Absolute Secrecy | The Ink Well Prompt #32

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John has been working for so long in a company which his pay was nothing to write home about. He was paid meagre money for the kids he is doing. He has no wife and he is of age which got him so worried and also his parents. He is a hard-working man and a man who is filled with respect. The good thing about him is that he respects anyone who comes his way and he is also a brave man. He is illiterate and wanted to go to school by all means. He kept on considering the meagre amount off salary he was collecting and fed up with his life.

John was living in a room and a parlour but decided to shift his luggage to one side of the room and decided to stay in the parlour. He has just a few clothes and to be precise, three shirts and two pairs of trousers. In John's room, there is no carpet and the floor is not tiled. John has a mat that he always sleeps on because it was hard for him to get a foam with the amount he is receiving. He is tired of life but has no choice other than to keep forging ahead until it will be better. He just has faith within him that things shall normalize in due time and in time not far from now.

His mother calls him to come home to choose from the village girls if he can select one out of them, which he did. He saw a girl which he truly liked, but he told his parents who then helped him to proceed to the girl's parents house to ask for her hand in marriage. The parents did not object, because they knew John was coming from the City which they thought had come with lots of money. To people in the village, there is always money in the City. So, they spoke on a date for the marriage where John had to travel back to the City. He was so excited to have carried out a step of getting himself a wife.

One faithful day, the girl called that he was coming to visit him to see what he is doing in the City to which he had granted her permission to come. She came to John's house and saw the opposite of what he thought John was. Without wasting time, she opened up to John that how can she marry a wretched man like John that has only two pots, a stove, a mat and not even a foam, and three shirts and two trousers. It was a hell of begging for John that day. He begged the girl to his last breath that everything would normalise and come back to shape. The girl said not to listen, but instead, took her luggage and went back to the village the next morning.

The whole villagers heard about how John was so wretched and had nothing in his house. The mother whom people were respecting became the talk of the moment. The girl destroyed John's mother's personality in the village and told her friend that she will not marry someone poor just like John.

John on the other hand keep on working hard to make it great in life, but all his efforts kept on moving backwards instead of forward. This was as a result of the school he did not go to. So, in his office, there was a lady who is the secretary to his manager. She is a typist who was so perfect in this job. He told the lady named Mariam to teach him how to type using a typewriter which she accepted. So, Mariam has been teaching him how to type. He was so determined to learn from Mariam since this may be.his breakthrough towards making it in life.

One faithful day, the mother in the village puts a call to him telling him that she has spoken to a lady who has accepted to marry him the way he was. The lady was a hard-working type and the type who can manage when there is nothing. The father of John gave the lady some amount of money which she used to travel to see John in the City. On reaching John's house, what she saw was just too poor, but She just has to manage just because she is the type who does not demand and does not have lots of passion for high things. So, that night she managed with what John was having.

When he went to work, this girl, named Hannah, gave his best to make the house look palatable and also made sure to prepare food in the house with the little she was having. This made John have full faith in her and trusted her to the fullest. Although, he was still having a little doubt on her just like the formal one who only came to mock him. They both lived together happily in one room without commotion.

One faithful day, Mariam, who has been teaching him how to type, was down with sickness when his boss needed someone to help him out in typing shorthand in a meeting he will be going to. The boss was racking his head to invite someone but all effort proved abortive. A worker in the office later told the manager that John can handle the job perfectly, but the manager was shocked to hear that as he only knew John as a cleaner in the office. So, he sent for him and tried him which he did pass the test the boss gave to him. The boss took him along to the meeting and indeed after the meeting, John interpreted the shorthand in English and sent it to his boss. It was a happy day for the boss as he even did better than Mariam. So, his position was elevated as a second secretary to his boss. He was given a car and his salary was increased beyond his imagination. On getting him, he still pretended to be poor without revealing all the good news to Hannah.

They were leaving happily, but with John keeping secrets. He later went. for another exam in his working place called promotional exams which he performed brilliantly. His position again was elevated and again kept it as a secret from his wife to be and the one with who they have been living together for two years. He was given a bigger car making two cars and yet refused to tell Hannah about it.

After two years, he arranged for Hannah's full marriage ceremony. This time, John told Hannah to be going to the village to prepare all things before his arrival, which she did as instructed. On D-Day, when the ceremony was on, John began to spend money like never before. Hannah was surprised after seeing John spending money like never before. It was like a shock to her and then she kept on reminding her husband about the way he was spending the money and also asking him where he got the money from. John lied to her by telling her he got the money from his working place.

When they got to the City, John had already packed the two cars in the compound before he travelled to the village for the marriage ceremony. So, when they were black from the village, the wife, Hannah, asked him to tell her the truth about the money he was spending. To her surprise, John lied again saying that the money was given to him from his working place. It was so serious that the woman got frustrated. After some hours of returning, the man took her to the eatery, but to the wife's surprise, John opened the vehicle door for her to enter. This kept on making her have a second thought whether to quit the marriage or to remain. She said to herself that this is a read of choices and indeed she concluded to quit the marriage as she can't live under the roof of someone who is not trustworthy. In the eatery they went to, she was unable to eat, but the man was eating comfortably.

When they got home, she asked him to tell her everything about his sudden wealth. The husband, John, quickly called his relatives who were close to him to his house. He later opened up by telling her everything about his wealth starting from the beginning and the reason he decided to hide it. While pouring out his mind, he was crying bitterly and concluded to never hide anything from her and never again. So, after revealing the secrets, she told the husband that she has decided to leave the marriage for good instead of living on lies. So, their family members kept on pleading including the husband, John. Finally, she accepted to stay as his wife forever, but without lies.

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