"Mrs. Popoola, why are you here?"
I looked up to stare skeptically at my daughter's class teacher who was asking me why I had come over to pick my daughter. I barely restrained myself from giving her a sarcastic response even though I was in an awfully bad mood after seeing the monster I'd seen on my computer screen.
"I'm here to pick up my daughter." I replied after a few seconds pause.
"But her father already came to pick her up, didn't he tell you?" She asked.
I stood there, speechless for a few seconds, as my mind rewound back to the moment a few days ago when Remi told me that I wouldn't like what he would make me regret proposing to divorce him.
If it were possible, my hair would have been standing on it's ends because of the amount of fear that was coursing through my veins. Would Remi hurt Adesewa to punish me?
Goose bumps slid up my arm and I started shaking as several scenarios flashed through my head in an uncontrollable way.
"Are you okay, Mrs. Popoola?" Adesewa's class teacher asked.
I tamped down the fear I was feeling by breathing in and out while reminding myself that even if Remi didn't really like Adesewa, he wouldn't hurt her because she was his flesh and blood.
I leaned down and pressed my hand to the wall beside me for support before meeting the gaze of Adesewa's concerned teacher. "I'm sorry, I'm not feeling very well."
"Well, I thought as much. This is the first time Mr. Popoola would ever come to pick Adesewa. If I didn't see her birth certificate and his driver's license, I wouldn't have believed he was her father. He must have been trying to relieve your workload so please take it easy ma."
I forced a smile. "Alright, thank you very much."
Now, that I was somewhat in control of myself, I got in my car and started calling Remi over and over as I drove home to see if my daughter was there.
Unfortunately, Ali at the gate told me that Remi had not brought my daughter home and he wasn't picking his calls.
So I drove straight to his office since he wouldn't pick his calls.
When I got there, I didn't bother speaking to his secretary, I just walked into his office and pushed the door open.
"Madam...Madam, you can't just walk in there!" His secretary who was surprisingly a male secretary tried to persuade me.
What met my gaze when I opened the door to Remi's office were two men standing in front of his desk and explaining something to him.
I walked straight into his office, ignoring everyone in the room and sat on the chair in front of his desk, staring at him quietly.
He sighed and said to the men. "We'll continue this later. Please let me speak to my wife."
As soon as the two men walked out and closed the door behind them, I sat up and clasped my shaking hands together. "Where's my daughter?"
He stared at me without speaking.
"Where the hell is my daughter?!" I yelled, finally losing all composure as I stood up and glared down at him where he was seated.
He glared at me back and whispered, "Keep your voice down!"
"Keep my voice down?" I asked, staring at him like he was speaking greek. "You should be glad that I'm not yelling up the roof of your office building. I'll ask again. Where is my daughter?"
"She's not just your daughter. She is also my daughter."
I pressed my hands to my throbbing temples. "Where is she?"
He met my gaze and sighed, "I didn't realize how little you think of me until this moment. Do you really think I would harm her?"
"Aderemi David Popoola, where is my daughter?!"
"She's safe. I didn't do anything to hurt her."
He seemed sincere so that made me feel better but not by much because I would never feel great until I had my daughter in my arms.
"Okay, where is she?" I asked again, sighing and sitting down.
He slid a paper folder to me. "Read and sign that if you want to see her."
I stared at the paper folder, stared at his face and then stared at the metal fountain pen on his desk which resisting the voice in my head directing me to just jam that pen in Remi's neck and get rid of him forever.
I moved the paper folder closer and opened it, trying to remain calm despite my shaking hands as I tried to read the document. However, my eyes were out of focus and the words just seemed to be dancing everywhere due to my anxiety.
I closed the paper folder and stared at Remi. "What does it say?"
"Just read it and—"
"What does it say?!" I couldn't help raising my voice so high that I knew his secretary could probably hear me.
"It's a divorce letter. If you sign it, I'll take you to see Adesewa." He said.
"You're just giving me a divorce letter? Just like that? What's the catch?" I stared at him with red-rimmed eyes that hurt and felt like they were bulging out of my eye sockets.
"Nothing much. Adesewa is still our daughter but I'll be responsible for providing her needs. After the divorce is completed, I'll even let you see her and take her to home for the weekend."
"In other words, you kidnapped my daughter so you could threaten me to sign an uequal contract giving you undeserved custody of her?"
"Yes...No, I didn't kidnap her. She's my daughter!" he snapped.
I stared at him, my hand shaking more and more as images of me grabbing his head and slamming it into his keyboard over and over filled my head.
I took a deep breath, released it and continued inhaling and exhaling as I tried to calm my nerves.
