Her Fiancé Left Her For Her Sister At The Altar, She Married A Disabled Man—Unaware He Was A Bilonai

PART 2:

 This hall should know the kind of family it is watching. ‘ Tundday, sit down. ‘ No, Chief, you disowned her publicly so I can talk publicly. They told all of Lagos that Elara and Amara are twins. Twins? Then why did one twin school in London and the other one hawk Gary in Anra? Ask them. Ask Chief why one daughter was hidden in the village like a bad debt.

 Tundday if you open that gutter you call a mouth one more time. ‘ Madam the gutter is open. Amara is adopted there. Lagos you have heard it from me first. ‘ LIES FABRICATION AND YOU THIS IS YOUR DOING. Hear me now. Whatever inheritance whatever land whatever cobo you dreamed OF I STRIP YOU of it today. ‘ [laughter] ‘ Inheritance.

Daddy, you are threatening me with inheritance. Should I tell them? Should I tell this hall what you offered Al-Haji Dan Ladi 4 years ago? ‘ When Chuku logistics could not pay its debts. ‘ You offered him your daughter, me, a girl for a loan like a goat for festival. The only reason it failed is that the Alhaji’s mother said a village girl was beneath their house.

 So keep your inheritance, chief. You already spent mine the day you priced me. ‘ Zani Okafo, could it be? Look at the wheelchair, my friend. It is that one. The son they threw away after the bridge. Ah, the forgotten one. Then she has married a beautiful name and an empty pocket. By the authority of the Federal Republic, I pronounce you husband and wife.

Enjoy your wheelchair, sister. When you are tired of pushing it, come and wash plates in my kitchen. Amara, a tortoise does not mock the snail’s house while carrying its own. ‘ Mommy, don’t worry. ‘ I know how to reach the orafhors. The old woman that heads that family, I will get to her.

 And when I do, this bush girl will be swept out with the morning dust. Ah, oazani. ‘ So it is true you have carried a wife. ‘ Mama Reissi, this is Elara, my wife. ‘ Welcome my daughter. Welcome. This compound has been too quiet. Anything you need, my kitchen is your kitchen. ‘ Thank you, ma. It is not the Oriental Hotel.

‘ The Oriental Hotel threw me down its steps. This place ‘ opened its gate. I know which one is a home. ‘ You should know what you have married. All sit. My family has money. Real money. I will not pretend otherwise. You will hear the name Okafur around Lagos. But six years ago, I had an accident on the Third Mainland Bridge. Fire.

 These ‘ legs. A rich family can forgive many things. It cannot forgive a broken showpiece. They settled me with a small allowance and ‘ this flat, far from their circles, and asked me to be invisible. So what you have married is a monthly allowance, a quiet street, ‘ and a man who cannot stand to greet you. ‘ Is that everything? ‘ Is it not ‘ enough? ‘ It is more than I came with.

 Now show me the kitchen. A husband should not sleep hungry on his wedding night. Zane, I am your wife now completely. I am not here to manage you like a sick person. ‘ Why? ‘ Why? ‘ Why this devotion? Three days ago, you did not know my name. A woman like you does not kneel in front of a wheelchair. ‘ Unless she is running from something or running towards something.

Which is it? ‘ Maybe I knelt because a man looked at me like a person on the worst day of my life. ‘ Or maybe you heard a rich family name and decided a broken Okafur was better than no Okafur. Take that back. Make me believe I should. [sighs] Look at it. Look well. This is the marriage, not the surname.

 This Can you look at this every day of your life and not run away? [sighs] I am looking. You know what I see? I see that the fire tried its best and you are still here. Scars only mean one thing, Zayn. They mean a man refused to die. Sleep. The generator goes off at 11. ‘ ‘ No, please. No, the edge tundday. ‘ You were calling him

‘ saying ‘ in my bed. 3 days married. You were calling to day. ‘ Listen to me before you build that wall one block higher. In the dream, they had me on a rooftop. Tundday, Amara, my parents, all of them pushing me to the edge. I was screaming his name because he was the one pushing hardest. That is the only way I ever call him, screaming. And you were there.

