The Other Woman “Genesis”

…..
‘You whore’ one of the women screamed as she lunged at me in rage. I tried to get out of my chair but I was paralyzed. I took the impact of her body full in the face as we both tumbled backwards. She climbed me, knees blocking my lungs, eyes filled with anger and hatred. I was disoriented, gasping for air. I couldn’t feel the pain as she brought put a razor blade and slit my throat, but I felt her own pain. She was Andrew’s wife.

…..

‘Beep Beep’
Kumbi woke up, her hands instinctively going to her throat. She let out her breath and swallowed. That dream was so graphic and real, she shuddered at the thought of it coming to pass. She switched off her alarm and reached for her phone, there were no new messages. ‘Why did Akin not reply her messages or return her calls?’ He had made her promise not to call him when he would be at home with his family but she had broken that promise the previous night, she really needed to hear his voice. Akin was the only stable thing in her life right now and she wasn’t ready to lose him for any reason. They had been together for over a year now and things were getting serious.
Lately he had been complaining about his wife’s inability to satisfy his needs and how she cared more about her work and making her boss happy than making him, her husband happy. If not for the two kids they had together, he would have asked her for a divorce. He always extolled Kumbi’s ability to make him feel relaxed whenever they were together and he had made up his mind to take a break from his family to be with her the coming weekend. Kumbi hoped that she would be able to convince him to leave his wife for her. She knew she would make him happy, the same way He could make her feel whole again after what that idiot Sadiq had made her go through. Akin was her rock, her backbone.
She was surprised that he hadn’t called her, they had planned to meet the previous night and he failed to show up or pick up his phone or reply any of her messages. Although she was angry with him, she hoped he was alright. She made a mental note to call him again before she left for work.

***

‘Wake up sleeping beauty’ Akin crooned into the ears of his wife and planted a kiss on her lips. ‘Last night was amazing darling’ he added as he set down the tray filled with freshly made toast, warm milk, eggs and sausages with a jug of coffee and some honey.
‘Break-fast in bed? Good morning to you too handsome’ she replied and kissed him back as she sat up.
He carefully balanced the tray on her lap and held her hand.
‘You should go and shower hun, you smell like sex’ she teased and nudged him playfully with her foot. ‘I laid it on you pretty good right?’
‘Yeah, I admit it was something.’ ‘We should send the kids to their God-parents more often’ He added, ‘it’s been too long…’
‘I know baby, and talking of the kids, Kemi should be dropping them off any moment from now.’
‘Let me just take a quick…’
The sound of the car-horn signaling their arrival cut him short, he quickly donned his bathrobe and made his way downstairs. No sooner had he opened the door than screams of Dad and Mum filled the house.
Dami and Doja, his boys, tried to outrun each other in a bid to get to him first. He bent down to carry them both in his arms.
‘I missed you Dad’ Doja spoke first.
‘No Dad, I missed you more’ Dami added almost immediately.
‘Guess nobody missed me’ Hauwa spoke from behind them putting up a sulky look.
‘Mum!!!’ they screamed and wiggled till their Dad dropped them to run to their Mum, attaching themselves to her limbs until she carried them both in her arms.
‘I’m sorry Kemi’ Akin apologized to their God-mother as he took their overnight bags from her, ‘Thank you’
‘No problem, I have to go now though, I have a lot of running around to do and giving this Lagos traffic, the earlier I set out the better.’ She replied and blew the boys a kiss. ‘I’ll call you later Hauwa’ she added.
Akin walked her to her car, a sleek Toyota Camry 2012 model. ‘Tell Kunle to meet me at the club later this evening’ he said as he helped her with the door. ‘Drive safe.’

***

Kumbi looked at her phone for the umpteenth time, she couldn’t believe her ears, why would Akin do this to her? He had finally picked up her phone a few minutes back after two days and just when she was about to ask why he didn’t show up as they planned, he told her never to call him again that he couldn’t continue the friendship with her. A small tear rolled out of her eyes, then another and another smearing her make-up. She didn’t care, she just wanted to die. She had endured the whole day with the thought that hearing Akin’s voice later in the evening would soothe her pain but the pain increased exponentially after hearing those words from him. She went to her medicine cabinet and brought out a pack of Refnol, ‘it’s been a while old friend’ she said amidst tears. She opened a fresh bottle of Henny and poured herself a glass which she downed immediately. It was time to end it all, she was tired of getting used and dumped over and over again.

