Must Read: Taking Chances

Episode 7 years ago

Must Read: Taking Chances

Daisy gently opened the door to Jide’s study, she simply couldn’t take it anymore. All her insides were on fire and she desperately needed liberation.


She felt like one in need of water after 3 months of thirst in the
Sahara desert! The only rational thought in her head right now, was to take another desperate chance with Jide. At the state she was in, she could go at any length to quench this flame that threatened to consume her, even if it meant her crawling on her knees.



Three painful months had passed, where Daisy had indeed lived in a
fiercer desert than Sahara. If she had ever imagined that she would be strong enough to remain celibate till Jide came around, she was highly mistaken. For now, Daisy’s desire was finally ruling her senses, while
her once proud and irresolute feet were leading her to another dare
game, she was going to try her luck with Jide, even if it meant a ‘one night stand’.
The door gave in easily as if it urging her on. Jide raised his head
where it had bowed under his hands and stared at the intruder with disbelief and anger. Not you now! he thought angrily.


He had been arguing with Mama on the phone over a discrepancy in the last shipment, formally it wouldn’t have called for raised voices. But for the fact that the two were still nursing hurt & anger over the wedding incidence, temper had risen and smokes had puffed out of the heated argument they had had.





So much so that Jide hadn’t heard Daisy soft knocks.




Daisy stood transfixed, that angry look of his always had a way of
turning her paralytic everytime. She felt ashamed immediately, more by the skimpy nightwear she adorned than with the knowledge of what she had
come for.




It was the ‘wrongest’ time for Daisy to hatch her week long plan.
‘Daisy what do you want?’ Jide almost barked at the inappropriately clad woman who was so not unconnected with the heated argument of minutes
ago.
‘I…I…I…came for you…you. .to .know…’Daisy had relapsed to her
nervous stutterring. She felt like crying.
‘really now, am not in the mood to hear you stammer like some craz.y person, say what you want and be out of my goddam face!’ Jide cut in. He was at boiling point.
‘Am sorry’ Daisy simply said in a teary tone. Where was his anger coming from again? she’d thought it was fast fading away after 3 months.





Even though they weren’t normal couples that conversed in conjugal companionship, they weren’t exactly enemies too. So what had happened?
‘Sorry! is that what you came here dressed like some cheap girl to tell
me!’ Jide shouted angrily.

The voice had frightened Daisy and in panic she screamed ‘no!’
‘For jeez sake tell me what it is then!’ Jide screamed again, his temper totally lost.
‘I came to ask if you could spend the night with me’ Daisy replied
shaken, her heads bowed.



Jide’s wicked laugh stunned Daisy who looked up at him, hot Tears burned at her eyes.
‘Not only are you pathetic, you are also damn shameless!’ jide replied
with all the venom he could muster.



So this was how God had chosen to comfort him for the way the wicked
plotters had snatched his life away from him!




Their very docile puppet
was standing right there, craving a night with him! He would definitely
make the most of it. Now was the time to bite off a sizable chunk of
flesh, an opportunity to hit back at Mama and his father. He wouldnt
fail to drain dry the cup of opportunity.
‘please’ the highly shamed and hurt daisy cooed softly.



Jide snorted, so now she’d resorted to begging? Grim luck it was.
‘kindly take your pitiable and cheap self outta my sight while you still
have an iota of dignity left’ he retorted, the venom very well still in
his voice.
‘Please jide’Daisy cried softly.



Jide gave a wicked smile.
‘obviously, my manipulative and overbearing grandmother forgot to tell
you about this part, did she? Neither did your narrow and shallow mind
imagined it would come to this. This here is reality sting Daisy! I
cannot bear to lay my hands on an irrational forced filth like you. This
is not some African magic sh.i.t, you know, so get it into your
f.oolish and over the cloud brain that you weren’t my choice for a wife,
not then, not now, not ever! Okay! He finally shouted.
‘please’ Daisy cried again. This time however, She wasn’t pleading to be
la!d again, she was pleading for help, for comfort, for love from
anyone out there.
‘you obviously enjoy it the hard way then, don’t you?’ Jide replied
without a trace of pity, stood up, held Daisy by the arm and pushed her
out of his study.
‘go please yourself out there!’ he shouted and b@nged the door, making
sure she held the sound of his door, lock.
He was feeling really satisfied for She definitely shared in the plot
and scheming and this was her own dose.
(Quote) 1 Like (Share)
A simple girl looking forward to a bright future…
Re: Story: Taking Chances by princesa(f): 2:43pm On May 12, 2013
Anyone who cared, could call it
transfered aggression or nemesis, it just didn’t matter. What mattered was the fact that he hadn’t felt any better than he did tonight.
‘you most def. reap what you sow’ he said happily to himself and
strolled back to his seat.


