Secrets of a second wife

work in progress



I checked my watch for the fifth time that evening. It was past eight. He said he would be at the restaurant by six. I had taken some time off work to close early but I felt stupid for that already. It was clear to me that Dumebi loved to see me in pain. In the beginning of our love affair, I conveniently used my tears as a weapon to weaken him and possibly get his attention but it did not work for long. Dumebi suddenly became as hard as a rock; he would not budge even when faced with my raw pain especially at what he did wrong. Sometimes he had the decency to hand me a tissue and if I was lucky, he would pat my back while mumbling words I could not hear. But that was in the beginning. I quickly learned to stop the tears. I only gave him a cold stare but it did not seem to bother him anyway. I knew I could never win with him. I always loose with men.
‘Damn, what is keeping this man?’
I had not stopped giving him money and he always returned the gesture in kind. After all, that was what kept us going.
Damn him. Not Dumebi but my husband. Lanre deserves my resentment. Globe trotting with his first wife, Biola like newly weds.
When I first met Lanre he was a lonely and depressed man who needed a male child to carry on his name. Biola had given him seven girls. He begged me for months to marry him. Even though I knew the money would come in handy, I was scared. Polygamy was not something I thought I would even consider in my wildest moments. But when I met Biola, I thought my case would be different. Biola was like an angel. She treated me well and promised not to be ‘bitchy’. I relaxed over a few encounters.