The Mistress

"What nonsense is this?' The question came from the restless twenty-one-year-old Yolanda Nyoni. With one hand on her hip, the other held a wade of money. She tapped her stiletto-clad foot on the floor as she furiously waved the wade of money to the face of the man who sat on the edge of the double bed while pulling on his tie.

'It's the money you asked for.' Thirty-four-year-old Gershom Chomba replied sheepishly cursing his luck.

He had hoped she would not bring up the topic of the money until they had done the deed and he had had his fill. It would have been easier to appease her with sweet nothings after a steamy session.

'Mxxxtchw. What do you take me for? I do not tolerate nonsense,' she said and threw the wade of money to his face. The force behind the throw caused the crisp hundred kwacha notes to break free from the paper clip that held them together. The notes fluttered in the air before floating down to the tiled motel room floor. 'This is two thousand short.'

Gershom heaved a frustrated sigh and looked up at the curvy girl in the sexy, midnight blue baby doll, crotchless lingerie. The moment she had taken off her sexy, black trench coat to reveal the sheer see-through baby doll lingerie, desire had flared up in his body. He itched to touch her curvy and moonlight yellow body and bury himself deep inside her tight channel.

'I know.' He had expected this reaction except he had not thought she would demand the money as soon he walked into the room. Throughout the day, she had been on his mind. Earlier in the day, while the whole world slept, he had woken up to an erotic video of her 'playing' with herself while calling out his name with passion-filled eyes. The lewd video had left the thirty-four-year-old father of three sexually frustrated.

Unfortunately for his wife, who just happened to have stirred in her sleep at that very moment, she became the receiver of his lust evoked by another woman.

Moreover, during the day, his phone had pinged nonstop with more of her lascivious pictures. By the time, he was clocking off for the day and heading towards their usual place of rendezvous, his lust for her was already evident in his slacks.

'Well?'

'I am strapped for cash at the moment.'

He was a family man. He had a wife and three hungry mouths to feed. There were mounting debts at work and employees who wanted their salaries. As it already was, this yearlong affair had already taken its toll on him and his relationship with his wife and family. What had been merely fun and games had slowly begun turning into a headache. On one hand, he had his nagging wife while on the other hand was his girlfriend who thought him to be a walking- talking ATM. Her demands were getting ridiculous by the day.

Nevertheless, as ridiculous and preposterous as Yolanda's demands were, she was worth it. In her prime, she had a youthful glow to her smooth skin and had the perfect curves. In all his thirty-four years on earth, he had had a taste of all types of women, his wife included, to him; Yolanda topped the list by a mile.

'And how the hell is that any of my business?' Yolanda snapped.

'Come on baby,' Gershom said standing up. He picked up the notes from the floor, reached for her purse, and placed the notes neatly in it. He then walked over to her and pulled her closer to him. 'Just bear with me for a little while. I promise I will get you the rest of the money by the end of this week.'

He drew her closer to him. At this moment, all he wanted was to have her naked body pinned under him and hear her moan out in pleasure as their sweaty bodies rubbed together. Gliding his hands over her smooth, soft, taut and firm skin, the heat from her body excited him more.' I promise I will give you double what you asked for.'

Meshing his lips to her, he left her with no room to argue. When she finally managed to shove him away, she breathlessly asked if he meant to keep his promise.

Nodding, he whispered a bunch of nonsensical words into her ears, while backing away to the bed. As his mouth sort hers, Yolanda's tiny fingers reached for his shirt. Caught in the wave of passion, she ripped the shirt apart and pushed him to the bed.

Inwardly, Gershom was ecstatic that he finally managed to appease her. As he fell back on the bed, he was pleased to note that her eyes were glazed with arousal.

Taking the lead, Yolanda straddled him and trailed kisses on his chest. Her hot breath on his skin had him closing his eyes and groaning out in pleasure. Gershom slid his hands up her hips and tugged at her pants to pull them down. He wanted the barrier between them off, once and for all, he was at the end of his patience. He thought if he waited any longer, he would explode. Sensing his impatience Yolanda halted his actions shaking her head.

'Not yet,' she whispered in his ears, her breath hot against his skin, exciting her more.

'I can't hold on any longer,' he growled through his teeth.

She smiled against his mouth, captured his lips into a sensual kiss as she glided herself against his phallus. Gershom closed his eyes enjoying the sensations passing through his body. With her hands firmly pressed against his chest, she didn't stop dry humping him until her intimate juices coated the length of his bulge in his pants and she was breathless.

Yolanda grabbed his hands and held them above his head. Reaching in her bag, she took out a pair of blue padded cuffs and strapped him to the metal headboard.

