The next week had been full of preparations for Benjamin's operation. Obi barely saw Obiefune and she was pleased when she heard Chioma had gone over to Chukwudi's. Benjamin had become distant to Obiukwu for reasons she could not tell while the girls prepared for their examination which was on a Friday.

Obiukwu's father had come to pick his four daughters following their mother's recovery and they all went to Enugu. Obiukwu saw to it that the girls left with so many gifts, she even bought some for their mother, Benjamin on the other hand decided to hand them envelopes with money.

Amarachi, Chinasa, Chinenye and Nneka were convinced that their half sister's place was also a home they could run to. They knew Obi had not particularly warmed up to them but they saw she was not as bad as their mother made her out to be.

Mma began to complain about not being too comfortable in their house, it was either the toilet felt too cold or the house sounded too quiet, she even complained about the air claiming it didn't smell like soil. Obi wondered how mma would cope in the village now that mma Chukwudi was not around. She planned on hiring a nurse to look after mma while they made arrangements to get her home.
Benjamin's father had visited earlier that day and the two had a misunderstanding. Mr ìgwè was definitely not pleased with what his son had to say and when he saw Obi he was speechless.

Obi couldn't quite tell what had happened between the two but she didn't want to question her husband in his angry state. Chioma called her and the two friends spoke at length about her stay.

"Have you told him yet?"

"No, not yet. I will tell him tonight. How about you? How's everything? Everyone? My babies, Benjamin? Obiefune? The girls, leave Tobe that one is an island.You know sometimes I wish it could be as it used to be, back then in the village"

Obi laughed at Chioma's fantasies

"Unfortunately not all wishes come true. Aside from me who is having really annoying headaches, everyone is fine, Benjamin is good, I'm just terrified with the surgery in view. I've spoken to our pastor and I am praying as well, though I feel I might not be in good terms with God, which is why you should pray as well. And as for Obiefune, I think he's well, I have not seen him in a while and I think I'm the wrong person you should be asking "

" Well just because things didn't work out between you two does not mean you can't be friends, ah ah now and biko take care of that headache, you've been really stressed with everything, unless... "

" Unless gịnị? Oh please! If you must know nothing has happened, my husband is sick. And I doubt your brother and I can be friends, we just need to keep our distance from each other. Although I doubt If that'll be possible with the current development about the paternity of my sons."

"Biko hapụ ihe ina akọ, you'll get along.You just have to minimize the number of kisses you share, in fact don't kiss at all! Obiefune is going to kill me because of this!" Chioma hinted laughing, while Obi suddenly went quiet out of embarrassment

"He just needs to get himself in order and realize that you are a happily married woman with a husband who has two horrible kidneys."

Obi laughed at Chioma's joke "You are crazy! And my husband has just one very bad kidney the other one is slightly better. And lest you forget,all that will change in a matter of days"

"How's mma? I've missed that woman so much"

"She is fine, she wants to go back to the village. I think she's tired of this place, she basically hates the air in the house"

Chioma almost choked out of her laughter "which one is hating air! Haba!. Obi Chukwudi just came home, we'll talk later"

"Ehe! Lover boy! Biko gawa zie o, I don't want to hold you from your baby"

"Abegi our love tey pass his own, take care of yourself ịnụ."

Obi moved to the kitchen and smiled at herself when she found out that she was craving for her children's cereals. "I am addicted as well"

She got a bowl and marched upstairs to her room where she met Benjamin pacing around. She slowly dropped the plate and went to the bed and focused on her husband.
Obi stared at him while he walked about before he took her plate and began to scoop down its content.
Obi was amused with his actions but chose to remain silent. "I'll just tell you anyways, I told father the children are not mine. He's not particularly happy about it. He's claiming I am a liar while he lied about everything!"

Obi walked to her husband and hugged him, patting his back. Benjamin grew silent and smiled at Obi who was busy sniffing him." If you love the fragrance so much  you can have it. "he teased

" What? "Obi questioned perplexed

" You're sniffing me Tata"Benjamin lifted Obi and dropped her on the bed. The two of them laughed till he groaned and held his chest. Obi jerked up concerned, she read the pain in his eyes and became terrified.

