THE EXCHANGE
Episode 24.
I was surprised to see this substance again bcos the doctor had stopped coming for over a year now & I thought he had been cured, so I decided to investigate & find out what it was so I kept it.
When my husband got back from work, I served him his favourite meal, then I proceeded to find out what it was. When he saw it with me, his eyes went wild & he began to shout at me, calling me a snoop who wouldn’t mind her business. He snatched it from me & stormed out of the room & I heard him start up the car as I reached the front door. He didn’t come home that night & I became worried & suspicious at the same time but decided not to call my mother in-law bcos I wanted to get to the root of the matter myself. He returned home the next evening all sober & apologetic, hugging & kissing me. He even bought me a nice set of gold jewelry to show he was sorry & grateful that I didn’t run off to his mum. I told him everything is good but I wanted to know what the substance was & he explained that it was antidepressant that was recommended by his doctor, so I held my peace though I couldn’t understand why it made him so angry when he is caught with it. Since he had taken it from me, I thought I would be on the lookout bcos I did not believe his explanation.
At this time, my Salon had grown so big, it had really become a one-stop beauty empire like my husband had predicted. We had opened the spar upstairs & the rest of the space had been made into a boutique. Business was good & my husband was proud of me. I had began to call him Tunde bcos BabaT was too common. He encouraged me to employ the services of ‘Business Managers’ a company that will manage your business effectively for a fee. He complained that the business is now too big & it is taking me away from my family. It worked out perfectly & we were able to go on trips & vaccation. Life was good & my in-laws commended me for my efforts at keeping my husband in check.
I had forgotten about the powdery stuff until when I saw it again in his pocket. This was my opportunity & since the wrap was very small, I thought he wouldn’t notice so I took it & hid it. When he came home that day he rushed straight into the room started looking for something. He was in such a state & almost turned the room upside down. I asked what
he was looking for but he told me not to worry about it. I could see he was very agitated & angry… He later asked if I had seen his blue pants, the one he wore to work two days earlier. I told him I gave them to the drycleaner…it was as if my response was the passcode to the inner chambers of hell.
“Who told you to give my clothes to the drycleaner?” “Why didn’t you ask me before giving my clothes to the drycleaner?” “What kind of stupid person gives other people’s stuff out without asking them first?” He started to rant & yell “This isn’t the first time I am taking clothes to the drycleaner” I said, trying to calm him & if… The response I got was a hard slap that sent me colliding with the dresser, it felt like a bad dream & I must have passed out for a while bcos when I opened my eyes, I was on the floor & couldn’t remember how I got there. The sharp pain on my left cheek confirmed that it was not a dream. I struggled to my feet & tasted blood in my mouth, Baba T had this
wild look & I didn’t want to push my luck so I kept quiet. Even with my silence, he still pushed me roughly out of his way & in the process, I broke the mirror on the wall while as I struggled for balance. I had a cut on my left elbow. He left the house without a backward glance.
The noise of the shattered mirror, alerted our house help who rushed in to see what was happening.
She helped me up & asked what happened…I told her I tripped had to struggle not to hit my head on the mirror.
I tried to hide what happened from her, but I couldn’t hide my tears or the mark on my face. She got some iodine and bandage to stop the bleeding. She asked if she should call the driver to take me to the hospital. I told her not to worry about it…so she cleaned the room & I went to my children who were scared & crying over the noise & commotion.
I had heard stories of women beaten up by their husbands but I never thought I would ever be a victim. I wasn’t sure of what to do; I didn’t want to call my mother-in-law bcos of the “I told you so” gloating that could come from it.
As hurt as I was, I still wanted to know what that substance was…as a matter of fact, Baba T’s reaction made me more interested in the quest. I called Laide but nobody picked up, I figured she was not at home.
I was getting ready to leave the house when Baba T came back, he looked very mad, he dragged me from the sitting room into the bedroom & did not care that the house help was there. Supposedly, he had gone to our drycleaner to check with them & was told that “madam always checks & emptied the pockets before giving the clothes to us”. He choked me & said he would kill me if I didn’t produce his ‘stuff’…he was like a raving lunatic & was screaming at me. I was so scared that I quickly told me where I hid it.
“Try this with me again and I will kill you” he said, as he took the package & left the house. I knew at that moment that I was in trouble…I needed to talk to someone.
I tried Laide’s number again but it was just ringing. I decided to go to her house but I couldn’t find any of the car keys. There were three cars in the compound but I couldn’t find any of the keys. I also learnt from the house help that my husband had sent the driver away for the day…so I figured he took the car keys.
So I called my mother-in-law & told her what happened…she was too shocked to gloat. She said she would send her driver to come get me…I sat there on the floor, holding my children until the driver came. The driver didn’t come alone; he came with that maid that always gave me the ‘look’. She said my mother-in-law wanted me to come with some clothes for the children and myself Ayomide had stopped crying & Ayodeji was sleeping in my arms. I handed him over to the maid since my mother in-law had sent her maid to help with the packing. We went inside to pack & I brought out two big bags, into which we packed the things we would need. I couldn’t hide my tears as we packed, my mouth was swollen, I had a cut on my hand & marks on my neck, the lady didn’t need to be a genius to figure out what happened.
“Oga Tunde will never change; I thought getting married would make him better, but a leopard can never change its spots”. I looked up & something in me wanted to yell at her for poking her nose in my affairs & daring to say such a thing about my husband but reality made me indulge her so I asked what she meant by the statement. The lady said she had always wanted to talk to me just to let me know what she felt was hidden from me. She said she saw me as a gentle & good natured person & had always wondered how our paths crossed. “Auntie, if you had truly known brother Tunde, nothing would have made you marry him…”
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