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Nini

Nini sat there in pin drop silence, staring mindlessly into space. She had been in the state for a long time, oblivious of her surroundings ever since that day her life came crashing around her. The day that her world literally collapsed. The blow she received had left her numb sending her into a complete state of shock. Her mind had taken a flight from reality. She looked grotesque, coming alive only when the need to succumb to nature arose. Even that she carried out mechanically detached from reality.

All efforts to bring her back from the land of the nameless had been abortive thus far. Her state, a sad conduit for rapid fund depletion yet her father had not stopped seeking medical care for the apple of his eye. He had remained sanguine in his pursuits. Each time he looked at her it brought back the image of the beautiful baby he held in his arms the day she was born and had swelled his masculine pride.

If only he had listened to the faint nudging in his heart, if only he had treaded the path of intuition. But he had allowed his wife to dismiss the doubts  churning in his heart. The doubts that crept from the shadows to warn him before the wedding day predicting doom yet he fell prey to his wife who made him sweep them away like dirty cobwebs. He blamed himself for listening to his wife, since when has her opinion ever been sound judgment?

He asked himself over and over in his mind.

What propelled his wife was the pleasures of life. Her life was party, party and fast life. She relished partying like an alcoholic. The thought of his wife sent him into blinding rage! He just couldn’t understand her love to party above her maternal responsibilities. He felt like putting his hands on her bitchy neck and throttling the life out of her. The incident had further widened the existing wedge between them. The initial wedge was created by her insatiable love for social outings but this wedge was as if it was dug by a landslide, the gulf so wide that even sand dunes would take centuries to fill up.

They had been living civilly in the past, but now they lived like total strangers united only by the pressing need to see their daughter normal again. He knew that for his wife, it was out of selfish and morbid fear of being stuck at home without her usual social life that had made her to cooperate with him in seeking medical care for her daughter. At least she was humane enough to think of that, he mused within himself. She placed her needs above everyone and everything else.  But for him, it was out of his unwavering paternal love for his daughter.

It was a mess she had created out of her foolery but now he had to be dragged into cleaning up. He knew his wife had sneaked out under various pretenses to attend social events, she couldn’t resist the thrills of social life.  He had always felt like smacking her each time she returned from her illicit outings but always restrained himself or else he would be in the penitentiary by now. So he settled for a peaceful co-existence, each respecting their boundaries.

He would reopen her case when the dust settled.

O yes she had been the foundation of their daughter’s predicament. But she had refused to admit her guilt. She lived in denial. Her horrible incorrigible love for wealth and status was the problem and the reason she had insisted earnestly that her daughter should marry Shoga. She had cajoled and manipulated Nini to her advantage because Shoga was a medical doctor from a wealthy home. She thrived on having friendships and connections with the upper crust  in the society no matter how ignoble they were.

Shoga wore a streak of meanness and cruelty like a badge.  He was a  specimen of depravity. When Nini voiced her doubts about continuing her relationship with Shoga,  her mum had assuaged her feelings and fears because Shoga was wealth so Shoga was very eligible! She had envisaged that through Nini’s marriage to Shoga, she could be connected to his prestigious wealthy family and associates. Shoga was the ‘omoluabi’ who didn’t need to charm his way into her heart. His passport was his family and his visa was what he could provide. He seemed to know what made her tick with little effort. Crisp naira notes in thousands, wristwatches, perfumes, gold and exotic gifts completely bowled her over.

She couldn’t stand Tunde whom she sneeringly called a common boy with an empty pocket from a common family! Tunde had been Nini’s sweetheart before Shoga breezed into her life. Nini’s mum practically marched Tunde out of Nini’s life by warning him to stay away from Nini if he didn’t want his mum to sing a dirge on his tomb. Tunde’s mother had afterwards pulled her son’s ear, pleaded with him to look elsewhere.

Nini’s father remembered her strutting like a peacock at the wedding after her endless shopping, burrowing into his pocket like a hungry mouse, it was like she was having a garage sale. Shopping, partying and being the centre of attraction seemed to be her best accomplishment and happiest period. He wondered how a mother could have so much enthusiasm for just the marriage rites than the objective maternal evaluation of the man her daughter’s life would inter-relate with.

