Unexpected Awoof

Photo credit: black enterprise

He tapped her shoulder while she waited to pay for her groceries and at first she was irritated that someone would touch her like that and she turned sharply with the most disgusted look on her face but his fine face melted her heart and her frown quickly turned into a smile as she asked him if there was a problem.

He asked her not to pay for her groceries; he would pay for them. He could read the expression on her face and jokingly said to her, “feel free to pick what you did not pick, just take advantage of this unexpected awoof”, Nike just burst into laughter and he laughed as well. “Are you for real, do you want to steal from me?” “Or are you a ritualist?” He told her to just get going before it got to her turn and as she walked past him, he whispered, “I’m worse than a ritualist” and started laughing.

Nike came back with another cart; she had already said to herself that if he did not pay, she would pay for everything then count her loss and beat herself up later. He was there when she got back to the cashier and he had paid for the things she bought already and set the two carts aside, he waited for her to get all her new purchases scanned and he paid again. 

‘I have never been this lucky all my life” Nike said as they walked out of the store, she was visibly excited by what had just transpired; she had a month’s supply of everything that she needed, not just for herself but for her three children and their nanny. Ijeze asked Nike if she wanted to grab something to eat and she said yes. She was saying to herself at this time, if this guy is a scammer then I have become his victim.

It was not such a big deal but Nike was very grateful for the kind gesture and she truly counted the day as one of her luckiest days. She drove behind Ijeze to a really nice restaurant; one that she had never been to, apparently a new one in the Victoria Island area. He asked her to let him order something special for her and she was glad that he did because the sandwich covered in bechamel sauce was amazing.

After their brunch, Nike and Ijeze exchanged numbers, and that marked the beginning of a love affair that Nike found hard to believe was happening to her. She had suffered a very bad divorce: Jibola her husband moved to the UK and started an affair with his ex-girlfriend, he was meant to be in the UK for further studies, and everyone but Nike knew that he was living with a woman. Jibola’s behavior became awkward; he wouldn’t take his calls for days and he stopped calling to speak to his three daughters who constantly asked of him.

When she could bear it no more, she bought herself a ticket and traveled to London to find out if things were okay with her husband. She knew that Jibola could not handle stress and believed that he could be going through one at that time. When she got to the apartment, it was locked as expected because he did not know that she was coming. He had not picked her calls in two weeks, she waited in a cafe opposite the apartment building and from inside the cafe, she saw when Jibola alighted from a cab and when she got up to head to the door, she saw a lady alight from the same cab and it was someone that she knew.

She stood still and observed them for a while to be sure it was what she suspected, it appeared that they had gone grocery shopping and she watched from where she stood as her husband and Sola his ex-girlfriend acted like lovebirds as they carried their purchased groceries into the apartment.

She sat back down and cried and then summoned the energy to go back to the door to confront her worst nightmare. She pressed the bell and stepped aside, she did not want to be seen through the peephole, she could hear her husband’s voice, “babe, there is no one at the door”. She pressed the bell again and stepped aside again, after the third time, Jibola opened the door with anger, swearing at the mischief-maker, “who the hell is th….” he stopped short as he saw Nike standing there and as he made to rush back inside Nike was fast enough to get inside as well.

“What is going on Jibola, is this why you have stopped calling your family, soo you abandoned your family Jibola, what exactly is going on?, I’m confused” She was saying too many things at once and was still talking when Sola spoke, “heyyy, shiii, you are talking too much, what does it look like to you? did I not warn you that we were not done that I would come back for what belonged to me? So, madam, I have taken back my property and please if you do not mind, leave, we have some cooking to do”

Sola went ahead to grab Jibola’s hand and dragged him along, at this point, Nike held her husband’s other hand and both women began to struggle for the man. Sola was the first to strike Nike, from her own end, she stretched out her hand and slapped Nike across her face. Nike jumped like a lion and found herself on top of Sola giving her the beating of her life. Salo was only about five feet two inches tall and so it was not a difficult feat to overpower her. 

Nike was dealing with her until Sola got some chance and asked Jibola to help her; like a robot, Jibola pounced on his wife, he pulled her away from Sola who was finally able to stand up and join Jibola to fight Nike. Nike had half of her ‘a million braids' pulled off by the time she was able to make it out of the apartment.

She cried all the way to her cousin’s house, who went back with her in the evening and hung around till Jibola came out of the house; Nike’s cousin, Segun attacked Jibola unexpectedly and made sure that he gave him a black eye, it took the intervention of a few bystanders to stop the fight.

Nike spent a few more days in London recuperating from the wounds she sustained from the fight. She took a picture of herself when her wounds were fresh and shared it with her family and Bolaji’s family. By the time she got back to Lagos, she was faced with more troubles, a letter was waiting for her; it was a notice to vacate her home. Jibola got his lawyer to write Nike to leave their house that was in his name. 

Like that was not bad enough, he sent her divorce papers, it was a very dark period in her life. Jibola’s younger brother came with some thugs and threw her things into the streets, she moved into her parents' home with her daughters and nanny.

The most difficult thing for Nike to comprehend was that none of Jibola’s family members said a word to her about everything that happened; it was like she never even existed and she went from being happily married one minute to being in a nasty divorce situation the next. She was just healing from her very bad experience and had decided to go shopping herself for the first time in a long time when she met Ijeze.

To be continued!