[STORY] IT’S NOT LOVE (Episode 03)

Episode 03.

It was on the 25th day of December. Bridget and her family were returning from the Cinema, when Raphael suddenly pulled over at a fuel station, to get some fuel. Suddenly their daughter requested for a juice and Raphael asked Bridget to get a pack of juice at the nearby mart, Bridget stepped out of the car to get the juice, she had paid for the juice and was returning to the car when she ran into her male ex schoolmate, “Gideon”.

They were both exchanging pleasantries, and smiling to each other, when Raphael walked into the scene. Immediately Bridget saw her husband, she became tensed but she comported herself and was about to introduce Gideon to her husband, when Raphael landed a resounding slap on her right cheek.

Raphael who didn’t bother to find out who Gideon was, pounced on Bridget and beat her to a pulp in public. All Gideon’s effort to stop Raphael from hitting his wife was futile. As Raphael was ready to fight him too.
“I never knew you are a prostitute, so you thought I won’t see you chatting away with your lover. You are a useless woman” Raphael cursed her as he pounced on her.

When Raphael noticed that all eyes were on him, he went into his car and drove off with his daughter, leaving poor Bridget crying in public. Her clothes were torn and her face was swollen. She was stranded as her bag and her phone were inside the car.
Bridget was in pain and at the same time embarrassed, because everyone was staring at her with sympathy written on their faces.
That day Bridget realized that her husband was a monster and can’t be in love with her.

Gideon was a very kind hearted man, he took his shirt out and gave Bridget to wear and he walked her to his car and then he drove her down to her parent’s house.
All through the drive to Bridget’s parent’s house, Gideon wondered why Bridget would end up with such a terrible man.
Gideon knew that Bridget was feeling bad already, so he didn’t even say a word to her.

Bridget got to her parent’s house and bidded Gideon good bye.
“Gideon, Thank you for everything, I’m so grateful” Bridget said without looking into Gideon’s eyes. It was obvious that she was ashamed.
“Bridget, I’m sorry, assuming I knew that my presence will cause you this much problem with your husband, I swear I would have greeted you and passed. Please forgive me my friend, I didn’t even know that you were married, from today I will start avoiding married women, as I Don’t want this ugly incident that happened today to ever reoccur, I feel so terrible” Gideon entered

But Bridget assured him that it was not his fault.
“My marriage has been like this, it’s never your fault, I should be the one apologising, because my husband almost torn your shirt, he even pushed you down, when you wanted to intervene, please forgive him, I Don’t know what’s wrong with him” Bridget entered in tears while Gideon came down from his car to console her and then he walked her into her parent’s compound.

For the first time ever, Bridget opened up, to her parents and told them how Raphael maltreats her, at first her parents didn’t believe her, but when they saw her torn clothes and swollen face, the believed.
Bridget’s father was so furious that he wanted to lock Raphael up for laying his hands on his only daughter but Bridget’s mother wants to fix the problem instead.

The aged woman tried her best to calm her husband down.
“They are both husband and wife and they must have misunderstandings once in a while, maybe our daughter was rude to him” Bridget’s mother entered.

But Bridget’s father wasn’t in support of what his wife had said.
“We have been married for more than 30 years, we have two children, Bridget and her brother Stanley, for all these years have I ever laid my hands on you? Most times, You are rude to me, but I haven’t raised my hands on you, my daughter only said hello to her old friend, who doesn’t know Gideon and Bridget?, they didn’t only attend same University, they have always been friends since their primary school days, my daughter is an adult, Raphael has no right to control her life, Raphael is abusing our daughter and I think it’s so pointless for Bridget to continue to stay in a marriage where she is not valued, I’m so disappointed, I never knew Raphael was a monster, I wouldn’t have gave my only daughter to him, that stupid man disgraced my daughter, beat her up on a special day like today, is he mad, is he out of his senses?” Bridget’s father thundered.

But Bridget’s mother calmed him down.
“Raphael is only a young man, we will talk some senses into him and I’m sure he will turn a new leaf” Bridget’s mother concluded.
Bridget’s mother who really wanted her daughter to Remain married for the sake of keeping up appearances tried everything to pacify her husband and to persuade her daughter to return to her matrimonial home.

Bridget knew that her father was right and she needed to stay far away from Raphael but she was confused.
“what will people say?” “How will i cope with out Raphael?” Were the thoughts that were running in Bridget’s mind. Raphael had stole her power and strength and she had concluded that he needed Raphael in her life.

Bridget had clung on to this idea of the perfect marriage and convinced herself that the way Raphael was treating her was normal. She had grown to accept his verbal, emotional and physical abuse, thinking that she somehow deserved it. And she was so afraid of being on her own that she would rather prefer to stay with a man who didn’t respect her.
“But I can’t leave this marriage, the whole world will laugh at me” Bridget had thought sadly

She also hated the word ‘divorce’ and was so afraid of the stigma that came with it that she did everything she could to avoid it, to the detriment of her emotional health and happiness.

Bridget decided to shrug things off and return to her matrimonial home as that felt like the right thing to do.

How will Raphael react when Bridget returns home? Find out.

To Be Continued….. . . .

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