Love Lies And Divorce – episode 6

LOVE, LIES AND DIVORCE
EPISODE 6

‘What have we done Abdul…?’ Lola felt morbid with regret…what had she done?
‘Something we would do again….’ he smacked her backside and k-ssed her mouth hungrily.
She smiled as she looked at his picture…the man that had stolen her heart three years ago, that year would make it the fourth since he was gone and she still couldn’t get over him…

Zainab had helped her get better the other day…of all her friends, Zainab was one who could turn a gloomy situation into a gloomy one.
She would be twenty eight years old in a few weeks time and she hadn’t thought of re-marrying or dating…men kept coming up to her but they would never understand that she was still in love with her Frederick.
Was it that hærd for them?
She applied a generous amount of foundation on her face, Edima Bassey was a pharmacist and they had a seminar going on …she had to be there as early as possible…

She had made up her mind not to have anything to do with men for a while…she would keep off them till she was ready to go out of her way and love again…
Till she was ready to give her heart out to another…it was such a risky thing to do…
‘what do we have here…’? she smacked her l-ips as her phone buzzed…she had sent Lola a message on watsapp but she was yet to reply…what was going on? She desperately hoped her friend was okay…she had to be…
She sighed and dropped the phone back in her purse…it was a reminder from the Pharmacists Association Nigeria about the seminar…
Sometimes she wished Lola could divorce Femi, that man was no good…he toyed with her feelings, he was obnoxious and proud…all because he was a wealthy man….
But Lola was fixed on him, she loved her husband more than anything else in the world…sadly, he didn’t feel same about her…

Zainab had talked to her on phone the other day, though she didn’t give them details about what Lola had filled her in on…one look at Zee’s face could tell you, Femi had done something terrible to Lola…
And there was Amaka who had acted like she was menopausal…what was happening to her friends? She lined her l-ips quickly and mentally rehearsed her plans for the day…she would call her friends later…
‘oops…’ she k-ssed the picture on her table and rushed out…she hoped she wouldn’t be caught in traffic as she had an important part to play at the seminar…
The Seminar wasn’t a national matter, it was meant for pharmacists who resided in the western part of the country, so there was not much crowd…
She parked her car in the area allotted for cars and slipped out of with her briefcase and her identity card hanging down her neck.

‘Welcome Mrs Bassey…get prepared, you’re up next…’ the President of the Association whispered into her ears and she suddenly felt nervous…she hadn’t expected to give the lecture on ‘drug abuse among professionals’ so quickly…
‘You look nervous…..’ the man’s cologne unsettled her brain…her eyes peered at the man that owned that beautiful voice.
‘I…don’t know…maybe…’ she struggled to tear her eyes off of him as his kind gaze travelled over her face…
‘excuse me, that would be my name…’ her voice was shaky as she was called forth to deliver the lecture…she had never felt this nervous….why did his voice tickle her nerves ?
She forced the thoughts of him out of her mind and gave herself a sound advice as she climbed the stage, the crowd was kind enough to applaud her which helped her shaky feet steady…
He was still staring at her, hell, everyone was but why did she feel unnerved by his gaze? …he looked like a man in his thirties, he was darkly handsome and his mouth wore this permanent smile…like he was always in a good mood?
He wasn’t tall, she observed him as she scanned the hall…he had good hair, his head was a mass of black curls…his brows were well shaved and haughty…
His nose was straight and solid…he was a very cute guy , she decided and forced herself to focus on what she’d come to do….
‘Goodmorning Ladies and gentlemen, ….I am Mrs Edima Bassey and I am here to present a lecture on Drug Use among Medical Professionals….what is Drug Use? Let us start with the definition of terms….’ She slipped on her glasses and began to lecture….

‘her husband is dead…why wouldn’t she change her name…’? the woman beside him seemed displeased…her statement further relieved him of the tension that had built within when he had heard her full name….
‘my god? Am I that desperate to hit on a married woman’? That was Omale’s first thought when he had heard her name…
Omale Ibrahim was a medical doctor, one of his pharmacist friends had invited him for the seminar and he had been willing to attend, he loved seminars and conferences and all forms of gathering that sought to impact knowledge about socio-medical realities….

He was a very open minded person and was ready to listen to what anybody had to offer, provided it was something rich and meaningful…
So she was a widow? Could he handle that? He didn’t know why, but from the moment she’d walked into that hall, he just couldn’t take his eyes off her…

He reminded her of someone he’d really cared about once before….he reminded her of his late wife, Ene.
They had been married for just a year, that was the happiest part of his thirty six years life on earth…but why was happiness elusive?

One waited patiently for it most times and when finally found…it vanished without trace…he had struggled with depression over the years not understanding why God should take his wife during childbirth…
He blamed himself for it….what else could he do? Someone had to bear the blame…her death brought him unimaginable pain…
But with help and love from his family, he was able to overcome the power of depression and guilt…God had seen him through that dark tunnel and he had seen the light.

He no longer wallowed in self pity and hate…neither was he bitter about God’s decision…he accepted it as part of God’s plan for his life and had moved on.
But he still found himself unable to love, not just unable but terrified at the prospect of trusting another with your wh0le heart…what if the person died again? How would he overcome another affliction?
She was very poise and confident and he loved the way she spoke…her English was polished and without any trace of accent….she was comfortable in her skin, he observed and smiled when she made a funny statement…

And she did have a good sense of humour… she wasn’t tall or short, her ebony skin was complemented by the red suit she wore…she looked like a rose in morning light…
Beauty and brains all wrapped into one, even the way she smiled reminded him of Ene and he shifted uncomfortable as the dimples on her cheeks betrayed her…
How could two people be so alike? That sort of thing usually happened in the movies, he liked her, she intrigued him and he was curious to know her more…

Maybe it was time to find love again, trying wouldn’t hurt him a bit….he quickly slipped off his marriage ring he’d been wearing for four years since after her demise…
It was time to start a new life…and something deep down spoke to him, he felt the gentle wave envelope his being…he had found the woman he had been waiting for…
This time he wasn’t plagued by what harm may come to her or about their future…he only cared for this moment…he was the first to rise and applaud her as she concluded the lecture.

…. To Be Continued

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