We were in the same office, Eric and I. He said he was going through marital problems, so he came to work looking like a man without peace. He confided in me, and one evening when everyone was gone, he cried on my lap and said he was scared of going back home. I stayed with him in the office until it was 9 p.m. He had two kids with his wife. I told him that, for the sake of the kids, he should go back home.

I walked him to the edge of the road and waited until he got a car home. He called when he got home. He didn’t say a thing. He wanted me to hear his wife ranting and insulting him. It was so bad. I texted, “Please get help before it’s too late.”

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He didn’t text back. When he came to work the next day, we talked. Again, we didn’t go home early. When we were parting, he hugged me so tight and said I felt like home. I was sad for him. I was falling for him or for the wreckage he was going through. I didn’t know which was which.

We started talking about sex one day, and he said he hadn’t done it since the birth of their second child, who was two years old. I screamed, “For that long? Then why are you married if you can’t afford sex in your own marriage?” He answered, “This should tell you what I’m going through.”

One weekend, he visited my place, and that was when everything started. He hadn’t proposed to me, and I hadn’t accepted that he was my boyfriend, but we got intimate that day, and it was the first of many to come. He started smiling again. There were rainbows and hope in his eyes when we met in the morning. He said he had found happiness again, knowing very well he was coming to work to meet me.

One day, Eric didn’t come to work. His phone was also off. I called all day and even texted. I was worried. All day, I watched my phone, hoping he was going to call. “Or has his wife finally succeeded in ending things for him?” I asked myself. I told some of my colleagues to go and look for him after work. I went home broken and worried.

The next morning, I came to work, and everyone was looking at me. From reception to the stairs until I got to the office, something felt eerily off. Immediately I sat down, my office phone rang. It was our HR. She said, “Come to the MD’s office. There’s an issue.”

I got there and saw Eric’s wife seated in front of the MD with tears in her eyes. She turned, looked at me, and started screaming, “So it’s you. God will punish you for doing this to your fellow woman. You’re a woman. You’ll one day marry, and everything you’re making me go through will come to you threefold.”

I shrank. I asked what was happening, and before the HR could speak, this woman showed Eric’s phone, showing everyone the photos we’d exchanged, the chats, and all the naughty things we’d talked about. “This is what the problem is,” she screamed. “You’re the reason there’s no peace in my marriage. You think I can’t find you. You’ll pay for this.”

They didn’t hold her. They didn’t ask her to lower her voice because it was an office. She was left unrestrained to say whatever she wanted. Our HR asked, “What happened? Why are you doing this with Eric?” Our MD was quiet through it all. I couldn’t defend anything. I was guilty beyond measure. Our MD said, “Take your leave. Sort this out before you come back.”

I left the office with tears in my eyes. It looked like everyone knew, and they were all looking at me. I left the office, telling myself I wouldn’t come back again. I wished the earth would open and swallow me up. I heard from Eric five days later. He apologised profusely and said his wife had stolen his phone and he had left home because of that.

He also didn’t go back to the office again. I didn’t send a resignation letter. When the time was due for me to go back, I simply didn’t go again. I went back home to my parents to cool off for a while. I kept asking why I got myself into such a situation. My head became heavier. My spirit took flight.

A month after I’d left the office, Eric’s wife called again. She rained curses. I apologised. She said the apology should turn into fire and consume me. I blocked her. I haven’t heard from Eric again. I learned he got the divorce that he wanted. He also didn’t go back to the office again.

Three years later, and I’m still unemployed. I’ve exhausted my savings and am currently living on the resources of my parents. I get an interview and do very well, but they won’t call me. My last interview was a disaster. I got there a whole hour before the interview. I sat for almost two hours before they told me the person coming to do the interview had an emergency, so the interview wasn’t going to happen.

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They promised they were going to call me, but they never did. This was a job a friend linked me to. Days ago, she told me they had picked someone else. I’ve started seeing a dark hand at play in my life. This can’t be normal. I’m a very beautiful and smart woman. My family looks up to me to save them from poverty, so they invested heavily in me. Now I’m the one relying on them.

I don’t know what to do again. I don’t know what prayers I have to offer again. I don’t know how sorry I should be before all this goes away. I don’t even have a boyfriend. Men see me, and they laugh. I don’t know what makes them laugh. Maybe I appear as a joke in their eyes. I’m sorry. I regret going after someone’s husband. In my next life, this will never happen to me. If you’re reading this, kindly pray for me. I need grace and favour because it’s hard where I am.

—Efe

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