HEREMAKONO ( AWAITING HAPPINESS )

Chapter Eighteen. Part Two

" Nnadia, what is it again?" Abdullah snapped at her. He was beyond stressed and frustrated at the fact that even after spending hours just sitting in his car, that too in the cold. Patiently waiting for time to run faster, so that he can come home to meet his wife sleeping peacefully. And now here she was, waiting up late just to nag him.

" I should be the one asking you. What is wrong with you, Abdullah? Who even comes home from work at this hour?" Nnadia asked but got no reply. Her husband was busy massaging his forehead and avoiding her gaze.

" I barely get to see you these days. For two whole weeks, you've been playing hide and seek with me. You don't call me, and when I call, you either ignore or your replies are so cold, they make me shiver. As if that's not enough, I can't remember the last time you touched me. Don't I look attractive to you anymore? Are you tired of me?" Nnadia let out all that has been bothering her the past few days. The way Abdullah has been behaving has really been shocking to her. Even his mom had noticed, she had asked Nnadia earlier that evening if they had fought.

" Answer me, Hubby, don't you feel the same way about me anymore? Is it because I've put on some weight?" Nnadia inquired innocently. She was getting more worried by the second.

' Don't look at her Abdullah. Just remember that you're doing this for her sake. The farther away you get from her, the better. Don't allow her one gaze to melt your resolve.' He reminded himself mentally.

Turning his face to the wall, Abdullah replied. " Look, Nnadia, I don't have time for this. Marriage is not all about intimacy. If that's your only expectation of me, then I'm sorry. Please move, let me get some sleep in peace." Nnadia watched him in shock, as he removed his shoes and climbed the bed.

" Really, Abdullah? After all that I've said, the only conclusion you make out of it is that I want to be intimate with you?" She asked him in a cracked voice.

" Isn't that why you stayed up this late to wait for me, to have sex. Am I right?" Abdullah said irritatedly. Nnadia started sobbing immediately. She couldn't believe her ears. One gaze at her and Abdullah regained his senses. He got up to go to her but she quickly rushed out of the room. Abdullah kicked the bed so hard, he felt his leg sprain.

" I can't do anything right. In order to avoid hurting her, I just ended up causing her more pain." He yelled at himself. He tried taking a step to follow her but he stopped himself in the process.

" It's probably better this way. I want her to hate me so much that if she ever finds out that I cheated, it wouldn't be as heartbreaking as it's supposed to." He told himself.

Nnadia had run into the first empty room that she could find. She didn't want anyone to find out that they had fought. She cried silently as her heart tugged with pain. She really couldn't believe that her ever-loving and polite husband would talk to her like that.

' Something must definitely be wrong somewhere.' she thought.

" But whatever it is, Abdullah really hurt me with his words tonight. I'm his wife. His wife and he spoke to me like some cheap woman." Nnadia sobbed harder.

' Aren't we supposed to be partners? Teammates. He is free to tell me about all his problems, not take them out on me.' she thought again.

" I won't take this behavior from you, Abdullah, I won't." She screamed.

Like any other woman who gets hurt by their husband, Nnadia was expecting Abdullah to come running and apologize to her, but he didn't. That's another thing that scared her. Was his feelings for her really changing? Tears of pain flowed from both their eyes in their separate rooms. The couple didn't get any sleep that night.