Still In The Game

Ada knew she was done for this time. Her husband was dead and his family was fully behind his first wife: that witch! She looked at the luggage thrown haphazardly on the ground in front of the gate. Even her ancestors could do nothing about this.

She met her husband five years ago at the mall—a pretty cliché story. He paid for her shopping, and fast-forward a few weeks: They were dating; he was married. She didn’t mind, he had money and status, who cares about his marital life? She had almost bottomed out the money she extorted from her ex: that fool.

Despite her late husband’s family’s refusal, they got married. Those idiots thought it was unfair to his first wife. At this time and age, isn’t it selfish to want to enjoy such a generous man alone? So what if they both worked for the wealth? Or that she forked out the majority of the capital for the business? She decided to make the man herself, no one forced her to. If she didn’t know a made man was not for one person, then it’s her fault.

A few months after they got married, Ada realized her husband’s children were inconveniencing her. Those kids were her husband’s reverse scale. He put them above everyone else and she was in no way okay with that.

Human greed is bottomless. All she wanted at first was his money and the status that came with being his wife. However, she realized having him all to herself would be much sweeter. That way, when she birthed him children they would inherit him, only them.

She and her mother tried five different plans before she was able to successfully chase that witch and her devil’s spawns from the house. Their departure sparked another family involvement. Couldn’t those people just mind their business?! She made sure she alienated her husband from his family members. She didn’t want anyone blowing soft air in his ears. It didn’t take much effort. She had her mother’s support after all.

She thought she was set for life, all she needed was to birth children and live happily ever after.

Boy, was she wrong!

She didn’t birth any child and her husband was dead, and here she was, left with nothing but the luggage strewn on the ground. She didn’t even get a car?! Not to talk of properties!

She didn’t know how they did it, but all her accounts were emptied; she thought of going to the police. However, before she could, that witch threatened her! She had her own status and affluence. Without her husband’s protection, she could deal with her (Ada) as she deemed fit.

She had no idea what to do, her mother had died about a year ago. It seemed she was down on luck, she was truly done for.

She looked at the looming gates. Karma was a bitch.

She called a taxi, packed her bags and headed to the house left by her mother.

Ada looked around the house, there was dust and cobwebs everywhere. This two-bedroom flat was where she had spent more than half her life. She and her mother had discussed plans on how to extort money from men in this same living room.

Looking at the large picture frame hanging on the wall, she squatted down and burst into tears. She was truly alone.

Talk about God’s favourite. Barely a few days after the whole fiasco, one of her old friends, Abigail, contacted her. She was back in Nigeria and was in Abuja. They were tight friends in university and were birds of the same feather. Ada told her a little about what she was facing at the moment.

Abigail didn’t waste any time, she told Ada to pack up and meet her at Abuja; she paid for her flight.

After a few days of wallowing in depression, Ada was back to the high society lifestyle. She and Abigail rocked Abuja, and mixed with la crème de la crème. There she met one of her exes; the guy was a simp. He had money and everything but was clingy. He was already talking about marriage after a few months of dating, and they were still in university then!

Ada didn’t even extort money from him as she always did before breaking up. She just got tired of him and wanted to cut him off.

So they met again and the rest was history. The guy was still a simp.

Her previous marriage was a secret, one she planned on taking to her grave. She didn’t mind getting married to this guy.

However, life had other plans. Somehow he got to know. How? She had no idea, all she knew was that people can’t seem to mind their dang business!

He confronted her in the apartment he got her.

To his surprise, she went on her knees, tears falling. She even cried beautifully.

“I’m so sorry, I’m sorry. I didn’t know how to tell you! I had fallen so deep for you that I was scared of how you’d react. Most people have a prejudice against women who were once married. I understand if you never want to see me again, I understand. But please forgive me, I’d never be able to live with myself if you didn’t!”

Once in a while, you need to surprise him and humble yourself, appeal to his inner masculinity. Change the game rules and stroke his ego. That was one of the first lessons her mother taught her.

She used it while she was in uni, for this same guy. She couldn’t believe it worked then.

It’s been so many years and she wasn’t sure he would fall for it again. After all, people were more aware of the emotional blackmailing tactics of women now.

He sat on the floor and pulled her to him. He wrapped his arms around her and kept apologizing, making promises and soothing her.

She buried herself deeper in his hands, sniffling and breathing heavily. She needed to complete her act after all. God bless her mother! She smirked, after all this time, it still works.