THE PERFECT WIFE

Chapter Five

Ebere stayed in her room all day long mourning her lost unborn child. What surprised her most was the fact that the man she loved the most in this world made her lose the baby. Since she got married to Nonso, he had never raised his hand on her. Even during those times when they had more serious arguments, he wouldn’t hurt her instead he would find means to end the argument by being the best of gentlemen she had ever seen. She could tell that her marriage was gradually tearing apart and she wanted to know why. She couldn't hold back her tears when the doctor announced to her at the hospital that she had lost her baby. Nonso had requested the doctor to keep the other news of her not being able to put to bed a secret and hoped to find the perfect opportunity to deliver the good news to her.

Nonso had left the house that morning to work as usual after dropping Amaka off at school. He made sure teacher Juliet didn’t see him and promised to pick Amaka up from school later that day. He was feeling terribly sorry for what he had done to Ebere and was still looking for a means to get her to forgive him.

Traffic that morning was terrible as he drove through the busy road. He had called his secretary earlier to cancel all his appointments for the day. He really wanted to be alone and have enough time to think about his life. This was not the way he had planned his life. He never planned to be a polygamist and definitely not an abusive husband either. He had always known Ebere to be the type with a running mouth when she is angry but hitting her was not something he should have done.

"Honk honk" the car behind him sounded it's horn bringing Nonso our of his deep thought. He had been so deep in thoughts that he didn't notice when the traffic light changed colour.

"I'm sorry." He quickly apologized as he reignited the engine of his car which had stopped unknowingly to him. He had to stop by at a petrol station to get his tank filled before continuing his journey.

"I'm sorry sir." He heard one of the pump attendants apologize to the manager for not coming early to work.

"What happened? It's unlike you to come late for work." The manager replied.

"It's my sister. She was hospitalized this morning." The young man replied.

"Why? What happened?" The manager asked.

"Her husband beat her up until she fainted. Thank God for the neighbors who came to her rescue." The young man replied with an expression that showed how bitter he was. The last statement caught Nonso as it reminded him of what he had done to Ebere too. He quickly ignited his car engine and drove out of the petrol station.

When he got to the office that day, he wasn’t himself. He knew he had to make it up to Ebere. He knew he had greatly offended her and that there was no justification for what he did. He hadn’t told Ebere that she wouldn’t be able to give birth again and was still looking for a way to tell her. He still loved his wife but didn’t know what was happening to him.

Sandra had stopped working but Nonso promised to still have her paid. Sandra called him that afternoon and asked him if he would be coming over to her place but he declined and said he had so much work to do. He had noticed that Sandra was becoming too demanding lately. Ebere was parsimonious while Sandra was the complete opposite. Her cooking was worse. All the while they were playing hide and seek, he never got to eat her food because they always ordered for food but after getting married to her, he realized she wasn’t half as good a cook as Ebere. He wished he never allowed what dangled between his legs to have led him into the mess he had found himself to be in.

He had almost forgotten he was supposed to pick Amaka up from school when his phone rang. It was the security man.

“Sir your daughter has been waiting for you for over thirty minutes. All her mates have gone home already and she's the only left here in the school compound.” The security man said.

"Oh my!" Nonso exclaimed reaching for his car keys. He couldn't believe he had gotten so confused to the point that he forgot he had to pick his own daughter from school.

"I'm on my way already. Please I'm really sorry." He said before hanging up. He quickly got up from his seat and headed for

Amaka’s school. By the time he got there, Ebere was there too. The security man had also called her to tell her that Amaka had been waiting for either of them for over thirty minutes. She was really sad that Nonso would forget to pick their daughter from school too after promising to pick her up.

When Amaka saw her dad, she was very happy but she didn’t know whom to follow. That was the first time both her parents came to pick her in their different cars.

“Chiamaka come let’s go home.” Ebere said without greeting Nonso.

“Don’t worry honey, go with your mom, I will follow behind.” Nonso said. Amaka obeyed and went with her mom. As little as she was, she knew something was wrong.

Ebere took Amaka in her car while Nonso followed behind. On getting into the compound, Nonso asked Ebere to wait so they could talk but Ebere was still angry.

Nonso asked Amaka to go and take a shower that he had something to discuss with her mother.

“Honey let’s talk about this.” he said.

“Avoiding me won’t solve the problem, please.” he added with a repentant expression on his face.

“Not once have you ever hurt me since I knew you. Not once.” Ebere said as tears trickled down.

“You didn’t just hurt me but also our unborn child. What is happening to you? Where is the Nonso I fell in love with and got married to?” Ebere asked.

“I’m sorry honey. I didn’t know what came over me. I didn’t mean to hurt you. Please believe me.” he said.

“I really want to believe you but I just can’t. I really wish you'd let me be." Ebere replied.

Nonso wished he could tell his wife the truth. He wanted to but he didn’t want to hurt her more than she was already.

