by Osar Adeyemi
"I was not expecting you to. I'm planning to attend alone."
Akeem stared at her, a heavy frown playing around his eyebrows. She knew he was surprised. She had always preferred that they went to social gatherings together, but now she made her plans and either went alone or with Kufre and Aleena.
"I still don't like your relationship with her. That woman has been through three divorces…"
"Two," Yemi corrected him.
"Whatever," he said shortly. "The point is that she has been through those divorces and is so antimen in her statements."
Yemi stared at him for a moment. Was he worried that Kelly would influence her to divorce him? No one could make her to do what she did not want to do. Love had made her give her all to him, but she was in the process of correcting that error. "It's not surprising that she dislikes men, though," she said, moving towards the door. "With the kind of men in today's society, I really don't blame her."
She made her way downstairs. She was an adult and did not need Akeem's approval on whom she could be friends with. She wanted to succeed in her business, and if it took hard work and even being friends with people she would not naturally have been drawn to, then so be it.
∞∞∞
"Hello, sir," Kufre greeted Akeem when he walked into the house.
He hated to ask the question but could not stop himself. "Is my wife in?"
Kufre looked a bit startled. "No, sir. She told me she was travelling to Abuja."
Even though he had been half expecting it, the words still hit him hard. Despite his disapproval, Yemi had still gone ahead and travelled for some women's summit that Kelly had invited her to. He felt anger rising up within him and struggled to control it. The madness had gone on long enough. She wasn't saying anything, but her actions showed that she had lost all interest in their marriage.
"I'll be upstairs in my room," he said to Kufre. There was no need to ask about Aleena. Yemi had told him that she would be taking her to Ayo's place.
Akeem stretched out on the bed after taking a shower. He was still furious. He could not comprehend how much Yemi had changed. There were a few times when he was almost hopeful that things would be okay between them again. But then she would suddenly snap again and things would get even worse than they had been before. All his suggestions on how they could resolve the issues in their marriage had been met with a brick wall, and if not for Aleena, she appeared ready to walk away from it all.
He picked up his mobile phone and called Ayo. He wasn't going to let Aleena stay with him. It was just a matter of shifting his appointments around and working from home for a couple of days. Her presence around him would help him, anyway; at least her love for him was unconditional.
Akeem was still angry when Yemi came home three days later. He went to the office and deliberately stayed there late. Yemi had not bothered to call him for the period that she was away, but he knew that she called Kufre and Aleena often.
Kufre answered the doorbell when he got home that evening. He walked slowly upstairs and stopped by Aleena's room. Yemi was in there, reading her a story. Aleena's eyelids were already drooping, but she stirred up upon seeing him.
"Daddy!" She smiled, sitting up in bed and holding out her arms. "You came home late today," she pouted.
"So sorry, sweetie." He bent down to kiss her forehead. "Forgive me?"
She giggled. "Course I do, you're my daddy!"
"Hi," Yemi said, standing up and barely looking at him.
"Hi." His eyes moved over her. In her blue, knee-length denim shorts and pink top, she looked like an older version of Aleena. Cute. He knew she was aware that he was looking at her but deliberately averted her face.
She stooped down to kiss Aleena's cheek. "I'll leave you with your dad. Sleep tight, sweetie. Love you."
"Love you too, Mummy," Aleena replied, clutching her soft toy to herself.
She smiled down at Aleena before looking fully at Akeem for the first time since he had entered the room. "I'll be downstairs," she said, walking past him towards the door.
He sat beside Aleena and read her another story. Before long, she fell asleep. Akeem turned out the lights and walked to his bedroom. He wondered why he was feeling so tired. His day had been relatively light. Maybe it was a mental kind of tiredness and also somewhat dreading the showdown he knew might happen with Yemi today. He wished she would just apologise and make it easy for him. He was tired of their fights. He missed her and wished that they could put the past six months behind them.
Thirty minutes later, he walked downstairs. His dinner was laid out on the dining table, but there was no sign of Yemi. He walked back upstairs to the study. She was looking through some designs on her laptop.
She glanced up when he came in but went back to working. "Your dinner is downstairs," she said to him after a while, looking up at him.
"Is that all you have to say to me after spending four days away from home?"
She frowned. "I was away for three days, not four. And I told you where I was going and when I would be back."
"And I told you that I did not want you to go. But obviously that didn't mean anything to you." Her attitude was getting to him. So much for him thinking that she would apologise.
"Akeem, please, I'm not in the mood for this. I've had a very stressful day."
"You've had a stressful day? Well, I've had a worse one! And not just one, but four days! Wondering how my wife could actually go ahead with her plans knowing fully well that I didn't approve of them!"
"Approve?" Her lips curled scornfully. "Have you ever asked me for approval for any of your trips? Well, I have a life now, and you're going to have to give me some space!"
She stood up and attempted to move past him, but Akeem blocked her exit. "I'm not finished yet!" he said through gritted teeth. She made an attempt to move around, and he held her by the arms.
"Take your hands off me!"
"When I'm ready!" He could see that she was angry, but he didn't care anymore. He was tired of the silent treatment, tired of everything she had been dishing out to him. "What space are you talking about?"
