Enjoy the 5^th Episode of The Poisoned Chalice written by Tope Bolade-Akinbode

Click HERE for previous episodes of The Poisoned Chalice

Doyin sat down in her car after her quick dash from the hospital bed, her hands gripping the wheel so tight, her fingers became numb after a while. She was however oblivious to the numbness. It was nothing compared to the threat that loomed over her marriage and threatened to destroy it. Even though her heart beat violently in her chest, Doyin told herself to calm down. If she was going to get through this, she had to be calculated and be completely unemotional. Yes, she wanted this baby but she also knew she wasn’t willing to lose her husband. She could not bear to lose him; not bear to have Hassan look at her with such hatred. Tears fell unbidden down her cheeks as the thought assailed her but she wiped it away in exasperation. Tears were not going to solve her problem. She needed a plan; no, she had a plan, she just had to go through with it. Dr Gilbert would forgive her irrational behavior and go ahead with the abortion. All she had to do was open the door to her car, get down and walk back in. She looked at the entrance of the hospital, willing herself to do the needful

*********************

“Don’t mess with me Lawson,” Ada retorted harshly becoming upset. “I still have your balls in my hands and I can crush them if I want to. Don’t forget that! What did the freaking test say?”

“The baby is AA”

Ada’s heart rate increased as she asked the next question. “And what did you tell her?” she asked, her voice taking on a somewhat cautious note. Lawson might have decided to be magnanimous towards Doyin and call her bluff

“What do you think I told her? I told her the baby is SS. Is that not what you wanted me to tell her?”

Ada relaxed, glad the jerk was playing ball. “Did she believe you?”

Lawson sighed. He didn’t know why he let himself get involved with the bitch in the first place. This was what happened when a man’s libido controlled him. He tried to keep his voice even and without inflexion as he spoke. “Of course she believed me! But she could have decided to go for a second opinion and since I’m not a fortune teller and I don’t read minds, why not ask her yourself. She would be more open to you than she would be to me.” Bitch, he added but dared not say it loud

Ada disconnected the line without any warning and threw her phone on the bed as she took a swig from the half-finished bottle of brandy on the stool, a wicked satisfied smile formed on her lips. Lawson would be cursing her now for her rude behavior but she didn’t care. He was the least of her problems. Doyin however ranked high. Why hadn’t Doyin come crying to her? The last time they had talked, she had gotten off the phone quickly, saying Hassan had arrived from work and she needed to attend to him. Ada had made several calls and sent messages after that, all unreturned. She didn’t want to be too pushy but as it was, she didn’t have a choice. She was running out of cash quickly and taking crumbs from people like Lawson wasn’t sufficient anymore. Doyin was her cash cow and she would do whatever it took to secure it. She reached for her phone, about to call her when her call came in. Ada smiled in triumph as she picked.

“Hey Doyin, what’s up?”

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She couldn’t believe she had done it! She’d removed the life she and Hassan had created together.

It had been painful!

It had been difficult!

It had been necessary!

And Ada had held her hand through it all, encouraging her, telling her it would be alright.  She wouldn’t have been able to go through with it without her.

Now what was left was to look her husband in the eye and lie to him… again!

**********************

Doyin lay on the bed, sobbing softly, her heart heavy with grief while Ada lay behind her, her arms around her waist.

“It’s okay,” Ada murmured against her ear, kissing her temple

Doyin shook her head in disagreement. “It’s not! It’s not okay.” She sat up and looked Ada in the eye, her face tear-streaked “I don’t know what I’m going to say to Hassan when he returns from his trip. I don’t know how I’m going to look him in the eye and pretend everything is okay.” She began to sob again and Ada held her in her arms, rubbing her back comfortingly

“I keep lying to him and it’s tearing me apart. You should have heard how worried he was when I told him I miscarried. He said he’s cutting his trip short and coming home immediately to make sure I was okay. Imagine what he would do if he found out I aborted his baby!”

“Stop torturing yourself!”

“I can’t help it Ada! Hassan is a great guy and I’m… I’m… Oh, I don’t know what I’m doing!” She broke down again, sobbing

Ada held her in her arm, watching her as she sobbed “Maybe you should tell him the truth,” She finally said.

Doyin removed herself from Ada’s embrace to stare into her eye. “What truth?”

“The whole truth!”

Doyin’s expression became a mixture of shock and horror. “Are you crazy?! If I tell him the truth, that is the end of my marriage! Hassan will throw me out without a second thought!”

