Daughters of Eve: (2) A Tale of Two Couples…

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2 Corinthians 10:12 (KJV) … But they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

At about 5.45 pm on Monday, Angela had just closed from work and was in her car, just about driving off to the airport to pick her hubby Teddy, who would be arriving from Port Harcourt at 7.00pm.

She still had about an hour, and if traffic wasn’t too heavy on Third Mainland Bridge, she should be just on time.

She would have left before 5 if she had her way, but there was this financial report she had to complete for her boss, who would be needing same for a board meeting at 8.00am the following morning.

“Finally” she sighed.

She couldn’t wait to see Teddy. Moreover, there was indeed a lot to talk about, and lots of readjustments to make!

She had seen a lot over the weekend while Teddy was away, and couldn’t just wait to give him a piece of her mind on how she would want him to really ‘step up his game’ in the area of romance. He had better really improved!

Teddy had been the best husband ever; but that was until Angela stayed over at Adebimpe’s home the previous weekend. The short visit had changed her entire paradigm, and given her a new definition for love and romance.

Ted and Angela had been married for two years now, and still trusted the Lord for the fruit of the womb. They had just relocated from Port Harcourt to Lagos about six months earlier when Ted got a transfer from the office.

Angela would have stayed behind in PH to continue her work in the Customer Service Unit at Grand Bank – at least until either her transfer pulled through or she was able to secure a job in Lagos as most advised; however, she moved to Lagos with her husband immediately based on the firm commitment they had  made when they were about getting married.

This was how it happened:

They had met about six years earlier in Rivers State at NYSC Orientation Camp. Ted, who was then a ‘First Tier Corper’, had come to the Camp with his group to assist the ‘Second Tier Corpers’ of his fellowship settle down. He was serving with NLNG at that time.

Angela, who was a Second Tier Corper had been active in the choir in Camp.

Their friendship grew into courtship when Ted was about rounding up his Youth Service.

Luckily, Ted was one of the few who met the criteria for permanent employment at his place of Primary Assignment. He was absorbed into the system immediately as a Trainee Engineer.

However, Angela who had served with a private school in Port Harcourt wasn’t so lucky. She had to return to Lagos (where she resided with her parents). After some months, she finally got a job as a Customer Relations Officer at a Micro-finance Bank.

They had to live this way- miles apart the better part of the three years their courtship lasted; and just before they got wedded, they made a commitment that once married, the family would stick together at all cost.

Therefore, to the dismay of friends and family, Angela resigned her appointment about a month to their wedding, though she hadn’t been able to secure a job in Port Harcourt. She moved straight to Port Harcourt with her hubby immediately after their honeymoon. Luckily, she got an appointment with Grand Bank about six months later.

When Ted got this rather abrupt transfer to Lagos barely a year after Angela had started work, the question of whether she would stay behind at Port Harcourt until her transfer or another job pulled through wasn’t hard to settle, based on their earlier agreement.

Besides, this was the time they needed to be together the most- they wanted a baby badly.

So when Angela had pressed all the buttons to secure a transfer to Lagos to no avail, she put people’s opinion aside, stuck to her marital commitment with the strong backings of her husband, and resigned her appointment to relocate to Lagos also.

Again, not even their family, friends, pastors or church folks consented to their decision. Everyone saw them as immature, naive and eccentric.

“Times are hard, and we’ve got to work for the money.”

“People need to use wisdom these days.”

“We need to be pragmatic – not sentimental or overly emotional!” they kept saying.

The couple however stuck to their principles.

Three months down the line, God honored their faith yet again, and Angela got an appointment as the PA to the CEO of Richard Robinsons- a dream company. It was was a better paying job by all standards!

That beautiful evening, Angela obviously had a lot on her mind as she settled down in her wine Corolla. She was just about to press the ignition button when her phone rang.

Bimpe!

She picked the call and chatted away excitedly.

“Hey babe!

“What’s up?

“I’ve wanted to call to say THANKS a ton for the hospitality last weekend! So sorry you beat me to it. You guys are the best couple ever- I’m telling you! How is Soji doing?”

“Sob… Sob” replied Bimpe

“Adebimpe! Are you alright?” Angela asked alarmed

“No I’m not… sob… sob. In fact, I’m at the hospital right now… sob … sob… on admission.” She replied very faintly.

“But you were Ok when I left your place just yesterday. What!!! What happened?” Angela asked really alarmed this time. “… I pray you weren’t involved in an accident? … What about SOJ?”

“Angela, it’s a long story…sob…sob” She mumbled. “I really need you right now. Could you just come over? I’m at First City Consultants on Isaac John off MBA, in G.R.A.”

“OK girl, I’ll be there in a jiffy” She replied dropping the call.

