UNBOUND: Breaking Point

Ben was allowed to look at her through the room window and he stared at her wondering why he could not keep a simple promise to the woman who had stayed by his side and built him into the successful man he turned out to be… The questions came raging through his mind…

Why did I snap?

 Why can I not keep a simple promise?

Would she come back to me?

Do I even want her back if I’m still like this?

Thirty minutes and a thousand and one questions later, he looked up with grim resolve, he was certain of his next line of action… it was time to get professional help. With the decision came a deep sense of relief, he felt no shame since he knew the amount of strength had gone into him making that decision; he also knew that there was nothing compared to the amount of strength he would need to get through the next phase.

He left the room window and drove home to freshen up; his mind was so preoccupied that he hardly noticed the ladies of the night beckoning with promises of a passionate night…

Hours later, he looked up in frustration as he was still unable to get a trusted and discreet psychologist. He had “googled” with every possible keyword he could think of but he simply could not find a place in Nigeria. He had gone straight to the laptop from the hospital, he was so revved with determination that rather than go into the shower, he decided to start his research immediately. He suddenly felt exhausted and felt himself involuntarily collapsing on the bed.

He blindly groped for the phone; he was desperate to make it stop but it seemed like it was miles away, so he wondered why it seemed like it was ringing inside his head, he felt under his head and realized it was literally under his head. He saw the caller ID and he almost fainted, Efe’s brother, Mark! He picked with trepidation and meekly said hello, he had to take the phone away from his ear or he could have been deafened by the angry howls coming from the phone, “you beat my sister up and you had the guts to leave her bedside, I bet you are somewhere with one of your idiots (he wondered why the guy was so convinced that he was a womanizer), just wait till I get my hands on you, you are dead meat’; how could you have do…”, Mark said. He could hear the distant sound of a nurse’s voice telling him to be quiet or risk being escorted out, that seemed to calm him down as he hung up without completing his sentence.

He checked the time and realized that he had been asleep for five (5) hours… he freshened up in ten minutes and got to the hospital in thirty. He was so upset with himself for sleeping off, Efe would be disappointed to wake up and not find him there, she’d think he felt no remorse. Worse still, he could not reveal his plans to her; she’ll simply not believe him and that would jeopardize his own belief in the plan.

At the hospital, he saw that Efe’s step mum and brother were there already, he really dreaded facing them, especially her brother (he had told him the last time this happened that it was the last time). He twisted his face into a frown and stepped into the room, Mark looked up and stared at him with so much anger, he would have dropped dead if looks could kill. At that point, for some inexplicable reason, he put himself in Mark’s shoes, he knew he would have killed or at least maimed if the roles were reversed; he felt his face slowly dissolve and tears rolled down his eyes.

The look of anger on Mark’s face dissolved into that of surprise, and then pity and then anger and then grim resolve. Efe was staring through it all and she could swear that something profound happened between the two men in those few emotionally packed seconds. Mark gave Efe a peck, took his mum’s hand and silently walked out of the room. Ben dreaded that moment when he would be left alone with his wife and all his fears came to life when she stared at him with cold glassy eyes; he knew she was not going to come back.

He chose not to apologise anymore, he simply moved closer and it broke his heart when he saw her cringe, he stopped and the words that came out of his mouth shocked them. He said, “I’m letting you go, I want a divorce”.