 One man against four. You would not let go of my hand. When they finally threw me over, you did not open your fingers. You came down with me, Zayn. You died beside me rather than watch me fall alone. ‘ It was a dream, Lara. ‘ Then explain why out of everybody in Lagos, my sleeping mind chose you as the only one who held on.

‘ ‘ Sir Leo Chuku logistics how many contracts do they hold with us ‘ directly and through subsidiary 11 chairman hage warehousing and the Apapa concession rough ly 2.4 billion a year to terminate all of them. ‘ All 11 chairman ‘ before sunrise invoke ‘ the breach clauses.

 Their fleet compliance has been falsified for years. You have the file and Leo freeze their credit lines with our partner banks. Quietly let them wake up inside the hole they dug. ‘ It will be done. Chairman, may I ask what changed ‘ tonight? ‘ They threw away a diamond and kept the glass. Tonight the market corrects itself. Good night, Leo.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ What do you mean suspended? 11 contracts do not die in one night. Who signed it? Who signed it? Chief, the termination letters all carry the same authority. The chairman’s office, Okafo Holdings, ‘ the ghost, the ghost CEO himself. The banks too, ‘ madam. Our credit lines.

 It is as if a hand reached down and switched off the light. I have never even seen this chairman’s face. Nobody has. 6 years. The man is a rumor that signs documents. What did I ever do to a ghost? What did I do to a ghost? ‘ Daddy, stop shouting and think. A ghost cannot be fought, but a family can be charmed. ‘ The Okafor matriarch holds her gala this month. Old money.

 The grandmother herself will attend. Get me an invitation. One evening, my yubo in that old woman’s heart. Whoever this ghost chairman is, he answers to his family name. ‘ And your sister? What is she married some crippled relative of there? ‘ Even better, mommy. Then the trash has delivered itself to the venue. My daughter, take my pepper cell gave me too much.

 [snorts] Thank you ma h marriage of one week and your eyes are already carrying load. Sit with me small talk to somebody ma can I ask you something about my husband? Ask how long have you known him? ‘ Since he entered this compound. Quiet man. Pays his rent, greets his elders, hides his sorrows. [laughter] That is the thing, ma. The sorrows.

 He is kind to me, kinder than any person has ever been. But there is a room inside him with a door locked. I hear it at night. He thinks I am asleep. The pain in those legs, Mama Reissi, he bites his pillow so I will not hear him groan. ‘ And you? Why does it pain you so much? One week, my daughter. ‘ Some wives take one year to lend their husband’s footsteps.

Because when he looks at me, Ma, I do not feel like a disgraced girl from a scattered family. I feel like something that was lost and has finally been found. Nobody has ever looked at me like that. So if that man is carrying fire in his legs every night, then I will learn how to carry water. Whatever it takes.

So it is real. Ma, I said God is real. My daughter, go and look after your husband. ‘ I have carried storms beneath my skin. Smiled while I was breaking deep ‘ within. Every open door became a test. I kept hope. This is me, Anra SS2. ‘ How Zane, ‘ how do you have me ‘ until the darkness ended? Where my heart can rest.

Where I do not have to prove my best. Hold me ‘ when the night is long. ‘ So it is true. ‘ Mama, you did not send word. ‘ Word. Should I send word to visit my own son? ‘ Or is it this arrangement I should have been warned about? ‘ This is her, the market gossip, the disowned chuku girl. ‘ Good afternoon, ma. My name is Elara.

 I am Zayn’s wife. Wife. The Okafo name has stood in this country for four generations. Governors wait for our calls and my son crowns his disgrace by dragging a bush girl from the east into it. ‘ Mama, enough. ‘ It is not enough. Was the wheelchair not shame sufficient? You want to add her family scandal to ours? Ma, ‘ with respect, you may insult me.

