Serena turned over in bed. She had been doing that for a while, no matter how much she tried, she just couldn’t sleep. She looked longingly at the figure snoring slightly beside her then she looked away again. How could he be able to sleep with no care when she was on fire here? She wanted to resent him sometimes but then she couldn’t because he was her love. They have known each other forever and he had kept his promise and married her. They have a house of their own that was a joint gift from their parents and he was an ideal husband.
All she had to do was learn to be an ideal wife, which she seemed to be finding difficulties with. An ideal wife didn’t work when her husband and family told her that was the right thing to do but Serena had found that difficult to accept. What on earth had she slaved through school for? She had felt betrayed too that Mathew had waited till after their wedding to tell her that he did not want his wife to work, he would want her to be a full housewife just like his mother. Just like her mother. Serena could still remember how unhappy she had been and she had fought him then with bitter words; words she couldn’t believe were being uttered by her. The way Mathew's eyes had widened then also indicated that he was shocked too.
She calmed down immediately after she saw that look, she didn’t want to shock her husband, she wanted to be a good wife just like her mother was.
Mathew heaved a sigh when he saw that her tirade was over and he touched her shoulder slightly “I do not want to fight with you, Serena. I know you are still upset right now but you will soon find out that it is for the best. We are not lacking anything, are we? My job as a marketer is going fine, the salary is good and I might even get promoted very soon. We have this house and we do not have to spend much on food or anything, what else do you need to work for when I can take good care of the family? You just need to take care of the house and the children we will have soon. That is not too much to ask, is it?” he asked in the reasonable tone of his that had been one of the things she loved about him, his maturity when most of their mates in school had been so immature.
Mathew had been so stable and reliable, she never had to worry about a cheating partner like most of her friends, her roommate turned best friend had gone through different heartbreaks. Amara fell in love so frequently that Serena had no idea how that could happen and she fell out of it just as fast. It had always been the guy’s fault. Nope, never Amara’s. She would swear off love, promise herself never to fall in love ever again and damn all guys to hell and back while eating her signature ice cream. All the angst would be forgotten in a snap when next she saw another guy and she was singing “I am in love” all over their dorm.
Serena had never had to deal with all of those dramas with Mathew, he was the ideal boyfriend that any girl could ask for, any girl but Amara that had always called him “too boring” to say the least but when next she got jilted, she would be the first person to point him out as a good model for boyfriends. Serena felt she was lucky to have such a mature boyfriend but she soon realised that mature might not be what she wanted after all, at least not such constant maturity as that of Mathew. Now he could stand in front of her to tell her that she shouldn’t work? He thought she was just upset? She wanted to scream at him, yell and throw things. She wanted to ask him just how he would feel if he was asked to drop all his qualifications and dreams just so he could be a househusband. She knew what his answer would be, of course, he would look at her like she had lost her mind. That had never been heard of. So she calmed herself and recited the mantras that came more easily to her these days. The “A good wife shouldn’t” mantra. This time it was “a good wife shouldn’t raise her voice at her husband”.
“Mathew” she had stated calmly, as calmly as she could manage with her boiling temper, who knew she had such a temper “I went to school to study just as you did. I wanted to have a career. I didn’t work so hard for almost five years to be a certified nurse just so I could come home and be a housewife. I can be a housewife and still do my practice. I want to be able to practise. I want to be able to help people. I am good at this and…”
Mathew raised his hand at this point “And you would help when we have our kids which will be soon if you agree to be reasonable and stayed at home to raise our family; you will have enough nursing to do. I won’t have to come back home to an empty house while our children would be left with a babysitter just because you wanted to practise!” he said with a snap in his tone.
Serena couldn’t keep it in again so she asked “Would you do the same?”
He looked at her incomprehensibly, “Would I do what same?”
Serena knew she should stop yet she voiced it anyway “Can you leave your job and be a stay-at-home husband while I go out to work? Since you are so concerned about the children that we do not have yet. Would you do that?” she asked him with her hands on her waist as her anger unravelled.
He looked at her just as she had expected “Are you crazy? That is unheard of. I am the husband and I am supposed to work for the family and your work as the wife should be to take care of the house and our kids. My father…”
“With due respect, I do not want to hear about your father right now nor do I want to know how he is that patriarch of the family. What a backward way of thinking. Fuck you!” there she said it. She was shocked at herself as she raised her voice and the word she thought she would never utter to him came. Shocked she was and she could see in his reaction that he was not expecting such a thing as well, yet she repeated it. “Yes, fuck you! You…you stupid man” she said before she stormed out of their flat in anger.
