KAZMIR
With a smile on my countenance, I walked into the compound with a bag. Inside the bag was a bucket of ice cream I got for my wife who has confessed her love for the treat and accordin’ to my instincts, it was a good treat for the day.
Her mood, rather.
“Baby?!”
I walked into the house through the entrance door, leadin’ my way into the space.
Somethin’ was off. Somethin’ felt off, but I didn’t know what it was. I called. “Nyssa? Where are you?” Shuttin’ the door, I walked to the dinin’ area where the bag of ice cream bucket was dropped.
I looked around me, suddenly catchin’ a sight of her. In front of an office I asked her not to walk in, she was.
What was she doin’ there, and what was that in her hand? “What are you doin’ in front of my space, Nyssa?” I wanted to rush to her side, but what did it change? I stood back at the spot, watchin’ ‘my wife’ walk towards me with the safe in her hand.
“Will you like to tell me what’s in this safe, Kazmir?” She asked, standin’ in front of me in moments. A sigh ran out of my lips, especially at the thought of not gettin’ caught. “Will you tell me or not?” Her voice sounded, callin’ me out of her thoughts and brin’in’ me back to reality.
“I have no idea what’s in it,” with a smile, I said these words and pointed at the dinin’ table. “Look what I got for you on my way back. Ice cream. I thought you’d love some treats, so I got it. Can we stop this drama and face the ice cream?” My hand stretched and I wanted to take the safe from her, but she refused.
“What’s in this safe, Kazmir Draven?”
It was gettin’ serious, and I didn’t know what to do. “I have no idea, don’t you get it? It’s been a long time since I touched it, and I’m sure it’s nothin’ interestin’. Also, I’ve forgotten the code so there’ll be no way we would know, or don’t you think so?”
She laughed.
In all my days with her, she’s never been this way.
“What is wrong with you?” I had to ask, fear rushin’ all over me as she placed the safe on the table in the center of the livin’ room. “Stop this madness already, Nyssa. I’ll forgive you this once, mm?” The smile on my countenance, at this point, was not close to bein’ genuine’ but I had to do all I could to maintain my composure and not be caught.
“Since you don’t know what’s in it, I’ll tell you,” she offered and took a seat on the floor so she could access the table. “Will you stand or take a seat?” She looked me in the face and input the code of the safe, to the shock of me who knew I should have taken the safe from her with force from the onset of the conversation. How could I have known she was ahead of me? My mouth opened and I shut it the next moment.
“Do you want to explain this to me?” Her tone changed and I mouthed, shuttin’ my mouth the next moment – beholding papers in her hand. “I should have known you were not real, Kazmir. What’s the charges against you doin’ in this safe? And why are there so many charges? Not just one? How old am I?! Am I seventeen?! Are you usin’ me like you did with those girls?! Tell me at this moment! I want to know.”
“Who gave you the code to that safe?” I asked after wonderin’ for moments. “Did Darius do this?” I asked again, walkin’ closer but she was on her feet and movin’ farther from me. “Tell me at this moment, Nyssa. How did you get the code to that safe?”
“What Darius? He didn’t give me the code and I can’t possibly trust ‘im with this, can I? Didn’t you say he was loyal?” She shouted, this tone the loudest I had ever heard.
“That doesn’t answer my question, does it? What relationship do you have with teenagers? How old am I? Why didn’t you tell me?! I thought I was your wife. Am I even seventeen?!”
“You’re not seventeen!” I shouted after thinkin’ of what to say and also not gettin’ an answer. “You’re in your twenties also. And you are my wife, Nyssa. You need to trust me.” I pleaded while she placed the safe back on the center table and I didn’t bother pickin’ it up. Of what use will it be? She had discovered one of my many secrets and there was nothin’ to do to make her forget ’bout them. Not even the amnesia will work on her this time around, so what could I do?
“I can explain.”
“No!” She shouted, movin’ even farther.
“I hate you so much, you lyin’ cheat! You’ve been with younger women before the accident if at all we’ve been married before the accident! How can I not have family members?!” She shouted at the top of her voice and for the first time in a long while, I was glad it was just us in the whole estate.
“I can’t believe I ended up with a man like you!” She shouted next: snappin’ me out of my thoughts. I looked up and there she was, headin’ to the room through the stairs. “Don’t talk to me!”
“Nyssa?”
I tried to call her but she didn’t answer.
Without wastin’ time, I locked the safe, took it back to its space in the office, looked around, and wondered how I did not know all of these would happen.
Is this why she acted off of late?
How did I not notice?! I shut the door to the office, locked it with its key, and moved away, leadin’ my way once more to the livin’ room area.
“Nyssa?” I called when I arrived at the door of the room we shared to see it locked. “Hear me out, at least. “I am very sorry. I didn’t know how to tell you.”
The door opened.
She was smilin’.
“What exactly didn’t you know how to say to me? Is it the fact that you’ve been lyin’ to me for all these while, or is it the fact that you have a thing to do with young girls? Do you know what that’s called in my world? Pedophile! That’s what you are doing, have done, too.” The door opened wider and I caught sight of a box.
“You can’t leave me!” I shouted, stoppin’ her from walkin’ out with the box but the woman, stronger at that moment, pushed me and I was forced to give her space. “I am sorry, Nyssa. This is all I can say and you know this. Forgive me and come back to this room.”
She turned to look at me, shakin’ her head.
“I don’t think that’s goin’ to happen.” And with these words, she walked to one of the other rooms in the house, openin’ it and walkin’ into it with the box. I didn’t know what to do, or how to react. All I did was take a seat on the bed in the room we once shared, happy also that she didn’t get to leave the house like she did the first time we quarreled.
“Nyssa?” I called later that evenin’ when she showed up in the kitchen to dish her meal. “Aren’t you goin’ to at least talk to me?”
There was no word from her, and the next thing she did was walk to the same room she resumed, with the tray of meal for herself.
Now, I wondered.
How long was this goin’ to last?
And what could I do to save the day?