LIFE'S CHOICE (6)

Hi, Please click for life's choice 1, life's choice 2, life's choice 3-4 life's choice 5 for the earlier stories on Love Under Water by Femi Job

Enjoyyy ;)


This story is about to end. It will end in the next episode. This episode and the next one are as important as the ones that came before, perhaps even moreso. Before I go on, I want to summarize the salient points that we took in in all the previous episodes.



We have already met the ladies, we determined that Funmi (age 36) wanted to marry her boyfriend of 5 years (Wale) and was seeking advice from her friends on what to do. Lola advised her to get pregnant and use that to trigger marriage, Dupe advised her to dump her boyfriend and move on. Tayo advised her to stay the course and move in. We find out later that Tayo is sleeping with Wale.

.

We find out that Tayo is pregnant, but we don’t know who the father of the baby is. We find out that Lola is lying to her husband (Yomi) about the real father of her child (and Akin – Tayo’s ex – knows about this lie). We learn that Funmi proposed to Wale (and not the other way round), but we are happy for her at least. We understand also why Tayo broke up with Akin (she was pregnant for him and he had no respect for her unborn child). We are shocked to discover also that Lola still fantasizes about Wale. We realize that Chigozie (Dupe’s husband) and Tayo are involved in a lascivious affair. Akin has something very important to say to Funmi but hasn’t said it yet.

.

Yomi just found out that Lola has been lying to him – he is not the Abeke’s father. Chigozie feels bad after his rendezvous with Tayo and wants to make amends with his wife Dupe. And then the shocker – Dupe is sleeping with Wale. we read about Abeke having seizures in the hospital where she was abandoned by Yomi. Yomi contemplates killing his wife but decides to be mature about things and instead engages her in a conversation in which he lets her know that her game is up. There is a minor scuffle and Lola pushes him such that he becomes unconscious and unresponsive. Lola panics and calls Akin. She tells him Yomi is unconscious but she lies about what really transpired between Yomi and herself to lead to such an outcome. Akin gives her medical advice and is on his way to her – he still hasn’t told Funmi what he wants to tell her (something really important). Meanwhile, Wale is assisting Dupe with physical exercises to keep in shape. After the workout, she tells him she is pregnant for him and he brushes her off. She MUST sleep with her husband quickly and push the illegitimate child on him or else wahala dey. When she gets home she quickly tries to do this (as does her husband for other reasons).




By now, people are wondering about some new information that I have summarized above that they seem to have missed when they read the episodes preceding this one. For example, when did I write that Tayo was pregnant? You have to go back to the appropriate episodes to find the new information – I added some information to EVERY episode. You may have to read the episodes again. This does 3 things – it gets you up to date on information, it refreshes your memory (it’s been 2 weeks since the last episode), it prepares you for this episode and the next one (the final one). YES, I know it can be a hassle to go back and read, especially when you are anxious to see things unfold, but you MUST.



NOW, let me tell you how this story will NOT end. It won’t end with Yomi dying and Lola becoming a widow running after Wale for child support. It won’t end with Dupe losing 100 lbs. it won’t end with a showdown ‘fight’ between Dupe and Tayo. It won’t end with Akin getting back together with Tayo. BUT it will end abruptly – I want you to mentally prepare for this. You may be used to happy, predictable endings, but I can assure you this is not going to be that. Those of you that are already familiar with how I write know that it would be a futile exercise to try to predict where I am going with this story. The story is unpredictable even for me, how much more for you

We will start this episode by asking ‘what does Akin want to tell Funmi?’.

Funmi and Akin were in Akin’s car – Akin was driving. He was going to Lola’s place and when he told Funmi all that had happened, she stopped what she was doing and tagged along so that she could be of some help. Lola was one of her best friends.


Funmi: Akin, what did you want to tell me that is so important?



.



Akin (pauses, takes deep breath): It’s about Wale..



.



Funmi; What is it about Wale?



.



Akin: Wale is dying. He has terminal cancer. The cancer started 5 years ago but it has progressed till its final stage. We were managing it, but all treatment options have failed. Funmi, Wale has only about 3 months to live.



.



Funmi (sobbing) Oh my GOD, WHY….why didn’t I know this. Why didn’t anybody tell me until now?



.



Akin: Wale forbade me to tell you, and still does. I am telling you this because after you proposed to him, I thought it would only be fair that you know. He plans to tell you but only when he is dead. I am not supposed to tell you. First as his doctor we have doctor-patient confidentiality. Second, I had to keep this secret - as his best friend. 5 years ago, just before he met you the prognosis was even bleaker. All the experts estimated then that he had just about 2 years to live. This is why he never proposed to you - he didn’t want you to be the lady that was engaged to a man who died. He actually wanted to spare you the grief – he hoped that if he postponed the engagement long enough, he would die before your life was turned into misery.

