Chronicles of real estate investors: Crunch Time
She sat across from me, with the most intent gaze an eye could hold. I felt the intensity and burn of her gaze on my skin, as I was head bent downwards, couldn’t bring myself to look at her. The elephant in the room was so large it could fill the entire room. Deafening silence gulped the entire room, save for the ticking of the wall clock.
We waited, seating in the law offices of Sandra’s lawyer. Dotun my lawyer was running late, and every minute it took him to get here felt like eternity.
Sandra: You disgust me!!!! Utterly! (I heard the shrieking sound of Sandra’s voice as it came hurled across from the table to me.) That you would do this, that you would tear up our family, tear up everything, that you would make a mess of everything we had, everything we shared, our sleepless nights, our labour, our toil, that you would toss it all for a filthy maid. You despicable being! I want everything!!! Every god damn thing!!!Plus the kids. I want it all, I ain’t doing no halves with you…
Her lawyer and friend Chisom tried to calm her down and get her to pull herself together, but her ranting was endless, as it had been since she caught me pants down with the maid in our matrimonial bed. Let me spare you the sordid details. I could feel her pain, I could try, and so I sat there, like a sheep, quiet, living my nightmare and counting, wondering if the humiliating days and the pain would end. But my guilt and shame made me so numb I just sat there, eating whatever catastrophic dish Sandra dished to me. I didn’t even want to go through with this, but Dotun had said to me that we had no choice. It had come to this because Sandra had left us with no choice. She wasn’t backing down, and she desperately wanted to see me bleed, literally and financially.
Just then Dotun walked in…I subconsciously heaved the loudest sigh of relief even I was startled.
Dotun: My sincerest apologies for being helplessly late. I got caught up…
Chisom: Let’s get right into it. Here are our terms. Sandra’s lawyer Interjected, slipping Dotun documents in a file.
Dotun paused, momentarily, opening the file and reading through, he wore a look on the face that told me all I needed to know about the contents of the documents.
Dotun: This is ridiculous, absolutely preposterous, what you’re asking for is…
I don’t care! I don’t bloody care!!! It’s all of that or nothing. Next time you learn to tuck your dangling, straying, wandering phallus in your pants, where they rightfully belong. I cannot even stand the sight of you. I’m taking everything, the houses, our landed properties, the kids, and we’re walking away, clean, we want nothing to do with you.
“See you in court”, I found myself saying with the calmest voice I could muster. Dotun stood there, shocked, stuttering his objection. That was the first time I spoke since we entered divorce and lawyer negotiations.
Sandra: Oh, that’s how you wanna play it? Alright then, well see you in court, you filthy loser, dirty douchebag… (The curses kept pouring as Chisom her lawyer gathered both their things and scurried them out of the room).
Dotun: Why? Why this whole court thingy? Gosh…
Honestly, I’m over it. Anything to keep her yards from me. This has gone on endlessly, for weeks…Anything to get silence in my head is fine at this point Dotun, honestly.
Dotun: I know man, yea I get it but we were really pushing hard for an out-of-court settlement. Court proceedings…they drag on and on and on, you know how it is, we’ve got our work cut out for us. It’s going to take time and painstaking work. Are you ready to do this?
I just sat there, mindlessly, wondering how I got here, wishing I could find a reset button.