After the storm

by Osar Adeyemi

  She and Akeem had tried to hide the fact that they were having problems, but she knew that Aleena was aware that something was not quite right between them. The atmosphere in the house was constantly tensed up, and when they were not fighting, she and Akeem pretty much acted like two strangers sharing a roof: polite and trying to stay out of each other's way.

  She rubbed her hand across her forehead. Maybe it was time she went along with Abby's suggestion that they seek professional counseling about their problems, at least for Aleena's sake.

  ∞∞∞

  Yemi sighed as she remembered that she was yet to sign the consent forms from Aleena's school. The forms were to authorize a school trip to a theme park in the neigbouring town. She knew that Aleena would be upset if she missed out on the trip, and today was the last day for parents to send the form back. She grimaced when she remembered that Akeem needed to sign the forms too. Aleena's school was just too fussy.

  She thought of calling Aleena's teacher to extend the date for dropping off the forms but changed her mind. She didn't want to draw any more attention to her daughter. Akeem had left the house very early for work. She would have to go over to his office later in the day to get him to sign the papers. She would then drop them off at Aleena's school on her way back to the office.

  But she got so busy at work that she almost forgot about the forms until the reminder that she had set on her phone beeped. She glanced at her wristwatch; traffic on the island would still be light at that time of the day. She quickly rounded up what she had to do and left for Akeem's office.

  ∞∞∞

  Akeem almost turned back when he entered his office lobby and saw Coral and a lady he did not know being attended to by his personal assistant, Linda. They had obviously just arrived at his office, and although he had left standing instructions with Linda that he neither wanted to see her nor take her calls, he couldn't decline seeing her now that she was standing right there in his reception lobby.

  Coral smiled a little warily when she saw him. "Hi, Akeem, it's good to see you again."

  He knew his face was the furthest thing from smiling, and he did not make any effort to look more friendly. "Hi, Coral."

  Linda's face was creased in a concerned frown. "I was just telling Ms. Damisa that you have a very busy schedule and can't see visitors…" she began.

  Akeem nodded reassuringly at her. It wasn't her fault, after all. "Thanks, Linda. I'll handle it from here."

  He greeted the lady who was with Coral and led them to his office. Coral introduced her friend to him once they were inside. Her friend sat on the settee while Coral sat down on a seat across the table, opposite him. She immediately began to apologize again for the night that Yemi had walked in on them at the restaurant, but Akeem brushed it off. He did not want to remember that night, and he took full responsibility for what had happened, anyway. Coral's eyes appeared to search his, but he deliberately kept his expression bland. "So how is business going?" she asked.

  "Fine, thanks."

  "I'm happy for you. I've been following Ka-Tell on the news, and it all appears really good." She sighed and interlinked her fingers before looking at him again. "Things are not so smooth on my end. It's been a bit of a struggle getting things back on track."

  "These things take time, Coral. You just have to keep at it."

  "That's what I keep telling myself." She sighed again. "Sometimes I wish I had a business partner, someone who would share the burden of decision making, and every other thing, with me." Her eyes roved over his face. "It's tough when one is doing it all alone."

  Akeem strummed his desk with his forefinger. "Partnership does have its advantages, and you could always source for a partner if you really think you need one."

  "I know. I'm still turning the prospect over in my mind." She smiled slightly. "Of course, you wouldn't be interested in something like that, would you?"

  He stared at her, not quite sure whether to laugh or to be irritated. Her expression was deadpan as she met his gaze, and then she burst into laughter.

  "Just kidding, Akeem. I know a spa is small fry for someone like you, but there's no harm in trying, is there?"

  "Every business venture is fine so long as it fulfills its objectives and yields profit, but I think I have my hands full enough with KH at the moment."

  "I can imagine. I wonder how you do it. Just the trauma of my mum's death was enough to nearly cost me all that I have worked for."