His shaft twitched and dripped with pre-cum in anticipation at what she had planned. One of the reasons why he loved her this much was because she was a freak in bed. He loved her unrestrained wild bedroom antics, unlike his wife who only conformed to 'godly' ways.

Yolanda brought her lips to his and devoured them until he was breathless while her hands slid down south. She moved her lips from his mouth, down his hairy chest. With his breath held, his eyes narrowed to slits as he watched her, anticipating her next move.

She first took off his shoes, and then reached for the buckle of his pants. For each inch of skin exposed, she rewarded him with a kiss. By the time he she was done and he was already in his birthday suit and his phallus was standing proud and free, Gershom thought she was the best thing that had ever happened to this world. Each time he was with her, it was better than the first time.

Using his tie, she bound his feet to the bed. As he lay eagle spread on the bed, watching her twerk her body for him, he did not doubt that she was indeed the eighth world wonder. His eighth world wonder.

In a raspy voice, he praised her moves and anticipated more. But just as he was getting all fired up, she turned, picked up her coat from the sofa and began to button up her coat.

'Eh, babez what's going on?'

Yolanda threw him a very innocent smile as she picked up her bag. She told him the services she had provided for him since he had walked into the room were equal to the miserly three thousand he had just given her.

He stared at her in shock. For a second he thought it was a joke until she began to retouch her make up.

'Yolanda... come on...stop joking...'

'But I'm being serious Gershom. From now on, it will cost you a lot for you to have a piece of this.'

'Come on. We can talk about this.'

'Really? Do you have my money? I told you I urgently needed five thousand for my hair and upkeep.'

'....'

Yolanda scoffed shaking her head. 'You know I'm high maintenance and I don't come cheap. If you have failed to maintain me; just tell me I go look for green pastures.'

'Yolie babez come on,' he pleaded pitifully nodding towards his swelled up member. 'I did promise that I will get you something by the end of the week...'

'I heard that one before, last month. I told you I needed four thousand for my weekly grocery shopping and you gave three-five, five hundred short. The other time, you made excuses as well when I asked you to get me the Google Pixel 3 phone.'

'But I just got you the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 a couple of months back!'

Hell, even his wife was still using the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini and she had had it for a few years now. Yolie, on the other hand, and had changed phones twice since they had met.

'I don't like men with penguin hands. I was clear with what I want from you when we started this relationship. And like I said, if you have failed, better I look for someone capable of meeting all my needs.'

Gershom shook his head. He couldn't imagine his Yolie in the arms of another man. He was her first. The fact that she had given to him her purity made him possessive of her. She was his for keeps.

'You are right. A week is too far. How about tomorrow huh? Before noon tomorrow, I will get you that phone you want as well as the 5K.'

'Promise?'

'I promise. Now stop being insensible and untie me. I want you so bad babez.'

'Ok.' She replied, dropped her purse and the coat, walked over to him, and meshed their lips together. What followed for the next few minutes were moans and groans as the two devoured each other's lips as if it was the end of the world. Yolanda used her hands to work her magic on his member but just as he was about to reach his pinnacle, Yolanda abruptly pulled away from him, a smirk on her face.

'Yolie?' he looked up at her dazed. He couldn't trust the smirk on her face.

'Go home Gershom. Call me only when you are man enough to carter to my needs...'

'Yolie...Yolie...Yolanda, this is not funny... Yo......Yolie comes on, you can't leave me like this!'

'My body is not for free.' She replied, grabbed the sexy knee-length coat, and slipped into it. Reaching for her purse, she flipped her waist-length Peruvian weave over her shoulder and when she reached the door, she threw the keys over her shoulder uncaring for where the tiny metallic things landed.

Gershom called out to her to come back but she never did. She closed the door behind her and put the 'DO NOT DISTURB' sign on the door.

'Room 423,' Yolanda called over her shoulders as she stepped out of the elevator and walked past the receptionist's desk. 'Your guest needs your help.'

Before the puzzled receptionist could inquire more, she had already walked past the revolving glass doors leaving behind the echo of her stilettoes and expensive signature perfume. While they were still trying to process, what their regular guest had said, they got a call from one of the rooms complaining about noise disturbance.

The front desk passed the complaint to security and two security personnel headed over to the rooms. Having worked in the hospitality industry for a good number of years they had seen all types of weird stuff, it no longer shocked them. However, seeing one of their regular clients left high and dry with his rod sticking out ready for action was a new one for them.

The female security officer turned her face away and excused herself, the corners of her mouth tugging into a smile.