 I have heard wars from people who fed me, ‘ but you will not stand in my husband’s house and call him a shame. This man, you people settled with an allowance and hid in Soreri like an old debt. He is worth more than every named dropping mouth in Lagos. You threw him away. Ma, ‘ you lost the right to be ashamed of him.

She has a mouth. ‘ She has a spine, mama. ‘ It runs in her, ‘ not in us. ‘ This is not finished, Zayn. The family will hear of this marriage. All of it. ‘ Zane, your own mother. Do not ever leave this house without my permission. ‘ What? ‘ You heard me. ‘ Lagos is not what you think it is. And neither is my family.

 From today, nowhere without my permission. No more running from the past. No more waiting ‘ for ‘ love to leave. Let this moment be the place where ‘ Madam keep your money for now. First, the patient is your husband. Burn trauma, 6 years old, chronic neuropathic pain. ‘ Yes, doctor. He hides it in the day.

 At night, the spasms come. He bites the pillow so I will not hear. ‘ And has he been evaluated? Surgery, rehabilitation. ‘ His family doctor. There is no money for that. There is only me. So teach me. Teach my hands whatever they can carry. ‘ Come. We start with the deep tissue work here and here along the scar bands. ‘ You will do it every night.

 It will hurt him before it helps him. ‘ He is used to things that hurt before they help. He married me. ‘ One more thing, madam, and listen well. Patients like your husband, long pain, long shame. Some of them develop a dangerous habit. When the nerve pain becomes unbearable, they create a different pain to drown it. ‘ A cut, a burn, something they control.

‘ If you ever find marks on him you cannot explain, or a locked door and silence. ‘ Do not leave him alone. Do you hear me? Never alone. I hear you, doctor. ‘ 12 hours. ‘ Zane, ‘ I gave you one instruction. One, and before the mattress of my mother’s visit was cold. You vanished into Lagos for 12 hours. ‘ Let me explain.

 Where ‘ was it? Him. What ‘ was it? Tomb day, ‘ a week of devotion. And the first day my back is turned, you run into the city till nightfall. Everyone warned me. A woman who proposes to a stranger in a wheelchair is running towards something. ‘ I let myself forget it. ‘ Zane, you are bean. ‘ From tonight, this door stays locked.

 If Lagos wants my wife, Lagos will not find her. [sighs] ‘ What are you, Lara? ‘ Shut up, husband. Where? Who taught you that? ‘ Idiaba, teaching hospital. Dr. Karim, physiootherapy unit. 12 hours in. That is where your runaway wife spent her day learning your pain with her own two hands. ‘ Squeeze the pillow. This part will bite.

I am hungry. Go and make the food. ‘ Yes, husband. from your grandmother, sir. Hand delivered to the office. She was insistent. the gala. She said and I quote, “Tell my grandson that if he does not bring his wife to my house, I will come to Seri myself and sit on his ver until the neighbors ask questions.

” She would do it. Sir, the Chukus will attend. They secured an invitation through the Adi family and they are bringing the adopted daughter to perform. Then we attend. It is time my wife saw the family that threw me away. And if the family looks at her the way they look at you, then they will learn what I have learned, Leo.

 That woman does not break. She breaks things. Banana Island. [laughter] My daughter, do you know what women wear to that gala? Gowns that cost a plot of land. Then they are wearing land. Ma, I will wear my own two hands. And if they laugh at you, Ma, I have been laughed at by professionals. My own mother has a PhD in it.

 Let them laugh. They laughed when I knelt in front of a wheelchair, too. I have never regretted anything less. My husband is entering that compound with his head up. Ma and every stitch of this gown is going to help him carry it. The man that found you, my daughter, God was owing him. And God has paid. Is that not the crippled oak, the forgotten one? And the wife pushing the chair herself like a nurse.

 No maid, no aid. The shame of it. ‘ Good evening, aunties. Yes, I push him myself. Gold that you carry with your own hand. Nobody can steal it from you. I’ll do ‘ you. How did you enter this place? ‘ Good evening, Mommy. You look expensive. Is that not the necklace you were going to sell last week? ‘ Lower your voice. Listen, girl.

