I wiped my hands on my apron and glanced at the clock above the kitchen doorway. My shift was almost over, but my body ached from the long hours of scrubbing floors and wiping tables.
Well, I didn't go into prostitution eventually; couldn't get myself to do.. but I honourably became a waitress.
"Ugh.."
The restaurant bustled with customers, laughter, and conversation filling the air, but I felt like a shadow moving through the space—seen but not truly noticed.
Until today.
He walked in like he owned the world. Tall, confident, and wearing an expensive black suit that fit him like a second skin, he strode into the restaurant, exuding wealth and power. The gold watch on his wrist gleamed under the warm lights. He was the kind of man who made women pause and stare and men sit up straighter in their seats. But I wasn't one of them. I kept my head low, moving toward the back, ready to disappear.I wasn't meant for men like him. But fate had other plans.
I was reaching for a tray of used dishes when my manager's voice cut through the noise.
"Chidinma! Clean up table seven."
I nodded and hurried over, heart pounding. Table seven. His table. He wasn't alone. He was with two other men, all dressed in expensive suits, talking in low voices. As I bent to clear the table beside them, I felt a pair of eyes on me.When I looked up, I found him watching me.Our eyes met for a brief second before I quickly looked away. But that brief moment felt like something shifted in the air. My skin prickled under his gaze. I wanted to disappear, yet I felt anchored in place.The next few moments passed in a blur. I carried the plates back to the kitchen, trying to shake off the strange feeling. When I stepped out again, he was still looking at me.And then, he spoke.
"You. What's your name?"
My breath hitched. I wasn't supposed to talk to customers unless spoken to first. Even then, I kept my responses short. But something in his voice made it impossible to ignore him."Chidinma, sir." His lips twitched, as if he found my response amusing.
"Chidinma."
He said my name slowly, like he was tasting it. Then, after a pause, "Are you from around here?"I swallowed hard. "Yes, sir."
"What time do you close?" My hands trembled slightly as I held onto my apron. "Nine, sir." "I'll wait."
My breath caught in my throat. I stared at him, confused. Was he joking? Why would a man like him wait for someone like me? His expression didn't change. He meant it. For the rest of my shift, my mind raced. Was he just curious? Was this some kind of joke? Men like him didn't mix with women like me. But when I stepped outside after closing, he was leaning against a sleek black car, waiting for me.
**************
And that was how it started.---Two months. That was all it took for my life to change completely. Obinna Cletus wasn't just a rich man—he was a force of nature. He was direct and confident, and when he wanted something, he got it. And for reasons I still didn't understand, he wanted me. He visited the restaurant every other night, always asking for my time. Our conversations were simple at first—where I was from, what I wanted in life, if I had dreams beyond wiping tables and scrubbing floors. No one had ever asked me that before.
And then, one evening, he asked me to marry him. It wasn't romantic. There were no flowers, no long speeches about love. He simply looked at me across the table and said, "Chidinma, I want you to be my wife."I laughed, thinking he was joking. But he wasn't. He met my mother, met my siblings. He took care of the wedding preparations, and within weeks, I found myself dressed in the most expensive traditional attire I had ever worn, standing in front of hundreds of guests, marrying a man I barely knew.
For the first time in a long time, my family experienced wealth again. My mother wept with joy, my siblings ate until their bellies were full. It was a wedding fit for royalty. But beneath all the glitter and gold, a quiet fear gnawed at my chest. Why did he marry me so quickly? What did he see in me?
I didn't have answers. I only knew one thing—my life would never be the same again.---The night after the wedding, I moved into his mansion. It was grand and sprawling, with tall gates and endless hallways. But something felt off from the moment I stepped in.
No one welcomed me.
The helps in the house moved around efficiently, avoiding my gaze. No one acknowledged that I was the new wife of the man who owned this house. And Obinna—my husband—didn't introduce me.
Instead, he walked me to a room. A simple room, nothing grand, nothing that indicated I was the woman of the house. "Stay here," he said.
I hesitated. "But—" He didn't let me finish. He walked away without another word.
Confused, I sat on the bed, staring at the plain walls. The confusion turned into something heavier as the days passed.
Obinna treated me no differently from the help. In fact, they didn't even know he was married. He had told me not to speak of it. I was warned to act as if I was just another worker in the house.
And at night? At night, he would come to my room, take me in ways I never imagined, touch me in ways that made me shiver, and explore places in me that no one ever had.And then he would leave.He never held me after. Never looked at me for too long in the morning. He would disappear during the day and return only when he wanted me.It was as if I didn't exist beyond those stolen hours in the dark.
At first, I tried to convince myself it was enough. I liked the way he touched me, the way his body felt against mine. But as the days turned into weeks, I couldn't shake the growing emptiness inside me.
What was I to him? A secret? A convenience? And why did I feel like something worse was coming?
That night, as I lay awake in bed, the sounds of the mansion around me, a deep sense of unease settled in my bones.
Something wasn't right.I just didn't know what it was yet.