The International Journalism Conference concluded a day ahead of schedule, and the Nigerian delegates were ready for their return home.
One of the two men on the team had fallen ill with a cold. Consequently, Edward, the team leader, decided to bring the delegates back to Africa to minimize expenses and ensure the company's accountant received timely medical attention.
The rest of the team left the sick man resting in his hotel room to indulge in some last-minute shopping at one of Paris's largest malls. En route, they made a brief stop at the Eiffel Tower for a quick photo session, a memento of their week-long stay in Paris.
At the mall, they dispersed in different directions, each searching for items and gifts for their families and friends back in Africa.
Teni selected a pair of sneakers and two neckties for Jim, a dress for Mary, a T-shirt and a pair of leather shoes each for herself, Bola, and Janet, and a collection of face caps for Tina, the receptionist, and other colleagues. She had learned that in Africa, even something as seemingly small as not receiving a gift from a loved one returning from an overseas trip could cause offense. While Teni shopped, Edward focused on purchasing items for himself and the unwell accountant back at the hotel. Once their shopping was complete, they returned to their hotel rooms to prepare for their journey back to Africa. The conference had been a success, and they were eager to return home to their loved ones.
Less than an hour before their flight, the Nigerian team was at the airport, undergoing the usual pre-boarding checks. Edward assisted the company's accountant, who was shivering with cold, with his luggage. Although a doctor at the conference clinic had attended to him, he hadn't fully recovered after the injection and medication.
Soon after completing all the necessary procedures, they were airborne, heading back to Africa.
Teni was thrilled at the prospect of surprising Bola and Jim. They both enjoyed giving surprises, and she was happy to return the favour. She fondly remembered Jim's proposal, the sweetest surprise of her life, an awesome and breath-taking moment etched in her memory forever.
Relaxing in her seat, listening to a selection of Afropop music through her earphones, she admired the diamond-studded ring Jim had given her, her left hand resting on her lap. It was beautiful, and she cherished it. But even without the ring, the fact that Jim would be her life partner was what she treasured most.
...
THE FLIGHT FROM Paris to Nigeria was a smooth and uneventful seven hours. Interestingly, Teni and the accountant slept for most of the journey. Jane's eyes stayed glued to the screen of her phone, watching movies, while Edward, on the other hand, remained engrossed in the pages of magazines throughout the flight, except during refreshment service, which roused the sleeping delegates. Shortly after eating the in-flight meal, Teni experienced nausea and vomited twice due to an allergy, but the flight attendants promptly attended to her. As for the sick accountant, his appearance had improved, but he remained wrapped in blankets for the entire journey.
As the plane touched down at Muritala Muhammed Airport in Lagos, Nigeria, Teni overheard two women behind her offering prayers. Their words reminded her to also give thanks for a safe journey. Seven hours airborne without incident was not something to be taken for granted, she thought. Although not yet a devout Christian, her limited knowledge of the Bible taught her that safe journeys were a blessing from God.
"Thank you, Lord, for the safe journey. Thank you for your mercies, amen," Teni's prayer was as brief as her prayers over food, believing that if God knew the hearts of people, lengthy prayers were unnecessary.
Like everyone else, Teni rose to exit the plane, retrieving her hand luggage from the overhead compartment. She followed Jane, ahead of Edward and the accountant, towards the aircraft exit. Joy was evident on the faces of all the disembarking passengers. Despite the joyful atmosphere, a familiar thought flickered through Teni's mind. She wondered if anyone on the plane, amidst their anticipation of returning home, had never been struck by the chilling "what if this plane crashes?" She highly doubted it. That primal fear, she suspected, was a universal passengers' thought on every flight.
Outside Muritala Muhammed Airport, the four delegates waited for taxis to take them to their respective destinations. Teni called Henry, a taxi driver she knew through Jim, and found a spot on the pavement to wait for him. Edward was the first to leave the airport, followed by the other two delegates who were heading in the same direction.
Teni remained on the pavement, idly scrolling through her phone as she waited for her taxi.
A woman walked past with a pit bull, as restless as Bella used to be outdoors. It tugged its owner this way and that along the concrete walkway, reminding Teni of her own dog.