The male guard thought the girl was heartless to leave a man in this state, and his heart went to the man.

Mortification washed over Gershom Chomba as he watched the face of the bewildered guard. 'Don't just stand there. Find the damn keys!'

'Of course sir.' The guard replied. He reached for the sheets and threw them over him then set off to search for the keys. His female colleague only joined him once he told her their guest was decent enough and it was all right for her to come in. It took them a little over five minutes to find the keys. Grabbing them off the floor near the bathroom, he hurried over to uncuff the poor man.

'Yolanda?' the surprise was unmistakable in the voice of her roommate when she saw her walk through the doors of their extravagantly decorated room which looked more like a luxurious hotel room than a student's dorm room.

'Hey Betty,' Yolanda greeted the girl at the study table. Kicking off her stilettoes, she walked over to her bed, flopped onto the soft mattress, and crossed her arms over her chest while shaking one of her legs impatiently.

'Why are you back so early?' Sofia her other roommate asked looking up from her laptop. 'I thought we wouldn't be seeing you till morning?'

'Mxxxtch. Can you believe that idiot Gershom? He just ruined my night. I think my mood is ruined for the whole week.'

Curious, the voluptuous second-year media and mass communications student Sofia moved from her bed and slumped on Yolanda's bed. 'What happened?'

Reaching in her bag, Yolanda pulled out the 3K and threw it on the bed next to Sofia.

'This doesn't look like 5k. That bastard, what excuse did he give this time?"

Yolanda animatedly narrated to her friends what had transpired with her date. The girls couldn't hold back their laughter by the time she finished narrating the state she had left him in.

'He's such a miser,' Sofia said rubbing her friend's shoulder.' He is lucky he was with you because if I were you, I wouldn't have bothered to inform the front desk. I would have gagged him up, and then called his wife on him the next morning.'

''You are too cruel.' Yolanda chuckled despite her gloomy mood.

'Sorry girlfriend,' Betty said going back to her study desk.' But I did warn you the last time he gave you that flimsy excuse. Let them off once and he will do it again and again until it becomes a habit. What are you going to do now?'

'Take a shower and wash his scent off me.' Yolanda stood up and begun to shed off her clothes. 'Did you leave any food for me?'

'Sorry girlfriend,' Betty replied nodding towards the two crushed Hungry Lion packs and bottles of CocaCola in the bin near the door. The three never cooked or ate from the school's canteen; they either ate out or ordered their meals in. In the corner of the room was an upright fridge with an array of expensive alcoholic drinks rather than food.' We thought you weren't coming so we only bought enough for two. If you are really hungry, I could ask the girls in the next room am sure they cooked something.'

'Forget it. I'm not all that hungry.' Usually, when they went out with Gershom, they would order room service once they had depleted their energy in their steamy trysts.

'Sure?' Sofia asked worriedly.

'I'm too upset to stomach any food. I will take a shower and head to bed.'

'Don't be too upset, I'm sure after today, Gershom will think twice before trying to make a fool of you. If he acts out and decides to break up with you, no worries, you are a pretty girl. It shouldn't be so hard for you to catch the eye of another wealthy man.'

'Well, I need to find someone fast because my finances are dwindling. I still have to pay Benson for the two assignments that are due next week.'

Betty chuckled.' Why do you trouble yourself with paying the guy? You know he fancies you. Just do the needful.'

"Needful? Are you for real? Take a good look at me. All this," she said and ran her down her curvy body. " This body and this face, they were made to be worshipped by real men not some broke and poverty stricken college student who can not offer me any thing apart from love and romance. I cannot intentionally drag myself to poverty. Romance and love will not pay my bills."

Even though the said student Benson was very handsome and almost all the girls dream guy and crush at campus, Yolanda was very decisive in her decision. She had long ago made a decision to never date a student or civil servant or anyone for who depended on his salary to make a living. Yolanda had told herself since she was young she wasn't born to suffer. Stuck all day in the kitchen sweating behind the stove? Nope, that wasn't a life for her. She was born to live the life of a queen. She needed a man with an endless supply of money. For now, she sighed sadly she was stuck with Gershom. Though he didn't have an endless supply of money, at least he provided for her plenty. She hadn't lacked much since she met him. He paid for her fees and footed her bills.

'Who says it's for the long term? At least you will not have to worry about your assignments in the future. That's a good two hundred kwacha served on each assignment,' the short and skinny Betty replied.

'Girlfriend, Betty is right. Why waste money when you can just sail through UNI hassle-free? You should make the first move. Once he's all wrapped around your little finger, we won't have to worry about money for those assignments.'

