Forever To Silence Episode 2

At first, I told myself it was normal. Distance does things to people. New country, new pressure, new life. That was the excuse I used every time Folarin became colder, every time his replies grew shorter, every time days passed without a proper conversation.

But the signs were there. Clear. Loud. I just refused to listen.

He stopped calling me by my pet name. The name he used to whisper when he was tired, when he missed home, when he needed reassurance. Now, it was just my name plain, empty, distant. Sometimes, not even that. Just “Hello” or “What’s up.”

Whenever I asked about his life over there, he became defensive.

“Why are you asking too many questions?”

“Do you think I’m a child?”

“Can’t you trust me?”

Trust. That word cut me deeply because trust was all I had given him. I trusted him with my heart, my money, my pride, my future. Yet, somehow, my concern was now seen as control

Video calls became rare. When I begged, he said the network was bad. When the network suddenly worked for chatting, I kept quiet. I didn’t want to push. I didn’t want to be the “problematic wife.”

One evening, while we were on a call, I heard laughter in the background a soft female laughter. When I asked, he quickly ended the call. Later, he said it was his roommate’s television. I laughed along, pretending it didn’t hurt, pretending my chest wasn’t tight with fear.

People around me started noticing the change before I admitted it to myself.

“Does your husband still call you?”

“When last did he send money home?”

“Are you sure everything is okay?”

I defended him like a lawyer defending a guilty client.

“He’s busy.”

“He’s adjusting.”

“He loves me.”

Yet, when I fell sick and called him crying, he said, “Can I call you back?” He never did.

That night, I lay on our bed alone, staring at the ceiling, remembering how he used to hold my hand even in sleep. How he once said, “No matter where I am, you are my home.”

So when did I stop feeling like home?

I checked my bank alerts and realized something painful i was still supporting him financially, but emotionally, I was alone. I was a wife on paper, a sponsor in reality, and a stranger in his heart.

Still, I didn’t confront him. I was afraid of the truth. Afraid that if I asked the wrong question, I would hear the answer my heart was already preparing for.

Instead, I prayed harder. I fasted. I blamed the devil. I blamed distance. I blamed myself.

What I didn’t know then was this:

Sometimes, the signs you ignore don’t disappear they only wait until you are strong enough to break.

And mine was waiting.

Continue reading Episode 3