She could only imagine the confinement her dog must have endured in her absence. Jim kept his dogs in cages, and Bella too, would have had no choice but to be caged if she was to stay with him until Teni's return. It was the first time Bella had experienced such confinement since Teni had gotten her as a puppy. Life must certainly be miserable for her, Teni thought.
The taxi's early arrival brightened her spirits. The moment she saw Henry pull up, she stood and walked towards the car. Henry quickly got out to help her with her luggage.
"Welcome, ma'am. How was your trip?" Henry asked, taking the two bags and placing them in the trunk.
"The trip was smooth. Thanks," Teni replied, opening the back door and getting into the car. She was eager to get home and pick up Bella. She missed her dog.
"Where are we heading, madam? Home or office?" Henry asked, glancing at Teni in the rear-view mirror. He was familiar with both her home and workplace.
"Home," Teni replied, searching through her handbag to ensure she had enough naira for the fare.
Henry turned on the car radio before pulling onto the asphalt and driving off. The radio program was discussing national issues. The vice president and the president were rumoured to be having a strained relationship over ministerial appointments and other allegations. Despite the vice president's public denial, the press and the public largely believed the signs were clear. Analysts were discussing the various factors that indicated the rift.
"The President is a good man, but he is very stubborn," Henry said, expecting Teni's opinion.
"If he is a good man as you say, then his decisions would be for the benefit of the nation," Teni replied.
She glanced out the window and saw a newspaper vendor holding up several newspapers for sale, among them, The Voice Newspaper. Bola must be doing well as the acting Editor-in-Chief, she thought.
"Why must he only appoint his friends to key positions and refuse to listen to his Vice?" Henry continued, driving on.
"Perhaps because they are the best people for those roles, and being his friends, they would understand his policies better and be more loyal," Teni said with a smile, a hint of satire in her tone that Henry recognized. He smiled back as he drove.
"On a more serious note, don't you think he has done well, generally speaking?" Teni asked.
"No doubt, he has done well. The bad roads are being fixed, the national power supply is becoming more stable daily, the economy is better than it was. Yes, he has done well," Henry admitted honestly.
"If he is doing well, then why should anyone complain about the people he uses to get the job done?" Teni defended the President's actions, and Henry saw the logic in her argument.
Forty-five minutes of driving from the airport, Henry drove on, passing the junction where he should have turned to reach Teni's street, making her wonder why he had missed the turn when he knew her place so well.
"Have you forgotten the way to my place, or what?" Teni asked.
"No, the road is under maintenance and blocked at the other end. I'll take the next street to connect," Henry explained, continuing to drive.
"Since when?" Teni asked. The last time she had used that road was the day she left the country.
"They started three days ago and should be finished tomorrow," Henry said, turning at the next junction to reach the street where Teni's house was located.
"That confirms my point about the president's performance. Do you understand?" Teni asked.
"Yes, you are absolutely right," Henry replied, agreeing that as long as the government was doing well, it didn't matter who the president used to implement the good policies.
The taxi pulled up in front of Teni's house, a white bungalow containing two apartments, and she got out. She noticed her new neighbour and a woman sitting on the lawn in front of her apartment.
Henry helped her with her luggage to her doorstep, and Teni followed him.
"Hi, Teni," Chuks, her neighbour, greeted her. It was the second time he had seen her since he moved in.
"Hi, sorry, I've forgotten your name," Teni said, stopping to talk to him on her property.
"I'm Chuks. Sorry for being on your space. I just had mine fumigated," Chuks stood up and apologized.
"It's okay, since we're neighbours," Teni replied, walking past him to meet Henry, who had placed her luggage at the door and was returning to her.
"I have a small gift for you. It's a baseball cap," Teni said, taking out five one-thousand naira bills and handing them to Henry.
"Thanks, ma'am. I'll get the gift next time I'm around," Henry said, taking the money and walking back to his car.
"Alright then, bye," Teni said, turning to her apartment. She unlocked the door and looked back to see Chuks and the woman kissing on the lawn.
"This must be a rather amorous neighbour," she said to herself, picking up her luggage and entering her apartment.
