SEE FINISH BY TREASURE EZURUIKE EPISODE 17

SEE FINISH BY TREASURE EZURUIKE EPISODE 17

KIRA’S POV

I arrived at my parents ‘ home and they were surprised to see me. Are you okay they asked? I’m fine. What are you doing here? I need a break. A break from what and who?

Where is your husband? I don’t know. Please I’ll like to lie down. I feel tired. What do you mean you need to lie down? What happened to your home?

The last thing I need is all these questions. I just need to rest. My parents exchanged glances as I headed for the guest room where I spent a lot of time when Kenny was missing.

“Look at all her luggage” I heard them whisper. I didn’t care. I just went into the bedroom and lay down to cry.

What did I do to deserve all this ill-treatment? I was sobbing when my parents walked in on me. Sweetheart, what’s the matter?

You just walked in here without telling us anything. Where is Kennedy? I don’t know.

 

Dad said unfortunately I believe you’re acting. You wish to gain access to my daughter and possibly kill her and kidnap Chiemerie.

Ikenna asked who is Chiemerie? Dad said you don’t even know the name of your own son? Ikenna said I’m sorry sir. 

I would not order my daughter to get back with you but if you can I’ll support her decision.

What do you mean by you don’t know? Is he not your husband?

Mum, Dad, I don’t know where he is, I don’t know if he is still my husband.

What is happening? Dad asked, taking my hand to console me.

We know that marriage hasn’t been fair to you but we thought everything was fine?

Nothing Is fine Dad. I know I’m not supposed to talk to third parties but I have nowhere else to go.

I just want a baby, is that such a bad thing? No, it’s not sweetheart.

Then tell Kenny to get me pregnant. I want to hold my own child as a consolation for all I’ve been through.

READ ALSO “LOOK AT HER MOTHER” A SHORT STORY

READ ALSO “YOU PROMISED” A SHORT STORY

He doesn’t want you to get pregnant, mum asked out of concern. He said he is not ready to be a father just yet.

He is not mentally ready. He’ll be ready in about two years or more. You are still so young, he said.

How can he say a thing like that mum asked in shock. Is that why you left your home? Dad asked?

You know I’m better than that Dad. I left because I fear for my life. Kenny has become so violent and aggressive.

He had tried to hit me. Excuse me Dad and mum exclaimed.

Yesterday he almost hit me for returning home by 6 pm. Today he flung the cup of tea I made him at me with the content still in it.

I was so lucky to escape unscathed. After that, he slammed the door and left. I already put my things together so I left.

If you don’t want me to stay here I can leave. No sweetheart, it hasn’t gotten to that.

He has become so hostile. I don’t know what happened to him in that prison but this is not the Kenny I married.

He even accused me of being unfaithful when he went missing. He asked me to move out of our bedroom because I disgust him.

The truth is I want out of this marriage. I know I ought to support him but I don’t deserve any of this.

I’m too young for this. Probably marriage is not for me.

Don’t say that, mum said, hugging me. Would you like us to talk to him?

No mum please don’t do that. Whatever is wrong with Kenny is far from over.

He is in counseling but I’m beginning to wonder if it’s having any effect.

We have to let his family know you are here. You are a married woman so we can’t keep you here.

I won’t go back to Kenny because I’m scared. I know how he adores me. Now he looks at me with disgust.

I’ll inform his mother, mum said. I’ll invite her so we can talk. It’s her son she deserves to know.

My mother-in-law arrived on short notice. She was so surprised to see me in my parent’s home.

How’s Kenny she asked, before I’ll respond mum said that’s why I asked to see you.

Kira returned today with some of her belongings. Excuse me? What’s going on? My mother-in-law asked. 

Kenny is hurting me, I said amidst tears. He has become so violent. He accused me of infidelity.

Today he flung a hot cup of tea at me and left the house.

Do you mean my Kennedy? My mother-in-law asked? My Kennedy is so gentle he can’t hurt a fly.

I played her some audio recordings of my episodes with Kenny where he threatened to “kill me” and bury me and no one would ask about me.

I played her another audio recording where Kenny was accusing me of infidelity.

She was shocked to hear him say he wasn’t ready to be a father.

She burst out in tears. What happened to my son in prison was all she asked. But he is in therapy? Isn’t it working?

We need to speak to his friends to find out if there’s something we need to know, Dad suggested.

I think I’ll call Kennedy first, his mum said. She dialed his number and put it on speaker.

