Sinners and Saints II

Chapter 36

September 23rd 1996

Rafael had his eyes glued to the book in front of him. For an eleven year old, he had quite an interest in reading a lot, pretending not to be disturbed and distracted by his sister's constant humming as she wrote into her diary. He knew she was just being that way intentionally to get him mad. What he also knew was that he wasn't going to satisfy her desire to annoy him.

Rafael exhaled and then rose his head a bit the moment he heard loud footsteps running from the stairs. It had been a while since anyone in the house seemed to be in such a hurry to go somewhere. It made him turn his direction a bit to the door leading outside the small library, his frown worsening as he watched Sommadinah walk past it as fast as she could, her eyes glued to her front. It was like she was in a hurry to meet with someone or do something and with the way she had not even bothered to turn to acknowledge their presence, he just had a strange feeling to want to see why his mother looked so worrried.

Rafael slowly got up from his seat. He wasn't enjoying sitting there anymore anyway. Not with the way his older sister kept humming loudly. He followed his mother till he watched her walk into the living room, giving him the time to hide behind the wall before anyone noticed him. He peeped into the room, trying to be as careful as ever.

There was a woman inside. A woman his mother was hurrying to meet. A woman with the most sad eyes Rafael had ever seen. He watched how both women had their eyes glued to one another furiously, wondering why his mother looked so irritated even if the woman looked more scared of her.

"You have some nerve coming to my house like this." He went numb the moment he heard his mother's cold voice. "If it's my husband you came to see, then I'd have to disappoint you because as you know, he's not home. It'd be impossible to continue from where you both stopped before."

The lady exhaled and then took a tiny step forward to Sommadinah, holding on firm to her bag with her shaky hands. She had the most sincere look in her eyes. She was really beautiful.

"I'm not here to see the chairman, Mrs Okonkwo. I'm here to see you."

Sommadinah scoffed in disgust, letting a wry smile curve itself on her lips.

"And why is that? Have you come to have my blessings?"

"I came to clear the air. To clear things out with you. To clear the news about pictures on the news about your husband and I. Nothing happened between us. Someone is obviously trying to frame us both."

Sommadinah scoffed.

"Frame you?" She chuckled sarcastically for a while. "Who on earth do you think you are that anyone would try to frame, moreover with my husband?" She asked the woman who just started at her with her eyes glued to her. "What about the day I caught you both at the office? I caught my husband on top of you, holding you. Was that a set up too?"

"Mrs Okonkwo." The lady took another step to Sommadinah. It was getting obvious now that she was scared.

"You have no shame at all. " Sommadinah continued. "A married woman having a secret affair with a married man. I could never have been more disgusted."

"Nothing happened between us-"

"It was you. You're the reason he had been neglecting this family for a while now. You're the reason why he missed his son's birthday, missed all the family dinners and vacations. You bewitched my husband, turned yourself into his mistress. And I promise you, I'd make you eat the fruit of your labour. I'd bring suffering and pain to you like you've never seen before. I'd destroy you for what you did to my family, for breaking my home."

Rafael could hear his mother's voice shake. He could hear the pain in her voice and could almost tell she already had tears in her eyes. He narrowed his gaze to the woman standing in front of her. He could see her perfectly.