***

‘I’m at the airport darling’ Hauwa said as she threaded her way through the hundreds of people in the airport. ‘It’s strange that you chose a restaurant in the airport darling’ she added.
‘Just find your way over to the international airport sweets, I love you’ Akin replied and disconnected the call before she could say any other thing.
She soon spotted him at one of the waiting rooms and as she approached, he stood up and signaled to one of the bag-handlers to follow him. He hugged her and held her by the hand, directing her to one of the counters. ‘You’re right on time.’
‘Right on time for what?’ she replied, ‘Baby where are we going, the children, my office?
‘Ssshhh all taken care of baby, don’t you worry your head about anything. We are taking a well-deserved vacation.’ he interrupted her with a kiss.
‘But I didn’t pack any clothes…’ she continued
‘All taken care of dear, I had some help from Kemi and your Mum.’ He cut in, she’ll be picking up the boys and taking them to your Mum’s later too.
They were soon checked in and as they boarded the plane she asked ‘What about my office?’
‘I called your boss and asked for a leave on your behalf, told him I wanted to take you on a vacation to celebrate our tenth year anniversary.’ He answered, ‘You didn’t think I would forget did you?’
Hauwa was dumb-founded, Akin had worked really hard to keep the surprise from her and he had succeeded beyond her imaginations. Tears welled in her eyes as she looked up at his six foot plus frame, ‘I love you my darling.’ She whispered and kissed him deeply.

***

Tosin had been calling Kumbi’s number for the past two days but he got no response. The last update he saw on his sister’s phone’s IM got her very worried. Why does she always have to be the victim of a relationship gone sour? He tried her number yet again but got the ‘not reachable’ reply from the network service provider. He picked up his car keys and decided to go check on her.
He knew something was wrong the minute he drove into her compound and saw the door partially open, it was quite unlike her to leave the door open. She hated it when flies and insects get into the house. ‘Kumbi, it’s Tosin..’ he called out as he made his way to her room.
The sight that beheld his eye was one that would stick with him for the rest of his life…

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The Other Woman

At first, I was reluctant to attend the meetings but Tinu had insisted that I accompany her as a favor thus making it almost impossible for me to turn her down.

‘Hi I’m Kumbi.’
‘Hello Kumbi,’ the other women chorused in a cacophony of lovely voices.
I stole a glance at Tinu who gave me an encouraging nod to go ahead with my story, I had planned not to say a word at the meetings but I had no choice as it was expected of every newcomer to share their experience, an important piece of information that Tinu conveniently skipped while she was singing the praises of her ‘Little Girl Group’ as I liked to call it.

‘I’ve been sleeping with married men for close to five years now and I’m bored out of my mind. Maybe it’s because age is no longer on my side as I will be clocking Thirty-five in a few days or because of the last man I was with. His name was Andrew.
He was one of the new intakes at our company. He was the complete package, Tall, Dark and Handsome. He had good taste in clothes, shoes, in short he had his shit together. I took it all in immediately I spotted him, the clean shaved face, strong jawline, clothes well fitted, evidence of a man with a strict workout routine, and a wedding band. Not that a wedding band had ever stopped me in the past and it sure as hell won’t be stopping me now. I walked up to him, introduced myself and made small talk. He was a no-nonsense man, here to do his job and leave. I could see right through him. I would give him time to get settled before I made my move. A few days later I tried engaging him in small talk but he wouldn’t budge, ‘Hi’ and ‘Bye’ were the high points of our conversations. I felt insulted at first, wondering why he was acting aloof, ‘Was I not attractive enough? Was I too forward?, ‘Why didn’t he flirt back?’ Then it began to excite me. I was determined to win this game. Maybe he and his wife were still newly weds and there was no way he would succumb to temptation this early on in the marriage. I would wait. Few months later, my wait was rewarded as ‘Mr Right’ came into the office looking less impeccable than normal and late. He had on the look of an husband whose wife was extremely pissed at him, trust me I’m an expert. I know when a man has woman issues. His head was on the desk, probably taking a quick nap after a long row with the wife. I tip-toed to his side and whispered into his ear ‘Andrew wake up, it’s time for work.’
He must have mistook me for his wife because he instantly blurted out ‘I’m sorry baby,’ with pain and sincerity in his eyes.
This man sure loves his wife, remember thinking and chuckled at his embarrassment on finding out it was only me, Kumbi a lady who works in the same company.

