A Couple of Three... Episode 10 (EPISODE FINALE)

Hello everyone. I want to use this medium to appreciate everyone that has followed this story from the very beginning till now. The support and encouragement through comments (on various platforms) have been superb. Thank you so much.

Please brace yourself for this final episode. It's a long read, but I'm sure you would enjoy every bit of it. Feel free to share with friends, and don't forget to leave your comments after the read.See you all on the next blog post.
.... Faith Tunde-Yara

The Previous Day

"Wait, Tade..." Sewa said at the top of her voice once they were out of the compound.

He had been dragging her for some time now, and although she was scared of this new person in her bestie's skin, she couldn't take it anymore. They both had to think logically at this point, and it was obvious Tade was not in his right senses.

Tade suddenly became conscious of himself and the hurt he was causing Sewa. He released his hold on her and began to apologise. The street was quiet, and it was not unusual. Normal people were already at work, and kids were in school.

"I'm sorry, Sewa; deeply sorry" Tade became remorseful.

She adjusted the sleeve of her blouse and collected her bag from him.

"I don't know what your plan is, but whatever it is, I don't see it ending well..." Sewa started.

"The gate man already saw you, my assistant has called a couple of times and I just told her to wait for me. If I don't act like everything is fine, people would start contacting my husband or Fikayo. And I'm sure you don't want that..." She continued.

Sewa was able to convince Tade to allow her go to the studio; dismiss her assistant with a reasonable excuse; and call her gate man to assure him that the whole drama he witnessed was a misunderstanding and everything had been sorted out.
He however agreed on the condition that he would accompany her to the studio, and be present when she made all the necessary calls. He followed her to the studio, but stopped a few shops before her studio on her request.
As soon as Sewa was through with her business, Tade met up with her and they both left for his hotel room.

Sewa became very scared after realizing that Tade had booked an hotel just across her house. She quietly walked in front of him till they got to his hotel room.
After locking the door behind them, Tade rushed in and brought out one of the smaller boxes. He unzipped it in a hurry and began searching for something. As he poured out the content of the box on to his bed, a small gun dropped out to the floor.

Sewa screamed and rushed for the door. Tade was fast enough to block her, and covered her mouth with his left palm.

"Shhhh... It's not for you. I can never hurt you." He said.

"Tade, please let me go. Please..." Sewa began to cry.

It was only when the sound of her tears reduced to quiet sobs that he removed his palm from her mouth. He moved Sewa gently from the door to the right side of the bed, and literally sat her down on the mattress.
Sewa clung to her bag and began to mutter words to herself. She knew there was no getting out of the room till Tade decided to let her go.

"Here." He interrupted her silent prayers and handed a brown envelope to her.

She collected the envelope with shivering hands and struggled to open it. He collected the envelope from her and brought out a densely worded document. He flipped through the first few pages and walked up to show her the relevant part of the document.

"See? You signed this, Sewa. You did this for us all. I don't know why it has to be so hard."

Tade sighed and looked away from her. He leaned on the burglary of the window and was quiet for a little while.

Sewa took the document from the bed and went to page that he referred to. She remembered signing an agreement before the entire procedure for the surrogacy. She definitely couldn't go through the stress of reading the bulky document. Both Tade's parents and Trish's parents had assured her that she won't regret helping them out; they would forever be grateful for her help; there would be no complications; but she had to sign an agreement for the sake of formality, which she did. The parents were true to their words, and Sewa literally became part of the family.

She wiped her eyes a third time to be sure she read well. A part of the agreement said that Sewa was to take care of the child as her own after the demise of the mother.

"No way!" She stood up from the bed.

"... I did my part, Tade. I have a life here already. I've already done so much for you and your entire family, okay? That one year gap made a lot of difference in my life, but I don't regret helping Trish. You can't ask me to do this again..." She continued at the top of her voice, and began making her way towards the door.

Tade hurriedly went back to the box and brought out yet another envelope. He poured the content of the envelope on the bed and picked out a passport. He rushed towards Sewa, and held her by the waist.

"I'm begging you, Sewa. Please, Dan needs you. I need you, my mum needs you. See, everything is ready, passport, visa, cash, everything... "

He rushed back to the box again and brought out more documents to show how serious he was.

"I can't... lose you again. Please, I'm begging you. Trish would have wanted this, that's why she included it in the agreement..." He began to tear up.

"You complete me, Sewa, please for Dan's sake..."

"Okay, that's enough... This..." Sewa walked back to the window.
"This doesn't make sense." She continued.

