Yomi walks in with a beautiful looking lady; he meets his wife, Bianca, in the sitting room enjoying a sitcom. From a distance, he admires her for a few seconds, and thinks to himself "how lucky am I to have her as my wife."
She notices the company and scampered to her feet to greet her hubby and his guest.
"Good afternoon," she said.
"Hello baby", he snorted.
"I'll like you to meet Fiona, she's my new assistant."
Both ladies exchange pleasantries and Bianca proceeds to get refreshment for their guest.
Yomi was an Engineer, who specializes in building prototypes for first generation Banks. He was a jovial drunk, which explained the dangerous edge to his temper. He and Bianca were blessed with four lovely Children, and the family seemed inseparable.
Their first two children were on the cusp of being admitted into the University, and the other two had gone halfway through their basic education; brilliant borns anyone would be proud of. He worked very hard to make sure his family had everything they wanted. His wife Bianca was a trader, a hardworking one at that. She never hesitated to provide financial and moral assistance to her loving husband, no matter how tight it was for her. The family was happy!
It's about 1am on a Saturday morning, and Yomi had not come back from work. Ideally, he calls on occasions like this to explain why he'll be long. Bianca sat in the living room worried sick; she picked up her phone once again and dialed his number, only to get a response that the number could not be reached. She mumbled prayers and cried more. "Oh God! Let nothing happen to him," she prayed. In the middle of that, she dozed off.
She hears a knock on the front door, she looks up to the clock which reads 04:32am. Tired to her bones, she lazily moved to the door to know who it was; seeing her husband, she quickly opened and welcomed him with a hug. He was stinking and weak; he had obviously had too much to drink. Being a meek person, she held him to the room and offered to fix him a warm shower.
When he was a lot fresher, she summoned courage to ask questions.
"You should have called to say you were fine, not completely being unreachable," she argued.
Yomi ignored her protest.
"Coming back at 4am, drunk to stupor doesn't speak well of a man," she reiterated.
"Who are you to tell me how to live?" he yelled.
"Woman go to sleep and stop nagging," he shouted angrily.
When her protest didn't end, he beat the living daylight out of her and proceeded to sleep, while she sat in one corner of the bed crying.
Meanwhile, Fiona through time had endeared herself with Yomi's children. They liked her so much, as she usually begged for time off work on weekends just to take the girls to make their hair and hangouts. Yomi's only male child wasn't too fond of her, but still couldn't afford to miss out on the freebies.
To compound matters, both Bianca and Fiona were great friends. They consulted on fashion and even went to public events together. She was a part of the family now, she knew everyone's like and dislikes; at this point, nothing could ever go wrong!
Three years on, at a family meeting to resolve marital issues between a cousin and her husband, disaster struck.
The meeting had gone on well, and everyone sat to drink to celebrate it's success. Jokes flew in the air and laughter saturated the well spaced room. Seeing that his wife was having so much fun, Yomi decided to break the news.
"Fiona is pregnant for me," he said with confidence.
"What?! That can never be possible," she protested and got to her feet.
"Look woman, the deed has been done and I'm gonna marry her," he concluded.
"To which house? Never!" she yelled, trying to hold back tears.
Obviously, Yomi had informed his kinsmen beforehand and they all tried to calm her and make her see reasons why he had to marry her.
She cried her eyes out.
"Yomi why?" she couldn't stop saying.
"I took her as my sister, now this is how she repays me," she mused.
Yomi stopped sleeping in his house, and would visit his family maybe two or three times a week. His children tried to make him come back home but their cries fell on deaf ears. This continued for two years until he eventually moved all his things out. Bianca pleaded for issues to be resolved, but after every effort, it resorted to her being called a witch. She even went as far as pleading with Fiona to walk away and pretend nothing happened. She offered to train the child as one of her own, but Fiona insisted they both lived as Yomi's wife.
"How could peace reign?" she reasoned.
Yomi, without legally divorcing Bianca, went ahead to marry Fiona, in the presence of both families; without the knowledge of his first wife and children. Business for him had since taken a nosedive, and things have gotten a bit awkward. They both have two kids.
Are they living happily after? You be the judge.
Bianca's children are all grown, with the last almost completing her University education. Bianca's business told a tumble after the incident, and she couldn't really recover fully. They retained the house so no one bothers about paying rents. She misses her husband greatly, but is happy her children are doing well.
Are they living happily after? You be the judge!
Thank you for reading.
Image from public domain.
PS: This is my first full fiction and I'll appreciate constructive criticism to aid my growth.