‘I don’t mean to bother you, but I thought you could use this’ I said handing him a cup of coffee.

‘Thanks’ he took the cup from my hand as I took a seat opposite him.

‘so tell me, what are you sorry for?’

‘It’s nothing’ he looked embarrassed.

‘I’m sure it’s something, nothing you want to tell me perhaps’ I smiled and tried to put him at ease.

He hesitated, then replied ‘ Hell I need a woman’s perspective anyways.’

‘I finally got through to the man’ I told the group of women hanging on my every word.

He started narrating his experience to me.

‘I ran into my ex-fiancée yesterday on my way home from work, it was raining and all she had for protection was a shower cap. I offered to drop her off at home but stopped first at my dry cleaners to pick up some clothes and drop a fresh batch. Apparently while I was in the dry cleaner’s place, my wife’s best friend drove by and saw my ex in the car and cussed her out, after which she immediately called my wife. By the time I got home, she didn’t give me a chance to explain, going on and on about what she was doing with me at the dry cleaners if I really wanted to drop her off at home since she lived on the other side of town…’

‘Why didn’t you go drop her off immediately?’ I interrupted

‘I wanted to catch the dry cleaners before they closed for the day’ he replied.

‘Oh that makes sense, but did you explain to her?’ I asked

‘Yeah but convincing her is the hard part, she just wouldn’t listen’ he whined back.

I decided to go in for the kill.

‘Why does your wife not trust you?’

Like a fool in love, he retorted almost instantly ‘she does trust me’

‘Not just you Andrew, a good woman should trust your judgments as well’

This hit home as he sat quietly and pondered over this for a few invites while sipping his now lukewarm coffee. He leaned back in his chair then plopped the question

‘How come you’re not married since you seem to know to much about being a good woman?’

‘Because I know a lot more about being a bad man’ I replied and grinned mischievously.’

We kicked it off from here and before long, Andrew and I started seeing each other after working hours in the parking lot every day. I was used to sleeping with married men and I felt no way about it but when Andrew told me we couldn’t see each other anymore because his wife miscarried after finding out about me – the other woman, I felt a measure of Guilt, ….’

‘You whore’ one of the women screamed as she lunged at me in rage. I tried to get out of my chair but I was paralyzed. I took the impact of her body full in the face as we both tumbled backwards. She climbed me, knees blocking my lungs, eyes filled with anger and hatred. I was disoriented, gasping for air. I couldn’t feel the pain as she brought put a razor blade and slit my throat, but I felt her own pain. She was Andrew’s wife.

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The Man who can

‘You’re a fool, you shouldn’t have sold yourself cheap’ she screamed at me, spraying my face with showers of saliva. She threw the money at me and continued ‘A meager #50,000? You must have been at your worst tonight; chief would have tipped even me better than that.’
Why don’t you offer him your asshole then? I itched to reply, but caught myself just in time to prevent a prolonged shout out with Madam. It was unlike her to come and meet me at the hotel as against our prearranged rendezvous points. She must be really desperate for the cash.
I could already smell her breath, a mixture of alcohol and marijuana, I was sure she would apologize in the morning when she sobered up but right now, the last thing on my mind was to even be here. I longed for the solace of my two bedroom apartment. I could feel the anger in my stomach moving upwards. My palm itched to hit Madam’s face but then I remembered why I was in this situation in the first place. I could only pray she doesn’t go through with her threat to expose everything.

