STIGMA

CHAPTER 40

Why didn't you explain all of these to me before now?", Mrs. Ade eyed her husband.

"I thought you knew", Mr. Ade responded softly.

"I never knew", Mrs. Ade said again, with guilt.

She had gone back into the room immediately after bidding Salamat goodbye. She decided to go prepare for work instead of going back to bed.

She came out of the bathroom to see her husband awake and looking into space.

Guilt washed through her and she struck up a conversation with him. He explained the whole incident to her and she felt more guilt.

"I knew the pregnancy wasn't mine right from the onset. She wanted me to marry her. It was enough evidence that she wanted to push the pregnancy on me. I even asked her for DNA but she refused. The next thing I heard was that she was married to Ladi", he added.

"Yetunde is a bitch", she uttered with dislike.

Mr. Ade shook his head. "Ibukun, your jealousy is going overboard. It's all in the past."

"No wonder she hated Wumi with passion. Her daughter took after her", she completed.

"Why would you say that?" He questioned.

"Her daughter had an affair with Mr. Obi", Mrs. Ade blurted out.

"The doctor? In Abeokuta?" Mr. Ade asked.

"Yes. Salamat and I went to Adejoke's supermarket at Arokoje road that was close to Masara hotel. My car was parked at the parking lot which was far from the supermarket. So when we got back to the car, I remember I forgot a bag so I asked Salamat to go get it while I wait in the car."

"Wumi came back looking lost. I asked her what the matter was but she wouldn't tell me, not until we got home."

"She saw Habibah and Mr. Obi coming out of the hotel together. Habibah saw Salamat too and she followed her into the supermarket to threaten her. Your daughter was really shaken and scared of the threat", she finished.

"What?"

"Yes."

"How come you never told me this?" Mr. Ade demanded.

"Actually, I wanted to deal with her on my own", she confessed.

"How?" He requested.

"Never mind."

"So Habibah was the one who framed Salamat up?"

"I think so. But what baffled me the most was the man I saw her with a night before we departed from Abeokuta", Mrs. Ade continued.

"Who?"

"I saw her with another man."

"What? Are you serious?" He couldn't believe it.

"Yes, and you won't believe who the person is."

"Who is it?" He asked in curiosity.

"Brother Jamiu", she replied.

Mr. Ade laughed. "Maybe he was preaching to her against being wayward. He is always on the lookout for people's shortcomings without paying close attention to his."

"I doubt if that was it" Mrs. Ade asserted.

"What do you mean?"

"The two of them were in a compromising position. I believe there is something going on between them."

"Women!" Mr. Ade exclaimed and laughed. "What an assumption?"

"Ade, I know what I am saying. It looks like they were having an affair. I saw them hugging."