RELECTION OF LOVE

**SOURCE: I GENERATED THIS PICTURE FROM CHATGPT

The office portrayed wealth and taste - wall panelled towards mahogany, polished to a subtle shine. A sprawling glass desk was set at the centre, framed by two black top-class visitor's chairs and a massive ergonomic executive seat that looked like it could command a throne room. A dark-skinned young man, in his early 30s, is seen, dressed like a perfect gentleman. Black suit, a sky-blue shirt, a black tie, and a transparent class, which has a blue ray. The guy, Tobi, is seated in the executive seat. His hands were placed on the laptop in front of him. He seems worried as he is going through something on his laptop. His phone keeps ringing even as he is trying to sort out whatever is making him worried. He goes through some files on his desk for a while and shouts.

"Yes!" A shout of relief. He probably must have found what he was looking for. Just as he moved his seat to carefully drop the file in his drawer, his phone rang again.

"Oluwa o! Ki ni isoro wo l'eyi? (Oh God! What kind of problem is this?) She keeps calling me knowing fully well that I'm working here. God, have mercy on me, please." He gently grabs his phone, picks up the call, and puts it on a loudspeaker. He gently moves away from the phone immediately.

"Tobi! Tobi! Se o n fi mi sile mi? (So you are ignoring me?) Tobi, I have called you more than 16 good times, and you refused to pick up the call. Tobi o ni se bi eni pe mi o wa. (You are acting like I don't exist)" She starts crying over the phone.

Tobi shakes his head. "Damilola, stop talking this way, please. You know that I am working. Your calls are distracting me. They are making me not concentrate and work. How am I supposed to provide money for us if I don't work?"

Damilola brings down her voice. "It is obvious that you are seeing another woman."

Tobi cuts in immediately, "What? Dami?"

"Don't Dami me. You were avoiding my calls because you don't want her to know that you have a woman in your life." She starts crying again and ends the call.

Tobi released a heavy sigh. He relaxes in his seat.

"I don't just know why she always feels insecure. I don't know what has come over Damilola."

SOURCE: GENERATED FROM CHATGPT

In a different office, which has the same setting as Tobi's. The only difference is the person managing this particular office. A light-skinned guy, in his early 30s, as well. His name is Chukwuemeka, and he is dressed in the same attire as Tobi. He is seen going through some files on his desk but suddenly drops them and picks up his phone. He stares at his phone for a couple of seconds before he dials a number and keeps his phone on his desk.

He lowers his voice as low as he can while speaking. "Onyinyechi, why are you making me feel like a single man? Why do you keep repeating the same thing I complain about every single day?"

"I don't understand. What did I do this time?"

Chukwuemeka raised his voice a bit, "Onyinyechi, don't play dumb with me!"

He remembers himself and brings down his voice again. "I have not been home for the past three days. My wife never called me on the phone to know the reason. You didn't see your husband at home for the complete three days, yet you are not bothered. You don't call me on the phone unless I call you myself. You don't message me on WhatsApp unless I message you first. But you post on your status, you chill with your friends, you do this and that. What is your problem?"

"Baby, why are you talking this way? I know that you are at work, and I am aware that work could keep you away from home. What is the essence of calling you, I don't want to be a distraction to you."

Chukwuemeka ends the call, hisses, and bends his head on his desk.

In another office, designed and arranged like every other office. A dark-skinned young man in his late 20s, Donald, dressed like his other colleagues. His phone is already placed close to his ear to hear what the caller is saying clearly.

"Send me 5 million now." Tamara (His wife) said immediately Donald picked up the call.

"Tamara, I am your husband and not your slave. You only remember me when you need money. You starve me of love and affection. You don't care how I am or how my work is going, you just call to ask for money!"

She laughs. "You will be careful, young man. The same job you are talking about is in my father's company. Your position as the assistant manager is because of me. I have every single right to ask for my father's money! Send me 5 million, or consider yourself fired!" She hangs up.

