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Please

A Short Story

By Ajogun MarindotiPublished 6 years ago 5 min read
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He noticed the light was on inside when he fumbled his key out of his pocket and slid it in the lock. He smiled, wondering why Sayo was still awake but grateful that she was. He opened the door and she was stood there in her favourite silk dressing gown which was loosely tied around her waist, her hair tied up in a satin scarf, her arms akimbo.

“Uh oh!”

His tone was playful. He knew the arms akimbo look meant trouble, but he couldn’t for the life of him figure out what he might have done. He moved in for a hug and she permitted him that, although she stood unresponsive as he wrapped his arms around her.

He straightened up, realising this wasn’t some minor oversight.

“What’s wrong darling?”

She looked at him, her chest heaving as she struggled to contain her rage. He reached out for her hand, wanting to guide her to a chair, but she yanked herself away from him.

“How could you? How could you?”

He stared aghast, caught completely unaware by both the force of her emotion and the as yet unspoken accusation.

“How could I what?”

“I saw you! I came to your office to surprise you with lunch and I saw you with that new P.A.!”

He thought for a moment.

“Sandra?”

“I don’t care what she’s called, she was all over you and you weren’t doing anything to stop her!”

His face contorted in confusion.

“Wait. So this is about a hug?”

“Today it's a hug, tomorrow you’ll be fucking in a hotel and telling me you’re away on a business trip.”

“Wow.”

“Stop acting like you don’t know what I’m talking about! What’s wrong with you?”

“You! You’re the problem here! How do you go from a friendly hug to I’m cheating on you?”

“Oh so I catch you outside and it’s my fault I’m thinking far!? Okay. Continue.”

He didn’t know how to diffuse the situation. He kept quiet for a moment so he could think it through.

“So you have nothing to say? You can’t even apologise?”

“Look, I’m going to bed. I can’t do this tonight. I’m tired.”

She grabbed his arm as he turned away.

“Come back here and let’s settle this! Why won’t you be tired after a long day of cheating?”

“Please just let me be.”

“No!” she screamed, grabbing the closest thing to her and hitting him hard across the face with it. It was a thin brass ashtray with a dragon motif etched onto it. It raised an ugly looking weal across his cheek, topped with a line of blood where it had cut into the flesh.

He sat down for a moment and looked up at her, aghast. She dropped the ashtray and dropped to her knees beside him.

“Oh my God! Oh my God I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

She held him close, running her hands through his afro as tears ran freely down her face. She apologised over and over again but he didn’t say a word.

They eventually fell asleep on the sofa, his head still cradled in her arms.

He wasn’t in her arms when she woke up. She called out to him but there was no response. She went up to the bedroom they’d shared the past few months. The king size bed was laid, the room empty. The cupboard was open, and every single item that belonged to Nosa was gone. She ran all over the house, from room to room, refusing to accept that he’d left, hoping he was still around, that she’d be able to stop him from going, somehow.

He wasn’t there.

She called him on both his numbers. There was no response. She called the switchboard at his office and was told he would be in a series of meetings all day and it would be incredibly difficult to reach him. She considered going to the office to drag him home if need be, but in the end she just dissolved into a puddle of tears on the living room floor.

She called her mother and managed to tell her what had happened through the tears. She was crying to her best friend when her parents showed up.

“Get in the car,” her mother said. She wiped her face as well as she could, locked the door and got in. They drove two hours to his parents’ place, mostly in silence.

They were allowed in by the maid, and greeted warmly by his parents. She hung back, afraid of the inevitable onslaught.

It never came.

The discussion was calm. Apologies were made and accepted, but he didn’t agree to go back home. Not just yet.

“I need some time to process this. Please don’t try to change my mind so soon.”

She accepted that. A line had been crossed. The gaunt emptiness of his expression and the plaster across his left cheek were visceral reminders of it.

For the next three weeks, she was a zombie. She went through the motions - work, home, rinse, repeat. The hitherto ever-present smile seldom crossed her face, and even when it did it was merely a flicker. Jealousy had moved her to do the unthinkable, the one thing that would have made her file for divorce had the shoe been on the other foot. So she wasn’t surprised when the large manila envelope was delivered. She opened it and read the letter that was attached to the divorce papers she knew she would have to sign.

Her tears stained the paper as he told of his love for her, the pedestal he’d placed her on as his wife, the queen of his life. He explained that he couldn’t bear the thought of living with the fear that the woman he loved might one day hurt him in an unthinkable way. His handwriting wasn’t the usual beautiful cursive. It was wiggly and all over the place, as though he’d written frantically, his mind moving faster than his pen. He was leaving the country and leaving everything they shared to her. He wanted her to have a good life - he couldn’t stress it enough. She realised she couldn’t love him more if she tried. She wrote a note and sealed it with the signed papers.

It was just one word.

“Please.”

breakups
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About the Creator

Ajogun Marindoti

I sing more than I write.

I write more than I sing professionally.

I sing professionally more than I write professionally.

I love more than anything else.

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