My stepfather as at the time I grew up to know him is a man of God who serves God day and night. He is a very gentle and well-behaved man. Until one day, my mother told me he had a woeful past that he is still suffering from the consequences. He was nurtured and raised up by his aunt in the paternal side.
His biological parents involved in a fatal accident that led to their death. He was just at a tender age with his older sister who was only two years older. His aunt, Mrs. Olunloyo Grace, had no children but she was married. So, she took her cousins as her own children. His aunt was a rich woman and she spoilt the children with her wealth. Then, he was just a ready homemade spoilt child growing up in one of the old streets in Ibadan. He related to bad friends who are nothing but goons and he was influenced by their bad attitudes. He started leaving the house without informing anyone about his whereabouts. He took alcoholic drinks every minute of his life. Of course, cigarettes became his favorite diet; he arrives home very late in the night. He had no respect for anyone and nobody could talk to him to change his ways. His youth life was very awful but to him he was living his life to the fullest.
During his early twenties, he got back home drunk one day. It was very late at night. Moving unconsciously, he went straight to the housemaid’s room and raped her. She refused to tell her boss with the fear of probably being chased out. Aftermath, what was kept as secret became known to everyone when the housemaid began to show the symptoms of pregnancy.
By then she confessed and Niyi did not deny. Later, his aunt concluded that she would accept the baby but would not allow him to marry her. Why had she said this? She knew the kind of lady the housemaid was. If two wrongs cannot make a right, definitely, two bad companions cannot bring forth a good result. On the other hand, Niyi refused and insisted on marrying the housemaid. He married the lady and both of them were being taken good care of by his aunt.
He had no specific job, he was asked to further his education but he refused. All of a sudden, he turned a new leaf but his wife made him know peace. It was by this time he married my mother who had to keep a distance from him because his first wife had started acting like a witch. She even trained her children to hate their father.. life became more difficult for him when the aunt died. Now, he is seriously ill with diabetes. He cannot walk and hardly eat. The first wife doesn’t allow anyone to take good care of him and she herself is not taking good care of him. He had made a mistake which he is now regretting.
Lesson Learned
I have learned that the kind of wife I have determines how I will live the rest of my life. Behind every successful man is a woman and behind every unsuccessful man is also a woman.
About The Writer
Adebisi Babatunde Ademola is an actor and a math amateur. He is also an aspiring Mathematics Educationist in the Premier University of Ibadan.