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EPISODE FOUR
Monday Evening
Iremide marches into the living room, a fortress of spiritual warfare tucked under her arm: her leather-bound Bible, her thick prayer journal, and a black gel pen. Her full hair is securely tucked inside her silk bonnet, and she is wearing a customized white crop-top that boldly reads Soft babe with war inside, paired with high-waisted jeans that meet the hem of her top.
The double-door refrigerator gives a steady, low rumble in the open kitchen behind her as she slams her books down onto the marble island counter. Thud.
Uchenna is perched on one of the barstools, his eyes fixed on his glowing laptop screen. He is right in the middle of a video call with his development team.
“I need to speak to you,” Iremide whispers loudly, her fingers tightly gripping the edge of the counter as she begins to pace the hardwood floor.
Uchenna looks up sharply. Seeing her expression, he quickly hovers his mouse over the screen and taps the mute button. “What’s up, baby?” he asks, a warm, easy smile breaking across his face.
“Heaven just spoke to me right now during my short afternoon nap,” Iremide announces, waving a hand in the air, breathing unevenly, her long, freshly manicured nails catching the kitchen light.
“Okay?” Uchenna glances down at the digital clock in the corner of his monitor. 5:16 PM.
“I really need to speak to you, Uche.”
Baby, I am currently in a critical deployment meeting,” Uchenna says. He keeps his facial muscles perfectly still, acutely aware that his camera is wide open and his international colleagues are watching him on screen. “Can you give me just ten minutes, please?”
"This is highly urgent, Uche."
Uchenna lets out a quiet exhale, his chest rising and falling as he offers her a pleading, apologetic smile. “Ten minutes, baby. Give me ten minutes, please.” He taps the screen to unmute his microphone and returns to his presentation.
Ten minutes feels like ten long years in the wilderness. Iremide continues her relentless pacing across the kitchen floor, her slippers squeaking against the polished wood.
Every sixty seconds, she stops right in his line of sight, twisting her mouth to silently form the words: Heartbeat nau. Uchenna cracks a brief look up from his meeting, his eyes begging her for patience.
The moment the Zoom call disconnects, Uchenna snaps his laptop shut with a satisfying click.
Iremide doesn’t waste a single millisecond. She slides onto the barstool right beside him, adjusting her posture and tugging at the edge of her bonnet.
“What is it, baby?” Uchenna asks, turning his entire body toward her, his full attention finally on his wife.
Iremide takes a deep, theatrical breath. “I just had a massive prophetic dream, Uchenna. I saw children. I saw myself carrying triplets.” She lowers her voice, her eyes wide with dramatic self-pity. “Not one baby. Not even twins. Triplets, Uche!” She lets out a small, dramatic sniffle.
Uchenna’s face lights up. A wide smile breaks across his lips. “Baby, praise God! Three girls or three boys? This is amazing.”
"Why are you praising God?" Iremide stares at him in disbelief, her hands flying to her chest. “In the dream, the babies were crying! They were pulling my hair, pouring juice all over our new couch, disorganizing the entire house! It is a terrible afternoonmare, Uche.”
Uchenna chuckles, leaning his elbow on the counter. “How is that bad, baby? Aren’t those our future children?”
“Three, Uchenna!” She points to her own slender waist, shifting on her stool. “Look at me. I cannot carry three children at once with this my small body. I think we need to fast and pray immediately.”
Uchenna blinks, the warm smile on his lips faltering slightly. He leans in closer, his thumb rising to gently brush away a stray crumb from the corner of her lower lip. His touch is slow, heavy, and deliberate.
“Against our children?” he murmurs, his eyes locking onto hers.
Iremide’s heart does a wild, chaotic sprint against her ribs at the sudden warmth of his skin. Her breath hitches, but instead of backing down, she holds her ground, leaning into his space until she can smell the faint mint on his breath.
“Against the multiplication,” she corrects firmly, though her voice carries a slight tremor. She forces her index finger to tap a sharp beat against the marble counter to steady herself. “We are starting a solid, seven-day fasting and prayer program, Uche. No arguments.”
Uchenna shakes his head, a slow, stubborn expression locking into his jaw. “Baby, I am not fasting against any multiplication. I want the triplets.”
“Why on earth would you want that?”
“Triplets means three beautiful children running around this house calling me Daddy at the same time.”
