As Yvonne walked into her office, the secretary quickly rose to greet her and Yvonne asked immediately without responding to her greeting. “Did you get the information I need?”
“Yes, ma.” Veronica quickly pulled out a printout containing the information her boss needed. “His name is Tafida Luca Yohana and he’s a final year student.”
“I see…well, it seems someone will either be spending two extra years in this school or getting expelled.” She said more to herself, collected the printout and walked into her office. After an hour, there was a knock on the door and before she could utter a word, she heard her door open. When Yvonne looked up from what she was writing to snap at whoever had had the guts to come into her office without her permission, she softened when she realized that it was only her friend, a fellow lecturer in the History and International Studies department. Her name of Bernice Onoja. She was what anyone would call a big beautiful woman who carried her big body with pride despite being in her mid-thirties. She was a widow with two sons and even though most lecturers flirt with or hit on her, Bernice didn’t want to get married just yet because she wanted to have all the fun she could before settling down again. She felt there was no need to rush anything because she had already achieved everything she wanted. She had loved her husband but he had died from lung cancer eight years ago and she was not in a hurry to replace him.
“H.O.D-H.O.D!” The woman hailed now but when she realized that Yvonne wasn’t smiling as usual, she was forced to ask as she pulled out a seat and sat down across from Yvonne. “This one that your face is stronger today, what is it again?”
“Yvonne exhaled then said as she relaxed into her chair. “Bernice, you wouldn’t believe what happened to me today.”
“What happened that could possibly have ruined your mood this afternoon?”
“A student called me a bitch!” Yvonne spat, still highly irritated by Tafida’s gut.
“Jesus Christ!” Bernice suddenly exclaimed then laughed in disbelief. “You must be joking! Who in this school would dare tell you that to your face?! I mean, I know you don’t have too many friends and your students definitely do not like you since you are considered a sadist but which student would dare tell you such to your face??!”
“One who has grown a lot of balls and is about to be expelled.
“Expelled?” Bernice asked in surprise then glanced down at the paper Yvonne had been writing on. “Don’t tell me you are reporting to the Dean.”
“What do you want me to do? Pretend this never happened? This student deserves to be taught a lesson and if I don’t put a stop to this now, more students might become daring and that’s not a chance that I’m willing to take. No one disrespects me and gets away with it!”
“Haba! No, no, no.” Bernice disagreed, shaking her head as she reached out and took the printout from her desk. “Is this the student?” She asked, holding up the printout.
“Yes, that’s the little fool that thinks he can disrespect me and get away with it.” Yvonne seethed.
Bernice took a good look at the passport-sized photograph in the top right corner of the printout then smiled slyly. “But let’s be frank here, Yvonne, this guy is actually good looking. This guy is so fine that I’m bound to have wet dreams from just staring at his picture. Jeez! Those eyes!”
“Seriously?!” Yvonne gave her a displeased look now. “Is that all you are concerned about right now?! His eyes?! Listen Bernice, I don’t care how he looks, that boy is leaving this school!” Yvonne stated firmly. “To think that he actually also had the guts to write his matric number on my palm made me feel like grabbing him by the throat.” She lifted her palm to show Bernice the fading numbers.
“But you did not and babe, he’s a man not a boy and I really don’t want to unsee this! I could masturbate with this printout if given the chance” Bernice laughed now then added. “And seriously, I really would love to meet this guy who had the nerve to stand up to the infamous witch!”
Yvonne gave her a look now then said in a serious tone. “Don’t call me that.”
“But that’s your nickname among the students.” Bernice defended, laughing.
“Until I make a scapegoat out of one of them to show them who’s in charge and this foolish boy will definitely be the first. Let me have the printout before you make me cringe the more from your embarrassing words. Sometimes, I wonder how both of us became friends despite how lewd you are! Anyway, I need to finish this because the Dean gets this letter today.” Yvonne stretched her hand out towards Bernice and beckoned with her fingers.
Not willing to give the printout over, Bernice said, “You can actually get back to writing this later since you have the whole day but for now, I came here for two reasons.”
Yvonne sighed and rolled her eyes as she withdrew her hand. “What is it this time?”
Bernice smiled then eagerly said, lifting a finger. “One, I want us to go out for lunch. Two, a party is coming up end of this month and I want us to attend.”
“Seriously? You know I don’t do parties anymore. I’m a married woman now, Bernice.”
