Lies From Pretty Lips

CONFUSED

CONFUSED

AKINWALE

'I hate the smell of grease,  that's why I hardly go to the mechanic's shop. And the way the parade about in that dirty overall is so nauseating, you won't catch me dead there.

Arinola had complained to me one day when I'd asked why she hadn't taken her faulty car to the repair shop. I'd taken up the responsibility of taking her car to the repair shop for routine maintenance or repairs whenever it got faulty.

"But Arinola as a car owner, you have to do these things. You should know one or two about car faults and you know you need to go to a mechanic once in a while" her friend who had been sitting with us had put in also.

'I love riding cars, I just don't like the repairing aspect' that had been Arinola's defence that day and it was understandable because most women didn't care about the mechanical aspect of their car, that was the job of the mechanic. So why had I not questioned it deeply when a few months back, I'd come home to her fixing my car?!!!

Arinola, the one who only cared about riding cars, the one who hates the smell of grease fixing a car?!

'I know a thing or two about fixing glitches in cars. It was just a minor issue and I've fixed it. It was really nothing serious,  the car is fine now' She'd said that day and I had gone along with it like the idiot that I was.

Then I began to think of the other differences, the odd behaviour she had picked up when we got married.

'Don't wake me up that early next time, why would I want to get up that early and what am I exercising for? I have a great body already' She would say to me while we were dating. Those mornings when I woke her up to work out with me in the gym.

All of a sudden, when we got married, my wife was suddenly pro fitness. And once again I'd gone along with it. Gone along with it stupidly and blindly without thinking about it.

That day I'd questioned her when she got back from that morning run and her reply had been surprising. 

'Are you kidding me?' She'd said. " I can't go a day without running or at least doing some sort of work out in the morning. And why would I stay in bed till ten o clock? That's the height of laziness' She'd continued. And I had stared back at her confused because the woman I'd dated never got up early and hated any form of exercise.

And then the other oddities that I'd noticed but had let slide as usual.

Arinola loved wigs and makeup till after marriage. While we were dating,  she had been pro make up till we got married. After our lavish wedding, she'd trashed every makeup item she owned.

'Makeup was made to enhance beauty,  I know I'm beautiful. I just want to look more beautiful besides, you like it when I put on red lipstick' she'd said defensively when I'd asked her why she needed to put on makeup every time. That had been before we got married of course because after our wedding when I'd asked her why she was trashing her makeup, her reply had been totally different.

'Why would I want all these things on my face, I don't even know what this one is used for.  Contour what, what's that and why is it so pink? What is it used for?' She who had bought them had asked me that morning.

'Baby must you watch soccer, I want to watch my favourite soap first.  Let's not watch football today please baby' Arinola would always complain whenever I wanted to watch soccer, till we got married of course. Then she became my soccer buddy.

'I can't miss this match for anything in this world, arsenal is going down tonight I can bet my life on it' I loved it of course but it had been strange at first.

'I'm going to cook Egusi soup that will make you bite off your fingers. You ain't see nothing, just sit down and let me work my magic' pre-wedding Arinola loved cooking.

'Cook?  Why don't we get a cook instead' Post wedding Arinola, despised cooking so I'd hired a cook. This was not a problem but I'd often wondered how one went from loving something with a passion to hating it with equal passion in a matter of months.

'Oh my God,  I love you so much. I've always wanted this pair of Louboutin, I love heels especially Louboutins and Prada

'The shoe looks nice but I prefer sneakers and your Timberlands are killing me. Can I have a pair of that instead?'

'What do mean I moan like a pornstar during sex,  I'm not a screamer please, you better stop teasing me'

'You know I don't need to scream out loud to convince you that you're hitting right.  I'm not very loud, but you know my face is very expressive'

How could I have ignored the differences, there were so many?

All the clues were right in my face and I ignored them foolishly. The woman I'd dated was obviously not the woman I'd married. They shared the same physical features, but it ended there. They were polar opposites and had nothing else in common.

Shit! Then it dawned on me, I turned to her.

"The morning after we had sex for the first time after our marriage, you weren't crying because of your period were you?" I asked.

"Wale...I don't want to talk about that please..." She looked away from my gaze nervously.

"I need you to reply to me now and don't bother lying to me," I said icily.

She took in a deep breath "No, no Wale. It wasn't that time of the month" she replied.

She was a motherfûcking virgin! Of course, I'd noticed that she was unusually tight but I'd brushed the thought away because we hadn't had sex in a long time, so I assumed that was enough explanation for her tightness.

What kind of sick people were they?  Playing with my head like that. She, her sister and her damned parents

God, I can't think, I can't even think at all. Arinola was a gold-digging bitch who had deceived me, fooled me into marrying her twin.

"Where's your sister, where is Arinola?" I asked.

"I don't know, she left even before we got married" she whispered as tears welled up in her eyes.

The fake tears irritated me because I was sure she was playing me again. She was just as bad as her sister. "Get out of my house this instant," I said calmly, she needs to leave now before I do something I will regret.

"Wale, please. You have every right to be mad but please listen to me. I'm sorry" I cut her off.

"Get out now before I lose my shit,  I don't want to freaking see you again.  Get the hell out of my house before I have you arrested!" I yelled.

She shook her head as she walked away.

I clenched my fists and punched the damn wall till I bled.

What the hell!!! where the hell do I even start from?

I've been married to an imposter for months.

I still can't process anything, I didn't even know what to think.