What the @@@&&&? Tess stared in dumbfounded shock at the image that unfolded before her eyes.

Unbelievable! She stepped back, a burning sinking sensation hitting the pits of her stomach as the scene registered in her brain.

‘Is that not Humphrey that I see?’

She stared through the clear glass of the jewelry store. Watching as he attentively hooked a necklace around the slender neck of the pretty lady with him.

‘No! Her mind silently screamed.’

But his drop of a tender kiss on the cheek of the exquisite looking face and their intimate looking tête à tête was enough confirmation.

The anger pooled inside her as she hurried away. She didn’t just have the stomach for a confrontation.

‘No wonder he has been behaving like a cat on hot coals these past few weeks.’ Goddess’s  voice muttered. ‘I have always been suspicious that he is too good to be true.’

‘He has obviously been tom-catting around town and here you are eating your heart out and driving yourself crazy trying to pick the perfect birthday gift for him.’

Tess gazed in annoyance at the gifts in her hands.

She had spent all afternoon and a little fortune picking out the lovely presents to give him for his birthday.

‘You better take back the presents advised Goddess.’ ‘He can’t make a fool out of you and still get your money as a thank you. No Sireee’ She continued.

‘Wait a minute, Cautious chipped in. ‘Don’t be in a haste Tess.’ There’s probably a reasonable excuse, Cautious rationalized.

‘You’ve been together for over nine months now and he hasn’t given you any reason to suspect him, has he?’ Cautious sagely reminded her.

‘Well, it starts one day and for all you know, he has just been smart about things’ argued Goddess.

The warring voices in her head gave her a headache and for several hours after she felt totally demoralized, mooning around her apartment.

Several hours later, the happy tune of her phone rang and she stared at it in uncertainty. Humphrey’s caller ID face stares at her through the phone screen.

She wasn’t sure she wanted to speak to him but she eventually decided to answer at the third round of ringing.

‘Hey Bae’, his warm tenor pulled at her.

Her curt reply of ‘Hello Humphrey’ wasn’t as warm as usual.

‘I missed you.’ He said. ‘How was your day?’

‘Really? *you lying cheat, go on, sell me another one, she muttered silently in her head* but her lips uttered a very curt and polite ‘Fine, thank you.’

‘Are you busy?’ ‘You sound distracted,’ he asked.

‘No am here.’

‘Good. You sound tired though. Just called to kiss you goodnight. Be seeing you tomorrow at the party.’ He hung up.

Tess barely slept well. Half of her night was spent tossing thoughts around in her head, wondering if she should bother going to the party or not.

She hated confrontations but she needed to get to the bottom things. The lying cheat.

To be continued…Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

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