THE BEST OF ME episode 14

#THE_BEST_OF_ME
March 22nd, 2019. 11:55PM

Day 14 of 35

episode 14

'Hate hurts the hater more than the person hated.'

Ellie dragged herself into the room, she was having a terrible headache from all the heat but nothing could get her down now. She was in too deep to just allow a mere headache to get her to her knees.

'Good morning.' Yande said looking at her

She didn't respond.

'My question is being ignored because?'

'Yande I am not in the mood for your drama, we are not friends. Can we just get this over and done with?' She asked feeling irritated

He sighed

'The time the news about Abby was brought into your home, last time you mentioned that you went numb. What happened next?'

*

Acid destroys the very container it is placed in, it was eating me slowly and I didn't even know it. I had decided not to talk about what Mwewa had done, he could continue cheating for all I cared. He could continue living his life recklessly and I would not give a damn about it as long as my child was having all the love she needed from me.

So for months we continued to live like strangers, I was practically ignoring him.

We had just gotten back from church one Sunday morning, I was getting used to playing perfect wife in public and going back to our normal routine once home but this day I had another thing coming.

'We need to talk.' Mwewa began

I was removing my shoes and there he was standing looking at me, I could feel his eyes on my skin but I wasn’t giving him the satisfaction by looking back at him

‘Ellie please.’

I looked at him as I rubbed my toes

‘Yes.' I said looking at him

‘I miss us.’

I swallowed hard

‘I miss how we used to be happy, I miss how we used to make this work despite everything the world threw at us.’

‘Mwewa what do you want?’ I asked seriously

‘I just want us back.’

I sighed

‘We can never be back to the way we were, you introduced a stranger into our home and that alone makes us different from what we used to be.’

‘Ellie I was wrong, I shouldn’t have taken advantage of what we have. I am sorry.’

‘Why are you sorry exactly?’ I asked him looking straight into his eyes

‘Baby I am sorry that I hurt you.’

‘No you are not, if you were you wouldn’t have allowed it to get this far.’ I said then stood up

‘Ellie we have got to stop this, we have got to find a way of living with all this otherwise one of us will leave.’

‘Why would I want to leave something that isn’t?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Mwewa it is a beautiful Sunday afternoon, I have a daughter that is waiting for her food so don’t keep me here.’ I said then walked out

***

‘Wow. Just like that?’ Yande asked

‘Yes. What exactly did you want me to say to him?’ She asked him back

‘Tell me what happened next.’

***

‘Ellie I am tired!’ He said as I tried to walk away from him

‘I won’t stand here and listen to what you have to say.’ I said

‘You are still my wife, we made vows and we have got to work this out if at all we have to continue being married.’

‘Are you thinking of divorcing me?’ I asked now banging the door and turning around to face him

‘Ellie it has been months since the Abigail incident, you have never said a word about it. How do you expect me to continue walking into this house.’

I laughed, I couldn’t hold it. I laughed hysterically

‘So now it is about you Mwewa? Do you have any idea what I have been going through the past months and you think just because I haven’t said anything then I am okay?’ I asked looking him in the eye

‘I know you are not okay, but how am I supposed to know how much I have hurt you if you don’t say anything about it?’ He questioned

‘Mwewa what exactly do you want to hear from me? That I am angry and upset? That I am disappointed that you hurt me? Well guess what? I am just tired of waiting for an explanation that never comes, why you went out there to look for what you could have gotten here. Like why you found it okay to constantly cheat on me without a care of whether I would ever find out or not.’

‘Baby I am sorry okay. Really I am.’ He said

***

‘I allowed him to come close again, he was my husband after all. And worse off I loved him, the same love that turned into the very poison that ate me up slowly. I never once ever thought that I would get to a point where I would wish him ill.’

‘So you forgave him?’

‘Of course I did, I mean it was Mwewa. My ever loving husband, the handsome Mwewa who swept me off my feet years back. Still the same man with the charming smile that had my toes curling.’ She said allowing a little tear to fall

Yande looked away, he despised Ellie for the pain that she had put his sister through. Abby was now a shadow of everything she used to be because of the mental torture she went through and these tears were not going to move him.

‘If you forgave him how come it got this again?’

‘You see Yande, God does things in decency and in order. He cannot hook you up with someone who is already hooked up. You have to be careful with people that you meet, those that are married or involved. You have to be careful with them because they are thieves, Mwewa was a thief and your sister didn’t even know it. He came into her life to steal the best thing that God gave her; her youth. Men who cheat once mostly never stop, they keep cheating, they are never satisfied. He wasn't. He never stopped with her, maybe started with her but my husband became adventurous.’ She said pausing

Yande looked at her anger sweeping across his face.

‘As married women we go through a lot. Conceal a lot; society expects us to be the back bone and pillar of our homes even though we are on the verge of breaking down a million times over.’

***

Things were back to normal in our house, it was as if he had not cheated a day. The baby was a few months old and Mwewa had gone to see it on a number of occasions. And not once did I ever feel like he was going to get back with her, because at the back of my head he had finally learnt his lessons and he wouldn’t do anything that would hurt us.

Man was I wrong.

A lady showed up at my work place one afternoon, I was in a meeting so she had to wait for me to finish.

The school was enrolling and so we were meeting with the board to see how best we could improve to make the environment more conducive for the kids.

‘Sorry for keeping you waiting.’ I said settling into my chair

She smiled at me, she was dressed in a black wrap dress and gold stilettos. Her legs were crossed exposing her beautiful dark skin. She had gold drop earrings and her light make up was to die for.

She looked somewhat in her early fifties or late forties. All of a sudden I had a huge respect for her.

'I have all the time in the world.' She responded calmly

I smiled back feeling relaxed.

'Can I offer you anything?' I asked

'A glass of water will do thank you.' She said with a smile again

I stood up and poured her some water from the dispenser into a glass tumbler and handed it to her.

'Thank you.' She responded, drunk from it then placed it on the table.

'My name is Mrs. Kabwe, but everyone calls me aunty Grace.' She began

'How can I assist you Aunty Grace?' I asked with a smile

'I am a respectable woman, I have a good heart and I have done all I can to do right by everyone. But my daughter is my only bad seed.' She said

'Okay.'

'Mrs. Musonda I wouldn't have come here if it wasn't beyond me, I have talked to her but she won't listen and now I just realised that maybe if I took this route you would help me.'

'I am listening.' I said very sure that her daughter was one of our pupils

'Tell your husband to stay away from my daughter, she is everything I have.' The lady said her voice breaking

I felt a pain pass through my heart, I could see that she too was in pain.

She opened her handbag and removed some photos placing them on the table.

'Quonnie is my only daughter, this is not the kind of life that I want for her. But I can only do as much as a mother, please talk to your husband. Maybe just maybe he will leave her alone.' She said before getting up

I looked at the photos, it was of Mwewa and a young girl sitting in a compromising position. One could tell that there was more to this, I had lost my husband to the dogs and there was nothing I could do about it.

***

'Did you ask him?' Yande asked

'I did.' She said with a smile that didn't reach her eyes

***

I looked at the time and it was lunch hour, I knew he was on lunch break too. So I drove to his work place unannounced, his secretary tried to stop me but I walked past her.

***

Ellie paused as if to hold a thought

'Mwewa was in the office standing his pants down. The girl had his crotch in her mouth. Her hands on his balls. The look on his face disgusting.'