Unpacking one of the bags she had brought from Europe. She took out the gifts she had bought for her fiancé and a baseball cap for his gatekeeper, Clarus, placing them in a paper bag on the bed. Afterward, she took off her clothes to shower before going to pick up Bella from Jim's house, after which she planned to visit Jim at the hospital.
Excited, Teni could barely contain her eagerness to see Bella and Jim. She hurried through her post-shower routine. Dressed in a white T-shirt and black jeans, she paused briefly at her shoe rack before selecting a pair of leather slippers, sliding her feet into them, and leaving the bedroom for the living room, the bag of gifts in hand.
In the living room, she picked up her phone and walked out of her apartment. Checking her wristwatch, she saw it was ten minutes past five. At that time, Bola should be finishing up at work, unless there were issues with the next publication.
Stepping outside, Teni was greeted by a beautiful sky painted with vibrant shades of color. The golden sun was nestled amidst the hues, a captivating sight. A lover of nature and creativity, Teni stood for a moment, admiring the sunset before it occurred to her to capture the scene on her phone. Realizing this, she took her phone from her jeans pocket and snapped a few photos before heading to the garage to drive her car to Jim's house and then to his hospital.
She felt a sense of incompleteness after pulling the car out the garage. She took a look at her own fingers and her engagement ring was missing. She had taken it off before her shower. Since the day Jim proposed, she hadn't left it at home even once. It had become an integral part of her attire since that memorable day.
She quickly got out of the car and returned to her apartment to retrieve the ring. Jim wouldn't be happy to see her without it.
A short while later, she was back outside. She hopped into the SUV, admired the ring on her finger, and drove off, merging onto the street. She noticed her neighbour and his lover had finished their evening picnic, and she hoped he wouldn't dare to trespass on her lawn again.
Driving to Jim's house, she realized she would need to visit Bola after seeing Jim at the hospital. By the time she left Jim's office, Bola should have finished work. Remembering she hadn't brought Bola's and Mary's gifts with her, she planned to return home after seeing Jim before going to Bola's place.
The drive to Jim's house took fifty-five minutes due to traffic, longer than the usual thirty-five minutes.
She arrived at Jim's place and drove into the compound. She didn't need to honk; the gate was already open, which was unusual.
Inside the compound, were both of Jim's cars parked beside the house, a clear sign he was home. He must be on night duty, she thought.
Clarus' post at the gate was also empty, which was strange. Could Clarus have been sent on an errand? Teni wondered. That shouldn't warrant him to leave the gate opened. That's unsafe for the occupants of the house, considering the insecurities in the country, she thought.
She pulled up in front of the orange painted bungalow and could hear the dogs barking in the distance.
Excitedly, she got out of the car. She had missed Jim so much that the six days away felt like months. She missed Bella too and couldn't wait to see her.
Approaching the house, the bag of gifts in her hand, Teni was met by an unexpected wall of loud music. This was jarring; Jim usually preferred a more mellow soundtrack.
She rummaged through her keychain, her fingers finding Jim's spare key just when she needed it. Quietly, she unlocked and pushed the door open, wanting to slip in unnoticed and surprise him. Her face held a delighted smile at the thought of his reaction. He wasn't expecting her and the others until the following day, a detail Bola also believed to be so. It was a last-minute change in the conference schedule, compounded by the accountant's illness, that had brought them home a day early.
The unmistakable lyrics of Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing" blared through the speakers, a song made iconic by the tragic death of the artist, murdered by his own father.
Teni gently placed the paper bag on the couch and tiptoed towards the kitchen. Peeking in, she found it empty of a human. He must be in the bedroom or the bathroom, she reasoned. Continuing her stealthy approach, she moved towards the bedroom. A few steps from the door, soft moans drifted through the heavy music. The repeated song, loud as it was, couldn't entirely mask the sounds emanating from the room ahead. A knot of unease tightened in Teni's stomach as she crept closer.
Just at the threshold, a chilling realization began to dawn on her: perhaps she wasn't the one about to deliver a surprise. Could her unsettling thoughts actually be true?
