Richard had just landed at the airport. He’d just returned from his first international trip. He’d been working at his workplace for a few months, and they had organised the trip to their headquarters for further training. He landed just in time to video call his kids before his wife, Winnie, took them to her parents’ place for the weekend.
“I love you guys. Be good,” Richard told the kids.
“We love you, Dad,” said the three kids in unison.
“Okay, babe. I’ll see you later. Let me drop by the office first instead of coming home, then making another trip to the office and back home,” Richard told Winnie.
“Okay, laters,” Winnie replied.
Richard took a cab to the office. His friend and colleague were in the office, too, so he kept the luggage in his car. It took him about two and a half hours to finish up what he was doing at work. His friend offered to drop him home.
“Man! These are the days we prayed for. Work is going well, and I get to spoil my family with gifts from my trip,” said Richard excitedly.
“For sure. My wife looks forward to those trips, too,” said his friend.
They engaged in a conversation about family and work all the way to Richard’s house. Richard’s car was parked at the front of the house when they got there.
“The car is here, I think Winnie’s back. She took the kids to her parents’ for the weekend,” said Richard.
He tried opening the door, but it was locked. He thought that was strange because, due to the house’s design, they typically used the kitchen door. He rang the doorbell, but nobody answered. He took out his house keys and opened the door.
His friend was behind him with the rest of the luggage. Richard almost fainted when he got into the house. It was empty, save for the fridge and TV, which were downstairs. He went upstairs and found his clothes and bed. For a split second, when he saw the empty house, he thought that they had been robbed, but the few items left told him this was something else.
Richard called Winnie, but she didn’t pick up.
“What’s going on?” His friend asked.
“I don’t know. I think Winnie has left me,” said Richard.
“Were you having issues?” Asked the friend.
“Nothing big. We just had a video call while I was at the airport. They were inside this house,” Richard responded, trembling.
“Let’s talk to the guards at the gate,” suggested his friend.
As soon as they got there, they found a different guard from the one who had been there when they had entered the estate minutes earlier.
“Boss, kwani mmesahau kitu?” Asked the cheerful guard.
Richard learnt that Winnie had a team of movers help her move about an hour after their phone call. He returned to the house, and that’s when he saw an envelope he hadn’t seen before. In the envelope were documents detailing how Winnie would like them to share custody and responsibilities. She had even stated how much she thought he should pay in child support and parenting time schedules. As a side note, she explained that she had left the TV because she knew how hard he had worked for a large TV to watch football matches, and he would need the fridge for his beers.
His hands were trembling as he went through the documents.
“She had been planning this for a while,” said Richard.
“Can you think of how you got here?” Asked the friend.
“No. I didn’t think we were doing badly enough for her to leave. I mean, she complained that I was always working and I didn’t pay close attention to her needs and dreams, but she never lacked anything,” said a confused Richard.
His friend stayed with him for a while, and then they decided to look for food. It turned out to be a night of drinking when Winnie ignored his messages and numerous calls. He went back to his empty house and cried like a little child.
It felt like a few hours before, he was on top of the world with a family and his dream job, and then something precious was taken away from him. He knew Winnie wasn’t coming back, but he hoped to get answers from her. After the shock, he looked for a lawyer who argued that Winnie had given him fair terms. She even got the kids a phone, which they used to talk to Richard whenever they wanted.
His good performance at work earned him more responsibilities, which kept him busy as he waited for the designated weekends to get a chance to hang out with his children. Although being busy kept him sane, he still needed to know what went wrong. After the dust had settled between him and Winnie, he finally asked her.
“What happened, Winnie?”
“I was lonely in our marriage, Richard,” she told him.
“Why didn’t you tell me? I could have done better,” he said.
“I tried, but you didn’t hear me,” Winnie told him.
“Do you think we can ever fix it?” Richard asked her.
“You’re a good dad to our children. That’s enough for me. We’ve worked hard at co-parenting, let’s not do anything that could affect that,” said Winnie.
It wasn’t what Richard wanted to hear, but he had finally gotten answers. It took him a while but he eventually moved on and started dating again so did Winnie.
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