KISS OF BETRAYAL

💋Kiss Of  Betrayal 😔

‘For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till DEATH………..’ Derinsola Daniels seemed to have come to the tail end of her marital commitment as she watched her husband struggle for his life on a hospital bed. It was 6months and 3days since he collapsed and was rushed down to Lagos University Teaching Hospital(LUTH), Ikeja GRA, Nigeria. 6months and 3days, the longest period Derinsola Daniels ever got with her husband since they got married 19years ago, spent by his hospital bed, crying and praying with faint hope he would live.

Olaitan Daniels, the heir to the Tayelolu Daniels' holdings, the managing director of swifty telecommunication company, was a diligent businessman  and  a responsible family man, but not the stay-at-home type. His presence was often a golden opportunity that seldom lasted beyond 5weeks, and off he was again till God knows when next, meeting with business associates both home and abroad.
He was on a trip to Abuja for an appointment when he passed out from abdominal infection that graduated into multiple organ failure in the course of his hospitalization, which lapsed into coma.
Asides the scary sight of medical equipment attached to his body, watching him being eaten up by the terrible illness was a great torture for Derinsola. Though he wasn’t on the fat side, he wasn’t slim either. In the midst of her numerous thoughts, she refused to give her mind to what life would be with his family, should he pass away; especially with his mother and his immediate younger and only sister, Bolatito. His slight movement broke into her pensive thought and she sensed he had come through. She was about going to call the doctor when he managed a gesture indicating that she stay.

“Derinsola my wife, I have hurt you.” His voice was so faint and thin like his gaunt body it barely escaped his lips.

Of course you have. Putting your work above I and our children was one ache I learnt to live with, she thought to herself.

“I need to get this off my chest and I hope you will find it in your heart to forgive me.”
She held his hand, assuring him she would.
“Why don’t you get better first, so we can settle whatever issue it is at home.”
“Time is of the essence darling. What if I close my eyes, and it's on to a journey of no return?”
“God forbid! Olaitan, please don’t scare me more than you have already done.” She burst into tears.
“I had an affair that resulted into a son.”

Shocked, Derinsola mindlessly released her hand from his and remained still as though a petrify spell that froze her entire being except her mind had been cast on her.

African men and ‘male-child preference’ syndrome, they must have at least one at all cost to carry on their name. But the fault was not with me, after all, it is a man's sex chromosome that determines the gender of a child. We had 2female children and 3 more we didn’t plan for, I should have pushed for one more trial, perhaps it would have been that one that would make the difference. But Olaitan gave me his words that he wouldn’t succumb to family pressure to try another woman…..

“Derinsola…….,”
“Derin!”
“Yes.”
“I have more to say, a tougher one this time, just please forgive me.”
Derinsola remained quiet, all she could manage was breathe.
“I cheated on you with your………,” he paused, swallowed as though the word got stuck somewhere in his throat.
Derinsola sat straight with eagerness.
“Olaitan you are beginning to give me palpitation of the heart. Please let's get this over with.”
“Okay. The woman happened to be yoouuurrr……..,” all of a sudden he began gasping for breath, the word was probably too heavy it  choked him this time.
Derinsola screamed for help and medical personnel came rushing in. A doctor pressed down on his chest, one of the nurses steered Derinsola out of the room, while another dashed out for a defibrillator. Blinks of seconds before she returned with the device, Olaitan gave up. However, the doctor still tried the machine on him. Each press and shock to his chest seemed to send his spirit farther away from his body. His body got heavier with each trial. At a point, it stopped bouncing off the bed.
The tragic news was too hard for Derinsola to bear, she blanked out. After she was revived, she wished all that had happened was just a nightmare. But it was far from that with the morose faces of relatives about her. Her first daughter, Bisola went over to her and hugged her. They wept over each other's shoulder.
The next few days, the Daniels’ residence busied with relatives and loved ones who poured in to register their condolences. Amidst the traffic, divers thoughts roamed Derinsola's mind, of which the woman her husband was about revealing before he passed on kept recurring.
Could she be one of my close friends? None was close enough to get near my family. Could it be Jemila, my housemaid that got pregnant and was sent packing? No, Olaitan couldn’t have stooped that low. Hmmn, Men, can they be trusted? I don’t know what to believe of Olaitan any more.
Maybe it’s a relative. Which of them? Ohhhh! Which of them for goodness sake?
The woman will show up anytime soon. The family will prefer her son to my 5 daughters put together. Oh God! What does the future hold for me?

The day of the funeral soon arrived. The sermon preached during the service was so reflective, it was a call to retrace one's step as one could be the next. Amidst the sober gathering, the thought of the other woman crept on to Derinsola; she wondered if she was in service, seated somewhere watching her, if her son was one of the boys around, she didn’t even know how grown the boy was, she hated to be so clueless.
At the graveside, it was time to give dust to dust and ashes to ashes. Derinsola was first in line. With trembling hand, she scooped sand and poured on the coffin. Her daughters were next, while close relatives followed suite. Through her dark shade, her teary eyes rested on a strange look alike of her husband. It was as though he had attended his own funeral in the body of a young boy of not more than eight, in a black suit. The 4.6 inches boy had his dark complexion, his dark eyes, his oblong kind of head that was common to the Daniels. All of a sudden, she was thrown off balance and would have hit the ground, but for the strong hands that held her up. Everyone thought she was overwhelmed by the sickening moment, except for her one time best friend, the chief bride's maid at her wedding, who stood by the boy hand-in-hand.

Ahh! Tiwa! Olaitan cheated on me with Tiwatope. TO BE CONTINUED…….