The Wife Diaries - Episode Four

“Nkem, what’s going on? it’s 3 am in the morning. Is everything okay?” I got up from the bed and was now pacing the room.

“I’ll tell you when I get there, please. I..I can’t talk right now,” she hiccuped.

“Is Nick with you?”

“No..”

“Okay, I’ll tell them to open the gate for you.”

At this my husband sat up quickly from bed and looked at me with confusion written all over his face.

“She’s coming here?” He asked as soon as I hung up.

“Yeah. She was crying and Nick’s not with her.”

“Um…okay…so how long is she staying for?”

“I don’t know! I couldn’t ask her that, she was crying!” I snapped at him. I was a little taken back by his question, you’d think he would be more concerned about her welfare than how long she was staying with us.


“Right. Babe relax, it’s most likely a marital issue that will soon blow over, you know that. I’m just wondering how soon is all.”

“I don’t know.”

I turned my back on him and called the gate man to open the gate for Nkem. He was pissing me off with his nonchalant attitude anyway.

“Nnamdi, Nkem go dey gate now now, open gate for am eh?”

“Yes ma,” his voice croaked over the phone “Ma? na Aunty Nkem wey dey gate since? I dey hear horn dey blow for night, bet I sure say no be anytin as sleep dey sweet me small small.” He chuckled “Bet I tink he don tay way e been dey wait outside sha.”

“Really? Oya go open gate for am now.”

I heard him unlock the gates and shift the bolts, so I quickly put on my shorts and t-shirt while my husband drifted back to cloud 9. He was sprawled on the bed, and even taking up my space, so I hissed spitefully at his sleeping form and ran downstairs.

Nkem burst into the house, just as I opened the front door, sobbing like someone had just killed her child. I panicked and asked after him.

“He’s fine…He’s…at home” she sobbed and hiccuped.

“I don’t know what to do..I don’t know” She cried and clutched her belly.

“Nkem, some and sit down and tell me what’s happening.” I led her to the sitting room. “If Nick so much as touched you, so help me I will go over there and finish him up!” I declared in anger. She stopped crying and looked at me like I just lost my mind.

“Wha.?” awkward silence.

“OK, maybe I won’t finish him up, he’s a big guy jeez. I’ll just get the hubby to do it.”

That made her smile a little.

“So what’s happening? What’s shele-ing? What are all these tears about?” I asked her in a mock yoruba accent.

Tears began to stream from her eyes again and after a minute she whispered,

“I’m pregnant.”

“Oh! but that’s wonderful news Nkem!” I clapped my hands and was going to hug her.

“No..it’s not.”

“Why not?”

She sniffed “It’s not Nick’s.” She looked at me and dropped her eyes.

I felt the ground below me cave in, and at that moment I knew what it really meant to be dumbstruck. The brief silence that ensued was broken by

“Ooo-kay. Wrong time to step into the room I guess,” I heard my husband chuckle nervously.

We both look up to see him standing awkwardly by the door with two glass cups in one hand and a tall Ragolis bottle in the other. His expression told me he would rather be sitting through a Tonto Dike movie than be in the room right now, and I knew how tough that was for him.

“Uh... I’m just gonna uh... I’ll be...” He was already halfway up the stairs and never did finish that sentence.

“Nkem..how?” I looked at my friend.

This is the girl I knew since I was a child, she never traded best friends, I was her one and only even after we fought. She hated confrontation so she did all she could to not cause trouble and was always eager to fix any problems between us. This used to annoy me, but after I hadn’t seen her for years, I began to miss that trait in her. So you can imagine my shock hearing.

1) that she was unfaithful to Nick and 2) that she did not tell me.

She just shook her head and sniffled. Her eyes were pinned to the floor and she would not look me in the face. This was all so new.

“I’m a mess.” She finally murmured.

The silence afterwards was really heartbreaking and within me, I could feel the turmoil happening in her mind, the war with self that raged within her and it hurt me.

“Nkem..You know me, I love you, what happened?” I knelt in front of her, grasped her palms and bent my head to look at her face. A lone tear drop fell to the ground between us and she sniffled again.

“I don’t know how to start telling you.”


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The Wife Diaries was first published on Naijastories by IntheQuiet. Check out her portfolio here, and you may find some more installments of this series too :)