Chapter 2: Delusional Love Triangle

Blake

Apart from Gerald’s yelling and reminder who was boss, I was also used to physical abuse. Mrs. Wallace's slaps but that morning it was the hardest she had ever slapped me. If I was keeping count correctly, it was her tenth slap on my right cheek since we met. I can't count how many times she sent a shoe flying at me or sometimes anything she was holding in her hands. She once threw a knife at me because I was staring at her lustfully. Well, she was right but it was not intentional, I thought she was Tessa whenever they decided to dress like teenagers it was hard to tell them apart without looking them in the face. But I blame the make-up.

From the Manor I went back to my crib. There were only two things I could be doing at any time, if not working it was reading. That morning while trying to wash off the emotional damage caused by the feminine slap I grabbed a copy of my favorite novel. As much as I thought I was used to her slaps every time she did slap me and all the Wallace's treated me like trash it got me thinking. Why was all that happening to me? Why was I born to suffer?

Its true adversity is the norm and suffering was biologically important, it’s only the species that feel threatened that see and feel the need to improve their lives but I had suffered my whole life-My life story is a horror movie. When I finally got to the top of the mountain of omnipotence I drastically fell off until I toppled back to square zero. It was hard to admit that my life was a J-curve.

Half an hour into my reading I heard some footsteps in front of my wooden door. It was sort off transparent I could see the human shadow behind it.

"Blake you in there?"

"No go away" I said politely.

It was one of the maids. Her name was Anita Baker and she was the only person that I think cared about me in that home. All the other employees hated me. I did not blame them really, when we first got introduced they used to serve me and the tables had turned we were on the same level, I was even answerable to some like the butler and a few rude grounds men whom I couldn't exchange blows with.

"I saw what happened" she said.

No surprise there. She was one hell of a stalker with a keen eye nothing happened in the Wallace Manor without her knowing.

"It has already happened there is nothing you can do about it"

"I just came to apologize and bring you some food"

Anita Baker

I could hear him walk to the door. He really enjoyed my cooking and never shied from complimenting my food. Personally I pitied Blake. He also taught me the importance of humility, that life is like a dynamic circle and we are just like all pined on it. We can change positions on the circle at any time. When we first met Blake he was the quiet Wallace who always said thank you after being served. Most of his time he was on call or travelling somewhere. He would come back looking devastated but he will still have the audacity of asking how your day was and flash a smile thank you for doing whatever you were doing. Anyone smart enough could tell he was going through a rough patch.

“Come in” Blake said opening the door ajar.

He gave me space and I walked in his small house and put the food on his old wooden table. It was a cup of tea from the cows he had milked and a whole loaf of bread with sausages and eggs with a can of honey. He was not supposed to have a whole loaf but I sneaked one anyway. His typical share was two slices no margarine no eggs nothing just dry hard bread and he cherished it. He loved it. I also brought him a plate of cooked bananas, again not on his typical menu.

“This is a lot” he said looking through the food basket.

"I know you’ll spend your day in here buried in your books” I said.

“Thank you Anita...I really appreciate”

Apart from consoling him I really wanted an answer. A logical answer to one question that was on everyone’s mind. Blake would have worked anywhere but he chose to stay and work for his father-in-law that showed nothing like appreciation to his efforts despite not paying him a cent for his service. I doubted if he was getting a salary there was a chance poor Blake was working for a roof above his head and some food to get him going.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Doing what?” He asked applying honey on the bread.

“Staying, am sure you can get another job anywhere far from here and live a happy life”

He stopped eating all of a sudden and I started feeling guilty that maybe I shouldn’t have asked that. We were not friends, I did not consider him as one and neither did he. That awkward moment of silence made it look and feel like an invasion of privacy. He exhaled sharply staring at me. When our eyes met I could see the sadness in them, Blake was not as fine as he made people think. He was hurting inside with no one to talk to.

“You won’t understand” He said.

“Am sorry I asked that, see you later” I said walking away.

“Thank you” he mumbled and went back to demolishing his meal.

Tessa

Having been left behind, I jogged into the compound alone. Mum was nowhere to be seen I bet she was still mad at me. What she was asking me to do was not easy. It was hard to let him go and just see him get chased out of the compound with nowhere to go. While stretching and doing push-ups in the front porch something caught my eye. The female worker Anita. It was not the first time I was seeing her walk out of Blake’s crib. He might have been worthless to me but he was till mine. We were legally married. I also couldn’t believe I was jealous.

“Anita come here!” I shouted angrily.

