💞 TANURE,
FOREVER💞
Chapter 4
It occurred to her that this was Richa-rd ‘s girlfriend,she quietly walked up to him at his study.
“You have a visitor”She announced, calmly.
Richa-rd stood up from his chair and strode towards the living room,he frozed seeing Christine.He stared at her then at Tanure.
“Christine, let’s talk outside”He muttered holding her hand.
“Let go of me,I demand we talk here”She yelled.
Tanure quietly excused them.
“So she’s the reason why you’ve been coming up with different pointless excuses so I wouldn’t come here, Richa-rd , plea-se tell me you have nothing to do with that pregnancy, she’s a relative, right?”Christine asked with tears filled eyes.
“plea-se, don’t cry, Christine,I can explain”Richa-rd begged.
Christine sat on the couch.
Richa-rd sat beside her and told her that when he had traveled to the village,she was one of the village girls running after him and she s£dûç£d him when he was drun!k,he wasn’t thinking straight so he sle-pt with her.
His parents f0rç£d him to take her in.
He hid the fact that he had paid her bride price.
“You’re my world, Christine.Tanure means nothing to me”He said trying to hold her hand.
“Don’t t©uçh me”She choked out, sobbing.
“I’m so sorry,we could still be happy”
“Happy? you’re expecting a child from another woman, how can I be happy?”She yelled and stormed out of her house.
Knowing Christine very well, going after her won’t change anything.He glared at a closed be-droom door.
🌻
He stormed into Tanure’s room slamming the door ha-rd that it startled her.
“Congrats!You have succeeded in ruining my life,if I had known that you were nothing but badluck, I wouldn’t have gotten involved with you”Richa-rd growled.
Hurt r!pp£dthrou-gh Tanure’s che-st.
“I never asked you to get involved with me?”She snapped.
“I thought you were just gullible,I didn’t know you were also very stupid”
“Just plea-se leave me alone, Richa-rd .I’m sick and tired of this insults,I know I deserve all of it but can’t you just allow me live a single day peacefully in this house?You don’t know how it feels to want freedom,you have no idea how much I loved you….all you think about is yourself and what you want, you’re an arrogant and self-centered j£rk. I don’t want to be with you so plea-se avoid me like a plague”She yelled.
Richa-rd gulped,why does she keep on talking back at him?
“I’m tired, I’ve had enough,if your mother had just let me stay at your family house in the village,it would be more bearable than this. I don’t want this cursed marriage too, I told you before, I won’t be an obstacle to you and your lover, I will cook,wash and clean the house,you just have to provide for this child, I don’t nee-d anything from you”She said and l@ydown to sleep.
Richa-rd slowly walked out of her room.Did Tanure really feel nothing for him?He slumped on the couch.Why did she believed so much in him? whenever he was with her then,he always talked smoothly and he sometimes wonder if she hadn’t heard the saying that ‘smoothtalkers were great liars’
Richa-rd sighed,he suddenly wanted to know why she held on to every word he said.He wondered what was going throu-gh her mind right now.
🌻
Days ran into weeks, Richa-rd felt lost,he knew he was in the time of his life when he had to make a decision that he wouldn’t regret later.
There was no way of getting rid of Tanure from his life, and he still didn’t want to lose Christine.He had to choose between his lover and his wife or both and then eventually be a polygamist.
Christine wasn’t picking up his calls neither did she reply to his messages.He didn’t plan on hurting her like this.
🌻
Richa-rd walked into the mall,he stared at the shopping list,he was tired of going grocery shopping every week but he pitied Tanure, her baby bu-mp had gotten bigger,she only managed to cook at times because she always felt tired.
He took a shopping basket,as he stared at the list,he went about the mall looking for the listed items.
🌻
Richa-rd walked into his house,he found Tanure sitting on a couch, watching a program on TV.
“I bought everything you listed”He said announcing his pres£nce.
“Thank you”she replied, dryly without staring at him.
He stared at her belly still amused.It looked like a big watermelon.
Sometimes, he’d get frightened when he watched her cooking and moving about.
He wondered if her slender b©dy could support her belly.
