The Abuja Tale 1

The humid, sun-baked air of Abuja settled heavily on the three-bedroom apartment in Wuse II. Aisha was sprawled on a couch scrolling aimlessly through photos on her phone, a forced smile plastered on her face. Her husband, Kamal, an aspiring architect, sat hunched over his drafting table, the quiet tap of his laptop keyboard the only sound in the room.

They were young and married for only two years. Their love was never in doubt. They had never fought and there was no issue of betrayal. Yet, recently, a cloud of sadness had drifted between them. There was this quiet, imposing loneliness Aisha could not explain. Even the lovemaking felt like performimg a duty with unfulfilled expectations. 

Aisha felt Kamal was withdrawing, his typical exuberant jokes had been replaced by monosyllabic answers. It was always: yes, no, okay, and Aisha was becoming increasingly irritated by it.

Meanwhile, Kamal drowned by the immense pressure of his career goals was unaware of how Aisha felt and interpreted her quietness as disappointment in him. He felt she was always looking for ways to fight him so he had decided to maintain his lane and limit their conversations by finding refuge in his study and work whenever he was home.

A few blocks away, in a buzzing estate in Gwarinpa, lived their closest friends, Nnenna and Chinedu. 

Nnenna, a vibrant lawyer, and Chinedu, a tech entrepreneur, were four years into their marriage which seemed to be the perfect, picture-worthy marriage. Chinedu was always planning spontaneous date nights and Nnenna always found ways to make them laugh with her easy affection. Life was good and they were inseparable.

One Saturday afternoon, Aisha and Kamal stopped over at Nnenna’s. While the men were at a football viewing center the ladies decided to chill with movies and popcorn. 

However, before the men left, Aisha had seen how Chinedu had kissed Nnenna at the door as if his life depended on it and she could not help glancing at her husband who was obviously too eager to dash off to the viewing centre. Her frustration mounted as she tried but failed to understand what was wrong with Kamal.

"I think he is cheating on me!" Aisha blurted out unable to hold it in anymore.

Nnenna nearly fell off the couch in her haste to turn towards Aisha. She paused the movie and focused on her friend.

CONTINUE