She was a threat. Her beauty was something that might have caught Blake’s eye. That pauper had the audacity to cheat on me in my own compound under my own roof, eating my food and shitting in my pit latrine! What a loser?

Anita

My heart skipped a beat. Tessa asking for you in the morning was not a very good sign. She was like pepper in the morning and it only got worse after their usual scuffle with her mother.

“Good morning mum” I said bowing.

She answered with a hard slap that almost knocked out my teeth.

“Why are you parading yourself around my husband?”

Ooh my God! She had seen me walk out of Blake’s room.

“Am sorry mum but am...”

“Shut up or I will slap you again!” she screamed raising her hand for another slap, I shrieked away, “I don’t want to see your slutty self around him again, just because he is a pauper now doesn’t mean you can have him. He still belongs to me. Go! Get out of my sight”

Tessa

She walked away massaging her cheek. I wanted to slap the taste out of her mouth again. My mind was overcome by uncontrollable anger that needed to be displaced or I was going to blow up. Then I remembered the real culprit. Blake. The thankless son of a bitch that I just picked form the streets I should have heed to my mother’s warning. Clouded by anger I marched towards him, found him eating like a pig.

“Tessa” He said shyly getting on his feet licking his fingers.

“Sit down Blake, how stupid do you think I am?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why does that worker keep walking out of your room? Are you sleeping with the aids now Blake? Have you totally lost it?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about I haven’t had sex for months now!”

He sounded genuine but that was no guarantee he was not lying. It was true the last time we had sex was like three months back. When he mentioned it I missed the days we used have wild sex all over the house, the kitchen, the bedroom the balcony, the shower all of them were coming back. Too bad I was not feeling him the way I used to.

“I can see the lie on your lips”

“Accuse me of anything Tessa but not cheating, Anita is my colleague now you seem to forget am not a Wallace anymore...mum”

“Don’t you rise your voice on me Blake, are you forgetting in whose house you are?”

“I miss the old Tessa” he said and rudely went back to eating.

No chance in hell was I going to just let him disrespect me. Before he came from grace to grass we never used to fight and that was because I really wanted things to work out for us. I really loved Blake while everything that happened to him was beyond his control the reason I despised him was because he gave up. There was a lot I had planned for us and he squashed it all. I just looked at him. One long stare of anger and walked out. One thing was ringing in my mind, Anita had to go. And I knew how to get it done quickly. Dad was seated in the rear porch with a newspaper in his hands. A small coffee stool was on his right where tea and a plate of bread and eggs.

“Good morning dad” I said hugging him from behind.

“Morning sweet pie how was the exercise?”

“Boring, mum is mad at me” I said taking a bite of his bread.

“Again? Why can’t you two jut co-exist?”

“Anyway dad I need a favor” I said giving him that puppy look with drooped shoulders, it always worked.

“How much?”

And yeah, it worked whenever I wanted money so every time I used the move he thought it was about the money. Well, I could have used some cash. But first she had to go. Money was useless without peace of the mind.

“Am not talking about the money dad, I want Anita gone”

“Why?” he asked putting his newspaper aside.

Dad seemed surprised. He had a strict policy about selecting employees and he rarely let them go unless they wanted to leave or they were old. I knew it was a lot to ask, a long shot but it was worth trying. All that effort, under the impression that one day Blake would look at me in the eye and thank me for kicking him out of his comfort zone every time he tried to slip in there instead of building himself back to his feet. A broke man deserved no sex. I wouldn’t spread out my legs for a broke man.

“I just want her gone she disrespected me today”

“Am sure she will if she has not apologized”

“No she didn’t and even if she did it won’t help” I said quickly, “Fire her”

“Tell me the truth kiddo am your father, what did she do?”

For it to work I had to come clean. Just like me, dad enjoyed seeing Blake suffer. The manor had enough space for him, he could have worked in one of his numerous companies but he wouldn’t let him.

“She is seeing Blake” I said.

“What?” He asked angrily, “I’m firing Blake”

“Not him dad, I want Anita gone. Blake is still my husband. Come on dad, do for me this one thing I know my happiness matters to you” I begged.

The look on his face changed. He was going to give me what I wanted. There was a catch though, which I expected to be a forced reconciliation with mum. She loved being worshipped an apology was not enough for her, beseeching her would have worked better.

“I do that you owe me” he said.

“Anything dad as a matter of fact am going to apologize to her right now”

“That’s not all but go”

I kissed him on the cheek and left happily. But it was a temporary win, later on my father would use that win to put me between a rock and a wall. The hardest spot in my life. Let’s just say I made a deal with the devil.