My name is Myra and I'm a very angry and bitter woman. And it's all thanks to the 'witch' called Hetty, my landlady.
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Before the 'Jezebel', came into our lives, my husband CJ and I were doing just fine. We had been married for about eight years and though we did not have children, CJ was not too worried.
"When the time comes, we will have children. God's time is the best," he often said anytime I grew anxious over our childless state. You know how our African society is. Once a couple gets married, people especially family members, friends, colleagues and other so called 'well-wishers' expect the woman to start popping out babies as quickly as possible. My husband's parents and other family members live far away from us and hardly visit so pressure from their end was not much.
All the same, I never relented in my quest to have my own child. I fasted and prayed and cried to God to remember me. But the years went by and there was still no issue.
Then about two years ago, we had to move to another apartment from where we were staying in Lagos due to problems with the landlord. He had increased the rent by over fifty percent without warning and threatened to eject any tenant who did not comply. My husband, who felt the new rent was too high for the flat decided we should move.
So that's how we ended up in our new place. The house, made up of four flats is owned by Hetty who had inherited it from her parents. She lived in one of the flats downstairs with her two children, both teenagers. Hetty, who is in her late 30s, was said to be divorced or separated from her husband. When we moved in newly, the woman was so nice and helpful to us, always asking if we had any problems. She would invite us to her home and even cook for us. With time,
we became very close. I thought in my naivety that she was just being nice.
How did I know that she had designs on my husband! Anyway, I found out later that my husband was dating our landlady. It had been going on for months before I knew about it. You see, because of my job I'm hardly at home. My office is in Victoria Island so I leave home early and return home late as well. My husband is a business man so his schedule is more flexible than mine. There are days he does not go out at all, but stays at home and works on his computer and makes contacts on phone.
Since the story came out about their affair, friends and other concerned well-wishers have told me that I should have been more careful, that I should not have allowed a woman like her, single and still quite young and pretty to get close to my husband. But what were they expecting me to do, tie a grown up like him up? He's mature enough to know right from wrong and that dating that woman is something he should not have done.
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I found out about the affair from a neighbour who had been seeing them going out together and acting like lovers whenever I was at work. I confronted CJ and though he denied it initially, he finally owned up and confessed. He pleaded with me to forgive and forget that it was the 'work of the devil.'
"What devil?" I countered furiously.
"Instead of accepting responsibility for cheating on me with our landlady, you are blaming the devil!" I was very angry with him and I felt hurt too. What the woman has that I lacked, I wondered, weeping bitter tears. Ok, she was very pretty but I was not bad looking and was even younger than her.
CJ promised to stop seeing the woman, also begging me not to go and fight her as we could be kicked out of the apartment. I loved my husband very much and he meant the world to me so I forgave him. Things went on as normal though I was more vigilant this time around. As for my landlady, she travelled with her children abroad for the summer holidays and I did not see her for some time. The children came back and resumed school but she stayed behind for a few more months.
When she returned later, it was clear to even a blind man that she was pregnant. I did not think much of it and just ignored her as I had been doing since I found out she was sleeping with my husband. That was until CJ broke the terrible news to me, that he was responsible for her pregnancy! How could this have happened, was the first thought that entered my mind. I was, as expected devastated by the new development. Here was I, married to him for nearly eight years and yet to produce a child. Yet a clandestine affair with our landlady had resulted in a
pregnancy.
I became ill when I heard the news and had to take some time off from work. When my mother who lived near us heard what happened, she came to spend time with me. It was my mother and younger sister who came with her that went to my landlady's house and fought with her. Much as I hated the woman, I was not in support of physical combat and told my mother to leave her alone. The damage had been done and fighting her would not solve anything, I reasoned.
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It was my husband that I was more worried about. He had become so happy since Hetty announced she was pregnant for him.
"Finally, I will be a father," he had stated with obvious pride the day he broke the news to me. When I recovered, I called him one day that due to the situation of things, I no longer felt comfortable living in the same compound with the landlady, that we had to move. To my shock, CJ was vehemently opposed to my suggestion, insisting there was no need to relocate.
"Hetty will soon put to bed and as the father of the baby, I need to be around to look after them," he said. I was not ready to give in and I gave him an ultimatum: it's either we left or he should forget about me and our marriage. I told him I was not ready to share my man with any woman, least of all that conniving landlady of ours.
"I can't stay here anymore. Seeing that woman every day with her big, protruding tummy drives me crazy. I need to get away for my own sanity and peace of mind," I said.
That was when he told me that I could do whatever I wanted, that he was not ready to go anywhere.
"I'm going nowhere. We just moved here so why would we be moving so soon? Learn to adjust to the situation or ..." he rejoined.
Since I'm not ready to adjust, I have begun making alternative plans. My younger sister, who has her own apartment in town, has suggested I move in with her until CJ comes to his senses. I don't know what will happen to my marriage when I leave. I still love my husband and I know he cares about me too, but that woman seems to have cast a spell or used 'love charm' on him or something. I need to get away before I lose my mind with worry and stress. I don't know if I have taken the right decision or not. But I need some space right now before I lose my mind or even die prematurely from all the trouble my husband and his mistress have caused me...
THE END!
Names have been changed to protect the identity
of the narrator and other individuals in the story.
NAIRALAND
NAIRALAND
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