4. The stranger I married

I barely slept.

All night, I kept replaying the moment in my head…his eyes, his voice, the way he said my name like nothing had changed. Like he hadn't died. Like he hadn't been buried.

The man who showed up at my wedding yesterday wasn't just someone who looked like Tochi. He knew me. He knew things only Tochi would know. But Tochi was dead. I was at his funeral. I cried over his casket. I scattered sand on his grave with trembling hands.

So who the hell was the man that called me "Maka"?

Morning came with no answers. Just shadows under my eyes and a million questions spinning in my head.

I sat on the edge of the bed in my hotel room, still wearing the robe the staff had given me after my ruined wedding. My phone buzzed. It was Ada.

Ada: Are you okay? Please say something. Everyone's talking about what happened yesterday.

I didn't reply. What was I supposed to say?

Suddenly, my door clicked. I jumped. My heart raced.

It was my elder sister, Lota.

"Maka," she said gently, stepping inside. "Are you ready to talk?"

"No," I said, my voice flat. "I need to find out who that man is."

"Maka," she sighed, sitting beside me. "That man is gone. He left right after the chaos. Nobody's seen him since. Maybe it was just…."

"I saw him, Lota!" I snapped. "He was standing right in front of me. I touched him. He was real."

Lota reached for my hand, but I pulled away.

"I'm going back to Lagos," I said. "Today."

"Why?"

"Because I think I was wrong. I think Tochi might not be dead."

Her face paled. "You're not making sense. You saw his body."

"I saw a body in a casket," I said slowly. "I never opened it. They told me not to. His face was burnt in the accident. They said it would be too traumatic."

Lota's eyes widened. "Maka…"

"What if it wasn't him in that casket?" I whispered.

Hours later, I was in a cab heading to Tochi's former apartment in Lekki. I hadn't been there since after the funeral. His landlord had locked it up, and I didn't bother returning. It was too painful. But now, I had to see for myself.

The building looked the same. The gate man, Musa, was still there. He recognized me immediately.

"Ah ah, madam Maka," he said, surprised. "Long time o."

"Good afternoon, Musa," I said, forcing a smile. "I need to check something inside Nathan's flat."

He scratched his head. "But we don lock am since… I no even get key again o."

"I'll pay to change the lock," I said quickly. "Just let me in."

He hesitated, then nodded. "Okay, no wahala. But be careful o."

Inside, the air smelled like dust and silence.

Everything was just as he left it, his books, his jacket on the sofa, even the half-used bottle of cologne on the dresser. I walked into the bedroom and froze.

There was a photo on the nightstand. Not just any photo.

It was of me and Tochi… taken last week.

My hands trembled as I picked it up.

What kind of sick joke was this?

I turned it around. There was a fresh date written on the back…June 9th. That was three days ago.

I stumbled back, heart pounding. I was about to run out when something else caught my eye. Tucked under the bedframe was a manila envelope.

Inside were several printed photos. All recent.

All of me.

Shopping in Yaba. Talking with Ada at the salon. Stepping into my office. At my wedding dress fitting.

Someone had been following me. Watching me. Photographing me.

And storing it… here.

My knees buckled. I sat on the floor, shaking.

Suddenly, my phone rang. Unknown number.

I almost didn't answer. But something in my gut told me to.

I picked it up.

"Hello?"

A pause.

Then a voice I would know anywhere. Low. Calm. Familiar.

"Maka… I told you. I never died.

I stared at my phone long after the call ended.

His voice still echoed in my head, steady, real, familiar. But I didn't know if I was more afraid that I had heard him… or that I had believed him.

Tochi.

It couldn't be. It shouldn't be. But it was.

I sat there for a long time, gripping the manila envelope in one hand and my phone in the other. The silence in the apartment felt heavier now, like the walls were hiding secrets. I had to keep going. I had to know what was going on.

There were more photos inside the envelope. Not just of me. One was of my mum. Another of Ada, in front of her shop. Then a blurry one of Lota, arguing with someone I couldn't recognize.