 Whatever bad blood is between us, family is family. ‘ Family. There it is. The word only visits your mouth when you are in trouble. Daddy, ‘ the ghost CEO of Okafo Holdings has destroyed us. ‘ 11 contracts, the banks, everything overnight. You are inside this family now. Marry to one of them. Even if it is the broken one.

‘ Find a chairman, Elara. Whoever he is, reach him. Beg him. A daughter’s tears can move what money cannot. ‘ You disowned me before 300 people. You seized my handbag, daddy. My handbag. And you are standing at a party asking me to go go and beg a ghost for you. So, you will watch your own parents drown. ‘ You taught me how, Mommy.

 I watched you both watch me drown for 26 years. The most beautiful woman at the party. And they let her escape to the garden alone. Tundday, who let you in? Do the okafos not fumigate? ‘ Aha, Claus, I liked you softer. I have been watching you all evening, pushing that chair up and down, fetching his drink. A servant with the ring.

‘ Walk away, Tundai. ‘ Allara, look at me. I made one mistake. One, Amara is a spider. You know how she is. But you you are wasting the finest years of your life wheeling a useless  around in a fancy chair. So here is my offer because I still love you. These okafos have money somewhere. Even the broken one. Move some of it quietly.

A settlement, a signature, whatever you can reach. Bring it and I will take you back. Me and you like before the instant real pressure lands. Listen to me very carefully because I will only say it once. That man you call a has more spine sitting down than you have ever had standing up. If you ever speak of my husband again, if his name so much as crosses, that gutter you call a mouth.

My child, come here. Let me look at what six years and a foolish family have done to you. ‘ Grandma, ‘ closer. [laughter] Haha. H. The eyes are alive again. Somebody has watered my drying plant. Where is she? [laughter] Grandma. My wife. Allara. So you are the girl who knelt in front of a wheelchair in front of all Lagos.

Yes, ma. I am that girl. ‘ They say you did not know his family. That you married my grandson with empty hands. Empty hands. ‘ Ma, my hands were not empty. They were carrying my whole heart. It is Lagos that could not see it. ‘ Madame Okafur, come and hear how a wife talks. This ring entered this family before this country had its name.

 My grandmother wore it. I wore it. It goes to the wife with the strongest hand. LAGOS, I HAVE FOUND HER. BEHOLD. [laughter] Enjoy the ring, sister. In 10 minutes, this whole family will belong to me. ‘ Distinguished guests, a special performance in honor of our matriarch on the great ubo, the classical harp of our fathers, Miss Amara Chuku, Grandma Okafor, mothers of our society.

This melody is my own composition from my own heart dedicated tonight to the great Okafo family. ‘ ‘ ‘ [applause] ‘ That music is stolen. [applause] I beg your pardon. I said it is stolen. Every note of it and the theft ‘ is taking a bow. Is that not the disowned sister? The

jealousy ‘ has entered her head. ‘ Ignore her. Everybody knows Amara was trained personally by Mama Obi herself. The living legend. ‘ Who trained you, Elara? Which gutter conservatory? Elara, do it boldly, my wife. That piece is not hers and it is not new. It is an old composition. Its name is the Phoenix Rhythm and it has two halves.

 A soft introduction which you have all just heard and a second movement. Amara only ever plays the introduction. Have any of you asked yourselves why? Because a thief can only carry what fits through the window. Give me the instrument. Don’t you dare touch. ‘ Give her ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ fraud. She broke into Mama Ob’s

archives. This girl has always been a thief and a witch. ‘ Ask her where she learned it. ASK HER. MAMA OBI TRAINS ONLY THE BEST FAMILIES. ‘ Then let Mama Obie answer. You did not think I invited a harp to my house ‘ without inviting the mother of all harps. 40 years I have taught music in this country.

 president’s daughters, professors, prodigies. And in all 40 years, I met true genius only once. Not in Lagos, not in London, in a village in Anra. A barefoot girl of nine, who heard my recording once ‘ through a neighbor’s window and composed an answer to it. A second movement. She called it the Phoenix Rhythm.