“And it also means paying three sets of private school fees at the exact same time!” Iremide counterattacks, her voice rising as she details the horrors. “Three children asking me for snacks every five minutes. Breastfeeding three human beings simultaneously!” She wrinkles her nose, her eyes welling up with completely dry, tearless grief.
“I haven’t even met my children yet and you are already trying to fast them away from existence,” Uchenna says, his shoulders shaking with silent laughter.
Seeing her defensive wall crumbling, Iremide deploys her ultimate weapon. She slides her stool closer, leaning deep into his personal space. She reaches up, planting a quick, sweet peck right on his cheek. “Uchenna, please nau.”
Uchenna looks at her, his expression a mix of adoration and sheer amusement. “Baby, this has to be the first time in human history where someone is actively organizing a fasting and prayer to cancel a prophetic blessing. You saw babies. I saw divine provision.”
Iremide sinks back onto her stool, pouting heavily as she drags her Bible and prayer journal a few inches closer.
“Iremide, God finally reveals our future family and your first instinct is immediate cancellation?”
“Uche, pleaseeee,” she whines, sliding right back against his side. She tilts her head, resting her bonnet heavily against his broad shoulder, making her lips stick out in a flawless pout.
Uchenna lets out a long, defeated sigh, his chest deflating under her weight. He rubs a hand over his face. “Okay, fine. Let’s do the fasting.”
Iremide’s head pops up instantly.
“But for the record,” Uchenna adds, pointing a warning finger at her, “I am not fasting against triplets. I am only fasting because my wife is distressed.”
Iremide nods rapidly, quickly wiping away her entirely invisible tears. She leans in and kisses his cheek again, her smile bright and triumphant. “Heartbeat, thank you so much! God will bless you. So, we are doing a strict seven days of fasting and prayer. Therefore, no intimacy whatsoever.”
Uchenna’s entire body freezes. He stares at her, his jaw dropping in absolute shock as the full weight of the scam hits him. “What? Baby, wait. When did I agree to that particular part?”
Iremide blinks innocently, snuggling even closer into his chest. “Didn’t you just say you agreed to the fast?”
“Iremi, I agreed to the fasting.”
“Exactly.”
“I did not agree to these hidden extra terms and conditions!” Uchenna protests, his eyes widening as he pulls back slightly. “We haven’t even consummated this marriage yet. On a second thought, give me the triplets! Infact quadraplets!”
“Uche, why are you behaving like this?” Iremide demands, exaggerating her pout until her bottom lip practically touches her nose.
“No, baby.” Uchenna shakes his head, his hands lifting in a firm gesture of refusal. “I am already counting down the hours to the next two days, and now you want to push our timeline back by a whole week? Another option is that we do the fast, but it doesn’t have to include abstaining from marital duties.”
“No, o!” Iremide snaps her fingers in the air for emphasis. “If we are fasting in this home, we must fast from everything and focus entirely on God. Total consecration, Uchenna.”
“No, baby, I am not signing up for this,” Uchenna says, leaning back on his stool. “Why are we organizing a fasting program against a blessing you haven't even received yet?”
Iremide stands up from the barstool, letting out a loud, dramatic sigh. She squeezes her eyes shut, tilting her face toward the kitchen ceiling. “Holy Spirit, please just talk to your son Uchenna right now because I am about to speak from the flesh.”
Uchenna folds his arms, his dark eyes sparkling with unyielding amusement. “Let the Holy Spirit CC me in that email first, then we can talk. If not, we are not fasting anything—or let’s just do a one-day fast.”
Iremide stops her pacing instantly, her eyes widening. “One day ke? No, o. What can one day of fasting possibly do against triplets?”
“Then forget the whole thing,” Uchenna says simply. He leans in, pressing a swift kiss against her forehead, his thighs shifting as he prepares to stand up from the stool.
“Oya, oya, one day is fine!” Iremide reaches out, grabbing his forearms and pulling him firmly back onto the seat. “One day is okay. Let’s just pray, Uche. Let’s tell God we are not ready for triplets.”
She takes both of his large, warm hands, flattening them onto the marble kitchen counter and covering them securely with her own manicured fingers. “Shut your eyes, Uche. Let us pray.”
"If triplets eventually come, I will frame today's prayer and show it to all three children," Uchenna says, sighing, his eyelids closing as he submits to the protocol.
“Father, we thank you for this union,” Iremide begins, her voice shifting into her serious prayer tone. “We thank you for this marriage. Thank you for Uchenna, who loves his wife enough to listen to her, even though he stubbornly negotiated a seven-day fast down to a one-day program.”
