AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I need to start adjusting to the cold or start calling friends to give my stubborn wife a job in a warm climate, for now, I go where she goes. Because she is my home.
I’m awake throughout the flight hoping to wake her up with kisses. I practically raced out of the plane once it landed and eagerly jumped into the car.
When the car pulled up at our building. The elevator wasn’t fast enough. Rilwan could sense my agitation, but he remained a quiet, smart man. The apartment is quiet and dark when I open the doors, which is strange. Jade likes the lights on. I race to our bedroom, it’s empty, no Jade. I turned all the lights on as I walked through each room and found every room empty.
I call her line maybe she’s with a friend but it’s early Friday morning as I try not to think the phone rings in my ears “The number you are calling is disconnected.” that’s not possible.
“Rilwan!!!” I shouted. He comes in quickly “Where the fuck is my wife!?” He’s perplexed. Like how’s he to know considering we just arrived together?
“She’s meant to be here,” he says to pacify me.
“She’s not here and her line is saying disconnected, find her now!” I slump onto the sofa, still trying to figure out where Jade could be, then I see an envelope on the table. “Naseer” written on it in Jade's handwriting. Picking up the envelope, I hear receding footsteps without taking my eyes off the envelope “Wait Rilwan, she left a message.”
Opening the envelope, I pull out the note card, it readsI’m sorry, I don’t love you anymore, we weren’t real. wishing you the best in life” This message isn’t real, I say to myself, almost like I can’t comprehend what the note says. I read it again and again until Rilwan coughs.
“Someone must think it’s funny to play a sick joke on me, read this” I shout handing the note to Rilwan. He’s shocked as well. I get up and head to our bedroom, stepping into the closet. I see only my clothes. Nothing of Jade is here. I look around the bathroom opening drawers. Nothing says Jade was ever here. I called her line again and got the same message. “Argh!!!” I scream out. This cannot be happening right now. Rilwan is still standing in the same spot.
“Find my fucking wife Rilwan!” He leaves, I take the note and read it again looking for hidden clues that didn’t exist, hoping something in the written words would make sense. I’m in the same spot when Rilwan returns hours later. I must have fallen asleep when he woke me.
“She left school after her graduation. Doorman said she came here a few days after graduation which matched the date, she left school. She was here for approximately thirty minutes. She left with two bags and hasn’t returned since that day. The line was disconnected shortly after. The Job said she called in and turned down her job offer, before her first day. The last transaction on her credit card was the same day after she left. It’s as if she vanished.”
I want to rip him apart when he says “She vanished” but remain quiet glaring at him. I moved closer to him.
“Jade did not vanish!” He takes a step back.
“What if the note is real and she meant it,” he says, I launch at him with a punch. He quickly blocks my move. We get into a fight, rather than fight me he blocks my moves. He’s good but I did manage to get two punches to his face before dropping to my knees, emotionally and physically drained.
“Jade loves me, I know without a doubt, that note isn’t real. Find her please,” I say quietly and watch him leave. I roll to the floor. Only Jade can bring me down and somehow, she has done just that, brought me down but I know she loves me, nothing can change that.
The next few days involved finding Jade, but nothing turned up. I went to Nate, and he said Jade promised to keep in touch when she left but he hasn’t heard from her. He tried to reach her, and every contact has returned undelivered. He showed me the bounced emails, He doesn’t understand what happened, but last week before graduation she was acting scared and would not tell him anything, but he knew something was off. The Last time, he saw her was when she drove off with the guardians.
I’m somewhat relieved when the only conclusion is Jade left with her aunt and uncle. I tried to find them, but nothing turned up. All their credit cards are canceled. I fly to Texas to face her cousin Yomi and he tells me they didn’t tell him where they are, he knows they are fine, and Jade is moving on from me. He told me not to return.
Much as I want to fight him, I know he won’t give any of me information, I also know Jade well enough to know that he’s telling the truth about not knowing where they are. She knew I’d check with him, so she didn’t give him any information. It’s as if they went off the grid with my wife. Aunty Lara finally managed to take her away from me.
I called Tito, who informed me Jade hasn’t called her in weeks and hadn’t responded to any communications. All she knew came from her mom who told her they were fine and didn’t know where they were living.
Days turn to weeks and weeks into months, I didn’t stop looking though. I went to the only person who could make sense of Jade’s leaving, after all, he married us. Maybe he can explain what I’m missing.
Arriving at Brian’s church, he’s surprised to see me but bewildered when I say the words I never expect to say, “Jade left me.”
“That’s not possible, anyone around you two can see she loves you.”
“Since you’re so sure explain this to me” I give him the note. He reads in for like ten minutes. Wipes his eyes and reads it again before turning to me.
“Nas, this doesn’t make any sense, something is off here.”
“What could be off, that’s her handwriting. My men have been digging and everything points to the fact she left without a word to me.” I shout, like my bellow at him will magically produce my wife when the reality is I’m in emotional pain. I’ve now realized is worse than the physical pain of my accident.
“I understand your frustration but I’m telling you something is fishy,” Brian states I want to shove the paper in his face for him to read it in black and white that nothing on that paper smells fishy.
“You keep thinking fishy, while I continue to look for her so she can explain this fucked-up note to me.” I leave without saying anything else to him.
I certainly didn’t call him for months after that. He didn’t call either. I was in a state of uncertainty, nothing making sense other than work. So, I threw myself into work. Rilwan keeps his distance from me after I rejected his request to transfer to my uncle’s service.
I don’t fucking care about his feeling, my misery needs another miserable face. Maybe if I make him as miserable as I am he’ll find my wife.
Work seems to be the only thing I can do, so I excelled in that. I became more ruthless and riskier in my deals and of course, made lots of money when the risk paid off and lost a few million when I gambled wrong. Overall, I’m still exceling. My phone flashes one morning with a message “Tomorrowis Jade’s birthday, plan something special for Jade.”I want to throw the phone out, instead, I call Chloe’s services.
