Nancy sat at the bar counter having her cocktails. It was happy hour, and her goal was to enjoy four cocktails and then go home. She first smelt his cologne when he stood next to her. She was busy trying to guess what it might be when he spoke to her in a deep voice. Nancy turned to see who the voice and scent belonged to.
“Hey, I was sitting in that corner and spotted you. Can I get you another cocktail?” The man asked.
“You could, but I’m up to my limit for the night,” Nancy told him.
“I’m Edward, by the way. Technically, the limit was on cocktails; if you changed to something else like whiskey or gin, then you’d still be within your limit, right?” Edward told Nancy.
They both laughed. He had successfully caught her attention. A night of fun and beautiful conversations began their relationship. Edward was attentive to Nancy. He listened to her in the way she had yearned. He ticked many of her boxes. By the time she realized that he was married, she had already fallen hard for him.
She wondered how she had missed it. Edward had spent most of the time that he wasn’t working with her. When he wasn’t with her, he was out drinking somewhere and called her frequently, confirming he was where he said he was. The only indicator of his married status was that he had not invited her to his place. They would meet at her place when not going to hotels and Airbnb. When she discovered his marital status, she was furious and confronted him.
“Why would you keep something like that from me? You keep talking about our future, knowing you’re already married. Why would you do that to me, Ed?” Nancy asked him.
“I’m sorry I did not mention it. I feared losing you, but I did not lie about our future together. I am in the process of divorcing my wife,” Ed told Nancy.
“Why are you ending your marriage?” Nancy asked Edward.
“We rushed the process and didn’t take time to know each other. We were already married when I discovered we were not compatible.”
“Have you tried counselling?” Nancy asked Edward.
“Counselling only works when both parties are willing to change. She is nagging, unreasonable and unsupportive. She’s unsupportive about my career and business ventures. I have no peace in that home. You’re different and exactly what I need, baby,” Edward told Nancy.
They had a lengthy conversation because Nancy was apprehensive about being the other woman, but Edward’s sweet words convinced her that it was the temporal situation. He even gave her a timeline of when the divorce would be finalized.
“I am all yours, baby. This is just a legal technicality that I’m working on,” he told her.
Their relationship deepened. With the secret out of the way, Edward opened up to Nancy more than before. Nancy felt like she was the ‘better’ woman and dedicated herself to being what the wife wasn’t. This man had no peace at home, so she purposed to be his peace. She avoided bringing up issues with him to maintain the peace. Edward got comfortable enough to call her when he would get too drunk to get home.
Nancy occasionally picked him up from several bars in towns. He would call her in the middle of the night to pick him up. At first, she justified it as he was being responsible enough to ask for help when he went overboard with the alcohol. Other times, he would show up at her place unannounced and extremely drunk at ungodly hours. The security guys at her place even knew where to take him because of the frequency.
Nancy hid the relationship from her close friends for a while, but one of them found out when Edward showed up at her place on the night the friend had come over. She had a massive fight with her friend when she told her what was happening.
“Why are you putting up with him?” Nancy’s friend asked.
“He needs me. His wife doesn’t understand him,” Nancy told the friend.
“Are you listening to yourself? Who are you and what have you done with my friend? You can see why the wife isn’t putting up with him,” Nancy’s friend told her.
“I knew you would judge me; that’s why I didn’t tell you,” Nancy responded.
“How long have you been together?” Nancy’s friend asked.
“Five months,” Nancy responded.
“I love you and will tell you what you don’t want to hear. You’ve kept this a secret because you’re also judging yourself, and you know you shouldn’t be in this situation,” the friend told her.
The argument escalated since Nancy felt attacked, and the friend left. She isolated herself from her friends and focused on her relationship with Edward. While there were good moments, Edward graduated from seeking help when drunk to asking her for money. He always had a convincing reason, and Nancy couldn’t refuse him. She justified it as being an understanding partner who shows up for her man.
On one fateful evening, when they had gone for dinner at a popular joint, a strange number called her. She had been getting calls from the number but ignored them. The number called Edward shortly after. He picked up and quickly hung up when he realized his wife was calling. Less than an hour later, Edward’s wife showed up where they were having dinner.
“Edward, you’re too busy for your family? Your child had an emergency, but you’ve opted out of parenting for whoring?” She asked him.
“You are causing a scene. What is wrong with you?” Edward asked the wife.
“And you, I assume you’re his latest mistress. I’m coming to you, woman to woman. Leave this man alone. He has a family, and I’ll be dead before he manages to turn me into a single mother. Keep away from him before you regret it,” Edward’s wife told Nancy.
They had an argument before the security guys at the joint kicked all of them out. Meanwhile, some people at the joint recorded the ordeal, which went viral. Nancy’s friends, colleagues and family saw the video, and she received nonstop calls and messages. She had to delete her social media pages because of the abuse she received from strangers online.
Edward did his best to calm her down and apologized for his wife’s behaviour. He took the chance to tell her she could now see what he had been dealing with. It worked for a while, and Nancy thought she could bear the ridicule for Edward until she saw photos of Edward with the wife and child in church. She saved his wife’s number and could view her Whatsapp status.
“Edward, is this you with the wife you’re supposedly divorcing?” Nancy asked him.
“Baby, my family saw the video, and they have been on my case, so I had to do things to appease them. I promise I will still leave her, but it will take a bit longer,” Edward told Nancy.
It dawned on Nancy that Edward wouldn’t leave his wife for her. The shame and guilt she felt were in vain because Edward would, ultimately, choose his wife. She tried breaking up with him several times before finally getting the courage to leave.
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