I held up a picture of myself leaving my office last week. I was on the phone, laughing.

Who was taking these pictures? And why was Tochi's old flat the hiding place?

I got up slowly and went through his drawer. Receipts. Old ID cards. A car tracker registration. Then, in the back, I found something that made me freeze.

A SIM card.

No phone. Just the SIM card. Wrapped in tissue paper.

I didn't waste time. I rushed out and took a bike to the nearest phone accessories store.

"I need a small phone. One that takes any SIM," I told the guy behind the counter.

He brought out a tiny, old Nokia. The kind they call 'press and die'.

Perfect.

I slotted in the SIM card and powered it on.

A single message popped up

New Message Received – Yesterday 10:34 PM

I opened it with trembling hands.

I warned you not to get married. Now you've dragged us both into something we can't escape

My heart dropped. My throat dried up. I read the message again.

Us?

What did that mean?

Was Tochi in danger too? Or was this all just part of some twisted game?

The phone rang. I flinched so hard I nearly dropped it.

Same unknown number.

I hesitated. Then I picked up.

"Maka," he said again, his voice steady like before.

"Who are you?" I whispered.

"You know who I am."

"You're dead," I said.

He paused. "They wanted me dead. But I survived. And now, you need to run."

"What are you talking about?"

But he had already ended the call.

I stood there in the middle of the street, breathing fast, staring at the tiny phone in my hand.

I needed answers.

I hadn't spoken to Tochi's mother since the funeral.

To be honest, we were never close. She didn't exactly hide the fact that she didn't think I was "wife material" for her only son. Still, the way she acted after his death always struck me as… strange.

She never cried. Not once. Not even at the graveside.

When I called to ask if I could see her, she didn't sound surprised. She simply said, "Come."

I found her sitting on the porch of her old house in Surulere, dressed in her usual deep wrapper and a scarf tied around her head. A plastic chair beside her was empty, waiting for me.

"I didn't think I'd ever see you again," she said quietly.

"I didn't think I'd have to," I replied.

We sat in silence for a while. The afternoon sun cast long shadows across the compound. I couldn't stop staring at her hands..calm, folded, as if nothing was wrong in this world.

Then I took a deep breath.

"Is Tochi alive?"

She didn't even blink.

"What makes you think that?"

"I saw him," I said. "At my wedding."

Something flickered in her eyes. She looked away.

"You saw what they wanted you to see."

That sentence sent a chill crawling down my spine.

"What does that mean?"

She looked at me now, her face unreadable.

"There are things you don't know, Maka. Things I was warned never to speak of. But maybe the time has come."

She reached into the pocket of her wrapper and pulled out something that made my blood run cold.

A wallet.

Tochi's wallet.

The same one I buried with him.

I opened it slowly. His ID card. A picture of me tucked behind it. A torn concert ticket we got together in school. Everything was exactly the same… worn, familiar, but wrong.

"How do you have this?" I asked.

She didn't answer directly. She just whispered, "The man you married three years ago had enemies. Dangerous ones. He got involved in something he was not supposed to touch."

My throat tightened.

"Drugs?"

She shook her head. "Worse. Something bigger. Something deeper. He tried to get out. He wanted to protect you. That's why he left."

"Left?" I echoed.

"You never buried your husband," she said. "You buried a body they gave you."

I felt the floor tilt.

I couldn't breathe.

"Why would you go along with something like that?" I asked. "Why wouldn't you tell me?"

"Because I didn't know if he'd survive. Because they warned me. Because if I opened my mouth, they said you'd be next."

Her voice cracked, and for the first time in years, I saw tears forming in her eyes.

"Your wedding triggered something, Maka. You were never supposed to move on. That man showing up… it's a sign."

"A sign of what?" I whispered.

She looked straight at me now.

"They're watching again. And if Tochi is alive, it means he escaped. But it also means they'll come for you next.