It was late at night when Gershom, driving a white Honda CRV, pulled up to his driveway in a quiet neighborhood. It was the only house without power, while the other homes were brightly lit. He honked and waited for the gate to be opened. Minutes went by and there still was no response. Frustrated at his wife's lack of response, he called her.

Feggy, Gershom's wife, was fast asleep on the bed with their newborn daughter sleeping in the crook of her arm. The vibration of her phone woke her up. Peeking at the screen of her phone with sleepy eyes, she frowned at the name.

HEAVEN SENT, the LED screen flashed the name adorned with heart emoticons.

It was her husband of ten years, Gershom Chomba.

She had the mind to cut the call, however, she knew that Gershom was probably calling for a reason. She steeled herself, ready for whatever he had to say, and answered the call with a sense of resignation.

"Gershom." Feggy closed her eyes as she tried to get comfortable.

She was exhausted and running on empty. The lack of food in the house was taking a toll on her, and it was reflected in the behavior of her two eldest children, Sandra and Joseph III.

They were cranky and irritable, unable to find comfort in the meager scraps she could provide. The stress of trying to make ends meet was starting to catch up with her. She longed for a proper meal, one that would satisfy her hunger and provide the energy she needed to care for her family.

As she lay in bed waiting for Gershom to speak, she couldn't help but think about the hardships they faced and how they were struggling to survive. It was a constant battle, but she was determined to persevere.

‘Are you deaf? Did you not hear me hooting at the gate? How long do you expect me to wait out here? What type of wife are you?"

In the dark, a doleful smile tugged the corners of Feggy’s mouth at the tail end of his tirade. Expecting her husband to speak to her kindly equalled drawing blood from a stone. ‘You are outside the gate? Why?’

‘What type of a stupid question is that? Open the damned gate already.’ He barked the order into the phone and hung up.

Feggy stared at the screen puzzled. Had he not told her he would not be coming home earlier in the evening when she had called him at work to find out what time he would be getting home? Moreover, what was he so upset about? Had he been expecting her to keep watch at the gate?

Carefully lifting the baby off her arm, she placed the pink-clad baby back on the bed and pulled the blanket over her.

‘Daddy is home Baby B," she whispered, brushing her lips against her daughter’s chubby cheeks; however, her voice was laced with sadness.

Despite her best efforts to please him, Gershom remained ruthless, cold and distant. His love for her was a thing of the past, replaced with a demeanor that was distant and aloof.

Feggy often found herself feeling lonely in the relationship, and despite her inner turmoil, she was determined to make it work. She did everything in her power to keep the peace, but it seemed like no matter what she did, Gershom remained unapproachable.

She struggled to understand what had happened to their once loving relationship and why Gershom brought a third party in their relationship.

It hurt seeing the man she loved showering his love on another woman. There were times she had wanted to quit; pack up and leave with her kids but she knew that true love was worth fighting for, and she was willing to do whatever it took to bring the love back into their relationship.

Feggy got out of bed and went to the window to check the gate. She saw the light seeping under the closed gate, confirming Gershom's presence.

She reached for her chitenge wrapper, tied it around her waist over the unappealing skirt, then grabbed her phone to use its flashlight and opened the gate to face her husband's angry glare.

As Gershom's eyes landed on his wife, there was an unmistakable look of disgust that crossed his face. It was as if he found her repulsive, something that had become a norm of late.

Feggy immediately noticed the change in his demeanor. Her heart sank, and a feeling of dread crept up in her chest.

Gershom's eyes lingered on her for a moment longer than usual, taking in her plain appearance, her simple clothes, and her unstyled hair. It was almost as if he was seeing her for the first time, and he didn't like what he saw. Feggy felt self-conscious under his scrutiny.

The look of disgust in his eyes shattered her confidence, and she felt unattractive and unworthy of love.

Feggy had long known that to Gershom, she was not a woman, but something unsightly and appalling. Compared to his Yolie, coming home to Feggy's unkempt appearance was a constant source of frustration for him.

As the familiar sense of hopelessness and pain washed over her, she lowered her head to hide the emotions in her eyes.

She would not give him the satisfaction of knowing how much he hurt her. She made a promise to herself to always give her love and support, no matter what her husband thought of her.

Though deeply hurt, she forced a smile on her face, and pushing the hurt aside, she greeted him respectfully as was expected of her. ‘Honey, welcome home.’

Gershom hit on the horn irritably, demanding she open the gate wider. ‘What took you so long to open the gate? How many times have I cautioned you about being security conscious?’

Feggy wanted to call his BS to his face. Between the two of them, who was lax when it came to security? Was it not he who came home at witching hours?

Who among them had turned the other into a gateman and put the others' lives at risk? If he cared enough about their security, he would come home on time.

"What's wrong? Why are you so angry?" she asked softly.

"What do you mean what's wrong? Can't you see that I've been waiting outside for hours?" he replied in a raised voice.

Feggy tried to calm him down. "I'm sorry, I thought you told me earlier that you wouldn't be coming home until later tonight. I wouldn't have kept you waiting if I knew you were coming."

Feggy could only curse herself as she submissively averted her eyes from him when all she wanted was to throw the keys to his face and yell at him to open the gate for himself the next time if he found her to be so lacking and if he could not show l even the slightest traces of gratitude.

As she proceeded to open the gate wider, Feggy sighed, wondering what could have upset him this much to lead to the sour mood he was in. She wondered if he had fought with his mistress.

