Minutes after Ndubuisi pushed Ogechi out of the room, he began regretting his actions.
“What happened to me? I was so harsh on her and I almost slapped her. This is one thing I won’t like to be doing, I can’t be a wife beater. I should apologize to her now” he said, stepping out to make Ogechi forgive him.
He then headed to the kitchen and found his mother making the fire.
“Mama, where is Ogechi?”
“She is not here… That girl is proving to be stubborn. She is supposed to be here making the fire, but she is allowing me do them myself”
“It’s because I made her angry. I shouldn’t have pushed her the way I did, so that’s why I want to apologize to her now.”
“Apo what? Are you OK? Apologize to her?”
“Yes Mama, she is so upset right now. So, it’s my duty as her husband to make her happy again.” He said looking around, trying to find Ogechi,
“This can’t be happening. So my son wants his wife to gain control over him? If he apologize now, she will take it that he is weak and use it as an advantage to be controlling him. No my son, this is one mistake I won’t allow you to make” Okwuchi quickly thought and then called Ndubuisi back..
“No my son, I won’t allow you to turn so weak in the eyes of your wife, what do you think you want to do, ask her to forgive you?”
“Yes mother, I think that’s the right thing a husband should do.”
“No Ndubuisi, you are getting it all wrong. Haven’t you heard of women who control their husbands, do you want such things to become your fate?”
“It’s not like that, mother. You know how much I enjoy peace. So I’m doing this for peace to reign.. I want everybody to be happy”
“Ndubuisi, I want to ask you something”
“Go ahead”
“You strictly instructed Ogechi to join me in the kitchen so that I will teach her how to cook, but where is she now? She is not here… It proves that she is stubborn and people like that deserves to be followed with iron hands. She is disobeying your orders. Now, use this as an example to understand what I’m trying to explain to you”
What Okwuchi said sounded like the truth to Ndubuisi and it swiftly stirred up his anger anger.
“I hate it when people disobey me like that, I really can’t tolerate it. Where is she now?”
“I don’t know. I just don’t know…….. I am sorry my son that Ogechi turned out like this. I thought she was an angel but not knowing that her parents were only deceiving me. And now it’s too late.”
“Where is she at the moment, that’s what I want to know? That girl is trying my patience” he asked and began calling out for her in a harsh voice.
“I am in the kitchen” Ogechi cheerfully answered in a loud voice, as if nothing happened.
And they rushed back to the kitchen and saw her preparing the things she and Okwuchi will use to prepare the food.
“Mama, I am almost through…. So let’s start with the cooking or should I continue?”
Okwuchi was dumbfounded…. She expected her to be sucking up in pains for the way Ndubuisi treated her, but she was reacting happily as if nothing ever happened… Okwuchi was still in her thought when Ogechi pleaded with Ndubuisi to have a little patience for them, that the food will soon be ready. “We will be very fast, Ok” she added
And Ndubuisi nodded, watching her as she was cheerfully doing her chores.
Ndubuisi then quietly left the place and entered the room.
“She is such a gorgeous beauty. She doesn’t bear grudges about the way I treated her. She is acting as if nothing happened. This is one attribute of an ideal wife. Ogechi is my wife, my God given wife, I have no doubt… I expected her to be still nurturing her anger, but she has gone about her activities.” Ndubuisi said…
Okwuchi stood, began wondering when Ogechi entered the kitchen.
“Why did she entered the kitchen? I should have used the opportunity to increase my son’s anger over her. Anyway, I still have countless opportunities to make sure that she doesn’t gain control over my son’s life. I am the first lady in his life and I won’t allow her to take my place. Ndubuisi is all I have got left, and not Ogechi nor anybody will take him away from me” she said
While Okwuchi was still on her thought, Ogechi then turned and began looking at her.
She reminisced how she sneaked into the kitchen after she heard Okwuchi speaking ill of her.
“Mama, it’s now obvious you don’t want me as your daughter in-law, but one thing I’m telling you is this, I have come here to stay and nothing will ever make me leave”
She then spoke up: “Mama, can we start the cooking now?” She asked
And Okwuchi looked at her and reluctantly nodded. And they began cooking…
After they finished cooking, Ogechi then brought a plate to serve Ndubuisi and Okwuchi obstructed her.
“What do you think you are doing with my plate?” She asked
“Your plate? Am I not allowed to touch the plate?”
“Ogechi, you have not answered my question”
“OK, I want to serve my husband” Ogechi answered
“Ogechi, that responsibility is for me and me alone. He is my only child, I am the one who gave birth to him, I began feeding him right from when he was still in my womb. So you will have to wait, when you give birth to your own child, you start feeding him” she said and forcefully collected the plate from her.
Ogechi was shocked hearing all that, she was lost of the word to reply Okwuchi. All she did was to leave the kitchen and headed straight to the room..
And Ndubuisi who had been looking for a way to apologize to her then thought it a good idea to ask her why she was angry.
“Oge, are you still angry with me? OK, I’m sorry for the way I reacted. I know I overreacted, but can you forgive me….?”
And the way he begged her sweetened her heart and she asked: “Hmm, you said you are sorry, right? But I don’t believe you”
“I am truly sorry, Baby, I am”
“OK, if you said you are truly sorry, then why did you stop me from serving you your food?”
“I don’t understand”
“You told Mama that you are the one who should be serving you and not me”..Ogechi said, thinking that he was the one who instructed his mother to be serving him.
“No, I didn’t give such order…..” He was still speaking when his mother entered the room with his food.
“My son, here is your food. I cooked it the way you always want it”
“Hmm” he hummed and then stood up and said: “Mama, you shouldn’t have stressed yourself bringing me my food. I have a wife now and it’s now her responsibility to do all these things.”
“But my son, it’s my duty to take care of you.”
“Yes mother, but my wife now has that primary duty. It’s now our duty to take care of you. So don’t stress yourself the more, the time for you to rest has come” Ndubuisi said cheerfully
“But……”
“There is no but, Mama. I am married now, so I’m now my wife’s responsibility, her first priority” he cut in, smiling.
And Okwuchi then left the room feeling dejected..
Ndubuisi meant no harm, he was only being sincere, but Okwuchi misunderstood his kind actions.
“Once again, I’m being rejected by my son. I can no longer serve him food and watch him while he eat. Look at Ogechi, a girl I thought that will be nobody is now gradually taking my place in my son’s life. And from the way things are going, he might take her to the city with him……and I will end up loosing him forever, she won’t allow him visit me in the village anymore. He is doing everything she ask him now and I’m sure she is the one who made him say all these things to me. She is turning my son against me. Ogechi, I have clearly understood who you are and the stuff you are made off. But just watch and see how I will make my son detest you his entire life. Just watch and see. I will destroy every chances of him taking you to the city with him.”
While she was still nurturing her anger, she heard Ogechi’s voice and that of Ndubuisi laughing out loudly…
And that pained her the more.
“Just look at? I have always sat beside my son, enjoying his praises whenever he is eating my food, and now Ogechi is enjoying it all. Not to worry, I know what to do now. I will make her prepare another food this night and then sabotaged it like I did the previous one, let me see how Ndubuisi will enjoy the food with her by her side laughing out like that” she said and then hissed angrily.
To be continued…
Yes, the next episode will be in the evening….
The writer of Mama Why? is Authoress Ngozi Lovelyn O.
Warning: “No part of this work should be copied, use, reproduce, redistribute either electronically or manually without prior permission from the writer.
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