A Couple of Three... Episode 8

He tried so hard to sleep but couldn't. He was exhausted from the day's work; from worrying about his wife; from overthinking things; from calming his wife down; from making an emergency dinner for them both, since she looked too weighed-down by the doctor's report; and most importantly, from being an understanding husband. The recent series of events tested his best character trait - to be understanding. After rolling on the bed for a few minutes, he gave up. He sat up in bed and watched Sewa sleep peacefully, like a baby without worries.
So many thoughts ran through his mind. He tried to shut out the ideas that suddenly came rushing. He remembered the Pastor's message at Kingword church. Maybe this was the devil trying to mess up his family. Yes, it was the devil - the devil had come in Tade's form - and he was going to do just what the Pastor preached - to resist the devil!

With that thought in mind, Kunle got down from the bed, walked towards the beside table on Sewa's side of the bed, and picked her phone. He was going to give in to one of the many thoughts that ran through his mind, which was to pick Sewa's phone and go through it for any answers he may find. But rather than sneak up on his wife, like the thought he had, he decided to just take the phone without any tip-toeing. Whatever he found would determine the next step to take in resisting this devil, he told himself.

Sewa pretended to be asleep but was wide awake. She knew how long Kunle had been awake for, only because she was also awake. She had to go through with the lie of an excuse she already gave, hence the need to pretend to be asleep. She sensed his movement towards her bedside table, but she couldn't do anything about it. She shut her eyes permanently, and imagined the expression his face if and only if he could figure out what she saved Tade's number as, and any other incriminating thing she had on the phone. She waited a few minutes, for any negative reaction but only heard him sigh. She faked a small cough and turned her face to the other side of the bed.

Kunle dropped the phone, and walked out of the room. Immediately she heard the door close, she jumped out of bed and took the phone immediately.

The night was still young. She dialed Fikayo's number.

"Thank God you're up..." She said as soon as Fikayo picked up.

"What is it with you and your husband today?" Fikayo asked nonchalantly, as she adjusted her glasses and flipped through the weekly law report on her laps.

"Fikayo, I'm in soup. Please, I beg you in the name of God, don't say a word to Kunle if he ever calls you..." Sewa continued.

"A word about what? Slow down... What's going on?" Fikayo removed her glasses and sat straight.

"I can't talk now. I'll call you tomorrow. Or better still, come to your office. But please, I beg you, ignore any calls from Kunle." Sewa continued in her hushed voice.

"Just tell me what..." Fikayo tried to understand why Sewa was making such demands in the middle of the night.

"I can't talk now, I have to go... Bye..."
And without waiting for Fikayo to respond, Sewa hung up. She already heard his footsteps. She placed the phone back to its previous position, and assumed her own previous sleep position.

***

"Hey... Hi... Uncle... Bros..." Chioma tried not to shout. She hastened her footsteps towards one of the Zenith Banks on Ajose Adeogun.

"Hi..." She succeeded in catching up with him just before he entered the bank.

"Hey. Hi..." He turned back and gave her a smile that passed the "I'm not sure I know who you are" message.

"Chioma; Fikayo and Sewa's friend..." She understood the smile, and introduced herself.

"Oh... from Sunday, right?" Tade stretched forth his hand and shook her.

"I'm so sorry. I'm not so good at retaining faces, especially first timers..." He smiled genuinely this time.

"No problem, it's fine."

"You know I had to run to catch up with you. I've been shouting 'Uncle, Bros, Hey, Hi'  since..." Chioma laughed.

"Oh my. I'm so sorry. Putting a pretty girl like you through that kind of trouble, under this sun..." Tade started.

"I should be fined..." He continued.

"You're funny" Chioma laughed louder than normal.

"I just knew it had to be you..." She went on blabbing about nothing in particular, and Tade began to wonder if she had no where else to go.

"So, you work here?" He cut in when he got tired of all her disjointed stories.

They had moved out of the banking premises by this time and began strolling for a few minutes. He initially thought she was strolling to her office, and didn't mind walking her down. But when the stories wouldn't end, he had to cut in.

"No o. Why do you ask?" She stopped right in front of a Chinese restaurant.

"Errmm, was just wondering, you know?..." Tade also stopped.

"I just came to see a friend here and I saw you. Besides, I was wondering if that hang out with Fikayo and Sewa had happened. Fikayo promised to update me about plans but it's been dead silent at her end..." Chioma said.

Tade couldn't help himself. He let out a big sigh and wondered where and how Fikayo picked up a friend like Chioma.

"Well, today is your lucky day..." He thought of the fastest way to dismiss her.

"We're here now, and we could hang out. What do you think?" Tade brightened up and winked at her.

"For real?" Chioma blushed.

"She said you were a nice guy... hmmmnnn, now I see why."
"Let's hang out then..." Chioma turned around immediately, and walked confidently into the Chinese restaurant.

Tade wanted to sigh but he found himself laughing as he walked right behind her. He laughed quietly, and shook his head for a moment.

"The food here is great, trust me. Let's seat at that corner, then you can tell me everything about India, America, Argentina, and all those countries Fikayo says you've been to...." Chioma pointed at the seat in the corner, after which she walked briskly towards her favorite spot in the restaurant. It was definitely not her first time at that restaurant.

"Yes ma'am. After you..." Tade bowed slightly, and laughed a bit louder this time. He wondered what else Fikayo had told Chioma about him, but soon dismissed the thought.


***


"We can pitch this idea to the board. I'm sure they would love it. Or what do you think?"
"Kunle?"

It was not until Kenny tapped him that he regained consciousness.

"Yes, yess... you were saying..." Kunle adjusted on his seat.

