Chapter 24: Chapter 24

"Do you have any plans this week?" Valentino asked curiously as Halal threw some clothes into her bag. "Yes,  my boss needs me to go with him to Calabar for a fashion show" Halal lied.

"Oh... And when are you coming back?" Valentino asked.

"Sunday" Halal replied throwing in her Nike shoes into the bag. "Will you move back in with me when you get back?" Valentino asked.

"I'll think about it" Halal said not wanting to dash his hopes. "Oh....Well I'll be here waiting for you while you think about it" Valentino said.

"Why don't you go to Port Harcourt while I'm away" Halal suggested. Valentino shook his head "Port Harcourt has lost it's charm, I'd rather remain here and wait for my wife" Valentino smiled. Halal sent him a fake smile in return.

"Do you still love me?" Valentino asked, it came out as a whisper. If she wasn't paying attention, she wouldn't have heard it.

Halal dropped the the purple kimono in her hand on the bed. "I don't know Valentino" Halal sighed turning to him.

"You're not the man I married, as cliche as it sounds Valentino. You've changed" Halal said.

Valentino stood up and walked over to her "Did you love me before you married me?" Valentino asked.

Halal narrowed her eyes at him "We didn't love each other, unfortunate events forced us to get married. You were my friend, and I cared about you. Living together as a couple after the wedding caused us to have feelings for each other, I wouldn't call it love. I don't know what it was" Halal said truthfully.

"So you lied every time you said you love me?" Valentino asked. Halal frowned "And you lied also, come on Valentino. We both know you tolerated me, you wanted children from me and I on the other hand just wanted a home, a husband and a family. We failed, I failed you and you failed me" Halal said.

Valentino frowned "So what are you saying?" he asked. Halal slouched feeling helpless "Don't you think we should start considering a divorce? We've spent eight years doing nothing" Halal said.

Valentino scoffed "I knew you would eventually head there Halal.  This was your plan before you moved out of the house, that's why you have a new job isn't it?  That boyfriend of yours, is he back? I thought he abandoned you and went to the states?" Valentino asked. His voice sounded like poison.

"He didn't abandon me, I left him. I left him because of our mistake" Halal said. She blinked back the tears, Valentino liked to prey on people's weakness.

"We're not getting divorced Halal, we're stuck in this together" Valentino said. "Valentino listen to me, I'm not happy and you're equally not happy.  You want children and I can't give you that, let's end our marriage" Halal said.

"Don't act like you're suggesting a divorce because it'll favor me more, you're suggesting it for your selfish self.  You want to run off  into the sunset with another man!" Valentino yelled.

Halal swallowed hard "I don't want to talk about this again Valentino, you should go" Halal said.

"I'm not leaving and you can't kick me out, I'm your husband and I'm paying for this bloody room" Valentino shouted looking furious.

"Fine. If you won't leave, I'll leave" Halal turned to go but he stopped her by gripping her arm hard. His nails digging into her soft skin, Halal winced.

"You're not leaving" He scowled.

"Valentino stop it, you're hurting me" Halal pushed him.  "What is wrong with you?" she spat when she successfully pulled away.

"There will be no more talk about divorce, if you bring up any talk about divorce I'm going to get really angry and you won't like what I'll do" Valentino threatened.

Halal scoffed "I want nothing to do with you, I'm not coming back to the house. I'm leaving you, Valentino this is not working anymore. Please, let's not drag this on. I'm tired" Halal said feebly.

Valentino shook his head "I don't want to hear another word from you" he glared at her before storming out of the room.  Halal sat on the bed and buried her face in her hand.  Her restraints broke, all the tears, anger and frustration that was welled up inside her finally came out.

"Why am I so damned unlucky?" she asked herself. She closed her eyes and willed herself to be brave. There will be no more thoughts of Valentino, or a divorce, she wanted to enjoy her upcoming trip to Calabar. After the trip, she would put on her big girl pants and address her problems.

Darrell answered the door after the door bell rang the second time. Halal was at the door,  she was holding a box of pizza in one hand and a plastic bag in the other.

"Hey,  I've been trying to contact you for some time now.  Your phone has been switched off" Darrell smiled taking the box of pizza from her.

Halal sighed "Yes, my phone fell into the toilet today. It was messed up by the time I got it out, I've sent it to the repair shop" Halal said.

"Oh... Hope you don't have important files on it?" Darrell asked. "I do, but they are all backed up" Halal replied entering the house.

A basketball game was playing on the television, she sat down on the sofa before rummaging through the plastic bag to bring out a can of Smirnoff Ice.

Darrell noticed her sorrowful expression "I'm sure they'll be able to fix the phone before we go to Calabar" he said guessing she was still thinking about the phone.

"It's not the phone, well it's everything. Why can't I get anything right Darrell?  I can't have children and I can't even get my marriage to work . I must have offended someone in my previous life to be this Ill fated" Halal said sorrowfully.