  Akeem glanced at his wristwatch and tried to contain his impatience as she went on to tell him about the efforts she was putting into rebuilding her business. She had lost some of her clients to her competitors but was working on getting them back through offers and deals. He glanced at her friend, who had picked up a newspaper and was leafing through it. He wondered if Coral had deliberately brought a friend to prevent him from being abrupt with her.

  "That's past now. You've got to look forward and forge ahead," he said to Coral.

  "I know. Thanks so much for the money you gave me. That was a real lifeline. There's no other way I could even be trying to rebuild my business without it."

  "You've already thanked me through the voice mails you left." He deliberately glanced at his wristwatch again, hoping that Coral would catch the signal he was giving her. He had just a few more minutes for her, and then if she didn't take the hint, he was not going to let the presence of her friend prevent him from telling her he needed to get back to work.

  ∞∞∞

  Yemi walked out of the elevator and headed towards Akeem's office. "Hello, Linda," she greeted Akeem's personal assistant as she entered the reception area. She smiled as her eyes swept over Linda's pretty, blush-coloured, chiffon blouse. Her hair and makeup was nicely done, as usual. "How're you doing?

  Linda was looking slightly bemused. "I'm fine, thank you," she finally managed to say. "It's been a long time."

  "Is my husband in the office?" Yemi asked, moving towards the door leading to Akeem's office.

  "Eh…no. I mean, yes," Linda stuttered, standing up from her seat. "He's got some visitors."

  Yemi looked at her, slightly surprised. Linda was normally composed, but she did not seem to have it all together that day. "Okay. I'll just peep in and show my face, and I know he will come and see me out here."

  She entered Akeem's office and saw two women there. Akeem looked slightly startled to see her. Something about his reaction made her take a closer look at the woman sitting across from him. There was something familiar about her. The woman was also looking at Yemi, and then Yemi remembered. It was the woman she had seen in the restaurant with Akeem.

  She walked farther into the office and made her way over to the window. She stood there looking out at the busy city streets below. She took a deep breath to calm the anger she felt building up rapidly within her. "Tell them to leave," she said to Akeem without turning round.

  A couple of minutes later, she heard the sounds of heels going towards the door, and then the office door opened and closed. She turned around then and looked at Akeem. The pain she felt was indescribable. "So you're still seeing her."

  "No, I'm not seeing her. I've not seen her since that night at the restaurant. She just dropped by this afternoon unexpectedly."

  "I don't believe you, and even if that were true, you could have refused to see her." Yemi was struggling to keep calm. "By agreeing to see her, you disrespected me, our marriage, and the memory of our son! You're simply telling me that all I went through meant nothing to you!"

  Akeem ran his fingers through his hair. "I had no idea she was coming here. She feels she owes me because I gave her some money to resuscitate her business, but I have made it clear to her that she does not."

  "Of course," Yemi said scornfully. "You've settled her with some cash. Tell me, is that a pattern with you? Sleep with them and then pay them off?"

  "Why won't you believe me? Can't we move past..."

  "Move past what?" Yemi cut in angrily. "You and your mistress killed
my son, and then I come by your office and see you having a cozy conversation with her, and you're telling me to move past what?"

  "I was not having a cozy chat with anyone!" Akeem said tightly. She could see him also struggling to remain calm, and it infuriated her all the more. So he had now added acting skills on top of his cheating ways. What a poor judge of character she had been.

  She stared at him. "You are despicable. You know that?"

  "I see it in your eyes whenever you look at me." He left his desk and came closer to where she was standing. His lips curved in a bitter smile as he stared at her. "You've never really forgiven me for the loss of the baby, have you?"

  "But at least I've been proven right, haven't I?" Yemi countered. "Forgiving you would have been a waste of time!"

  His eyes bored into hers. "But I thought forgiveness was supposed to be a Christian virtue?" he asked. "You go on and on at me for not believing in God, but what example have you shown me?"

