I barely closed my door after seeing off my friend, John, who had come to talk to me about reconciling with my estranged wife, when a call came from my wife. Upon fetching my phone from the back pocket of my trousers and realizing that she was the one calling, I hesitated with many things going through my mind before picking up the call.
"What is she calling me for? Is she ready to let go of her grandstanding on issues?"
Many questions ran through my mind before I slid my thumb on the screen of my phone to pick up the call.
"Ben," my wife called me as soon as I picked up the call. "Our love for each other is undying. We shouldn't allow individual ego to derail the affection."
"Where is the rhetoric coming from? If you want to apologize, do that without all this unnecessary preamble." I responded to her.
"I feel exactly the way you felt. I am burning inside because of the misunderstanding but trying to hide it from you. You are in the same situation. It's better we settle our differences so that we can heal our troubling hearts."
"How do you conclude that I am going through a similar situation?" I asked her.
"Well, I just overheard you pouring out your mind for John. You've not been able to sleep well since I left the house. You can't eat to satisfaction the way you used to. To quote you in your words, 'I am dying silently.' Ben, I feel exactly the same. Let's fix the problem and move on."
I was dumbfounded for seconds. How exactly did she hear all that I discussed with John earlier?
"Ben, are you there?" She asked me after a long silence.
The question brought me back to our discussion.
"Sandra, who told you all these things?"
"I heard it directly from your conversation with your friend, John. You dialed my phone number, and when I picked up the call, what I heard from your end was conversation between the two of you." She explained to me.
"That was a mistake from my side. Why didn't you end the call when I wasn't speaking to you directly?"
I didn't wait for her to respond when I ended the call.
I checked through my call log and realized that I had butt-dialed her number by mistake. The call lasted for almost ten minutes, the duration of my conversation with John.
John had asked me to be sincere with him and tell him how I felt with the absence of my wife.
"I think both of you are being childish by allowing this issue to go out of hand." John said to me before I responded.
"I felt like calling her to initiate reconciliation, but she would think that I can't exist without her if I do that. A part of me left with her the day she packed out of this house. I am dying in silence. I have lost my appetite for food. I am not fine."
"You have to call her if she refuses to call you. You are being drained emotionally by an issue that isn't worth it. Reach out to your wife and settle your differences instead of dying in silence." John advised me.
"I can't do that. She would think that I am desperate to have her with me."
"You have to come down from your high horse, reach out to your wife, and settle your differences," John responded after a loud and long laugh. "Alternatively, can I mediate between the two of you?" He requested.
"I will think about it. Whatever action you and I would take on this issue shouldn't be presented in such a way that Sandra would think that I am desperate to have her."
"We will discuss it on the phone whenever you have decided on what to do to bring your wife back home." John concluded.
The call from Sandra has now proven to me that she heard all that I said during my discussion with John.
My phone rang many times as I was thinking of the next line of action to take. Each time I checked the phone screen, Sandra was the one calling. I ignored the calls. I called John to give him the update of what has happened.
"I butt-dialed Sandra's number while you were with me to discuss our reconciliation. She heard everything that I told you."
"How did you realize?" John asked me.
"She called me a couple of minutes ago. I ended the call when she revealed to me that she heard all my discussion with you. She has been calling repeatedly since then. I ignored all the calls."
"That's very good," John responded to my dismay. "That's a positive coincidence. Where we are planning to plant maize, it is gratifying that maize sprouts out from the same spot. No stress about planting another maize; let's nurture the one that sprouted out."
"I am not ready for this. Sandra will have to apologize for listening to our discussion unauthorized."
"Take it easy, Ben. Can I handle the whole thing going forward?"
"Yes, you can," I reluctantly approved.
A few hours later, John called me again and connected me to a conference call with Sandra being the third person. John mediated between us, and reconciliation was achieved.
"You need to come and pay another dowry before I will return to your house," Sandra said with laughter.
"You know that I love you. I can pay your dowry a thousand times because you are my heart."
I went to Sandra's parent to apologize for allowing a misunderstanding between us to degenerate to that extent. Her parents offered us valuable advice before Sandra returned home.
The love waxed stronger than ever before.
