Chapter Eight

Bimpe called the artist that made the painting on the wall at 805 and then drove to his studio to meet him. The guy had many art masterpieces on the wall of his studio. Then she asked him to make a replica of the painting he made for 805 and then she paid him more than the amount he requested for the job. Now she had gotten the best birthday gift for Dotun. She also bought another beautiful painting she saw in the studio and the artist wrapped it up and helped her carry it to the car. He promised her he would be done with the painting she paid for in 3 days time. It would be ready before the weekend when Dotun comes to take Trey out. Then she drove off again to an essenza store at Jabi lake mall and bought a bottle of Perry Ellis Platinum, then she went to another store, bought the raciest lingerie they had on offer, and some scented candles. She wanted to bring sexy back. Whatever had made Fred attracted to the other woman would make him attracted to her as well. She got some pineapples from the fruit guy at the fruit market, after that, she drove off to the daycare to pick up Fiona and passed by Trey's school to pick him up too before she drove home.

After she paid the bill and left the restaurant, Ifeoma went and sat in her car and cried for 10 minutes. She wasn't crying because she wouldn't be able to contact Fred again, she was crying because she didn't expect that Bimpe would forgive her the way she had. If Ifeoma was in similar shoes, she knew she would never have acted with the same maturity Bimpe used. She didn't go home because Fred would come over and she wanted to stay as far away from him as she possibly could she definitely didn't want to offend a woman like Bimpe, she believed that Bimpe would carry out the threat if Ifeoma made the mistake of contacting Fred. She drove to the bank, cashed the check and deposited it in her account. She was now worth six million naira. She smiled as she saw her account balance on the slip the bank teller printed out for her after she made the deposit. Then she drove off to a luxurious hotel in Asokoro and paid for a 3 days stay. She may have lost all the men she'd ever loved but she was now rich and comfortable. She said a prayer for Fred and his family, made a promise to herself to never use diabolical means to get or keep any man and then went to the massage parlor that was managed by the hotel and paid for a 2 hour session. She needed to be pampered, after all she was now rich. As the masseuse started the massage from her neck, she started to think of the best part of town she would relocate to, she wanted to be far away from anywhere she would run into Fred or Bimpe. Before drifting off into a relaxed sleep, she decided that she would get a 2 bedroom apartment at Zone 6. She would use one of the rooms as storage for all the products she hoped to sell. She would stay off men and focus on being a business woman. Maybe then, if God wills it she would meet her own man. A man that would cherish and love her the way Fred cherished and loved Bimpe.

It was raining heavily but Fred was sheltered from the rain. He had been seating in his car for almost 2 hours. He kept trying Ifeoma's number but it was switched off. He sent her messages on whatsapp, they also didn't deliver, he sent a couple text messages as well those ones too didn't go through. Then he drove to her house to see if she was okay. He hadn't heard from her since 11am when she had told him about the business lunch she was having with some woman. He got to her house, she also wasn't there. So he decided he was going to sit out in the car and wait till whenever she got back, then it had started to rain and he decided to wait there in front of her apartment till the rain stopped. It's been almost two weeks since he made love and he was very horny. He'd been very busy at work with new contracts and was always exhausted whenever he got home, but right now, he wanted to get laid and Ifeoma wasn't home, he was contemplating if Bimpe would be in the mood to make love to him, she had been acting strange since the night he left her in the shower. He admitted that he'd been unfair to his wife. She absolutely deserved better than what he was giving her. She had been with him through thick and thin and she was his best friend but he just couldn't understand why he kept coming to Ifeoma's place when he had a hot and wonderful wife at home. He decided to wait for 20 more minutes and if Ifeoma wasn't back by then, he would just drive home in the rain. Then his phone beeped. He quickly checked if it was Ifeoma, it wasn't. 'Are you going to sit in front of her house all evening? Come home to your family. Ifeoma Nwosu has left town.' he felt goosebumps as he realized what the message meant. Bimpe already knows. He revved the car and started to drive home. It was almost 9pm. He was sure the kids would have gone to bed. He didn't want Trey to be up when he started explaining how sorry he was for everything he'd done to Bimpe. Kids may look innocent but they know things and he didn't want Trey knowing how bad daddy had wronged mummy. When Usman opened the gates, he slowly drove in and sat in the car for a while, thinking of the best things to say and how much he would have to say, but knowing Bimpe, there was no use lying, she must already know everything. Then he got out of the car, opened the door to the living room and guilt overcame him as he smelt Ifeoma all over his living room. Could Bimpe have brought Ifeoma home? He thought to himself as he stood there in the dark, afraid to move or even turn on the lights. "Are you going to stand there or you'd come up here?" Bimpe called out from the room. He swallowed hard as he dragged himself up the stairs. Nothing prepared him for what he saw as he opened the door to their bedroom.

Bimpe hurriedly made dinner for Trey, helped him with his homework and took him to his room and in no time, Trey was asleep. Fiona on the other hand refused to go to sleep. At 7 months and with one teeth, she was very willful. Bimpe had breastfed her, bottle fed her, but the little tot refused to sleep. She just kept chuckling and showing off her dimples. Her accusatory eyes would follow Bimpe around in the kitchen as Bimpe made arrangements for the night like 'you want to hurt my daddy?' Bimpe just placed Fiona on her baby bed as she diced the pineapples, apple and banana. Then she poured unsweetened yoghurt into the bowl of fruits. By the time she was done eating the yogofruity, Fiona was already asleep and was even smiling. She must be dreaming of something, that's if baby dreamt of anything. Then gingerly, she carried Fiona up to the room, then she cleaned the kitchen, she put her husband's dinner in the microwave and went back upstairs. She had two more hours to get ready. She was sure Fred had gone to Ifeoma's house. Part of her arrangements earlier in the day, unknown to Ifeoma, was that she had asked Hadiza to take pictures of them while she was having lunch with Ifeoma and Hadiza must be a good photographer on the side because she took perfect shots of both ladies as they ate and talk. She had even taken shots of when Ifeoma took the check. She saved all the pictures in a folder on her phone and went about her plans for the evening. She placed the 12 scented candles in different parts of the room. She had the AC on and the room was chilled. She had a mix tape of romantic songs on her phone and she went through the songs and selected the one that was apt for the mood, then using Bluetooth to connect her phone to the beat pill that was on the dresser, she clicked play, then "Breathe" by Neyo filled the room. The lyrics of the song was enough to make a lady want to get pregnant. She turned off the bulbs and the colored scented candles lighted the room. As the candles burned slowly, they gave off an aromatic smell that tickled the senses. Then she went into the bathroom, did her night scrub, had a relaxing shower and she wore the pink crotchless lacy panties with a matching bra, she checked the ice-cream that was in the bedside fridge, she dipped her index finger in the bowl and licked the cream off her finger and smiled at the thought of what she planned to do to her husband. She got four of her scarves from the closet and tied them to the four posts of the bed. Then she went downstairs with the Perry Ellis perfume she got earlier in the day and sprayed it generously all over the living room and kept spraying it as she walked back upstairs to the room. Then she sat on the bed and sent the text to her husband.