"What's wrong? I've been talking for 15 minutes now, and you've just been looking; looking lost... Is everything alright?" Kenny helped himself to the empty seat in front of Kunle's desk.

"Yeah, everything is fine..." He did not believe in talking about his family problems to anyone.
He heaved a heavy sigh, and looked up to face his colleague.

"You sure?" Kenny tried to press further.

"Yeah, I'm good. Forgive me, what were you saying we could present to the board?" He tried to concentrate this time, but after five minutes of listening to Kenny, he gave up.

"I'm exhausted, man. Long night. Let's talk about this during lunch, okay?"

"Long night.... hmmnnn..." Kenny winked at him and left his office.

Once he was out of his office, he brought out his phone and began dialing the number he had copied from his wife's phone.
He didn't have enough time to go through the phone properly, so he just went through the last dialed numbers and saw names like 'Fifi', "Keffi", "Delivery", "Swts". He knew his number was saved as 'Swts'. He had searched through the dialed numbers with the hope of finding a 'Tade' or "Tee" or "Bestie" or anything that would link him to the devil he was about to resist, but found nothing. So, he copied out the "delivery" number and dialed.

"Good afternoon..." Kunle cleared his throat once the person at the other end of the line picked up.

"Good afternoon. Gifts 'n' more. How can I help you?" The squeaky clean accent of whoever the customer care agent was sent a feel of relief immediately to Kunle's body.

"Errmm... Gifts 'n' more, right?" Kunle stuttered.

"Yes, please. What can I do for you sir?" The customer service agent continued.

"I would like to ..." Kunle hurriedly typed 'gifts 'n' more' into his google search engine to find out what 'the company was about.

"Do you have a branch in V.I?" He continued while ignoring the error message that popped up on his laptop. The internet was down at the moment.

"Yes, we do... Would you like me to send our addresses?" The agent continued.

"Yes, please. And your official hours. Thank you." Kunle hung up before the lady with the fine accent could complete her call professionally.

Kunle was tired. He was exhausted. He suddenly felt trapped. He brought out the smallest of the picture frames he found in the guest room. He had picked it up in the middle of the night, and placed it in his office bag. He needed answers, and he was determined to find them! He stared at the young boy and began observing his facial features, for anything that could connect the child to Sewa. He began his observation with the child's nose.

***

You did what? Fikayo screamed.

"I did what I had to do. I was going to lose everything. You don't know these people. His family; they're very powerful..." Sewa sobbed.

"Oh, please, shut up!" Fikayo was pissed. She stood up from the seat and walked across the room Sewa had carved out from the studio as her own office.

"You brought this entire mess upon yourself. You most certainly walked into it, with your eyes opened." Fikayo was pissed. She hissed and stood up from the chair.

"Sewa... this is bad. I cannot lie to you..." She continued. She ignored the fact that Sewa was now crying uncontrollably.

"You know what baffles me is the fact that you maintained such closeness with him all these years; even after everything.... How could you?!" Fikayo hit her right palm on the table.

"How?!" She yelled. Fikayo couldn't tell if she was mad at Sewa's dumb actions or at Tade and his family, for oppressing her friend.

Sewa jumped out of fear on her seat. She looked up at Fikayo and wondered why she was so pissed at her. She probably deserved to be talked to the way Fikayo just did; at least some straight talk to set her head straight should do the magic, she thought. Time was running out, and she needed help. So, she ignored Fikayo's overreaction.

"What do you think I should do, please Fikayo....?..." She started.
"When he dragged me out of the house, he took me to his hotel room. Fikayo, it's that hotel just across my street. I'm in trouble... He won't stop till he succeeds..." Sewa cried.

Even though Fikayo wanted to slap the stupidity out of her long term friend, and tell her there was nothing she could do about her situation, she walked towards her and held her in her arms.

"I don't know mehn, I don't. But one step at a time..." Fikayo said as she patted Sewa.

"But we have to tell Kunle. That's for sure."


***

"Thank you so much for lunch..." Chioma patted her lips with the serviette.

"Thank you too..." Tade smiled.

"Sorry, I scattered your plans o. You were going to the bank and I just ruined your schedule like that. Good thing, banks are still opened..." She let out a small laugh.

"Nah, it's fine. It wasn't anything urgent. By the way, let's keep our little hang out to ourselves, Okay?" Tade said, as he placed a few naira notes in the bill folder.

"Okay... may I ask why?" Chioma rolled her eyes.

She had picked a few things from their little chat over lunch and her guts told her there was something fishy about him. Chioma trusted her instincts more than any other thing. She had opened up to him about having a child, and trying to get the father of the child to be more committed, all in a bid to get to know more about him. He was certainly discreet, but he let down his guard when Chioma began talking about her little girl. Tade went on to tell her that he also had a little boy, and even went as far as showing Chioma the picture of the little boy he kept in his wallet, and carried with him everywhere he went. When she tried to find out more about the boy's mother and why he was back in Nigeria, Tade changed the topic.
She was now more suspicious because of the request he just made.

"No, no, no. It's just that I don't want the others to get jealous. So, just act cool when we eventually have the main hang out, okay?" He laughed.

"Oh. Okay. I can do that - act cool." She smiled and walked out of the restaurant after him.

***
Kunle couldn't take it anymore. His thoughts were driving him crazy. He stared endlessly at the wall clock in his office and once it was lunch time, he grabbed his keys and drove straight to the hospital.
He wanted to call the gynecologist before leaving the office, but a thought told him not to alert the doctor.

He was going to connect the dots at all cost, even if it meant tracing his wife's movement back to the past few days.

***A Couple of Three by FAITH TUNDE-YARA
***Photo credit: www.shutterstock.com