I’m used to seeing movies where a couple live in a house together but everyone is barred from going into a particular room except the man of the house. I’ve also heard that this happens in real life. Never, in my wildest imagination did I expect that something similar and equally weird would ever happen to me.
Odogwu Malaysia and I dated for about three years before we got married. He was hardly in the country during our courtship. He lived abroad most of the time so I had to personally supervise the building of our home during this time. I was the envy of all the young girls in Amanafor community. How a young, naive and unassuming girl like me was able to clinch Odogwu Malaysia was a surprise to a lot of them.
Our wedding was the talk of the town. It was two events rolled in one… It was also our house warming ceremony. We moved into our palatial mansion and gradually began to settle down to married life. My husband showered me with a lot of love and gifts. There was nothing I wanted that he could not provide. He was very selfless.
Exactly seven months after our wedding, my husband asked to have a word with me.. it wasn’t unusual for us to have some serious conversation where he would want to run an idea by me, seek my opinion/suggestion or just talk about important or random stuff but this particular one was different. He instructed me never to shave my armpit and pubic hairs ever again. He even threatened that our marriage would end the day I tried it. I was shocked. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Several things were running through my mind at the same time. Just a few weeks earlier, he had lovingly helped me shave off those areas by himself so what had changed?
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I was curious, I needed answers so I asked him why shaving had suddenly became a bad thing when he did it for me only a few weeks earlier. I wanted to know what informed that decision or is it instruction? I asked him if we were in it together or I was the only one required to “grow a forest”. My husband’s reaction was like a hungry lion set loose. He became very angry and I saw a side of him that I had never seen before. In his rage, Odogwu got physical and destroyed so many things in our bedroom. I crawled into a corner and hid behind a curtain while I watched in fear and cried out my eyes. It took a few minutes for him to be calm, that’s when he pulled me out of my hiding place and apologised for behaving the way he did. He asked that we never broach the subject again. He didn’t fail to assure me that I would be the better for it if I stuck to my end of the arrangement. Here he was giving me a weird instruction and I wasn’t expected to say anything. Odogwu had issued a command. He asked me to jump and I was only required to ask him how high and not why.
It’s been a struggle living this way all these years. The more the hairs on my body grow, the more I detest my husband.
It’s our fifth wedding anniversary today and Odogwu wants to shut down the city. He wants to paint the town different colors with the biggest party they have ever seen. As I walked into the venue, I knew that I was the cynosure of all eyes, I could feel the ladies clawing at my skin with their eyes. They looked at me with envy. I believe a lot of them wanted to have my kind of life. I wore an $8,000 YSL dress but underneath the shimmer and glitter was someone that had not shaved for five years. I felt like “Tarzan” in one of my children’s cartoons.
Now I know what I got myself into but I am afraid of what will happen to me if I leave. Over time I have realised that Odogwu used the armpit and pubic hair of a young virgin like me for money ritual and as long as the hair keeps growing his wealth keeps on increasing. I don’t deserve this. I don’t deserve this at all. I am his cash cow so to speak. I hate him for what he has done to me. I look at him everytime and I wish he would drop dead. He thinks spending a lot of money on me will cover up for his wickedness.
People see me and they think am living the good life. I look happy on the outside but I am dying on the inside. I am tired and frustrated. I feel trapped in this sham called marriage and I don’t know what to do. I am going to loose my mind if nothing happens soon.. Someone please help me..