“Amen,” Uchenna whispers quietly, his knuckles twitching under her palms.
“Father, we know your blessings are abundant and overflowing,” Iremide continues, her sways becoming more rhythmic. "Instead of three babies at once, Lord, please give us three houses and three fat bank accounts. Just one baby at a time, Lord."
Uchenna’s chest heaves with a silent, resigned chuckle. “Amen.”
“Father, hold us through tomorrow’s fast. Don’t let the flesh take over our spirit man. Strengthen us,” Iremide says, shaking his hands slightly to drive home the point.
“Amen,” Uchenna says.
“And Holy Spirit, please give my husband the deep spiritual understanding that intimacy with You is far more important than physical and sexual intimacy.”
Silence follows. The kitchen refrigerator rumbles in the background.
Iremide cracks her left eye open, glaring across the counter at him. “Uchenna? Say Amen nau.”
Uchenna opens both eyes, his gaze perfectly calm and steady as he stares back at her. “No. Because marital intimacy matters too. I am not saying amen to that, mba!”
Iremide scoffs loudly, shutting her eye back down with a sharp click of her tongue. “Lord, I commit every single lustful desire of Uchenna—”
“Amen! Amen and Amen! In Jesus’ name we have prayed, Amen!” Uchenna cuts her off loudly, clapping his hands together to forcefully end the session.
“Uchenna?”
“Amen, baby, bikonu,” Uchenna says, raising his hands in sweet surrender.
Iremide pouts, pulling her journal closer to her chest. She flips it open to a fresh page, uncapping her black gel pen with a small, satisfying click.
The kitchen falls into a comfortable quiet.
For a few golden moments, the only sounds filling the room are the low hum of the double-door refrigerator and the soft, steady scratch of her pen against the paper.
Uchenna doesn’t move. He rests his forearms against the cool marble counter, simply watching her. He tracks the slight crease that appears between her brows whenever she is deeply concentrating, the way her lips move faintly to form the words before she commits them to ink, and the absent-minded habit she has of tapping the end of her pen against her chin whenever she is thinking through a point.
His chest tightens unexpectedly with a strange, sweet pressure.
Marriage is an entirely different world. Just three days ago, he had been wondering what life would actually look like sharing a daily routine with her.
Now she is here. Sitting in his kitchen. Wearing a crop-top and a bonnet, aggressively writing out prayer points against triplets she hasn’t even conceived yet.
A slow, genuine smile tugs at the corner of his mouth. “You are really writing prayer requests against innocent children.”
Iremide doesn’t even look up from the grid lines of her journal. “I am documenting evidence.”
Uchenna lets out a quiet, rumbling laugh.
His gaze lingers on her for another long moment. The warm evening light spills through the wide kitchen windows, setting a glow across her satin bonnet and the soft curve of her cheek. A deep, heavy peace settles low in his chest. It isn’t the loud kind of emotion. It isn’t the butterflies of a first date or the excitement of the wedding day. It is something much steadier. Something that feels suspiciously like home.
Across the counter, Iremide pauses halfway through a sentence. The silence makes her glance up.
Uchenna is still looking at her. His eyes are warm, soft, and filled with an intensity that says he still can’t quite believe she belongs to him now.
Her heart gives a small, unexpected squeeze against her ribs. For so many years, listening to the stories of older women in church, she had imagined marriage as a battlefield—something she would just have to survive. A system that would demand pieces of her independence until there was nothing left.
But sitting here now, beneath the weight of his steady gaze, she feels none of that heaviness. Just safety. Just absolute peace. Just the strange, beautiful comfort of knowing this Bible-believing Christian tech bro is entirely in her corner.
A slow, matching smile touches her lips. Maybe marriage isn’t an assignment to endure after all. Maybe, with the right person, it really just feels like coming home.
BZZZZ.
She glances down.
Federal Ministry of Billing (Shade)
Minutes later
Iremide yanks the front door open, a bright smile already plastered onto her face.
Shade steps over the threshold with an identical grin. She is the spitting image of Iremide, sharing the same facial features and build. Though she is the younger sister, she towers over Iremide by a good two inches.
“Iyawo!” Shade teases, her eyes immediately scanning the wide layout of the living room. “Where is Brother Uche?”
Iremide’s smile eases into something more genuine. “He is in the bedroom. The estate security allowed you in?” She pushes the door shut, clicking the lock into place before wandering over to the leather couch.
