Prisoner Of Love - Season 1 - Episode 7

5 years ago

Prisoner Of Love - Season 1 - Episode 7

EVERYTHING APPEARED TO BE happening in slow motion and the whole room seemed to be going in circles! Rachael met with the shock of her life! Right there in the bed was Nemuel, not in the pool of blood, but in the grasp of another woman completely oblivious to what was happening at the door. It was the crashing sound of the phone on hitting the ground that jolted them back to happenings around them. Realising what just happened, Nemuel and the lady immediately scrambled for the duvet struggling to cover their fully naked and sweaty bodies.

Tears ran down uncontrollably Rachael’s eyes. She stomped out of the room to the sitting room and sank into the couch weeping profusely. Nemuel who had managed to put on his boxer shorts ran after her and met her in the sitting room. With tearful eyes, she looked up at him and said with the tears trying to stifle the words, “Why? Nemuel why? With all the love I have shown you and all the love you professed to have for me… why?”

At that Nemuel knelt down to her level. One would ordinarily have thought he wanted to beg her forgiveness. Instead, he gave her a thunderous slap across the face. “That’s for disrupting my fun and not having the courtesy to knock before barging into my room like a mad cow.”

The sound of the slap was like a clashing cymbal and sent her reeling back into the couch. She screamed in agony. Gathering all the strength left in her, she stood up still holding the cheek which was now red hot like a piece of metal just coming out of the embers of a blacksmith. She managed to say amidst the cry, “You slapped me because of that wh0r£, Nemuel?!”

That was her second mistake of the evening. On hearing that, Nemuel went gaga. It was as if a wandering demon had eventually found a resting place in him. He roared like an angry lion, “What?! Who are you calling a wh*re? Jessica a wh*re? Nooooo! Jessica a wh*re?!” With that, he landed another heavy slap on the other cheek. This time, she lost her balance, staggered backwards and crashed into the red liquid on the floor. The smell of the liquid filled her nose and in an instant, she realised that the red liquid was not blood after all but red wine that the lovebirds had treated themselves to before the escapades in the bedroom. She raised her head a little and saw the empty bottles that had rolled under the stool thus confirming the incident.

Nemuel was visibly vibrating with fury at this point. He approached her menacingly and buried two soldier-like kicks into her sides. She groaned again in excruciating pain. Yet she managed to ask Nemuel once more choking on a sob, “How could you do this to me after giving all of myself to you?”

Nemuel giggled cruelly and roared, “You call that giving all of yourself to me? That short moment of shallow kisses? You didn’t even allow me touch your body and you said you gave all of yourself to me? How is that giving all of yourself to me when you didn’t allow me to taste the koko?! Stupid girl! What were you thinking? Ehn? So, you thought I would marry you without first tasting the koko to confirm if you are worth having? Ehn? Have you ever seen a man that buys suya without first tasting it to see if it is delicious or not? I would be the biggest fool to do that!”

“But you said you loved me!”

“Love my foot! You see why I said you are a STUPID GIRL … a DULLARD … an INJUDICIOUS LASSIE … THE EMBODIMENT OF IDIOCY? Have you ever seen a man that loves a woman genuinely without first sleeping with her to know how sweet she is? And here you are calling my Jessica a wh0r£, someone that is ever ready to give me what I want. That is what is called giving of all of oneself to a man if you don’t know, STUPID GIRL!” He emphasized the ‘stupid girl.’

Those words pierced through her like a sharp double-edged sword. She didn’t know which was more painful—the gruesome words or the beating! While lying on the floor still trying to process what was happening, Nemuel grabbed her hair and dragged her towards the door. Again, she let out a scream of agony. The pain as he pulled the hair was indescribable and unbearable. The veins of her head stood in anguish. At the door, he shoved her outside shouting after her, “I don’t want to ever see you again, STUPID GIRL!”

