PART 33
“NWALA: THE BITTERSWEET STORY”
©️ Opeyemi Akintunde.
As Inspired by the LIVING WORD.
I kept counting down. Reuben could tell I wasn’tmyself as sometimes, I would sit down very lost inthought. I was excited to see Daniel yet I was afraid.
Reuben asked countless times what was up with me,but I couldn’t bring myself to telling him the extent I
had gone for us to have our son.
My phone rang by 10am exactly on the 10th day, WhenI checked the ID, surprisingly it was Daniel’s old
number. It meant he used the phone numberwhenever he was in the country.
“Hello Daniel”
“Hi Nwala, I got into town last night, I have a lotscheduled for my 3 days stay so I was wondering if wecould meet today before 2:00pm”
“Sure…”
“Where? Your place or mine? He asked.
I was shocked at the suggestion of my home as Danielobviously noticed my reservation.
“Oh! Your husband doesn’t know about us, I get! Well,because of my brand and your status as a pastor’s wife,we can’t be seen in public together. I don’t want someirresponsible blog denting my image, so I guess myplace will be the best option…”
‘Ok…” I wasn’t thinking anymore. I just wanted to getthings done…
Good judgement was refraining me from going onwith this plan, but I had my mind settled on going…
The house was beautiful, topnotch and Big. I keptwondering how Daniel got to the top so fast. I left himbroke…
As I parked at his gate, I gave him a call…
“I am at the gate” I said
“Ok!” He ended the call…
This Daniel was not the lengthy talker I dated yearsback. He was way too official…
“Well Beauty, you don’t need him to be a talkativeright now, the lesser the conversation between youboth, the better” I warned myself.
The gate opened on it’s own, and I drove in. I checkedaround, there was no security guard. Obviously, it was
a computerized gate. I sat in the car waiting for Danielto step out, but my phone rang…
“The door is opened; you can come in” he said. I began to feel uneasy with the lack of human face
around.
I stepped out of my car and walked towards the door.
As I got to the door, I heard a click, and I heard acomputerized voice…
“Welcome Nwala, please use the handle”
“What kind of show off was Daniel putting on?” I saidto myself
He wanted me to know he was living in acomputerized house…
I walked into a very beautiful living room. Daniel wasno where to be found. Suddenly, I heard the sound of
a pair of legs walking towards me… I looked up inanticipation and Reuben’s face was the first face Isaw…
“Nwala! Nwala!” I heard Daniel calling my name
“Oh thank goodness…” I returned from my
imaginative world of seeing Reuben in Daniel’shouse…
“Are you okay?”
“Yes. I am fine, was just lost in thought”
“Yeah I can imagine, you never thought, I would makeit this big without you…”
“No that was not what I was thinking”
“I bet it is… Nwala I made it, I wish your mother ishere to see me”
“I am sure she would be happy for you”
“Remind me again, why didn’t you marry me?”
“God told me to marry Reuben”
“Oh! So how come your God couldn’t let you have kidswith him?”
“Daniel, can we stop this back and forth, I am not hereto fight with you, I am sorry for all I did, but lifehappens”
“Yes life happens, just like it happened for me. Let meentertain you with how life happened to or for me”
I rolled my eyes, now the talkative, guilt allottingDaniel was here…
“Oh my manners, please have a seat”
“I don’t intend staying for long”
“I promise my story won’t be long, I will recount it asshortly as I can”
I took a seat, I was ready to play along…
“Nwala…”
“Beauty” I corrected
“Nwala… You should have seen me after you shut meout of your life and you eventually got married. I lostit. Do you know I was admitted into a mental hospitalfor three months after I saw you at my father’s burialceremony… Nwala, I wanted to die… You were my
hope”
“Daniel, that was our mistake, you saw me as the bestthing that could ever happen to you, and you were
wrong. You thought with me and my parent’s wealth,you will be better than your background… Meanwhile,
Jesus should have been your focus. I also played alongstupidly by thinking I was your savior, that with myparent’s wealth, we will start a great life together…”
“Was I wrong to have wanted to climb on the shoulderof my wife and in-laws?”
“Bible says woe to those who put their trust in man,Daniel you didn’t go through me to where you are,God made you”
“Yes I didn’t go through you, instead I went throughhell, I had to travel abroad through illegal means, Iused the passport of someone else. When I got there, Istarted running around like a thief not to be caught bythe police… Thankfully I met a Nigerian guy who fixedme up with a mechanic friend of his. If my fatherdidn’t give me anything, he gave me the knowledgeabout cars. I worked my life out for 2 good years withthis guy without pay. My pay was for him to help meget my own American passport. Thankfully, after twoyears through his connection I got my passport.Through him, I started sending cars to Nigeria and my
younger brother was selling on my behalf. My Goodluck didn’t stop there, I got to know about dealingwith car manufacturers directly through one of myclients. Nwala, the road was messy, had to do a lot ofmessy things to get money to start dealing directly
with the manufacturers” he said
“All the same, you are here, and whether you agree ornot God has been good to you” I said knowing I waspreaching the right message at the wrong place.
“Can we skip to the reason why I am here” I said
“Without me showing you around?” he said pullingme up quickly
“I don’t have to see…”
Those words were not falling on open ears…He showed me everywhere. I didn’t see anything extraordinary, except that the house was computerized.
Finally, we got to the master bedroom… The sight ofthe bed flashed a red flag at me.
“I have seen enough Daniel” I said standing at theentrance of the door.
“Come in please, I want to show you something”
To be continued….
