Eka’s story - Season 1 - Episode 32

Episode 5 years ago

Eka’s story - Season 1 - Episode 32

Gerry was very clear about how things were going to pan out between him and Eka. They had been through thick and thin and had bonded at a level it would take only death to pull them apart. His income had doubled and for that he began to put some of his earnings in small businesses. He planned to have a good life with Eka and worked hard to make sure it happened. However what he did not know was just how much he loved her. From the day Eka left his house to go sort things out with her parents, it dawned on him how much empty his life would be without her in it. Each day he spent alone in his apartment felt like eternity. Some mornings he would dress up to leave for work and would go to the dining table to take his food which Eka usually woke up to prepare for him. At the dining table, the absence of his food flask would remind him that Eka had gone to see her parents. It took just a few days for his colleagues at work to notice something was missing in Dr. Gerry’s life. Morning after morning he showed up at work without his food flask. The content of that food flask was the reason his office was the most visited by his colleagues. He was plied with questions as to how the palatable contents of his food flask suddenly stopped showing up at work with him. He would make excuses with a mechanical smile on his face in a bid to hide the frustrations he felt for Eka not being around.


He just could not figure out how his life came to be that dependent on what Eka did and did not do in his house. Night times were worse; he would sit in front of the television alone. If he happened to see something interesting on the screen and thought to point it out to Eka, he would realize she was not home. Initially he his thoughts were that the break afforded him by Eka’s visit to her parent’s was just the time he needed to work on his endurance, he knew he had some time to wait for Eka to get ready for marriage, but that break almost drove him nuts. There were times he would wake up in the night and his apartment would feel like Eka was around. In spite of the stark reality that she was with her parents, Dr. Gerry would still open the door to her room to check if somehow she had returned in the night. To make up for her absence, Dr. Gerry would call her several times in a day, but at the end of their conversation, her sweet voice and the sound of her laughter would leave him longing to have her around.


On Eka’s part, the thought of returning to Dr. Gerry’s house petrified her. She was no longer sure she could hold on faithfully to her own end of their understanding to remain chaste until they get married. Each time she thought of moving away from Dr. Gerry’s apartment so not to give in to the way her body led her, it appealed to her. Even though the sight of her parents sickened her, she felt living with them would be a better option than to live with Dr. Gerry. She just had lost all her defenses against him since after the case they had with NK. She could not convince herself that she would not end up being a temptress to him. Already they had shared a kiss and the problem with that was she had begun to look forward to it. With the money at her disposal, getting air time to call Dr. Gerry was no problem. She called him off-the-hook just as much as Dr. Gerry called her. Her parents and family members having allowed her the liberty to dispense the money NK brought as a peace offering made to reconcile with her, she took a large chunk of it and shared the rest between her parents and her uncles and aunts.
Being in dire need of advice over what to do, whether to return to Dr. Gerry’s house or to live with her parents, Eka left for University of Calabar to go confide in her friend Simbi who had gone there to visit with her cousin for a break from the boring life in their street. Just one look at Eka, Simbi knew she was troubled with something, “I thought your days of trials were over, why do you have that look on your face? What is it again Eka?” “I guess God has made my life such that there will never be a moment when I am not in some fix or the other. Simbi I am madly in love with Dr. Gerry. I didn’t know love could be this cruel.” “Is that your problem? I have always known that you are in love with him. Don’t you want to love him anymore?” “You lost my meaning completely. Look Simbi, the way I feel about him right now, if Dr. Gerry makes a move on me, I am not going to resist him. I am scared of going back to his house.” “Oh! I see your meaning. Actually I saw this coming. When I spent some days with the two of you, I felt the two of you would come to a point you would not know how to move on with your love without getting physical. I have a question for you, ‘can you stand the sight of your parents after all that has happened?’” “They make me sick in the stomach. But if you mean to suggest I live with them so not to mess things up with Dr. Gerry, I just might give it a trial.” “Good. Now I have another question for you, ‘how long can you go with your head still together without Dr. Gerry?” Eka scratched her head and with tears in the corners of her eyes she said, “I don’t have a clue. Already I think I have gone for eternity without seeing him. I guess he feels the same way too but does not want to admit it to me.”
“Christ! I don’t want to be in your shoes right now Eka. Well, this is my advice; I feel pains giving it to you because I know how much you mean to each other. Eka, go pack your stuffs and move out of Dr. Gerry’s house. You can go visit him during weekends or weekdays. Living with him permanently like you have done in the past months is no longer healthy for the love you two share. I really do wish there was a better way to handle this.” Eka could not say a word; she sat still staring at Simbi with tears flowing from her eyes. Simbi put her hand on her shoulder and said, “Stop crying, you make it seem like you two had broken up. You want to do what is right and I believe that is why you are here. If not so, you would have moved back already to his house.” “Our love began with our living together; I just don’t know how to love him from a distance. Who will prepare his breakfast every morning? Whom will he watch television together with? I will miss our little mock fights and cooking together. I will miss his carrying me around the house when he wants to show off his muscles.”
“Eka you can always do and experience all you have mentioned when you go visiting him. Try this and see how it works. From the way I see it, if you move out of his apartment; Dr. Gerry will always be around on our street. I think you should worry more about your customers over there.” “I haven’t even thought about them.” “Then let’s think about them together…will they drop you as their tailor if they get to know you have moved away from Dr. Gerry’s house?” “They might, but if I am seen around the street often, they might not know I have moved or not. At least they have my phone number, we can always talk.” “Good. In other words leaving Dr. Gerry’s house won’t be harmful to your business.” “Maybe, but we just have to wait and see how it works out.” “Have you thought about how Gerry would take it and his sisters too?” Eka sq££zed her eyes shut and went silent for a moment. “For Dr. Gerry, moving out of his house would be like taking his crutches away while he is still lame. He will definitely find it hard to cope with. As for his sisters, they are fellow women, I will explain my plight to them, they will understand.” “Bingo! You are moving out of Dr. Gerry’s house then!”


“Please, don’t play with that Simbi, the thought of it still rattles my heart. I am not even sure I can pull this off if Dr. Gerry says no.” In that moment Eka’s phone rang and it was Dr. Gerry, “Hi baby, how is your day?” “Great! I am hanging out with Simbi in University of Calabar.” “Wow! You are in Calabar! That is good.” “How are you doing baby? Have had anything decent to eat today?” “Eka, I have eaten, but I don’t know if it can classify as decent food. I am having a terrible time with you gone. When are you coming back? I have been stalling not to ask you, but I can’t take it anymore. The house fells empty without you. I am done playing a tough guy. Please get things settled quickly with your parents and come back.” Eka clenched her teeth and held her head with one hand. She did not know how to answer him. Left to her, she would run back to his apartment immediately, but she was afraid of what she might do, and not what Dr. Gerry could do.