Darrell looked away, he couldn't tell her the truth yet.  "Don't talk about it Halal, don't think about such things. Very soon everything will turn out good, I promise" Darrell sat beside her and kissed her forehead.

Halal smiled up at him "You always say the right things" She said.

"I say it because it's true Halal, I'm sure everything will work out well.  Why do you have dark circles under your eyes, were you awake all night?" Darrell asked.

Halal nodded "Valentino and I....we had an argument, it didn't end well" Halal said taking Darrell's hand.

"About Calabar, did he find out?" Darrell asked curiously. Halal shook her head "No,  I asked him for a divorce. He didn't take it well" Halal said.

Darrell exhaled "Why do you want a divorce now, is it because I'm back in your life? Would you have divorced Valentino if I was still in the States?" he asked staring into her eyes.

Halal shook her head slowly "I don't know Darrell, but I do know he would have divorced me eventually" Halal replied.

"Why do you think so?" Darrell frowned. Honestly that Valentino must be a fool,  Darrell couldn't understand why a man would mistreat a woman he was married to.

"Valentino wants children....and I...I haven't been able to give him any" Halal said.

Darrell sighed, he really didn't want to go into the child bearing issue. He didn't want Halal to sense that he was hiding anything.

"I wish I never married him, maybe if I hadn't been posted to Port Harcourt... I wouldn't..." her voice broke, her eyes were already wet with tears.

Darrell scoffed "But you loved him didn't you?  He was your first love" Darrell said bitterly.

Halal placed her hand on his shoulder "Darrell, you were my first and only love" Halal said. "Yet you left me for another man because he was rich" Darrell sighed.

"I didn't marry Valentino for love, neither did I marry him because of his money" Halal said wiping her nose.

"That's not what you told me" Darrell countered. He still felt bitter over it and he couldn't help it.

"I married Valentino because I was pregnant for him, that's why I left you.  I couldn't exactly tell you that I'd lost my virginity to my roommate  and that I was pregnant for him. That's why I had to tell you that I loved him" Halal said in a snappish tone. It was a topic she thought she'd never discuss with Darrell, till now.

Darrell's expression hardened "So you were  dating and sleeping with him while you told me you were keeping your virginity till marriage" Darrell said harshly. He turned his attention to the television, why did she even bother to bring it up? She'd  only succeeded in making him angrier.

"I wasn't cheating on you.  When I got to Port Harcourt,  I couldn't get accommodation. Houses were so expensive  and I didn't have enough money. Someone suggested that her friend had a spare room at his apartment. That's how I met Valentino, I think he pitied me and didn't collect any rent from me.  We were friends, he knew I had a boyfriend in Lagos and he respected that. Then one day, I was bored and he offered to take me out.  We went to a bar and we....we both got drunk. I don't remember the rest, I only remember waking up without my virginity" Halal said wiping a stray tear.

"He apologized and I forgave him, I was at fault too you know. I should have just taken a glass and no less but I got drunk, we were both wasted.  I wanted to tell you but I was scared, you were always short with me sometimes. You were distant too sometimes because you were working....I knew you'd be hurt and angry so I kept it to myself for a while. I found out I was pregnant after a few weeks, I panicked and turned to Valentino. He didn't want a child out of wedlock, I didn't want an abortion. And you Darrell, you were struggling with Daria and a whole lot of other things, I didn't want to burden you with another man's child.  I couldn't tell you the truth, so I went along with Valentino's suggestion" Halal said sadly.

Darrell stared at her surprised for a while, "Why didn't you tell me? Halal you should have told me the truth. I would never have left you, I would have stood by you" Darrell said pulling her into his arms.

"I didn't want to burden you Darrell, you were going through so much. Working three jobs at once, paying rent, paying for Daria's education. Bringing another man's baby into the picture would have been selfish, I couldn't tell you the truth" Halal sobbed.

"You shouldn't have made that decision for me, you should have told me about it.  Halal you married a man you barely knew. What if he hadn't been drunk, what if he'd lied about being drunk and he'd just taken advantage of you. You said you don't remember anything, what if he'd drugged you?" Darrell questioned rubbing her back.

Halal had thought about it once but it didn't make any sense. Valentino had never shown any interest in her before that day, he'd only wanted her as a friend. Their marriage had been based on friendship at first, after a few years they started developing feelings for each other. It was only natural for a man and a woman sharing the same bed to have some sort of connection, but those feelings didn't measure up to what she felt for Darrell.

It took Darrell coming back into her life for her to realize that . Now that he was here again, she didn't want to lose him.  She would not pick Valentino over Darrell ever again, no matter what.

Waking up to see Darrell sleeping beside her in the morning felt refreshing. He looked so peaceful in his sleep that she almost didn't want to wake him up.

"Have you finished admiring this great work of art?" Darrell asked startling her. His eyes were still closed so she hadn't known he was awake.

"Oh please, art work indeed. How long have you been awake?" Halal asked rubbing his arm tenderly.

Darrell opened his eyes "I've been awake for a while now, you wouldn't let me sleep with all that snoring" Darrell teased.

