She only had suspicions of her man cheating once and it had come true. These suspicions came again, she started looking for anything that might have pushed her toward having these thoughts. They had lived together for five years and hoped to live together for a lifetime. Only if he stuck to his end of the bargain because she was not going to stand around and watch him cheat again. Was it happening again?
This thought had to come from somewhere. Was it how he started making excuses on why he won’t come home early as usual and ended up coming home at almost midnight? Was he back to having side chicks like he had, sometime back, something that had almost torn them apart? She wasn’t sure about anything at that point, but she knew something was off.
She thought through this particular detail so hard. Much as the guy had played games before, a benefit of the doubt wouldn’t be a bad thing to give him at this point. She wanted to see him using a neutral lens that she would have wanted to be applied to her had she been in that position too.
What if he genuinely needed some time to hang out with friends while having a drink? She even went ahead to think of how much fun she usually had with her friends and that she never wanted their time together to end. Could it be that they just sit down and after a couple of stories, time has passed so fast and it was almost midnight? She would go ahead to ask herself. She needed whatever was going on to be something else than the worst thing she had in mind. It had to be.
One thing that failed to make sense though, in all her benefit-of-doubt attempts, was the number of messages and suggestive pictures she had received from a strange number insinuating that her man usually spends his evenings at this lady’s house. Everything else could have given her the strength and the reason to hope for the better, to continue believing his excuses, but not this.
When a strange number sends you messages suggestive of your man playing games behind your back, in the middle of him making excuses to come home a bit later, it would without a doubt make you see things from a perspective that would not favour him. The messages would go to reinforce the fear that you have, especially when you go back to the history of how your lives have been.
So far, she had received three such messages. The first time, it was a long text detailing how Levi was at her place having a good time. The message had long descriptions of every little detail that made see it clear that it was Levi.
“I wonder what he usually tells you about his evenings. Does he usually mention the erotic massages he gets when he comes to my place, the steamy showers we have after moments of pleasure? Of course, he doesn’t. But I have him with me every other evening. Levi is one special man”
This message left her shocked. It numbed her. Her eyes stared into space as she took deep breaths trying to calm down. She started shaking and tears streamed down her cheeks. It was happening again. She did not need any more evidence of this.
What could explain how fresh Levi looked when he came home? Of late, he did not look like someone who had worked for 8 hours in the office. At times, she would smell a different scent on him, a fragrance that had nothing to do with all the soaps or perfumes they use in their household.
One evening, she had to ask him. “What’s that smell?”
“Which one?”
“The one I can smell on you,” she became more specific.
Levi took a moment, sniffed his shirt and responded. “Hugged friends as we were leaving that place.”
“Ooh, I see!” That had not sat well with her. She knew it had more to do with more than just a hug but she let it slide. It now made sense after receiving this text. She went through it over and over again.
She decided to call Levi and confront him about what she had received. If anyone owed her any explanation, it was him. She needed to hear his reaction and feel the tone of his voice. She would know if he said the truth or not.
“Have you been telling me the truth about how you spend your evenings?”
“Yes.” He then went silent for a few seconds. A very uncomfortable silence. “Why?”
She decided to be blunt. “So you don’t spend your evenings getting massages, and erotic activities that lead you to showers that make you smell differently when you come home?”
She did not have the patience of going round and round before dropping this bomb. It was tiring to be lied to over and over and to remain gentle. She kept quiet to hear his reaction, which she heard. Because Levi went silent. And after a moment, he spoke again. This time, making her feel like she’s imagining her things.
“Nope. You are making things up in your head. Nothing like that is happening.”
“Then what are these messages I am getting?” Her voice had risen now. She was making all kinds of weird faces while throwing her hands in the air. “Of you spending your evenings in this person’s house?”
“Jealous people out here see us living well and they can’t have it. That’s what’s up. You got to believe me, babe.”
She growled and hung up. His comeback when such things come up is usually something other than the truth. Weeks went by with things being horrible between them. One could tell by the atmosphere in the house. She rarely spoke and if she did it had to be something really necessary. These days, Levi came home earlier than usual. Things almost went back to normal.
One day another message came. This time around with a picture of Levi barechested and only in boxers with his head on the thighs of an unidentified woman who did not show her face. Perhaps, she needed Maggie to be certain that her man was getting taken care of really well.
This time round, she could not hold it. The patience that she’d demonstrated every other time she received such pictures had gone out the window and what remained in her was so much anger. She knew that Levi was taking her for a fool. Maybe even bad-mouthed her with this other woman because what can explain the audacity she had to send such a message?
