Chimdi’s Story
Chimdi had been jilted, and not in the most dignified manner. She hadn’t even been informed that she had been jilted. To all intents and purposes, she was still engaged to Njoku, the love of her life; the man who she had nurtured and cared for, funding all his financial needs and providing everything and anything he could possibly require.
Njoku worked in a bakery and earned a rather meagre salary but he lived well. He had a fancy apartment, wore the best clothes and even had a car, courtesy of his lover, Chimdi, who owned a big fashion boutique and was quite wealthy.
Despite the fact that she was several years older than Njoku, they had been an enviable couple. Njoku was a handsome young fellow with a charming personality and a ready smile. He treated Chimdi like a queen. Within the first year of their relationship, he proposed to her and she accepted. All entreaties from her friends to slow down on the expenditure and to wait until he marries her before investing so much, fell on deaf ears. It was envy of course. Didn’t they wish they could have a handsome young man like hers who was totally besotted with her?
Chimdi fell out with anyone who as much as suggested that her relationship with Njoku might not work out or that he was just using her. How could anyone even think that? Did they not see how he showered her with love? Is money everything?
And yet the years passed and she was getting older, late 30’s in fact and his family had not come to hers to ask for her hand in marriage. Everyone regarded them as husband and wife and indeed they acted as if they were, but there had been no ceremony to formalize the relationship. Her biological clock was ticking and she was fast approaching forty, but Njoku assured her that if she could just be patient, he would marry her eventually and she believed him.
Adaku had been friends with Chimdi since childhood. She had her reservations about her friend’s relationship with Njoku but having witnessed the treatment meted out to those who spoke up against him, she had learnt to hold her peace on that particular subject matter.
Nevertheless, the information their mutual friend Eucharia had just brought to her notice was not something she could just ignore. That would be wickedness on her part because eventually the truth would come out and Chimdi’s disgrace would be worse.
Eucharia was one of the people who had tried to warn Chimdi but had been rebuffed and cut off from her circle of friends. Having obtained the news that proved she was right all along, she could not wait to share it and there was an element of spite in her delivery. She would certainly not be sad to see Chimdi brought low after all her boasting and pomposity.
“We have to go and tell her” Adaku said frowning. She was not keen on giving Chimdi such devastating news but she saw no other way out.
“You can go and give her the news if you like. I’m not going with you” said Eucharia.
After a little pleading however, she agreed to go with Adaku. Not because she cared so much about Chimdi’s feelings, but she wanted to be present to see her come off her high horse.
“Why have you brought this girl to my house?” Chimdi asked Adaku as they walked in together.
“Chimdi please just listen to what she has to say. We have some very important news. Please calm down and listen” Adaku counselled.
“Ok what is it? I hope it is not about Njoku because I don’t want to hear any nonsense. All these jealous people telling lies about him…..” Chimdi eyed Eucharia as she said this implying that she was one of the jealous people. Eucharia knew the bombshell would soon arrest her arrogance so she did not rise to it.
“Chimdi” she started “Please calm down and believe what I’m about to tell you. Njoku is getting married to a twenty-two-year-old girl tomorrow. In fact, she is pregnant for him and they have been dating for quite some time now.” She watched Chimdi’s face as she delivered the news. Her face registered the different emotions she felt in a space of one minute; shock, disbelief, suspicion and then anger. Something about the way it was delivered, told her that Eucharia was telling the truth.
Indeed, Njoku had been behaving rather strangely of recent and hadn’t been quite as attentive. Just two days before, he had come in to her shop and asked for N200,000 which he said he required to pay his rent. He had been agitated and impatient with her even though he was asking for a favour. She had noticed that he was under some kind of pressure. Could he have collected that money for his impending wedding?
By the next day, Chimdi confirmed that the story was true. In the past few weeks, he had asked for considerable sums of money from her and as usual she had indulged him not realising that she was actually funding his wedding.
For two whole days her shop remained closed as she could not focus on anything else. In less than two weeks she had lost 5 kgs and her skin had darkened as she had stopped using her lightening creams. Usually the epitome of high fashion, she became a shadow of her former self. She cast away her wigs and couldn’t be bothered whether her clothes were mismatched or even dirty.
