It was a surprise to me that my boss was on the same trip to South Africa. I had been told that three people were attending the emergency retreat from our branch, but no one told me who the people were. So, when I saw my boss at the airport with his family, I was shocked, because he saw me the previous day at the office and never mentioned it to me. This was in spite of the fact that he had received the mail directly from the head office. At first, I thought his wife and two kids were on the same trip with us, until they turned back just after our bags had been cleared. He had a Business Class ticket and I had Eonomy, so we did not sit together throughout the flight. Once or twice, he came to the back to see me and we talked.
When we arrived at our hotel in South Africa, I found out that his room was just the next to mine.
The retreat was to last for three days, so we did not have any serious programme on the first day. We met at the lounge in the evening and my boss said we needed to go through some documents that we would present during the first session the next morning.
I did not object because I had come to trust him as a brother. I thought again that I would be able to seize the opportunity to update him on the worsening situation at home. At that time, I found that he was the only one I could trust to give me moral support in terms of my marital problems.
Things, however, took another dimension that night in his room. After we had deliberated on our strengths, weaknesses and new strategies, to be presented the next day, he asked the question I knew he would ask: “so, how is your home now?” Immediately, I decided to pour out my mind to him, at least, he cared to listen. I told him about how my husband’s younger sister had visited to try to settle what the family had perceived to be a deteriorating relationship between us. She, being a strong Christian, had told my husband that he had to give me peace of mind for me to be able to conceive. She quoted bible verses and also urged him to stop his extramarital relationships with other women. But instead of him listening, he slapped his younger sister. I was shocked, because they were really close and such had never happened before. But that went a long way to show me that all was really not well. My husband told his sister to leave his house and never return, adding that if she wanted to have me in the family so bad, she could marry me as second wife for her husband. He said his sister’s husband would not mind since she already had children for him. At that time, he had stopped sleeping with me. As I was recounting this experience, I was sobbing, and my boss had no choice but to hold me close to console me.
One thing led to the other and we found ourselves in each other’s arms. It was the first time that I would cheat on my husband, and curiuosly, I had no regrets. I had been maltreated up to a point that I could consider suicide. But my boss showed me the right love and support, and at the right time too.The three days that we spent in South Africa were like eternity. My boss showed me the kind of love I had lacked for years. He made me feel like a woman again and I regained my self-esteem. I performed excellently at the retreat and earned special recognition for my department. My boss did not fail to point out that my happier state was responsible for my star performance. He, therefore, urged me to always make myself happy so that I would not destroy both my health and my career at a young age. My siblings had also been giving me the same advice, so I decided there and then to make myself happy, though I knew deep within me that I had sinned against God by cheating on my husband.
I became happier by the day and my husband noticed this. He noticed that I was no longer visibly sad, so he started doing things that would push me to the wall. He would put his phone on ‘speaker’ while speaking with a girlfriend and they would be exchanging love talks. It was painful, but because I had promised myself to ignore his behaviour and focus on my happinness, I did not really mind. Meanwhile, I kept praying that he would have a change of heart and change for good, so that we could settle down to raise a proper family.
About three weeks after our trip to South Africa, I started feeling feverish. I could not take time off work, so I placed myself on anti-malaria tablets. When the feeling did not improve after one week, I went to the hospital. But pregnancy was ruled out because I was menstruating. The next week, I went for a comprehensive check-up and found out that I was pregnant.
When I got the result, I almost fainted because I knew instantly that the pregnancy was the result of my South Africa escapade. That night, when I got home, something unusual happened; my husband slept with me for the first time in three months.
To be continued.
