Chapter Five

It has been two weeks and four days since Dele lost his bachelorhood and Tiwa her virginity. Through this time Tiwa has been nothing short of the perfect wife.

Finding faults had become a fruitless occupation Dele had. He had looked for ways to prove her defective but there was nothing. She catered for him like she was paid a herd of cattle to do so. He respected her for that.

She did not nag or complain. He respected her for that. She did not beg for money. He admired her for that.She did her own trade. She had gifted hands. She made baskets and sold them. He also respected her for that. He found himself calling her perfect more than once. He ranted but never did she react.

Each time he could see her calm herself. Slowing her breaths. She too was at the verge of imploding more than once.
One thing Dele loved about his wife of a few weeks was her cooking. She knew her way around the kitchen and he could not deny that.

One fateful morning, Dele woke up at the crow of the cock but his wife was nowhere to be found. He looked around the house for her but she was gone. He went outside to find her at the back of the house.

Tiwa was gazing into the distance. She was so engrossed with her thoughts that she did not notice her husband's arrival.
Dele stood at a distance and watched. He folded his arms across his chest and just observed.

 Slowly, tears filled her eyes. She sniffed and wiped them away, the more they came.
'That girl is even the one going through punishment. First her leg, now she would have to deal with you as a husband'
The words of his father before their marriage hurt more now that he saw her like this. He was not happy about their union but seeing this made him realize. Tiwa was the one facing punishment for his foolishness.

He walked silently to her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. Tiwa did not find it comforting. She flinched away from him.
"What do you want?" She said with her head low. Words were not lucid because of her tears.
"I just thought that... Forget about it"
She nodded, stood up and left.

He was cleaning his cutlass when Tiwa came with his breakfast. She placed it in front of him. He did not even spare her a glance.

Tiwa had had enough. She had done everything perfectly. She cooked, cleaned for him. She obeyed his every word. How could he be so ignorant? She knew now, that he did it on purpose. Not ever did he offer an iota of gratitude for anything she had done.
She felt like a slave with no pay.

She wanted to go home. To her REAL home.

She broke down this morning. She just wanted out. At least, to see her friends. She missed them badly. Confused whether to take permission or not from her husband. She let him go to his farm, deciding that she could be back before he returns.

After he left, she set out to visit the still unmarried Demola.
..............................

"Tiwa!" Demola screamed on seeing her friend.

"I've missed you too" Tiwa called out.
They exchanged hugs after. Demola led Tiwa to a bench. They both sat on it.
"Iyawo. You have forgotten about us" Demola joked.

Tiwa laughed drily at best friend's ignorance.
"You think marriage is heaven".
"Yes now. I mean you get whatever you want from your husband. He takes care of you. Oh, I cannot wait to be married."
"I hate being married. It is horrible" She shook her head.

"How?"
"I am tired of everything. Dele is too demanding"
Demola gave a nervous laugh and then wiggled her eyebrow.
"I do not mean that way" Tiwa retorted.

Demola cleared her throat.
"Maybe a little but not..." Tiwa's cheeks were hot. She sincerely wanted to change the topic.
"So, what is wrong with him being demanding?" Demola said with amusement.
"Nothing" she said silently.

"Then why are you complaining?"
"I just thought married life would be different. You know"
"You don't expect Dele to spontaneously fall in love with you, do you?"
"No. I just want him to treat me like a woman not some maid."
Demola paused to think

"Tiwa, you are frustrated because you are hiding yourself"
"I do not understand" Tiwa was no longer following.
"You have done everything to please him, have you not?"
"I have"

"Yet he has not accepted you?" The question seemed more like an affirmative.
"Something like that"

Tiwa answered her friend's questions. Eager to know where the road was heading.
"The Tiwa I know planned to have her revenge" Demola said carefully "She planned to make her husband respect her. Make him regret"

Tiwa sighed and straightened up in her seat.
"Tiwa, what has changed?"
She could not help with the sigh she released again. 

She knew Dele would never love her. Very few men loved their wives. At least, they had some positive emotion towards them. Her matrimony seemed more like a prison than a union.
She did not want love. The only form she had ever received were from her mother and friends.

 Nothing impractical. She did not even entirely love herself. She just did not want someone that surely despised everything about her except what comes from her pot.
"Demola, are you implying that I should force my husband to respect me? How?"

"Call it what you want?"
Tiwa gave no reply
"You are more creative than this." Demola placed a comforting hand over friends shoulder "Just do what you had in mind as a teenager"

"Those were just thoughts of an immature mind" Tiwa murmured
"Tiwalola just be yourself"
There was silence. Not one with tension but one of thought. Tiwa was rigorously thinking.

...............

Hold Up.

Where do you think you are going without leaving a vote.

Please leave a vote and comment if you want to see what Tiwa has in mind