Another man ?

The following day, Malik woke up feeling tired but happy and gleeful. The night had been an eventful one as Joyce, his wife had insisted he ate again after eating his favorite food she prepared for him. Therefore, he ate twice- both literally and figuratively.

So, he was satisfyingly tired the following morning!

"How's the food, my love?" Joyce inquired from her husband. At that period, they were at the dinning hall eating breakfast. Her husband had just joined them at the table and had only taken a spoonful of the meal in his mouth.

"Delicious, at usual!" Malik said and swallowed the fried egg he had taken with a sizable cut of yam in his mouth, with difficulty, and didn't bother to chew it at all.

The meal was salty. And there were tiny egg shells in it in the fried eggs.

That wasn't a surprise for him, though. It wasn't the first time nor the second or third time. It was actually a normal thing for his wife whenever she cooked. If the meal wasn't salty, it'd be too spicy, or too sweet or sour. Something bad just had to happen to the meal.

She couldn't cook well and she wasn't ready to learn. She hadn't even accepted that she couldn't cook well.

But he had never complained for once in their whole one year of marriage, in order not to sound like an ingrate who couldn't appreciate the efforts she made in the kitchen and upset her.

He had decided to accept it as her weakness, and would always find time to cook for the family whenever he wanted to enjoy his meal.

"The yam is very soft like you use to prefer, right? I intentionally allowed it to boil well till it became really soft like that. It was exhausting and time consuming but I cared not, because my beloved deserves utmost satisfaction in every thing. You're one of a kind and I treasure you forever, my beloved." Joyce maintained, flashing her white teeth at him, excitedly.

"Thank you, my wife." Malik said to her and forced a bright smile in response.

"And did you notice the pepper in the fried eggs, it's so moderate. I measured it well before grinding. I grinded it roughly so you can enjoy it so well." She added sweetly.

"Ehn... oh, yeah! Yeah, perfect!" He drew out his response slowly.

Joyce smiled brightly at him. Then her phone beeped and she took it to check the message she just received.

"Please, just leave me alone, ha!" She muttered to the phone.

Malik simply kept on forcing the food down his throat, praying for it to just go down in peace and finish on time so he could stand up and go to work, therefore he wasn't concerned about what Joyce was checking on her phone.

From the corner of her left eye, she checked whether or not her husband was looking at her. When she realized he wasn't looking at her, she dropped her phone on the table roughly, making a sound.

The sound drew Malik's attention to her and the latter looked at her, with questioning eyes.

"There's nothing else I can do o. I have tried." She said to her phone again.

Malik who had been looking for a reason to stop eating, slowly stopped and stared at her.

"What's going on?" He inquired.

"It's my sister, the one in the university. She asked me to send a certain amount of money to her. I sent her part of it and she has been disturbing me for the remaining. And I don't have the money now." She explained to him.

Malik stood up, ready to leave the house.

"How much is the remaining amount? And why didn't you tell me about it?" He asked her, relaxedly.

"It's ₦100, 000. And I didn't tell you because I don't want to bother you with my family's needs. I want to be sorting that out with the allowance I get from you." She replied him.

He sighed.

"So, when the allowance finishes, your needs would be on hold? C'mon, babe, you know I don't want that for you. Anyways, I'm going to send ₦200, 000 to your account when I get to the office as I'm late now, use it to take care of your needs." He informed her.

Joyce was all smiles. She jumped out of her seat and hugged him tightly.

"Thanks my love. You will never lack." She appreciated him.

"Amin. It's okay, dear. Take care of you and our baby." Malik said and placed a chaste kiss on Fara's forehead, then went out.

Joyce couldn't stop herself from grinning from ear to ear. She was so happy.

She finished feeding Fara and went to tuck her bed as the baby was feeling sleepy, already. That was the routine, Fara had to sleep after eating.

After petting her to sleep, Joyce left the bedroom and headed for the sitting room. She took her phone, and when she saw that her husband had sent the money he promised, she dialled the number that had been calling her.

"I'm going to send the money to you as soon as I drop this call. I believe ₦100, 000 would be enough for what you said you need to do, right?" She asked the receiver at the other end.

"Yes, baby. That's more than enough, baby. God will keep on blessing you for me. I can't trade you for anything, baby girl. You're all I need in this life and beyond." The baritone at the receiving end said to her.

She smiled.

"I know, right. I'm all you need, of course I know that. What else would you possibly need apart from me in this life? I'm all you need." She emphasized, all smiles.

The receiver chuckled. He knew his babygirl well. She was so possessive and he loved every bit of her possessiveness. She was all he would ever want in this life.

"So, when are we seeing? I'm missing you here badly. Aren't you missing me?" The voice asked her.

"I miss you too, why won't I miss you? But you know what's going on now. I can't leave where I am to come see you and you can't come see me too, at the moment. But I'm sure there's going to be a way that we can make good use of, soon. I will make arrangements and let you know. For now, use those stuff I sent to you online to hold yourself together." She maintained.

He chuckled excitedly.

"Yeah, those stuff are indeed capable of holding me together. I love every part of them, babygirl. You're so endowed. I repeat, you're all I need in this life." He stated.

Joyce chuckled softly.

"I knew you'd love them. You're welcome." She stated, dramatically and laughed.

He laughed too.

There was a comfortable silence for few minutes before Joyce cleared her throat and spoke up.

"Are you there?" She inquired.

He exhaled sharply.

"I love you, my Joyce. I love you so much." He said to her.

His voice was unwavering, clear, concise and coherent when he declared his love for her. Even nature knew he meant those words of his.

So, Joyce too knew. And she loved him too.

How could she not love him as much as he did when he was her first love? She wondered.

Joyce knew very well that she wasn't supposed to love any other man apart from the husband that married her, but she couldn't help her feelings.

She had suppressed the feelings and tried to move on but when her first love, Timi, appeared again, he literally took her breath away.

And not only that, he also took her sense of reasoning away.

He filled up her brain with his unwavering love and wouldn't allow her to rethink her decision. All she wanted was to just be happy with the man who had come with lots of love, and was determined to shower her with it, in abundance.

So, she threw both decency and caution to the wind without a care in the world, ready to not be whom the society expected her to be- a faithful wife- and decided to follow whatever her heart wanted.

"I love you too, my Timi. I really do." She replied him, with the same energy and sincerity.

Butterflies erupted in Joyce's heart and she started smiling sheepishly. And as if he knew she was smiling, he started smiling too.

They were foolishly in love and they wouldn't mind if it was only them against the whole world.