She wasn’t going to solve things through a phone call this time round. She wasn’t even going to tell him through text about what had happened. She needed to confront him when he came. Phones have a way of making issues seem trivial. It had to be a face-to-face confrontation.
That evening was a bit longer than usual. Given that her mind kept on racing from thought to thought. Such a confrontation because she was ready to end it all would not be easy to go into. It was clear that there was another woman and that even after the first confrontation, he did not stop seeing her. It was either the other woman or her. Levi had to make that decision that night.
She had calmed down now. Her rage and anger had now gone down. What was left of their five-year marriage was a shell that may not survive whatever tornado this coming confrontation would bring. It was a picture of her man on another woman’s lap. Something that confirmed that he lied the first time she asked him about this weird message. It also confirmed that maybe this was a trend that he wouldn’t leave because it was the third time he was having an affair.
Such a confrontation is not easy to have because she was not sure what would come out of it. What if he said that this time round he had found love in this other woman? She would be crushed.
After what seemed like an eternity of thinking through what was going on, she heard a knock. She had been consumed by her thoughts until she lost track of time. The knock automatically made her realize that it had become so late, Levi’s arrival had to be past midnight. When she looked at the time on her phone, it was 2:00 a.m. She was not surprised.
She walked to the door to open it. Levi continued knocking endlessly, something that made her realize that he was drunk. As she opened the door, Levi was too unstable to stand he had been supporting himself by holding the door. Next to him was an Uber driver who had helped him walk to the house.
Maggy held and walked him into the leaving room where he sat on the couch with a thud like he was falling. He was speaking incorrigibly, talking about things Maggy could not even understand. It had never gotten this far. Even when he went out drinking, he would come home drunk but not to the extent of staggering and talking like that. Also, his coming back late never got to him arriving past midnight. Maggy thought that this had gotten to another level.
Maggie wondered if he was even able to eat in that state. She was not even interested in his hunger at that time. Perhaps she had eaten at the place he was coming from. As she was headed to close the door, Levi spoke.
“Mimi ata sikuli, nimeshiba,” he said.
He had lipstick on the left collar of his shirt. When he went down to remove his shoes, Maggie saw that he was wearing two different socks, not the ones he had worn in the morning. The left leg had a grey ankle sock, one which was not even his.
She left him there but 20 minutes later she was back. She woke him up. She was so furious she needed to talk to him now. She needed to make him sober. She made him drink some orange juice. He went back to sleep and then woke up to Maggie shouting all over the place. Her husband needed to face her wrath while it was still fresh. She had calmed down but what on earth was wearing two different socks from that woman’s house mean if not disrespectful on another level?
Before she could finish waking him up, his phone rang, and she took it and looked at the caller. It was Dylan but saved as Dylan line two. Dylan was his friend. He probably wanted to know if he had arrived home safe and if they had been together that night as he had said. She picked it up and on the other end, she heard a woman’s voice to her surprise.
“Hi, who are you?” She asked after the lady said, “Hello babe.”
“Oh, finally we get to speak. I have been waiting for this moment.” The lady on the phone said with a sarcastic laugh.
“I asked who you are. You have not answered my question.” Maggie repeated angrily.
“Calm down, I am sure you already know that you ain’t the only one. Have you seen the left ankle sock?” the woman asked.
Maggy was too shaken to continue talking. She sobbed uncontrollably as she went for the closet. She picked up suitcases and threw them on the ground open. Maggie picked up her few clothes and put them in the suitcase while muttering incorrigibly.
By this time Levi was alert. All the time Maggie was packing, he was pleading with her to stop so that they talk.
“It doesn’t have to go this far.” He would say.
“It has. Nothing you’ll say will make me stay. You have disrespected me enough.” Maggie said as she angrily packed crying all the while.
He continued pleading but Maggie could not have taken any of his lies anymore. She waited until it was dawn and then went to her son’s room and packed his clothes too. She then woke him up, gave him a bath and breakfast and then she called a cab. Levi was still pleading with them to stay but she had been through enough. She did not want to be here with this man anymore. She was done. Let the other woman have him. She did not have it in her to do this again.
Check out
The Singlehood Series: My Boyfriend Brought Another Woman To The House I Rented For Him
The Other Woman: A Love Affair Brewed In A Café
A Mistake Exposed His Affair And Ruined His Marriage
I Had An Affair In Advance To Avoid Being Hurt By My Husband Who I Suspected Was Cheating On Me
Her Husband Has Been Having An Affair With Their Domestic Manager
