GIGOLO

A STORY BY LATEEFAH ADEWUNMI JUMAH – LAJFINGERS

EPISODE THREE

Jameelah couldn’t stop staring at her husband. She was more than flummoxed by his mindset.

As soon as she got a grip on herself, the first thing that came out of her mouth was a question.

“Are you seriously going to reject the job offer?”

“Of course yes. Did you think I was joking? I’m never going to accept a job of 40k, never!” He repeated and she burst into laughter to his surprise.

“What’s funny?” He asked, staring hard at her.

“Ridwan, your shallow-mindedness is what is funny. In fact, it’s more than ridiculous …..”

“Are you seriously talking to me like that?” He charged at her.

“Don’t even try to intimidate me!” She flared back. “How can a jobless person refuse a job offer because of low payment? Is that even palatable to the ear? You’ve not had any earnings since we got married. I understood and continued to feed you because you told me that your search for a job has been futile. Now there’s a job and you’re telling me you won’t accept it? Can you listen to yourself?”

“I’m not going to accept a job of 40k. It’s a big slap on my status as a graduate ….”

“Oh, really? But it’s not a big slap on your status for a woman to be feeding you, right?”

“How many months have you fed me?” He charged at her and his question made her speechless for the second time. 

 “Answer my question now. How many months have you fed me?” He repeated shamelessly and her mouth was completely sealed.

He hissed loudly and continued.

“You’ve only fed me for one month and you’re complaining and displaying arrogance. Some other women have fed their husbands for several years yet they don’t complain or display arrogance towards them. Such women are women of substance. They can’t even stand up when their husbands are talking. They would go on their knees to serve him food and even say thank you after he finishes eating their food. When their husbands don’t eat their food, they cry and apologise for whatever might have caused it. You have only fed me for one month and you’re displaying this level of arrogance and disrespect? This is why some men don’t take care of their wives once they make it because the wife had made their lives unbearable while they were struggling. See, men only remember the woman that is there for them during their struggling days. You better treat me well so that I can take care of you when I make it. I’m still going to make it, o. I’m going to make it real big so don’t ever look down on me. Calculate everything you’ve spent on me and I’ll double it, no, I’ll triple it for you when I make it,” he replied and her mouth remained wide open as tears cascaded her cheeks.

He left the house to God knows where while she cried her eyes out. Now it dawned on her that she’d made the most wrong decision of her life. Her eyes couldn’t stop shedding tears of anguish. She asked herself if she was going to continue like that. It shouldn’t have been her. She thought. 

Her late mother and herself struggled so much till her mother passed away and left only her. She was the only child of her mother. Her father had other children but they barely got in touch with one another. Both her parents were paupers during their lifetime with no property left behind for their children. She assumed the responsibilities of an adult very early in life, catering for herself without any help. And it was quite unfortunate that she opened her eyes under no form of duress and ended up marrying a leech, a freeloader and a gigolo. 

Wasn’t she supposed to at least marry a man who could take care of her? She wouldn’t even mind if the man didn’t take care of her personal needs. If he was only able to provide for the home, then she would supplement it with her own hard work since she’d always been a hardworking self-reliant woman. But now, she married a totally irresponsible man who had no sense of duty. How could a man, a married man who should be a breadwinner, reject a job because of low payment? Is low payment not better than nothing? And it wasn’t as if he had any job before. How could a man be so comfortable with being fed by his wife? Her head had a series of disturbing thoughts flying through it and her tears poured nonstop. 

He wasn’t even remorseful but prideful. He still had the nerves to tell her that some other women feed their husbands with respect and honour, gosh! That was the height of shamelessness. And for the first time since she agreed to marry him, she regretted her decision.

After giving herself a nice cry, she dried her tears and decided to report him to his eldest sibling. Something had to be done about it, and fast too. She picked up her phone and called the man, informing him that she would visit him the next day. The man asked if there was no problem and she replied with no. 

As a good wife that she wanted to be, she still made dinner after putting her emotions in check. He got back from wherever he went and still ate. He only told her he would compensate her when he made it. She shook her head and smiled wryly.

The following day, she was sceptical about telling him that she wanted to visit his brother. He would definitely know that she wanted to report him and wouldn’t allow her to go. So she told him she wanted to have her hair done which was true anyway. And from the salon, she would visit her brother-in-law. 

After her session at the salon, she proceeded to her brother-in-law’s electronic shop. The man welcomed her warmly and sent one of his workers to get a soft drink for her. She smiled and thanked him. While trying to make herself comfortable as she was told, she sat down and sipped her drink, waiting patiently for her brother-in-law to be less busy. He was attending to customers when she got there.

