Continued from last week.
I got home downcast and flung my bag on the bed, entered the bathroom took a cold shower immersed myself in the coldness of the water while I carressed my body with soap. The bathroom held memories of Ejike. We would take turns in scrubbing our backs and armpits, immersed ourselves in foams and kissed under the shower then he would turn me over and penetrate me. Thrusting gently at first then hard while I took every thrust with loud moans which echoed through the walls of the bathroom. We held hands and went to bed while I climbed on top of him riding and grinding breathing heavily with my heart thumping.
I turned down the shower and cleaned my body, it was getting dark I walked to the kitchen naked and fixed myself a dinner of leftover spaghetti and meatballs. I sat in the kitchen and ate, vainly trying to focus and forget about my sister’s lackadaisical attitude while plotting my next move. The spaghetti tested bland and lay balmy in my stomach. I threw away the rest in the trash can and dumped the plate in a dishwasher. I looked around the kitchen and nothing held my interest so I entered the room and lay on my bed. I closed my eyes and saw him. I saw him every time I closed my eyes, I felt his touch tracing my body. I barely slept since Ejike died okay since I murdered him. He always came to me his eyes accusing and sorrowful. Most nights I woke up crying drenched in sweats. I always slept with the lights on and in the case of power failure I used torch light.
We were possessively in love with each other or so I thought. He got me my BMW on my birthday and rented a cozy two bedroom apartment for me. My house became our love nest. Most times he slept over. I cooked and washed for him. Ejike became the center of my universe.
“I wouldn’t want to share you with these University boys”
he said three months to our relationship, we had just finished making love and I was making dinner of boiled yams and scrambled eggs for him, he entered the kitchen naked and glowing and sat on the chair adjacent to the cooking gas close to the entrance.
“You must be kidding me baby”
I said rolling my eyes slightly angry that he was being selfish of our affair knowing fully well he had my sister to go back to in the night where his life was all shades of perfect yet deliciously happy that he wants me all to himself, that he was jealous of another man having me in his arms.
“I mean it, look at me” he ordered, his tone dead serious I don’t think I had heard him use that tone before. I turned on the gas and placed the pot on it and turned to him. He stood from the chair and slowly walked to me wrapped my waist in his large arms and looked at me intently his face very close to mine.
“You must stay away from those boys baby, what do you want me to do to prove to you that i am serious about what we share?”
My stomach lurched and softened, my knees wobbly and weak I felt dizzy glad he held me. My heart beat so fast I thought it would break out of my chest looking at the handsome man in front of me and lost in his eyes, in his love and his warmth. Then like a small paper boat been crushed, my heart sank to my reality which was sharing him with my sister who was his lawfully wedded wife. My face flushed and lights of jealousy flickered in my eyes. He was still waiting for an answer his eyes boring into my soul probably searching my thoughts.
“You must stop having sex with your wife”
I said briskly, yes I spelt it out. His brows burrowed and deep worried lines creased his forehead.
“I had stopped sleeping with her since the day we made out at the dinning downstairs in my house and you are always in my head I was afraid I might scream your name while on top of her, ravishing her”. He said grinning deviously. He screams my name with pleasure when climaxing and I wondered if he screamed my sister’s name. This confirms it, he only screams my name.
I pressed my lips to his and kissed him hungrily and he returned my kiss with equal match.
That day after he had left, I lay on the bed and reminicised about our earlier conversation elated that though Chidalu was in his house I was in his head and in his heart. It was me he thought of first thing when he woke up and last thing he thought of before he goes to bed. I clutched the pillow he laid his head on and smelt his shirt which he left in my house. That night I didn’t shower, I didn’t want to wash away his dents, touch, sweat and all the evidence of our love making on my body, I wore his shirt and slept on his side of the bed.
The first time I told him I was pregnant, he looked at me in distress fear creased his face. I was excited to carry a piece of him, the evidence of our love but he had other plans.
“What do you mean you are pregnant” he muttered
“I mean i am carrying the product of our love” I said faintly, my heart breaking. It was obvious he doesn’t want the pregnancy. The air-condition in my sitting room was on but I was already sweating, tears clouding my eyes. He looked at me with a mixture of pity and sadness.
“Baby you can’t have a baby while in school, you are in your final year and saddling a baby while writing your final exams and projects can be cumbersome. I want the best for you”.
My nerves relaxed, he was thinking about me and had my interest at heart. The next day I went to the hospital outside town and removed the baby with the money he gave me. He picked me from the hospital and drove me home, made dinner for me and nursed me. That was the first day he looked into my eyes and told me that he loved me and I believed him. The next day he bought me a brand new Lexus Jeep. A car I told my sister was gifted to me by my non-existent American boyfriend. How I wished to tell her it was my love her husband that actually bought the car for me. She wasn’t really suprised, since our parents died I had a way around getting what I wanted.
Now Ejike died had died in my hands and Chidalu was bent on making me go crazy with her silence. I wondered what went through her mind and what she was planning and the more I thought about it the more restless I became. I got up from the bed took the sleeping pills on the table close to my bed, swallowed it with water and forced myself to sleep.
I woke up with a persistent headache and reached for my phone which rang on the table beside my bed, reluctant to open my eyes and hoping it was Chidalu. Maybe she had gotten over herself and needed closure.
To be continued…………
