“Do you love me?” She asked her husband.
He looked at her like a teacher gives a scolding look to a student.
“Of course I do. What kind of a question is that?” He scolded her.
“Then tell me” she requested.
“I have no time for this” he said as he took his phone and started scrolling.
“What happened to us?” She wondered looking at him.
He said nothing. He played a video on his WhatsApp.
“This is not what I married into. We were a better couple than we are today” she sighed.
He looked at her. A cold look.
“Before we got married you would show me affection. Kissing me. Holding my hand. Spending time with me. Complimenting me. Dating me. Pleasing me. I miss how you would hold me waist, tell me you love me, play with my fingers, pray then say amen with a kiss, hold my hand when I alight a vehicle, send me sweet messages, call me up just to say I love you” she spoke further.
“We outgrew that. We were young then. I am a grown man now” he said as he looked back to his phone.
He looked at his phone screen and giggled.
“So you are too grown to show affection to your wife but you are not too grown to look at silly videos?” his wife said.
“Are you begging me to show you affection? You want me to fake affection in order to make you happy?” He asked.
“No, I am asking you to be the man who made me fall in love, the man who asked me to be his wife. I said yes to that affectionate man, not to the man you are today who finds love to be childish” she said.
“Let me ask, all those loving things you did to me as we were dating and courting and first months in marriage, did you mean them or were they a mere campaign to lure me into being your wife?” She asked.
“Of course I meant them. I was being genuine” he said.
“If that was true love then, why can’t it be true love now? If that was your heart leading you to love me, what happened to your heart?” She wondered.
Silence.
“I don’t feel loved. I have a husband though, and a father to my children. You introduced me to your sweet loving then you took it away from me. I thought love is supposed to get sweeter and deeper with time. But you find the love you used to give childish. It’s OK. I will live” she said and got up from the sofa.
He stretched and touched her hand, signalled her to sit down.
She sat down.
He held her close and started kissing her neck gently.
It felt refreshing. It has been years since he held her that way, his hand round her waist. She gently breathed, closing her eyes.
“What happened to you my love?” He asked.
She turned her face to look at him.
Silence.
“You called me my love” she said excited.
They kissed. Passionately.
Tongue kissed. They made out. A husband and wife made out.
“Wow! You haven’t kissed me like that in years” she glowed.
“You’re beautiful” he said.
She giggled.
“My goodness, what a day today is. I get a compliment from my husband. Honey, what did you mean, what happened to me?” She asked.
“You used to be speak to me respectfully not harshly. You used to flirt with me, play with me, do things for me; these days, you tell me to do things on my own and to leave you alone, you are too serious, you don’t appreciate me like you used to” he explained.
“Are you saying that you stopped being affectionate because of me?” She asked with a demeaning look.
“You see that look? That look I find it disrespectful” he said.
“I am sorry hun” she apologized hugging him.
“I meant that both of us have changed. I am sorry for changing for the worse. Your husband is back, the husband you married” he told her.
They kissed.
She said “Your wife is back, the wife you pursued and fell in love with”
Whenever you notice your partner has started doing what you don’t like, quickly call his/her attention to it. Speak with love, speak silently, don’t shout, speak with the intention that he/she will change for better.
Effective communication is very important in every relationship. Don’t just assume ‘that’s how they always do after sometime’. Talk to your partner and also listen to them.
© Dayan Masinde and Akello Oliech
Photo credit : Facebook news feed