A few minutes later, the man came to sit down but Jameelah was too shy to start a conversation. 

The man, being an elder with wisdom, noticed that her face was pregnant with worries and words. He urged her to be free and tell him whatever it was that she wanted to tell him. This made her open up and she explained everything to him without leaving anything unsaid. In fact, she started from when they met and how she’d been feeding him right from that time. After her narration, her brother-in-law heaved a deep sigh.

His sigh made Jameelah tremble but she kept quiet.

“I’m sorry about your experience. I’m really very sorry,” the man started with an apology which moved Jameelah to tears.

“I’m sorry for allowing any woman to marry that jobless brother of mine ….”

“Has he always been like that?” Jameelah asked with a sniff. 

“Hmmmmmmm! Let me say I didn’t know he would become an irresponsible husband. But Ridwan has always been a freeloader ….”

“Wow!” Jameelah shook her head.

“Yes. He has always been a freeloader. We lost our parents at a very tender age. As you know, I’m the eldest with five of them behind me. I was in SS 2 when both our parents died on the same day in a car crash ….”

“Hmmmmmmm! Ridwan told me about it. I’m sorry about that. May Allah forgive their shortcomings,” Jameelah prayed.

“Aamin. Thanks dear. After our parents’ demise, I had to drop out of school in order to work and earn money to cater for my siblings. Our parents left a four bedroom face-to-face apartment so accommodation was out of our problem. But feeding and school fees were still a big deal so I had to sacrifice my education for my younger ones.” (Kudos to every first child out there. You guys are the best 👍).

“Hmmm!” Jameelah shook her head. She was just hearing that story for the first time.

“I got a job as a sales boy in an electronic shop in Lagos. My parents’ house was in our village so I left my siblings there and came to Lagos to hustle. And my life took a beautiful turn. My boss didn’t only take me as a worker, he took me as his brother especially when I proved myself to be a trustworthy worker. He was equally empathetic when he knew my story. Even though I was only meant to work and get paid, I learnt the rudiment of selling electronics in the process and that was when my foot was placed on the path I’m treading now …..”

Jameelah squeezed her face at this juncture, she wondered what she was supposed to do with the man’s personal story when she only came to report his brother.

“My boss paid me as and when due,” he continued. “In fact, he constantly gave me foodstuffs to send home to my siblings and I’ll forever be grateful to him. I started fending for my siblings with my salary. And after five years of working for my boss, I opened my own electronic shop with the help of my boss. He stocked my first goods for me and I only paid him when I sold the goods. Subsequently, I used my money to stock my shop and business was good. With the proceeds from my business, I sponsored my five siblings through school and they all graduated from higher institutions of learning. I’m telling you all this for you to understand why I said Ridwan has always been a freeloader. Let me ask you a question ..”

“Please go ahead, sir ..”

“Okay. If you have a sibling who’s feeding, clothing and paying your school fees, what would you do for that sibling in return?” 

“Sir, if I have a sibling who’s feeding, clothing and paying my school fees, whenever I have the chance, I’ll also relieve that sibling of their burden …”

“How?”

“Well, let’s say I’m in school and couldn’t really assist that sibling from school, whenever school is on break, I’ll go to my sibling’s house and help around the house. I’ll assist them with chores; cooking, sweeping, washing of clothes and everything possible. If my sibling has a shop, I’ll assist them in the shop. All in all, I’ll make sure I relieve that helper of their burden whenever I have the chance. Even though nothing I do could be compared to their help, at least, I can do that much for someone who’s sacrificing a lot for me ….”

“May your life never experience tribulation,” her brother-in-law prayed heartily for her. She responded to the question as he expected. 

“Aamin and yours too. Thanks.”

“Your response is very beautiful!  Giving back is expected from someone who’s receiving favour from another because to whom much is given, much is expected. But my dear, Ridwan was totally irresponsible. The three siblings that followed me are women. Ridwan is our second son. He couldn’t live with our female siblings in their husbands’ houses so he mostly lived with me. I got married just three years ago because I was busy shouldering their responsibilities while totally putting my life on hold. I rented a self contained apartment in Lagos before I got married and took Ridwan in after his secondary education before he gained admission into the university. My brother and I lived alone and it was expected that my younger brother would take care of the house while I went out in search of money. My dear, Ridwan was so irresponsible that I was the one who cooked, cleaned and did everything around the house …” Jameelah burst into tears at this juncture. 

“Why didn’t you tell me all these? Why did you allow me to marry him?” She cried.

