. She will use prayers and good character to win her husband back. If she is a diabolical person, she will probably turn her husband to a love sick baby. He will totally forget about you and return back to her like a baby or is she a physical person? Is she capable of defending herself by s£nding as-sas-sins against you?” Winter said
” I don’t know much about her.” Beauty replied
” You are d@t!nga woman’s husband and you never bothered to keep tabs on her?” Winter said rolling her eyes.
” We nee-d to know what we are up against so that we can use the right weapon against her.” Winter said
” Ok!” Beauty said
” Ok? Is that all that you are going to say? You should be worried now. Being a side chick is not for babies. Lesson 101 of being a successful Side Chick- ” Never ever let the wife get a wind of you, be a green snake un-der the green gras-s. You l@ylow and unseen so that when you strike, you strike and kill.”
” But now that she knows, what do we do?” Beauty asked
” We take it a day at a time. First, Let’s find out the kind of wife she is. In the meantime, don’t pick his call anymore! Give them false hope that it is over.”
” Ok!” Beauty said. Everything going on was too much for her. She had hoped to be Freeman’s second wife. She didn’t want any shade of complexity, but everything was beginning to look complicated.
******
Sleep was faraway from Freeman. He sat at the dining table with his eyes wi-de opened at 1:40am. The previous day that began as a seemingly nice day had ended badly. He could still smell the harsh smell of the burnt vegetables. They had been so engrossed in their conversation, neither of them perceieved the burnt vegetables. It was Remi who ran out of the room towards the kitchen that snapped them out of their thoughts.
” I am sorry sir, I was trying to tell you I was frying the vegetables…” Remi said in her defense as she ran towards the kitchen.
With that, Pamilerin walked towards her room. Her head was spinning.
” Pamilerin ! Pamilerin!” Freeman called
” Yes!”
” I am sorry!”
” It’s ok, I just have a headache and nee-d to get to be-d early.” Pamilerin said
Freeman wasn’t expecting less. He and Pamilerin usually stayed late into the night to discuss about the day and how business went but here was Pamilerin going to be-d early.
” Ok!” Freeman replied. He could tell his world was going to crash any moment.
Freeman paced around thinking about Beauty as well. He feared what she might do to herself. When he met Beauty two years earlier, she was struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts. He was the one who brou-ght her out of that phase. He feared this abrupt breakup could break her completely…
But…
” Who is more important? She or your family?” Freeman asked himself
” Obviously my family, though I love Beauty, I would never place her welfare above that of my family. She would always be secondary.” Freeman told himself the blunt truth.
*******
Pamilerin had sle-pt off after hours of crying. She expected him to come in and keep apologising but instead he sat in the living room. She believed he was apologising to the other woman…
” How am I going to solve this? How will I get back my paradise?” Pamilerin had asked herself amidst her sobs.
” God, who is this girl, lady or woman? I don’t even know who she is.”
” Keep Calm and know that I am God!” Pamilerin heard those words loud and clear.
Those words comforted her…
*******
” Pay me 2 million and I will eliminate her in three months and guess what you won’t have to move a muscle… I will do all the background checks and I will eliminate her in the best untraceable way.” Winter said
” 1 million” Beauty negotiated
” 1.8 million” Winter replied
” 1.2″ Beauty said
” 1.5 … Babe that’s the lowest I can go, you know what you stand to gain when the woman exits, all that your guy has will automatically become yours. You told me the guy is a cash bag…” Winter was saying but Beauty cut in
” Fine, which account should I transfer the cash to?”
” I will s£nd it to you in a minute.”
” Hold on, so what do I do after s£nding you the money?” Beauty asked
” Nothing…just avoid him so no one would trace her death to you and go shopping for a beautiful black dress you will be rocking to her funeral soon!”
” Thanks babe…”
” Anything for you darling!”
p@rt 4
“I LOVE YOU, BUT ”
Pamilerin was fully awake on the be-d while Freeman dressed up for work, however She pretended to be asleep as she couldn’t stand looking him in the eye that morning. Her heart was still hurt by his betrayal…
“ See you later!” Freeman said as he moved closer to give Pamilerin the usual k!sson the forehead. Pamilerin didn’t move an inch. She la-id down like a log of wood. Freeman withdrew from her. He watched how she was pretending to be asleep. This was the first time in a long while he wasn’t going to get the usual “God’s Pres£nce goes with you!”.
