The Enemy Within Episode 10
by Madera
The morality of the world has gone really bad. Mankind has hailed what is bad as good and what is good as been deemed to be lame. That is why we have sex workers fighting for their right to continue fornicating and get paid for it legally. I am one of those who still believe in the sanctity of not just marriage but humanity in general, but my latest ordeal as led me to question my own moral values. I’m beginning to think that those who take marriage as a mere contract that can be terminated anytime the conditions no longer feel right might be right after all. A broken marriage is better than a pile of dead bodies.
As my father in-law revealed to me that the place my wife eloped to was actually France, I couldn’t have been more confused than that ‘wai..wai…wait, did you just say France?’ I asked him. He was a little bit surprised by my question but he answered any way ‘yea, France……’ he wanted to continue his line but I wasn’t done ‘you mean the same France that has Paris as its capital?’ ‘yes!’ he replied ‘but why didn’t anyone tell me this before now, you all knew we travel to Paris every now and then for holidays, but it never occurred to anyone to hint me that I might be walking into an enemy territory?’ my father in-law could no longer hide his surprise at my latest question ‘so are you saying you don’t know that your beloved wife once eloped when she told me she was dating an upcoming musician and I was fiercely against it?’ ‘sir, I’m aware she once eloped with a guy named Nnamdi, I just didn’t know that they eloped to France’ ‘Beeeeeeen! you must be the dumbest husband I know, how can you not know the location of their escapades when you already know the story?!’ he asked me with a stern look that seems to be telling me ‘careful what you say next otherwise your dignity might evaporate with every word you say’ but I replied still ‘sir, she really wasn’t chatty about that incident, she said it was one of the most trying times of her life, so I figured: why bother her about something that brings pain to her when we can just sweep everything under the carpet and act as if it never happened’. My father in-law laughed as hard as he could, his laughter made me think of my statement again and I could see how foolish I was to have loved a woman so blindly.
Don’t get me wrong, there are still MANY women out there who deserve to be treated like queens because of their pure heart, undying love and incomparable self sacrifice they have made for their husbands just not the kind of woman like Andral.
‘Ben Ben, I am the Father of your wife but sometimes I think you loved her too much’ I simply nodded at my father in-law’s comment, but then the question I was dying to ask finally popped up in my head ‘but sir, how did you get to know about the poison, is there really any prove that Andral is actually poisoning me?
As usually, Abigail again was the detective. She had snuck up on my wife in the kitchen at our home; she paid us a late night surprise visit. She actually came to see me and intended to sleep over that night but I wasn’t home yet. As she was slowly sneaking into the kitchen, she noticed my wife sprinkling something into the soup of a meal that was meant for me, oblivious of the fact that someone was watching on, she continually said ‘eat and die you idiot, eat and die…’
As my father in-law was narrating the story to me, I was beginning to suspect even the said Abigail. How convenient was it for her to stumble on Jide’s documents and at the same time stumbling on my wife again, I shook my head in disagreement with my father in-law ‘no, no, no! how come Abigail is in the heart of everything? She was responsible for finding out about Jide’s plot, now you want me to believe that it just so happen that she knows all this about my family as well?’
My father in-law giggled a bit and was probably going to give me answers but I flood him with another question ‘for how long has she known all these things that you are now revealing to me now and why now, why wait until now to reveal them all?’ ‘Well maybe it’s time you hear from the horse’s mouth yourself, at least it will help you understand better’ he retorted.
We were already at the gate of my father in-law’s house by this time and I could spot Isabella and Abigail playing around on the front porch of the house. As soon as Abigail noticed that it was me and her father, she whispered something into Isabella’s ear and Isabella skipped back into the house while waiving at us.
As we were approaching her, she was also moving towards our direction, she briefly gave her father a hug and shifted her attention towards me, she leaned back a bit while clutching one hand into the other and waiving from side to side. The way Abigail looked at me was more sober and passionate than the last time we saw in my father in-law’s office the day Jide and Mr. Patrick was arrested. She looked at me as if to say ‘I’m sorry’ then out of nowhere, she hugged me suddenly.
As the hug continue to linger on, so was I coming to the realization of the fact that I really needed a hug – a long passionate one. I held on tight to her and so did she.
We broke the hug only to see my father in-law’s back as he was walking away from us while waiving his hand without looking back.
She held my hands and led me to the set of two chairs place on either side of a rectangular table under an umbrella. We sat down on opposite sides of the table and were quiet for a while before she finally broke the silence ‘Ben……I’m sorry for everything you have been going through I’m really sorry’. Apparently someone must have told her that I have been updated about everything. I wanted to be angry with her but I just couldn’t do it. I could not muster up enough hatred to get angry but I was full of questions though. ‘We were close, close enough for people to easily believe that I was capable of impregnating you, but why couldn’t you tell me or at least give me a heads-up that my life was about to get torn apart, why?’ I asked her ‘I couldn’t tell you……Ben God knows I wanted to, but I couldn’t! when I found out about Jide, I wasn’t sure that you were not involved, the whole thing was tied around your neck as well, so I had to take my time, keep you in the company and find a way to exonerate you if at all you were innocent, as for Andral…..’ ‘is it true?’ I cut in ‘is it true that Andral has been poisoning me?’
