[STORY] A DAYTIME NIGHTMARE (Episode 03)

Episode 03.

A stitch in time saves nine, but it’s quite unfortunate that things had already taken a deadly turn in the case of Tony. You see why it pays to be faithful to your partner; whether married or not? If Tony had honoured his marriage vows and stayed faithful to his wife whom he has been starving intimacy and family time, he would have dodged the deadly bullet that was shot towards him. If only he was aware that Jasmine; whom he just finished sleeping with was HIV positive, then I guess he would have dropped dead or worst still, gone crazy. The guilt Tony was feeling at that moment for cheating on his wife was nothing compared to what was right ahead. The deed had already been done so it was time to dance to the music he played.

While Tony laid in bed thinking of his poor wife that was at home; probably missing him, his guilt worsen. After a while of fighting back and forth with his conscience, he finally closed his eyes and went to bed. While asleep, he had a dream where he was surrounded by health officials such as doctors and nurses. In that dream, it felt as though they were using him for an experiment. His body was in a deteriorating state as he laid down helplessly on the hospital bed.

“No No!!” Tony screamed as he rose up from the bed with one hand on his chest. “Are you OK? You scared me” Jasmine said as she slowly got up from where she laid. At that moment, Tony was still trying to regain his consciousness and reminded himself that it was just a dream, so he couldn’t explain to Jasmine in details the reason for his sudden panic. “I’m alright, go back to sleep” he gently said and laid back on the bed. All through the remaining hours of that night, he couldn’t sleep and kept thinking of the scary dream.

Early the next day, Jasmine prepared to leave the hotel as she normally did whenever she slept over at a guy’s place. The reason she always had to rush home was mostly because she had to take her daily dose of drugs. In order not to get caught and let the secret out of the bag, she felt it was safe not to carry her drugs around with her.

That morning before leaving, Tony gave Jasmine a lot of money for transportation back home and for her upkeep. She kissed him passionately on the lips before finally parting ways. With Jasmine gone, Tony hurriedly prepared to head back home to his wife; as he was done with the business engagement that brought him far away from the city he resided in.

At around past 1pm, the door bell rang and the house help hurriedly opened it. “Welcome sir” she greeted as she collected Tony’s briefcase, “Thank you! Where’s my wife?” he asked, “She went out since morning and hasn’t returned yet” the lady revealed.

With that being said, Tony dipped his hand inside his pocket and brought out his cell phone. There and then, he dialed Becca’s line and she picked up shortly after it rang. “Hey baby, where are you? I’m back home” he said, “I had an important meeting to attend at the office and also have a doctor’s appointment” Becca said. He informed her that he was back home and told her to come back as soon as she could. When the call ended, he climb upstairs to his room to freshen up and later came downstairs to eat something.

As Tony awaited his wife’s return, the guilty conscience was still significant but he tried to waive it and let the memory remain where the incident happened. Just when he tried to rest after eating, his phone rang and guess who was calling? Well, it was no other than Jasmine. Immediately he saw her name on his phone screen, his heart skipped several beats.

“Hello, how are you?” Tony greeted, “I’m fine, I just miss you” Jasmine said. He took a deep breath and continued; “you shouldn’t be calling me except I call you, I am at home now and will call you later” he said and ended the call afterwards. On the other hand, Jasmine was quite disappointed and felt sad that she was just a chapter in Tony’s life and not the whole book. Despite the pain, she took it with joy and didn’t React because she also had lots of skeletons in her cupboard.

Shortly after Tony had settled down, the door bell rang and it was Becca at the door. When she came inside, he walked closer to her and gave her a warm hug. I guess his actions were triggered by the guilt he was feeling within. “Look who’s back, I thought you were supposed to be gone all week” Becca said as her husband wrapped his arms around her neck. “I was truly supposed to be away all week but was fortunate to finish up early, so here am I” he said with a smile on his face.

Their reunion was filled with diverse emotions as they couldn’t get their hands off each other. Becca freshened up and did all the necessary things she had to do before bed time. Later that night, Tony tried to touch her but she wasn’t in the mood for any intimacy. He tried over and over again to get her in the mood but she wasn’t feeling it at all.

