p@rt 5
“ I LOVE YOU, BUT.
Beauty felt the familiar bu-tterflies in her stomach. She didn’t want to open the door for him, she didn’t trust herself. She was going to fail at what Winter asked her to do. How was she going to see Freeman and not k!sshim, hvg him or jump on him?.
“ Beauty! I know you are in there! plea-se open up! You know I love you and this is not easy for me. plea-se open up and let’s discuss this!” Freeman said
“ He still loves me!” Beauty said to herself as she fell to the ground crying.
“ plea-se … Bee Open up… I promise you, we will sort this out… I love you bae, everything that happened was sudden… plea-se just give me five minutes..”
Beauty couldn’t control herself anymore. She flung the door open and rushed into Freeman’s arms. She held onto him ti-ghtly…
“ I am not letting you go, she can’t take you from me, plea-se… I am sorry for asking you to Marry me, don’t bother, I am fine with being the mistress. She won’t have to know about me…” Beauty said in rush
“ No… Beauty, you deserve better… You are worth more than being a Mistress or a second wife. You will find a better man!”
“ I don’t want a better man. I want you. You make my life worth living. Do you want me to talk to her? I can tell her I won’t be a bother”
“ You will do no such thing… plea-se…”
“ Freeman, you love me and that is what I will tell her!”
“ Beauty, I love you but I love my wife in a dee-per and complex way. Bee, I love you but you can not replace my wife. I mean…I love you but I can’t leave my wife for you. I have kids you know. Bee, I love you and though you are a whole lot better on be-d than my wife could ever be but I can not hurt My wife ! I can’t! There are so many things attached to this, first she is the mother of my kids, secondly she is my lawfully wedded wife, thirdly, She MADE me and fourthly it’s not about us alone, I have in-laws and extended in-laws. I can’t disappoint them all because of what we have!” Freeman said
Beauty felt like a piece of discarded tissue. She moved back from Freeman in utter shock. Freeman just told her in plain language that she was nothing to him.
“ Ok… “
“ I hope what I just said did not come out the wrong way… The truth is I love you, but…”
“ But, your wife is more important.” Beauty said
“ For your troubles, plea-se have this…” Freeman brou-ght out a Cheque of Two million Naira.
Beauty didn’t know which was worse; Freeman breaking up with her or he paying her off like a pr©st!tût£or cheap blackmailer.
“ What?” Beauty asked in what sounded more like whisper.
Freeman moved closer to her, he tucked the Cheque into her palm. Beauty opened her palm and watched the Cheque fall off. The Cheque felt like a burning substance…
“ Freeman! Out! I get it! I am your second fiddle! I am just the girl you while away your time with, I am the girl you enjoy S-x with but can never take the place of your wife, I am the girl who makes you smile, your tool of amusement, I am the one that has to be hidden, while your wife follows you to public functions. I should have known being the side chic was not honorable. You flaunt your wife and kids on social media page but no one gets to know about me… You are right, I deserve better… I accept everything you have said but for trying to pay me off… I hate you! Out of my house now!” Beauty said
“ I am sorry! I didn’t mean it that way!”
“ Out!”
“ Can I at least k!ssyou goodbye” Freeman said
“ You are Mad!” were the words Beauty wanted to say to Freeman but she st©pped herself.
“Action they say is better than words, I will let my actions speak” Beauty reasoned
Beauty walked closer to him, and gently she placed herl-ips on his. At first, the usual surge of excitement sh0t throu-gh her veins but she remembered her mission. With all the determination in the world, she bit his l-ips o ha-rd the pain went straight to Freeman’s br@in.
Freeman tried pushing Beauty off him, but Beauty held on to thel-ips with her teeth like her life depended on it.
“ plea-seeeee!” Freeman gro-an ed as he tried to push Beauty off.
After few seconds of struggle, Beauty re-leased hisl-ips…
“ I decided to give you a souvenir of pain that you will nurse for a while, it should remind you of the pain you have inflicted on me… I hate you and I mean it!”
Freeman t©uçhed his so-rel-ips. He knew without a doubt he couldn’t go to work again. Soon, he would have a swollenl-ip.
Freeman walked out of Beauty’s house. He knew that was the end. He would lose anything to keep Pamilerin.
*******
After the kids left for school, Pamilerin felt the urge to talk to someone, she nee-ded to talk or else she felt she was going to run mad. She wanted to bur-st out. She thought of calling her wealthy guardians who raised her, but her calculating br@in told her it was not a good move. Her guardians were the ones connecting Freeman to their wealthy friends and as-sociates. Telling them of his infidelity was going to hinder things.
She dropped the thought of contacting her guardians.
Her Birth Mother! Ajoke!
Pamilerin left her birth mother at the age of 10 to work as a house maid for her guardians but on getting there, her guardians noticed her smartness and they decided to help her academically.
She lived with them for 16 years before getting married to Freeman. It was at the point of marriage that she bec@m£ close to her birth mother. Over the years while living with her guardians, her birth mother was permitted to come see her as she willed but her birth mother c@m£ only a few times.
After marriage, she bec@m£ closer to her, though there were things they still had not agreed on. Her birth Mother still believed in fetish ways of resolving issues.
“ Hello Maami, how are you?”
“ Pamilerin, Bawo ni? ( How are you?)” Ajoke replied
“ Mo wa, sugbon Wahala die wa!” ( I am fine, but there is a little problem.”
