CHAPTER FORTY-THREE “CONVINCED”

©Opeyemi Akintunde
Inspired by the Greatest Storyteller

Imade’s POV

I woke up suddenly, the way one wakes when something inside them has shifted.

For a few seconds I lay still on the couch, staring at the ceiling, trying to understand what exactly had happened. I did not remember deciding to sleep. I only remembered sitting there earlier, thinking… or maybe not even thinking clearly, just existing in that familiar fog that had become normal to me these past months.

But now something felt different.

My mind felt clear.

Not quiet in the ordinary sense, but clear… like the way the sky looks after heavy rain when the clouds have finally moved away and you can suddenly see far into the distance.

I sat up slowly.

The house was silent. The curtains were drawn halfway, letting in the soft noon light that fell across the living room floor. Nothing around me had changed. The furniture was where it always was. The television sat quietly across the room. The clock on the wall continued ticking with the same stubborn rhythm.

Yet inside me something had changed.

It was subtle, but undeniable.

It felt as though I had just woken up from something much deeper than sleep.

My eyes wandered across the room without intention until they stopped at the wall opposite me.

Our wedding photograph.

The large framed picture that had been hanging there since the day we moved into this house.

For months I had avoided looking at that photo. Sometimes when my eyes accidentally fell on it, irritation would rise inside me before I even realized what was happening. It had almost become a reflex.

But this time I found myself standing.

Slowly… almost cautiously… I walked toward it.

When I reached the frame, I stopped and looked at it properly for the first time in a very long while.

There we were.

Teju and I.

Standing side by side on our wedding day, dressed in white, smiling in that effortless way people smile when they are certain about the future.

My eyes rested on his face.

And suddenly it felt strangely personal… as if I were not just looking at a photograph, but looking directly into his eyes again.

There was something about the way he had been looking at me that day.

A quiet warmth.

A gentleness.

And an unmistakable sincerity.

For a moment it felt as if I could read his heart through that photograph.

My mind began to travel backwards.

Not to the arguments.

Not to the pain of the last two years.

But further back.

Back to when we were children.

Teju had always been an obedient son. Everyone knew that about him. Even when we were younger, when the other boys were trying to show off or get away with things they were not supposed to do, Teju always seemed to carry himself differently.

He was respectful without being forced.

He listened.

He was careful about the choices he made.

I remembered how elders used to smile whenever he greeted them.

I remembered how my parents used to speak well of him long before marriage was ever discussed.

And slowly… painfully… my thoughts began to move forward.

To the last two years.

To the accusations.

To the distance.

To the coldness that had gradually settled between us.

I remembered the day it all ended in my mind. The Day at the hotel.. The Day I had been convinced.

Convinced that I had uncovered the truth.

Convinced that I was the one being wronged.

But as I stood there looking at his face in the photograph, something uncomfortable began to settle in my chest.

Because even in those moments… Teju had been patient.

Painfully patient.

I remembered the way he had tried to explain himself that night. I remembered how calm he tried to remain even when I refused to listen. Even when I raised my voice and spoke words that now made my stomach twist when I thought about them.

He had not shouted.

Even to our recent Anniversary Dinner. He had not exposed me.

Even the day Daniel called…He could have embarrassed me in front of our Parents.

He could have exposed the entire situation.

But he did not.

I stepped back slowly from the photograph and sank into the nearest chair.

My conscience started asking questions I had not allowed myself to ask before.

What really is love?…Is it the butterflies people talk about?

The excitement? The emotional rush that makes everything feel magical?

Or is love something else entirely?

Something quieter…Something steadier.

Peace.

Another thought followed quickly behind it.

Can love be built… even when it does not begin with overwhelming feelings?

That had been my parents’ belief.

That was why they arranged our marriage.

Not between strangers… but between two people who had known each other long enough to grow something meaningful together.

I leaned back in the chair slowly.

Another question formed inside my mind, one I had avoided asking for a long time.

Could my parents really want something bad for me?

My father had never been careless with decisions concerning me.

My mother prayed about everything.

They did not force me into marriage with a stranger.

They trusted Teju…They believed he would take care of me.

My eyes drifted back to the wedding photograph.Teju’s smile looked exactly the same.

Patient…Calm…Steady.

And suddenly something softened inside my heart in a way it had not softened in two years.. infact in all the years I have known Teju.

Maybe love is not always fireworks…Maybe sometimes love is simply peace.

The kind of peace I feel around him.

A tear slid down my cheek before I realized I was crying. I wiped it quickly, embarrassed even though I was alone.

Then I looked again at the photograph.

And the words escaped my lips quietly.

“Maybe I have been wrong.” Saying it felt heavy… but strangely freeing. I stood up slowly, walked back to the couch, and picked up my phone.

My fingers hovered above the screen of my phone as I stared at his name.

Teju…My heart was beating faster now.

For a moment I hesitated.

Then I took a deep breath.

And pressed call.

To be continued

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