If so, how long would they be at odds? Should she be glad that at least her children would get to spend a few days with their father? On the other hand, was it something to be wary about? For all she knew, he would probably take out his anger on her.

Once the car had passed through, she pulled the gate back and locked it up.

Gershom stepped out, locked up the car, and headed towards the house without waiting for her. Feggy was used to this type of treatment; it would have been shocking if he had acted any other way.

Where a normal husband would spare a smile for his wife no matter how tired he was, and a quick kiss on the forehead or lips, all she got from him were looks of contempt. Once he had asked her who he had wronged in his previous life to be stuck with her.

Feggy hurried up to catch up with him but he abruptly stopped walking at the same time as he had just realized with the lights from the car off, the house was shrouded in darkness.

‘Why is it so dark? Are we experiencing load shedding?’ But even as he asked that his eyes had already roved to his neighbor’s houses and he could see that they had power.

‘We ran out of units.’ And everything else, she said to herself but didn’t have the guts to voice it out.

Standing this close to him, the soft whiff of another woman’s expensive perfume, left on her husband’s clothes carried to her making her heartache. Taking a closer look at him, she realized he wasn’t wearing the shirt he had left home with earlier in the day. She ought to be used to things like this but there just was no teaching your heart to be accustomed to betrayal.

‘Why should we be out of power? Didn’t we just buy power a few days back?’

‘…’

In her mind, she thought; I already reminded you this morning that the units were not enough to last till the end of the day but you were too busy flirting with your mistress on the phone!!!

Feggy wanted to laugh at his question. What power had he bought that he was boasting about? Since he had started seeing the other woman, Feggy couldn’t remember the last time that he had bought enough power to last them for the month.

He expected the power of fewer than twenty dollars to last them for the whole month, forgetting that theirs was a large family, moreover, he had already slashed the household budget in half and had already stopped giving her money for her upkeep and the house.

‘Would you like me to prepare you a bath? There is no hot water though.’ she asked instead.

Gershom mumbled something and went into the house.

When Feggy later joined him in the bedroom after checking on their other two kids, he had already slipped into the blankets and had turned his back to her his eyes glued to the screen of his phone even though their daughter beside him was crying.

Feggy checked on Bertha’s diaper; however, Bertha’s diaper was dry. Assuming she was hungry, Feggy sat on the edge of the bed and pulled up her shirt to breastfeed her.

Baby B sucked hungrily on her mother’s milk. As Feggy breastfeed and sang a lullaby to her daughter, she subtly lifted her head to look over at her husband. She scoffed and chided herself for her naiveté. What else had she expected? He was already on the phone looking at the photos of the other woman.

To avoid answering questions and hearing his wife’s nagging voice, Gershom had inserted headsets in his ears and continued to browse.

~•~•~•~•~

Gershom lay in bed, tossing and turning, as he thought about the recent events. He couldn't believe how things had gone wrong so quickly. Just a few days ago, he and Yolanda had been planning a romantic weekend getaway at a luxury hotel. But now, they were on the verge of breaking up.

Gershom's heart ached as he thought about Yolanda. He had sent her several messages apologizing for his behavior and begging for her forgiveness, but she had not replied.

Messenger - seen. No reply.

WhatsApp - blue ticks. No reply.

Text message. Delivered, No reply.

He felt helpless and lost without her.

The night was long and fretful for Gershom. He barely slept a wink, his mind consumed with thoughts of Yolanda and the memories they had shared. He was determined to win her back, but he didn't know how. All he knew was that he loved her deeply and he was willing to do anything to make things right between them.

~•~•~•~•~•

Feggy woke up with a start, feeling groggy and grumpy. She rubbed her eyes and glanced over at her husband, Gershom, who was still sound asleep beside her. A wave of resentment washed over her as she remembered the restless night she had just endured.

Gershom's constant tossing and turning had kept her awake for most of the night, and she felt exhausted and irritable as a result. She threw him a resentful glare, wishing that he could have slept quietly for once. It seemed like every time she tried to get a good night's rest, something always got in the way.

Feggy sighed and sat up in bed, trying to shake off the groggy feeling. She knew that she couldn't stay angry with Gershom for long, but it was hard to ignore the annoyance she was feeling toward him at the moment. She wondered if he even realized how much his behavior was affecting her.

Feggy took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. She knew that it wouldn't do either of them any good to start the day on a negative note. She took another deep breath and forced a smile, ready to start the day with a fresh perspective.

She got off the bed, took a shower then went to the kitchen to make breakfast. The delicious aroma woke the children up.

Feggy greeted them with a warm smile, she ruffled their hair and gave them each a hug. The kids giggled and smiled, happy to have their mother's attention. Even though there wasn't much to eat, Feggy made sure each of them had a plate filled with delicious food.

This was the scene Gershom walked on.

"Morning daddy," Sandra, his secondborn, greeted him.

"Morning daddy." Echoed Joseph III.

Gershom grumbled a reply.

"Breakfast is ready, I will set a place for you."

"Don't bother.."

Despite the rejection, Feggy smiled at him sweetly." It's not good to start a day on an empty stomach."

Gershom shot her a glare that could melt gold.

The smile on Feggy's face faltered. She lowered her head and mumbled an apology.

Pulling the drawer behind her, she grabbed the keys and handed them to him.