Halal hit him playfully "Stop it, I don't snore. Never" Halal said laughing.

"You do and it sounds terrible like a rusty engine" Darrell continued. He rolled over taking her into his arms and planted a kiss on her lips.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked. Halal nodded "Like a baby" she murmured happily. "Do I really snore now?...Valen.....I mean no one has never mentioned it" Halal asked lowering her eyes.

Darrell smirked "You don't snore, you just make soft mewling sounds that actually sounds really sexy. I was beginning to wonder what you were dreaming about, and you said my name twice. More like moaned" Darrell winked.

Halal groaned playfully "You're so cocky, it's too early for this" she said.

"Is it?" Darrell looked at the time. It was past eight already "Well time to get up, what do you want for breakfast. There's left over pizza, pancake mix and bread. There's also Coconut ice cream in the fridge" Darrell said.

"Mmm, are you on the menu?" She bit his ear playfully before giving it a teasing lick. "It depends" Darrell wiggled his eyebrows "What are you offering?" he asked.

"I want you...make love to me again. Then we could eat Ice cream and toast afterwards" Halal murmured. "Sounds like a plan" Darrell said kissing her again.

Victoria asked the taxi man to stop right in front of Darrell's house before she called him. She dialed his number nine times but he didn't respond . "Well, I tried" she muttered to herself.

She turned to the driver "How much is your money?" she snapped. "Madam it's three thousand" he replied.

"Three what? see this man oh, I resemble Otedola pikin abi you high?" she asked rudely.

"Ahan, Madam you're too big for this na. You want to fight me because of ordinary three thousand naira" The driver said.

Victoria scowled at him "Ordinary three thousand naira and you still dey do taxi work. If I give you five hundred naira no collect na. Thief, three thousand from Dolphin estate to Victoria Island. Na BMW you use carry me, or you on AC? You no even play better music, with your village people music wey you carry disturb person through out" Victoria hissed and flung a five hundred Naira note at him.

She got out of the car and slammed the door. "You no even happy sey I no ask for change" she muttered before walking away.

She rang the doorbell when she got to the door but got no reply. She rang it twice again, still nothing. She smiled before bringing out the duplicated key from her purse.

She tried it on the lock and it worked. She smiled at her success before walking into the house. She looked around the living room critically "When I move in, I'm so changing the decor" she muttered going into the next room.

"It feels like home already, ohhhh.... I can't wait for him to finally fall into my arms. When he gets back, he's going to meet temptation that he wouldn't be able to resist" Victoria said to herself.

She walked into the bedroom and took off her dress, her eyes scanned the bedroom. "Everything in here smells like my baby" she moaned opening the wardrobe. She took out a shirt from the wardrobe and slipped it on.

"His shirt even looks like it was made for me" she said sniffing the shirt. She turned to the wardrobe again, this time her attention was on the top shelf. There were a couple of books and files there, her eyes zeroed in on one of them. 'Halal' she hissed before snatching the file. "Hopefully he hasn't discovered the cure for her curse" Victoria hissed scanning through its content.

Her expression changed immediately, "Oh my God" she read the same page over and over again.

"What is Darrell up to?" she asked herself horrified at the contents of the file. She was about to turn to the next page when she heard the door slam.

"D!" she heard Halal's voice. Fear made her drop the file quickly on the bed, she quickly scanned the room looking for someone to hide.

"Darrell!" Halal walked into the bedroom and met Victoria standing in the middle of the room in Darrell's shirt.

"What are you doing here?" Halal asked alarmed. "I...I...I... Darrell asked me to drop this file here" Victoria pointed to the file on the bed.

"Oh....." Halal moved into the room. "And why are you in his clothes?" Halal asked crossing her arms against her chest.

"My dress was stained, I just decided to change. I'm sure he won't mind" Victoria rushed and picked up her dress and her purse. "I'll leave now, I'll return his shirt to him personally" Victoria said rushing out of the room.

Halal stared after Victoria confused, she rolled her eyes before going to sit on the bed. Her eyes looked at the file, her name was written boldly on it. She picked it up immediately and stared at it for a while.

She so desperately wanted to look at the contents, Darrell was not here after all. He wouldn't know, and it wasn't private. If it was, he wouldn't ask Victoria to bring it to the house.

She flipped it open before closing her eyes quickly. Her mind was deeply troubled, she shouldn't be doing this so she dropped it on the bed quickly.

She trusted Darrell not to invade her privacy, it would be wrong of her to invade his. She picked it up and dropped it on the night stand.

She decided to keep herself busy by the translating the rest of the documents. Jacques had already emailed her again to send it to his lawyer immediately.

Halal sighed thinking about Monsieur Jacques, she couldn't wait for him to come back. Ever since she saw her nude painting at his house, she's been deeply worried. She sighed hoping that whatever answer he gave would not affect her job with him.

God knows she really needed the job, for the sake of her sanity and because she needed the independence and exposure it brought.