Serena decided to stay away for a while when she saw that he did not bother to come after her even though she sat on their porch for a while. She wouldn’t go back. No, she wouldn’t go back inside to beg him. She was not wrong. She deserved to live her own life too even though she was married right? He was the selfish one. Serena thought to herself over and over again as she trekked to her mother’s place that evening. “Mother should be able to talk some sense into him. Or at least talk to his parents so they could talk some sense into him. How I wished dad was still alive?” she thought on her way to her mother’s place. Her dad had been her best friend before she met Amara in college. He was her confidante, she loved her mum of course but her dad had been the person she always waited for on their porch to come home. She would squeal and jump as he parked his car before she launched herself on him the moment he got out. He was the one that taught her a lot of things even when her moth
The day she had received a call from one of the hospitals; a reputable private practice was the same day Mathew’s mum had invited them for an impromptu dinner. She was amazed when she met most of his family there and her mother. Mathew came from a large family, unlike Serena who was an only child. The dinner had started on a good note even as she was filled with unease that the dinner would not just be a simple one. She had been proven right when one of Mathew’s nieces ran to her to admire her palazzo pants. “I can see that children love Mathew’s wife” the mother of the child had said promptly. “That is true” one of his aunts added “that must mean that she would soon be giving birth to her children too” “Are you sure about that? Mathew’s wife is a certified nurse, you know. I believe that women like that do not like to start their families early. Career women” someone else had said as if Serena herself was not in their midst. “Serena is not like that, you know” her mother-in-law
Serena looked at Mathew as he sat up in bed, grumbling about someone waking him up at this ungodly hour when he had a lot to do at the office in the morning. She was about to say she was sorry again when he looked at her like she was a nuisance and said “That is childish, Serena and I have told you before. I don’t expect you to keep making me repeat one thing over and over like you are a kid, you know” Serena was not so taken aback by his words. He could be grumpy when one disturbed his sleep and she had done so because she knew if she lost her courage now, she might not be able to do it again later. Not that he would patiently listen to her anyway. Now was the right time. “I am sorry,” she said softly. Mathew sighed and looked at her face “It is not as if I want to complain or anything. It is just I have work to do. I understand that you might not get that since you are only at home and all but I have to work. I have to fight for my promotion and that means I have to have enough re
The shocked look on Mathew’s face made Serena feel like she had just told him to kill his cat. “Well, that could never be the case as he already deemed having a pet as undignified,” she thought hysterically as she waited in bated breath for what he would say when he stood up slowly to face her. “Are you crazy? I am sorry about my language but I would never have expected such a talk from you. You spoke like a dirty woman!” he exclaimed. Serena forgot her apprehension as she narrowed her eyes at him “Excuse me?” “I do not want to say it, you know I wouldn’t disrespect you,” Mathew said as he rubbed his hand through his hair then gave her a look that made her uncomfortable “You are..you are talking like a wanton woman, like a loose woman. What has come over you, Serena? I thought you were better than this!” “You did not want to disrespect me, you say? This sound more than any disrespect anybody had ever accorded me recently and believe me, I am getting enough dose of it almost every
“Ser!” Serena looked up in the direction where the sound was coming from. She smiled as she saw Amara running to her as her husband told her to calm down as he tried to catch up with her while holding their toddler. He tried to carry the girl but she cried “Daddy, walk” Bo had no choice but to let her walk as he kept his hand on hers to guide the toddler after her mother who paid her husband no heed as she continued to run toward her friend. A run would have been used liberally in terms of what Amara was doing though. Waddling was more the term. Amara was heavily pregnant. “Sweetheart, Serena is just right there. Take it easy” Bo said exasperated as he looked down at his daughter who had the same temper as her mother and would not take it kindly if he ignored her request and carried her. He really shouldn’t let Amara run. “I will take it easy when I die” Amara called back at him. Serena laughed as she stood up to go meet Amara halfway. She knew her friend wouldn’t trade her husb
“Whew! Finally got rid of the Hovery Lord!” Amara said dramatically as she adjusted the skirt of her gown, settling it around her legs in the shaded part of the park where Bo had insisted they have to sit if she wanted him to leave as his wife had asked. She looked over at Serena when her friend laughed. “What? What is it? Am I wrong? I swear that man hovers around me more than a mother hen would do whenever I am pregnant” she smiled. Serena tried to curb her laughter to reply to her friend with the minimal result “No, no, not that. When you said Hovery Lord it sounded like Ovary Lord” she snorted again. Amara was confused “Of course, that was what I me…oh” Her eyes widened and she laughed when she realised what her friend was talking about “You meant O-va-ry, whoever made up these words must be a rogue” then her smile turned lascivious as she patted her stomach and gave her friend a sideways look “Well, he is lord of that too. Hello? Proof right here” she smacked her lips. Serena
“To see your face of course. Do you see how beautiful you are? You are a damn gorgeous woman, sexy in fact. You know I would kill to have amazing hair like yours. Instead, all I have is this mop of dishwater hair” Amara said as she picked up a handful of her hair for emphasis. “You know your hair looked amazing. You are just saying that” Serena said in a miffed tone as she collected her ribbon back. Amara sighed then she smiled “Yes, I admit that. Moreover Bo loves it, his ash blonde hair coupled with mine seems to be what gave Tanya her platinum blond hair. I swear I can already picture how much of a fashion diva that girl will be” Serena tucked her hair beneath her ears and briefly pondered packing her hair up back into a bun “If she ended up as one, she would have gotten it from you. At least the diva part” she said cheekily. “Hey, I can be fashionable too,” Amara said in protest then she grinned as she remembered all her makeover flops in college. Serena had been the one that s
Serena laughed as she remembered how Amara used to talk to her like this when she wanted to get anything out of her. Angrov. It had been a while since anybody called her that. All she heard these days was that she was Jones now. Jones. Jones. Jones. One would have thought she never had an identity before that. She batted her friend’s hand from her face playfully “It is Serena Jones to you now, woman and you had better remember that” “Pfft. I don’t want to” Amara stuck out her tongue to her friend before she turned to face front “Anyways, even if you did not tell me, I can tell that you have not done it in a while, maybe not this month at all” she caught the expression in her friend’s eyes and turned to her sharply “I am right, ain't I? How long? One month? Two months?” Can she really tell? Does it show? Serena thought as she laughed at her friend “I am not discussing my sex life or the lack of it with you, you horny girl” Amara sighed dramatically as she shook her head at Serena “T