Stigma episode 6 – finale
Stigma episode 6
Story by Christabel Ogbogu-Nwoko
That same day, it was almost passed midnight and Francis wasn’t back yet, she picked her phone and dialed his number but it was switched off. Natasha started panicking and almost ran mad. She dialed her husband ‘s number uncountable times that night, but the phone remained the same.
Throughout that night, sleep was far away from Natasha’s eyes, she was extremely worried of where her husband was. She wallowed in regrets all night and kept praying that God would bring her husband back to her. She wished she could turn back time to the day Francis proposed to her, she wished she told him everything about her past reckless lifestyle. “Assuming he left then it won’t be as painful as I am feeling right now” Natasha told herself.
On the other hand, Francis travelled out of the country that morning , He parked his car at the parking lot in the airport, before he boarded the plane . He switched off his phones and left it in,side his car parked at the airport. He wanted to stay far away to think of what the fate of his marriage with Natasha would be.
Tears fell from his eyes when he remembered how he promised Natasha eternal love and happiness.
All through that night, Francis couldn’t sleep either as he thought of Natasha and thier little daughter Nicole “But she was once a pr-stitute, she slept with too many men, how am I supposed to live with the fact that my wife was once a pr-stitute and to make matters worse, she concealed it even when she was blackmailed, she didn’t tell me and she was about to give away 10million, when I caught her” he thought to himself.
Francis kept contemplating on whether to involve his parents or just work things out with his wife alone. He blamed himself for not paying attention to Natasha’s emotional outbursts when he remembered that evening when his wife cried for no reason, “I need enough time alone to think, if I want to go ahead with this marriage or not” he said to himself.
Months passed and there was still no word from Francis nor his whereabouts.
Things were getting out of hand and Natasha planned to visit her in-laws, and inform them about everything that’s going on in thier marriage, but on a second thought she was discouraged, ” If i visit them, won’t they judge me or make the situation worse?, cause no parents would want their son to marry a girl like me, where will I start from and how will i explain to them, how will I tell them that I once sold my body for money, that will be worst” Natasha thought to herself.
Natasha became frustrated, she was heart broken and tired. With the look of things, Francis will never come back, she decided to end everything, she decided to commit suicide, she was so certain that Nicole will be well taken care of by her siblings or by her husband’s parents.
One morning, It was 7:00 am on Monday, September 2nd. two days to their wedding Anniversary, she had already written two letters , one to her siblings apologizing for what she was about ready to do. And the other letter to her husband, she left the two letters on the reading table, where some one could easily see it.
The letter For her husband reads:
” My Husband, please find it in your heart to forgive me, I’m about to face the consequence of my actions, I’m about to end everything, but please forgive me, I didn’t mean to hurt you or to deceive you, even before you came into my life, I regretted the reckless lifestyle I lived, because the stigma of my past kept haunting me, everywhere. please take care of our daughter and I’m sorry that our love story ended like this, I couldn’t live without you”
Natasha sat on her bed crying, she brought out a bottle containing sleeping pills, she counted 100 pills, she was about to swallow half of the pills in the bottle, when a familiar voice said , “Natasha please don’t do this”, she quickly wiped her tears, she didn’t hear when the person opened the door and walked right into the room, She was engulfed with sorrow.
The sight of the person in,side her room almost gave her a heart attack, she didn’t know when she scre-med “ Francis, My love, you are back!”. Francis got hold of Natasha’s note that she left on the reading table, he was crying bitterly and he wondered what would have happened if he didn’t return that day and at the right time, he quickly hugged Natasha so tight and wept like a child.
“What were you thinking, what would have happened to me or to our daughter if your suicide attempt was successful, you should have known that I will return to you because I love you so much” Francis said tearfully
The sight of Francis, standing in front of Natasha, brought unexplainable joy and relief to her, that she didn’t even know when she started crying. It’s been more than three month since Francis angrily left the house without telling her or anyone where he was going to. Natasha was mute as francis stood in front of her.
she had so many things to say to him but she didn’t know how to start, Francis and Natasha hugged each other and cried in each other’s shoulder till Francis got hold of himself and he then tried to console Natasha.
First he took a deep breath and said “I know you hide the truth not because you want to be deceptive but rather because you are scared of losing me, but you know i truly love you and nothing would have changed if you would have told me about your past, Everyone has a past they aren’t proud of, so this is yours and it’s so sad you choose to hide yours from me even when Ben threatened you, I was so hurt that’s why I left, but I never stopped loving you even for a second, I went for therapy so I can heal and then return home but I thank God that I returned when you needed me the most because I will have not forgiven myself if anything bad happened to you, I love you so much my wife and I’m so very proud of you”
To the degree that you can bear with someone’s fault and frailties is the depth of your love for them.
The capacity of love is not determined by feelings but by it’s ability to FORGIVE, FORGET and FORGE AHEAD in the face of every crisis and challenge.
True love will ALWAYS FIND A WAY to forgive hurts, overlook differences and forge ahead after every storm.
Love your spouse unconditionally.
The End.