“I’m sorry. Like I told you, I overlooked his irresponsibility, thinking all the things he neglected were chores which weren’t necessarily the job of a man. I didn’t realise on time that his freeloading attitude was what made him neglect the chores because as someone receiving favours from his older brother, it doesn’t speak well that he won’t have any assistance to render to that older brother. The only thing he knew how to do was take. He was never willing to give anything in return. I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you all this. But as someone seeking to marry a man, you could have asked his siblings about his character. Not everyone will tell you the truth but make sure you don’t ask one person …”

“I was aware of his freeloading attitudes …”

“Really? So why did you go ahead and marry him?”

“I thought he would change ..” she cried.

“Wow! It’s a pity. His change is really in God’s hand. I seriously pray he changes. Ridwan, chai, his irresponsibility stinks. I usually leave home early and I love home-cooked food so I would cook for two. I laboured for him financially, I still laboured for him physically …”

“Such a shameless human!” Jameelah was disgusted. 

“Yes, it only takes shamelessness for anyone to act the way he’s acting. When I returned from work in the evening, I would meet the house more dirty than when I left it. Dirty floor and dirty plates in the kitchen sink without Ridwan lifting a finger to wash them. He slept all day and watched TV if there’s power supply. Even when he entered school and came for holidays, his attitudes were the same. Anytime I complained about his attitude, he would ask me if I was trying to overwork him because I was feeding him and paying his school fees.”

“Entitlement!” Jameelah mumbled.

“Thank you! Entitlement at its peak. You know he feels he’s my responsibility and that he doesn’t owe me anything in return because I’m only doing my duty … but wait a minute, am I his parent? Did I give birth to him? Wasn’t I just doing my own for God’s sake? It’s sad that when people receive from you on a daily basis, they start believing that it’s their right to receive from you, hence, they become ungrateful.”

“Sad!”

“Sad indeed. Even children must be responsible towards their parents even though it’s their rights to receive from their parents. Despite that, they have to be responsible in return and be appreciative. Not to talk of sibling to sibling favour.”

“Haaaaaaaaaaa! Why is Ridwan like that?”

“My dear, I don’t know. My other siblings are not like him. His immediate younger brother is a very responsible and appreciative young man. Whenever he visits my house, he does the chores, wash my car and even cook. And he’s also a man like Ridwan. He never told me I overworked him because I paid his school fees the way Ridwan, who is not even responsible, did.”

“My God!” Jameelah lamented. 

“My dear, when I got married, I only allowed Ridwan to visit my house and not spend the night. I can’t even imagine him giving my wife problems. He would most likely eat, and do all sorts and expect my wife to clean up after him …”

“You’re very wise for doing that, sir,” Jameelah complimented him.

“I have to do it. I know the kind of irresponsible brother that I have. He loves enjoying other people’s favour and shutting the door of his own favour. Using your physical strength to assist people who are always there for you costs nothing yet he chose to be irresponsible. The most annoying thing is that he doesn’t even know he’s doing something bad. I tried to speak to him about it so many times but he always picked on it and asked if he was bothering me so he could leave my house. His character is sickening …”

“Haaaaaaaaaaa!” Jameelah cried. “Am I not in trouble like this?”

“My dear, I’m telling you all these because I see you as my younger sister …”

“If you see me as your younger sister, you wouldn’t have allowed me to marry him in the first place,” she cried.

“I’m sorry. But like I told you earlier, I didn’t know he would become an irresponsible husband. I didn’t know at all. When he wanted to get married without a job, I asked him what he’d used to sustain his home and he said he had some money saved up. I believed him …”

“He didn’t have any money saved up. I’ve been feeding him. Okay, the only money I could say he contributed before we got married was the house rent. Our house rent is 100k. He said he didn’t have much so I contributed 60 thousand naira while he added 40k. That 40k has only been his contribution to this marriage yet he said he couldn’t take up a job of 40k because it’s too small. Is 40k not something? Ain’t we going to eat and do other things from it? Why is he shallow minded and proud over nothing? What have I gotten myself into?” She cried. 

“Please don’t cry!” Her brother-in-law tried to comfort her. 

“Why won’t I cry?” She cried again. “I have made a big mistake. Please help me talk to him. Please talk to him, o. Thank God nothing has bound us as of now. I’m going to leave him if he doesn’t take that job,” she threatened.

Ridwan’s brother heaved a deep sigh.

“My dear, I’ll talk to him. I hope he listens. I’ve referred him for at least five jobs which he turned down because of low payment ….”

“Haaaaaaaaaaa! So this isn’t his first time? I’m doomed, oooo,” she clasped her hands on her head and cried. “I’m really doomed. I’m doomed,” Jameelah shed hot tears. 

To be continued.

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LATEEFAH ADEWUNMI JUMAH – LAJFINGERS