“You mean an unhappy married woman whom have gotten so boring ever since she tied the knot? Listen, Yvonne, this party is a birthday bash of my cousin who turning 32 this year. I just want you to have some fun, that’s all. Everything cannot be about work, work, work all the time. You have become too uptight and you need to loosen up a bit… Give yourself a break, girl.”
“And where do I tell my husband that I’m going to?”
“Well, I bet he wouldn’t even care. You and I know that that fool you call a husband is tired of the marriage and is only waiting for you to ask for a divorce so that he can be rid of you already.” Bernice answered.
“That’s not true.” Countered Yvonne, feeling hurt. “I love my husband very much and even though things aren’t rosy now, I believe that with time, he’ll come around.”
“Shioor!” Bernice flinched her nose and puckered lips at her. “For how long will you wait for a miracle that will never happen? My dear you have waited seven years already and yet that bastard still treats you like a crap. How long will you continue to wait for him to change? Till he lets you grow old without a child to call your own while he goes out there frolicking and making babies with that useless home wrecker he calls a girlfriend?”
“Bernice, I will wait for as long as it takes. After all, marriage is for better for worse and is not meant to be rosy all the time. Even though Suleiman goes around cheating on me like no man’s business, I have a feeling he was bewitched by his ex-girlfriend because my Suleiman was never like this from the beginning.”
“Indeed!” Bernice stated sarcastically. “You see this is where I have a problem with you, Yvonne. For a smart, beautiful lady like you, you keep living in denial. Your love for Japheth has so blinded you that you have failed to even see what’s right before your nose. All I know is that, you are coming to that party whether you like it or not because it will be boring going alone. Your husband is bound to travel back to Canada soon like he always do, so you’ll not be giving me any excuses when he does, just go shopping for a new sexy dress to reveal this great figure you are always trying to hide and this your natural hair, babe, please visit the salon and get something hot and sexy done to it.”
“Right… let’s wait until then even though you are asking too much of me. For now,…” she reached for her handbag and began to rise. “…the only favour I can grant you is going for lunch and footing the bills.”
★★★
A couple of nights later, Yvonne laid awake on her bed again while her husband chatted with his girlfriend behind her. There was no sign of rain this time but Yvonne was restless. With her eyes fixed on the window now and her back still turned to him, she spoke, breaking the silence in the room.
“I went for a test two days ago, Suleiman and I tested positive to an STI. I’ve been on medication since then… A few injections, two sachets of very strong antibiotics and a few other drugs to cure me of the painful and discomforting infection.”
“I see… Are you telling me this because you want me to pay for your medication or is it something else?” He asked indifferently as he zoomed the picture of his girlfriend’s pussy on his phone with his thumb and index finger until he could see the pink flesh between her labias and she had taken the picture with two fingers buried in her vagina.
“No, Suleiman. You know I can very well take care of my own needs.” Yvonne answered.
Japheth paused his chat now as he let her information sink in for a moment but as he resumed chatting again, he said: “Good for you, Yvonne… At least now, you’ll think it wise to cut down on your multiple sex partners.”
Surprised at his reply, Yvonne turned now to face her husband, propping on her elbow. “I’m not sleeping with anybody else, Suleiman, I got it from you.” She raised her voice a notch. How dare he accuse her of being unfaithful to him. She had not slept with any other man for the past seven years.
He turned his head to look at her. “But I don’t feel anything.” He pulled up the waistband of his boxers with his thumb and let it snap into place for emphasis. “My dick feels very fine. No itch, no rashes, no pain which means that I don’t have any STI.”
“Maybe you should go to the hospital for a checkup then, perhaps your symptoms are yet to reveal themselves. But my point is since I got it from you, your girlfriend must have given it to you and you passed it onto me.”
He frowned now. “My girlfriend?! Are you by anyway accusing Lara of being unfaithful to me, Yvonne?”
“I didn’t literally say so, Suleiman” Yvonne quickly said so as not to offend him. “All I’m saying is that if we are going to continue to have sex, you’ll have to start protecting yourself out there because this us the sixth time I’m getting an infection from you and I can’t keep suffering from something that is not my own doing.”
“Then let’s stop having sex!” Suleiman snapped now. “If you think I’ll give up Lara for you then you are in for a big disappointment! That woman is the best thing that has ever happened to me and if you’d just be compliant by taking your ass back to your father’s house, I would have married her a long time ago but you obviously have decided to die here like the desperate bitch you are!” He stated.