"Get your hands off me, Akeem."
If he weren't so angry, her attempts to break his hold would have made him smile. He could easily hold two of her hands in one of his. "Quit struggling, Yemi, you're not going anywhere."
She pursed her lips. "So now you are resorting to violence, right?"
He stared at her, frustrated that he could not find that place in her heart where they used to connect. "No, my dear wife, as much as you have provoked me beyond what I'd thought were the limits of my endurance, violence is still not my thing."
She was still struggling to break his hold on her. "Then let go of me!"
He moved closer to her, pinning her hands between them. Her soft, feminine fragrance invaded his senses. He was not happy with her, but he could not resist her closeness anymore. He pulled her into his arms and wrapped his arms around her. "Why are you struggling with me?" he whispered. She continued to push against him. "Stop fighting me." It was not just about the physical struggle she was putting up right now, but he needed her to drop all the emotional resistance she had mounted up against him. "Baby, please stop fighting me," he repeated, pulling her closer still. He bent his head and tried to kiss her, but she turned her face away, pushing against him angrily.
"Take your hands off me! It's all about physical satisfaction to you, isn't it? So long as your base desires are fulfilled, you don't care who you are with!" She pushed at him again, her eyes flashing angrily. "Well, some of us don't just follow our instincts. We are a bit more selective and definitely more disciplined!"
Her comments stung him. How long was she going to continue to throw his affair in his face? "You can select all you like," he said grimly, releasing her. "But that's only ever going to be in your mind. You have only one choice: me!"
"That's what you think," she replied angrily.
"That's what it is. You are my wife!"
"Something I regret every day!"
He stared at her. She had said it again. She had said it many times since they lost the baby. Different variations of the same message. She regretted marrying him. Regretted the day she had met him. The only thing she had not yet said she regretted was their daughter. But maybe someday she would throw that at him too.
"You are fast turning into a shrew, a bitter angry shrew." He knew from her expression that she was furious at his words, but he was past caring. "And you know what? It's not an endearing quality in a woman. It certainly kills whatever attraction there is about her."
"I don't want to be attractive to a man like you!" she replied. "You can keep your attentions to your mistresses outside! It's totally wasted on me!"
He almost recoiled at the anger and bitterness in her eyes, and he stood staring at her. But well, she had pushed him enough. He was not prepared to live like this anymore, continually dreading what she was likely going to do. He would face it, and the next time she tried this nonsense of leaving the house the way she had just done, she was going to meet a different guy when she got back.
He glanced at her again before walking out of the study.
Chapter 15
"You've got to try and work on your marriage," Abby said, looking at Yemi with a sober expression on her face. "You can't continue like this. It's just not healthy."
The two of them were meeting for lunch and before she knew it, Yemi found herself telling Abby about Akeem and their constant fighting. She was tired of it but seemed unable to help herself. She was feeling even worse at the moment because of the news her doctor had told her the day before. He had spoken to her about the results of a hormonal assay that he had asked her to retake. He said there was some hormonal imbalance. Her FSH, whatever that was, was rather high, and her progesterone was low. The doctor assured her that the hormonal imbalance was not necessarily linked to her recent trauma but yes, it could make conceiving another baby challenging if it remained persistently high.
She had gone home feeling morose. It was not like she was joyfully hopping into Akeem's bed; in fact, she slept more in the other room than theirs, but it would be good to know that everything was okay if their lives ever returned to normal.
"You have to find a way to forgive Akeem and move on," Abby continued, interrupting her thoughts.
Yemi stared into her glass of water. "I so badly wanted my marriage to be perfect, but it hasn't turned out that way. Maybe I just have to accept the cards that fate has dealt me."
Abby shook her head in disagreement. "You don't have to accept anything. You have the power to make your home what you want it to be."
"It's tough, Abby. He hurt me so much. What if he does it again?"
"And what if he does not? Are you just going to throw everything away because of one mistake?" Abby looked at Yemi with compassion in her eyes. "It could also help to talk with Akeem about how you feel."
"What is he going to do about it? Make the pain go away? Give me back my son?"
"No, but he would understand some of the hurt you're carrying. And believe me, I'm sure he is hurting too."
Yemi shook her head and looked gloomily at Abby. "Not sure about that. I just don't trust Akeem anymore." She suspected his every move. She had even taken to buying soft-sell magazines and scouring the internet for news about him and any woman he may secretly be involved with. She didn't want to be as stupid as she had been in the past. So far she had seen nothing, but he was obviously an expert at hiding his affairs.
"You trust God for people," Abby said gently. "And you really do need to get closer to God, especially now."
"I don't see the point," Yemi said. She hardly went to church anymore; once a month was a lot for her.
"God loves you, Yemi. He knows what you're going through, and He wants to heal your heart."
That was what Abby kept telling her, but it didn't seem that way to her. After yet another fight with Akeem a few days later, she was even more convinced that God didn't love her.
