Intro:
This is a story of a love affair, or rather what was dubbed love. It’s a story of family life, human weakness and giving free rein to one’s negative proclivities. Read to see how the life of the major character was affected by the latter and do join in the discussion at the end. You are blessed!
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TWO HOMES TO NONE
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Ekene smiled as he ended the call. He had been speaking with his secondary school classmate, Ifeoma, for the past 90 minutes. Although they hadn’t been close in school, they had become inseparable since they met at a wedding two months back. This in spite of the fact that they were both married.
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Ifeoma’s husband promised to take her back to the US where he was based after their wedding three years earlier but for some reason, he hadn’t done so. He came home occasionally though which explained the two children they had.
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Ekene, on his part, was married to a girl of his parents’ choice right after secondary school because he was their only son. The emotional distance between him and his wife only widened with the passage of time and the birth of their five kids. Ekene had always been a spoilt child and didn’t work because he had a more than generous allowance from his parents.
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When his wife saw that he had no intention of doing anything meaningful with his life, she convinced her parents-in-law to set up a supermarket for her and through prudent management, she grew the business to three shops in five years. She had nothing but scorn for her husband and kept her children as far away from him as she could by packing into a rented flat while Ekene preferred to remain in his parents’ mansion and spent time with his family when he chose to.
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This arrangement gave him extra impetus to bring his lovers home, something his parents were unperturbed about. Ifeoma was the rave of the moment. Free from the responsibilities of paid employment, he was at her beck and call day and night – helping with her kids, paying bills, arranging for carpentry, electrical and plumbing jobs as occasion demanded. He saw his family less and less and Ifeoma’s kids, young as they were, began to call him “Daddy”.
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At first, he tried to correct them but Ifeoma told him they were only kids and it didn’t matter. But the strangest thing began to happen. Ifeoma joined her kids to call him “Daddy”. He found it bewildering at first, but when she nuzzled his neck and whispered it into his ear, he felt there could be no better name for her to call him.
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Shortly after that, Ifeoma announced her rent was due and her husband hadn’t sent the money for it. Ekene, her knight in shining armour, swooped in to rescue her. He offered to pay the 200,000 naira rent but Ifeoma wouldn’t hear of it. She had another idea, though, of how he could help. He could let her move in with him.
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“What about your kids?” Ekene asked through his befuddlement.
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“Don’t be silly! What about them?” came the swift response.
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“I mean, where will they stay?”
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“With me, of course! With us!”
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Ifeoma started peppering him with kisses which effectively ended the discussion. Three days later, they began to settle into the Ezuluike family house. Pa Ezuluike, Ekene’s father, summoned him to express his displeasure.
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“Are you out of your mind?”
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“I can assure you that I clearly told her this would be a temporary arrangement,” Ekene lied.
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“One week! If she’s not out of here by one week, I’ll do something you will not like!”

Ekene was squirming under his father’s steely gaze, not knowing that Ifeoma had eavesdropped on the exchange. She decided to take the matter out of Ekene’s hands by contriving a means to gain Pa Ezuluike’s sympathy.
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That evening, about 6:30 p.m. when she was sure Pa Ezuluike was relaxing at the porch adjoining Ekene’s wing of the house, she let out a chilling scream, followed by heart-rending sobs and howls. The whole house was stirred and everyone came running.
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Ifeoma would not say a word in response to their questions but pointed to a printed sheet of paper. It was an email from one Mr Harrington, purported to be the landlord to Bright Chikwendu, Ifeoma’s husband. The letter explained that Bright, along with three other tenants, had died in a fire incident resulting from a gas leak one week back. His remains had been interred at the Atlanta city cemetery, the letter continued, because of how horribly he had been burnt and it had taken a while to salvage information with which to reach her.
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As everyone was expressing sympathy and trying to calm Ifeoma down, only Ekene remained aloof. His first instinct had been to hold her and do the needful like others but a voice deep within him had said after they read the mail:
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“How convenient! How very convenient!”
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He didn’t know where the voice came from but it persisted:
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“What a tall tale! If you believe that, you can believe anything!”
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But Ekene pushed down the voice and went through the motions of comforting Ifeoma. Ekene’s parents did their best to ease her pain but Ekene was becoming more distant. Ifeoma, who was revelling in the attention her theatrics had earned her, however, did not notice this.
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About a week later, Ekene went to visit his family and was impressed with how Adanna, his wife, was taking care of things. For the first time in months, he took a close look at her and found that she was looking rather well. He decided to spend the night but just couldn’t get to sleep. Adanna joined him in the living room after the kids had slept.
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“Is everything alright?”
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I’m not sure you’ll like what I have to say.”
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“Well, say it anyway.”
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“You know how I mess around with the ladies. You know it doesn’t mean anything, right? Well, there’s this current one, Ifeoma. I think she’s up to something but I just don’t know what.”
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“Why don’t you tell me the whole thing from the beginning?”
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Ekene told the whole story as Adanna requested – how they met, how the relationship grew, how she moved in …. By the time he was through, Adanna calmly told him to leave and never come back until he had got rid of ifeoma. He couldn’t believe his ears but while he was sitting in shock, she pulled him up by the collar and began to push him towards the door.
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“I’ve had enough of your philandering, you hear me! It’s time for you to grow up or I swear I will leave you for good!”
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“Keep your voice down,” Ekene whispered. “You’ll wake the children or attract the neighbours.”
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“So you care what people think or say. But I’m not doing anything for your benefit, not anymore! Now, get out of here before I break your head!”
-To be continued-
Ⓒ Edith Ugochi Ohaja 2016
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Two quick questions here:
Wasn’t Emeka justified in cheating on his wife since she was not chosen by him but by his parents? Similarly, in Ifeoma’s case, was she not right to get a lover since her husband failed to,take her abroad as planned?
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