Chapter 23: Chapter 23

Emergency calls did not always scream "help! " It could even be a strange, "I love you " from an unexpected person at a very odd hour. Somehow, no matter the phrase, it still conveyed the urgency of the situation. That was the reason, Maka cancelled all her plans and booked a flight to Owerri not minding what she had to pay to get on the airplane that same evening she got Kamsi's text. Her daughter's nanny had come over to relieve her of her duties while she was away.

She was fortunate that someone missed the flight so there was an empty seat to grab.  It was a woman according to the name. It could also be a woman like herself who did not know to work with time and then get stuck in traffic. She could not count how many times she had missed her flight especially when coming down to the east. She had never been more grateful for Lagos traffic like she was that day.

She barely slept that night and her appetite was replaced by more worry as Kamsi was not picking up her calls. She paced about the small space of her hotel room, from the window to the door and back again.

Absentmindedly, she opened the small fridge hidden inside the cabinet. It was empty as expected. She slapped her forehead in frustration. She wanted something to calm her nerves. Kamsi was not someone she liked to be hurt. To her Kamsi was too fragile, too tender. Even though they were of the same age,  she was like the senior sister and Kamsi willingly took the office of the younger sister. It had been like that all the years of their friendship.

She tried calling Kamsi's line again. This time it was now switched off.

"Ah, God! " she exclaimed, falling back on the bed.

She still wanted to drink something but other things had overshadowed that want. She thought of things she did not want to do.

Could it be.. Could it be..  Filled her thoughts.

It was that night , time chose to be a snail. It crawled so slowly for Maka who could not wait for morning to come. She managed to close her eyes and each time she opened it, the time had only moved thirty minutes further. No part of the bed seemed comfortable for her. She did not want to dwell on the thought that something bad had happened to her friend but she was not picking up her phone to disapprove.

Maka hardly slept but was up like a soldier once she saw it was four o'clock. For the first time in a long time, she woke up before her alarm which was to ring at five o'clock. She had packed light. All she had was a big hand bag which contained an extra pair of jeans , polo , underwears and her spray.

She got to the park when it was still dark.  She waited in the Uber till six. The driver could have only been grateful for time wasted which kept adding to her bill with time.

Maka made it to Okigwe before nine o'clock. She half ran, half walked as she walked to the house from the junction where she had jumped down from the bus. She had not been talking to Kamsi as often as before. She blamed it on work but she was actually  lazy at keeping in touch over the phone . When Kamsi stopped calling like before, the communication reduced by little. Now, she regretted not checking up on her as often as she should have.

She seemed to realize then, we're always distant until a person dies then we're bringing flowers of regrets to their grave.

She opened her hand and hit the gate with force so it could rouse even a sleeping man. As she waited for the gate to be opened, she shook away the ridiculous quotes and thoughts that were hunting her.

The gate opened and she was greeted with the face of a gateman that was different from the one she met when she visited the previous year.

"Good morning. Who you dey find? " he asked, pulling up his trouser which was folded at the waist.

" I'm Maka. Tell her it's Maka," she replied impatiently. She hated to be new in a place especially at a time like this.

" Who's that? " Mark asked from inside.

"She say her name na, Mata... Come and say your name. I no like am," Timothy said, shifting back for her to enter through the small gate.

She walked in without sparing him a glance obviously not in the mood for his illiterate nonsense.

"If it's not the attorney! " Mark exclaimed on seeing her.

She put on a smile and walked into his waiting arms even though she would have preferred to walk past it.

"How have you been, Sir?" she asked after the hug.

"The Lord has been faithful, " he replied with a shrug.

She tried to keep cool by sitting on a cushion when she could actually run to her room. Mark was acting all nice but that did not change the distaste she had for him.

"What about Kamsi? " she asked Mark who was presently bringing out a bottle of wine with some glasses from the mini bar in the sitting room.

" She's still sleeping, " he replied, then walked to the sink beside the dining table with the tall wine glasses.

" Is she alright? " Maka wanted to ask but did not. She went out of the parlour instead and ran upstairs.

Kamsi was not in her room. She knew the second place to check and she was there, in her husband's room, on the left side of the bed, hurdled together. Maka walked very quietly to the bed and knelt in front of her. Tears rolled down her closed eyes.

" I have heard you, " Kamsi said, without opening her eyes.