Shade follows closely, lugging two massive, overstuffed checkered Bagco sacks that scrape against the wooden floor. She drops them with a heavy thud right by the leg of the couch and sinks into the cushions beside her sister. “Yes, I told them I was coming to the newly built bungalow at number 12. So, how is married life, Sister Ire?”
“It is fine,” Iremide says softly. She reaches down, pulling the top of one Bagco sack open to peek at the wrapped bundles of food items inside. “Uche has been behaving himself.”
Shade leans back, her playful expression shifting into something a bit more serious. She lowers her voice. “Sister Ire, Mama Shade told me to warn you o. She said you must be very careful with that your sharp mouth around Brother Uche. You are fully married to him now, not boyfriend and girlfriend things.”
Iremide rolls her eyes, a small chuckle escaping her lips. “Uchenna is not complaining, please. He has known me for almost a year now.”
Shade nods, though her eyes still carry a glimmer of amusement. She adjusts her handbag on her lap. “Anyway, I will be heading back soon. Mama strictly ordered me to come home immediately. She said I must not disturb you and your husband.”
Iremide looks at her, her eyebrows furrowing in surprise. She stops inspecting the bag. “No, nau. Stay back for a bit. Nobody is complaining. Let me call Uche out, and get you something cold to drink and eat.” She makes a move to stand up.
Shade quickly catches her wrist, shaking her head. “Mama Shade will skin me alive if I stay longer. She told me plainly that this is your honeymoon phase with Brother Uchenna, and she insisted I must drop the food and vanish immediately, plus my Uber is outside.”
Iremide bursts into a clear, echoing laugh. “Let me at least pack some snacks for you to take back. And let me call Uche so you can greet him properly before you leave.”
Shade releases her wrist, nodding in agreement.
Iremide walks down the short corridor, stopping at the master bedroom door. She knocks twice, her knuckles rapping sharply against the dark wood. “Heartbeat, please come outside. My younger sister is here.”
In less than a minute, the door swings open. Uchenna steps into the hallway, his face instantly lighting up with a warm, welcoming smile.
“Brother Uchenna! Odogwu!” Shade greets loudly from the couch, standing up to show her respect.
“How are you, Shade?” Uchenna’s voice is deep and pleasant as he approaches. He steps into the living room, opening his arms to give her a warm, brief side hug.
“Fine, fine. I just came to drop a few items from Mama Shade for Sister Ire.” Shade smiles up at him, her eyes darting between the two newlyweds. “Hope she is not giving you too much trouble sha?”
“I am already getting used to it,” Uchenna jokes, his eyes shifting to Iremide with a playful, affectionate glint.
Iremide gives him a pointed look before turning toward the kitchen area to gather some snacks and drinks. The moment her back is turned, Shade leans in close to Uchenna, her voice dropping into a conspiratorial whisper. “I have a very hot gist for you, Brother Uche. Highly confidential. But it will cost you a small tip.”
Uchenna’s lips twitch. He leans his ear closer to her, matching her quiet tone. “Let’s hear it.”
“Just…” Shade whispers, pauses, and then suddenly shakes her head, a teasing, dangerous smirk playing on her lips.. “hmmm, don’t worry.”
Uchenna’s eyebrows shoot up instantly. “Shade, don't do that. Tell me exactly what it is.”
Shade chuckles quietly, leaning in even closer until her shoulder almost touches his chest. She opens her mouth to whisper the secret, but before the first syllable can leave her lips, the rustle of plastic cuts through the air.
Iremide steps back into the living room.
“What are you two whispering to my husband?” Iremide asks suspiciously. She carries a white polythene bag packed to the brim with canned malt drinks and packets of crunchy coconut chips and plantain chips, her eyes narrowing as she takes in their close proximity.
“Nothing, nothing at all,” Shade says quickly, taking a giant step backward with an innocent look on her face.
“Good. Take this one and start heading home,” Iremide says, shoving the plastic handles into Shade’s hand.
Shade accepts the bag, throwing a wink in Uchenna’s direction. “Don’t forget to send something to my OPay account, Brother Uchenna. I trust an Odogwu like you to deliver, unlike some people.”
“Look at you. Please don’t bill my husband during this period,” Iremide grumbles, though a small smile still plays at the corners of her lips as she places a hand on Shade’s shoulder, gently steering her toward the exit. “The man just finished spending a whole fortune on the wedding. Let his account breathe. Come, let me see you off.”