Out in the hallway, Daisy dragged her pitiable self slowly to her room. She couldn’t control her tears. Noone had ever treated her this way in all her miserable existence, not even her parents who had abandoned her
when she needed them the most.
‘oh, my poor poor miserable life!’ she cried.
On her bed later on, the foolishnes.s of her very earlier decision hit her like a tornado. Marriage wasnt like what you see in the movies, nor read in harlequin romance series, it was deeper than that, love and
friendship should be topmost, the exact items that were so lacking in theirs.



This realization left her torn and heartbroken.

************


If jide had felt remorse after how he treated Daisy, he didn’t show it
neither did Daisy see it. Infact it became a catalyst to a side of him,
Daisy had never seen. He started keeping late nights, he hardly ate the food Daisy kept for him and reduced the amount of money he dropped for house upkeep on Saturdays.



Daisy, already a shadow of her cheerful self, didn’t seem to notice the reduction in money, while the late nights were a blessing to her.

They meant she could be free from his tortuous presence for a little while. She would gladly return the untouched meal to the kitchen and replace with another on the morrow, So far he kept his distance. She had withdrawn into an impenetrable shell, frightened stiff of Jide, his anger and temper.


She would prepare his breakfast earlier than usual and resign into her room, coming out only when she was sure he had left for work.
And at night, she would retire to her room after she had placed his food on the dining, resurfacing again when she was sure he had retired to his room. Anything she could, just to blot out the pain and trauma of that faithful night. She couldn’t face him anymore, she would always cringe in pain and shame whenever their paths accidentally met. Jide, on his part would make sure she saw him gloating. So she made it a
business to avoid him at all cost.
The saying that ‘hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’ didn’t pertain to her, what Daisy craved was a haven where she could nurse her scorn, not vent her fury . Every scales that had previously clouded her eyes, were falling down now in painful places. She lived only to eat, watch whatever programme the cable stations dished, make her weekly trips to
Aguda market, for she loved to hear the market women call her ‘iyawo America’ because of her slight American accent, she would light up a smile or two then.
Daisy had no friend in the neighbourhood, she carefully avoided making friends with the women who called out to her or tried to start a conversation whenever she decided to take a stroll round the estate, she
just didn’t want their pity or companionship. Their lives were rosy as it was, they didn’t need to rub it in.
Sometimes, she found herself wishing Brenda was in the country, even Peter her ex too. For they where pretty close nevertheless their failed
relationship. The distant correspondence through calls didn’t satiate
her longing to once more be in the company of those who loved and
cherished her. She missed Mama too, but sometimes, she felt anger
towards her. She reasoned that mama had also contributed to her present
plight.




At times, Jumoke, Jide’s sister would come calling, Daisy appreciated
her visits but it didn’t change much, the two women seemed worlds apart,
one was 22, the other 26.
Daisy had once considered working at any hospital to atleast change
environment, but she didn’t know how to go about the job search, so it
eventually remained at the thought and wish level.




These traced the mundane existence of Daisy after that night’s event, it
was like an eye opener that demoralized her for quite a while.
*******
Okon had also noticed how withdrawn Daisy seemed these days, but
reserved his comment. Even though he liked his cheerful and hospitable
Madam, he couldn’t help but wonder where she appeared from. The only
girlfriend of Jide he knew and had met occasionally was Grace. Then when
did the love affair of Daisy and Jide bloom to the extent they ended up
married? he wondered.




He guessed it was an arranged marriage or something reasonably close. Judging by the fact that the couples lived apart, there was no other reason he could fathom.
The little he had learnt about her from the few conversations they had revealed that she had lived in America and was a nurse before she came down to get married.
He pitted her, she was too pretty and nice (for he always got a meal after every clean up) to have accepted a marriage that was only making her sad. But since pity and worrying wasn’t part of his job description, he let it slide.