I was determined to put up a lot of resistance as I had already decided I would have nothing to do with him anymore. But standing opposite him, I had started asking myself why I was tormenting myself with this idea.
Wouldn't it be better to hear what he had to say before taking a final decision? I asked myself. I sighed as this approach wasn't what I wanted. But nevertheless I decided to try it.
"I guess you know my heart too well?" I asked him. To this he smiled at me.
"I only know, when the heart of a woman beats for a man, it never stops."
"Really?" He nodded.
" No, not even if she is determined to leave that man. Just like you want to do now." I smiled at him.
"It's why I dropped the ring so it won't remind me of the pain I suffered." He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He then raised both hands and put them behind his head.
"Tola, I suggest you go back home. You still have a house, make it a home. I will soon be discharged."
"I'm glad you'll soon be discharged. But I don't stay there anymore. I stay with my parents."
"We still have a house of our own, Tola." He said.
"It's a house I saw blood, your own blood. What happened?" He looked at me with enlarged pupils. Then he became a little agitated and shifted in his bed in response.
"I saw you lying in a pool of blood, Ola. What happened?" I kept waiting for an answer but he kept quiet. This wasn't supposed to be hard, but he was making it look so. Then suddenly he asked me about the money.
"You took a bag full of money, Tola. Where is it?" I was starting to get nervous because he was avoiding to answer the one question that I needed answers to the most.
"Ola I need answers. What happened in that house?"
"Tola where is the money?" I realized this could go on back and forth and so I told him,
"Well the money is not with me anymore." He frowned when I said that.
"Too bad. That was your share of money for the selling of the house."
"Then I might as well take a very long trip." He folded his arms while holding my ring.
"Here, take this with you."He held my ring up and stretched his hand to give it to me. I walked up to him as he held the ring. "It's a reminder of the vow we took to be husband and wife. It's not over yet."
I looked at the ring and then laughed and shook my head.
"And what is funny?" He asked. My expression changed as I looked at him. I couldn't believe he had forgotten about what happened at his office when I came to see him.
"Tolan Consultancy...."
"What about it?" he quickly asked.
"I remember coming there looking for you. You almost killed me when you pressed my neck."
"You almost shot me in a company that belongs to both of us. Tola and Ola Nigeria Limited. That's why you have the name Tolan. And under direct video surveillance."
Without saying another word, I slowly took the ring from his hand. I walked away from him and headed for the door.
"We still have the other house, Tola. A fresh new start is what we need. You and me." I stopped and turned around. He was asking me to do the impossible, to take him back as if nothing happened.
"I'll think about it." I said, I turned again and was about to go out when he said,
"This has always been your problem Tola. With me you are unforgiving." I stopped and turned around and looked at him.
"Unforgiving?" I asked, as I walked up to him, " If I was that unforgiving, I would have left you on the road to die when you were thrown out of a speeding car."
With that I left the hospital and immediately called Nancy. When she replied she told me to come. I drove down and was taken to her office by one of the police officers.
"Tola, dis one wey you come so better dey?" She asked.
"Wahala dey o, Nancy."
"Wetin happen again?"
"Are you still busy, Nancy?"
"Why?"
"A beg let's go somewhere step down first before I give you correct gist." Nancy immediately carried her bag and followed me out. We went to a pub and sat down and I ordered a bottle of her favorite wine and then we started to drink.
"Nancy I went to see Ola at the hospital."
"You don't mean it?" She asked surprised.
"I mean it." I said holding up the ring for her to see.
"Tola! So all this, Nancy it's the end, you still collected the ring from him?"
"It didn't go like that."
"Tola? Tola?" She shook her head, "you told me it was the end.."
"Nancy na small, small I dey do my...,"
"No, babe you just dey disappoint me o." She interrupted, " Well sha, na you man go fit treat like dat. "
"Nancy and what is that supposed to mean?" Nancy stared at me and frowned. I knew she wasn't happy with me. And especially for the fact that I took back the ring.
"Babe, you get patience o. Another woman will never take that nonsense from him." She said after breathing hard.
"Everything is done with patience. I mean, he is still recovering from his injury." Nancy wasn't at all surprised by my behavior as she already knew that all my threats were vain threats.
But I was surprised by what I was telling her. I was preaching patience when in the few minutes I spent at the hospital with him, I didn't have it. I started telling her about the discussion I had with him.
"Nancy, he said, 'Tola go home. You still have a house, make it a home. I will soon be discharged.' So I told him, I was staying with my parents and that's when he told me that the money was my own share for the selling of the house."
Nancy looked at me perplexed. I guess she didn't think he was telling me the truth. She folded her arms and thoughtfully muttered,
"It doesn't make sense."
"What doesn't make sense?" I asked
"There's a lot of money in that bag, Tola. More than what the house could be sold for."
"You think so?" She nodded, "Anyway I told him I am going to take a very long trip. Nancy how is your job, right now?"
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"Do you think you can take some time off from work so we can travel out?"
"Tola, e be like say you don dey change o."
"Why?"
"So you jus wan chop dis money as you hear say na your own?"
"Look I was the obedient wife before. Now with all that happened, na smart wife I wan be." Nancy laughed
"So you wan smart pass smartphone abi?"
"Na so o, baby." Nancy kept laughing and laughing.
"Okay but Nancy he's telling me we can still start all over again."
"You don't want that do you?"
"Nancy, how can I say I don't want it?"
"So what is your problem now?"
"Can I trust he won't disappear again, auction off another house or do something similar?" Nancy shrugged. Seeing her do that got me thinking it was scary.
"Tola, it's scary when you think of it that way. But on the other hand giving this man a second chance won't be a bad idea. You could try." I breathed hard.
"Nancy, I need to believe all of this won't happen a second time."
"Well since you can't decide, you might need to take some time away from Lagos."
"I think that's exactly what I'll do. So you want to go with me?" I asked her. She pondered the question for a while and then raised an eyebrow.
"Tola, I'll go with you, but I'll have to pay Ola an officially visit."
"Why?"
"Just to make sure you're not spending money you'll be forced to pay back." I gulped. I couldn't imagine this happening, but I had to trust Nancy's instinct. After a while, we left the pub and I dropped her off at her house and went home.
A few days later she called me while I was at work. She told me she was able to speak to Ola. He confirmed her worries that the money was my share from the auctioning of the house. Having finally put my mind at rest, I began planning my holiday trip with Nancy.
While we had no fixed destination we wanted to go to, she suggested we visit her parents in the UK. I agreed and told my dad about it.
"It's only going to be three weeks dad." I told him while in his office.
""How did it go with your ex-husband?" .
"I had a light discussion with him." I sighed.
"And?"
"Well he told me to wear my ring, go back to our house and make it a home."
"And what was your response?" I looked at my father, thinking about what he would tell me if I told him, I had told Ola that I would think about it.
"Okay, as usual, you may have told him no or something similar."
"Not quite. I only told him I'd think about it."
"Is that why you want to take time away from work?"
"I guess I need to get away from Lagos and come back with a renewed mind." My father had this strange look on his face like he could get up and slap me. I didn't want that happening. But he relaxed himself and leaned back in his chair.
"Tola, one day can change anything. Three weeks can change everything. And you may not find things as they were when you left." He said
"I am sure I can cope with the coming changes." I replied, while thinking of what changes could possibly come.
"Then go home and tell your mother." At the mention of my mother, her words quickly came to my mind. Those words still penetrated me like arrows that had left deep wounds that I couldn't heal. Once this happened I didn't see any reason why I had to see her.
"I will dad, I will." But I wasn't ready. I wasn't ready to see my mother yet. I still needed time.