"What sort of nonsense is this? Tamara?"

He hears a knock on the door.

"Who is it? Come in."

Tobi walks in gently. "My guy."

Donald looks at his wall clock. "Oh, it is twelve already? Break time."

Tobi smiles and sits in one of the visitor's chairs. He notices Donald's facial expression.

"You're not looking bright, my guy."

Donald stares at him.

"Wait, let me guess. Your wife?"

"Who else?" Donald says reluctantly.

"You know, it is funny. I came to talk to you about my wife. Now, it is obvious that you also have a problem to settle with yours."

Another knock comes on the door.

"Come in," Donald says quickly.

Chukwuemeka walks in, his face looking very sad.

Donald and Tobi stare at him as he quietly sits at the other visitor's seat.

"What's wrong?" Donald and Tobi say in unison. They looked at each other.

"Your wife?" They say in unison again.

Chukwuemeka sighs. "You guys should let me be, please."

Tobi laughs, "What is wrong with this one? You should have stayed in your office since you want privacy."

Donald smiles, "My guy, Tobi and I were just about to lift our problems when you walked in."

Chukwuemeka lifts his face now.

"You guys don't understand. I don't feel my wife. She doesn't value me as her husband. Can you guys imagine the fact that I beg my wife for love and affection?"

Tobi shakes his head. "My brother, mine is the opposite. My wife is overprotective. She is too affectionate. She doesn't let me rest. She calls me every single minute. And when I don't pick, she will cry all day saying that I am cheating on her with another woman."

Donald removes his glasses. "I wish what you guys just said now is what I am facing. My wife's father put me in this position. He helped me get my stance as a man. But my wife? She throws insults at me every single day. She always tells me how I was a poor guy who her father helped. She only calls me on the phone to ask for money, every day."

Tobi shakes his head again. "You know, we would always come to your office to share our burdens. But I think it is time we lift this burden off our shoulders for good. I came up with an idea when I ended the call with my wife. Let's go home, look at our wives at their faces and tackle our issues once and for all. And we tell them that are done living with them that way. Let's see their reaction and know the next thing to do."

Chukwuemeka nods his head. "Supported!"

Donald thinks a bit. "I already have an investment that would sustain me if my wife's father decided to throw me out of the company. Alright, let's do it!"

The three of them leave the office to their respective houses.

Donald got to his house first. His wife is in the living room watching a movie with some refreshments in front of her. She sees him and turns.

"When did you start coming home this early?"

Donald ignores her and gently goes to the seat in front of her and sits down. He drops his suit beside him and starts his speech.

"I will make this quick and clear. Tamara, I am your husband. I have loved you from the day I set my eyes on you. And ever since then, all I keep doing is to love you, to cherish you and to make you know how much you mean to me. But what do you do? You treat me like someone who means nothing to you. Tamara ever since we got married, you've been rubbing my former state at my face. You tell me how poor I was, how your father helped me and how you picked me from the gutters. Why did you choose me when all you wanted was to treat me like a servant."

At this point, Tamara notices his level of seriousness. He has never spoken to her this way.

"Thanks to you and your family. You guys made me who I am today. But I can't keep staying in this union. You don't respect me, you don't regard me, you don't honour me simply because I work under the glory of your father. "

Tamara's facial expression changes now. She starts feeling remorseful over her actions.

"Tamara, I am done. I had already submitted my resignation later to your father's assistant. You can have your house like you say. You can have your money. I called the account manager and asked him to transfer all the money in the joint account to you. Have them, all of them. I'd leave at sunfall."

Donald stands up to leave, but Tamra rushes immediately and stops him. She knelt on him.

"Baby, please don't do it. Baby, I am very sorry." She holds him at his legs.

"Donald, please, I am so sorry. I have been stupid, I have been everything but please, don't go."

"Why Tamara? Why have you been treating me this way?"

