LOVE BINDS. PART TEN. II: REVELATIONS, REVENGE AND REDEMPTION.

"Nsiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii" the mosquito party happening right by her ear woke her up. Her head was pounding, the back of her left arm was burning and the smell of vomit filled her nostrils.

"What the hell?!?!?" she muttered.

It all came back. The several shots of tequila, the entire bottle of Merlot, half the bottle of Grey Goose.....Ishmael...Gerry....Mwila-An....Ishmael...."Aaarggghhhh".

She was in some lodge which a Good Samaritan from the bar had checked her into. The pain in her arm was from the fall by the car on the way to the room. She remembered now, after her discovery at Ishmael's house she drove to the local bar ordered a bottle of wine and here she was.

Waves of nausea hit her and she just managed to make it to the bathroom before she puked her guts out. She stayed in the bathroom for a few minutes staring at herself in the mirror, lost in thought. Staring back at her was a stranger with pale bruised skin, red sunken eyes and a shaggy weave full of dust, blankets and food particles from the puke she slept in. Who would've thought that 26 inches of Peruvian hair could ever look anything but glamorous she thought to herself.

She headed back into the room and checked for her belongings. On the dresser she found her car keys, cellphone, driver’s license and ATM cards. The not so Good Samaritan had carried her handbag and the rest of its contents. A single Louboutin heel fell off the bed, the other one was probably by the car. "Oh well" she sighed.

It was a quiet Sunday morning, the kind where everyone is either still asleep or already at church. Longa turned on the TV and walked to the bathroom to clean up and make herself reasonably presentable. The sound of Kirk Franklin's "First Love" filled the room "ain't it funny....how a chapter can make a story change". Indeed, she thought to herself. How could a single decision open Pandora's Box??? Her friend Grace had been cheating on her husband for years and had successfully gotten away with it.

So Mr Situmbeko was Ishmael's father. What were the odds???

Her mind went back to the memory of him playing with his baby boy decades ago, alas the baby boy had grown into a man she had been ready to divorce her husband for. How could the same genes produce her best and worst experiences?

Life.

"I have to tell him. I'll tell Ishmael about his father and Gerry about Mwila-An then I'll drive to Lusaka and spend some time with Grace till all this blows over" she said out loud. “Yes. That's what I'll do."

A few hours later she pulled up the drive way and stared at her matrimonial home. Gerry was a wealthy man and they were by all standards the Chisamba 'elite'. It was a beautiful house yet in that moment Longa felt like she could've been going to identify a body in the  morgue or anything else similarly unpleasant. She had to hurry and get ready because Gerry would be back from church soon .She wanted to make sure his last image of her was one he'd never forget.

Gerry. They say you know more about a person at the end of the relationship than the beginning. Her husband of five years had not only told the whole Chisamba about the affair and called her entire family to complain but had even reached the extent of testifying in church about how the Lord had exposed a Jezebel in his home. "Fucking hypocrite."

Longa felt the anger rise in her, for years she had been the rich wife everyone pities because of her husband's promiscuity. Everyone knew Gerry had active relations with Chimensemilo's mother, they knew that he had a 'secret' playboy lifestyle in Lusaka yet Longa had handled it gracefully and this is how he paid her back?!?! And Ishmael...how can the person she thought would be her second chance turn out to be her daughters' brother??

Tears began to roll down her face as she did her make-up, her gut had always told her that she and Gerry wouldn't grow old together but nothing could've prepared her for this end.

She heard the gate slide open and watched as Gerry drove in. Longa poured herself a glass of wine and walked to the hallway to receive her husband.

Showtime.

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In Chisamba Gerry was a committed church goer and head of the men's ministry. Today had been a good Sunday, he received sympathetic words of encouragement from the church leadership after service concerning Longa's infidelity. He smiled. His pride could not let society know she had decided to divorce him. He could not be the loser whose wife left him for a younger lover. He would destroy her reputation and make sure she would never recover from it. Then he would 'leave' her.

To make things better, the rodent she had slept with was apparently in love with one of his former bitches who he later found out had been killed some time ago. He felt a tingle in his body, she was a kinky one that one. She was a lawyer, a smart one. For her it was more of the experience than the money which made her one of his favourites because she made him feel young and alive. She liked sexting, S&M and even made them film themselves once. He laughed out loud. Who would've known that he would actually put that video to use one day? God bless her soul.

He drove into his yard and found Longa's car parked in the garage. She hadn't been to the house for a few days.

"Her ass better be here to apologize."

He walked in and found Longa standing in the middle of the hallway with a glass of wine in her hands and a suitcase by her side.

"Hi Gérard."

Dammmmnnnnnn. She looked amazing in that red dress that left nothing to the imagination. How come he had never seen it before? Or maybe he hadn't noticed...no...You couldn't miss that dress. He remembered the phrase one of his UNZA bitches used nonstop. "On fleek". Yes. Longa looked on fleek. How did she manage to be so in control and beautiful even with her world crashing around her?