Hello sweetheart, hello mum. How is your wife, she asked. Kenny’s voice went silent. How is Kira, Kennedy? 

Mum, I don’t know I’m not her keeper. Kennedy his mum screamed. Your wife? The one you couldn’t get out of prison to meet?

Mum, what exactly do you want? I want to know how Kira is. I just told you I don’t know mum. Why don’t you call her yourself?

Why would I call her when you live under the same roof? I don’t have time for this mum, Kenny said. I’m busy right now.

Kennedy his mum called out. If you end this call you cease to be my son. He hissed and ended the call.

READ ALSO IS ANYONE REALLY SELF-MADE?

NICOLE’S POV

I can no longer cope with the work in this house alone.

If your son is saying I’m the problem, I’m not after all that work I’ve done.

At night he would still want intimacy more than once. We always quarrel about the third one because I leave the bedroom by 4:30 am.

That’s the only time I can come out and meet up to do the things I will do for the day for things to balance. 

While I’m in the kitchen he will come and pick on me and call me back and I’ll tell him I can’t return to the room because the day has broken.

It’s not like after we finish he is going to assist me so things will balance. I’ve tried it before and our children went to school late.

He got what he wanted. He got ready for work and left us. I was going somewhere important that day.

He left me with the children and I swore in my mind it will never happen again.

He cannot accuse me of denying him sex. I’ve never done that.

He has a huge sexual appetite which I can’t even meet up with but I’m not complaining I made up my mind to bear it.

I still have to do all the work in the house. He can never assist me. 

Wow, this is a lot his mother said but I’m not surprised. 

I must confess that among all the children that I have, your husband is the laziest.

He doesn’t want to get anything done he took after his father sadly. 

I cannot pretend that I’m surprised about anything you’ve said.

I knew it was going to happen and I feared for you when he introduced you to us as his wife-to-be. 

I felt you were too gentle to be thrown into such slavery.

Unfortunately, I could not tell you about it and stop you from marrying him because I would have been considered evil. 

I only prayed that God will give you the strength to handle it and I think he has done that so far until your husband decided to upset you as he has. 

This is exactly what I went through with my husband, he never lifted a finger unfortunately he rubbed off on your husband. 

I tried to change his opinion about issues like this and told him it may have worked for his father in his generation but will not work for him now because things are different. 

Unfortunately, he is seeing his father as a role model and he patterned his life after him and that’s exactly what you see now. 

I know how you feel, believe me, I do because I have worked in your shoes.

I did all the chores alone when I was your age at your stage of marriage. 

I only began to get help when my children began to grow up a little. My husband never wanted any outside help. 

He wanted me to do all the work alone because he said he loved this privacy.

He couldn’t let someone from outside come into our home and know our family secrets and then spread them to the world. 

I was the guinea pig who was to ensure our secrets were kept safe as I did all the work. 

My advice to you is don’t let this tear your home apart.

I understand how you feel when you put so much effort but unfortunately, it is not appreciated. 

It is looked down upon because it’s considered a job that does not bring any money to the family.

It is considered domestic yet some people earn a living from the same domestic work.

Just because you’re doing it out of love in your home it is not appreciated, you are not being paid and that’s the problem with the world. 

People don’t appreciate what they don’t pay for. Once they don’t pay for it, it’s considered irrelevant and that’s exactly what’s playing out here. 

Please calm your anger and see if you can handle this in some other way more diplomatic. 

What other diplomatic way is there to handle this? If he doesn’t do the chores, I’m sorry. I doubt I can continue living like this. 

We agreed that I would take care of the children until a certain age and when we get to that point I can look for a job. 

All our children have gotten beyond that age but yet he has refused to do anything about it. He just enjoys seeing me at home doing chores. 

Before he met me I had a job. I’ve got a master’s degree. I was doing well until I married him. 

He can’t get me and reduce me to someone who does only chores with no future.

That was not what I wanted for myself. Right now the way he has acted has just woken up all the bitterness I have buried somewhere in my heart. 

The way he has treated me has made me realize that he doesn’t value me, I’m just nothing to him. 

The way I see it, this is the only way I can reach some sort of agreement that will favour me. 

So what do you want, his mum to asked me?. I want your support when your son comes to complain to you today. 

I will never disrespect my husband but the switching of roles was his idea.

If he doesn’t want it to continue, he should apologize to me and we call it off but as long as he continues to act this way. I doubt I’m going to back down anytime soon. 

