CONTRACT MARRIAGE
Contract Marriage – Episode 6
Omar exhaled deeply, as she signed the last of the documents presented to her by Ife’s lawyer.
“ Finally, we have a deal.” She said, smiling with her hands clasped as she turned to Ife.
“ Yes we do.” Ife replied abruptly, equally scrutinizing the documents in his hands.
“ Omare Edeh.” He pronounced.
“ Yes that’s my name.” Omar replied.
“ Hmmm! What state are you from?”
“ I hail from Benue State… an Idoma from Otukpo to be precise.” Omar replied.
“ Hmm! That’s nice….
Benue is where my Ex is from.” He said.
“ Really! She must have been an interesting person.” Omar commented.
“ yes she was…. Women from Benue are quite entertaining…. But can also be filled with a bag of issues.” He remarked.
“ ….Anyway, that aside….. Our first move is to attend our anniversary at Davis Entertainment Empire….. that’s the name of my company.”
“..… Our company’s anniversary is coming up this weekend and I plan to introduce you as my fiancée to my business associates and family.” Ife added.
“ Ok then.”
” Please I’ll like you to equally play along and act as convincing as possible, cos I’ve got a very sensitive family….. especially my paternal uncle, whom you’ll be meeting as well.” He informed her.
“ ….If anyone asks you how we met, …. You can tell them we met on a vacation trip.” He slotted in.
“ Ok then, Roger that.” Omar replied already liking the feel of it.
“ So how do we begin this our contract marriage thing?
“ I’ll forward my home address to you. You can pick me up from home.” Omar replied with a smile
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“ Emeka! Emeka!…. Where is this foøl!!” Binta ranted from the stairs, looking for her husband.
She sighted him reading a newspaper in the living room, with his leg resting on the center table.
Marching down from the stairs angrily, she continued shouting his name.
“ Take it easy darling…. You don’t need to tear down the house, yelling my name like that..” Emeka said with aloofness.
“… Come sit on my laps and talk to daddy…” he continued with a smile, beckoning at her.
Binta stood, glaring at her husband, and at the same wondering if this was the man she married at all. She threw a document at him.
“ This is the third time you are withdrawing exhorbitant amount from the company’s funds without a proper explanation as to what you used it for!!”
“ …. Do you want to ruin the company we worked so hard to build?” Binta asked, still yelling in ånger.
“ I said you should take it easy woman! and stop yelling at me like an animal!!…. Moreover, it’s none of your business what I do with the company’s fund.” Emeka replied his wife coldly.
Binta scoffed unbelievably.
“ I am your business partner…. And I have toiled day and night with you to build up that company, and yet you are saying trash!!!”
Emeka sighed deeply. He had expected her to rant, and he was ready for it. This woman was always monitoring him like a detective.
“ I borrowed it for a future investment that is personal to me…. I’ll return it back as soon as it yields.”
“ What kind of investment is it that you never carried me along?…. An investment that caused that huge an amount of money!!”
“ Binta stop ranting…. The kids will think we are quarrelling if you continue like this…. why don’t we settle it in bed…. You know, with candle light and perfumed roses!!” he gesticulated and curled his lips into a tempting smile which infuriated Binta the more.
Binta dragged his shirt and began to cry. “ You must return that money right now!!… Or I will sue you.” She shouted as she continued locking his shirt.
“ Leave me alone this woman or I will béat you up o…. Is this what your pastor teaches you in church? To be disrespectful to your husband?….. And you are the head of Sunday school department!!” Emeka yelled, trying to free himself from her suffocating grip.
“ And what about you?…. Are you not the head of ushering department in church…. You have allowed the dëvïl to use you and you must pay!!”
Binta continued to drag her husband by his shirt as she wailed.
“ I will not let you destroy me you this man…. Return the money o … you must return the money!!…. I know I have made a mistake by marrying you already…. But I will never let you destroy my labour completely.” She continued.
“ Mummy your phone is ringing…. Pastor Nathaniel is calling you..” Somto called his mother, running down the staircase.
But Binta did not let go.
“ Mummy why are you fighting daddy?” Somto asked.
“ Are you not the one that said people who fight are children of the dëvïl?” Somto probed further.
“ Yes dear…. Don’t you know your mother is a dëvïl, that is why she is fighting daddy.” Emeka replied Somto while still struggling to free himself from her strong grip.
Binta; obviously hit by her son’s word, finally let go of Emeka’s shirt and sat on the floor crying.
Emeka was going to render them poor. The doom she had feared had finally happened to her.
“ Mummy don’t cry!!… Let’s go to church….we are already late.” Somto said, wiping his mother’s tears.
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“ IN CHRIST ALONE, MY HOPE IS FOUND. HE IS MY LIGHT, MY STRENGTH MY SONG.” The congregation continued to sing the hymnal.
Binta found herself struggling so hard to concentrate on both the hymnal and the sermon for the evening service. Consequently drifting away to the event that occurred with her husband earlier on that day.
Service ended and she was about to leave when a member of the protocol department, came to meet her.
“ Pastor Nathaniel wants to see you in his office.” The Man informed her, and took her to the pastor’s office.
“ Good evening pastor.” She greeted.
Pastor Nathaniel looked up to meet her gaze. “ Hello sister Binta… how are you doing?”
“ I’m not doing badly pastor.” Binta replied with a sad countenance.
“ I called your line earlier on today but you weren’t picking up…. Hope all is well?”
“ All is not well pastor… infact the dëvïl has built a two story building in my home, through my husband…”
“ It’s ok sister Binta…. Calm down and tell me what happened.”
Binta narrated her ordeal amidst tears.
“ I don’t know what has come over Emeka.” She ended.
Pastor Nathaniel paused for a while, then spoke.
“ He that breaketh the edge the serpent will bite….. your husband has entered into a snare, deeper than you think…. So fighting him physically will be adding more salt to the injury…” Her pastor counseled
“….. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds….. your husband has become a prey to a strong woman…. But nothing!…. Absolutely nothing! beats the Power of God… I have been praying for your family for a while now and I will not back out.” Pastor Nathaniel assured Binta.
“ But why pastor?… I pray for him almost every day, I’m an active worker in the Lord’s vineyard, I sow seeds and pay my tithe….. if there is anyone to experience this….it shouldn’t be me.” Binta complained.
Pastor Nathaniel laughed briefly.
“ God’s ways are mysterious to man Binta. God wants to win a general to his vineyard through this event…. Just watch and pray…. And see the mighty power of God manifest…. Do not be troubled at all…. God is working out something on Your behalf.” Pastor Nathaniel told Binta with a smile.
But Binta wasn’t totally convinced. She must investigate Emeka, and find out what he was up to.
(Do not take credit or Plagiarize AMAH’S HEART stories)
