The Mentor’s Lapse [Finale]

Everyone’s focus had now shifted away from the pastor, and while the pastor waited for the individual whose hand was raised, the usher signaled to the pastor while coming from behind that there was no hand. It was the hand of a mother which was raised while struggling to change her baby’s cloth.

It was a year into the marriage and Esther was five months pregnant with a set of twins. They had had their honeymoon in France which was sponsored by Esther’s boss as their wedding gift. It was a beautiful experience for them. Esther bought clothes for Sandra and sent them down to her school. Sandra replied with a text message and promised to call but never did. On getting back,  work began almost immediately for the couple.

Tunde resigned and become self-employed. He owned an Admin Telecom school where he ran certificate courses and trained professionals through field work, which took up most of his time.  Esther, on the other hand, had less stress at work as she now had a personal assistant, and with her present condition, she took some weeks’ leave.

Esther was in her sixth month of pregnancy when she began noticing some discrepancies in Tunde’s behavior. He would come back home looking worn out and quite grumpy. The usual kisses he planted on Esther’s lips whilst carrying her became more of a routine than a voluntary act. She saw him struggling to be affectionate and it as though all was not all well. She began to worry.

“Tee, is everything okay with you?” inquired Esther affectionately.

“Yeah Ohemaa” which meant Queen. “Getting our courses accredited by the government is much work and it’s practically draining me out.”

“All will be fine, love. Let me help you with this. I’ll put a call across to my colleague, his brother works at the ministry of Education. I’m sure he’ll be able to help.”

“Thanks so much, Queen. You remain the best”, Tunde replied with a kiss on her forehead and her tummy. 

The next day, Esther placed a call across to her colleague concerning her husband’s ordeal with his Admin school and within a few hours, she got positive feedback. Tunde felt quite elated about the news, but a cloud of worry still overshadowed his joyousness. Esther knew there was something more to what he told her but decided to let sleeping dogs lie since she didn’t want to be a nag. Subsequently, Tunde began sneaking in and out to receive calls. When Esther inquired about it, he maintained that it was business issues and he didn’t want to disturb her with it. Her worry knew no bounds but was cautioned by her doctor when he discovered she had high blood pressure. He advised her to take enough rest and keep off from anything that made her stressed out so she decided to focus more on her health and that of her babies.

One fateful day, whilst seated in the sitting room watching one of their favorite TV shows, Tunde felt pressed and excused himself to the bathroom leaving his phone behind. His phone beeped, and Esther called out to him but as she picked it up, she saw it was a text message that caught her attention. The text read,
“Hi! Don’t miss out on our appointment tonight at 9pm. I have a…”

“Queen, is it a call?” inquired Tunde from the bathroom.

“Erhmmmm, no, just a message” replied Esther. 

Tunde walked out, dabbing his hands with the hand towel while Esther maintained a neutral expression as she looked on at him. He picked up his phone to check who it was.

“These clients sef. Calling at odd hours. I don’t know why they don’t respect someone’s privacy. How can I be meeting a client at 9?”

“A client? I thought you said this line is not for business matters” Esther queried.

Tunde noticed Esther wasn’t buying his explanation so he used the guilt prank to let her off. 

“Yeah!  But special clients have this number. Wait! Esther, are you now doubting me or what?”

Esther smiled and shook her head. She knew Tunde usually became defensive when his coasts weren’t clear but she wasn’t going easy on him this time.

“Tunde, could you please open your phone? 

“For what?”

“Just for us to read the clients message together.”

“Are you kidding me right now? My own phone?  This is personal property, woman. I’m out of here. My client is waiting for me.”

Tunde walked out angrily, shutting the door very hard against Esther. She heard him scream at the gateman to open the gate for him to drive out. Esther felt quite emotional with tears running down her cheeks. She wondered how their relationship had now become so strained. He had been very affectionate during the first few months of their marriage and when they found out that they were expecting twins, he became even more affectionate but in recent times, the tables had turned.

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In the past, during the time Tunde got so engrossed with work because of his unfinished tasks,  Sandra came visiting at his place and brought along cooked food. He was surprised and wondered how she got to know his address. She told him it was through Kwame who was getting prepared for a meeting before she came, and after few minutes of her arrival, took his leave. Sandra told Tunde she wasn’t pleased with the way he had left her the other day unattended to with her school’s work when Esther’s call came in. Although, at that time, he enjoyed Sandra’s company and was willing to go an extra length for her under the canopy of mentorship,

Sandra mistook it for love, and while Tunde tried explaining, she became emotional and began to cry. When he asked why, she told him she loved him and desired a relationship with him.

“Are you crazy, Sandra? Have you forgotten I have a fiance?”

“Mentu, you should have remembered that the day you visited me at my apartment and what happened happened.”

“It was clearly a mistake and you know it. You lured me into it.”

“Tunde, don’t let me loose the last iota of respect I have left for you.”

“Get out of my house, now! When did this rubbish begin?” 

“I’ll leave. That’s fine. But trust me, we ain’t done yet” retorted Sandra.   

Tunde felt guilty for what had happened and decided to stay off Esther till he got his issues resolved. It had affected him personally and also his work schedule. This was why he kept making excuses for his incessant unavailability.

Sandra’s friends had gingered her to tie Tunde down before the wedding but it didn’t go as planned. She resolved to make Tunde’s life uneasy after their wedding and she kept to her words.  Tunde had kept all these from Esther. Sandra had now begun sending threats via text messages to Tunde to leave Esther and he became confused. He knew Esther was the best thing that had happened to him and he didn’t want to lose her. He had told Sandra to stay off his residence and reach him via text messages which she had been doing and this became the last straw. 

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That night, after their quarrel, Esther began having contractions. She was having pre-term labor and was to be rushed to the hospital. She tried calling Tunde, but his number was switched off, so she called the driver from the office. As she was coming down the stairs, she slipped and fell, hitting her tummy against the floor. She managed to get up, walking to the door whilst beckoning on the driver to give her assistance. Esther told the driver to speed off because she was feeling strange. When they got to the hospital, a stretcher was wheeled to the car and the doctor declared an emergency. The head of one of the babies was in breech. They soon carried out an operation after the approval of one of her family members, her mom, since they couldn’t reach Tunde.

The doctor had come to tell her mom about the situation Esther was in. It was a critical one. During the scan, they had noticed internal bleeding which had put the baby at risk. Her mom was quite perturbed and confused about the whole situation. She had to make a decision on which life should be given topmost priority.

Tunde had now come home from his meeting with Sandra where he had confronted her to leave him alone and tell his wife if she wanted to. He was going to tell Esther before Sandra could. Esther would certainly feel hurt, but his heart would be less burdened. As soon as he got down from his car, his gateman told him that his wife had been rushed to the hospital. 

Tunde drove right straight to the emergency unit and he was met with the shock of his life. Esther had lost the pregnancy and was at the verge of losing her life. He begged the doctor to see her and cried for her to hold on.  As soon as he left her, he heard the nurse scream, “Doctor!!!”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Tunde. We lost her” said the doctor painfully as he walked towards Tunde across the wardroom.

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