.

YES, I know he told you that he wanted to make money etc, but he has money already. His uncle – Chief Ajao – helps him to manage a lot of money. A significant amount of money has gone into managing his cancer. He thought he would be dead 3 years ago and now you are planning the wedding of a man who would be dead in 3 months. YES, you could ask – we gave him 2 years – he lived 5, we give him 3 moths, he could live more. But this is the end for him. The cancer has undergone metastasis. It is already in his brain.



.



What Akin wasn’t telling Funmi was that Wale has prostate cancer and that one of the medical interventions to battle the cancer was to administer testosterone to him. However, for Wale, implanting testosterone caused a very high libido and increased sexual activity. Wale was sleeping around because of the high testosterone. If he didn’t have sex, depression would set in – in other words, he was using ‘sex therapy’ to combat depression. Another reason he was sleeping around, he had once confided in Akin, was that he wanted to feel deep intimacy and pleasure before he died. NOW, Akin couldn’t tell Funmi that Wale was very ‘promiscuous-for-medical-reasons’ – how do you tell someone that. Akin had performed some abortions on some women that Wale impregnated.



.



Funmi: that is so selfish of him. Everytime I pushed him for marriage, he would just simply dodge the issue when all he needed to do was to tell me that he was sick and dying. I spent the last 5 years putting pressure on him for marriage instead of helping him face his disease. (pauses). Which kind of woman am I? (crying profusely) Which kind of woman does not notice that her man is dying? Am I not in tune with him?



.



Akin: Don’t cry Funmi. He wanted to tell you on more than one occasion, but he didn’t want to ruin your joy. I guess he was afraid to allow you to face the fear that he faces every day. He wants you always to remember him as a very strong man – not a man struggling to cling on to life as it flows away beyond reach.



.



By now they had reached the street that led to the estate (gated community) that was Lola’s home. They turned right by the red gate, then they turned left at the third left turn. Both Funmi and Akin were quiet. One more turn to the right at the junction, Akin thought. And then they were there. The ambulance hadn’t arrived yet. Akin and Funmi got out of the car and went into the house. Akin was running, Funmi was walking very slowly – she would fall if she ran.



.



.



The Viagra wasn’t working. They had been doing foreplay for a very long time and yet Chigozie wasn’t ‘ready’. Dupe was doing all her best, but nothing seemed to be turning her husband on.



.



Dupe: work it now….work it! 30 minutes have passed and you are still not ‘ready’ for action. Do you have any medicine you can use?



.



Chigozie: Yes, let me go and take my Viagra. Please do not be upset with me.



.



Chigozie got offthe bed and ran to the drug cabinet (in the bathroom). He knew he needed action so he swallowed 6 pills of Viagra. He had already taken 4 pills before Dupe came home. Now he was on 10 pills straight. He ran back into the room and again told his wife not to worry – that the man will ‘rise up to take Zion’. And then it happened – suddenly the room became dark.



.



Chigozie; Dupe, did you put off the light?



.



Dupe: No, please be quick and let us do this thing o…



.



Chigozie: I can not see anything o. I think I am blind. I think I overdosed o. I read the label before, they said Viagra can cause blindness. (begins to scream).



.



.



Tayo was lying next to Wale on the bed. They didn’t have sex today, they just laid there. There was a silence so profound in the room – the type of silence that happens between lovers.



.



Wale (hoarse voice): I have just about 3 months left Tayo. I am almost at the end. want you to be prepared for me not coming here again. I know I have never said this to you before but I want to say ‘I love you’.



.



Tayo: I know you do. I love you too.. But please don’t speak about that right now. Let us just enjoy every moment we have to share. (pauses) I am pregnant – I do hope it’s yours – you know - someone to remember you by even after you are (she paused here and began to cry).



.



Wale held her very close and rocked her while singing a Christian song. He knew that of all the people that he knew, Tayo would miss him the most. They had intimacy and pleasure. She was the best person in bed that he knew. He knew she had other lovers, but he wasn’t jealous. She knew he had other lovers too, but she wasn’t jealous too. In many ways, they were like a secret couple – they could do everything in the confines of the bedroom, but outside they were merely friends. Tayo was one of the best friends to his fiancée and he was the fiancé of one of her best friends. But beyond the descriptions of friendship and acquaintanceship, wale and Tayo were lovers in the true sense of the word. Tayo was so vulnerable, he thought. She was sobbing so painfully, and then the tears started falling down Wale’s cheeks. He was not normally one to cry, but right now he was crying like a baby. He felt so lonely. Like water falls over the edge of the waterfall, he felt himself about to fall over the edge of life



(FINAL EPISODE COMING UP).


.