Outside hugging herself in pain, she stood transfixed looking at the door. ‘STUPID GIRL … DULLARD … INJUDICIOUS LASSIE … EMBODIMENT OF IDIOCY.’ Those words kept echoing in her head. This was supposed to be the love of her life. This was someone she had loved unconditionally and whom she had cared for to the best of her abilities. And now he had the effrontery to rain the full force of his vocabularies on her for trying to keep herself intact for him till their wedding night. What had suddenly happened to her being his One-in-a-million, his Asampete and Baby Oku? It was all a game and she had been played. All he wanted was to sleep with her and seeing that she wasn’t going to hand him that prize loosely. She meant nothing to him anymore.

What was happening? Could all these be a dream? Why wouldn’t anyone wake her up from this nightmare that was consuming her soul? She pinched herself several times to be sure it was a dream but each time she felt the pain. This was no dream! With grief-stricken horror, she stood there in disbelief watching as her world crashed right before her. She turned round to leave but she could hardly stand erect because of the pain she felt all over her body. She was bent over as she dragged herself along. However, the pain of the beating paled in comparison to the pain the words ‘stupid girl … dullard … injudicious lassie … embodiment of idiocy’ inflicted on her. After taking a few steps she turned her head to take one more glance of the apartment she once had free access to—even having a spare key—but that had suddenly become forbidden for her. At that moment, Nemuel slammed the door and hurried back inside calling out, “Jessy baby … oh, my Jessy baby …”

Tears flowed down freely from her already puffy eyes. She fell on her knees right there and cried her eyes out. She wept until she could make no more sound and started to shake. Just then it started to rain. She remained on the spot. There was no need running away from the rain. Her life had crashed already so what more harm could the rain cause her. The rain poured down on her relentlessly washing her tears away. The whole event of the evening continued to play like a horror movie in her head. As the sound of the door Nemuel slammed behind her reverberated in her head, she looked up, wiped her eyes clean with the back of her palm, braced herself up and slammed the door of her heart to love! Love was cruel! Never would she give another man the chance to treat her so treacherously again!

* * *

“Mummy, I think it’s time for me to leave.” The voice of Abigail jolted Mrs Jackson back to the present. She stood up from the dining table and joined Abigail in the sitting room.

“Ah-Ah! Won’t you play with us a little more before leaving?”

“Mummy, I left Denis, Dan, and Jane with my mother-in-law. More so, I need to go and prepare lunch for them and their dad. You know my husband doesn’t joke with his stomach.”

“But there is still time nah. Is your house not twenty minutes’ drive from here? Why the hurry?” Mrs Jackson countered. Anyway, she was just being a mother, simple. Mothers usually enjoyed the company of their grown up children especially those who had left home for school or marriage whenever they visited, and usually wished they stayed a little more all the time.

“It is true, mummy but I have to stop over at the supermarket to get some provisions for the children.” Abigail explained and Mrs Jackson backed down reluctantly.

“Okay. Extend my greetings to my lovely grandchildren. Also, remember to send the piece of cloth you promised me.”

“No problem mummy, I will send it down.” She hugged her mother, picked up her handbag and was about to leave when Jerry spoke up.

“Sis, are you leaving just like that? Nothing for the boy?” Abigail smiled, opened by purse and handed over a new one thousand naira note to him. Jerry collected the money, held it with both hands and slid backwards in a Michael Jackson’s moon-walk style whistling in excitement.

“Rachael, Rachael, your sister is leaving ooo … won’t you come and see her off?” Mrs Jackson called out to Rachael who was still romantically busy on phone with Tomiwa. “Please tell Magic Boy to give you a second.”

Rachael hung up the phone and hurried to the sitting room to see her sister off. As she walked into the sitting room, Abigail winked at her.

“What?” Rachael quizzed her sister.

“Oh, nothing!” Abigail responded funnily and they both laughed while walking out of the house.

“Dehn-dehn-dehnnn!!!”

“Jerrrrrrry!!!”

“Nothing mummy.” He answered and left for his room.

Mrs Jackson shook her head in happiness chuckling as she said, “Oh, what wonderful children!”