I’ve always known her as ‘Madam’, that was the name she gave me the day we met at a bar where I was having drinks with my friends. We just finished a successful deal, the four of us netting #100,000 each. It would have been a larger amount, but I insisted that we stop the scam. I envisaged that even if we were caught, we could all rally round and get the money back.
We had finished our second bottle of red label and were on our way out when she signaled to the bartender to give us a third, we politely declined., but she insisted, hinting that she had a business proposition.
‘We don’t do business with strangers’
‘Oh snap out of it, this one will net you and your friends a lot more than the change you’re making now scamming unsuspecting housewives’ she said and took a sip from her glass.
‘I’m afraid you have the wrong crew’ I replied trying to keep a straight face, ‘How on earth did she know about us?’
‘Well’ she started then reached for her purse and threw a couple of photographs on the table, with well- kept fingers.
I made to pick them up but my guys beat me to it, sharing the pictures around them with several exclamations of ‘ohs’ and ‘ahs’ escaping their mouths.
‘Sharrap’ I snapped at them and snatched one of the pictures off Kunle the closest to me. My heart thumped loudly against my chest as I saw a pose of my naked self, face included. That was one thing we always guarded against, revealing our facial features in the pictures we sent to prospective clients.
‘Do you still think I’ve got the wrong crew’ She raised her head and blew a cloud of smoke in my face
‘What’s the meaning of this? Where did you get this?’ I snapped at her.
‘Oh cut the crap lover boy, I have a business proposition for you especially, your friends are just icing on the cake’ she replied.
‘Not before you tell me who gave you this’ I replied, fingers clenched in anger
‘Alright alright’ she said waving her arms in a circle round her head ‘Does the name ‘B-Slayo’ mean anything to you?’ she added.
How could I forget ‘B-Slayo’ the slime that cheated us out of our very first deal, threatening to turn us over to the police after we cashed in? He fell in love with the client, telling her everything about how we were poor undergraduates who dropped out of school for lack of funds and decided to run this scam. How we had kept sending pictures of our bodies only to a select number of women, especially those whose husbands we knew had no time for them; senators, politicians, business magnates. After they must have fallen in love with us, we then start blackmailing them, making sure they saw just one person out of the group. That person would also pretend like he was been blackmailed by the same crew to get whatever amount we wanted from the client, telling her that he also had never made direct contact with us.
We had it all planned out but B-slayo broke the first rule of been the contact, he fell in love with the senator’s wife that our net first snagged. The only condition on which he wouldn’t expose our real identities to her was if we would leave him alone and let him continue being the woman’s boyfriend which we had no choice but to agree to.
‘Now his single act of betrayal has come back to hit us in the face?’
‘From the expression on your face, I assume you remember him perfectly’ she said, snapping me out my reverie.
‘He’s a fucking chicken with no back bone, a weakling who is unworthy of being called a man…..’ I fumed.
‘Save me the sentimental bullshit and listen’ she broke in, ‘with a body and a face like yours, you shouldn’t ever want for anything money can get, your brother too.’ she added.
‘Let’s hear what you have to say then’ I said, through forced teeth.
‘It’s like this’ she started, ‘I’ll link you up with ladies who are actually interested in the services of young men like you, you’ll be their escorts for the day or night, depending on when they need you. You’ll attend to all of their needs whatever they are’.
‘And what’s in it for us’ I broke in
‘Money’ she answered, ‘lots of it at your disposal, ranging from #500,000 upwards for each client.’
Kunle interrupted ‘I assume you’re doing this from the benevolence of your heart huh?’
‘Smart-ass’ she replied ‘of course not, but I’ll be your agent, your link, whatever you choose to call it, and by the way you can call me ‘Madam’.’ She added.

***

The business proposition started off on the wrong foot as Madam almost swindled us out of our very first deal, but we were able to catch on quickly and got our share. As we progressed from one client to the other, Madam and I got unbearably close as her clients always had glowing praises for my services. I was satisfying their every need. She couldn’t but taste of the ‘goodies’ she was offering to her clients and I was very eager to satisfy her.
Very soon, my friends were conveniently left out of the picture as I became her one and only star attraction, peddling me here and there to anyone and everyone that could afford me. I soon became an open secret among the elite ladies of the society; I was even given a code name
‘The man who can’…

To be continued…