Thorn between episode 55

TITLE: TORN BETWEEN

WRITTEN BY OGECHI ALABI

LIFE GOES ON 7

The following morning, Thelma created a scene in the presence of the children. Peter and Paul heard the commotion arrived at the scene. The maid woke Eucharia up from Mama’s room to see what was happening. She did not know it was Thelma, she thought something had happened at her house. On getting there, she saw other family members.

Thelma held Adim tightly by his shirt. She was crying and shouting at the same time. Everyone watched her instead of diffusing the situation. Eucharia came closer and asked the children to enter the house. Other people who gathered were asked to leave except direct family members. She asked Thelma to let Adim go, but she refused. Peter told her he had begged her to release him but refused. Eucharia told her, “I cannot help you if you will not help yourself. You are using your pregnancy as an excuse to wreak havoc on this family. What is all this? Early in the morning, you are creating a scene outside. Release him or we will all leave here and allow you to do what you want.”

Thelma refused to release Adim. Eucharia asked Adim if he was ok, and he said he was. She went into her house to attend to the children who were preparing to leave. Njideka and Prisca went in with her while Peter and Paul stayed outside in case things escalated. The children carried their luggage onto the bus. Eucharia stopped the twins from coming outside but they had to eventually when they were ready to go. Urenna took them to the bus.

Thelma screamed from where she was, “My children aren’t getting on that bus, let them come down and enter my house.”

“You are holding their father by his collar and giving orders, who are you giving orders to? Come and remove them from the bus. Adim is more important to you than your sons. The children are watching you misbehave, isn’t it shameful? What got into you this morning?” Eucharia replied to her.

“Onyekachi come down from the bus now!” The children did not attempt to come down. She was raving and shouting until Adim asked the driver to move and they left.

Eucharia went back into the house to quickly bathe and change from her nightwear. She had decided she would not say a word to Thelma anymore. She did not listen to her and it meant she was beyond redemption.

Eucharia sat with Njideka and Prisca in the sitting room when they heard screaming. They ran out to find their uncle with them. He asked Thelma to release Adim but she refused. A crowd was gathering again and he did not like it. He appealed to her, but she would not listen. He tried to remove her hand by force, and she struck him (it was a reflex action). Nda slapped her back harder than expected. Her hand fell from its hold as she screamed. Next, she held Nda by the collar of his T-shirt. Adim left them there and entered the house to change. Peter and Paul tried to make her stop, but she refused. She screamed profanities at the Uncle, Adim, Eucharia and the rest of the family. When Adim came back outside after changing, he told everyone to go about their duties, “Nda’s wife will handle Thelma and she will regret her actions this morning. I am going to call her to see the spectacle Thelma has made her husband. It’s better a woman fights her fellow woman.” He went to call her.

Everyone left them. Njideka dragged Eucharia away to Mama’s house. Flora came to the scene, saw what was going on and left immediately. She had no interest in Thelma’s drama. She was digging her grave without knowing it. Adim loved peace, and that is why he loved Eucharia. She gave him what he wanted. Thelma was fun and well-behaved until she gave birth to sons, and her true character unfolded. It had built up over time but exploded beyond his imagination. Once Uncle’s wife gets there, it will be game over for Thelma. The woman does not take nonsense and she doesn’t listen.

True to their words, their Uncle’s wife had started shouting before getting to the scene. Thelma released him before she got there, and she still hit her for holding her husband’s T-shirt. Peter and Paul stopped her from destroying Thelma. Thelma realised she had lost on all fronts. They left her there and led Uncle and his wife to Mama’s house. Everybody wanted to know what happened, but Adim did not seem interested in sharing until his Uncle shouted at him.

“She came into Eucharia’s house banging at her bedroom door. The children woke up due to the banging. I did not know who it was so I opened the door. She barged in, but I stopped her and carried her outside. That was it. Because I carried her out of Eucharia’s house she got angry.”

“Adim, are you sure that is all that happened?”

“That’s all.”

“I don’t believe it. Nwunye m, go with two men and bring Thelma here. What exactly is going on?”

Thelma came with them willingly, it would have been disgraceful for them to carry her to Mama’s house.”

When asked what happened, she told a different story. “I called Adim,but he refused to answer me. I knew he was in the room with his wife, he should have answered me. When I met him, I asked him to release his driver to take me home, but he refused. He said I can’t go back to Port Harcourt with his vehicle. That’s what caused the quarrel.”

“Did you enter Eucharia’s house and banged on her bedroom door?”

“I went looking for Adim, he was not answering my phone calls.”

Uncle asked Adim if that was what happened. “I told her last night I will not release my vehicle, she should tell her driver to come to the village to pick her up or go back with the children on the bus. She refused. She insisted she must use my vehicle. From where to where? This morning was because she thought Eucharia slept with me and wanted to embarrass both of us in the presence of the children. She did not know Eucharia did not sleep there.”

Read – His weakness episode 65 – 66

“This is getting too much. Thelma, what is your issue with Adim and Eucharia? They are married and Adim can choose to sleep with the wife he prefers to sleep with. Eucharia never fought you all the years Adim slept with only one you. Now he wants to be with her, you are fighting them. Or did Adim promise you never to sleep with Eucharia after marrying you?”

“Eucharia herself swore she would never sleep with him, Njideka confirmed it to me. Why does she want him all of a sudden?”