Maka raised a hand and wiped her face.

"But I said nothing, " she replied.

Her eyes open immediately, she pulls Maka's body close to her by the neck.

"Maka," she sobbed, "I'm tired, so tired."

Without asking her questions, Maka left her to cry not minding how many times she sniffed and the catarrh that could have found a way to descend on her  cloth.

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Mark and Maka were seated in the parlor, waiting for Kamsi to come down. Maka came down after hearing from Kamsi and summoned for a meeting with the couple. It was the work of a sibling or parent and she comfortably fit in as a sibling.

Mark did not object so they would not go about making conclusions in his absence.

Kamsi came down wearing a flowered cotton night wear. She sat on the long cushion backing the dining and opposite to the one Maka sat. Mark was sitting adjacent to her on the single sofa that directly faced the television.

" Without wasting time. I will hit the nail on the head," Mark said. He sat up from the relaxed state he had been.

Maka adjusted to face him while Kamsi just stared at the window.

"Everyone knows, I don't tolerate nonsense. I'm a man of high morals," He spoke.

Maka nodded to what he was saying, waiting for him to hit the nail on the head.

" Kamsiriochukwu got a job this year. I think, two months ago or three. She did not tell me. I stopped her from going to that job because it is wrong for a married woman to behave like she had no husband to give her directives," he paused and when he got a nod from Maka, he continued.

" Later on, I decided to get the job for her. With my connections, I reached out to the people that matter and they told her to resume work. I did it. I did it for my wife. I thought I was doing a good thing but had I known!

My wife now comes back from work at ungodly hours. I come back from work and there's nobody at home, no food for me to eat. I tolerated that and all the lies she told till yesterday. "

" Yesterday what happened? " Maka asked.

Kamsi bent her head and tears began to leak again. She could answer the question right.

"Yesterday, he pushed me down on the floor without bothering to look back. He accused me of being unfaithful when all I have done is worship him."

The throb in her head increased as she sucked in air but she said nothing. She raised her head, to find out the more lies her husband was telling.

" ... and I removed her hand from my arm and walked out. I was angry. But after much thought, I have decided that if that work would make my wife disrespect me, she would stop it."

" That's where you are wrong," Kamsi spoke for the first time.

" If I went through that much pain yesterday for my work then I will continue it."

Mark shook his head and laughed. Maka was silent. His utterance was nonsensical and infuriating.

"I thought you are educated ?" she asked.

" So after all I just said that's what you want to ask me? " he asked.

Maka was not backing down. " You should also know that I don't take nonsense. If she does something wrong, I will correct her but yesterday, you pushed this woman, this pregnant woman to the floor on the basis of infidelity. Are you perfect?

She's in pain at the moment and you are sitting here justified to be talking all of that. How many women have you carried in your car, Can you count it?"

The hatred she had for him and all anger was beginning to manifest as she spoke. Her calmness thinned and anger took over.

"Ah, don't let me talk o. What happened in this house yesterday. Should never happen again.  It should never! "

Mark stood up and looked at the two women.

"I see you came to accuse me and not hear me out. I have other things to do today," he said before he went upstairs.

Maka had been staring at Kamsi.

"Why am I the last person to know that you are pregnant? " she asked.

Kamsi shrugged and started to look for the television remote. Maka helped her get it from a stool close to her.

"If you want to be in this marriage and survive, you have to be strong. Be ready for anything . Your husband does not have limits," She said, sitting beside her.

Kamsi just nodded and looked at the door as Mark came in wearing a white polo on jean.

" I have business to attend to, " he said before exiting.

"Nobody checkmates him. He's a free man. Mine is not like that. If I cough, I have to give a reason. I'm even accused wrongly and I can't do anything. " Kamsi said.

Maka wipes the tears away from her eyes. "Ndo. It will be alright. "

Kamsi knew it would be alright. She was not going to suffer alone in marriage forever. The pain she went through yesterday was enough to awaken her, to make her realize the true colours of the life she had been living. She could remember how she managed to climb to the bed after regaining strength. She held her head and writhed in pain. She cried to worsen the pain she felt and she was still crying when Mark came back later that night and climbed into bed. Her heart broke more that he could ignore her upon seeing her in visible pain. It was in the morning that he muttered a very low, 'Sorry ' before getting out of the bed. A part of her knew that her weak heart broke and shattered to become stronger.