CHAPTER SIX-THE RECEIPT
280 Words
Kunle did not discover the affair through chaos.
There was no argument, no confrontation, and no confession.
It began with a receipt.
It slipped from Kemi’s handbag as she bent to remove her shoes. Thin paper, creased, ordinary.
A hotel name,
a weekday,
a time that did not belong to work.
Kunle studied it longer than necessary.
Later that night, he said only, “You stayed out late yesterday.”
“Yes,” Kemi replied too quickly, “work.”
Kunle nodded.
Trust does not collapse all at once; it thins, stretches, and becomes careful.
Over the following weeks, Kunle noticed what had once felt invisible: how she guarded her phone without checking it, how she
He showered immediately after returning late, how her smiles arrived without cause and disappeared just as fast.
He did not follow her.
waited in the supermarket
It was accidental, an errand done earlly, nothing suspicious.
That was where he met Tosin.
They spoke easily, laughed, familiar men.
“My wife works in your bank,” Tosin said casually. “Kemi Lawson.”
smiled. smiled. That night,
He checked the call logs for the first time in his marriage.
The story arranged itself.
He waited until Sunday.
They sat across from each other at the dining table, plates untouched.
“How long?” Kunle asked.
Kemi did not deny it.
He listened without interruption.
“I don’t want explanations,” Kunle said quietly when she finished. “I want truth.”
cried. stood.
Kunle stood. “I won’t
Fight you,” he said. “And I won’t expose you.”
Hope flickered across her face.
“But I will not live loudly with this.”
- Writer
