Battered Wife

13

I wanted to punish Kemi for everything she'd done but I really didn't know what to do.

She and Remi were lovers and I couldn't really fire her.

I debated paying someone to beat her up like I'd heard the women married to Remi's friends do to the women their husbands cheated on but my mind was not at ease with the idea.

While Kemi had nothing to lose, I had a lot to lose if I got caught and I couldn't afford to lose my job now that it was my pathway to freedom from Remi.

When I tried to call Bisi to ask for an opinion, I couldn't reach her at all.

I was wondering if I wanted to go meet her at her office when I stumbled upon Yetunde, my colleague from University, who also worked in the same company as Bisi.

On a normal day, I avoided Yetunde but I didn't really want to go to Bisi's office to ask for her when she wasn't available so she was my only option.

I clenched my fingers after I dropped Adesewa off with her class teacher and started moving toward Yetunde. While Yetunde had been one of my classmates at University, there were several reasons why she and I weren't friends. The first one was that she was a malicious rumor monger. She loved to spread negative rumors about anyone to anyone who cared to listen. Most times, she was also rude and confrontational. She'd also seemed to hate me for no reason from our first year until we graduated in our fourth year.

"Yetunde, how are you doing? And how is the family?" I greeted her after she handed over her daughter to her class teacher.

She stiffened for a minute after she heard my voice before turning to stare at me with a smirk that could only spell trouble. "Well, isn't this Omolola? Well, Lola, I'm doing great. My family is also doing great. My husband doesn't cheat on me with anything that walks in a skirt and he doesn't beat me up either. How about you?"

I knew her words were a dig at me and Bisi but I couldn't just walk away from Yetunde the troublemaker this time. I needed information about Bisi and she was probably the only one who could give me the info I needed because Bisi's husband and I were not on good terms.

I shook my head at her, "You've still not changed. You still gain pleasure from embarrassing people and making fun of them. It's no wonder you have no close friends. Who can stand being close to someone like you?"

Something flickered in her eyes at my words but it was gone and her poker face was bare of any tangible emotions other than a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Can a close friend protect you from your husband cheating on you everywhere and anywhere? Can a close friend stop your husband from beating you up when he's drunk? Probably, but not in you and Bisi's situation, right?"

I inhaled a deep, shallow breath at the jeer in her voice. "Listen, I don't have time for this. I just want to know where Bisi. Has she been coming to work? Is she okay?"

"Well at least, close friends can ask about each other when one of them has disappeared for several days." She said with a joking sneer.

"Why are you always like this to me? What have I ever done to you now? You're the one who spent most of our time in the University, spreading malicious rumors about me. I used to be quiet but you're still the same way to me, sarcastic and rude after several years. What have I ever done to you?"

"You really want to know what you did?" She asked, looking at me with the same jeering smile.

I nodded.

"Do you remember the first rumor that spread around the department about me?"

I tried to think back to it but I couldn't remember it. How could I remember a rumor from my first year. "I don't remember."