"Are you okay?"

Benjamin remained silent and grunted, he fell to his side while Obi rushed to cradle him. She was almost in tears when she started screaming for help. She struggled to get him off the bed but fell on top of him.
Benjamin held Obi while breaking into a deep laughter. Obi vibrated on top of him as he croaked with laughter, his voice reverberating in the room.

Obi smacked his shoulder taking deep breaths, her husband knew how to pull pranks but that one was too expensive. "That was not funny at all, you almost gave me a heart attack"

"I'm the one always lifting you, I wanted to see if you can lift me too" Benjamin replied laughing
Benjamin noticed Obi's solemn expression and his laughter fell. "I'm sorry, I just wanted to scare you a little". Tears brimmed in Obi's eyes and Benjamin held her to his chest.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to make you sad, nne" Obi nodded sniffing.

"It's just that, so many thoughts ran through my mind at that instant and I realized that I haven't been totally honest with you"

Benjamin Obi into a sitting position and waited to hear her confession. Obi gulped suddenly terrified with the way Benjamin would react to her confession.

"While you were at the hospital, something happened. I.. Obiefune and I, we"

"Had sex"Benjamin interrupted

Obi was startled with his utterance" No! No! We didn't "

Benjamin heaved a sigh of relief, completely surprised that he had wanted to hear that so badly" So what happened? ".

" He kissed me and I kissed back, I'm really sorry, I should have never allowed it to happen. Not with how much you told me you trusted me. I'll do whatever you want, just don't go fighting him or anything, it's all my fault, I should have been strong. I told him to stay away from me and.. and
"Obi rambled while Benjamin suddenly grew quiet. Obi's voice fell and her heart sank, she had really ruined her marriage.

Benjamin moved to where she sat and loomed over her. He raised his hand abruptly and Obi shut her eyes, expecting an impact on her cheek. She shivered and flinched as she felt her bed creak. Obi waited for a reaction but was surprised when nothing happened and she slowly opened her eyes. Her gaze fell on a shirtless Benjamin kneeling in front of her. He pulled out her legs which she had used to support her face as she sat on the bed.

"Obi I told you, I'm no woman beater, it was a mistake and there wouldn't be a repetition till the day I die. I must say I am very disappointed with what happened. You're my wife and shouldn't have let something like that happen"

"I know, I'm so sorry. Can you please forgive me?... Biko"

"I don't know, Obiefune is my cousin" Obi flinched afraid to hear Benjamin's verdict

"But I made a mistake and you forgave me, so I guess it's my turn.I am disappointed though" Deep down Benjamin was elated that what happened didn't go beyond kissing

Obi felt a ray of hope shine on her and she wrapped her hands around Benjamin. "I promise, it will never happen again. I'll be faithful, I'll do anything you want, thank you"

Benjamin held her in a magnetic grip and his heart ached with the struggle Obi had to face being married to him. But he had a plan which he had been following judiciously bound to pull through at any moment. He might have pretended like he Pranked Obi but he knew better, the signs were slowly catching up on him.

"Anything, you said" Benjamin enquired and Obi nodded with her misty eyes.

"I've always wanted to do something ever since we got married , can we do it before the week runs out? We'll go somewhere "

"We can't just leave home, how would we? What about the boys?"

"Don't worry, I'll take care of that. We'll go with them where we are going to. We'll need to get a permission from the teachers. And we'll have plenty of time to take mma home" Obi nodded relieved that her husband didn't destroy their house or run off to beat Obiefune with her confession, she knew he had a little bit of rage.

Frankly her husband would have requested for her ovaries and she would have handed them over on a platter of gold for not reacting badly.
Benjamin bent down and kissed Obi which she returned fervently. "Let's go get more cereals, that thing tastes really good"

Benjamin stood up, picked up the plate and headed out of the room. Obi sat still trying to recover from the shock and the surprising stunt her husband had pulled. His voice pulled her out of her thoughts and she scrambled to her feet.

"Tata! Nne are you coming?"

Marriage should be built on trust, I think Obi understands that