CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX “CONVINCED”

© Opeyemi Akintunde

Inspired by the Holy One

Teju’s POV

I stood in front of her door for a long time before knocking.

It was the morning of our second anniversary.

Two years since the altar.
Two years since promises.
Two years of living like polite enemies under the same roof.

I knocked gently.

“Imade.”

No response.

“I know you’re awake,” I said, my voice already tired. “You always wake early on workdays.”

Silence.

Finally, her voice came through the door. Flat. Unbothered.

“I haven’t woken up yet. I’ll see you on my way out.”

That was when it hit me.

She had forgotten.

“Happy anniversary,” I said quietly.

There was a pause.

A long one.

The kind that tells you someone is searching their memory… not their heart.

“Oh,” she said eventually. “Same to you.”

The words landed without weight.

“Can we talk?” I asked.

“No.”

“Please,” I insisted. “Just five minutes.”

The door opened halfway.

Not inviting.
Not welcoming.

Her eyes were sharp. Guarded. Almost… annoyed.

“What?” she asked.

I swallowed.

“We can’t continue like this,” I said. “I can’t continue like this.”

She folded her arms.

“I’m a married virgin,” I said, my voice breaking despite my effort. “I want children, Imade. My own children.”

She looked at me… and laughed.

A short, dry laugh.

“So what’s stopping you?” she asked.

“You are,” I replied. “We haven’t made love since we got married. We’ve had this conversation a billion times.”

She scoffed.

“Go and…”

“Meet Beauty?” I cut in quickly. “You say the same thing every time. Nothing happened between me and Beauty. Nothing. How else can I explain this again?”

She shrugged.

“Now that you’ve realized I’m deaf,” she said calmly, “it’s better you find someone who can hear your pleas for a child.”

Something in me collapsed.

I dropped to my knees.

Right there.

I didn’t plan it.
Didn’t calculate it.
It just happened.

“I don’t want to cheat,” I sobbed. “Please… give us a chance.”

She shut the door.

Just like that.

No hesitation.
No guilt.

The sound echoed louder than any insult.

****
Imade’s POV

I couldn’t stand it.

His crying.

It irritated me.

What kind of man cried like that?

I sat back on my bed, rubbing my temples.

Two years.

Two long, exhausting years.

I had become a detective… chasing a ghost.

Daniel.

I searched the internet endlessly.
LinkedIn.
Instagram.
Facebook.

Nothing.

I called the hotel…begged them.

They refused.

Company policy.

I called the airline… hoping they could give me his full name from the manifest.

Nothing.

Privacy laws.

I travelled three times in two years.

Same country. Same hotel.
Same hope.

That I would run into him.

I never did.

Still… I refused to settle.

What if I gave in to Teju… and then Daniel appeared?

I would hate myself forever.

Since the marriage had never been consummated, I was safe. Untouched. Unclaimed.

“Imade, please…” Teju sobbed outside the door.

Pathetic.

I closed my eyes.

Maybe it was time to end this.

Let him go.

Let myself go.

Yes, my family would rage.
Yes, they would threaten.
Yes, I might lose inheritance.

But this life of pretending… of suffocating… of waiting for a man who might never return…

It was worse.

Much worse.

I stood up.

Decision was no longer optional.

It was overdue.

To be continued…

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Inspired by the TRUTH REVEALER
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