This time it was over Aleena's school. She was just about to start primary school, and Akeem wanted her to attend Dartmouth International, a British school in Lagos. It was where he and his siblings, and many of their family friends, had gone to school. Yemi didn't like the school. The fees were ridiculous, and she felt that it was a good breeding ground for snobbish behavior. She had gone ahead to apply and had obtained admission for Aleena at two other schools. They had talked about it in the past, and she had thought that Akeem agreed with her reasoning, but he was singing a different tune now.
"Dartmouth International is where the Kadiris have always attended," he said to her coolly. "Besides, it's one of the best schools in the country."
Yeah, with snooty kids who think they are better than everyone else. "I just don't want Aleena in that school," Yemi maintained.
"You've not given any good reason why she should not go there."
"I don't want my daughter becoming all snooty. Besides, the other schools I've suggested are equally good, and they don't even cost a fraction of the fees that Dartmouth charges!"
"Dartmouth has consistently had excellent ratings for over sixty years, and as for the fees, don't worry about it. I can afford them."
She glared at him. "Bringing up a child is not just about throwing money around!" She could see that her words annoyed him, but she didn't care. Her child was not going to end up becoming all uppity like Nadia or any of his nasty relatives.
"And what makes you an expert on good schools?"
She eyed him sarcastically. "Maybe because my parents are teachers, plus we just don't throw money around?"
He smiled cynically. "You're pretty snooty yourself. You know that?"
"Well, I've been around the Kadiris for a while," she taunted. "It must be infectious."
He stared at her. "Talking with you these days is rather challenging."
"Believe me, the feeling is mutual!"
His face was taut as he looked at her, but his voice remained dangerously calm. "Well, listen to me. Aleena is going to attend Dartmouth unless you can come up with some really reasonable objections as to why she shouldn't."
He went out that night and didn't come home until the early hours of the morning.
∞∞∞
Yemi looked at Akeem furiously. She had just had a grueling day at the office and didn't need this fight. "I just told you why I stayed back at the office, or weren't you listening?"
The Brother C6015 sewing machine that she had just ordered had refused to work for some reason. She had been on the phone with the company she ordered it from for a good part of the day as they talked her through the manual, and she had to keep calling them back as what they told her to do didn't seem to be working. Then she had had to stay behind to finish up some clothes that she was running behind schedule on.
A nerve clenched in Akeem's jaw. "And I just told you that I'm not happy with you coming home at this time of the night."
She shook her head exasperatedly. "It's only 9:30 p.m. It's not as if I came home at midnight or something."
"You have consistently done this for the past week, and I'm not happy about it."
"Oh please, come off it, Akeem. You've consistently come home late every day since we got married, and I don't growl at you!"
"So this is about you trying to prove a point? Don't you care that Aleena goes to bed before you get in?"
Yemi attempted to walk past him. "I spend more time looking after Aleena in a week than you can claim in six months!"
"Don't walk out on me!" Akeem looked like he was about to explode with anger. "What's wrong with you?"
Yemi was just as furious. "And don't you yell at me!"
"Yemi, you're really pushing me…" Akeem began furiously.
"Daddy!" Aleena's tearful voice came from the doorway. They both turned towards the little girl. They had not heard her come in and did not know how long she had been standing there. Aleena turned away, and they heard her running towar
ds the direction of her room.
"Now see what you have done!" Akeem said, as he hurried out of the room after Aleena.
"It's all your fault!" Yemi said, following him. She had thought Aleena was fast asleep. Trust him not to be able to do even that simple chore. He was able to manage hundreds of employees, yet he couldn't put a little girl to bed properly.
Aleena was lying on her bed and clutching her doll to herself when they entered her room.
"Are you okay, princess?" Akeem asked, sitting down beside her.
Aleena did not answer. She just looked from his face to Yemi's as if seeking some kind of reassurance that all was okay between them. The scared look on her face brought an instant ache to Yemi's heart.
"It's okay, baby," Yemi whispered, stroking her daughter's hair, unable to meet her gaze.
This was not the first time that Aleena would be walking in on one of their fights. Yemi's heart ached as she thought about the damage they must be doing to their child. She and Akeem fought over everything these days, including the simplest of issues. She could not get rid of her bitterness towards him, and he didn't seem to care anymore either.
They stayed with Aleena and maintained a show of peace between them until the little girl fell asleep again. Afterwards, Yemi trudged slowly downstairs. She felt weary right down to her soul.
Two weeks later, Ms. Harley, Aleena's class teacher, sent a note asking Yemi to see her when she picked Aleena up from school. Yemi wondered what it was all about.
When she met with Ms. Harley, the teacher subtly asked her if everything was okay with Aleena. According to her, Aleena had been looking rather subdued of late. She also told Yemi that Aleena no longer engaged with other pupils, and it took very little to upset her. The last incidence of her bursting into tears for no apparent reason had been the day before, when all she had been asked to do was to bring out her workbook.
Yemi felt her heart sinking as the teacher spoke. She thanked the teacher for her observations and promised to look into it, but as she left the office, she felt so hopeless. Aleena was the main reason why she was staying on in her marriage in the first place. But it seemed that she was doing even more damage to the little girl.