He headed towards his be-droom, Baba and Maami had been calling him alot always asking when the baby would be out,they were just too excited to see his baby.
His? Maybe they weren’t the only ones excited.He was, even if he hadn’t planned on having a child this soon but the thought of holding his baby and things he could do with his child especially if it was a male made him feel so enthusiastic.He had alre-ady alre-ady written some names down.
Just like himself,he wanted both English and Yoru-ba names for his kid.His uncle who was based in America had named him Richa-rd ,he was sure that if it was someone else,Baba wouldn’t let him ba-re that name, but he had so much respect for his brother.
If it was a boy,he wanted him to be called,Max Olamide Boyowa,if it turns out to be a girl though he was praying strongly against that,she would be called Catherine Temit©pe Boyowa.He smiled staring at the back of a magazine where he had written the names.
He was still quite baffled that Tanure’s father has never called to check up on her, didn’t he care about his daughter’s health?
Richa-rd sighed,it was just two months remaining and the much awaited baby would be out to the world.
🌻
Richa-rd received a call from Christine,she wanted them to meet up and talk things out.
After the day’s work,he met up with her in a restaurant.For a tensed moment,they were both silent,each trying to come up with a perfect deduction to save their relationsh!p.
He held her hands.
“I missed you”He began.
“Me too. I thought I could forget about you Richa-rd , but I can’t, what’s going to happen to us now?”
Richa-rd didn’t know what to say to her,a p@rt of him was saying it was best to let her go, but he could never come to terms with having a village wife.
“Say something, Richa-rd “She pleaded.
“I don’t want to lose you”He murmured.
“Your parents alre-ady chosed her,if I had known, I’d followed you to your village, that girl is such a cheap slut”
Richa-rd wanted to make her feel at ease so he spoke without thinking.
“I hate everything she repres£nts,I can’t even imagine myself tou-ching her again, what holds us together is the child in her wo-mb”
Christine sm-irked.”What if she loses the child?”
Chapter 5
Richa-rd frozed, just thinking about losing his child hurts.”Well, Tanure and I would go our separate ways. I know I hurt you badly but the child is mine and I won’t certainly wish my own child death”
Christine smiled warily.”I know”
‘I will do anything to make sure that it’s just the two of us again’She thought and hvgged him.
She loved Richa-rd alot,she knew about her shortcomings, but she wanted to change for him,they had been together for two years now and she was alre-ady seeing her future in his eyes.
Richa-rd was hers alone and the bond she had with him was eternal so that village girl and her unborn baby would not ruin it.
Richa-rd walked into his house,it was clean as usual since Tanure started living with him.
He walked into her be-droom,she was asleep and lying down in a way that her stomach was facing the wall.
He slowly sat on the be-d and gently ran a hand throu-gh her hair, loving how soft it felt against her f!ngers.She was beautiful, more beautiful than any woman he had met before and Christine couldn’t compete with her natural features.
Her meals were the best,it always reminded him of his mother’s.Did he really feel nothing for her despite the fact that he never wanted a life with her?
He walked out of her be-droom and and strode into the baby’s room beautifully decorated by Tanure and himself.It was painted with blue and pink.The baby’s cradle, bath and other necessary things were neatly arranged.He grinned staring at the baby’s shoes and clothes.Tanure had insisted that they bought uniS-x clothes and shoes but he strongly prayed for a boy.
To him, girls got tired easily and all they would want to do would be to pl@ywith dolls and watch those silly barbie cartoons.
But boys….they could pl@yfootball together, and run around… and watch those action movies….there were so many things he wanted to do with his son.
Why didn’t he want a kid in the first place?
In his head,he could just picture his child, Tanure and himself, there was no room for Christine.He realized he was self-centered as Tanure had said,he should st©p thinking about what he wants,the deed has alre-ady been done, Christine was too perfect to be his mistress,he didn’t want to compromise things but to give up on one and face the other.
Tanure sat down on a chaise lounge re-ading a book titled ‘The wages of sin’ by Ibe Oparandu.She had gotten used to life in Lagos and she must admit she loved it more than life in the village, well the stress p@rt precisely.She didn’t have to cook with firewood of fetch water two streets away.Richa-rd had taught her how to use the flat plate and g@s cooker.Life was more easier here but she couldn’t picture a life with Richa-rd one or two years from now.
