Ruth Vicissitudes - Episode 15

 

Dolapo arrived home after having some drinks with his friends at the bar. He drove home at night intoxicated by the hard liquor he held in his hand while he still drank and sang simultaneously. When he got home, his home was tidily arranged, tray of foods and drinks placed on the neat dining table. Ruth sat on one of the seats, dressed in a sexy silk see through night gown, she dressed to impress Dolapo when he comes home, to make him happy and apologise for what happened, she hurried  to the door to welcome him planted a kiss on his cheeks but was disappointed when she saw him stagger while he walked in. she offered to help him walk through but he rejected her help, brushing her aside.
“I have been standing here for a while, knocking while you stand here and flash your teeth . You can’t even apologise” he walked in stagger holding his liquor that was tucked in between his right contracted arm to the dining at the sight of the food, the irresistible aroma emanating from it that were almost blocking his nostrils.
“Have you been drinking? You stink really bad” the poignant smell emanating from his body filled the atmosphere.
“Let me help you clean up”
“Shut up, who is stinking?” he slapped her on the cheeks while she landed on the floor, he removed his coat, dropped his liquor bottle on the floor and pounced on her like a predator would on his prey, raining blows on her everywhere while she cried for help.
“Idiot, you try to insult me in my home. What an effrontery?”
“What have I done to you Dolapo?” stressing the words as she cried profusely.
“Will you shut up? You disgust me

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. You cooked to poison me huh, so that you can be with your boyfriends right?” he picked up his liquor bottle from the floor, disorganized the dining table, poured the cooked food on Ruth, cursing under his breath and abusing her. finally, he flipped the tray of drinks on her and ordered her to leave his apartment within forty-eight hours. Dolapo never changed, Ruth thought. He waited for the right time in order to exhibit the other side of him, she suspected he had stopped taking his therapy or he never took it all but pretended he took. Her life was falling apart, her six months marriage was abruptly ending in a colossal way.
An effervescent sparkling Ruth had undergone emaciation so much, the eviction notice from Dolapo still rang a bell. Despair and grief was now synonymous with her name. She decided it was high time she involved her parents and that of Dolapo’s into the affair. She wasn’t going to die in silence, Dolapo would never change his attitude towards her, he will continue to treat her like a slave. Dolapo stayed for days without coming back, he never called or texted and when she tried contacting him, it never went through. Both parents gathered in Dolapo’s house while summoning Dolapo. Mr. Jude especially was displeased at the sordid look on his daughter after wondering for a while why her daughter messaged him. He was more than convinced something was wrong and had been wrong for a while. Mr. Ademola didn’t think differently, he was unhappy about the look of things and the tussle existing between the couple. Mr. Jude and his wife sat on the same seat, while Dolapo’s sat on the other. Ruth sat on a single seat while Dolapo sat on the other;
“Don’t tell me this has been happening and you didn’t care to let any of us know” Mr. Ademola was the first to talk
“Its been happening dad. The latest fiasco is that she lay with another man in my absence and now, she is carrying the child”
“What?” shouted Mrs. Rachel
“Its not true, I have said repeatedly that I didn’t lay with any man, I was r*ped on the day my husband didn’t come back home”
“It wasn’t the first time I didn’t come home and not the second. She leveraged on that to lay with one of her numerous boyfriends while I was away. She is a cheat dad and does not deserve to be called a wife”
“Don’t speak about my daughter like that. Something must be wrong, I know my daughter very well, she is not capable of doing such a thing”
“But she was capable of going out with her course mate behind my son’s back. This is ridiculous and am dissappointed in you Ruth” Mr. Ademola was beginning to take his son’s side so as Mrs. Eruwahere who couldn’t maintain her calm. 
“Are you accusing my daughter of being guilty of a thing like that? I didn't raise my daughter to be unfaithful to her husband. Why don't you question what your son did to her? Look at her, this is an evidence of abuse written all over her body” Mr. Jude quipped. The altercation went on like that while Dolapo still accused Ruth of infidelity while her mother objected, accusing him of maltreating his daughter in such a dehumanizing manner that is only deservedly of a goat. The quarrel escalated, nobody was ready to reach a compromise or listen to the truth behind their statements. 
“I have someone to introduce to you all, someone that I plan to marry as soon as possible, someone that made me realize that love existed” he called to her in the car and she leapt forward. The room was calm when Dolapo made that statement. Ruth was speechless, she couldn’t imagine seeing the figure that she saw and she screamed;
“Tonkey, what are you doing here? With my husband”
“Am not your husband, I am her husband to be and from now, my heart belongs to her”
“Hi Ruth”
“You scoundrel” she proceeded to hit her but was restrained and pushed backwards.
“You have been my friend for years and you do this to me”
“I didn’t do anything, you mismanaged your opportunity, you remember all those times where you told me you don’t see yourself loving Dolapo, well, you don’t deserve his love but I do” she leapt forward and planted a kiss on Dolapo’s lips.
“Dad, mum I want to plan the divorce papers. I have fixed our wedding in two months time, I need your blessings”. 
There was no point fighting for a lost battle, she felt telling all of them the drug problems Dolapo had, the secret marriage he had but there was no point. His parents wouldn’t listen to her or anything that she has to say. They were convinced she was the bad person. Mr. Jude from the time of the surprised announcement had been quite silent, Ruth was expecting him to scold her as usual after the debate. He always supported everything the Akintola’s family did. Moreover, he knew fully well that she might be capable of doing what Dolapo had alleged, he was a witness to her daughter’s relationship with other men behind Dolapo’s back but he didn’t. He saw the look in her eyes and knew she was telling the truth and was judged wrongfully. She wouldn’t cook up a sensitive issue such as that to bend the odds to her favour. He was somewhat disappointed in Dolapo for his maltreatment and for being insensitive towards her. He blamed himself for not listening to her daughter, he was blinded by the lending hand he got from someone he knew as friend. Calamity wouldn’t have befallen his daughter if she had followed her heart and not his. He ordered his daughter to get his things and vacate his home, she was coming home with him.
When they got home, they sat in absolute silence. Ruth’s mother wasn’t ready to give up yet, give up the marriage and happiness of her daughter. She thought of an idea and decided to share;