Bad news travels fast and everyone around her including her neighbours were all aware of what had happened to her. As she walked by, they shook their heads in pity. Some had an air of “I told you so” which was just as hurtful to Chimdi as the pity. Mama Nnanna, her next-door neighbour who had expressed some misgivings about Njoku’s sincerity had now been vindicated but still, she was sympathetic. She visited her and held Chimdi as she wept; she was inconsolable.
Chimdi hadn’t seen Njoku for a few weeks. To explain his absence, he claimed that his parents had asked him to return to the village for Christmas. They usually went together but he said they had asked him to come alone this time. In fact, as soon as he collected the last money from her, he left for the village and she hadn’t heard much from him since then. He had sent a text message explaining that the network in the village was really bad hence he had been unable to call her.
In the second week of January 2022, Chimdi received information that Njoku was back in town and called him.
“Nkem, when did you get back?” she asked using her pet name for him.
“I just returned today but I had to resume work today too, so that was why you didn’t hear from me” he said “I really missed you. How have you been and how was your Christmas?”.
“It was very good, only that you were not here. I missed you too. When are we seeing?” she asked.
“Let me settle down first. I will come the day after tomorrow when I complete my shift” he said.
“Okay, what should I keep for you?” she asked.
“Nothing. Just keep yourself for me” he laughed. It was his usual laugh. Everything was the same. If she hadn’t actually watched the video of the traditional marriage which one of his relatives had sent to her, she would have believed that it was all a lie. How could he be so deceitful? How could he reduce her to an object of pity and scorn? Njoku, whom she had shown such love and given all she had.
The next day, Chimdi went to the market to prepare for Njoku’s visit. She saw her neighbour as she was coming out of her house. She smiled and greeted her “Mama Nnanna, good morning oh”.
Mama Nnanna was pleased to see that Chimdi had snapped out of her depression and was in fact looking extremely cheerful. All the people on their street had been quite worried about her for the past couple of weeks. This was the right way to handle the situation. You can’t kill yourself over a man.
“Chimdi kedu? You are looking so beautiful this morning” she said. It was no exaggeration. Chimdi was radiant. She had obviously overcome and moved on from the disappointment.
Njoku took his time to prepare for his date with Chimdi. He had been worried that she would get to hear about his wedding and for that reason he had kept the whole proceedings very low key. His young wife, Nkiru, had actually wanted a big wedding but he pointed out that the stress of arranging a big wedding might be too much for her in her pregnant state and moreover it would be best to save their money for setting up their home after the wedding. The bride price had been quite high and if not for Chimdi, he could never have met all the demands from Nkiru’s family.
“Where are you going all dressed up like that?” Nkiru enquired.
“Night vigil” he answered.
“I didn’t know there was night vigil, we should go together”
“I don’t think you should attend night vigil in your condition. It’s too much for you. Get some rest and I’ll see you in the morning” he said as he stepped out and headed for Chimdi’s house.
He wasn’t lying when he said he had missed her. He was actually looking forward to seeing her. He was glad that she hadn’t heard about his wedding and he intended to keep it that way for a long while. His relationship with Chimdi had been very lucrative and it was unlikely that Nkiru would have given him the time of day if he hadn’t appeared so affluent. Where possible, he would like to carry the relationship on for as long as he could get away with it.
He arrived at Chimdi’s house 20 minutes later. She looked as beautiful as ever. He hugged her and held her tight for a while.
“I really missed you” he said. She smiled not trusting herself to speak.
Chimdi locked the door as soon as he entered and everything happened so fast after that.
He sat down and Chimdi reached behind his chair, picked up a bucket and poured its contents all over him. As he looked at her in shock, she lit a match and he went up in flames. He stood up and started shouting but she just stared at him smiling, her blazing eyes matching the flames on his body and then she moved towards the door to leave.
Njoku’s mind worked quite quickly. Two things dawned on him immediately; that she knew what he had done and that she had decided to kill him. In that instant when she turned to walk away, he made his own decision. Understanding that he would not survive this attack, he ran towards her and held her in a strong embrace. She screamed and tried to fight him off but he held on tight and together they burned,
About an hour later, Mama Nnanna saw smoke coming out of Chimdi’s apartment and raised an alarm. The door was broken down and they found the couple held together in a passionate embrace quite badly burnt. Both of them died two days later within an hour of each other.
