THE BEST OF ME episode 8

# THE_BEST_OF_ME
March 1st, 2019. 3:55PM

Day 8 of 35

episode 8

There is nothing more damaging than emotional abuse. It is the invisible scars that take time to heal; the ones that do the most damage;the ones that make you wonder if the world is to be trusted. - Hibajene

***
Life was not a bed of roses they said, that it wasn't as perfect as it looked. That it had both beautiful petals and thorns. That one had to accept the beauty and ugly parts of it.

That was my life, Ellen was laying on my laps as we watched Despicable me 2. She kept insisting that we wait for her father to come but when he didn't show up she gave up. I could tell from the way she was breathing that she was mad, non of us were even enjoying the movie.

She had fallen asleep when Mwewa walked in, my eyes were fixed on the screen but my mind was elsewhere. It was in a void place.

'Good evening.' He greeted

'Hai.' I responded without looking at him

'How long has she been sleeping?'

'An hour maybe.'

'And you couldn't take her to bed? Don't you know she could wake up with a stiff neck?' He asked

***

I laughed looking at Yande now.

'Ellie what's funny?'

'Coming to think of it Mwewa was very stupid you know, he was out the entire day only to come and tell me that the baby would have a stiff neck.'

'Ellie.'

'No Yande, I carried Ellen for nine months in my womb and if there was someone that should have known what was best for her it was me.' I said with a composure that scared me

***

I chose not to respond, instead I carried her to her bedroom and tucked her in before going to the bedroom myself. I didn't even bother to ask him if he wanted to eat, I couldn't be doing things for a man that was ungrateful.

I heard him talking on the phone, my inner voice wanted to hear the conversation but I decided what I didn't know would never kill me.

After a while he came into the bedroom, he went straight to the bathroom and I got his phone. Biggest mistake I made.

***

'What did you find?' Yande asked

'Everything I needed to know.'

***

He came out of the shower and I was holding the phone in my hands, he shifted his eyes from my face to the phone then back to my face.

'What are you doing with my phone?'

'Why do you have a password on your phone?'

'It's a mobile phone Ellie.'

I looked at him like he was absurd

'Mwewa when did we get to this? We used to tell each other everything, I used to be your bestfriend. We never had passwords on our devices. I don't have a password on mine.' I said

'Baby it's just a password that I can tell you.' he said in his sweet charming voice

***

'I was in tears Yande as all that was happening, everything was suffocating me and maybe my greatest mistake was showing him just how much his actions were affecting me. I didn't know how to be strong around him, all I knew was how to be raw and open.'

***

'Ellie you are my wife and I love you, I can never do anything intentionally to hurt you.' He said as he came towards me and embraced me with his wet body

***

I smiled mischievously as I remembered that night.

'What happened?' Yande asked

***

That night Mwewa made love to me like a sex god, no he,fucked me. This part of him had been there when we first got married but along the way it had died. I missed this part, I actually forgot that it existed. He did to my body things that I could only remember from the past. But the next morning I woke up in tears, my husband wasn't making love to me. He had the image of another as he plunged into me. He had met another woman and when he woke up he couldn't face me too.

The days that followed we pretended like nothing had happened, I mean how could I ask him if it were me he was making love to? How could I seat there and listen to him lie to me again, I knew he would. He wouldn't tell me the truth about the woman he had met.

A month later I thought things would get back to normal but it got worse, it seemed like this affair was not ending. And the day he first had sex with her, my heart was shattered. He had invited an intruder to come between us.

***

'I am sorry Ellie but you lost me there, how did you know that he was sleeping with her? Were you stalking him?'

'I didn't have to Yande, I knew my husband. I knew what he could and couldn't do, I knew his patterns and at that moment it was just a straight forward thing.'

'Did you confront him? Or the lady?'

'Did I have to? I was the wife, the one he went back home to. The one he would never leave, I was the madam after all.' I said a little sarcasm in my voice

'I speak sarcasm fluently.'

'I know you do, her name was Abigail. An intern for Trade kings and a student at the university of Lusaka.'

'You did stalk her after all.'

'I wanted to know if she was worth the fight.'

'And was she?'

I laughed.

'Are they ever worth the fight Yande? What's the point in embarrassing my home and family? Don't we all have issues that we sweep under the rug just so we can protect our interests?'

'Your interests in this case being?'

'My marriage, my child, my home.'

'I did run into her once or twice.'

'And?'

'Yande look at me.' I said standing up

'Well look past this orange thing I am wearing.'

'Ellie.'

'Yande I am a beautiful woman, I had a respectable job. My husband was doing extremely well and my child was going to the best school. Do I look like the type that would fight another woman for a man?' I asked

He didn't respond

'You know Yande, I might act strong to you but that's only because I battled so much that Mwewa put me through. It took me alot to get here and it's just sad that a young girl had to get entangled in all this. I just wish she had made better choices.'

'You are not in her shoes.' Yande said angrily

'Mwewa ruined our home by involving himself with her, she consented to everything. She isn't innocent, she is a home wrecker. She and Mwewa both are.'

'You know nothing about her!'

'What else do I need to know about her?' I challenged

'We are done here.'

'We just began Yande, drop the damn act because I know your relationship to Abby or Abigail or whatever you call her. You thought you could here and get the story from me then what? Crucify me for my actions? Given the chance I would do what I did a million times over for my child for Ellen so don't you dare come here trying to be the better person.' I said as the door opened and the guard came in

Yande looked on his palms sweating, how did Ellie know?

'I had this planned out. I am not done with all of you.' I said as I turned around then walked away