Tanure heard the gateman arguing with someone then suddenly the argument st©pped and she heard footsteps coming towards the door, it was probably the gateman,she thought.
The door flung open, Tanure flin-ched seeing three hefty men on masks sauntering into the house.
“Who….what…..”
“No time to explain, sweetheart”One of them probably the leaders said.
They rushed towards her, two of them pu-lling her up from the chair and holding her hands ti-ghtly,fear crept throu-gh her veins.
Tears were alre-ady streaming down her cheeks as the last one walked up to her, balling his hand into a fist,he punched her ha-rd on her stomach.
Pain…she didn’t know existed before rocketed throu-gh her b©dy.
He didn’t st©p,he punched her over and over again at the same sp©t.
“plea-se……..”She choked out,her lungs failing her completely.
He punched her with all his might,this time,it made her feel dizzy her legs felt wobbly.
His fist clenched to punch her again.
“Enough!We ain’t supposed to kill her.Let’s get out of here,I think that’s enough”The one at her right yelled.
The others nodded and let go of her,she fell to the floor while they hurried out of the house.
She gro-an ed painfully and felt her th!ghs getting we-t.She shakily stared at it,she was bleeding.Her baby!
She tried to sit up but couldn’t then she crawled to the landline.
Richa-rd ‘s number was written on a piece of paper,he had always kept it there in case she nee-ded anything.
She blindly sought for it and with her head spinning,she dailed his number.
Richa-rd heard his cellphone ringing,he stared at it to see her calling for the first time.
He picked up.
“What is it, Tanure?”He asked, calmly,there was silence at the other end of the call as if she couldn’t speak.
“Ri…..Richa-rd …. I’m… ple… I’m….”
“Tanure, what’s wrong?Are you sick?”He panicked.
But the line went dead,he tried calling her again but she didn’t pick up.He sprang up to his feet and gr@bb£d his jacket,he hurried out of his office,as he c@m£ by the hallway,he ran into an elevator,she wasn’t the type to pl@ysilly tantrums so this might be damn serious.
When he arrived at the house, the gateman didn’t come to open the gate,he got out from his car and found the gateman lying on the ground.He rushed towards him.
“Segun,what happened?”He asked shaking him vigorously.
Segun blinked several times and slowly sat up.
“Oga,am I still alive?”He asked in disbelief.
“What the hell happened?”Richa-rd yelled.
“They were three armed men,they demanded to see madam, when I refused, the bo-ttomof a gun collided against my head, that’s all I remember”
Richa-rd grew weak..if Ahmed couldn’t st©p them,then they had gone………… TANURE!
He ran towards the house and stormed into the sitting room there he saw her beside the landline, still breathing….. probably not.A cold feeling seeped into him seeing her dress soa-ked with her own blood.
He shakily carried her in his arms.
“Ta…. Tanure… wake up”He kept saying as he rushed towards the gate but didn’t get any response.He placed her on the backseat and hurried into the driver’s seat then he drove off like the winds.
Richa-rd ‘s face was buried into his palm,it had been two hours since Tanure had gone into the operating theater.
He knew he had to call Maami but how could he possibly explain this to her?how could he face her?She would surely think he wanted this to happen.
How could he explain that some unknown men attacked her when she didn’t know anyone in Lagos?
“What if she loses the child”
Christine’s words ran throu-gh his head,he quic-kly shook his head,he knew Christine very well…..too well.She wouldn’t do anything as terrible as this.
A doctor walked out, Richa-rd ran towards him.
. “How is she?”He asked, breathlessly.
“I wouldn’t want to give you any false hope,she is in a critical condition and I don’t think we can save both, you’ll have to choose, your wife or you want us to deliver a premature child whose probability of being alive is very low”
Choose? That word sounded too heavy for Richa-rd .Tanure’s life was as important as the baby’s.who would take care of the baby?Who would cook those delicious meals for him?Who would take care of his house?God! Maami would be so disappointed.
Choose?Who?
TBC