“Uncle Uchenna is a tech bro and a correct guy,” Shade continues loudly as she is ushered toward the door, raised voices filling the small space. “Even without asking, he always delivers. Not like you, Sister Ire.”
Uchenna chuckles, his thumbs already flying across his phone screen as he pulls it from his shorts pocket. He locks eyes with Shade over Iremide’s shoulder, his expression deadly serious beneath the smile.
“I will transfer something to your account right away, Shade,” Uchenna says, his voice carrying a firm undertone. He taps his phone screen significantly. “But I need that information. Send everything to me on WhatsApp.”
Shade beams. “Sure! Thank you Chairman! You both will grow old together in peace. Nothing evil will touch this marriage in Jesus’ name. Uncle Uchenna is a correct man. I have always been rooting for you, you know? Thank God you married her before brother Tobi—”
“Shade!” Iremide’s voice cracks through the room so fast it startles everyone.
She is already moving. “Oya, oya, come and be going abeg. Your Uber is waiting.”
Before Shade can finish her sentence, Iremide has both hands on her shoulders, steering her firmly toward the front door.
Shade blinks. “But Sister Ire, I was just—”
“Exactly. You have talked enough.”
Uchenna’s smile lingers for a second, then slowly fades.
His eyes drift from Shade to his wife, the way her laugh comes a little too quickly, the way she avoids his eyes, the way she's practically escorting her sister out of the house.
Something in his chest tightens.
“Bye, Brother Uche!” Shade calls cheerfully over her shoulder.
“Bye, Shade,” Uchenna replies automatically, though his attention never leaves his wife.
The front door swings shut.
The refrigerator hums quietly from the kitchen, a car horn sounds faintly somewhere outside the estate.
Iremide keeps her hand on the doorknob for a moment longer than necessary.
Then she slowly turns around.
Uchenna is exactly where she left him, one hand tucked into his pocket, the other loosely holding his phone, watching her.
His head tilts slightly. “You looked nervous.”
Iremide lets out a laugh that sounds far too quick. “What? No, I didn’t.”
“You did.”
“Heartbeat—”
“Who is Tobi?”
Iremide’s smile falters. “He's someone I knew before I met you. Don't mind Shade.”
“Someone before me?”
She nods too quickly. “Yes, nau.”
Uchenna studies her face. “Then why were you trying to push your sister out of the house at the mention of his name?”
“Uche.”
“Iremi.” His voice remains calm, but there is a weight behind it now. The kind that makes her stomach twist.
“Relax.”
“I am relaxed.”
He takes a slow step forward. “Explain.”
Iremide swallows. “It’s not a big deal Uche, why are you trying to escalate this?”
“Then it should be easy to explain.”
“Uche, please.”
His jaw tightens, for a brief second, disappointment flickers across his face.
“Iremi,” he says quietly. "Who exactly was Tobi to you?"
Eh eh eh, who is brother Tobi, we are still in the honeymoon phase o, we don’t want any brother Tobi
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Thanks to all of you reading and commenting, I appreciate y'all!
I want to address some of the issues being raised in the comment section about Iremide.
First: "Didn't they do pre-marital counseling?"
Counseling is theory, while the bedroom is reality. In a counseling office, discussing sex is abstract. A bride (especially a virgin) can genuinely believe she is ready, agree to everything, and have the best intentions. But when the bedroom door closes and the actual moment arrives, physical panic can take over. A woman cannot talk herself out of a physical panic reflex in a counseling session any more than someone can talk themselves out of a phobia of heights just by reading a book about it.
Second: "She is being too childish and should have just spoken to Uche."
Admitting she is terrified to Uche just two days into the marriage can feel like admitting she is "failing" as a wife. She knows her duties and knows intimacy is expected of her, which creates immense pressure. We all respond to fear differently, some people freeze completely, while others use avoidance and bury themselves in housework. Because of Iremide's personality, she resorts to what she knows best: making jokes out of her fear.
Third: The timeline.
I don't think two days is enough time to get genuinely angry at Iremide. Because this series is slow-paced and captures almost every hour of their early days, it feels like we have spent a lot more time with them than we actually have. In reality, it has only been 48 hours. Many women delay sex for a week or more out of anxiety. I'm not saying Iremide's approach is perfect, but let's give her a bit of grace as she navigates this.
Thank you once again for commenting!
She's being so childish it's annoying 😭!!