Sinners and Saints II

Chapter 4

"Can't sleep?"

Adaora snapped out of her thoughts the moment she heard her husband's warm voice, followed by his footsteps as he tried to be as quiet as possible the moment he walked into the medium sized bedroom, dabbing his afro with his towel to stop all that water from wetting the rug.

Adaora slowly turned to her seven year old, who was fast asleep on the bed, making sure her husband's voice had not woken her up yet.

Olivia was still very much deep in her sleep. She took a deep breath, returning her gaze to her yellow night dress, suddenly stretching her numb legs and brightening her face so Steven didn't have to see just how troubled she was. But she was too late.

"What's wrong?" Now he was coming closer to her, a dashing look of concern all over his face. "You've been in your thoughts for days now. " he slowly reached for her hands. Adaora exhaled. "Is anything the matter?"

She shook her head. The last thing she needed was giving her husband a reason to worry about everything that had been going on at work. She knew she couldn't tell him just how suffocated she was becoming especially since after her meeting with her boss. She didn't want to give him any room to doubt her or insist that she had to quit her job because she knew how much they both needed that job.

"It's nothing." She managed to force a smile on her face. "It's just work stress that's all."

But this was her husband though. The one person in the world she couldn't lie to and even if she did, she knew he always found a way to read through her, just like he was doing at that moment. She could already sense that he knew she wasn't being completely honest. Just how long did she think she could actually pull it off?

"Come on," He pushed closer to her, "Tell me what's bothering you."

Adaora stared at him for a second. It looked like he really wanted to know and he wasn't going to stop asking till she gave him the answers he was looking for. She drew a deep breath and then turned to her fingers. She fidgeted them again.

"I uh-" her voice broke. "It's my boss." She slowly raised her head to meet his concerned face. She watched her husband twitch his brows like he was trying to make meaning of what she said.

"You mean your supervisor?"

"No." She shook her head. "The big boss."

Steven thought for a while, just for a while till he got it.

"Randy?"

Adaora let out an exasperated sigh.
"Yes." She told him.

"O-Kay," Steven rubbed his wet hands on his pajamas, not daring to take his gaze off her. Adaora thought for a while, she needed a way to say what she was about to, to her husband without hurting his feelings.

"He told me he wants to have a sort of relationship with- me." She broke her last two words, biting her lip as she watched him carefully to see his reaction. Steven narrowed his brows for a second, he wasn't sure he understood what she meant.

He puffed air into his cheeks like he was about to say "what" and then stoped for a second.

"I— I don't understand. What sort of a relationship?"
Adaora rolled her eyes, wondering if he was just being ignorant or he just wanted to hear the words from her mouth. He got it now. He could read the signs perfectly. He stammered. "O-k-ay," He continued. "Really?" He asked her. She nodded. Steven looked away. He was trying to think of what to say. He slowly turned back to her.

"Maybe he doesn't know you're married."

"That's the point Steven," she continued. "He's well aware of that fact. He just doesn't care." He squinted his eyes. "I'm doing all I can to avoid him everyday but he won't just stop. He won't stop insinuating that he wants us to be together."