She selfishly placed her needs, the thrills and glitz of marriage above the happiness of her daughter. Those thoughts kept his adrenalin pumping with furious anger.

He blamed himself and his guilt pill were his sacrifices, his time, his attention, his needs just to get his daughter back from the cruel twists of unfortunate events which had changed his once bubbling happy daughter to a lifeless ghost. Her ghost-like appearance was a constant reminder of the beast called Shoga. The thought of him was constant fuel for violent rage. Teeth tightly gritted, his hands unconsciously tightened into hard fists, he longed to punch  Shoga and distort his features. The thought of it gave him momentary pleasure.

“The bastard”, he muttered!

But the bastard was nowhere to be found! He had bolted when his antics were uncovered. No he was too arrogant to bolt, he simply took a walk in a cocky way leaving behind trails of sorrow in his path. Nini’s father’s hope for revenge or punishment had painfully been dashed. That had been the reason for his constant murderous mood that had solidified into liquid steel. He was an advocate of mosaic law of an eye for an eye.

It had been three months but it had seemed like a life time. Nini had no inkling, no ominious signs, that day was a bright day which ended in despair for her. The day she discovered the lie of the slimy bastard she had been married to for fifteen years. The search for the fruit of the womb had been like forever. She had consulted gyneacologists in and outside the country but all efforts had been fruitless. Even Shoga had looked on helplessly. Shoga had always read the medical results to her understably because he was a doctor. He had told her about her ” problems” which could be corrected with drugs. And so she went on fertility pills but even that didn’t yield the desired results. Shoga had pretended to be concerned at the beginning until his later nonchalant behavior.

Nini took solace in God, resigning her fate in him hoping for a miracle some day. One day, she got a call from Becky who had just had a baby after waiting for eleven years. Becky hoped that Nini would take the IVF option by agreeing to see her own doctor. A very resigned and reluctant Nini went along. Through providence she didn’t inform Shoga, because he would have had a fit . He had often warned her about quack doctors and doctors who prey on desperate women. She felt it wasn’t necessary since she was just going along to satisfy her friend and not because the doctor could help her. She was tired of doctors poking instruments inside her and the endless circle of tears every month a raised hope was dashed. As requested by the doctor, she went along with the previous medical reports and that was when the bombs began to detonate one after the other.

Shoga was literarily killing Nini gradually. He had been giving her preventive pills those that would suppress her fertility and disorganise her system.  The medical reports showed that Shoga had azoospermia, which meant he couldn’t father a child although he made concerted and desperate efforts to reverse his condition. He had known about this long before he married Nini. But he had kept the secret to himself. He didnt want to take any chance. He once made a mistake with his girlfriend who had dropped him like a plague.  In the heat of passion he had come clean with her. He asked her if she could marry and remain faithful to a man who couldn’t father a child. The girlfriend had asked a pointed and direct question ” are you telling me you cant father a child?” He had stammered over his denial.

Two months later she walked out of the relationship. According to her, she had deliberately tried to be pregnant and  failed,  prompting her decision to end the affair.

He was visibly upset and  vowed never to be that stupid again. So he had kept the secret to himself and  made Nini to suffer the pain and reproach for fifteen agonizing years.

Nini’s world collapsed  at the  betrayal. She couldn’t believe Shoga could be so cruel.

The ground opened and she plunged headlong into it. She has stayed numb in that pit, retreating from life, shutting down completely and had not spoken any word since then.

Nini’s father had gone after Shoga like a raging bull but he was unable to gorge Shoga with his horns. Shoga had fled! He knew the baggage he had purchased was an unpleasant one, he didn’t wait to open it. The medical board was informed about Shoga’s misconduct, how he had lied and had prescribed wrong medication to his wife. It was professional misconduct to prescribe or treat his wife. The medical board couldn’t do much, but they told the family he would be investigated. But Shoga didn’t wait for the outcome of the investigation, even though he knew they couldn’t do anything if he pulled the strings yet he fled!

He didn’t and couldn’t face the scandals. No rumour runs faster than a beer palour gossip. He not only fled, but also wiped  out their joint accounts, with one of Nini’s treacherous friend in tow leaving Nini high and dry!

 

 

 

 

 

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