Hello my fellow steemians this is my entry for the steemit write up competition.
Life has been filled with so much events . So much to see,so much to speak about but one intriguing life event that mother fate permitted me to observe will now be the object of my story today.
Cindy Mbah her name sent the heart of men who knew her into deep thoughts.She was was a lady blessed with every feature of feminine beauty . Her smile, the neighbors would say could still the the rage of the fiercest furnace.You can follow her trail closely by merely watching out for eyes of men wide open and their mouths agape at her stunning beauty.
Cindy is married to Jude Mbah a petroleum engineer who works with Shell Petroleum an oil firm in Nigeria.They moved into the neighborhood eight years ago after their wedding.Cindy works in a primary school about 1km from the neighborhood.
Their marriage was blessed with everything a human could want .They had good jobs, very beautiful cars, their clothing and fashion was simply the best coupled with a very beautiful mansion to go with it. Jude was never shy to show affection for his wife or to tell us how much he loved her .She was according to his own words"the Apple of my eyes".
However,there was one very sad and painful cancer that was secretly eating into the hearts of this lovely couples .A cancer that they both needed to but had failed to slice out.
They had no children of their own. This brought so much silent grief into their home.
I can vividly remember the first time I ever heard them quarrel. I had been visiting some old friends from secondary School when a heavy downpour spoilt my plans .I was incarcerated in the house of one of my old buddies for about 6hours owing to the rainfall.This led to my return late in the night.Just as I was about to cross their own house I heard Jude call her a barren woman very clearly. I actually thought I heard wrongly or maybe it was just a joke. This was my first insight into the trouble in their relationship.
Jude is my maternal cousin. He is what we describe in local parlance as"The Man". He was everything we young men hoped to become and young ladies dreamed of for a lover. He was 6 foot plus with a well built physique that made his friends stand in awe while his enemies cringe with fear. Jude was an only child so there was pressure on him to continue the family lineage and that pressure was beginning to mount. We could see that his mother's visit were becoming frequent. However, there was never a quarrel,at least not a sign of it. So we never suspected that there was already a huge trouble broiling within.
After some time Jude was given a special position in Calabar ,Crossriver State.Nigeria. This development was a very welcomed news to Cindy as it was a sign that the huge efforts of her beloved husband were being noticed by his company. He began to be absent from home more frequently at times for as long as two weeks. I remember the day my Dad sent me to their home to call Jude for an estate meeting. When I got there and knocked Cindy opened the door to inform me that her husband was not in as he had travelled to his outpost and was yet to return.
The whole drama beign played before our eyes took a different turn last year precisely in the month of November. This occurred during one of the weekends of that month. Jude was in town and had asked for my assistance in the trimming of his garden and mowing of his lawn. So I had gone to his house with Segun my neighbourhood friend to assist him.
On getting into the compound we found Jude in the front yard busy washing his car. We greeted him and after that got the gardening tools from the garage and began to work. In the course of our work we realized that the parker to convey the dirt's to the dust bin was no where to be found, so I told Segun to check the around the house for it. Segun had not gone for up to 2 minutes before we began to hear a scream for help .
The voice was clearly Segun's . Jude and I rushed into the house to see Segun holding tenaciously to both legs of Cindy. She was clearly suffocating, her neck tied to a strong rope that was properly tied to the ceiling fan. It was clear to see that she was attempting suicide. While Segun held both her legs Jude climbed up a table close by and proceeded to until the rope from her neck. We then placed her gently on a sofa .
I proceeded to carry out a physical examination of her state while I told Segun to call my mother and tell her to come urgently to Jude's house. My mother arrived about ten minutes later. We had already placed Cindy in Jude's car so we all rushed together to the hospital. We took her to University of Port-Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) informed her of Cindy's present state and she decided to talk to her to find out what the problem is. Cindy couldn't talk for sometime ,all she could do was cry ,her eyes were blood red and swollen from all the crying. We tried to ask Jude for the cause of her suicide attempt but he refused to speak about it either.
After some time of consolation she finally opened up to us on the cause of the problem. Jude had gradually started spending more time in Calabar than at home. This began to worry her , she had tried to convince him that they both should relocate to Calabar since his appointment there now seemed to be a permanent role. Jude had refused this incessantly and this infuriated her a lot . Also, Jude's attitude towards her had changed so much that she did not know who he was again.
This changes were what led to the quarrel that morning when Jude finally opened up to her that he had another family now in Calabar with a concubine that had given birth to one child , a boy and was pregnant of a second child both for him. He did not want to hurt her but he had to move on and ensure the continuation of his lineage since she could not bear children. My mother was deeply angry I had never seen her so distraught,her eyes seemed to be flaring like that of the God of fire.
Chinwoke !!! she called him in his native name,do you know what you are doing to yourself?. This lady abandoned all that she loved as an individual to share all her love with you in a family. Yet at the first sign of adversity you abandoned her to take another woman out of wedlock. I am your mother's senior sister ,I took care of her as a child. When she was in need of a child I prayed with her. When you were delivered I was there to welcome you into this world. Why do you want to destroy your life?. All the while Jude just stood silent and still like a statue.
The doctor on call after proper assessment diagnosed Cindy of a state of severe depression. As a result she was immediately admitted. He then proceeded to educate Jude on the possible causes of infertility stressing that it was not necessarily a femaleissue . Jude determined to prove his point that Cindy was the problem proceeded to emphasize to the doctor that he already had a child with another. The doctor then replied him that since he was so sure that she was the problem then they both should go for a fertility test to confirm his assertions. While all this drama was going on there I was standing at the back of the doctor's office, watching to all the drama play out.
It took Cindy two weeks of admission to get well. At this point I had returned to school and my studies. However my mother as well as her sister kept up with the issue. It was from her that I found out how the issue finally turned out. According to her early this year they had gone for the fertility test . And the result of this test was very shocking. As it turned out Cindy was very fertile and her reproductive system had no issues. While my great cousin, the most manly of the lot and according to him the most virile was actually the one with the reproductive issues. From the result of the test Jude was diagnosed of a condition called "Oligospermia" a condition characterized by the possession of fewer sperms than is necessary to fertilize an egg.
Jude could not believe it, so he went to two other renowned hospitals to recheck this result and both of them came out with the same result. So how come was it that he was able to impregnate Lara his concubine twice ?. Was he really the father of those two boys?. Jude secretly went with both boys for a paternity test. The result was just as he thought NON OF THE CHILDREN WERE HIS!!!!!!!.
This realization removed the final crust in his eyes. He chased Lara and her children away from the home he had rented for them in Calabar. And he called a general family meeting where he apologized to Cindy and promised never to be unfaithful to her again. They both enrolled in a fertility clinic and are now working towards having children of their own. I have not had the opportunity to see Cindy since then but I believe she must have returned to her former radiance maybe with an even greater glow than before. However,this experience taught me something very important and that is" for a relationship to work you need a team of two people in love and not just two people in love". This is where the truss of true love lies.