I want him to realize that we both have different roles to play and they are all important besides most of the roles he considers my responsibility were not ordered by God but by Society. 

NNENNA’S POV

WHO IS CHIEMERIE?

Ikenna with fear and trembling asked Dad if he could sit down. Dad said please can you go straight to the point, I’ve got other things to do. 

Ikenna cleared his throat and said first I want to apologize for the way I treated your daughter. Dad said skip the apology. I don’t want to hear it. 

Ikenna said sir, I’m very busy and you’ve wasted about 10 minutes of my time. Sir please I need your help getting back with your daughter. 

Dad asked him what kind of help are you referring to? Ikenna stuttered and said sir I need help getting through to her. 

I have tried on my own but I have fallen short. I’ve spoken to your son but he told me he wanted to stay out of this matter.

Dad told him that he stood with Dubem. He didn’t want to get involved. He said let me ask you a few questions. If my daughter didn’t come to your city would you be in my office? 

Sir, I wanted to reach out a long time ago but … you have burnt all bridges? Dad said. Ikenna said yes sir. 

Dad said unfortunately I believe you’re acting. You wish to gain access to my daughter and possibly kill her and kidnap Chiemerie.

Ikenna asked who is Chiemerie? Dad said you don’t even know the name of your own son? Ikenna said I’m sorry sir.

READ ALSO ACCEPTING REJECTION 

I would not order my daughter to get back with you but if you can I’ll support her decision. Ikenna said sir I’ve learned my lesson. 

I will never harm your daughter or my son. Dad said I don’t believe you, you would have to prove it. Ikenna thanked my father and left.

Dad spoke to my mum at night about Ikenna’s visit. He was so furious but my mum felt otherwise much to my father’s dismay. 

Mum told him she knew Ikenna had misbehaved. She asked him his plan for me. Nnenna is 24 with a son. Are you suggesting she remarries or remains single for the rest of her life? 

She asked him his plan for Chiemerie? She said Nnenna is holding back Dubem, you know how selfless he can be. He won’t start a home as long as his sister doesn’t have one. 

It got my Dad thinking. He asked mum what are you getting at? Mum told Dad that Ikenna had acted like so many new husbands. 

Many new couples, especially men, are not truly ready for marriage, mum said. They learn along the way after making mistakes.

Ikenna has made his mistakes and he has learned. For him to come to your office is proof of that. 

Dad asked her how sure she was that Ikenna was genuine. Mum told him she was 100‰ sure. Dad told her he didn’t believe her.

He told her I didn’t misbehave. My mum shocked him by telling him he did but just not to the extreme. 

She said you are a better man than you were when we just got married. Ikenna would get there. It’s a gradual process. 

He made Nnenna very happy. I don’t know what went wrong but I know he’s learned his lesson. 

She ended by saying Chiemerie needed his two parents together. Dad took it with a grain of salt.

Dad called me at night and asked me about my trip. I told him it was fine. 

He asked about Chiemerie, then asked, “Can I ask you a question? My heart skipped a beat but I said yes.

once he said it was personal. I just knew it was about Ikenna. 

He asked me how I felt about him. I told him I didn’t know. He asked if I was sure, and I told him I was.

Ikenna stopped by his office to plead with me to forgive him.

He had spoken to mum and she thought I give him a chance. He asked me to do it for our son. 

I told him I didn’t trust Ikenna. He told me he had thought about it and decided we should let Ikenna visit Chiemerie and me at Dubem’s apartment.

He told me he didn’t trust Ikenna but we could not find out if he was genuinely sorry if we didn’t try. 

I felt so uneasy but I had to agree with what my Dad had asked. I told Dubem and he agreed. 

Dad called Ikenna and told him he could visit me at Dubem’s apartment. He recorded the call and forwarded it to me.

Ikenna was so grateful. He told Dad his annual leave had just commenced and he would put it to good use. 

He called to inform me he would be visiting the next day. I didn’t know what to do or say. 

I told Dubem and he told me to calm down. I was nervous about Chiemerie.

Dubem got everything ready for Ikenna’s visit. He arrived the following evening.

READ ALSO SEE FINISH EPISODE 7

It was so awkward. Chiemerie didn’t know his father because they had never met. 

I left the sitting room as Dubem kept telling Chiemerie to say hello to his father. Chiemerie seemed confused. 

Chiemerie called Dubem daddy. Here he was telling him someone else was his father.

He cried and ran out of the sitting room screaming mummy.

To be continued

© Treasure Ezuruike.

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