*"Couples Issue" - Chapter 5: The Other Woman*
1317 Words
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Some truths don’t come out in fights.
They come out at 2am when you’re scrolling through an old phone, and your thumb stops on a name.
January. Mushin.
Tunde found the phone while packing. It was his old Tecno. The one he used before he switched to the Infinix with the cracked screen. Battery was dead.
He charged it.
And the w******p messages came back to life.
*Part 1: The Name - "Blessing 💋"*
The chat was from 8 months ago. July.
*Blessing 💋:* _Oga abeg park here. I dey roadside_
*Tunde:* _I dey come. 2 mins_
*Blessing 💋:* _You fine o 😂 Thank you for helping me yesterday_
*Tunde:* _No problem. Just doing my job_
*Blessing 💋:* _You’re different from other Bolt drivers. Can we be friends?_
*Tunde:* _I’m married o_
*Blessing 💋:* _Lol so? We can still talk. You dey stressed_
*Tunde:* _Yeah. Things are hard._
*Blessing 💋:* _I understand. Come let me buy you drink one day. You deserve rest._
*Tunde:* _Okay. But just as friends._
*Blessing 💋:* _Of course 😊_
It continued for 3 weeks.
Voice notes. “Good morning handsome.”
Pictures. Her in a club. Her in a short dress.
“Come over. My roommate no dey house.”
“Are you free tonight?”
“Just to talk. I’m lonely too.”
The last message from Tunde: _“Babe I can’t do this. My wife will kill me.”_
Her reply: _“Your loss. Men are all the same.”_
Blocked.
Tunde sat on the floor of his face-me-I-face-you and felt sick.
He never met her. Not physically. Not beyond dropping her at Lekki Phase 1 that one night and collecting her number.
But Amaka didn’t know that.
And when she saw the chat on his phone that night in September, all she saw was “Can we be friends?” and “Come over.”
*Part 2: Ibadan - Amaka’s Version*
Amaka remembered that night too.
She had gone through his phone because he came home smelling like perfume that wasn’t hers. And drunk.
She saw “Blessing 💋” and her chest caved in.
She didn’t ask. She just packed.
Now in Ibadan, Mama Nkechi asked her one night:
“Was it another woman?”
Amaka nodded.
“Did he sleep with her?”
“I don’t know, Mama. And I don’t want to know.”
But she did want to know.
At 3am she would open w******p and type Tunde’s name. Then delete it.
She told herself it didn’t matter.
But it did. Because if it was “just stress relief” then maybe she overreacted.
And if it was more, then she left too late.
She called Ngozi.
“Ngozi, do you think... do you think he actually did anything?”
Ngozi sighed. “Sis, does it matter? He was looking. That’s enough.”
Amaka hung up and cried for the first time in months.
*Part 3: The Search*
Tunde couldn’t leave it alone.
He needed Amaka to know it wasn’t what it looked like.
He went to Lekki Phase 1. The address Blessing gave him that night.
Block 14, Flat 3.
A security man stopped him.
“Who you looking for?”
“Blessing. She used to live here.”
The man laughed. “Blessing? That girl moved 6 months ago. Owing 4 months rent. She’s a runs girl, oga. Be careful.”
Tunde walked away.
Runs girl.
So that’s what it was. Not love. Not an affair. Just a girl who saw a tired married man and thought “easy target.”
He called the number.
_“The number you are calling is not available.”_
He took a screenshot of the chat and sent it to Amaka.
_“Babe, please read. Nothing happened. I swear.”_
Delivered.
Blue ticks.
No reply.
*Part 4: The Flashback - That Night*
Tunde remembered it clearly now.
It was raining. 10:47pm.
He picked Blessing at Maryland. She was in a red dress, drunk, with two other girls.
They dropped the other girls at Yaba. Then she said “Oga, abeg follow me to Lekki. I’ll pay extra.”
In the car she cried.
“My boyfriend left me. He said I’m too loud.”
Tunde didn’t say anything. He just drove.
At her gate, she touched his hand.
“You’re a good man. Can I have your number? In case I need a ride again.”
Tunde gave it. Stupidly.
She texted him that night: _“Thank you for not touching me. Most men would have.”_
He replied: _“I’m married.”_
And then the messages started.
He never went to her house.
He never replied after “I’m married.”
But he didn’t block her immediately.
Because for 3 days, someone was asking him “How are you?” and he was lonely.
That was the sin. Not cheating. Loneliness.
*Part 5: Amaka Reads It*
Amaka saw the screenshot at work.
She was in Dugbe, standing in front of a customer who was asking about the price of 300g.
She opened it.
Read it twice.
_“Just to talk. I’m lonely too.”_
_“I’m married.”_
Her boss shouted: “Amaka! Customer dey wait!”
She put the phone away.
At night, she read it again.
Part of her wanted to believe him.
Part of her remembered the lipstick on his collar in August.
Part of her remembered Ngozi saying “All men cheat. It’s just a matter of time.”
She called Tunde.
He picked on the first ring.
“Babe?”
“Why didn’t you block her immediately?”
Silence.
“Because... because I was stupid. Because someone was being nice to me and I liked it.”
“Did you want to?”
“No.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I was ashamed.”
Amaka exhaled.
“Tunde, I don’t know if I believe you.”
“I’m telling the truth.”
“The truth doesn’t change that you hid it.”
She hung up.
*Part 6: The Nest Reacts*
News travels fast in a “nest.”
*Chike* heard it from Tayo. Tayo heard it from the security man.
He posted on his status: _“Some people will cheat and still act like victim. God will judge.”_
*Ngozi* told Amaka: “See? I told you. They always have an excuse. ‘I was lonely.’”
Amaka didn’t argue.
*Baba Segun* called Tunde.
“Brother, confession is the first step to healing. Did you confess to your wife?”
“Yes, Baba.”
“Good. Now give her time.”
Time.
That was the one thing neither of them had.
*Part 7: The Truth No One Says*
February.
Tunde and Amaka met again. This time not at Chicken Republic. At a park in Ikeja. Neutral ground.
The twins were with Mama Nkechi.
They sat on a bench. No touching.
“I wasn’t cheating,” Tunde said.
“I know,” Amaka said.
“Then why—”
“Because it felt like cheating, Tunde. You were looking for comfort outside. With a stranger. When I was here, drowning too.”
Tunde looked down.
“I didn’t know how to tell you I was drowning.”
“And I didn’t know how to tell you I was drowning either.”
They sat in silence.
“I forgive you,” Amaka said finally.
Tunde looked up. Hope.
“But I don’t trust you. And I don’t trust us.”
The words landed like a slap.
“I’m tired of second chances that feel like probation,” Amaka said. “I’m tired of checking your phone. I’m tired of wondering.”
Tunde nodded.
“I understand.”
They walked out of the park separately.
*End of Chapter 5*
- Writer