Wait. Gérard. She said Gérard. She only called him by his full name when she was angry...He peeled his eyes from her body and looked at her face...oh yes. Definitely angry. Surprisingly Gerry didn't think he'd ever seen her more beautiful than she was in the moment.

"Well look what the cat dragged in! If it isn't my generous wife"

"Gérard spare me the sarcasm, I would've preferred not to have to see you at all but there's something you need to know."

"That you're sorry? You better be, there are very few men pano pa chalo especially mu Zed that can tolerate a barren wife and still give her a lavish lifestyle. Yet you still chose to pay me back by cheating on me!! With a little useless boy!!"

He was losing his cool. He couldn't help it.  He hated to admit it but she had not only bruised his ego but also hurt him emotionally. His mind went back to the innocent college girl he asked to be his wife, the woman who had been with him in some of his hardest times. Now she wanted to leave him for a young boy, a pothead at that. How could she??? He was the cheat. He was the heart breaker. Gérard Mandanda Chisanga saw himself as many things but until Ishmael he'd never seen himself as replaceable.

He watched as Longa calmly downed her glass of wine, gently and seductively put it aside then slowly walked up to him till her face was inches away from him.

This was all getting too sexy for him and he consciously forced himself to maintain his cool.

"The only thing I'm sorry about is wasting five of my best years on a pig like you, I should've left you when you cheated on me with the whore that mothered your son"

No longer sexy. He felt the rage pour through him as she turned, got her suitcase and began to walk towards the door.

"Mothering a child is something you wouldn't know about hule iwe!!! All you know is opening your legs for small boys!!"

Longa turned, faced him and smiled.

"About that. Before I had the misfortune of marrying you I had a beautiful baby girl. I should've invested myself in her not you. That is my biggest regret. You will hear from my lawyers when I'm ready to proceed with the divorce. Goodbye Gerry."

Gerry watched in stunned silence as his wife walked out of the door and out of his life.

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I had been in isolation since Gerry dropped that bomb on me. I don't know what offended me most between the video and the emojis in his text. Bison. The love of my life was in a full-fledged affair with a married man. I regretted reading all the messages in her phone and they flashed in my mind accompanied by Gerry's face and laughing emojis. Mandy A.K.A Mandanda.

"Bison why ai????Of all people???" I said out loud.

Maybe she didn't know he was married. Impossible. Impossible. Gerry or Mandy as she called him had the classic married man structure and dress code.

"So you slept with Bison's mom and Bison was sleeping with her step father?!?"

I had been talking to myself a lot lately, maybe I was finally losing it again. It was long overdue anyway.

A knock on the door disrupted my thoughts. People. I seriously was not in the mood.

"Ishmael?"

Longa.

God. Why couldn't this woman leave me alone?! I got out of bed and tiptoed to the window to peep. She wore a jacket over what looked like an extremely badass red dress. Damn this woman was crazy! Even after finding out I was in love with her daughter she still decided to show up at my house in seduction mode.

"Ishmael seriously has an affinity for crazy women" I whispered.

Great. I was now talking to myself about myself.

"Ishmael I know you're in there. I need to tell you something and I won't leave till I do. I have a terrible hangover and I need to drive to Lusaka so it would be great if that was soon so I could hit the road"

OK so she wasn't staying. I looked around my tiny house, it was a sty. I hadn't cleaned in days and I wasn't about to. I opened the window nearest to the door and stuck my head out.

“Hi there." I put on my best fake smile "Sorry I seem to have lost my keys somewhere in here so I can't open the door. Watsup?"

"You look a mess Ishmael and you've lost a lot of weight. Are you okay?" she looked worried.

"I'm good thanks" I said, still smiling.

She sighed.

“Anyways, I didn't plan on saying this through a window but nonetheless you need to know this. I gave you brief details on how I had Mwila-An but I didn't tell you who her father was. I'm really sorry Ishmael. Mwila-An was your sister. I connected the dots and.........."

I didn't hear what she said after that. She spoke for a bit longer, walked over to me and kissed my forehead then left.

All this time the only normal I had in my mess of a life had been my parents. Now Longa was telling me my father was a pedophile. Bison was my half-sister. This was too much.

I sat on the couch and burst into laughter. How could one person have such a fucked up life?!?

I must've sat there for hours because when the knock on the door jolted me out of my thoughts it was dark.

Must be Longa again. You know what? What the hell, I’ll let her in. I'll let her sleep over. At least I'm not related to her. I dragged myself to the door and opened it.

Vans trainers, dark jeans and a baggy shirt. Huh? Longa in Vans?? I raised my eyes and found myself looking directly into the eyes of Mwila-An Kapapula.

"Ek se .I know this is super weird. I can explain.  Can I come in?