'Speaking of which, " Betty chirped happily waving her phone in front of Yolanda, "How about you strike now. Look. The third years have a basketball faceoff in an hour. I'm sure Benson would love to see you there."

In a quaint neighbourhood, just before the clock struck one O'clock in the night, a white Honda CRV drove along a brightly lit street and turned down a driveway two houses before the end of the street. The driver, Gershom lost in his thoughts, did not realize that he was the only house that had no power, as opposed to his neighbours' brightly lit yards. After hooting for a while and still not getting any response, he picked up his phone and made a call.

A few meters from him, in their matrimonial bed, his wife, Feggy Chomba lay on top of the bed, snoring loudly. She wore a large grey t-shirt, pulled up on one side exposing her large breast and in the crook of her arm, a baby of a few weeks old and clad in pink lay fast asleep.

The persistent vibration of her phone against her thigh in the pocket of the unflattering, black broomstick skirt she wore woke her up. It was then that she realized she had fallen asleep while breastfeeding her daughter. Peeking at the screen of her phone with sleepy eyes, she frowned at the name.

HEAVEN SENT, the LED screen flashed the name adorned with heart emoticons.

'Gershom,' she said simply, closed her eyes and moved into a comfortable position hoping he wouldn't take long so she could go back to sleep. She had had a long day. With hardly anything to eat in the house, her two eldest kids had been fussy.

'Are you deaf? Did you not hear me hooting at the gate? How long do you expect me to wait out here? What type of wife are you?

In the dark, a doleful smile tugged the corners of Feggy's mouth at the tail end of his tirade. Expecting her husband to speak to her kindly equalled to drawing blood from a stone. 'You are outside the gate? Why?'

'What type of a stupid question is that? Open the gate already.' He barked the order into the phone and hang up.

Feggy stared at the screen puzzled. Had he not told her he would not be coming home earlier in the evening when she had called him at work to find out what time he would be getting home? Moreover, what was he so upset about? Had he been expecting her to be keeping watch at the gate?

Carefully lifting the baby off her arm, she placed her back on the bed and pulled the blanket over her. 'Daddy is home Baby B.' she whispered brushing her lips against her daughter's chubby cheeks; however, her voice was laced with sadness. Bertha, their third child was conceived as an act of desperate attempt on Feggy's part to try to win back her husband who was shameless enough to flaunt his affair with the college girl; she had deliberately gone off the pill.

She had foolishly thought and naively believed the baby would bring them closer, only the opposite had happened. The day she had confirmed her pregnancy suspicion was the very night he had come home and told her he wanted out.

For as long as she shall live, Feggy would never forget the look of disgust on her husband's face when she had told him she was expecting their third child. She had wanted to die in shame at that very moment when he had accused her of trying to tie him down while looking at her as if she was something hideous and disgusting. He had stormed out only to return after his family summoned him and gave him a verbal beat down.

Since then, she could count on her hand the number of times he had spoken to her as a husband should to his wife or the number of times he had touched her. He might have physically been there in the house with them but his mind and thoughts were always with his other woman. Whenever he was home, his eyes always glued to the screen of his phone and laptop with a goofy smile on his face, his family became a second priority. Moreover, when he was not chatting with her on the laptop, he would be talking to her in the gentlest and sweetest voice Feggy had ever heard him speak in, not even when he had been courting her had she heard him speak in such a voice.

On the day Bertha was born, while everyone around him had celebrated the good news, Gershom had looked like a cow on its way to the abattoir.

In the present, Feggy sighed, what was the use of reliving the painful past when all it did was bring her more pain? Planting another kiss on the baby's cheek, she promised the barely two months old sleeping baby that she would give her, hundred and ten per cent of her love so that if a day ever came when she realized she was loathed by her father, her mother's love would be compensation enough.

Lifting herself off the bed, Feggy went to the window and pulled the curtain aside to check the gate. Light seeping under the closed gate confirmed Gershom's statement.

Grabbing her chitenge off the chair near the wardrobe, she wrapped it around her waist. She reached for her phone, switched on the phone's flashlight, and used it to light her way.

The moment she pushed the gate, her eyes locked with Gershom's scorching glare. To Gershom, she was not a woman but rather something unsightly and appalling. Compared to his Yolie, coming home to the sight of his unkempt wife was akin to torture.

Seeing the disgusted look on her husband's face was nothing new to Feggy. She had become accustomed to it over the past year. At first, it had hurt but with time, her skin had thickened and she bore it all with a smile. Even on the days, he touched her to satisfy his manly needs like earlier in the morning, she already knew it was another woman on his mind.