“ Which is?” Ajoke asked in Yoru-ba language
“ There is another woman between my husband and I” Pamilerin said sobbing
“ Nibo? Nibo Lo ti n bo?” ( Where is she coming from?)
“ I don’t know… but they have been together for two years.” Pamilerin said as she raised her voice…
“ Pamilerin, laughter is your portion, not crying. Leave that useless thing to me. You will hear the report of her situation soon!”
“ Maami, what are you planning to do? I didn’t call you to do anything. I just called you to encourage me.”
“ This is me encouraging you! Don’t worry, your worries are alre-ady over…” Ajoke said in Yoru-ba adding some proverbial statements Pamilerin did not un-derstand.
p@rt 6
“ I LOVE YOU, BUT”❤️
Freeman walked into his home. Hisl-ips were swollen real bad.
Pamilerin was seated in the living room with no thoughts in her head. She was still trying to live in the denial that everything that was happening was all a figment of her imagination.
The creaking sound of the door made her conscious of her environment once again. Freeman’s bigl-ips caught her immediate attention. On impulse, she ran towards him in fear.
” What happened?” Concerned Pamilerin asked
Freeman saw the genuine look of concern on Pamilerin’s face. Common s-en-se told him that was the time to weaken Pamilerin’s anger towards him.
” She didn’t take my breakup easily. She punched me on the l!pbecause I told her I couldn’t leave my wife for her. I was trying to tell her we were a big mistake which I had been trying to st©p for a long time but I had been failing countless times.” Freeman said with a pitiful looking face.
Pamilerin stared ha-rd at Freeman.
” Are you saying it is over?” Pamilerin asked while standing akimbo.
” Yes..I will never set my eyes on her again!”
” I hope so…When Single girls fall in love with married men, they find it ha-rd to cut off and most times they end up ruthless if they are f0rç£d to quit the relationsh!p. Are you sure she won’t be coming back?”
” No, I have paid her off!”
Pamilerin raised her eyebrow in a questioning manner.
” I gave her 2 million!”
” Ok…if she is not a gold digger or a cheap blackmailer, that should be more than enough.” Pamilerin said.
” Am I forgiven?” Freeman asked
” Still thinking!” Pamilerin said as she sat back on the chair in the living room…Freeman could s-en-se forgiveness in the air. This was exactly why he loved his wife. Pamilerin was not the complicated kind of person. He walked close to her and planted a k!sson her cheek…
” Thank you for being the best wife ever.”
*******
” He did that?” Winter asked Beauty over the phone
” Yes, that was the biggest insult ever!”
” Insult? He insulted you?”Winter asked
” Yes, he trying to pay me off is a big insult.”
” My dear, plea-se let me get this, a man pays you 2million for the 2 years you spent together as compensation? That guy is definitely a good guy… Babe, if all men could pay ladies compensation fee after breaking up with them, We would have a lot of rich single babes.”
” I don’t nee-d his money, I nee-d him… I love him. ”
” Babe, if it is about getting him back, I will get him back but my advise, cash out immediately and forget the guy. There are a lot of guys out there and If d@t!ngmarried men is your preferred spec, there are a lot of them out there… This one … Let him go… If a man pays a girl off, it means he genuinely doesn’t want to have anything to do with her again. Men don’t p@rt with their money easily. ” Winter said
Beauty felt like Something just sli-pped off her hand. She felt it and she knew it;Freeman was off her grip.
Simultaneously, she felt something fly into her eyes. She tried to get it out but the more she di-pped her f!nger into her eyes, whatever it was, kept plunging in.
” Are you there?” Winter asked
” Yeah, something flew into my eyes. I will call you later! Let me get it out”
*********
Winter dropped her phone in utter shock. She sat back in her chair.
” N2 million!” Winter kept saying over and over
” The guy must be loaded for him to want to throw away N2million just like that! Hmm…. Winter, are you thinking what I am thinking?” Winter said to herself
*********
” Done!” Ajoke’s herbalist boasted to her.
” Those eyes she used in seeing my daughter’s husband will never see anything good again. Thank you Aremu. You have never failed me… except once, but I have forgiven you.”
******
2 hours later
Beauty’s eyes had produced enough water to fill a glas-s cu-p…
” Hello Winter, my eyes are getting worse. Are you sure I shouldn’t go the hospital.?”
” Yes, I am at the airport alre-ady, I am taking the next flight to Lagos. Just stay where you are. What is happening to your eyes is not what the hospital can solve, I can tell you the wife has gone diabolical for your case ooo… but don’t worry, where someone’s juju ends, that’s where another person’s own starts from… I will show her you have a killer friend.”
” Thank you Winter… I am waiting… I can’t see clearly again.”
” Don’t worry your head over nothing. That eye, it will clear.”
” Thank you!”
” About to board…see you soon!” Winter said from the Abuja Airport. She had told her new husband that she had to see a close friend who was dying. Unknown to him, Winter was alre-ady plotting his death.
*******
” This is very terrible!” Winter said on seeing Beauty. ” Your eyes are like they are going to pop out soon. With this , I think we really nee-d to get to the hospital.” Winter said.
Winter noticed a rumpled sheet of paper on the floor, she instantly guessed it was the cheque. She picked it up in haste…
” We might nee-d this!” Winter said in her defence when she noticed Beauty saw her… ” We don’t know what this eye thing might graduate into, let us have this for medical bills”.
Beauty nodded…
” I swear if Freeman and his wife have a hand in this, they will pay.” Beauty said out loud…
To be continued