“But you will be happy! You’ve been a wreck since you found out you were pregnant and now that you’ve gotten rid of the pregnancy, you are still a wreck!”

“Because I lied!  I lied to him from the beginning and I shouldn’t have done that but I couldn’t bear the thought of losing him so I lied!” She stopped talking, shaking her head at herself at her deceit

“Then stop lying! Leave him!”

“And do what? I will be miserable”

“You are already miserable Doyin. Leave him…. And we can rekindle what we used to have,” Ada stated softly, looking into her eyes. “What we still have.” Ada leaned towards her and is about to kiss her but Doyin moved her mouth away, getting up from the bed

“No Ada, I can’t! I can’t do this.”

Ada raised her hand in surrender. “Okay, I understand. I can wait. I waited for five years,” she said with a smile.

“Don’t wait!” Doyin retorted, her voice firm. “I can’t do this with you anymore. I won’t! The other day was a total mistake”

A frown formed on Ada’s face as she got to her feet. “It didn’t feel like a mistake”

“Well it is and I don’t know what I was thinking. I’m a married woman now and I shouldn’t be indulging in such stupid things! I was obviously not in the right frame of mind.”

“And you are not in the right frame of mind now! Doyin relax! Stop freaking out because of everything going on! What you and I have is special, not stupid!”

“It is stupid! We were young, silly and experimenting and it has to stop. In fact, it has stopped!”

“Baby you…” Ada stated, trying to reach out to her but is cut short by Doyin’s sharp reprimanding tone

“Don’t touch me!”

Ada stared at her, shocked at her reaction. “Doyin, it’s me cupcake!”

Doyin chuckled but it is filled with sarcasm. If she felt any trace of affection for the lady standing before her at one time, her expression was devoid of it. Now all it showed was disgust and irritation

“I think it’s time you leave. My husband would be home any minute and I’d hate for him to meet you here.”

Ada held her gaze, telling herself it wasn’t possible yet the reality stared her in the face. Without saying anything, she picked her thing and walked out. She was going to give Doyin time to come to her senses but if she did not, if she really meant what she said, then she had something else coming. If Doyin thought she was going to live a fairy tale life of red roses and white wine, she was fooling herself because Ada intended to plant lots of thorns in her fairy tale garden.

And so she did!

After two weeks of trying to get in touch with Doyin to no avail, Ada decided to set her plan in motion. Doyin might decide to ignore her on all social media platforms, refusing to pick her calls or respond to her messages but she wouldn’t shun her so easily physically. Wearing her most scandalous outfit, she sprayed some perfume on and walked out of her hotel room, a wicked smile on her face.

**********************

Doyin sat in the living room, watching a program on TV. Life had sort of returned to normal except the constant ache and guilt she carried around in her heart. Sometimes, she felt as if she wore it so visibly and wondered how Hassan could miss it. In all fairness, he knew something troubled her but he attributed it to the loss of their child and was doing everything he could to make sure she was comfortable and herself again but she couldn’t be. She was a murderer, a cold-blooded murderer and liar. She didn’t deserve the happiness Hassan was trying so hard to give her. The sound of the doorbell drew her from her dark thoughts and she wiped the tears on her face as she goes to open the door. She stared in shock at Ada who gave her a sultry smile as she walked in.

“What are you doing here?” Doyin whispered harshly. Hassan had just left the living room to retrieve his phone in their bedroom and would be out any minute. She didn’t want him to see Ada.

“What do you think love? I missed you” Ada responded like a lover who had just returned from a trip and was eager to see her soul mate

“Get out!” Doyin stated, irritated

Ada studied her, smiling, then walked towards the door as if she was about to obey but paused before Doyin, giving her a gauging look. “On one condition.”

“What?!”

Ada leaned towards her and kissed her, taking Doyin by surprise. By the time she reacted, it was too late. Hassan was stating at them in shock. Doyin was too dumbfounded to speak. Ada turned to him,that wicked smile back on her face.

“Hi, my name is Ada, I’m Doyin’s lover.” She stated as if it was the most natural thing in the world then looks to Doyin, a slightly disapproving look on her face, her voice taking on a mocking tone. “You didn’t tell him about us?”

What next?

TOPE BOLADE AKINBODE is an award-winning writer with class. She has written for many popular TV franchise that we know and beautiful feature-length films. She possesses a rare trait as a writer with an out of the box imagery.