The Affair

34. Admissions and Confessions

When we are guilty of an act, it's in the best interest of everyone to admit our wrongs no matter how difficult doing so may be or seem to be.

It was as though the air had been sucked out of the room. Everyone watched with bated breath, their eyes following Ebuka's movement as he stormed out of Eva's hospital room slamming the door after him.

His departure left the room in a deathly silence that no one was willing to break.

'Ev...'

Everyone's attention shifted to the knock at the door as Doctor Audu stepped in, his eyes focused on the papers in his hands.

'Miss Chukwu, have you finally decided on which address you want to have as your contact addre... oh.' He stopped finally looking up and immediately picking up on the tension in the room. 'Uhmm... I can come back later if now isn't a good time.'

Eva was the first to respond.

'It's fine Doctor.' She replied with a strained smile. Then she turned to face Kosi and Hope. 'Could you both please excuse me while I speak to my doctor?'

Hope headed straight for the door and stopped, her eyes on Kosi as he remained rooted to the spot. He seemed unsure as to whether or not to listen to Eva and leave. Doctor Audu scratched his head uncomfortably.

'Don't worry Miss Chukwu. I can come back much later.' He replied, clearly uncomfortable.

Doctor Audu turned to leave but Eva's voice stopped him.

'Doctor Audu, please, stay. Kosi, Hope, leave my hospital room. NOW!'

Kosi marched towards Eva's bed stubbornly.

'Eva please just hear me out, hear us out...'

Kosi began motioning to Hope who was still by the door. 'I know what Ebuka said...'

'Is it true?'

'What?'

'Is what Ebuka said true?'

Kosi glanced at Doctor Audu and then Eva. 'Sweetheart please, let's not do this here.'

'Don't.'

'Sweetheart...'

'Don't you fucking dare call me sweetheart! You have no right to say that to me! To call me that!'

Eva's nostril flared as she screamed at Kosi. Without a word, Hope quietly turned the door handle, about to open it.

'Oh don't think for one second I forgot about you miss best friend. You are supposed to be my husbands best friend! You were supposed to be my friend too!'

Hope let go of the handle and turned to face Eva, her arms crossed.

'Don't play that card with me. I'm not supposed to be your anything. And let us not forget that you cheated on Kosi first, with Ebuka! Don't go blaming Kosi when you were giving someone else what you were depriving him.'

Eva, Doctor Audu and Kosi stared at Hope in shock. It took a few seconds before Eva found her voice.

'You bitch! How dare you?! You have no right! Absolutely no right to tell me anything about me, my life or my marriage! And you!' She turned to look at Kosi 'I don't ever want to see you or you,' she screamed pointing at Hope 'Ever again in my life!'

Kosi looked like he was about to break into pieces. He took one more step towards Eva in an attempt to plead with her.

'Babe, please, don't throw away everything we've built over the years because of my one mistake.'

Eva let out a cold laugh. One that chilled Kosi.

'I didn't throw everything away, neither am I about to. You did! The moment you slept with her,' Eva screamed pointing at Hope. 'The moment you made this, one mistake as you call it, you threw our marriage away! So don't come to me acting all hypocritical like you did something as trivial as taking meat from my pot of stew. No! You ruined everything! You broke us.'

The last part came out as a broken whisper. Eva looked down at her hands. They were shaking, she was shaking.

'To think all the while Ebuka kept coming at me I struggled with myself. I pushed aside whatever feeling I had for him because I am married to you, because of the vows we said at the altar 2 years ago. Even when he kissed me...' her voice broke. '...when he kissed me I felt so dirty and pained cause I didn't want to hurt you.' She sniffed as a tears began streaming down her cheeks.

'For weeks, you kept accusing me of doing something with Ebuka. You kept thinking I cheated or am cheating on you with him. You even kicked me out of our home! Our home Kosi! The house we bought together, planned to have children in!'

Kosi stood rooted at the spot unable to look at Eva. Pain and guilt written all over his face. Eva's eyes went wide in realization.

'Wait! Don't tell me! In our house?! On our bed?! That same night you kicked me out you slept with her on our fucking marital bed?!'

Eva's heart monitor began beeping at a dangerous rate. Unable to remain still, Doctor Audu rushed to Eva's side.

'Eva. Eva you need to calm down. You're not strong enough to handle this level of stress.'

'Doctor no! leave me! Leave me let me give this bastard a piece of my mind! Do you know the kind of emotional stress he put me under?! And then he brought his whore here to disrespect me?! What the fuck is she still doing here?! Why did you even come here with her?! To mock me?!'

Without listening, Doctor Audu barked some orders into the telephone by Eva's bed side while watching her heart monitor. It kept rising.

'Miss Chukwu! If you don't calm down you could have a heart attack. Miss Chukwu! Eva! Listen to me!'

But Eva wasn't listening, her entire focus was on Kosi who was so riddled with guilt he couldn't move his feet to either come closer or to leave the room entirely.

'I never cheated on you! Never! But you did! I'm in the hospital today because of you! If you hadn't kicked me out of our home, I wouldn't have been in this accident! I nearly died because of your insecurities!'

Immediately, two male nurses rush into Eva's room. They pushed past Hope who still stood by the door rolling in a cart containing needles with small bottles laying next to them. The two nurses held a hysterical Eva down.

'Noooo! Don't hold me! Leave me alone! I hate you Kosi! I hate you with every fibre of my being! Your very presence disgusts me and I never ever want to see you again!'

Kosi's eyes sting at the venom and pain behind her words. While the nurses hold Eva down, Doctor Audu injects Eva and she not long after, her body relaxes and her eyes drifts close.

'That's it go to sleep.' Doctor Audu mumurs.

In mere seconds, Eva is fast asleep on the bed. Doctor Audu whispers some things to the nurses before letting them leave the room. As soon as they close the door behind them Kosi speaks.

'I'm so sorry. I'm so so sorry.'

He falls to the ground sobbing inconsolably. Hope joins him on the floor, trying to calm him.

'In all the years I've known Eva, I've never ever seen her act this way. She's right, it's my fault.'

Doctor Audu looked at Eva's sleeping form and then at Kosi and Hope on the floor.

'Whatever happened, whatever you did to hurt her, that's between you and your wife. It concerns me not. As Eva's Doctor, I'll request that you not be here when she eventually wakes up.'