THE MORNING AFTER

Furo woke up with a terrible headache. Eze's arm lay lazily on her waist .
The sunlight was streaming in through the windows that Saturday morning.
she slowly sat up on the and massaged her forehead.
"Next time.......",she whispered to herself,
"....don't dance so close to the speakers.....no matter how drunk you think you are."
The ringing in her ears just wouldn't stop.It felt like a small parade of drum beats and wild flashing images were going on in her head.
For the life of her,she couldn't recall how many shots of Vodka she'd had that night. Her last count was Six......or Seven(maybe Eight)she just wasn't sure.
Everything else after that, was a blur of loud music,cigarette whiffs,sharp taste of alcohol and bodies pressed up against her.
It had been crazy,she thought to herself, but it had also been fun.She hadn't had that much fun in a long time.



Eze made a lazy sound and rolled over.
Furo stared at her handsome husband as he slept.
She was sure he'd fun too, if the content expression on his face were anything to go by.

She was so glad last night had happened.
Marriage could be exhausting,she thought to herself.
Even as happy as their marriage was, after ten years together,there were times when it seemed they both needed a break.
She smiled as Eze began snoring again.He seemed so peaceful.
Being married to Eze for Ten years was simply a dream.He was a loving and caring husband.He simply adored her.

Sure, they'd had their fair share of ups and downs.
Eze was Senior Partner in one of the Wealthiest Law Firms in Nigeria.This of course meant there were times he was so busy, he barely had time for her and their beautiful eight years old daughter, Destiny.
This used to really annoy Furo. She was the last of eight Children, which meant she was used to being the center of attention.

She remembered all the ugly fights they used to have.She was so glad that aspect of their lives was over.
Other than that,she loved her husband.He took care of his family,and never cheated on her.....never.

Last night had been her idea.

Between her Job as an Events Planner and her family, life was a little tasking.
 Eze too, was under pressure.

It was all work, family, work and then family again.They simply had no time for themselves.
Their sex life was great, Furo had no complaints there.
But they simply never had any fun.

So she decided that they'd have a "boys/girls night out."
She had it all planned.

They'd have Christabel (Furo's 16 year old niece)babysit Destiny.
She really wanted a night out with her friends and knew Eze missed hanging with "the guys"
So she suggested that they both have a night out with their friends. In truth, she felt he deserved it for being such an awesome husband

But Trust Eze,(the enemy of fun)to drag his feet about the whole thing.
Eventually he agreed.
So that night, they went their seperate ways to hang out with their friends.

Fast forward a few hours later,they both had an awesome time with their friends.

Furo got back home at about 3.am that Saturday morning.
Thankfully, her friend Josephine drove her home.

She staggered her way inside the bedroom, took off her clothes,fell on the bed and passed out. Her last thought before she blacked out was;"I hope Eze is having a good time".

Few hours later, Eze stumbled into the room.
Though she was barely awake,she could tell he was high, as he fell on the bed and began snoring.
She smiled  a secret smile to herself.
Yep! he definitely had fun.

 Staring at him that morning, she was glad she'd given him this gift.

KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK!!!went the bedroom door.
Furo frowned.
Only one person in all of creation had the nerve to knock on their door this early.
As  carefully as she could, she got off the bed and quietly grabbed her robe.Her head was still pounding

Furo opened the door to stare into the face of her eight years old daughter.

"And what is it you want...young lady?" Furo said with a smile on her face.

Destiny looked up at her with those mischievous eyes of hers and said;
"Good morning mummy, good morning daddy!"she tried peeking into the room.
"Daddy is sleeping" Furo whispered as she touched the side of her daughter's face. Destiny made a face.Like most girls her age, she had an unusual fondness for her father.

"Uncle Moses said that somebody  is looking for daddy," Destiny said in her usual sing-song manner.

"Uncle Moses" was their Security man.He was a tall lanky fellow that did his job well.

Furo threw a quick glance over her shoulder.Eze was still sleeping.
According to the Clock by the bed, it was 9:45am.
Who could be at the gate this early? she wondered.
Her husband had to sleep, she thought no client was going to disturb him.

With a long sigh, she stepped into the corridor and closed the door behind her.

"Good morning Auntie"  Christabel said to Furo  as she passed through the living room. Furo threw a smile at her niece.The girl was really growing fast, she thought. She could have sworn those curves weren't there a few weeks ago.
Furo made a mental note to have a little chat with her niece later on that day.

Furo opened the front door of the house to stare into the  lean face of their security man, Moses.
As always, he had his uniform on.He looked very smart.

"Madam, good morning",he said as he took a small step towards her.
"Yes Moses, good morning......who is at the gate?" she asked.
Moses made an uncomfortable face and said;

"It is a girl ma" he said finally.

Something about the way he said that made her feel a little uncomfortable.

"A girl.......what does she want?"
"She said she wants to see oga....that she has his wallet" Moses said.

Furo was more than a little confused. what wallet? she thought. Of course she knew Eze had an amazing knack for misplacing his things.
But as long as she had been married to him, he'd never misplaced his wallet.

