Maybe, You Will See Me Now

028

About 3 years ago...

Ijeawele stood up from the bed. She looked back at her husband who wasn't there when she went to bed last night. She sighed in silence. His late returns had become more often than she preferred. His only luck for excuses was because he ran his own business.

She picked up his shoes scattered on the floor and left them together by the bed. Ijeawele left the room to the living room where she picked up his jacket from the couch. Holding it close to her, she inhaled the familiar scent.

Her brows furrowed.

She was familiar with the scents from her husband's perfumes. But this wasn't part of his lineup. Yet, very often lately, he seemed to have it on him. Ijeawele held the jacket closer to her nose and inhaled deeper. The scent didn't exactly resonate as the strong, alluring and expensive type. It reminded her of the cheap small bottle perfume oils easily sold around. She knew because her sister-in-law once used them. This particular one had a peculiar floral fragrance.

Ijeawele shut her eyes for a second. When she opened them, she'd turned her head in the direction of her bedroom and stared at it for a while. Out of the blue, she shook her head to stop any wandering thoughts. She went ahead and left the jacket in the room before walking to the kitchen to make breakfast.

Present...

Ijeawele fiddled with her pen between her fingers. Her eyes stayed glued to the screen of her laptop in front of her. Her right feet lightly tapped impatiently under the table. Suddenly, she stopped tapping her feet and lifted her eyes to Andrew seated next to the seat right across hers.

"Mr. Bekwele, have you finished the design for the health centre outreach we talked about in the last meeting?"

Andrew appeared a little perplexed and taken aback.

"Uh, not yet. The deadline given to me is the day after tomorrow."

She returned her gaze to her laptop screen and added a remark while she did. "Hmm, I'm sure you would've been able to finish ahead of time if you had cut out some extracurricular activities."

Andrew frowned for a moment. It's possible she was being professional. But Andrew felt a cold reception from her.

The others in the room subtly bounced stares between Andrew and Ijeawele.

"Don't worry Ijeawele. Andrew is good at his work. You don't have anything to worry about." The marketing director backed him up.

She lifted her eyes to the director. "We'll see."

A few more things were said and the meeting was rounded up. Ijeawele stood up on her feet, shut her laptop, carried everything that was hers in her arms and was among the first to walk out of the room without looking at Andrew.

Andrew, who remained in the stew of confusion, watched her walk away and couldn't go after her while everyone was watching. Ebube, his colleague leaned closer to him.

"Did you do something to her?" He queried in a low voice.

"She seemed upset to you, right?" Andrew asked instead of giving a reply.

Ebube nodded his head. "I haven't seen her this way in a while."

Andrew turned to him. "What do you mean?"

"Well, the last time she oozed out this much cold was when the rumour of her divorce was going round the office."

Andrew frowned.

"Mr. Talkative, you better be careful what you say." Bolanle who'd been listening chirped in, taunting her colleague.

Ebube gave her a glare. "I didn't say anything that wasn't true. Maybe she has a new man and he recently broke her heart... again."