Chapter 5

It felt like hours passed but by the time Stephen recovered a little and looked around, it was already afternoon and ninety-nine of the guests had already left; even most of his men-in-suit had also left. He glanced at Jerry who was discussing with his younger sister and her friends, and he learned that in order to avoid wastage of the food and drinks, they had distributed them to the guests and passers-by while the souvenirs had been kept.

He also learned that they had canceled their rent of the hall and had gotten seventy percent of the money back and they also intended to also return some of the wines and cartons of juices that were not opened to the seller in order to recover some of the money spent. When Jerry was done discussing with his sister, he thanked her and his friends and after they left, he approached Stephen now. Rufus also came from outside and joined them too and only the three of them were left in the big quiet church.

"Where are my parents?" Stephen asked now.

"They have already gone home with your siblings. We promised them that we would take care of you." Jerry replied, glancing at Rufus.

Stephen exhaled and reclined on the chair, staring at the ceiling of the church with his fingers locked on his stomach. After a slight pause, he finally murmured in disbelief. "So, I'm still a bachelor... I didn't get married..." His voice was full of disappointment and despair.

Rufus and Jerry exchanged awkward glances but said nothing.

"But Susan, why?" Stephen continued to speak to himself as if he were alone. "Why? Why would you do this to me?"

Jerry sighed now and said: "Stephen, we...um..." Then he paused as he glanced at Rufus who gave him a go-ahead gesture. "...we are sorry for keeping this from you, but we kinda knew that Susan wasn't going to marry you... I mean, we didn't even like her to begin with. We didn't want you to marry her either... let's just say that this is a blessing in disguise... God has a way of making things happen on their own..."

"What do you mean?" Stephen asked with a start as he slowly sat up now, glancing from one friend to the other.

Rufus swallowed hard now and said: "She has been cheating on you, Stephen."

Stephen scoffed. "If your aim is to make things worse than it already is, please stop... I'm in no mood for this and there's no use flogging a dead horse." He said to his friends.

"We are not joking, Stephen." Said Jerry. "Ever since you were transferred to Markurdi, Tanya has been going out with Major Ali."

"Let's just say it as it is and not sugar-coat anything..." Said Rufus, eager to let the bitter truth out. "Tanya has been sleeping with Major Ali."

"What!" Stephen gasped in shock. The looks on his friends' faces showed just how serious they were and he knew that they were not telling a lie. "How long has this been going on and why the hell did none of you tell me before now?!"

"Seven months now..." Jerry answered with a sad sigh. "We would have told you but didn't want to ruin your happiness, man. Even though we knew that girl didn't deserve you, we saw just how happy you were whenever you were with her and we just didn't want to take that away from you."

"Although, we tried to warn you on several occasions..." Rufus said now. "But you were rather too occupied or you were always with her. We couldn't really put our jobs on the line because we know what would happen if she was to rat us out to the Major if we told you the truth in her presence, so we just decided to let things play out on their own and here it is."

Stephen stood up now, placed a hand on his hip and another on his brow, then he began to pace as he began to ponder. Finally, he stopped and said: "I don't believe Susan would do this to me just like that. I mean, we love each other so much. What if she's under duress? What if the Major is forcing her to do this? What if she only did this out of fear? We all know what a philanderer the Major is and how he will go any length to get any woman he wants. What if that's what's happening to Susan right now and she needs my help?"