“Are you for real right now, Suleiman?! I understand that you might not love me anymore and what you feel now is pure resentment but how can you suggest that we stop having sex?! For heaven’s sake, I’m your wife and you owe that to me as your wife! Even though you let me do all the work during sex, you have no right to deny me of my marital right!”
Japheth scoffed now and propped on his elbows. “Look Yvonne, I don’t know if you are waiting for some miracle to happen but I think it’s high time you really accept the fact that I don’t feel anything for you anymore. I love someone else and I’m only still stuck this useless marriage because I’m being the bigger person here. Why can’t you just do the both of us a favour by seeking a divorce! Why are you so hell-bent on staying married to me?! I mean aren’t you tired already? Seven years and you are still holding on like your life depends on it?! Just how shallow and desperate are you that you can’t go out there and get another man to marry you?! Why do you have to make me the most miserable man on Earth?! Don’t you have any shred of dignity left to save by just walking away?! You holding on is just like wrapping a noose around my neck! You are choking me Yvonne and I need to breathe! The earlier we can end this damn thing you call marriage, the better for us!”
With tears gathering in her eyes now from all his hurtful and demeaning words, Yvonne managed a reply. “Suleiman, I’m not going to seek for divorce. I still love you like the very first day we met and I believe that we can make things work out if only you’ll just try. If you deny me of sex, how do you expect me to cope? For Christ’s sake, you are my husband and one of your duties is satisfying my sexual needs.” Yvonne asked.
“And you think I am not aware of the numerous dildos you have lying around the house?” He lay down again on the pillow and continued chatting. “Go buy more. If you want a mechanical one or perhaps a vibrator, I’ll gift it to you.”
“That’s not enough, Suleiman. Yiu make me sound like a sex freak already. All I want to be made loved to like a normal woman who is desired by a man. I want to be kissed, I want to be cuddled and showered with love, and you and I know that a dildo can never give me all that! It’s just a sex toy and I don’t see why I should even be using a sex toy in the first place when I have my husband around me!” She said in defence.
“I see…” Suleiman scoffed now, propped on her elbow and turned to look her in the eye now. “How about we save ourselves the headache by taking an easy way out.” He suggested.
“And what can this easy way out possibly be?” She carefully asked, having a feeling of dread already.
“I have been thinking for a while and dear wife, I came up with a splendid idea- get yourself a boyfriend!” He stated, searching her eyes now.
Yvonne scoffed now in disbelief. “You are still the joker I know… I mean-” she started to say with a humourous expression but when she saw that his expression remained serious, she swallowed hard, growing sober now. “You were not joking, were you?”
Suleiman shook his head. “I have never been more serious in my whole life.”
“W-what!” Yvonne softly exclaimed in disbelief, unable to believe her ears as the gravity of his words finally sank in. “Suleiman, did you just tell your own lawfully-wedded wife to cheat?!” She pointed a finger at her chest.
“I believe you heard me right the first time, Yvonne. I, Japheth Suleiman, I’m giving you a hall pass here and I’ll grab this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity if I were you and I’m repeating it again that you are free to cheat. Go get yourself a guy out there who can fuck you the way and whenever you want. Get yourself some young bloke who can give you multiple orgasms. I don’t care how or where you do it, Yvonne, just don’t do the damn thing in my house. You can fuck him in a hotel, your car, your office, anywhere, name it but not under my fucking roof cuz I’ll lose it!”
“But-” Yvonne started to speak
Suleiman cut her off. “How about you think about this, Yvonne. I’m granting you an offer no man in his right senses will ever grant his wife. You do your thing and I simply look away like you have been doing concerning Lara. Now, dear wife, give this a very good thought before you make any decision. I have to return to my chat, Lara hates it when I give slow replies so I need to concentrate here. Goodnight.” He kissed his four fingers pressed together then pressed it against her lipa before returning to his chat and sending series of apologies to his girlfriend’s demanding chats that had already piled up.
Yvonne stared at her husband for a moment still trying to wrap her head around what he had just asked her to do. When he completely ignored her and focused on his chat, she heaved a sigh, turned around and laid down on her side and as the clock ticked slowly away, she fell asleep with the thought of her husband’s words still replaying in her head and in her sleep, a single tear of emotional pain rolled down her cheek to the pillow.
To Be Continued…
© Angela Okoduwa
