Chapter 3: Secrets exposed

Chapter 3

Secret exposed!

“Why am I not hearing a woman's voice? Could he be talking to himself, or maybe watching a movie? But what a coincidence that his movie will be talking about signing a divorce paper.” Lila's mind was buried in thoughts. 

Her chest was burning like fury; she felt like pushing the door and pouring acid on whoever was behind the crashing of her marriage. But a sudden thought came to her: that action would only lead her into more trouble, as she would be charged with a case of murder and might be sentenced to life imprisonment.

Sounds of kisses and moans continued. She was dazed to hear her husband moan and scream a woman's name, something he had never done while married to her for a whole three years, making promises of giving her heaven on earth. Lila was just imagining how her husband was on top of another woman, banging her like one who had been starved of s*x for decades.

“I don't know how dumb she is not to have known that we're in a relationship. Poor girl, she must have thought that the attention you were giving her back then was out of love,” the woman said.

"Kaycee, my love, I'm grateful you waited patiently for me to divorce her. She never knew I was only there for the little money; if not, I'd have nothing to do with an unexposed and ugly person like her. My love for you is eternal.” Grey said.

“I can't wait to have my complete family with you. At least I can play a full father role in my daughter's life.” He added.

The woman's voice sounded familiar to her, but she couldn't remember knowing any woman that bore such a name as “Kaycee.”

And she had never seen a contact on her husband's phone like Kaycee.

“What a fuck? Grey has a daughter somewhere.”

The statements provoked Lila to push the door with her whole strength, like one who was running away from danger, only to see two unclad adults, her husband and her half-sister, on her matrimonial bed.

“Cynthia!” Lila shouted.

Cynthia immediately jumped down from the bed and wrapped herself in a blanket. Grey sat on the bed and stared at Lila without any atom of fear or remorse.

“Lila, I'm sorry. Please forgive me. It was never my intention for you to discover us this way.” Cynthia pleaded with a remorseful face.

Without any reply, Lila landed a heavy slap on Cynthia's face, with the design of her five fingers mapped around her face.

“I can't believe that my blood is the cause of my misery in marriage. You address my husband as an uncle, saying that he's just like a second father to you, yet you have the mind to do this to me? Besides, who is the father of Janell?” Lila became furious at her.

“Don't you dare try that shit again. Yes, she's your sister, but I find love and peace with her. At least, I can wake up every morning and hear a child's voice calling me "Daddy,"  something you failed to offer for a whole period of three years.

He stood up and embraced Cynthia, consoling her.

Janell is Cynthia's two-year-old daughter.

Cynthia conceived her when she was in her final year at the university. Every effort to make Cynthia reveal who was responsible for her pregnancy proved abortive. She open-mindedly told her family that she'd be forced to harm the baby and end her life if they continued to disturb her about the child's paternity if that was a secret she had decided to keep to herself.

Even though Lila and Cynthia are not always on good terms, Lila was good to her during her pregnancy and delivery. If not for Lila's persistent plea with her knees on the ground, their father would have denied Cynthia the right to have an illegitimate child. Even Mrs. Elena, Cynthia's mother, despised her for bringing shame to the family by conceiving a bastard, but that was just an act because she was fully aware of the father of Cynthia's baby. Mrs. Elena was just putting up those attitudes so that Cynthia's father would not think that she was supporting her daughter's bad character. Lila was the only one in the family who gave her full support and attention during her pregnancy. She loved and adored her niece, Janell. Despite her husband's cruelty to her, he was always nice to Janell and Cynthia. But that didn't give her a reason to suspect something wrong, for she thought it was a normal regard a man gives to his in-laws.

Lila went straight to her wardrobe and arranged her things.

She carried her box and stood at the door. Looking at how remorseful her husband was, her eyes started producing water, but she summoned all her courage and never let her cheeks feel the rolling of her tears. She had to be brave so that she wouldn't be laughed at. She needs to make Grey feel that she is also tired of the union and is ready for divorce.

“I wish you good luck,” she told them as she descended the stairs with her two boxes.

“Dan, how long has this been going on?” She asked their gateman, who opened the door for her, to leave.

“M…….ma, I…I..I” 

“There is no need to be afraid. I'll not confront your boss or his mother. So, your job is safe. I just need to know how long this has been going on.” She cut him short of his words because she could sense fear in his voice as he was stammering already.

“Ok, ma, this has been going on since the first time Cynthia visited you two months after your marriage. Since then, all those three days and one week of business trips that my boss used to go on are not truly business trips, but the driver has to always be carrying him to the apartment he rented for her in the state capital.” Dan exposed everything to her.

“Ok, thank you. Take care of yourself.” She squeezed five thousand dollars in her hands and gave them to him as she left.

“Aww. I love what I'm perceiving. Wow! This is the perfect definition of a delicacy.” Charia said as she stepped into the living room.

“You're not serious!” Lila said as she laughed.

“You don't even know what I'm cooking, and you're calling it a delicacy already. What if you discover that I was only boiling water? I thought that as we're all grown now, your love for food might have deteriorated.” She added.

“Aww, my joy is that I can finally see my friend smiling. So tell me, how did it go? Were you able to give him the papers? Charia asked.