Eli, dressed in black trousers and a white shirt, looked unsullied as he descended the stairs.

He gave Sedinam a brief peck on the cheeks in the living area and was out of the house in no time.

With a big grin on his face, he steered his powerful car along the streets, headed in the opposite direction of where his office location was.

After cruising for close to thirty minutes, he arrived at a modest gated community and parked his car in front of one of the two-bedroom houses.

The door flew open, and a young, beautiful lady rushed out excitedly. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her deeply, passionately, hungrily.

Still kissing, she guided him into the house, their hands and tongues giving each other as much pleasure as they could. Before long, the lady was spread-eagled on the dining table with her two hands as support, while Eli thrust deeply into her in a rhythm that was both adrenalin-charged and enjoyable. The pleasure they both experienced was out of this world, and their mutual moans of pleasure split through the morning silence as they climaxed in unison.

“You will kill me with pleasure, Kafui,” Eli managed to say whilst catching his breath from the sweetest marathon he had just run.

“And you will obliterate me with that super D of yours. It’s as if they had me in mind when creating it,” Kafui replied with contentment.

“Do you think it is still safe to go at it like that while you are expecting?”

“Sure as my name is Kafui.”

Eli helped her to get off the table and led her to the sofa. He placed her on his lap as he traced a line on her lips.

“Does she know now?” Kafui asked as she slipped into space beside him.

“Yes.”

“And?”

“What more do you want me to say? I told her about it yesterday. These things take time, you know.”

“You still have the hots for her, don’t you?”

“My Love, I don’t want you to get like that. Things are a little complicated, that’s all. Trust me, in the end, things will work out for our good.”

“I get it, I’m the side chick, and so no one cares about my feelings. It gets lonely here without you.”

“I miss you too, love. We simply have to take it one step at a time. I don’t want to push her to insanity. She’s been through too much already, and she has actually done nothing wrong to deserve any harsh treatment. I know the wait is not fair to you, that is why I’m trying my very best to make you comfortable. I got you this house and the car, didn’t I?”

“You did, but they are not enough if you are not here to share it with me.”

“It will be well soon, my dear. You know I love you, right?”

“Your actions are not very convincing, Eli. Show me you love me, don’t just tell me.”

Eli pulled her close and kissed her forehead.

“Don’t waste this beautiful morning arguing with me, please. I’m supposed to be at work, but I’m here. Besides, there are a million and one fun things we can do instead of talking about what should have been. Let’s make our time here count. You knew I was married before you went out with me. Stop making it look like I don’t care. You didn’t even want this baby, remember?”

“I haven’t told you I want it yet, have I? Don’t let me change my mind and schedule that appointment right now.”

“If you are not sure you want the baby, why do you want me to push away the one woman who can be the best mother to that baby? We had an agreement so let’s stick to it. You give birth to that child and allow Sedinam to raise him or her while you and I have our fun. That was what you wanted, right?”

“Yes, I don’t think I can raise a child at this time of my life. Truth is I never wanted kids because they are too much work. But when you begged me to keep it for you because you loved kids so much, I was bought. You’ve been really good to me, and I don’t want to deny you the one thing you want so much. I just don’t want to go through the pregnancy alone.”

“Let’s not fight over this, please. Just have to trust me. Why don’t you give me one of those massages that always leave me panting for breath, huh?” Eli said, trying to change the subject.

Kafui played hard to get for a while feigning annoyance but eventually loosened up when Eli brought out his wallet and dangled some fresh notes before her eyes.

***

Sedinam suddenly felt like the whole building was coming down on her. Eli’s confession had really thrown her off, and as hard as she tried, she just could not shake off the feeling of restlessness.

She knew now that she had taken Eli’s love and commitment for granted. What bothered her most was the fact that he wanted her to raise the child from his affair. She was not sure if she could do that with an open heart. The more she thought about it, the more confused she got.

To give her mind a little rest from the nagging thoughts about another woman being pregnant for her husband, she went into the backyard garden and attended to the crops and flowers. But she soon found out that nothing she did could take away the helplessness she felt.

She sat dejectedly on one of the garden chairs as she thought of the various options that could help assuage her pain and ensure that Eli was happy. She thought about getting back into the corporate world. It would keep her busy.

The option that seemed to take root was freeing Eli to be happy with this mystery lady and the unborn child.

Assessing her current situation, she knew that she would have to do something about empowering herself financially to be independent.

She had stopped working five years ago after helping set Eli up in the freight-forwarding industry. He made good money now, and that had served their needs to date.

She needed to find a job as soon as possible.

When she couldn’t shake off the blues any longer, she decided to go to the clubhouse to play some golf.

As she drove through the busy streets that morning, tears suddenly blinded her, and in her confusion, she stepped on the brake pedal when the traffic light was still green. Unable to manoeuvre around Sedinam’s car, the driver behind her slammed into the boot of her car.

Sedi felt dazed for a while, mostly from shock.

The angry driver behind her got down cursing and rushed to her side of the car, meaning to give her his piece of mind.

He became immobile immediately she turned, and he saw the tears that were coursing down her cheeks. He wondered what could be causing so much distress to a beautiful lady like that.

All the anger he felt dissipated, and instead of venting his anger, he felt like helping her.

“Are you alright?” the words came out before he could think straight, and there was worry written all over his face.

Sedinam nodded because she did not trust her voice at that particular time.

Eventually, she opened her door, got down, and they both assessed the damage done to their cars. Thankfully, the stranger’s car had a protective guard making the effect of the impact on his car very minimal. It was even as if nothing had happened. The boot of Sedinam’s car, however, suffered a massive dent.

Surprisingly, the gentleman wanted to bear the cost of repairs, but she vehemently declined.

When she got to the clubhouse, there weren’t many people there. It was understandable since it was a weekday.

Suddenly, she lost her zeal to play golf. She just sat and watched a couple playing.

Seeing the couple having so much fun made her miss the days when she and Eli were that happy too.

As she watched and cheered them on, she wondered if deep down, Eli had known that he didn’t have her heart.

She allowed herself to be persuaded by the couple to join them for some refreshments in the bar.

Halfway through the refreshments before them, a familiar voice asked if he could join them.

Sedi was surprised to see the gentleman from the accident standing beside her. The couple gave their consent, and he slipped into the chair to the right of Sedi.

The four of them talked at length about virtually everything. Sedinam was surprised by the guy’s sense of humour and the fact that she was really laughing for the first time in a while.

The gentleman saw her to the car park when they had all had enough for the day. He opened the car door for her and tried again to convince her to allow him to bear the cost of the repairs.

Later that afternoon, as she sat morosely on the bench in the garden in her house, one question nagged her incessantly.