TSS ||

My cousin ended her five-year marriage the day she found out her husband cheated. We all begged her to think twice, to calm down before walking away. But she was done. She packed her things, took her two kids, and left. For a year, the man went from one relative to another, begging for forgiveness. He apologised, promised to change, did everything a repentant man would do. But she stood firm. “I deserve better,” she said. She got her own place, started afresh, and later met a married man who treated her well. For a while it looked like she had found peace until his wife showed up one morning and scattered everything. The man disappeared, and she was left humiliated. Not long after, another man came along. He stayed just two months before running off when money became an issue. No message, no explanation. Then came an Alhaji who promised marriage but only if she sent her sons back to their father. He said he could not raise another man’s children. She ended it right there. Three years later, she woke up one morning and asked herself, what if I go back? The man still loved her, the kids missed him, and maybe time had softened her heart. So she went to his house early that morning, ready to reconcile. But a pregnant woman opened the door. Her ex-husband had moved on. It has been over ten years now. The woman who once turned heads no longer does. The suitors stopped coming. Her kids are back with their father, cared for by their stepmother who now has two of her own. Life does not always give you a second chance. Sometimes pride takes what pain never could.