“Babe not today, I had a long day and also, I’m not happy with you and this marriage so far. It would take more than touching and kissing to get me in the mood of anything related to intimacy because my mind isn’t there” Becca voiced out after numerous attempts from Tony. He was a bit confused as to why his wife wasn’t happy with him. “What have I done wrong? Is there any problem with our marriage?” he curiously inquired. Becca turned towards him and began to pour out her heart; “What makes you think we are OK and happy as a couple? Do we look OK? How can we be fine when you neglect me all the time and give so much time and attention to your work? How can we be fine when I barely see my husband and can’t even recall how many times I see you in a month? Just take a look at us, we still don’t have a child since after 2 years we got married. How can I get pregnant when you are mostly nowhere to be found during my ovulation? How can we make babies when I sleep on this bed alone most of the times? See, to be honest with you, I don’t think I trust you anymore. I don’t even know who you are anymore because this certainly isn’t the man I said ‘I Do’ to two years ago. Please just leave me alone, I want to sleep” she angrily said and turned towards one side of the bed.

At that moment, Tony had absolutely no idea of what to do. He was dumbfounded and totally speechless due to his wife’s outburst. The most terrifying thing was that he didn’t even know they had a problem in their marriage until then. Quite sad he had to find out that way.

On a second thought, it could be God’s doing that night. It could be that God was trying to protect Becca from contacting HIV from her supposed husband who was at a high chance of contacting the deadly virus from Jasmine after having unprotected sexual intercourse with her.

However, there was also a 50/50 chance that Tony was HIV free, even after having unprotected sexual intercourse with a HIV Positive patient. The fact that Jasmine took her Anti Retroviral drugs, lowered her viral load and could prevent the virus from spreading even after sexual intercourse. At this juncture, we can’t say for sure if Tony had contacted it or not. Well, we will find out as we read on.

The next day after an emotional draining night, Tony wanted to make things right with his wife but how could he do so when he still had his job; which was the main root of their marital problems. Before he could have a one on one talk with his wife that morning, he got called in by his boss and had to take an urgent 3 days leave.

It broke Becca’s heart that her husband chose his career over making their marriage work, but she had somehow grown a tough skin over time. Turns out that Tony had to report back to the place he was just returning from. He lodged back in the hotel he previously stayed at and went from business meetings to meetings.

After a stressful day, Tony retired back to his hotel. As he laid on the bed that evening lost in thoughts, a call came in and it was Jasmine calling. He took a deep breath and tiredly picked up the call. “Hello dear” he greeted, “Hi, how are you doing?” Jasmine asked, “I’m fine, thanks for asking” he replied.

The tone of Tony’s voice gave him away that something was wrong. Jasmine was quick to notice and inquired on what was wrong. “Are you ok?” she asked, “Yeah I am” he replied but she wasn’t convinced. “I can tell that something is wrong with you. OK, where are you now?” Jasmine asked, “I’m in my hotel room” Tony replied, “I thought you said you were back home, what are you still doing in the hotel?” she curiously inquired, “Well, I had to come back today again for some unfinished business” he said.

There and then, Jasmine informed Tony that she was coming over to see him. Despite all efforts to stop her, it fell on deaf ears cause her mind was made up. In a bid to hurry down to the hotel before night fall, she unknowingly carried a bag that contained a container of an Anti Retroviral drug. She forgot to offload the bag and just carried it along with her; after putting in some make-ups and a cloth to change into when she gets to the hotel.

Few hours later, Jasmine arrived at the hotel and made her way into Tony’s room. He was low-key happy to see her but pretended otherwise. Her company was lively and was far better than him being alone. Food was ordered shortly afterwards and they ate together and talked about random stuffs. After eating and freshening up, the atmosphere gradually began to change.

Tony knew for sure that he was going to have another taste of Jasmine; not after his wife starved him the day before. As the mood set in, they gently dwelt in it and made their way to cloud 9. After long hours of love making, they both slept tiredly on top of each other. It was the next day that Tony’s eyes cleared.

Turns out that Tony woke up first because he had an urgent meeting to get to that morning. After taking his bath, he went to the dresser mirror to apply cream and put on his suit when his eyes caught sight of a shiny container inside Jasmine’s bag; which was wide open on top of the cupboard. Initially, he ignored it but was later led to check what it was.

Immediately Tony picked up the container, the first thing that caught his eyes were the tiny written ‘Anti Retroviral Capsule’ beneath the Main name of the drug.

For a moment, the whole world paused and stopped spinning as Tony tried to sink in those written words on the container of the drug he was holding. When everything finally dawned on him, his eyes opened widely as he held his chest.

Without being told, he shockingly said; “HIV? No it can’t be!”.
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To Be Continued… . . 

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