“I’m sorry honey. I was really stressed out and didn’t know what came over me.” He said. Ebere tried believing him but she was still having her doubts.

“I just wish your sorry can bring back my baby.” She said and left him alone. Nonso stood speechless and wished he never hurt her.

Ebere kept avoiding any form of explanation from Nonso until it was bed time. She stayed long in Chiamaka's room hoping that by the time she gets back to her room, Nonso would be fast asleep already but she was wrong. No amount of evasiveness could keep Nonso from wanting to talk to her.

"Honey, I'm really sorry." Nonso apologized again seeing that Ebere had not yet forgiven him.

"I know what I did cannot be undone but I want you to know that I never meant to hurt you."

He was expecting Ebere to say something but she was too angry to utter a word.

"Just leave me alone." She said turning to face the other side of the bed.

Nonso knew there was no way he could bring Ebere to forgive him at that point. He walked out of the ward and sat at the lobby. He was regretting his actions and dying of guilt too.

No matter what Nonso tried to do Ebere just wouldn’t yield and forgive him. Knowing that he had greatly erred and that the only way to fix the problem was to assure Ebere that he truly loved her, he decided to put that work. He knew Ebere to be the type who couldn’t resist his romantic nature because of the truth, Nonso was one of a kind when it comes to winning the heart of a lady.

He remembered how Ebere was playing hard to get during the time he was courting her in the university. All efforts to get a ‘yes’ from Ebere had proven to be futile until he came across a book titled ‘THE IRRESISTIBLE BACHELOR’ and after reading that book, he knew getting a lady was as simple as ‘ABC’. He applied all the principles which the author had emphasized and just like magic, Ebere started yielding.

One event that still remained fresh in his head was during Ebere’s 21st birthday. He decided to give her the surprise which finally got him the answer he had so much wanted to get from Ebere. He had bought a dress for Ebere and didn’t want to give it to her very just like that. He wanted it to be special and something that Ebere would forever remember him for even if he didn’t get the answer he wanted. He had learnt the principle from the book and was hoping it would do the magic.

Having called Ebere that morning, he didn’t even wish her a happy birthday and demanded that she comes to meet up with him in one of the petrol stations in town. Ebere couldn’t believe that a guy who claims to love her would forget her birthday and then ask her to meet up with him in a petrol station. She almost felt like not going especially after she received a call from Ebuka her twin brother who was in another university that he was coming to take her out and then celebrate the birthday together as twins ought to. However, she knew there was no harm in honouring his invitation after all they’ve been friends for almost a year now and the friendship had been going on smoothly until feelings came into the picture. Even at that time she was already falling for Nonso, she didn’t want to make it to appear too obvious. She wanted to know to what extent Nonso was willing to go in order to prove that he was the right man for her.

She wore a dress that morning and headed for the petrol station only to get there and realise that Nonso wasn’t there. She was getting angry already because nobody claimed to have seen anyone that looked like Nonso that morning. She decided to call him to know why he wasn’t there at the petrol station even if he was the one who had invited her to come.

“I’m sorry Ebere, I just left please if you don’t mind meet me at the shop where building materials are sold. I was having a headache so I went there to rest. Ebere turned and saw the shop at the other side of the road. She would have left immediately but the fact that Nonso had claimed that he was having a headache made her change her mind. She got there and saw the man who owned the shop but Nonso wasn’t there.

“Sir, please a young man asked me to meet you here. He is quite tall and dark skinned. Can I meet him?” Ebere asked.

“He was here a couple of minutes ago but he asked me to give you this.” The man said handing over a note to her and returned to his normal duty. At the point Ebere started wondering what sort of puzzle it could be and what the hell it was that was going on in Nonso’s silly mind. Excitedly and anxiously she opened the note and smiled after reading the contents. Nonso was watching her but she wasn’t aware. She came out of the shop after thanking the old man and came to the restaurant which Nonso had described would be the place she would meet him and promised no more pranks which was the reason she actually smiled after the reading the note. She got there and saw a table with a cake on it. Nonso wasn’t there at the table but she was ushered by one of the waiters to go there and seat down on the order of Nonso. Immediately she sat down, the music player was set into the action and it was a happy birthday song for her. Ebere couldn’t believe her eyes and was just smiling. While she was still seated trying to figure out what was going on, Nonso walked up to her with a flower in his hand and the gift well packaged in the other.

“Happy birthday Eberechukwu Amanda Uzor. I want you to know that I love you and I’m serious. Give me a chance and I’ll prove to you that you mean the world to me.”

Right there, Ebere stood up and hugged him.

“I love you too. Sorry I had to put you through all these. I love you Chinonso Thompson Amadi.”

Nonso decided to try something like that again if it would help in having Ebere to finally forgive him. He knew Ebere had a heart that could melt at the slightest romantic gesture and he hoped it worked as he was already tired of the fight between them and wanted them to return to the good old days when they were really madly in love with each other. At that point, only Ebere mattered to him.