"and you need to wake up, okay?" She faced Tade this time.

"I'm married, and happily so..." Sewa continued.

Her last statement hit Tade in a weird way that made him throw the envelope in his hand against the door.

"I know. Okay? I'm aware. Do you know how hard it was to watch you walk down that aisle? Do you?" He shouted.

Sewa found her bag and clung to it again. It was only then she realized what Tade's problem was. This was not normal, she told herself.
She shifted her gaze to the floor in search of the gun that dropped earlier, and looked up immediately to make sure Tade was not reminded of the weapon on the floor. She did her best to conceal the way she was shivering on the inside and walked up to Tade, with a plan to control the situation and get back home safely.

"Olutade..." She started softly.

She moved closer to the door he leaned on, and held his hands.

"We can make a plan; a better plan... that wouldn't involve me running away from Kunle all of a sudden... okay?" She continued with more calming words, and rubbed his palm gently.

***
Present day

"Sewa... " Fikayo tapped her gently.

She had watched Sewa doze off shortly after she began driving them home through a longer route. She opted for an unnecessary ride to Lekki just to distract both Tade and Kunle from finding Sewa. Based on what Chioma said, she presumed Tade would probably be rushing back to the hotel, and then to Sewa's house to kidnap her, while Kunle would be on his way to the studio to confront Sewa. Either ways, going home straight was not the best option. Fikayo was not even upset about the traffic she faced on the way. It was better to be stuck in the middle of so many cars, than to be stuck in the house. She pushed aside her own job completely; there would be plenty of time to come up with a proper defense for her unplanned absence from work the whole day.

"We're here..." She turned off the ignition, and got down from the car.

Sewa stretched a bit, cleared her eyes, and got down from the car sluggishly. The event of the previous day had replayed over and over in her short sleep.

Fikayo walked back to where the gate man was standing, and gave him a few instructions on preventing Tade from entering the house. She described as accurately as possible and warned him to be alert.
She then walked back into the house, and met Sewa sitting on one of the dining chairs with a glass of water in hand. She pulled out a chair for herself, and brought out her phone. It was time to take action.

She dialed his number the first time; and then a second and third time. She put down the phone and faced Sewa.

"He's not picking his calls."

Sewa dropped the glass of water, and buried her head in her hands.

"Calm down. Okay? We can only hope for the best..." Fikayo squeezed her friend's knee.

"Or maybe I should call him with my own phone." Sewa offered, picking her bag and searching for her phone.

"No, no, no... You can't..."

The sound of the car interrupted their conversation. Kunle drove into the compound in such rage, that made Sewa jump off from the chair. Fikayo jumped up after her but was not fast enough to stop Sewa from running to the door.

"Desewa...." He yelled as he flung the door open.

Sewa grabbed his legs as he entered the house and began crying profusely. He pushed her away and walked straight to the guest room. She ran after him, without any idea of what the next point of action would be.

"You cheat; You liar! How could you?" Kunle threw the picture frame containing Tade and Dan's picture at Sewa, but she managed to dodge the frame.

"I can explain; I can explain..." Sewa said in quick succession.

"Get outtt!" He yelled. He began flinging the other contents of the box out of the room, aiming some of the things at Sewa, and not minding whether she got injured in the process.

"I've loved you with my entire being, with everything; and you've only lied to me; lies upon lies..." Kunle continued.

The more he threw the dresses and shoes, the more Sewa tried to walk closer to her husband. She eventually found a way to get close enough and hold him by his legs. This time, she wouldn't let him go.

"I've never cheated on you; please believe me..." Sewa cried and tried to say as much as she could amidst the tears. She didn't stop till Kunle heard her properly.


***

He rushed up the stairs towards his hotel room, while dialing Jide's number. He met Jide at the door and was glad. There was no time for greetings or to compliment him for his punctuality. He opened the door in a hurry, pulled out one of the small boxes and brought out the gun. Jide was startled, but acted cool.

"What's this for?"

"No time for questions. Just take this."

Tade handed the gun to Jide and walked back to the wardrobe. He pulled off his shirt and changed into a round-neck top. He hurriedly packed his other scattered belongings into the box and placed the two boxes side by side.

"What..."

Tade collected the gun from Jide before he could complete his question. He dished out a few instructions and tucked the gun into his back pocket. He handed the key of his room to Jide and walked out the door.

"Wait for my call." He said as he left the room.