  "Stop fishing for excuses for your infidelity," Yemi snapped. "Even non-Christians can be faithful. It just depends on how disciplined one is." She sized him up scornfully with her eyes and then looked away in disgust. "A quality you obviously lack." She brought out the forms from Aleena's school from her bag and dropped them on his desk. "I brought this for you to sign. It needs to be sent to Aleena's school before the end of the day."

  With that, she walked to the door and left the office.

  ∞∞∞

  Yemi drove aimlessly through the streets with tears flowing freely down her face. The emotional pain she was feeling was so bad that it seemed almost physical. She kept driving around and did not realize when she drove round a roundabout three times.

  She finally headed home. Akeem was already at home when she got there. He lay on his back in bed, still fully clothed. He started to get up when she came in, but she ignored him, walked into the second room, and locked the door.

  Tears stung her eyes as she watched her daughter sleeping later that evening. She found herself quietly whispering apologies to her for failing her and for the hurt she was facing as a consequence of her parents' troubled marriage.

  Yemi walked slowly back to her room afterwards. She had made up her mind what she was going to do. It was time for her to cut her losses and move on. She could never trust Akeem again. All she felt for him was anger and contempt, and that would never change. She knew that her parents and friends would be aghast at her decision, but this was about her and what was best for her daughter. It was time to end the charade of staying married.

  ∞∞∞

  The dull, grey weather matched Akeem's mood the day Yemi moved out of the house. He tried to distract himself with work in the office, but at about 4 p.m., he was done with the pretense of working. The earlier he got used to his new status as a single man, the better. He had been that for a long time, anyway.

  He felt slightly refreshed after he took a shower. As he sat on the bed, his eyes caught a jewellery case sitting on the dressing table. Without opening it, he knew its contents. He opened the case, and the diamond necklace and earrings he had bought for Yemi after his affair with Coral seemed to glint mockingly at him from their cozy interior. He stared at it for a while, closed the case, and dropped it into a drawer.

  He went back downstairs, dismissed Bassey for the night, and sat in the smaller sitting room. He was struggling to find a room in the house that had the fewest memories of his wife and daughter. Well, this certainly wasn't it, he thought to himself as he looked at the painting of Yemi in the room. He wondered why she had left it behind, and he smiled mirthlessly—probably to haunt him.

  He poured himself a drink and stared at the painting. She looked stunning. A half smile played across her lips as she reclined on a sofa. She was wearing a beautiful, off-shoulder, wine-coloured evening dress. Her hair was twisted up and fell in soft curls around her neck. He had bought her that dress. She sizzled whenever she wore it. He had paid quite a bit for the painting, which was probably why she had left it behind, but he wondered what he was supposed to do with it now.

  At about eight o'clock, his phone rang. It was Yemi. An image flashed across his mind of Yemi looking sad and contrite, telling him over the phone how much she missed him and that she had realised that she could not live without him. He smiled bitterly to himself. If there was a place like hell, then it would probably freeze over before Yemi made that kind of admission.

  "Hi, Akeem." Her voice sounded tense when he connected the call. "Please hold on, Aleena wants to speak to you."

  "Hello, Daddy." Aleena's voice sounded tearful.

  "Hello, princess." He cradled his handset closer to his ear.

  "I want to come home." She sounded like she was about to start crying anytime.

  Akeem's chest tightened. "I'll see you in a few days, princess," he said, his voice a little raspy with emotion. He and Yemi had agreed that Aleena would stay with him on weekends while Yemi had her on weekdays. It had cost him a lot to settle for that, but he knew it was the best arrangement for Aleena under the circumstances.

  "But I want to see you now, Daddy!"

  "Very soon, sweetie, very soon." His anger against Yemi heightened. "Let's play a game, okay. We'll pretend Daddy travelled and we are talking on the phone. Remember the last time I went to America?"

  He spent the next few minutes trying to coerce her into a better mood. He even managed to get her giggling a little bit.

