“My money,” she held my collar so tight. I could not believe my eyes as I stared bemusedly at her. Something told me in that instant that I was in serious trouble. Why did I come here? Why? A voice echoed in my head.
She threw the door open and shamelessly dragged me out of the room. Standing by her door was one dirty skinny dark fellow. He was smoking a mole of Indian hemp casually and grinning from ear to ear.
“Idris!” she cried excitedly when she saw him. I quickly sensed that he was the one that she was waiting for. I tried to hurl myself out of the way but she was too strong for me in spite of her small frame.
Idris grabbed my arm immediately and sent a kick across my jaw. I was on the ground before I could place my footing firmly on the ground. My legs failed me. I was groaning like a bull in pains.
“Where is the money?” he bawled at me irritably spitting on me in the process. I cried as he sent blows on my face. Out of curiosity, I turned to take a casual look at them. This was the guy she swore she’d not cancel his appointment even if the president visited – the pig!
He dragged me to my feet and pushed me into the house. I had no choice but to do their biddings.
There in the room, they emptied my pockets and took my expensive phone, wedding ring and necklace. I had some hard currencies in my wallet. They pulled all of it from me and slapped my cheek hard with the wallet.
Finally, they pulled off every piece of fabric on me and with a camera took many nu.de pictures of me and Ngozi.
Satisfied, they threw me out of the room half na.ked threatening to make the pictures public if they heard a word from me.
As I drove back home, I tried to imagine how I managed to get myself into that kind of trouble. If only I had stayed put with my beautiful family at home.
My wife was sprawled on the rugged floor breastfeeding one of the twins when I got home. The other had just been fed and was now fast asleep.
“Welcome my love,” she greeted me with so much love and affection in her eyes. “How was your day?”
“Fine,” I squinted and sank into the sofa. The look on her face told me she was not satisfied with my answer. My swollen face told it all.
Minutes later, she carried the baby to the room and had my dinner set on the table. It was then that I asked myself; what do men also really want? This was all madness! We all don’t really know what we want. In the craze for adventure, we cross our boundaries and still try to assure ourselves that we are on the right track. We – some of us men – are stupid.
My wife tried to find out what had happened but I could not bring myself to tell her the truth. Instead, I lied that I was attacked by some armed robbers.
But that lie lasted for only three weeks.
A week later, to add to my woes, a parcel arrived at the office for me. In it were my nu.de pictures with Ngozi. The sender demanded for one million naira and threatened to send the pictures to the press if I didn’t respond positively.
I thought it would end there. I sent the one million naira to them.
Two weeks later, another threat came again from them. This time around, they demanded five million. That was when I spoke to a friend about it.
“Tell your wife everything and let her know that you are being blackmailed.” Ben, my friend told me. That was the advice that saved me.
I went home that night with our pastor and confessed to my wife what I did promising never to do such a thing ever again.
Although she felt terrible and very disappointed, my wife stood by me. Ngozi and Idris have been arrested. It was when the police waded in that I discovered her true identity. She was not even a Nigerian but a Togolese who had lived in Nigeria for over a decade.
Men that have ears, please be remain faithful to your wives. You will live long if you did.