***

Fikayo stood at the dining for a short while, after which she started pacing up and down the sitting room, and towards the corridor that led to the guest room. She knew too well than to step into the room, and she couldn't explain why she remained in the house while the couple settled the complicated issue, but she stayed anyway.

After pacing for a few minutes, she brought out her phone and called her husband. She prepared his mind for her probable late return. 'There was a huge crisis at the Smiths' and she would tell him all about it when she returned', was all she said. She urged him to pray along with her, as she was about to start a session of prayers after dropping the call. She promised to call him if any other thing came up.

She was about ending the call when she heard the door open quietly. She turned back and saw him.
Her phone dropped from her hands and it was time for her to shiver. He suddenly looked different, in a very weird way.

"Fifi..." Tade smiled as he shut the door behind him.

"T to the..." She tried to act normal but moved backwards a little bit.

"What a pleasant surprise; didn't know I would meet you here..." He continued. He moved closer and touched her forehead.

"You look like you've seen a ghost..." He let out a small laugh, and walked round the dining area.

"Gho..st ke? No o." She stammered a bit, faked a smile and then continued.

"Was just out from checking the things you brought us. They're so lovely, amazingggg... You're the best, you know that, right?" Fikayo laughed this time.

"...Hubby called, so I excused myself..."

Fikayo kept on with the blabbing in a bid to distract Tade, but Tade wasn't fooled. He patted Fikayo on the shoulders and started walking towards the guest room, where he suspected Sewa was. Fikayo tried to stop him from taking another step but he pushed her back, not minding whether she fell.

The door was opened, and the floor was filled with dresses and shoes scattered all over. Immediately Sewa sighted Tade, she stood up from the bed where she was now sitting and ran towards her husband. She held him close and hid her small body behind him.

"Sewa, it's time." Tade started, ignoring Kunle completely.

He took few steps closer to the couple, and dipped his right hand in his pocket.

"We can either do this the easy way or the hard way..." Tade continued.

"Take one more step and you'll have yourself to blame..." Kunle said calmly but emphatically.

Tade laughed and moved even closer.

***

Fikayo ran out of the house towards the gate man and began asking for directions to the nearest police station. It was important to alert the police of an impending danger before anything happened; after all, prevention was better than cure. The gate man described for a few minutes, after which Fikayo gave up on his description. She instructed him to run to the police station he was trying to describe and report a case of armed robbery. Even though that was not the case, she knew mentioning a hostage situation or kidnapping might not get the attention of the police as fast a robbery would.

She rushed back into the house and the pitch of the voices depicted a struggle, with Sewa crying at the top of her voice. Fikayo picked her phone from the floor and called her husband in a hurry, asking him to come to the Smiths' if he could; there was no time to talk. She hung up and rushed towards the guest room.

Sewa signaled to her to call for help; she tried not to make Tade notice that Fikayo was now standing at the entrance to the room but it was too late. She wasn't thinking straight, as she jumped on the bed and ran towards the door to meet Fikayo.

Tade looked away from Kunle who was struggling to get the gun from him, but his hand remained firmly gripped to the weapon.

The loud noise that filled the room stopped Sewa from running out to get help.

Tade looked back at Kunle, and gently released his grip on the weapon. He pulled out the gun slowly, observed for a minute, stood up from the floor and walked out of the room, leaving the ladies standing at the door, in shock.

Sewa saw the red liquid spread around where her husband laid. She ran towards him, held him close and started shouting and crying at the same time.

"Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!" Fikayo said in shock. She stood on the same spot for a short period but Sewa's screams brought her back to consciousness.

Two Weeks Later
Bosun walked in to conduct the routine check on his patient. He tapped her gently, since she already dozed off by her husband's side.

Sewa wiped her face with her hands and looked at her husband. She stood up from the chair to allow Bosun do his job.

Bosun assured her of Kunle's quick recovery, and told her not to worry.
Shortly after, Fikayo stepped in with Chioma and Keffi just as Bosun was about leaving the room. They talked briefly, before he eventually left the room. Fikayo handed the basket she brought to Keffi and rushed to hug her friend. Sewa relaxed in her embraced and held her tight.

Chioma and Keffi walked to the other side of the bed, and got busy with arranging all the beverages and fruits in the bedside trolley. They looked at Sewa a few times, smiled intermittently, but said nothing.

Fikayo squeezed Sewa's hands, followed her gaze till it landed on Kunle, and said a silent prayer for Kunle.

*** THE END***

***A Couple of Three by FAITH TUNDE-YARA

***Photo Credit: www.shutterstock.com