We were standing and facing each other, and my words had made him turn and look away. This bothered me quite a lot because in spite of how much I loved him, I realized I never really knew him.
"Ola I love you but I really don't know you. I never have, and that's because you are too evasive. One day you disappear, the next day you come back and pretend as if nothing happened."
He instantly turned and stared at me. I shook my head as he did so. "Ola, I'm not after another man. But I can't live like this."
"So what are you saying, that you want to call it quit?" He asked. I instantly got angry with him.
"Ola is that an insult or what?!" He widened his eyes in surprise. Then quite unexpectedly he came up to me and passed his left arm around my waist.
"Sorry, I can see how angry you are." He gave me a kiss as if to placate me. "I guess I have some explaining to do, don't I?" He asked looking into my eyes.
He removed his hand from my waist and led me to sit down. He then went and brought a bottle of wine and two glasses. He opened the wine and poured it into each glass and gave me one.
"You have a settled life, Tola. Father and mother were by your side. They still are."
"So what has that got to do with what you want to tell me?" I asked.
"Simple, you faced no family conflicts. I had to face the battle my father was facing. He started Segun Industries as a small company. When he met your father, they shared ideas, made connections and finally put the company on the map. It's a multi-million Naira business now. But his brothers were out to take it away from him and with the help of your father, he devised a means that allowed him to stay in control."
He sipped on his wine and then continued.
"Segun Industries is a company with five divisions. Each division is a company of its own which is run by him, his three sisters, and half brother." He looked at me as he talked like he wanted to be sure I was listening.
"Tola unlike you I had to grow up fast. Thanks to my father, I learned a lot about running a top-level business. Segun Industries is head of all the five divisions, but it is administered by another company, Tolan Consultancy, and all thanks to your father."
"You mean my father owns Tolan Consultancy?" I asked
"No, the idea of setting it up was his. The pressure on my dad to give up Segun Industries was too much. He talked to your father and your father gave him the idea to open another company to administer Segun industries. Basically Tolan Consultancy does the paper works, accounting and everything administrative but under contract from Segun Industries itself."
"And what does Segun industry do if all the paper work is done by Tolan Consutancy?" I asked a little confused.
"Segun Industries gets all the contracts, whatever. It passes the contracts to Tolan Consultancy which verifies the validity of the contracts by passing it to another company, K-securities." I slowly nodded my head when he mentioned K-securities.
"Isn't that your Miss K?"Â He didn't answer but only raised his eyebrows. I guess by doing so he meant to say yes.
"Wow Ola, " I giggled,"You are in business with your lover and who knows, perhaps the mother of your son. And you want me to listen?"Â He didn't answer but stared at me. I took a deep breath.
" I thought dressing up elegantly and coming here, I was going to enjoy the evening with you. But you bring out skeletons to spoil the moment. Ola can you for once do something that will not mess up my day?"
"Tola, you wanted answers, I'm telling you a story that has the answers you are looking for. What were you thinking, that it would be a fairy tale?"
"So what are you saying that Miss K isn't the only other woman in your twisted life?" he laughed.
"Tola what are you talking about?"
"As I see it, there could be other women handling bits and pieces of Segun Industries and maybe they all have sons and daughters for you."
"Jesus, Tola? Why stretch your imagination so far?"
"I mean you have a son by some other woman." I said. He gulped, "And all these years you hid it from me?" I immediately got up. " I'm not sure the evening is going too well. So it's best I go home."
"Tola it makes sense to be angry, but I'm not a different person. I am your husband."
"What makes sense in all of this is me being the fool."Â Tears were coming out of my eyes and I looked away and wiped them, "Ola have you ever really taken me seriously?" He got up and came and held me.
"I always have, Tola. And believe it or not, I have always loved and provided for you even in my absence."
"Enough to hurt me?"
"I'm not hurting you."
"So why all this mystery? From the day I saw you in blood at our house, I have been asking what really happened? Not one person has given me an answer."
"Tola if you have been searching for answers, now you have them."
"That is only part of the story." I said.
"What do you mean?"
"Why did you fake your death? Who were you running from?" With that he became agitated just like the time I asked him the same question at the hospital. I kept waiting for him to answer but he kept quiet.
"Ola in the note that you left with the money, was written, "Old scores have turned into new threats."
"Tola it's best we skip that part." He immediately responded.
"Why?" I searched his eyes for more answers but they were not forth coming. Then suddenly he changed the topic.
"Tola, my only involvement was with Miss K and it was just a one-time affair, which happened even before I met you. It was only when we were about to get married that she told me she had my child."
I tried to think back at that moment when my parents went to the village. I had argued with him because he refused to tell me if there was another woman or not. I didn't hear from him after that day and it got me worried so much that I had to look for him. Could it be during that time that all of this was going on?
"Ola I still remember my parents coming home and telling me the wedding was fixed. Could that be the reason why the wedding was done in such a hurry?" He sighed and bent his head down. It could only mean that it was true. My wedding was done in such a hurry to avoid it being canceled.
"You should have told me then, when I kept telling you I was seeing some other woman in my dreams."
"I couldn't tell you as we had already promised our fathers we would be together. I mean, they were friends and perhaps wanted with our marriage, to consolidate their friendship and add continuity to their business."
"I know that. But if you were committed to someone else why allow me go through all of this?"
"Tola from the day I saw you I fell in love with you." I looked up at the ceiling and then looked at him.
"Ola what do you really know about love, anyway?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Why do I ask?" He nodded, " for me it a serious thing. But for you, it's just a game."
"And what makes you think I'm not serious?"
"Because you run it like you run Segun Industries." To that he laughed annoying me the more.
"Ha Tola you be character. Nancy, see wetin you say make I put hand o."
"So na bad thing she do?"
"Na inside hand of fire she put me when I dey look for peace."
"And you think I have peace myself?"
He couldn't answer the question. I wiped my tears and looked at him and could only see the man I had saved from dying. What he told me and what I wanted to know didn't matter anymore. I was in the house with him and at least, I had company.
I was with him now, and wasn't sure if I would see him the following day or the day after. With him it was like living one day at a time. And so I just had to make the best use of the time we were together. While he held me, I placed my hands around his shoulders and looked thoughtfully at him.
"Ola can I have a memorable evening without all your skeletons coming out to haunt me?" I asked, forcing out a smile. I went to sit down and removed my shoes and poured myself another glass of wine.
"If that's what you want, sure." He replied. He came and sat down beside me and raised both my legs up and placed them on his laps. I looked suspiciously at him for doing that, but I didn't want to upset him. I knew the best thing to do was give him enough time to be with me.
The stranger I met at the pub had told me to win Ola back. But with everything he had told me this evening, I still didn't understand why I had to win him back. The only thing I knew was, I had to be around him quite frequently. And here I was spending the night with him. It gave me enough time to think about what I wanted to do next.
And the only thing that kept coming to my mind was to get out of this life. This was the thought I had when I left him the following morning to prepare myself for work. I reasoned it was the most logical thing to do.