Flora was angry at this stage, “Are you joking? Are you serious about what you just said? Adim promised before God to be faithful to Eucharia and cheated on her with you. You expect him to be faithful to you? Are you mad? Is your head correct or is a nut missing? Biko, take your madness elsewhere. Since you entered this family have you seen any of us create a scene? You come with drama every day that the man has ran back to the woman he enjoyed peace with for several years. Uncle, you cannot complain; you supported Adim in bringing a mad person into his home and now the mad person has bitten him and you. Enjoy it. Eucharia, what are we eating this morning, hapu Adim and the tigress he married. Shameless woman! You held your husband by the collar in the presence of your sons, what will you teach them? A woman honours and respects her husband, but you have brought him dishonour since you stepped into his life.”

Eucharia used the opportunity of them being in Mama’s house to go back home and pack her bag. She decided she would either remain with Mama or stay in the flat until she returned. She wasn’t ready to fight with Thelma over Adim. She was going to avoid her completely.

Thelma was angry. Nobody addressed the issue of Adim not releasing the vehicle for her to return to Port Harcourt. She was to resume the following day and so she spoke about it. “How am I supposed to get back to Port Harcourt? I am resuming tomorrow.”

“Why didn’t you go with the bus, it was almost empty?” Paul asked.

“Because I wanted to go with the SUV, not the bus.”

“The owner of the SUV has decided not to allow you to drive in it. Call your driver to pick you up, he will get here in good time for you to travel back. Insisting on using Adim’s vehicle shows you have ulterior motives and it is bad.”

“Ulterior motive? Why would I have an ulterior motive? What he has done is unfair and no one is cautioning him about it.”

“Call your driver to pick you up. Why did you send your vehicle back to Port Harcourt? Everyone has a vehicle except Nda Flora who came with Adim, Paul and Prisca. They used Njideka’s vehicle. Eucharia brought her vehicle and it remained here. You sent yours back so you can use Adim’s to show off. He has refused, and you will be stuck in this village if you do not call your driver to pick you up. Otherwise, hire a vehicle to take you to Port Harcourt.”

Thelma watched Adim behave as though he could not hear anything being said. She wondered why his father’s death changed him so much. When she threw tantrums in the past, he gave her what she wanted. The only times he didn’t was when it involved Eucharia and her children. She learnt to respect that. Now he made her disgrace herself in the presence of his family so he could score some points with Eucharia. She had to resume, and there was no way they would extend her leave because there was an audit going on and it was in her best interest to be at work. It looked like she had lost.

Thelma left the house and on the way called her driver, but he didn’t pick up. She tried several times, he did not respond. She came back to Mama’s house and told Adim he wasn’t picking up. Adim didn’t acknowledge her presence or respond. She looked like a lost puppy and Njideka took pity on her. She told Eucharia and Prisca she wanted to take her to the park to get a vehicle, but Nda Flora overheard her and warned her not to get involved. Eucharia wanted to say something, but the eye Nda Flora gave her made her shut her mouth. Prisca looked at Eucharia in disbelief. “It is because Nda Adim knows you have a soft heart that he did what he did. He did not expect you to deny him the food we all know he likes, and that is what is making him come after you.”

“He bragged about her being his for so long. If Eucharia wants to kill Adim she should just step outside once. We will be burying another dead body. He will not live long enough to chase her away. That is the truth. I want Thelma to learn her lesson and I hope Adim will keep to his words this time, I have never seen him that angry before and for him to ignore her, she is gone.” Nda Flora added.

“What is the way forward? She is stubborn and I do not want people to claim we are victimising or ganging up against her,” Eucharia added.

“Someone that has displayed for the whole village is who will claim victimisation? You are funny. Someone who held her husband by the collar because he asked her to travel back with a brand new airconditioned bus, can only be supported by mad people. Eucharia, you have to toughen your heart. Thelma hates you, she tolerated you because you were not in her way. Nda Adim has brothers, one of them should step up to the plate and help her.”

None of them did until the afternoon. Thelma sat in the sitting room without moving. She made several phone calls until finally she left Mama’s house. Adim asked the maid to follow her and see what she was up to. She got to the house and dragged out two suitcases and a chair. She sat and for the first time, she wept. She could not believe how unfeeling Adim was towards her plight. She felt discarded, and it hurt her so much that she cried there for a long time.

After about two hours, a vehicle arrived and she left with the vehicle to Port-Harcourt. Immediately after she left, Adim stood up and went back to Eucharia’s house. Eucharia didn’t know he went there and also went to survey the grounds with Pisca and Njideka. They entered her house and heard noises in the room. They were scared until Prisca boldly asked who it was and they found out it was Adim. Eucharia packed some more of her things and wanted to leave. Adim called her into the room for a private chat.

“I will be moving into your house when I get back to Port Harcourt. I will stay in my room, and you will stay in yours. When we are ready, we will make something of our love. I will leave the village on Wednesday, when are you coming back?”

“I want to spend two weeks with Mama before coming home. When she takes off her white clothes, she will stay with me before she leaves for America. We have to start the process before Prisca and Nda Paul leave.”

“OK. Do whatever needs to be done. There is an audit job I was pursuing, just got a message from thecompany. I have to be back on Wednesday to see them on Thursday morning. Tell the children to clean up my room before I get there.” Eucharia was eager to leave.” Why are you running away from me? Others will go to bed with their husbands tonight, but you want to hang around two widows. That is not right. Come back tonight, I promise I won’t touch you.”

“We will stay alone here and you won’t touch me? No matter how loud I scream no one will come to my aid. You already have a bad reputation as it is, don’t make it worse.”

“That Thelma doesn’t know what will befall her. She has no idea.”