Pamilerin made it a duty to always say that to him everyday before going to work.
Freeman knew it was going to take a while before Pamilerin returned to her usual self. He couldn’t blame her. He had messed up real big and he was going to fix it.
*******
Beauty was a mess, she called in sick at the office. She wasn’t in the right frame of mind to be at work. All night she had been eating anything and everything. That was her way of coping with depression. She could smell depression and suicide coming close. She had been very unfortunate with relationsh!ps. She couldn’t count the heartbreaks she had suffered in her 29 years. First, her parents deserted her at the age of three and relocated to the United States leaving her paternal grandmother to care for her. According to her parents, they thought they would s£nd for her later but unfortunately on getting there, things did not go as planned. They could not file for her to join them. Hence, she remained in Nigeria while they s£nt her money from time to time for her academics and welfare. However, her welfare money was managed by her grandmother who used it for everyone at home. Beauty faced a lot of emotional abuse growing up, she was also R@p£d on several occasions. All the emotional scars made relationsh!pa war zone for her. She was always very defensive, bitter and angry in her relationsh!ps.
Freeman was different; Freeman was the only one she felt safe with. She had met Freeman at a pharmaceutical sto-re. She had gone to buy some anti depressant drugs which the pharmacist refused selling to her, if she did not provide a doctor’s prescription. Beauty had gone bunkers screaming at the pharmacist.
*****
Freeman drove towards Beauty’s house to end things with her. He knew Beauty so well to know that she wasn’t going to go to Work that morning. As he drove, he took the time to cast his mind back to how they had met…
TWO YEARS EARLIER…
Freeman was at the pharmacy to buy some pain relief pills. Freeman saw how Beauty was hell bent on buying some anti depressant drugs which unfortunately for her, the pharmacist nee-ded a prescription before selling to her. He saw how jittery she was, he could un-derstand what Beauty was going throu-gh. He had been a victim of depression in the past. After graduating from school at the young age of 21, he couldn’t secure a Job for five years. He knew he was very smart but yet he was wasting away.
Good luck c@m£ his way when he met Pamilerin at her guardians’ company. She was the HR who was hiring. After his interview, Pamilerin had said with a smile….
“ Mr. Freeman, you are smart but you have a loser’s demeanor. I could re-ad fear, defeat, uncertainty in your eyes … in your hand movements and in your voice. Put in mind that whenever you go into the interview room, go with the mind that you are going in for a conversation, not an interview. Be bold, be relaxed and be friendly. That way you would get the job.
Judging from your interview today, I ought not to consider you for the Job, but the Lord said I should employ you! You got the job!” Pamilerin had said
Freeman sat for another few seconds before what Pamilerin said made s-en-se to him…
Freeman remembered Pamilerin helping him out of depression and on seeing Beauty that evening, he felt he could pas-s on the good to her.
He had approached Beauty and asked her to come with him…
“ Hello ma’am… Can you come with me. I can be of help!” Freeman had told her.
Beauty didn’t pay him any attention. After his failed persuasion, Freeman left her and went into the car after paying for his medicine.
Freeman waited for another 15 minutes in the car, observing Beauty. Eventually, he watched Beauty leaving the pharmacy with nothing in her hands. As she walked towards where his car was parked,Freeman jumped out of his car and approached her…
“ What do you want ? I am not a S-x worker if that is what you are thinking of.” Beauty said
“ I am happily married.” Freeman said showing off his ring.
“ So what do you want?”
“ I want to help you, I have faced depression before and I know where that leads to, it doesn’t lead to a good place, but a friend who is now my wife was the one who helped me overcome my depression. Today, I have the best life I never thought I could have. I am grateful I didn’t throw this beautiful future away out of depression.”
Beauty looked at him intently….
“ How did she help you? What did you have to do? I want out of depression.”
“ Friendsh!p. She bec@m£ my friend. Can I be your friend?” Freeman had asked innocently
******
Beauty remembered how their friendsh!phad started innocently, but as months went by it bec@m£ de-ep friendsh!pand one day when she was a bit un-der the weather, he c@m£ over to her house. They both lost control and threw caution in the air.
“ I can’t lose him! I can’t! I was fine with being the second wife, I was not selfish, so why do I get to lose him? No way…” Beauty said to herself before hearing the familiar knock.
“ He is here!” Beauty g@sped
To be continued