EPISODE 4
Fred has this strict cleanliness and orderliness rules. He is a very sweet man but he tends to complain about everything he happens to find where it's not supposed to be, ranging from pieces of furniture to kitchen wares to even foot wears.
The extreme he went to demonstrate his cleanliness was when he bought two pairs of bathroom slippers ; one for indoor and the other for outdoor use. He never interchanges them, even mistakenly. He'd wash his feet until they get pale. This once got me worried but I later learnt to enjoy the rubbery feeling I got when I held those feets on my thighs to cut his nails.
On one of such occasions, I mistakenly cut into the skin of his right toe as I was carried away by the feeling I got when I handled his feet. I didn't even notice until he cried out in pain. Even as he jerked, he was careful to ensure that his distressed leg didn't mistakenly hit me. I quickly apologized and rushed to the kitchen to get a damp piece of cloth.
But when I arrived, I paused for a while to watch the crimson red fluid trickle out of the wound in sparse volumes. It was the first time I had really beheld the blood of my lover and though it was definitely weird, I had this little tingly feeling.
'Let's do a blood covenant,' I muttered.
'That's funny!' He said, giggling.
'I'm serious! Let's do a blood covenant,' I repeated.
'What? Are you crazy? What do we need a blood covenant for?' He barked, sounding huffy.
'Prove that you love me. You've always told me that you'd do whatever I want, ' I pleaded.
'Ooh! come on! We are married. Hello? That balderdash is done by teens in high school and not two full grown people.'
I don't really understand what came over me that Saturday afternoon as such an idea had never crossed my mind before that fateful day. It just erupted abruptly at the sight of that red fluid and it came with such an enormous power that I couldn't hold sway over it despite my conscious effort to.
'We sealed it in the church. We sealed it with a ring. We sealed it with a kiss. Let's finish this. Let's seal it with blood!' I begged.
He now knew that I was serious and he rabidly tried to free himself from my grip. He forced the damp piece of clothing from my hand and wiped the blood off her right toe.
'With a decisive state into his eyes, I slit my thumb with the new stainless razor blade.
'Fred Joeffrey, do a blood covenant with me!'
Fred became enraged.
'I am not doing such nonsense!' he screamed on top of his voice!
I tried to grab him but he yanked me off and I fell to the ground with a loud thud. That was the first time he had ever gone violent with me. I managed to pull myself up and face him.
'Who is she?' I asked , gawking deep into his eyes.
'What? Uhh! Uhm! you mean?'
He stammered. My Fred stammered!
My lower extremities became weak.
'Why did you stammer?' I managed to ask after taking a seat on the cushion across the room.
'Me? Stammer? When? I mean... Why would you ask me such a question in the first place? What? Are you suspecting that I'm cheating on you? Jesus Christ! Why would you ever thing of such? Like why would it ever cross your mind? He ranted on and on.
I didn't know whether to believe that he was lieing but I knew that there is something they say about men who stammer at first when they are faced with such questions. It is pathognomonic.
The likelihood of Fred cheating on me was a different thing. The other part of the story I never understood was his kicking against the blood covenant with so much passion. Was he planning to divorce me? This scared the hell out of me and I knew I had to step up my game. My doubt and traces of suspicion started that night. I was not willing to allow anybody to steal my man.
That was just 5 months earlier and I guess he totally or partially forgot about such an event but it was still fresh in my memory.
As part of my preparation for Fred's return, I knew I had to step up the condition of the luxury ultra-modern apartment which was constructed by Beyondarete, a building consultant based in Lagos. My husband contacted him through Instagram which I believed was such a wierd medium to meet an engineer. For all I cared, the Instagram was for flaunting shoes and bags so I never believed a good engineer could be contacted via such a medium.
It all started when this gig shared the picture of a new house he constructed for the god of Dance hall, Timaya. Fred totally liked it and kept trying to connect with him while I tried my best to frustrate his efforts. I didn't trust such a deal, especially with the surge in internet fraud. He finally succeeded, and in 10 months, this guy fixed for us a structure that made me feel like I was in Disneyland; the land of wonderful wonder and sweet sweetness, all the time.
Fred had very high cleanliness standards. I had no maids so I had to do all the work by myself. He had suggested that we employ maids but I vehemently kicked against it.
'There is nothing much to be done in this house.' I told him. 'I can handle it.' What he didn't know was that I was just afraid of mistakenly bringing an agent of darkness who would come and put discord in my marriage. I didn't want anyone to steal my man and I was very conscious to prevent this in every possible way. For reasons I coudnt tell, my husband also kicked against employing a male househelp.
The only helpers we had in our massive compound was Adamu, the gateman, Francis the Driver and Gabriel the gardener. Their job pretty much ended outside. They were not to enter inside our main building for any reason whatsoever. At least they helped in keeping the external environment clean and serene. Everything inside however, had to be done by me.
I coudnt do it all in one day and I had to pick one thing at time since the house had become a mess as I totally ignored it for all the days Fred was away.
A white Rolls Royce pulled into the compound via the gate rendered ajar by our little bit too hardworking gateman. The way he opened the gate would make you choke with laughter. He held one side of the gate and dragged it along till it was completely open and then raced back to do same to the second half of the gate. This was very awkward as any observer could see that it was possible to grab both halves of the gate and simply drag them open. I folded my arms in front of me to watch the drama as I did every time.
Maximus, our dog, could not stop dancing. The poor boy had missed his master for two weeks and he could not just contend the joy of seeing his car ramble back into the compound one more time. I loved him too but for some reason I could not understand, I just coudn't treat him as nice as my husband did. Maximus had learnt to accept this fact and he didn't dare demand for too much when Fred was away.
As he danced from this end to that end and back, mon amor appeared with his three quarter wear and a fitted t-shirt which glistened to his muscular body like the visceral peritoneum does to the viscera. My heart skipped a beat and for a moment, I felt like falling down at his feet and worshipping him. When our eyes met; he gave me that characteristic smile which involved muscles from just one half of his mouth. I chuckled shyly and looked away for a brief moment.
Maximus was getting really restless and would not let Fred ignore him so he grabbed and played with him for the next few minutes while I quietly watched. When he was convinced that Maximus was satisfied, he left him and continued walking towards me.
I just spread my arms and closed my eyes. Fred sure knew how to mess around and I thought that he'd do what he liked most but No! it seemed like he missed me as much as I missed him for before my upper eyelid touched its lower counterpart, I felt a firm grip on my waist. I gasped as his body approached mine and made that contact I had missed for two weeks.
He pressed his lips against mine while I wrapped my hands around his his neck.
'Hhhm hmmm.... Sir can I take your luggage inside the house now?' That was Francis, the driver. I frowned sternly at him for interfering with my heavenly moment. Did he know how much I missed that?
'Francis would you leave my luggages alone?' Fred responded in a sarcastic manner before he gently passed his left hand around the back of my knee region while supporting my back with his right hand and carried me like a baby, into the house.