The
atmosphere was tense. Silence enveloped the living room. Herbert did not know
what to tell his wife. Agnes stared at him with a cell phone dangling in her
hand.
“Please
I don’t understand the meaning of this text message. Did you kill her husband?”
she finally asked.
Herbert did not believe Daniella carried out her
threat. How would he explain to Agnes that he didn’t have a hand in Daniel’s
death? How would he make his wife realise he was pushed into this illicit
relationship that was about to shatter his life into pieces?
Daniella was his secretary/personal
assistant and she had worked with him for over eleven years. He knew her before
he met Agnes. Then, Daniella was working as a clerk in his friend’s non-profit
organisation. When his friend relocated abroad, he asked Herbert to employ her
and he agreed because she was a polite and hardworking girl.
Initially, there was no romance— it was
just boss/subordinate relationship. After two years, Herbert got a contract
which changed the fortune of his company. He employed more hands and appointed
Daniella as his personal assistant. Gradually, the duo became very close and a
relationship ensued. But there was a snag— Daniella was dating Daniel, a young
man she met while growing up in the village.
By the time he graduated and got a job, he
asked for her hands in marriage. She almost refused him because of Herbert but
her father threatened to disown her if she did not marry his late friend’s son.
She married him but her heart was with Herbert.
Ironically, Herbert encouraged her to
marry Daniel with a promise that he would not dump her for any woman. He kept
to his words and still dated her even as a married woman! She also lapped up
the love. Daniel was just a figurehead, who her father wanted. They had three
boys and Daniel never had an inkling his wife was sleeping with her boss. He
kept telling everyone that his wife had the best boss in the world. Why
wouldn’t he anyway? Daniella was getting thrice her husband’s income and she
could afford many luxuries including choice cars and houses.
She called the shots in the office and all
the best accounts and clients came through her connections. Herbert could not
call it quits either because he was afraid to lose her contacts, which brought
fortune to his company.
After five years, he decided getting
married to Agnes, a young graduate. Agnes was introduced to him by his brother.
When he told Daniella about this girl, she disagreed with him. To her, a wife
in his life would cause a friction in their relationship. He assured her of his
love. He said he needed a figurehead to act as his wife, just as Daniel was her
husband.
He married Agnes and they also have three
children. For the five years they were married, Agnes never knew what was happening
between her husband and his personal assistant, who her husband eulogised as
the hand behind the fortune of the company.
All
went well until Daniel became ill. He was
diagnosed as having cancer of the blood. It was a trying time for Daniella, who
felt her husband’s illness kept her more at home instead of the office. They
travelled abroad for medical treatment but the doctors said Daniel had six
months to live!
Six months? It was a piece of bittersweet
news to her. First, she felt bad because Daniel was a nice man and had helped
with raising their three boys. He was a perfect father. On the other hand, she
was glad because this meant having more time to be with Herbert.
But Daniel died three months after. Maybe
he could have lived longer, who knows? A week before his death, he caught his
wife and her boss making love in their matrimonial bed! Herbert had visited
them but a nurse was attending to Daniel in another room. The nurse came to
inform them that he had slept and the duo quickly seized that opportunity to
have sex. He came to ask his wife for his pajama when he saw them. He refused
taking his drugs and sacked the nurse. He was said to have poisoned himself and
died a week after.
Now, a widow, she wanted Herbert to
herself. Her calculation was simple: Herbert should poison Agnes after which
they would both get married. Herbert was shocked at his lover’s meanness and
scolded her. Agnes was the mother of his children and he would never do such.
“If
my husband died because he saw us together, nothing stops me from killing your
wife too,” she told him. Daniella threatened Herbert with everything but he
never bulged.
So, she sent a text message to Agnes. Her
story was short: Herbert was her lover, fathered her three children, killed her
husband and wanted to kill his wife too. They planned getting married after
Agnes’s death!
As Herbert returned from work, his wife
showed him the message and he was lost for words. How would he tell his wife
all that happened? Even if Daniella had told a lie to his wife, how would he
sieve the truth from it?
Note: This is a love story and all names and events are fictitious
