The President’s Wife episode 6

TITLE: THE PRESIDENT’S WIFE

WRITTEN BY: OGECHI ALABI

CHAPTER 6

For the rest of that week, he was busy with other interviews and didn’t see Zara. Zara felt he was still very angry with her after their last conversation. She tried to avoid going to see him but for him not to see her for five whole days made her realise she needed to talk to him.

She informed her parents she was going out after Mass on Sunday. Her younger sister Obianuju, called Uju for short, was back from school. She had resumed the kitchen duties. Her parents permitted her to go. From the church, she left for Lere’s house in Ikeja.

It was still early when she got there, it was 9 am. She rang the bell and knocked on the door several times but there was no answer. She remembered the first day she visited him and the same thing happened. She turned to leave. His neighbour saw her and they exchanged greetings.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“I am leaving. I rang the bell and knocked several times but he didn’t come out.”

“His bell is bad but I know he is in,side. You can wait in my flat while I try to wake him up.”

Zara refused to enter his flat but agreed to wait for him to try and wake Lere up. He went to the back of the flat and after some minutes, the front door of Lere’s flat opened. He came outside wearing only a pair of shorts. Zara had never seen him unclad before and she found it difficult to keep eye contact when she saw him.

“I told you he was at home. Your girlfriend almost left; I stopped her,” the neighbour said to Lere.

“Thank you,” both Lere and Zara said at the same time. Lere said to Zara, “Come in.”

They went in,side while she settled in the sitting room, he asked her to give him some time to freshen up. He was away for thirty minutes. He came back out in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He sat down beside Zara and asked, “What are you doing here? I wasn’t expecting you.”

“I hadn’t seen or heard from you in days. What happened?”

“You told me to pursue my dreams and I took up the challenge. Once I am busy pursuing my dreams, I won’t have time to play or visit. That’s what focused people do, right?”

“I made you upset. Ok, I am sorry. Maybe I overreacted.”

“There is nothing to be sorry about, it was a wake-up call. I am good, just tired. Have you eaten? I could get something for us from the eatery.”

“Better still, since I arrived early, we can buy foodstuff to cook. I will cook for you.”

“You will?”

“Yes, I will.”

They went to the market and bought foodstuff. He gave her a t-shirt to change into. Lere helped her in the kitchen to prepare the ingredients. He went to blend the tomatoes, pepper and onions because she didn’t trust the water in the market. She cooked egusi soup and chicken stew. She packed some of the food into small ice cream bowls she saw around and put them in the freezer. She made garri for them to eat with the egusi. They ate together. Lere couldn’t stop praising the food, he took a second helping.

“Can I give your neighbour some food? He was helpful today.”

“Serve it, I will give it to him myself. I don’t trust the guy; he is always asking after you.”

Lere took the food to the neighbour. He showed surprise when he received food. While Lere and Zara were chilling after cleaning up, the neighbour came back with the plate. He thanked Zara.

Lere and Zara’s conversation was cordial. Lere didn’t want to disclose what he was working on until it materialised. Zara’s presence put him in a precarious position. In the kitchen, he wanted to hug her from behind but he felt she might not like it. k!$sing her in the house could lead to him trying to cajole her and he knew she would freak out. He decided to put her on the s₱0t.

“I heard something about you. Tell me, how many lovers have you had?”

“Private topic and completely out of bounds.”

“But we are dating. I want to know. Or you have never had a lover?”

“You wish.”

“So I won’t be your first. What of the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth should I continue counting?”

“If you wish. Why is it so important?”

“I want to know your level of experience so I will know how to handle it when we get to that bridge,” he replied, winking at her.

“I have to go now.”

“You are running away. Why are you going? I enjoy your company. How long have we been doing this and we haven’t moved to the next level? What’s holding you back? I am not going to force you but tell me why we can only hug and k!$s when our bodies want more?”

“We can discuss that in the car, I have to be on my way.”

Lere stood up, grabbed his keys, held out his hand to help her stand up, took her in his arms and k!$sed her. This was different for both of them. There was a hunger and a desire. Lere pulled Zara closer to him and then pinned her to the wall. He wanted to do more than k!$s her; it took a lot of strong will to stop him from going beyond. Even Zara was panting and lost from the k!$s. Her body yearned for more which she feared it would succumb to if offered. Lere stopped short and went into his room. He stayed there for about five minutes before he returned and said “Let’s go.”

