CHAPTER 33 –
© OPEYEMI OJERINDE AKINTUNDE
I kept counting down. Reuben could tell I wasn’t myself as sometimes, I would sit down very lost in thought. I was excited to see Daniel yet I was afraid.
Reuben asked countless times what was up with me, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell him the extent I
had gone for us to have our son.
My phone rang by 10am exactly on the 10th day, When I checked the ID, surprisingly it was Daniel’s old
number. It meant he used the phone number whenever he was in the country.
“Hello Daniel”
“Hi Nwala, I got into town last night, I have a lot scheduled for my 3 day stay so I was wondering if we could meet today before 2:00pm”
“Sure…”
“Where? Your place or mine? He asked.
I was shocked at the suggestion of my home as Daniel obviously noticed my reservation.
“Oh! Your husband doesn’t know about us, I get it! Well, because of my brand and your status as a pastor’s wife, we can’t be seen in public together. I don’t want some irresponsible blog denting my image, so I guess my place will be the best option…”
‘Ok…” I wasn’t thinking anymore. I just wanted to get things done…
Good judgment was refraining me from going on with this plan, but I had my mind settled on going…
The house was beautiful, topnotch, and Big. I kept wondering how Daniel got to the top so fast. I left him broken…
As I parked at his gate, I gave him a call…
“I am at the gate,” I said
“Ok!” He ended the call…
This Daniel was not the lengthy talker I dated years back. He was way too official…
“Well Beauty, you don’t need him to be talkative right now, the lesser the conversation between you both, the better” I warned myself.
The gate opened on its own, and I drove in. I checked around, but there was no security guard. Obviously, it was
a computerized gate. I sat in the car waiting for Daniel to step out, but my phone rang…
“The door is opened; you can come in,” he said. I began to feel uneasy with the lack of human face
around.
I stepped out of my car and walked towards the door.
As I got to the door, I heard a click, and I heard a computerized voice…
“Welcome Nwala, please use the handle”
“What kind of show off was Daniel putting on?” I said to myself
He wanted me to know he was living in a computerized house…
I walked into a very beautiful living room. Daniel was no where to be found. Suddenly, I heard the sound of
a pair of legs walking towards me… I looked up in anticipation and Reuben’s face was the first face I saw…
“Nwala! Nwala!” I heard Daniel calling my name
“Oh thank goodness…” I returned from my
imaginative world of seeing Reuben in Daniel’s house…
“Are you okay?”
“Yes. I am fine, was just lost in thought”
“Yeah I can imagine, you never thought, I would make it this big without you…”
“No that was not what I was thinking”
“I bet it is… Nwala I made it, I wish your mother is here to see me”
“I am sure she would be happy for you”
“Remind me again, why didn’t you marry me?”
“God told me to marry Reuben”
“Oh! So how come your God couldn’t let you have kids with him?”
“Daniel, can we stop this back and forth, I am not hereto fight with you, I am sorry for all I did, but life happens”
“Yes life happens, just like it happened for me. Let me entertain you with how life happened to or for me”
I rolled my eyes, now the talkative, guilt allotting Daniel was here…
“Oh my manners, please have a seat”
“I don’t intend staying for long”
“I promise my story won’t be long, I will recount it as shortly as I can”
I took a seat, I was ready to play along…
“Nwala…”
“Beauty” I corrected
“Nwala… You should have seen me after you shut me out of your life and you eventually got married. I lost it. Do you know I was admitted into a mental hospital for three months after I saw you at my father’s burial ceremony… Nwala, I wanted to die… You were my
hope”
“Daniel, that was our mistake, you saw me as the best thing that could ever happen to you, and you were
wrong. You thought with me and my parent’s wealth, you will be better than your background… Meanwhile,
Jesus should have been your focus. I also played along stupidly by thinking I was your savior, that with my parent’s wealth, we will start a great life together…”
“Was I wrong to have wanted to climb on the shoulder of my wife and in-laws?”
“Bible says woe to those who put their trust in man, Daniel you didn’t go through me to where you are, God made you”
“Yes I didn’t go through you, instead I went through hell, I had to travel abroad through illegal means, I used the passport of someone else. When I got there, I started running around like a thief not to be caught by the police… Thankfully I met a Nigerian guy who fixed me up with a mechanic friend of his. If my father didn’t give me anything, he gave me the knowledge about cars. I worked my life out for 2 good years with this guy without pay. My pay was for him to help me get my own American passport. Thankfully, after two years through his connection I got my passport. Through him, I started sending cars to Nigeria and my
younger brother was selling on my behalf. My Good luck didn’t stop there, I got to know about dealing with car manufacturers directly through one of my clients. Nwala, the road was messy, had to do a lot of messy things to get money to start dealing directly
with the manufacturers” he said
“All the same, you are here, and whether you agree or not God has been good to you” I said knowing I was preaching the right message at the wrong place.
“Can we skip to the reason why I am here” I said
“Without me showing you around?” he said pulling me up quickly
“I don’t have to see…”
Those words were not falling on open ears…He showed me everywhere. I didn’t see anything extraordinary, except that the house was computerized.
Finally, we got to the master bedroom… The sight of the bed flashed a red flag at me.
“I have seen enough Daniel” I said standing at the entrance of the door.
“Come in please, I want to show you something”
To be continued….