Forcing a smile on her face and pushing the hurt aside, she greeted him respectfully as was expected of her. 'Honey, welcome home.'

Gershom hit on the hooter demanding she opens the gate wider as he poked his head out of the window. 'What took you so long to open the gate? How many times have I cautioned you about being security conscious?'

Feggy wanted to call his BS to his face. Between the two of them, who was lax when it came to security? Was it not he who came home at witching hours? Who among them had turned the other into a gateman and put the others life at risk? If he cared enough about their security, he would come home on time.

Feggy could only curse herself as she guiltily averted her eyes from him when all she wanted was to throw the keys to his face and yell at him to open the gate for himself the next time if he found her to be so lacking and if he could not show even the slightest traces of appreciation.

As she proceeded to open the gate wider, Feggy sighed, wondering what could have upset him this much to lead to the sour mood he was in. She wondered if he had fought with his mistress. If so, how long would they be at odds? Should she be glad that at least her children would get to spend a few days with their father? On the other hand, was it something to be wary about? For all she knew, he would probably take out his anger on her.

Once the car had passed through, she pulled the gate back and locked it up.

Gershom stepped out, locked up the car, and headed towards the house without waiting for her. Feggy was used to this type of treatment; it would have been shocking if he had acted any other way.

Where a normal husband would spare a smile for his wife no matter how tired he was, and a quick kiss on the forehead or lips, all she got from him were looks of contempt. Once he had asked her who he had wronged in his previous life to be stuck with her.

Feggy hurried up to catch up with him but he abruptly stopped walking at the same time as he had just realized with the lights from the car off, the house was shrouded in darkness.

'Why is it so dark? Are we experiencing load shedding?' But even as he asked that his eyes had already roved to his neighbour's houses and he could see that they had power.

'We ran out of units.' And everything else, she said to herself but didn't have the guts to voice it out.

Standing this close to him, the soft whiff of another woman's expensive perfume, left on her husband's clothes carried to her making her heartache. Taking a closer look at him, she realized he wasn't wearing the shirt he had left home with earlier in the day. She ought to be used to things like this but there just was no teaching your heart to be accustomed to betrayal.

'Why should we be out of power? Didn't we just buy power a few days back?'

'...' in her mind, she thought; I already reminded you this morning that the units were not enough to last till the end of the day but you were too busy flirting with your mistress on the phone!!!

Feggy wanted to laugh at his question. What power had he bought that he was boasting about? Since he had started seeing the other woman, Feggy couldn't remember the last time that he had bought enough power to last them for the month. He expected the power of fewer than a hundred kwacha to last them for the whole month, forgetting that they had to cook on the stove as he already slashed the household budget in half and had already stopped giving her money for her upkeep and the house.

'Would you like me to prepare you a bath? There is no hot water though.' she asked instead.

Gershom mumbled something and went into the house.

When Feggy later joined him in the bedroom after checking on their other two kids, he had already slipped into the blankets and had turned his back to her his eyes glued to the screen of his phone even though their daughter beside him was crying.

Feggy checked on Bertha's diaper; however, Bertha's diaper was dry. Assuming she was hungry, Feggy sat on the edge of the bed and pulled up her shirt to breastfeed her. Baby B sucked hungrily on her mother's milk. As Feggy breastfeed and sung a lullaby to her daughter, she subtly lifted her head to look over at her husband. She scoffed and chided herself for her naiveté. What else had she expected? He was already on the phone looking at the photos of the other woman.

To avoid answering questions and hearing his wife's nagging voice, Gershom had inserted headsets in his ears and continued to browse.

In the pictures, dressed in a sexy, coral pink lounge hoodie and ripped jeans that hugged her butt and legs in all the right places, Yolanda played one on one basketball with a very good-looking young man causing Gershom's already sour mood to take a deep dive. Yolanda's coy look as she stared at the young man made Gershom want to snap the neck of the other man. How dare he look at his woman like that. How dare she act all coquettish with another man when she was involved with him. He couldn't believe after purposefully leaving him with blue balls, she was out there having fun as if nothing had happened.

Seething with anger and jealousy, Gershom's fingers flew off the screen as he texted her.

Messenger - seen. No reply.

WhatsApp - blue ticks. No reply.

Text message. Delivered, No reply.

Frustrated, he kicked off the blankets and walked out to the lounge trying to get through to her phone. For an hour, he waited for her to pick up his calls. He could see that she was online but she did not bother to answer his call. In the end, he gave up, went back to bed, and had a fitful night.

***