"BANG-BANG-BANG" went the gate.
"What is that?" Furo yelled clearly startled by the noise.
"Mummy, who is that?" came Destiny's voice from under her arm pit.
"It's okay Sweety" Furo said placing  her hand on her daughter's head.

Moses sighed and said;
"It's the girl ma, she said she wants to return the wallet to oga herself!"

Something about all this was fishy and a little annoying.Who was this early Saturday morning visitor that had her husband's wallet and was banging on the gate?

"Tell her to come inside" Furo said.She was prepped to give this gate banging girl a lesson in manners

"Is everything okay?" came Christabel's Voice from behind her. As  Moses started opening the gate.

Furo was about to say something to her when the....."girl" walked in.

What shocked Furo  most wasn't just the obscenely short skirt or the very small top that barely concealed the girl's HUGE breasts....It wasn't even the high-heels or the cigarette she FLICKED before stepping inside the compound,No.

What shocked her or "disturbed" Furo more than anything else was this single thought;
HOW IN CHRISTENDOM DOES EZE EVEN KNOW SOMEONE LIKE THIS?
It had to be a mistake Furo concluded as the ..."girl" approached.

It had to be a mistake.

Unconsciously, Furo carefully shoved her daughter behind her.
"Mummy....??" Destiny protested.

"Anty,kood morning", the girl said as she got to her.

For a long time, Furo simply stared at the girl.The makeup on the girl's face were sufficient to pass for a small Picasso Painting.
Her nails were LONG and blood red. She smelled like a combination of burnt cigarettes, alcohol and damp sweat.
Furo had never seen eye lashes that long in her life.
The girl was a walking synonym for, "Cheap-Prostitute"
To be fair, she seemed....threatening.
Furo was thankful for Moses' presence just a few feet away.

"Yes what do you want?"Furo said, when she found her voice.

"Anty..." the girl began taking a casual step towards her.
Furo fought back the urge to take a step back.

"...my name  na Atim...D man dat drive dat motto........."she said pointing in the direction of Eze's Camry parked in the drive way.
Furo perceived more damp smells oozing from the girl as she raised her arm.

"......for yesterday night,.e come to my place to Fugg short-time and he hav nor pay..." Atim said flatly.

Furo was having difficulty comprehending her words.

"I-I don't understand.....which man.....?"was all Furo could manage as Atim fished into her handbag and brought out a Brown Versace wallet.

Furo's heart froze.
She had bought Eze that wallet on his birthday last year.
It had to be a mistake.
She watched Atim's long nails stab into the wallet to produce ....Eze's driver's licence and a picture the three of them had taken on their last trip to the UK.

As Furo took the items from Atim's hand, she held her breath.
This had to be a mistake,she thought to herself.

She stared at their mini family portrait in her hands.The smiling faces looking back at her were the two people in her life that meant EVERYTHING to her.

She must have stared at the picture for a full minute before she finally found her voice again.
"How did you....where.....what is the meaning of this?"

Atim seemed bored.
"Anty, e come to my place for short-tine, I axe him if e want me to sugg him or if e want to fugg....e say e want to Fugg......"

"Mummy, what is Fugg?" came Destiny's voice from behind her.

"GO TO YOUR ROOM!!!!" Furo barked at her daughter with more rage than she had intended.
She heard Christabel leading her to her room.

"so....," Atim was saying casually.".....after we Fugg, I tell him my money is Tree Tazand Five hundret Naira,....E say ok....so I  ko and baff,......"

Furo gripped the side of the door.The headache she'd forgotten about was now tearing at her skull.This wasn't  real.....it had to be a nightmare.

"......before I Ko and baff and return, E hav disappear but E don leave my money,...only emptee wallet....so I find his addrays in d wallet and pay transport to come." she was so casual one would have thought she were describing the weather.

Furo just stood there staring at Atim,She had no clue what she was going to do next.Her head was pounding and images of this...."thing" touching Eze filled her mind.She felt like she was going to throw up.She felt like that large beautiful building that was her life had simply crumbled and crashed to the ground.

For a long time she just stood there traumatized and confused.

When she finally spoke, she said;
"H--how much is your money?"
Atim seemed to do  a rough mental calculation then she said;
"Five Tazand Tree Hundret,....becus of money I spend for transport."

She stared at the prostitute for  a little while longer.Then she yelled Christabel's name.

"Bring The money that I gave to you yesterday" she said  when she heard her Niece behind her.
Christabel seemed to hesitate for a while...then quickly went to go get it,

After Furo had given Atim her money, she simply turned around and walked back into the house as Atim was led to the gate.
Furo's movements were slow....almost zombie-like as she walked back to the room.

"Auntie, are you okay?" Christabel asked

But Furo barely heard her niece.

She entered the room and sat next to the snoring Eze.
After a couple of nudges, he finally woke up.

Like Furo, he had a bad headache.
Furo simply said;
"Atim just returned your wallet", It frightened her how calm she sounded.

Suddenly Eze was wide awake.He sat up on the bed, as Furo began to cry....cry like she had never cried before.
Even as he stared at her,
he knew
.....they both knew
..... the marriage was never going to be the same again.

LIFE IS A CHOICE MY FRIEND
SO CHOOSE WISELY
ENOUGH SAID