As if he wasn't the one who had gotten me to my current state, Remi's voice softened, "I know how much you love your daughter, so how about we forget about this divorce business? Just remain my wife. I promise that I'll stop sleeping with Busayo and Kemi. Divorce will only lead to separation with your daughter? I really can't let you take her away because she's of my blood and—"
Before he could say more, I stood up in a swift movement that would have shocked me if I wasn't so insane with anger.
I took the fountain pen on his desk and knelt on his desk, pushing away the files in front of me until I could hold the fountain pen's tip to his neck. "Where is my daughter? I'll only ask one more time and then I will push this biro into your neck and end your godforsaken life. Look me in the eyes and tell me where my daughter is."
I don't know what he saw in my eyes but he must have known that I was very serious in that moment as he shakily nodded, "She's with her grandmother."
I nodded because I'd thought as much. "Which of the houses?"
"You don't know the address to this one."
"Then tell me where it is!!!" I yelled.
"It's in Iroko town, just a few kilometers into Ogun State. Around that Alakuko area."
I released him and reached for his phone, checking his gps activity with an app I'd introduced him to which was linked to Google map.
The last place he went to around 1pm when he went to get Adesewa was about 45 minutes away from his office. Holding his phone and ignoring his calls for me to come back, I ran to my car and retraced his steps to the previous location using the app's direction.
It took everything in me to tamp down my anxiety, fear and nausea as I drove to pick up Adesewa. On the trip there, I imagined all kind of things that Remi's mother could have done to her and even just the thought of the verbal bashing she would have had to endure felt like someone was squeezing my heart in my chest.
When I got there, I didn't need to do much of a search because I could hear my daughter crying from outside the gate.
"I want my mumy!"
"Se omo yi o ti ya were bayii? I said you should enter the house! Is it because your father said I shouldn't beat you that you think I won't beat you? Asake, get me the koboko, I'll teach this cursed girl a lesson today. Listen, you will never see your mother again without my permission." I heard Remi's mother curse as I pushed the gate open and walked into the compound.
As soon as I stepped into the compound, Remi's mother raised her face and stared at me. I pretended not to see the flicker of fear that flashed past her face. Instead, I walked to my daughter who was standing with her backpack on her back with her fair face scrunched up as she cried and kept asking for her mother.
I kneeled beside her and cupped her face. Her eyes were swollen and her nose was red and it broke my heart to see her that way.
"Mummy is here, oya stop crying." I said, forcing a smile on my face as I pulled her to her feet and into my arms, patting her back as her body started shaking back and forth with the force of her tears.
I turned to walk out of the gate with my daughter.
"Hey Omolola, where are you going with that child?! That's my son's child!" Remi's mother yelled.
I ignored her and took my daughter to my car, stopping to warn to her only once. "Titilayo Popoola, you and your son have better be careful. Don't let me see you around my daughter again ooo."
She must have seen something in my dark gaze because she didn't speak anymore. She just pursed her lips and watched me walk out of her gate with my daughter.
I sat in my car for a few minutes with Adesewa cradled in my arms while wondering what I wanted to do next. I considered taking her to my parent's house but it was already evening and we were both too exhausted to travel. It also didn't make sense for me to take her there and leave her there after the scare she just had.
My ringing phone interrupted my thought process.
"Hello." I answered, after confirming that Bisi was the caller. After all, Bisi was the only one I had informed that Remi had taken Adesewa away without my permission.
"Lola, have you found her?! I've been calling since but you stopped picking your calls after you went to Remi's office." Bisi asked and I smiled when I heard the anxiety in her voice.
Over and over again, Bisi always proved that she was the best friend anyone could have because my problems were always her problems.
"I'm sorry. I forgot to call you after I got the address from Remi. I just picked her up from one of Remi's houses in Ogun State." I said as I put Adesewa in the passenger's seat beside me.
"Oh, thank God. What happened exactly gangan. Why did Remi go and pick her up from school when he has never done that before?" She asked.
I connected my phone to my ear piece and plopped it in my ear as I answered her. "He wanted me to sign a divorce agreement giving him full custody of Adesewa."
"Ehn ehn. This guy is a bastard o. If we had known that time in school, we would have used broom to chase him out of the hostel."
Her words made me chuckle and shake my head at the same time as I started my car and started driving out of Iroko Town. "We're driving back to town now. I'll probably get a room at the hotel near continental. We'll sleep there and I'll bring Adesewa to stay with you in the morning. After work, I'll come and pick her up and go and check the place in Magodo."
"Alright now. Oya just go and rest. Both of you should take a bath, eat and sleep well. Won't you go and get clothes at your house?" she asked.
"No, I put a box of clothes and necessities for both of us in my boot since the day Remi said he will make me regret choosing to divorce him."
"Alright, then you'll be fine. Call me after you guys are done bathing and have started eating." she said.
"No problem," I agreed with a smile and ended the call thanking her for being my friend. "Ose gan ore mi."
"What are friends for?" She asked before cutting the call.