Tamara explained herself to him. Tells him how her sister's ex-husband treated her sister when she was married to him because of money. She never wanted her husband to treat him that way or make her feel less of herself, so she used that method to be on the safe side.

"Stand up," Donald says to Tamara. He looks her in the eye, "Tamara, I love you. I love you so much that I can't see myself doing anything bad to you. I want you to be my wife just like you were once my girlfriend. I will never hurt you. Did you hear that?"

Tamara nods her head crying.

"Come here." He hugs her.

Chukwuemeka had already gotten home. He went to the kitchen, cooked some noodles and ate it quickly to gain strength for what he was going to do. His wife, Onyinyechi came back afterwards when he was resting in the bedroom.

"Baby? You're home early." She says immediately she sees him.

"Where are you coming from?"

She looks away, "From a friend's."

He stands up and goes close to her.

"Onyinyechi, you used to be a loving and caring woman before I got married to you. You suddenly changed into this woman who I am not sure I have met before. I have asked you severally why you keep doing this but you give me unreasonable excuses. I don't want to talk much, it is obvious that you don't want to be in this marriage anymore. So I will give you what you want. Barrister Samuel will deliver the divorce papers to you this evening, do well to sign them." He turns to leave.

Onyinyechi turns to him, shocked and confused at the same time. She never expected that.

"Baby?" She gently grows infant tears.

Chukwuemeka turns to her, "Yes?"

She shakes her head. "Baby it hasn't gotten to this. I was going to apologise to you this evening."

"Oh, I am sorry. It is too late. I have already made up my mind."

"Baby, come on. I was just doing this to see if you would change." She starts crying.

Chukwuemeka pauses for some seconds before speaking gently. "Change? I don't understand?"

Onyinyechi wipes her tears and puts her arms around her body. "I saw a message from one Judith professing love to you."

"What?" Chukwuemeka goes close to her. "So you were thinking that I am cheating on you? Come on, Onyinyechi. That was a lady from the office who had been forcing herself on me. I had blocked her on several occasions but she kept on coming. I even reported her to the admin board and she was fired because of that. You should have asked me."

She turns to him now. "Baby, I'm sorry. I never knew you had nothing to do with her. I felt hurt and betrayed seeing that message. It reminded me of how my dad used to cheat on my mum. I'm sorry."

"You need to understand that I made a vow to you at the altar, and I can never break that vow. I want my wife back."

She hugs him. "I'm back, baby."

Tobi gets home to meet his wife crying in their bedroom. He rushes quickly to her.

"Baby, hey"

She pushes him away. "Leave me alone! Go back to your secret lover."

"Dami, why are you behaving like this? I have told you time without number that I am only with one woman, and that woman is you."

Damilola raises her voice now. "So why do you ignore my calls when I call?"

Tobi attacks the line immediately, "Because I am working?! I am working to provide for you and me! How can you be my wife and you won't even trust me? You keep calling me a cheat every single day!"

Damilola was shocked, she hadn't seen him in such a manner before.

"You know what? I am tired. Yes! I am tired of trying to prove my commitment to you. Maybe you want a husband who would be home with you every day and the person can never be me. Since you don't trust me, then we can't work anymore. I'm done!"

"Tobi? Hey! Calm down."

Tobi shakes his head. "No Dami, I won't. You have tortured me enough."

"Ah, Tobi you know I don't mean it that way."

"I don't know how you mean it." Tobi cuts in.

Damilola goes close to him now to plead with him.

"My Tobi, don't be angry, please. You know why I am this way now. I still let that day I saw that lady kiss you run through my mind every day. I'm sorry. I am very sorry. I should have put it aside knowing that you can't hurt me. Please, my king, forgive me."

Tobi turns to her. "Dami, my angel. I regret that singular act till today. And I meant every word I said to you that day. I can never cheat on you again, not in this world. Stop this insecurity, stop thinking about that mistake. Let's put it behind us and live happily. "

He hugs her.

The three families connected afterwards and had a good time.

The end.

Thank you for reading