  "Okay, princess," he said a while later. "It's late, and I think you should go to bed now. Remember, Daddy loves his girl looking bright in the morning."

  "I don't like my room. The colour's not nice." Aleena was sounding tearful again. "It's horrid!" she added for emphasis.

  He knew his girl. She exaggerated when she was trying to make a point. Yemi had been trying to correct her, but the work was not quite done yet.

  "I want my nice pinky colour!" she fairly wailed down the phone.

  That was easy. He could fix that. "Not to worry, sweetie, Daddy will sort that out, okay?"

  He talked with her a little more before she reluctantly agreed to go to bed.

  He didn't bother talking with Yemi and hung up immediately. He didn't think Aleena's room was horrid or anything like that, but nevertheless her room needed to be as close to the one she was used to as possible. He was not in the mood to discuss that with Yemi right away. He would ask his office to send the same interior decorator who did her room in his house to replicate the same look at Yemi's place, and she had better not argue with him over it.

  He buried himself in work over the next few days. He purposed to keep seeing Yemi to the barest minimum. She wanted out of his life, and he was going to give her just that.

  ∞∞∞

  A week later, he was in his office when Hasan stopped by.

  "Hey, A. K., what's this I'm hearing about Yemi moving out?" Hasan asked, barely before he had even sat down. "And you gave no hint that things were that bad!"

  Akeem smiled wryly. He had wondered how long it would take for his friends to find out about the breakup of his marriage. Sara was away on holidays. He knew that Yemi had not told her yet, otherwise Fadel would have come round too. "Things have been bad for a while."

  Hasan inhaled slowly. "I thought you guys were working it out. Where has she moved to?"

  "Somewhere in Ikoyi."

  "She's renting?"

  Akeem could hear the surprise in Hasan's voice. He had properties all over Lagos, but Yemi wanted to make a point by declining the offer of a house he had made to her. "Prefers to."

  Hasan was silent for a long moment. "So what's the plan? How do you intend to get them back?"

  Akeem smiled, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "No plan. I've decided to let her go."

  "But…"

  "There's no two ways about it," Akeem cut in abruptly. "She's made no bones about how she feels about me, and I've accepted it."

  Hasan looked incredulous. "Aren't you going to try at all?"

  "D
o you think I've not tried?" He walked to the window, tugged at the Venetian blinds and pulled them open. The midday sun came streaming into the office, but it did nothing to soothe his mood.

  "I'm going to see her and try to reason with her."

  "Don't bother, Hasan. It won't make any difference."

  Hasan stayed for a while longer, still trying to convince Akeem to go after Yemi, but he really wasn't interested anymore. Yemi was right; it was better that they separated. Too many things stood between them. Most of all, the baby they had lost.

  She felt that he'd had it all easy. But he had also suffered, much more than she would ever know. He felt as if he had snuffed the life out of his baby with his bare hands. His own father had given him life and mentored him, but he had killed his own son. That knowledge was his private hell, and he carried it with him every day.

  Chapter 16

  Yemi ignored her ringing phone for a while before finally fishing it out of her bag. The caller ID showed that it was Sesan. It was a Saturday evening, and Aleena was with Akeem. She had not felt like going home and had decided to stay back in the office to finish up some work.

  "Hello Shez," she said when she connected the call. "How're you doing?"

  "I'm good, thanks." Sesan said. "I'm outside your door. Where are you?"

  "So sorry, but I'm still at the office trying to finish up some work."

  "It's almost 8 p.m., Yemi."

  "Is it? Wow, I didn't realise I had been here that long. I should be finished shortly, though."

  They talked for a few minutes. His mother's birthday was just around the corner, and he and Teju were planning a party for her. He was not too happy when he realized that Yemi was not planning to attend.

  "My schedule's a bit tight at the moment. But I've already picked out a gift for your mother and will pop by the house to drop it off."

  "You can't keep hiding from people, you know," Sesan said gently.