Photo used for illustrative purposes only
Arit was having a relaxed conversation with her boy friend, Jide in her
bedroom when she heard some disturbing movements in her living room.
Alarmed it could be armed robbers, she shushed Jide and hurried to bolt
the bedroom door. Before she could, however, the door flew open
revealing an angry man looking fit to murder! “My heart sank and I became afraid for my life and Jide’s”, confessed Arit. For the man who just stormed her bedroom was Moses. her married lover of 10 years with whom she had a son.
Yet, when she first met Moses, her older friends were a bit skeptical
about the relationship. Arit was already in her late 20s and feared she
would be left on the shelf so she opted for second best. Over the years,
she’d had her chances at love had even been engaged to a man she later
jilted because he wasn’t as educated as she was.
Moses was all she wanted in a man – only he was married with children.
But he spoilt her rotten, moved her into a bigger flat and helped her
get a more secured job in a consulting firm.
Her fate was sealed when she got pregnant a couple of years after they met. By which time Moses’ darker side was unfolding. “Suddenly. it seemed anything I did was wrong.” Arit
had complained. “He was always criticising my food, the way I ran the
house and the revealing clothes I wore. It was during this period that I
got pregnant and tried to compromise – I wanted a child very badly.
Foolishly. I thought the child would change him."
He must have cowed her to the extent that she dared not complain about his relationship with me. I was always on my guard when I went out with him in case any man gave me unnecessary attention.
Some months back, at one of my family’s dos, I ran into a childhood
friend and he joked about how much crush he had on me in the past. We’d
both been at school together, but he now joked it was a pity I was
already taken or he would have rekindled our relationship. We all knew
it was all talk but I was fearful of how Moses would react.
“Suddenly, Moses said it was about time we went and I rushed to the car
with him, desperate to stop his smouldering temper before it erupted.
When I got into the passenger seat, he roared off as if possessed by the
devil. He’d sent the driver home and I became terrified, begging him to
slow down. At my place, he shoved me into the flat then, Wham! He
punched me so hard in the face that I fell on the nearest chair.
‘Cheap woman,’ he bellowed, hitting me again and again until I made a
dash for the bedroom, intending to lock myself in. If the house-help
heard anything, she didn’t let on. Thank goodness my son was fast
asleep. Moses grabbed hold of my hair and the lovely expensive
extensions I just put in it and yanked me back, punching me some more.
Out of desperation, I made for the front door praying he hadn’t locked
it.
“It was a relief when the door flew open and I dashed into the street. A
few of the neighbours were around having drinks in front of the house,
so I ran towards them. It wasn’t the first time they’d noticed Moses’
violence towards me, but it was the first time they saw blood oozing out
of a gash in my cheek. The terrible truth about what they thought was
my perfect ‘marriage’ was finally out for all of them to see. It wasn’t a
pleasant sight. It was ugly and rotten.
“That was when I decided I should hang on to whatever shred of pride I
had left. A few days later, I told him I didn’t want anything to do with
him. To punish me, he refused to send our monthly allowance and to pay
the rent when it was due. But I have a good job and called his bluff.
Anything was worth this peace of mind that I currently enjoyed. With
time, I met Jide, a widower and we started going out.
“This was some six months after breaking off with Moses. Jide was
everything my ex wasn’t. He visited with presents and took me to nice
restaurants. It was at dinner in a small restaurant that I sort of
sensed eyes boring into my back. I turned round and it was Moses. His
face was like thunder but I ignored him. He couldn’t hurt me now, or so I
thought.
“Only, a few weeks after, he’d let himself into my flat with his spare
key. It never occurred to me to change the lock. Jide sprang up at the
intrusion. He was in his V-front and vest.
Moses sneered at him. ‘Sit down,’ he barked. Jide did as he was told.
Sitting down on the bed, he spoke to Jide as if to a child: ‘Now, when
you came into this bedroom, and saw that family photograph of me and my
wife and son, did you think it was for show?’ Jide kept mum, his face
dead-pan.
Moses went on: ‘You sit down now, drinking beer from a mug. Did Arit
tell you she was a beer drinker? And if she were, would she be drinking
it out of a mug?’ On and on he went until Jide had had enough. ‘Now look
here,’ he cautioned. But before he got any further, Moses gave him a
wack. Jide was furious. He flew at him and gave him the beating of his
life. Again, I ran into the street and, this time, two of the men in the
front house came with me and broke up the fight.
“Moses now looked the worse for wear and was actually subdued. Jide had
almost frog marched him to the street, punching him all the time until 1
showed up with the men. Moses hurried to his car, muttering he didn’t
want a scandal. The coward that he was, he couldn’t handle being
confronted. But he was back a few days after, wanting to see his son. I
told him it was impossible. Looking at him, I hated him as passionately
as I’d one loved him and he must have seen that in my eyes.
“I told him I wanted nothing to do with him ever again. As for his son,
he would see the lad when he’d grown up. No man would use a child to
abuse me ever again! Jide and I are an item now but I’m not rushing into
anything. He understands and says there’s no pressure, that he’d wait
as long as I needed. We’ve talked about marriage and having children as
he has only two from his first marriage. I have no problem with that.
Only, this time around, I intend to look really well before I leap … “
It’s Not What You Think! (Humour)
In the park one morning, a jogger finds a brand new tennis ball and
slips it into the pocket of his shorts. Later, a woman running next to
him spots the large bulge. “What’s that?” she asks. Pointing down at it,
his eyes wide. “Tennis ball,” the man replies. “Oh, poor you,” the
woman says sympathetically. “That must be painful. I had tennis elbow
once.”
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