The bedroom door was not closed, requiring only a gentle nudge to reveal its secrets. Teni's heart began to hammer against her ribs. She desperately wished this was all a terrible dream. Her carefully constructed world felt on the verge of collapse, and she was terrified to witness the destruction.
With a trembling hand, she pushed the door open. The sight that greeted her was brutal: atop a large, fleshy woman, her fiancé was completely naked, slick with sweat, his body moving with violent intensity. The woman beneath him groaned with each thrust of Jim's hips. Teni stood frozen, a silent scream trapped in her throat, her eyes and mouth wide with disbelief. This was the ultimate, devastating surprise.
It was the woman beneath Jim who saw her first and gasped, "Jim! Oh my gosh!"
Then, Teni's own scream tore through the air.
The sound of Teni's voice, sharp with anguish, sliced through Jim's passion-fogged brain with the speed of lightning. He knew that voice intimately. Without even seeing who had spoken, he knew he had been caught again, his infidelity exposed. He spun around, scrambling to get off the woman and onto the floor. When he looked back and didn't immediately see the source of the scream, he bolted towards the door.
Overwhelmed by a profound sadness, Teni fled the bedroom, across the living room, and out of the house. Tears welled in her eyes as she ran towards her car. Jim, half-dressed, fumbling with his boxers and glasses, pursued her, guilt a heavy weight in his chest. He knew, with sickening certainty, that it was over. Completely over.
"Teni, Teni, wait! Please wait!" Jim's desperate shouts echoed after her.
Teni stopped abruptly beside her car, turning to face Jim, who was still partially naked, hurrying towards her. Behind him, framed in the doorway, stood the large woman he had been with, a scornful smile adorning her lips. Her face seemed familiar, a fleeting recognition nagging at Teni. She struggled to place where she had seen the woman with the ample bust and wide hips, the woman whose naked breasts still had erect nipples, like the horns of a snail.
Where on earth did I meet this… this whore? Her mind raced, sifting through memories. Then, it clicked. It was the woman who had sat and chatted intimately with Jim at Bola's mother's burial. Bola's suspicions had been right all along, Teni realized with a bitter taste in her mouth.
"Don't come near me!" Teni screamed, snatching the wheel spanner from the back seat floor, brandishing it like a weapon. Jim skidded to a halt, a good seven meters away.
"Babe, I am deeply sorry," Jim pleaded, his voice laced with desperation.
As Teni stood by her car door, clutching the wheel spanner, her thoughts drifted to Bella. Her dog was the reason she had come here in the first place. She had never expected to find Jim at home.
Suddenly, Teni turned and ran towards the back of Jim's property. She raced to the dogs' cage, finding Clarus there. Fresh tears streamed down her face, like drops of water from a leaking vessel , as Clarus unlatched the cage for her dog to come out. Teni gathered Bella in her arms. Bella licked the tears from her face as Teni carried her away. A tearful smile touched Teni's lips as she kissed her dog, hurrying back to her car.
Clarus, having witnessed everything, didn't dare ask what had happened. He felt a deep pity for the beautiful woman he admired.
Jim waited beside Teni's car, desperately trying to get her to listen, but Teni had reached her breaking point. The scene she had just witnessed was the final, unbearable blow. She was done with him, finally and irrevocably.
Slipping into the car with Bella, Teni looked at her left hand. With a trembling finger, she pulled off the engagement ring. Nothing felt more repulsive to her now than the cold metal in her hand and the man who had given it to her standing before her. With a flick of her wrist, she flung the ring onto the ground and jammed the car key into the ignition.
Jim, rooted to the spot, continued to plead, but Teni's mind was made up. Her once soft heart had hardened into stone. She cast one last, searing look at the naked woman still standing by the house entrance.
Rodiat remained in the doorway, Jim's boxers clinging to her hips, and with the size of her buttocks, it was certain the boxers was never Jim's size again. A smug smile plastered on her face, a silent declaration of victory.
"I never, ever want to see you again!" Teni screamed at Jim, rolling up the window as fresh tears spilled down her cheeks. She started the engine and sped out of Jim's compound, the car accelerating with a force that could have crushed anything in its path.