Conundrum II

I met my wife when i was in 300 level 
My wife came with two of her friends 
to my father's burial 
My father died on his way back from 
Iseyin where he was supervising some 
building projects for the company he was
working for as an engineer
My father was just 54 years old 
It was a closed coffin burial because of 
the extent of my father's injuries 
They could barely get enough of his body 
parts to bury 
He was buried in our compound, in the 
only house he built 
His death was a sad tale and many of the 
students of the university i was attending 
came for the burial 
One of them was a friend to my wife
I had not paid my second semester 
school fees 
My father's house was barely habitable 
when we moved into the house because 
we couldn't afford to pay house rent 
Things were very tough 
I had served as an apprentice under a 
photographer immediately i finished 
from secondary school but i didn't have 
enough money to buy my own camera 
I still did some photography in school to 
make ends meet but there was nothing 
like having your own equipment and 
owning your own studio 
This was what I said when my wife and 
her friend asked me what my plan was 
after the burial
One week after the burial, my wife showed 
up with N250,000. 
She said she wanted only one thing in return, 
if i had a girlfriend i should leave her and if 
I don't I should never have another! 
She will be my woman because she saved 
my life and purchased a future for me! 
It was a business transaction 
The money was her savings from her 
entrepreneurial drive on campus! 
She had two salons, sold weave-on and 
attachments, sold gold and other jewelry, 
shoes, bags and clothes! 
She was a "Madam the madam"! 
She was also three years older than i am 
and very pragmatic 
Immediately I collected the money from her, 
she made us swear seven different types 
of oaths! 
She was hell-bent on securing her investment 
and i followed her everywhere she desired 
because I had no intention of jilting her or 
cheating on her. 
I just wanted to survive
That was the foundation of our relationship. 
For her, it was all about control. 
I prospered as a photographer. 
If she claimed she made me, i will say it is true. 
The money bought me a professional camera 
with all the right lenses that my expertise 
turned to gold. 
I became a household name in no time. 
I must also add that when i started out, 
she gave me some space in one of her 
shops to use as my stand. 
That gesture saved me a lot of money. 
We got married three years later, I cannot 
say we were happily married but we had a 
benefactor/benefitor affair
i didn't mind, i would have given her my life 
for that gesture of hers at that time 
That gesture saved my family from 
experiencing the horrible fate that befalls 
those whose father died prematurely. 
I have seen a lot and i know her coming 
through was divine. 
So I couldn't take offence at anything she did. 
And yes, she did a lot of despicable things 
To her, the value or worth of a human being 
can only be measured in monetary terms 
She was an oppressor of the poor and a 
user of the defenseless 
Her salesgirls always end up telling tales of 
horror and pain
I tried to do a lot of damage control because 
she had this habit of breaking people to pieces 
and walking away without a shred of remorse 
I believed that must be the reason she married 
me 
No other man would have stayed a day with her 
but I owe her big 
My family owe her big too
She brought her sister home from the village 
when it became obvious that she had been 
blacklisted by agents who usually supply 
her with salesgirls 
She was a hard taskmaster and would look 
for an excuse not to pay salaries at the end 
of every month regardless of how much 
money was made! 
And whenever her employees protested, 
she would accuse them of one crime or the 
other just to lock them up and teach them 
a lesson 
I had thought she would do better with 
her sister but i was wrong 
In all fairness, I was against her bringing in 
her family members initially
I didn't want anybody seeing how I was 
being treated in my own home, i didn't want 
to become a laughing stock! 
Our marriage was all her! 
I might as well have been part of the furniture 
or just another property. 
Money was my saving grace but it could 
only save my public face! 
Yet, I couldn't stand by and watch her ruin 
her sister's life! 
I had done this with her previous sales girls, 
she would laugh and call me bleeding heart 
and softie but the problem with her sister's 
case was we couldn't send her away. 
After a bitter spat over it, I decided to enroll 
her sister in a boarding school. 
That, I believe would give me some breathing 
space in the house because she was hell-bent 
on returning her sister back to the village if 
her sister wouldn't serve the purpose for 
which she brought her to the city. 
The boarding school thing worked!
Her sister graduated and even gained admission 
into the university 
Then my wife came to me one evening and 
asked me why I was unconcerned that we 
didn't have a child. 
This was a woman i wouldn't dare ask for sex 
Whenever she wanted to have sex, she would 
touch me or say so, otherwise i will face the 
wall and service myself 
I told her i felt she wasn't ready to have one yet, 
she replied by saying we will be going to the 
hospital the following day for tests 
I willingly followed her to the hospital 
Our samples were taken and we were 
examined. 
Two weeks later, she came back home one 
evening screaming "You are a bas***d, 
I knew you would cheat on me! 
After every thing I did for you? 
When did you "catch" Gonorrhoea? 
When did you "catch" syphilis? 
You are an unfortunate man? 
I was shaking like a leaf in the wind
I was sitting room watching the news when
she came in guns blazing 
I almost urinated on myself"
I married her a virgin sir. 
I was 22 when she gave me the money 
for that camera. 
By that time, the only thing I was in love 
with and dreamt about was my 
professional camera! 
I couldn't cheat on her because of the 
oaths we took (I truly didn't want to cheat), 
so what she was saying was very strange 
to me! 
She moved out of the room that night but 
she didn't move into another room or even 
the guest room! 
She moved her mattress into the sitting room 
and told me she would remain there so that 
when anybody came visiting and asks her why 
she was in the sitting room, such will hear 
the tale of the dead sperm husband! 
I had to be careful not to bring people home 
from that day
She refused all entreaties and would raise 
hell every time i approach her to talk things out 
This was the situation of things when her 
sister arrived at the house for her holidays
It was obvious something was wrong but 
it was a problem between us 
I have always kept our couple problems 
away from a third party 
I didn't know why I opened up to her sister, 
that was the slippery slope 
Once i started talking, I couldn't stop talking 
I talked on and on and on
That talk changed everything 
Maybe because we were both victims or idiots, 
she listened and I just felt a sudden sexual 
attraction to her 
I told her so the next day 
Even advised her to leave the house but it 
was too late 
What happened would have happened 
eventually sir, I know this!
Her sister came home that same night 
like a mad dog, it was not unusual but 
it was a trigger that lit up pent up feelings 
and made me dare to die or perish 
for the first time I defied all the oaths 
and took advantage of that girl sir 
She was twenty-one, barely an adult and
I knew what i was doing! 
We made love all night 
I actually felt human and oddly happy 
The prison my camera bought for me 
was suddenly broken and I was free 
She stayed with us and we started 
making love every time her sister was 
not at home 
I knew there would be consequences but i
wasn't expecting "pregnancy" 
I was supposed to have dead sperms 
Well, she got pregnant and that is why 
we are in a mess 
Her sister didn't know yet 
Nobody does 
I rented an apartment for her and I plan 
to relocate with her after all these COVID 
mess 
That was my plan until she suggested that 
we talk to you and see if there can be a 
divine intervention that will settle everybody! 
This was why she wrote 
It is also why i am writing 
I love this beautiful girl sir, 
I know I am not meant to but she is my life 
I will do everything to be with her 

Thank you, sir

PS: Let love be "unfeigned"