The Runaway Bride

Episode 15

Chinwe lay in bed, wondering what her father would spring upon them this time, since he would be coming with his lawyer. it would be a civil discussion of course, but with her father, one can never be too sure of anything.

She sensed a movement by her door and
expected the door to open but it never did, it seemed Tokunbo changed his mind, but before she finished that thought, he came back and knocked on the door gently but opened before hearing her reply.

“Hi” he said without really moving into the room

“Hi”

“I need to talk with you, and before you say no, you have to listen to whatever it is I have to say”

“Well, it is your house; you can say whatever you want to say”

“It is yours too and I would like us to be civil about this discussion”

“I’m all ears”

“You said some things this morning and I would like us to clearly discuss it again,
because I swear you got me confused”

“What would you like to clear?”

“The statement of yours accusing me of rape, if I heard you correctly”

“Yes you did”

“Who is the person I raped please and can I see her?”

“Why would you like to see her?”

“So she could say it to my face when and where I raped her”

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Please”

“When did you leave for the US?”

“February 2011”

“so that would make it 4 years that you
traveled out”, she said, making a quick calculation in her head, the incident that marred Clara’s life happened January 2011 and with his admission, it makes it clearer.

“Yes, 4 years”

“Okay, that’s all I want to know”

“Well, I would like to know who this person is for God’s sake, I need to know.”

“Well, if you are insisting you need to know, it is only making two thoughts come to my mind.

[b]1. That you have raped more than one person and you can’t keep tab of the number or

2. you want to continue to deny it”

“I will continue to say it, I have never ever in my life forced a woman to do anything for me or with me. What is the matter anyway, is the person dead, that I cannot meet her or you are just bent on getting out of this marriage so much so that you would cook up any story to
suit your mission?” He replied with a tight voice as if he would like to blow it all up, but he decided to not rise to her bait.

She obviously wanted him to lose his cool so they could suspend the whole discussion again.

“You think I’m making this up?” She laughed sarcastically, sitting up straight in bed and looking him straight in the eyes

“Well, if you are not, then let me meet this woman or is it a man?”

“I’m sorry that cannot happen!”
Tokunbo wanted to scream at her but held it all back in again, taking a deep breath to calm himself and then trying again

“You know what, I will make a deal with you.

Let me meet the woman and when she tells me to my face when and where I raped her and we can confirm that, I will give you a divorce.

I will sign any divorce petition
against myself and give you the freedom you so much desire. I know you are here because your father threatened you, but I swear, let me meet this woman and I will walk to him and tell him I want to divorce you.

The deal sounded so good to Chinwe that she almost answered immediately but decided to weigh the possibilities of Clara wanting to come to Lagos to see him or even wanting to receive him in Uyo. Well she had to make him
know he has a child anyway, she would
agree, Chinwe calculated in her brain.

[b]
“Deal!”

“Fine, so when can we meet her? Tomorrow would be a perfect time” obviously pleased they are agreeing on that.

“Nope, I need to inform her first and she’s not in Lagos, mind you”

“Well, distance does not matter and I can get her ticket to come down here, or we could go to wherever she is to see her”

“Well, when she agrees we will see her”

Chinwe was smiling triumphantly as she
watched him stare at her. He still looked good and she would not deny she found him attractive but she definitely would not be banking on it, since rapists should be condemned to death, if it were up to her.

The smile on her face was made Tokunbo to skip a heartbeat, making him wonder if he truly was ready for whatever might come out of this whole mess. He stood up gently and walked to the door not minding that he still had many things to say.

He turned back from opening the door and asked her one simple question

[b]
“If you would believe such about me, after the feelings we shared and the thing between us; that is if you actually felt it, can I then conclude that you were just playing me all those months?
Because I swear if anyone told
me a thing about your past that is sordid, I would have listened to your own side of the story before crucifying you. I mean it.” He did not wait for a reply as he gently opened the door and shut it behind him without any noise.

The silence after he left made the statement so large and thick in the room so much so Chinwe could almost feel it floating over her head. She wondered if she truly ever loved him like she claimed and if she was foolish to have behaved the way she did without actually listening to his side of the story.

Clara could not have lied about a thing like that and Henry is a living evidence of what she claimed. She had met his mom and she told her about the birthmark, insisting no other person had that mark. No one else in their family does.

The question about a second brother was ruled out because there are just 2 of them. Himself and his sister, who could not come for the wedding because of
her health condition. She had to stay back
with her husband and kid. She is a couple of years younger than him but she got married a couple of years back to a British man.

She thought about it clearly, the whole fold of events and she unfolded them in her mind again, starting from the moment her father dropped the news on her lap that she would be marrying him to the time she moved out of the house to stay with Clara who was in Lagos then. To the time her mother begged her to come back, to the time she went to the
US to ‘see him’. When she returned to
Nigeria,she helped Clara move to Uyo after
her rent expired and to the time he came to Nigeria and they started dating officially; everything seemed just like yesterday.

Could she have been rash in her action? Could it be she did not love him enough to listen to his side of the story. But who was she kidding?

All rapists have one thing to say- I
did not do it or, she s£duced me; she should have known better.