When Lere left Zara, he decided he would be everything she wanted and more. He was going to be very successful as she desired to be. He was ready to take the bull by the horn and transform himself for this girl. She had made him see things in a different light. She ignited the fire to succeed in him. She avoided going to see him again.

Lere came to see her during the Christmas holiday. They spent New’s eve into the New year in the church together. He took her home through the back gate. They spent more than thirty minutes talking and planning.

As he took her to Abeokuta when she finally left for service, he gave her the good news. He had gotten a better job. He told her about the two offers and how he finally settled for the telecommunications company. He had a very good position, the head of Media relations. Zara couldn’t believe her ears. She was very happy for him.

Lere looked at her smiling face and said, “You made me do it. You made me challenge myself and here I am. The job will keep me very busy and I won’t see you every weekend but I will see you any chance I can, I promise.”

Zara got accommodation a taxi drop to her bank branch. It was a mini-flat. She went to buy the items she would use in the flat and also brought some of the things she used in school.

The compound had many corpers residing there. There were ten mini-flats and the caretaker’s flat. Halima and Joy shared a mini-flat; Halima got there before there was no more vacancy. Joy came late and opted to stay with Halima. Halima and Joy got posted to the House of Assembly. The trio all left together to work since they worked in the same vicinity.

On Zara’s first day at work, five men talked to her and wanted to know where she lived so they could visit. She turned them down. Another set dropped their cards. She was getting the attention she didn’t like.

The branch manager drafted her out from the customer service department to Marketing. The branch wanted the secretariat and state government accounts. Since he observed the attention Zara was getting from men, he decided to use her as bait.

Zara found the Marketing department interesting. The branch manager went out with Zara on calls. The male customers found her attractive and wanted to date her but she was polite when turning them down. Many of them believed opening an account with the bank would encourage Zara to date them but that wasn’t the case. Zara was naive and didn’t realise what she was being used for.

Lere came to visit Zara three weeks after she had resumed at the bank. As an employee of the telecommunication company, he received two lines and phones. He brought one to Zara. She was the first to own a GSM phone in her branch, even then the manager didn’t have one. Zara’s status changed.

During that visit, Lere and Zara talked. Lere confessed his love for Zara. He hoped by heeding her advice of getting a well paying job, he had convinced her he would do anything to make her happy. Zara assured him she was.

“Then let’s take this to the next level.”

“What do you mean?”

“Let’s be exclusive.”

“I thought we were exclusive. Or have you been with anyone else?”

“I promised you I wouldn’t but you are depriving me of love and affection. I want that from you.”

“Are you saying you got this job so you could make me have s-× with you?”

“Zara! That’s not what I said.”

“So, what are you saying?”

“That I want to be with you. Yeah, I want to make love to you but it is more important to make you mine. I am in Lagos and I don’t know what is happening here in Abeokuta. I saw all the guys that live in the building with you, I am scared. I know you will call me insecure but it’s love. I don’t want to lose you. I don’t want someone else to be eating the food I am preserving.”

“If I was that type of girl, I would have s-× with you and many others here because you will still cling to me. But I told you I wasn’t in a hurry. I want to know my feelings first and if what you feel for me is genuine. What have I done wrong? I am a decent girl from a decent family. You made me do things I wouldn’t dream of doing. Ask Tiwa. So, if you are not happy with the way the relationsh¡p is right now, You can call it quits; I will understand.”

“Are you joking? After all, I invested in this relationsh¡p. My time, energy and emotions. I gave up friendsh¡ps and casual s-× to be with you, it won’t end like that.”

Zara smiled. “Then be patient with me. We have come this far to not move forward. I have also invested in this relationsh¡p for me to give it up. I won’t disrespect you by cheating on you for any reason.”

Lere was calm and a lot more confident after this discussion. He took her to the market to buy food items. She cooked and he ate. She invited her two friends over, and they ate too. Lere spent the night in her room. She was with him until it was late. He asked her to sleep on the bed with him but she refused, she couldn’t take chances. She slept in her friends’ room.

When he left on Sunday, he asked for a k!$s in the room. Zara left the door wide open when they were in there together. They k!$sed. They both knew if they continued something would definitely happen. Lere was ready for it but Zara wasn’t. She ended it.