IMASUEN’S PLIGHT : CHAPTER 1 – THE END
By Temi Akintade
Chapter 10
“I thought you were in Lagos I wanted us to see and talk.” He said.
I wondered what he wanted to see me for. “I’m in Abuja.”
“But when do you intend coming back?” he sounded with a tone of urgency. It almost as if there was something he needed to tell me about.
“By the weekend. Ebube will be home by Monday.”
“Okay. Don’t worry, I will come to pick you up at the airport.” He said.
“I have a feeling that my husband has frozen my account because we had a little misunderstanding.”
“That’s not a problem. I will book a ticket for you.”
We didn’t say much because there was nothing more to say. So I ended the call and went to sleep with a mental note of going to Joy’s place at Wuse the following day.
I didn’t still get through to Joy the following day when I took an Uber to go to her house. Somehow, I believed that something didn’t feel right. Something was wrong and I intend to find out.
A few moments later, I alighted at Wuse zone 4, trudged down the street of the house until I came across a familiar gate at the compound. It was Joy’s gate and the gatekeeper together with few other people stood outside the gate talking.
“Good afternoon.” They seemed deeply engrossed in their conversation because they were all listening to the gatekeeper with rapt attention.
When I drew closer, I heard the man talking about Joy’s husband and how he beats her thoroughly with no mercy not because she has just put to bed.
I shook my head, unable to believe the story.
“Are you sure about what you are saying?”
One of the few guys who stood with the gatekeeper told me, “Madam, I am their tenant and I have seen, how the man will slap his wife on many occasions because she left the house without his knowledge.”
I didn’t stay too long after his confession. I simply turned and left. But one thing that kept disturbing my mind was the question of her sincerity.
My friend hasn’t been sincere with me from the onset. Her insincerity had pushed me into marrying someone who cared less about me and I was foolish enough to have believed her.
“Imasuen, you are done being a fool. It’s time to wake up.” I said to myself that night.
That night, for the first time after a long while, I read my bible. I read the book of Judges and stopped exactly at the place where the scripture says, ‘..and Deborah arose…” I replaced it with my name. ‘and Imasuen arose!’.
That night, I don’t know where the strength came from, but I prayed, I commanded my spirit man to come alive, I rededicated myself to Christ, and just before I went to sleep, I knew that something new has been added to my life because I felt completely at peace.
IMASUEN’S PLIGHT : CHAPTER 1 – THE END
***
True to Jame’s word, he came to pick me at the airport the following day I returned to back at Lagos.
We didn’t go to my home immediately because I was scared that my husband would have gotten home.
So I Instructed James to drive to a place where we can have some privacy to ourselves. He drove to a lounge and just as we were about to settle down, I began to notice his dark features.
I noticed his almost feminine features. he could pass for a beautiful woman but I didn’t say anything.
It was almost as if he had read my thought and caught my curious gaze on his face because the next statement he made completely threw me off balance.
“I use to be g..ay but I found Christ and understood better.” He sipped his cocktail.
I gasped. “G..ay as in, hom..osxual?”
“Yes. I was searching for myself, trying to know who I was, and then, I got lost.”
I shook my head.
“I forgot that there was no way I could find out who I was by myself, except if I was in Christ then the Holy Spirit could help guide me.” He said.
I marveled at his deep sense of the holy spirit and I was jealous. Jealous that he could have such a relationship with the Holy Spirit while I couldn’t. “You must have a good relationship with the Holy Spirit.”
“Yes, he is my all. Your husband was the one who preached to me that fateful night, in our sophomore year in college.”
I laughed. “My husband?” I was shocked.
“Yes. And that is why I treasure our relationship. Ebube is a good man but he is a struggling man.
He is the definition of what the bible says, he that stands should check himself lest he falls. Ebube has been mas..tu..rbating consistently for 20 years now.”
I covered my face. This was more than deliverance. How did I end up with a very sick man? “Ebube is sick!”
“I know the amount of therapy could cure him. I’m sure he has tried deliverance but it didn’t work. You need to help him Imasuen. This is not the time to be harsh on him. no one knows what is wrong with him and no one must find out.”
Tears began streaming down my face. “Why me? If only I had listened to my dreams, I shouldn’t have been in this position.”
James held my hand. “Look, you are in this position because he is now your assignment.”
“What do you mean?”
“Marriage is an assignment. That is why I have been careful about who I settle down with because marriage is a lifetime assignment; first to yourselves and secondly to the people around you.”
By the time we parted ways that afternoon, I had already learned something new. That marriage is an assignment. But how on earth was I supposed to do this assignment because it looked very difficult.
Ebube was back from his France trip when I came back. I tried to apologize to him for flaunting his orders by leaving Lagos but he simply ignored me.
I spoke to him about my accounts he froze. He ignored me still. Then I left, with the determination to live on the two hundred thousand naira that James had gifted me before leaving.
I was searching my bag for my phone when I came across a squeezed paper. When I opened it, I realized that it was that flyer that fashionable woman had given me.
The flyer about Lekki wives prayer group. I realized their meeting day was the following day then I made a mental note to attend…….
IMASUEN’S PLIGHT : CHAPTER 1 – THE END
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