Ruth Vicissitudes - Episode 14

 

Dolapo improved significantly in coming days, going from one therapy session to the other every day before going to work. This act particularly pleased his wife who thought her marriage was getting rejuvenated again, just like the past three months and she prayed it remained so for as long as possible. Though Dolapo continued to return home late, she was happy that his therapy was working and he had continued his withdrawal methods from his drug addiction. She had no reason anymore to disclose to anybody what he had done to her or about his addiction anymore, she believed he was changing for the better.
One thing that did perplex her was her husband’s inability to make love to her anytime she was in the mood of it. He continually rejected her advances, claiming that his withdrawal methods and therapy wouldn’t allow him perform as a man. Ruth understood him, even though he had never made love to her ever since they were married. Normally, he would have yelled at her or beat her up for denying her sexual pleasure but he didn’t. She owed his predicaments and rational anger to the drugs he had been taking , she decided to give him more time, to recuperate as long as there is. 
While she sat on the sofa waiting for her husband to come home as she usually does, she decided to engage herself with a Telenovela. She never sleeps till her eyes behold his presence. About an hour later, she heard a car zoom into the compound, the sharp rear lights piercing through the transparent window pane. Her face beamed with smile, knowing that he was her husband. She reached for the door and opened it but to her amazement, it wasn’t her husband but a group of two masked men, dressed in black who pushed her inside, landing on her back on the sofa while the one of them locked the door behind him.
“Who are you and what are you doing here?”
“We want to entertain you for the night and warm your bed sweetheart” said one of them as he brushed her face with the back of his hand.
“Don’t touch me”, she shrugged it off.
“Get your hands off me. Stop, stop or I call the police” she was overpowered while she pushed back. There was no way she was going to subdue two men. They carried her by the shoulder upstairs to her bedroom and pinned her to the bed, tearing off her clothes, unbuckling her brassier and pulling her pants off. The men each unbuckled their belts, unzipped their trouser while taking turns. She screamed at the top of her voice but no one could her. She was all alone in a world where nothing else exists except the men that were on top of her. 
She tried calling Dolapo all through the night to explain what happened but it never went through. The two men after r*ping her left her helpless and in abrupt misery. How could she narrate to someone what happened? That she lost her virginity not to her husband but to some strangers that broke into her home in the night, no one would believe that tale, they will assume that she had an affair in her home and used the rape as an excuse. She was confused, unable to think of the way forward. She couldn’t stomach her first hand experience of being so intimate with a man that she imagined would be a day to remember as sour as a grape fruit, one of the worst days of her life, a day she had become a victim of rape. She buried her head in her palms while she cried vigorously, recollecting the sordid experience chronologically. She was worried about Dolapo also, she hoped he didn’t have a relapse or had something tragic happen to him. it was a whole lot to digest, her husband and herself. The two r*pist got to a stop and met up with a man in suits who paid them off handsomely for a job well done.
Dolpao came home few hours later and explained to Ruth the reason for his not coming home was due to a late session with his therapist. He decided to stay right there in one of the empty beds as he knew she would have slept. Ruth nodded her head and feigned a smile, when Dolapo asked her what was wrong, noticing a rather unusual face. she replied nothing was wrong but was stressed, she was still trying to figure how she was going to tell him what happened the previous night, seeing that he was beaming with happiness, she wouldn’t want to kill joy to his blissful morning.
At night while he was sleeping, Ruth couldn’t. Each time he saw Dolapo, she imagined those strangers were close to her right there on the bed and when she tries to close her eyes, she sees them tearing off her clothes and doing the same thing over and over again. Her heart gripped with fear at those remembrances. She opted to tell Dolapo, a good night discussion is better than that of the day. She couldn’t hold it anymore, hence it will continue to hunt her every night and deny her sleep. He would surely know it wasn’t her fault, she tapped him on the shoulder continuously, Dolapo was a heavy sleeper, it was never easy waking him up when he mounts the bed . After some hard tapping, he finally awoke;
“Sweetheart, what’s the problem? I don’t like waking up in the middle of the night” he rolled up the bed, facing Ruth and opening his eyes partly.
“Am sorry but I had to. There is something that I have to tell you that is important”
“What is it dear?” his eyes were quite clear and open. He rest his back against the frame.
“Am all ears”
“Honey, yesterday when you didn’t come home which I had anticipated you will, some masked visitors paid me an unwelcomed visit and they …” she couldn’t explain further and started crying
“And they did what? Speak up please?”
“I…I… got molested and r*ped by them” she finally spoke up.
“You What?” he became vexed. Ruth retreated from speaking further. She looked at how Dolapo reacted to her story and knew everything could go south from there.
“Nice acting, nice script” he stood up applauding her while laughing. Ruth became astonished at the unfolding of events.
“You brought a guy into my home while I was away because you were bored, slept him and you are telling me that you were r*ped. You satisfy yourself outside because I couldn’t due to my therapy huh”
“How could you think so lowly of me Dolapo? You think I have been having an affair outside our matrimonial home”
“How do you expect me think? Just the other day, you weren’t so happy that I denied you s*x and now, you are telling me that you got raped by some guys? Is that a coincidence?”
“That’s not true. I said they were masked, they forced me into…”
“Shut up”, he cuts in.
“You lying wh*re, that’s what you have always done behind my back when I go out and come back in the night. I shouldn’t have made you a housewife , I thought providing you everything a woman could desire will make you happy. I can see that you have leveraged on it to sleep with your petty incomplete boyfriends”
“I was never happy that you kept me as a housewife, that you denied me the joy of working out a living for myself and not depending on you for everything”
“Why shouldn’t you be happy? You have everything without lifting a finger. Is that why you busied yourself at home with some other boys?”
“Stop all these false claims, I have been the best woman and wife anyone can be to a husband. I have always been loyal to you and never went out with other men just because of you. How else do you want me to prove my love to you?”
“You have never been with other men right? What about Ericks? The pictures where you both were making out in the night, do you think I don’t know about that?”
“What?” Ruth wondered how he got such information.
“Those pictures were sent by me. I know you were asking yourself how I got to know but I was the orchestrator. You were never loyal to me Ruth, you never loved me and I don’t either” he confessed.
“No, you are hurting me with those words. Am sorry for what happened with Ericks, I didn’t trust myself to love you but now I do. I love you Dolapo, I didn’t sleep with anyone, I was r*ped”
“Am never going to lay on the same bed with you, never” he took his pillow and headed downstairs.
“Dolapo, please don’t go. It isn’t what you think”
“Don’t ever call my name” he closed the door behind him and left. Ruth continued crying, scattering the whole bed and the pillows on it. She knocked herself on the tiled floor and remained there till the daylight. Dolapo put up a little smile on his face, he finally had a reason to kick her out of the house, a reason that his father would likely not reject.