 That child’s name was Elara. Years later, a wealthy Lagos family begged me to take their daughter as a student. I refused. The girl had hands but no soul. ‘ Then I learned whose family it was, and I accepted as a favor, not to the parents. ‘ To the village girl they were hiding, so that through one open door, I might one day reach the other.

 Instead, the student I took stole the prodigy’s music and wore it tonight like a stolen gown. Amarachuku, before this society, you are no student of mine. From this night, never speak my name again. ‘ No, no, no, no. ‘ Get this family out of my mother-in-law’s house. ‘ It was supposed to be mine. [screaming] Everything was supposed to be mine.

[screaming] Zane, ‘ MADAM, STOP STRUGGLING. ‘ [laughter] ‘ EVERYTHING IS ON CAMERA. EVERYTHING. ‘ Look at me. Look at my eyes. You raised your hand against this family tonight in front of 300 witnesses and you are still breathing. That is my mercy. There is no second mercy, Amara. If you ever come near my husband again, what the police arrest will not be worth arresting.

‘ Remove the Chuku family from Banana Island and put their names on the gate. They do not enter again. Zane, your food is cold. Zayn. They create a different pain to drown it. A locked door and silence. Never alone. ‘ Zayn, open this door. Zen, ‘ I know what you are doing in there. The doctor told me. Open the door.

‘ Go and sleep. Elara. ‘ I will not open it. ‘ Leave me. Zane, I am bleeding. Zayn, I have caught myself. THERE IS BLOOD. ZANE, SIT. SIT. Where is the first aid? Do not move. Why? Why would you? The glass who breaks a vase in darkness. ‘ I did. ‘ I broke it, Sesan. I caught my own hand because it was the only key that opens that door.

No, no more hiding. I am your wife. Show me. You will run. ‘ I cut my own hand to reach you. ‘ Does that look like running? [sighs] ‘ The pain comes at night like soldiers. Six years, all six years I have fought it alone in locked rooms. The rooms are finished, Zayn. Hear me. From tonight, there is no door in this house that closes against me.

 We fight your soldiers together, and we are going to win. I swear it on my own blood. ‘ He let you in. ‘ I did not give him a choice. Madame Alara, what I am about to say I have carried for 6 years. He will be angry that I said it. Say it anyway. That is what my spirit is telling me tonight. ‘ Then say it. ‘ The accident on the third Manland Bridge 6 years ago. It was not an accident.

The brakes of his car were cut deliberately, professionally. ‘ Cut by who? ‘ By order of his own uncle, Chief Connor Okafor, his father’s brother. ‘ His own blood. ‘ The family knew. Madam, the mother knew. There was evidence, a mechanic willing to talk. And Madame Okafor buried it. She said a murder trial inside the family would scatter the Okafur name and everything attached to it.

 So the mechanic was paid off and relocated. The file was closed as an accident and the son who burned on that bridge was asked by his own mother to swallow it for the family name. ‘ So the uncle walks free six years while my husband bites pillows in the dark. Chief Connor sits at every family function.

 Madam, he carried the Bible at two Okafur weddings. ‘ Leo, look at me. I swear before God and before this rain. Whatever it costs, however long it takes, Chief Connor Okafur will answer for that bridge. They asked my husband to swallow fire to protect a name. I am going to make that name protect him or I will burn it down myself. I have carried ‘ storms beneath my skin.

 Smiled while I was ‘ breaking deep within. Every open door became ‘ a test. Still I kept some hope inside my chest. Then you found me where the light was low. You never asked me ‘ to pretend. You saw the parts I could not show [singing and music] and stayed until the darkness ended. Be where my heart can rest.

Where I do not ‘ have to prove my ‘ best. Hold me ‘ when the night is long. Remind me I am still ‘ strong. I do not ‘ need the world to know. I need a hand that will not let go. If love is home, then let me stay. be where my heart can rest today. ‘ We are not the ones