What could have gone wrong with Adebimpe? She pondered really worried now.

A Courtesy Call

Adebimpe and SOJ had been friends with Angela and Ted since their NYSC days. They got wedded just the previous year, and Angela and Ted couldn’t attend their wedding, being out of Lagos at that time.

Though the two families now stayed in the same local government area and in fact, worshiped at the same church, they hadn’t really hung out together since Teddy relocated because of work and the hustle of Lagos. Therefore, Teddy’s engagement at Port Harcourt that weekend provided an opportunity for Angela to pay their long lost friends a courtesy visit.

At that time, Bimpe was about six weeks pregnant already, so when Soji kept dotting over her, Angela assumed it must be because she needed more physical and emotional support owing to the demands of early pregnancy.

When the necking and pecking continued however, and when they kept caressing at every corner their guest regardless, Angela concluded that must be the norm in their home. Boy, were they close!

It was a matter of “love”, “honey”, “sugar”, etc. throughout. SOJ was all over his wife- at her beck and call all through the weekend!

On Friday night, Soji came home with a big chocolate cake and ice cream for Bimpe who had strange cravings for sweet things and wasn’t retaining much food owing to early-pregnancy nausea.

As if that wasn’t enough, Bimpe and Angela were chatting excitedly while preparing breakfast on Saturday morning when the door bell rang and a courier delivered a bunch of Roses to Bimpe from SOJ with love!

It was all so romantic as everyone ohhhed and ahhed! And afterwards, it was more pecks, kisses and hugs; and poor Angela just looked on feeling very lonely…

At that point she had become very green with envy!

Ted had been a very pleasant guy and dutiful husband. However, Angela couldn’t remember the last time he pecked her out of bed, or even bought her such unwarranted romantic stuffs outside her birthday and their anniversary. Well OK, maybe also at Valentines and Christmas. But not even a TomTom sweet outside those days!

It never mattered before, but now it seemed sooooo unfair. And suddenly, Angela felt her husband was a very old-fashioned and orthodox guy!

Angela had been preoccupied with Bimpe’s marriage ever since she returned home after church service the previous day; and from the coldness in her voice when Ted called that night, he could tell that she was bothered about something.

She had planned to give Teddy a really tough time that evening. After all, he had a good job and all the money they could wish! A trip to the Bahamas this summer would do- Ted hadn’t even suggested one after their honeymoon in France. Imagine!

She really had plans, but Bimpe’s SOS call affected her so much that she had to quickly suspend her agenda for that evening. She tried calling SOJ for more details but wasn’t getting through. This got her even the more worried. She quickly made for the airport to pick Ted up, and they both rushed to First Consultants.

Beyond Recognition…

Bimpe was in a very terrible shape. With a swollen face, a bandaged head and a hand in a cast, Ted and Angela almost couldn’t recognize her. They were convinced it must have been an accident.

She couldn’t even speak up. She just sobbed.

“Where is Soji?” they asked.

“He hasn’t shown up yet” Dr. Ibrahim, the resident doctor replied.

“She was rushed in by a neighbor last night. Another case of domestic violence, and this is not her first time here”

Angela’s jaw dropped! She was so moved that she rushed over to hug Bimpe.

“This is serious” Ted commented, “she even has a fracture”

“What about the baby?” Angela whispered, tears dropping down her checks.

“Sorry we lost him. She bled so badly … we just had to evacuate everything.”

Angela couldn’t help weeping.

She had been blaming God for giving her a ‘dry’ husband. But at least he was a very good man. He hadn’t for once struck her before…he hadn’t even been close to it regardless of how terrible she could be- especially because of the mood swings she often suffered due to her inability to conceive.

She took a look at Ted and thanked God silently for the kind of man he was.

“I’m really sorry Lord” she said in her heart. There was no point voicing her reservations anymore. Better a dry husband and remain in one piece than a romantic one and die before my time.

“Ha, this life is just an irony and surely, there’s no basis for comparison” she concluded still hugging Bimpe and weeping at the trauma she must be going through. She really pitied her.

Just then, SOJ stepped in…

Click here for Episode 3: What Is A Girl To Do?

 

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About Funmi Adebayo

Funmi is an innovative Content Developer, Marketing Communications professional, Visual Storyteller, Writer and Freelance Editor with many years of cross-function experience across industries. She also help authors, organizations and professionals develop and project manage their book ideas from concept to post-production and distribution. When she's not working, she's busy listening to classical music whilst reading or writing another op-ed article, poem, or devotional. Reach her via📱 +234-9095200510 (WhatsApp only) or 📧 funmi@makeadreamng.com for features, or visit 🌍 thefunmiadebayo.wordpress.com/services for her freelance services.

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