“I think it’s time we went to the hospital to get a medical report to show that she was actually r*ped. Mr. Akintola doesn’t know that and will believe she is telling the truth” 

“Over my dead body will I allow you to go back into that house. I made a mistake once, a costly one and will not make it again. Am taking this case to the police to report an abuse”

“Mama, papa there will be no need for that. That marriage was long lost, I just didn’t realise it till now because I thought I was Jesus who will save it and not be a subject of ridicule. What makes you think they will believe you? Even if they do, Dolapo will never. He never wanted me mama and then the police, they have the money to kill of the case and even level false allegations on us. We don't have the resources as they do” Ruth said. Mr. Jude asserted out and out that he will make sure Ruth gets a compensation, he will never allow the Akintolas to get away with the reproach they placed on his family but Ruth had other ideas, she told her parents to let go, likewise her. 

Charles got a call from Cynthia that her water had broken, he hurriedly left the office for home and took her to the hospital. She was having a contraction of five minutes apart, the nurses rolled her to the theatre. Charles stood pacing in the reception while at the same time praying for safe delivery. While he waited for few hours, the nurse approaching him from the theatre indicated it was a safe delivery and could go inside to see the child and his wife. Charles, excited rushed to the theatre, he looked at the child with affection as he took him in his arms, swinging him and brought him closer to his chest, to feel his heart rate. He planted a kiss on Cynthia’s whom together with Charles told one of the nurses to take a picture of them both with the baby. It was a resounding moment for Charles who had always looked forward to the day he will carry his own child in his arm.
A grand naming ceremony was organized a week later, friends and families, well wishers gathered to celebrate the coming of the baby to the world. Foods and drinks were in excess, some who ate to their fill couldn’t walk, others who were intoxicated barely moved a limb. In the process of their celebration, the baby developed a concoction, coughing out blood. It got them worried, they excused themselves from the event, citing that they were going for some routine checkup and they rushed him to hospital immediately, calling on any doctor to help the baby. During their diagnosis, they discovered the baby needed some blood transfusion, Charles being that he was the acclaimed father opted to donate and went for further test. When he was told his blood wasn’t compatible with that of the baby, Charles repulsed and questioned the veracity of the results;
“It’s not possible, am the father of the baby. You have to carry the test again”
“Am sorry sir but the samples indicated that the blood group is unmatched. Yours is A+ and he is A-. it was checked and confirmed”
“No, there must be a mix-up somewhere” Charles took a gaze at Cynthia who had been silent all through the confusion. She withdrew her gaze from him and looked elsewhere
“What happened?” he asked her. She was too afraid to talk, where would she start from in explaining that the baby wasn’t his. She never hoped a day like this will come. She told the doctor to take her blood for testing, the doctor later confirmed that hers was a match. She quickly proceeded for donation, the baby needed blood as quickly as possible. Charles kept screaming in the door way that the baby was his, no one would take him away from him. while his noise was causing a nuisance, one of the doctors called for security after Charles refused to heed to their warning of being calm.
“Don’t touch me, do you know who I am. I can have all of you locked up away in one call” he threatened. His threats didn’t move a finger of any of security men, they forced him out of the vicinity.
“No one will take that child away from me, am not going anywhere till she tells me who the father of the child is” he spoke as he entered his car. He didn’t bother to wait , he went to a bar and drank himself to stupor.