Shocked to Learn the “Other Woman” Claims to Be the Wife

By Bunmi Sofola

On a Monday morning, Nikky arrived at her office to find a group of female colleagues gathered around the photocopiers, whispering excitedly. When she entered the room, the chatter stopped abruptly, and the women looked at her with a defiant expression.

“I simply ignored them,” Nikky recalled. “Ordinarily, I would have reprimanded them, but I was not in the mood for petty accusations. I shut the door to my office, prepared to say my regular office prayer, when my intercom buzzed. I wanted to ignore it, but it was from a close colleague who was persistent.”

“Have you read the papers?” she asked conspiratorially, mentioning a particular tabloid. “No,” Nikky snapped, “you know I don’t read trash like that; most of their stories are rubbish anyway.”

“If I were you, I would have a look,” her colleague continued. When Nikky asked why, she whispered, “Better you read it yourself and phone me later. Why don’t you send for a copy?” Curiosity won over, and Nikky asked her secretary to obtain a copy of the magazine. The secretary, smug, handed her the copy, waiting for her reaction. Nikky told her to leave.

With a mix of curiosity and apprehension, Nikky skimmed the pages. Near the middle, she saw a colour photograph of a man with a familiar smile—her husband. Next to him was a woman, smiling at him, and the caption read: “What I do to keep him at home.”

“What home?” she thought. She read the story again to confirm she was not imagining it. The article described her husband of nearly 14 years, the father of their three sons, as the “loving husband” of a fashion designer. It claimed they had two children together and quoted him saying, “She was such a good cook that I decided to marry her.”

Another photograph in the article showed the “happy couple and their children.” Nikky felt a surge of shock, hurt, anger, and humiliation. The same group of women she had seen earlier were now copying the article to share with other staff. She was in tears and felt sick, realizing that for five years her husband had been building a new family without her knowledge.

She called the colleague who had first informed her, who came over and, with pity in her eyes, confessed that she knew about her husband’s other “home.” Friends had been amazed that Nikky had not noticed. “How could I?” Nikky asked. “My husband is a top businessman who travels a lot. Most of his traveling time was spent with this woman and their children.” She wondered why they had chosen such a cruel way to let her find out.

Throughout the day, Nikky felt surrounded by people who were pitying or scornful. She had never felt so low. She realized that the man who had once professed love for her had now turned her into a piece of juicy gossip.

At the time, her husband was away on a business trip. The colleague advised her to fight back. She called a staff member at the magazine, who then contacted the writer of the story. The writer, surprised to hear of a genuine wife, asked for Nikky’s interview. She provided him with all the facts and photographs for the next edition.

When her husband returned, Nikky calmly showed him the magazine. She expected him to bluff, but he fell to his knees on the bedroom floor, begging for forgiveness. He admitted seeing the story and could not believe the woman’s audacity. He confessed to an affair with her, who was a single mother when they met. The child mentioned in the paper was his. He had been trying to hide the affair from his conservative clients. Flaunting it in the tabloids was the height of irresponsibility.

He expressed contrition, which was a relief. He told Nikky that he would cut the woman off from his life and would only be responsible for her child. The situation was not a happy ending, and Nikky remained hurt and disillusioned. “What a shocker to happen, to knock you off your smug pedestal!” she said. “I’ve always said you shouldn’t believe all you read in the papers. Well, thanks to this particular paper, my family life will never be the same again!”

The post The shock of reading about the ‘other woman’ claiming to be the wife! appeared first on Vanguard News.