In less than three months, I stopped working as a driver. Sophia opened a big tailoring shop where she was sewing for a large number of customers. I too rented a small shop on our street where I started my supermarket. In about three months, the shop had become too small for customers. I rented a bigger place. We kept expanding until we built a shopping complex of our own. More than half of the complex was occupied by our own businesses because it was like we were expanding almost every month. There we had three supermarkets, two boutiques, a big pharmacy store, a salon, a fabric shop and other shops that churned in large sums of money every day. We also moved from our face-me-I-face house to our own. We were changing cars like paper. Even though, there were no children yet, we were very happy with our lives. All these happened in less than two years. I kept thanking God for giving me a wonderful wife that brought fortunes and smiles to my life. “Sophia darling, I am glad I married you.
Marrying you has changed my life completely. You are indeed my lucky star. I bless the day I met you,” I told her.
As I went to the complex to check out the progress of our business that morning, I saw Cyril, one of my former neighbours who told me that my wife still visits our former area regularly. “Are you sure it is my wife? She never told me she still visits that area. Who does she even come there to see?” I asked.
“Do you mean to tell me you don’t know your wife sleeps around? Everybody knows except you. She started it before you moved out of our neighborhood. But, you will only see her with very rich men entering a particular hotel down the street.” he affirmed. “How can you say my wife sleeps around? She is a responsible married woman. Don’t ever speak about my wife like that again,” I warned.
He just shook his head and left. When I got home that evening, what Cyril told me kept repeating in my head. I was tempted to ask her but I held back. The next day, I left home early just to get to her shop. I wanted to see how she spends her day. I parked my car at a friend’s office and hired a taxi to follow her around for the day.
From where I was watching, I saw her enter her shop at about 10.00 a.m. She was there until 10.45 a.m., then, gave instructions to her apprentices and immediately picked a taxi. I followed her until she got to an office, came out after about 20 minutes later with a man. They zoomed off in his Montero jeep and straight to that same hotel Cyril told me about. Where I was, I felt like just bursting in on them but I had to control myself. “O God, my wife sleeping with another man? Abomination,” I screamed. When they came out after three hours, she picked a taxi and went to her shop.
When I got home, I confronted her but she said it was for my own good.
“Bright, whatever I do with other men is for your own good and not mine,” she said. “For my own good? How? Explain to me why a married woman will give her body to other men. So this is why you have refused to bear me children? You are an adulteress. Shame on you,” I yelled. “Well, I don’t expect you to understand and I know you will never understand,” she retorted and then walked out of the room.
I thought of who to speak to before I will run mad, so I went to see our pastor. I told him everything and he asked me to come with her the next day. When I told Sophia that the pastor wanted to see her, she just laughed and said “You have just dug your own grave”.
The next day, we went to see the pastor. There, Sophia revealed the secret of our riches. “Sophia, your husband told me some things, I just want to hear from you. Please talk to me.” “Pastor, it is true that I sleep with men. Not just any man. I sleep with very wealthy men after which their wealth is immediately transferred to my husband. If I show you any of these men today, they have become paupers. They can hardly feed while my husband becomes very wealthy but we will never bear children. It was a pact I made when I was a child,” she revealed.
My mouth was ajar for about two minutes and before I knew it, tears were dropping from my eyes. The pastor did not even know what to say to me. “What is the solution now?” Pastor asked Sophia. “The only solution is to stop sleeping with wealthy men and in just a day, all Bright’s wealth will disappear and we will become paupers overnight. Then, we can start bearing children that we cannot cater for. Bright, the choice is yours”, she said.
I am so confused. I now understand what her mother meant when she said my days of poverty are over because I married Sophia. But, what is wealth without children to enjoy it with? What is the essence of bringing children into the world that I cannot cater for either? I don’t want Sophia to keep sleeping with these men, yet, I still want to remain wealthy. What do I do now?