Amina had always been told from a very young age that marriage required patience and was built on the foundation of trust. Back when she was in university when her friends complained endlessly about cheating boyfriends and dishonest men, she used to pride herself on the kind of husband she was going to have and when she eventually married Tunde, it felt like she had hit the jackpot. Tunde was calm, responsible and hardworking. He paid bills without reminders, rarely ever raised his voice, and always spoke about “building a future together.” In a country where many marriages seemed to collapse under the weight of hardship and infidelity, Amina genuinely believed she had found one of the good ones, Tunde was the exception.
They had been married for nine years and lived comfortably in Abuja, though Tunde’s work constantly took him out of town. He worked as a “business consultant,” at least that was the title he always used. Some weeks it was Port Harcourt, sometimes Kano, Enugu or Lagos. The travelling became so regular that Amina eventually stopped questioning it, she just took it as part of the job. In fact, she adjusted her life around his absences. Whenever he travelled, she simply focused on work, and taking care of their home until he returned and whenever he came back, he always came bearing gifts.
Sometimes it was expensive perfume from the airport shops, other times Ankara from Lagos markets or pastries from places she had never heard of. He always looked tired after these trips and Amina never wanted to bother him and let him rest. That Saturday afternoon had started normally, . NEPA had taken light since morning, so the standing fan in the sitting room was lifeless and the house felt unbearably warm. Tunde had travelled three days earlier for what he described as an important business meeting in Kano and as Amina dusted the bookshelf in his study, an old receipt slipped from inside one of the books and landed near her feet. Normally she would have ignored it or even swept it into the trash bin but something about it caught her attention immediately.
It was from a laboratory in Lagos and she was surprised. Lagos? She said looking puzzled. She picked it up slowly and read the faded print carefully, the receipt read “DNA PATERNITY TEST PAYMENT CONFIRMED”. Her chest tightened instantly and began beating fast. The date on the receipt matched the exact week Tunde had supposedly travelled to Kaduna for a conference eight months earlier.
For a few seconds, she simply stared at the paper in confusion and she started creating excuses for herself and for him, even before asking him about it, maybe it belonged to somebody else, maybe it was work related or maybe there was some explanation that made sense. When Tunde returned two days later, she waited till after dinner before bringing it up casually.
“What’s this?” she asked, sliding the receipt across the dining table. Tunde’s face changed, he almost choked on the food he was eating. It was quick, almost unnoticeable but she saw it clearly and it was Fear. Then almost immediately, he chuckled lightly and leaned back in his chair. “Oh, that thing? One of my clients asked me to help pay because his ATM card was having issues.” Amina nodded slowly and said “Okay” but the seed of doubt had already been sown in her. The explanation sounded convenient, almost too convenient and after he said it he quickly folded the receipt and slipped it into his pocket.
That night while he slept beside her, snoring softly under the hum of the ceiling fan, Amina could not sleep. Around 1 a.m, she got out of bed and entered his study, she did not even know exactly what she was searching for. Inside a tiny compartment were dozens of tiny folded receipts, all from Lagos. Amina sat on the tiled floor in complete silence as she arranged them carefully according to dates an she noticed a pattern that every single one of Tunde’s “business trips” somehow connected back to Lagos.
Whenever he claimed he was in Enugu, there were receipts from Lekki in Lagos, whenever he said Kano, there were fuel receipts from Surulere, also in Lagos. Amina could not keep lying to herself and she came to the conclusion that her husband had been living another life. For days after that, Amina investigated quietly without confronting him. She checked old bank alerts, searched through emails, and even called one of the hotels whose name appeared repeatedly on the receipts.
The receptionist answered casually, after asking some questions, “Oh yes sir, Mr Tunde. He’s one of our regular customers.” The words made her chest ache, but the final confirmation came two weeks later. Tunde claimed he was travelling to Uyo for a corporate retreat and instead of questioning him, Amina booked a flight to Lagos herself the following morning. The address she found on one delivery receipt led her to a quiet estate in Lekki. She sat inside the taxi outside the compound for several minutes, struggling to calm the violent beating in her chest.
Then she saw him, she saw her husband and not in office clothes, looking relaxed and so happy, beside him was a woman, she had rushed to meet him at the car and also a baby girl, wearing a ben 10 shirt. The girl suddenly shouted, “Daddy, carry me!”
Amina started crying. Tunde lifted the girl effortlessly into his arms and kissed her forehead naturally, like a man who had done it a thousand times before. In that moment, every receipt suddenly made sense. The supermarket purchases, pharmacy receipts, the toys recipts and even the DNA test. This was an entire family. For almost a decade she had shared her life with a man who travelled regularly to another woman and another child while still returning home to sleep peacefully beside her every night.
She returned to Abuja the next morning without speaking to him, for nearly two weeks she watched him behave normally around the house. Complaining about fuel scarcity, asking what was for dinner and the situation in Ukraine and all, the audacity almost frightened her.
Then one evening while he packed his clothes for yet another “business trip,” Amina finally spoke and said. “How is your daughter?” Tunde froze immediately, for the first time in their marriage, Amina saw a man completely stripped of excuses. At first he denied it, then he blamed loneliness, he blamed their childlessness, he blamed it on the devil. Amina didn’t say a word after, she just packed her bags and left, cos she knew she deserved better.
The Images are A.I generated
