[MUST READ]: “ESTELLE” written by Hilda Obule

Estelle
Hilda Obule*


This short story is loosely based on the TSE and ELP v NGN case. TSE (a premier league footballer) had an affair with ELP and secured an injunction to prevent NGN from publishing information about the affair. This fictional story is a narrative from TSE to his wife about the circumstances that led to the affair after s
he divorced him, when she discovered his infidelity.

‘Dear Hailey,’
I pause as I look around my empty apartment. It has lost the warmth of a family; the joyous cry of a baby, the noisy footsteps of children playing.
It has been twelve months, yet I still hurt. Whenever I lay back in the suffocating quiet of my room, I think of you. Sometimes, I walk up to our favorite chair and reminisce; I trace the lines on it, as though I will have another opportunity to hear you laugh again. I love to see your hair fall across the edge as you stare into my eyes; communicating in a language of ours. I did not tell you I had broken our vows, because I could not bear to have you think of me differently
I wish you gave me a chance to explain, to tell you why I broke my promises to you.
A month after I left home for South Africa, my team mates decided to spend our two week vacation in Cape Town. It is an amazing place, a scenic beauty. As I walked down a path one afternoon, I saw her. Estelle was beautiful, auburn hair glowing in the sun, red lips slightly parted as though about to speak. Entranced! I watched as she walked across the street, a miserable look on her face. I trailed her down a sidewalk and into a bar where she reluctantly climbed a stage and began to sing. Her voice was enthralling and left me in a trance. Soon as the music stopped, I recovered and decided to return to the hotel where I was lodged. The memory of her voice began to feel me with a deep longing to see her again, and I spent the rest of the evening thinking about her.
A night later, I made my way to the bar determined to see her. As I walked in, the soft melody of her voice hit me like delicious rays of sunlight on a chilly day. Her voice filled the room drowning out the sounds around me, and I felt like I was the only one present. When the music stopped, I watched her disappear through a door at the far end of the bar.
Curiously I followed her, I should not have. I wish I had listened to the voice that screamed at me to turn around; to walk away from her. Before I could give my intentions a second thought, she turned and stared at me. The minute she looked into my eyes, I knew that I would never walk away, not tomorrow, and definitely not that moment. She had eyes black as midnight. In the dimly lit corridor, I could see her copper colored skin and slender body adorned with a beautiful glittering blue dress. She smiled at me, gave me a kiss on the lips and signaled at me to follow her. Till this moment, I still cannot explain when and how we arrived at my hotel room, but she stayed the night and was gone before I woke up the next morning.
I visited the bar again, it had become first and foremost on my mind ever since I met Estelle. With little over two words she made me forget all sense of reasoning. I remember pleading with her that night to spend the week. She agreed on one condition; that she could leave whenever she pleased. I was desperate and willing to agree to anything but a death sentence at that moment. As I lay in bed with her in my arms, I thought about you and Timmy. I felt the first crack in my heart that day but I was selfish; I wanted all I could get from her, whatever the future held could wait.
The next few days left me holding on to a world I did not recognize, I visited places and ate and danced to music that was foreign, yet soothing to my soul. Every night we sat beneath the moonlight; she told me a little about herself. She was a Brazilian by nationality but had been abandoned by her parents during a vacation five years ago. She lived in the slum district of Cape Town where she met Mr. Lane; the owner of the bar. He heard her sing and requested that she work for him as an entertainer. The bar had been her home for two years.
The second week in Cape Town was adventurous. We visited tourists sites and landmarks but most of the time we spent discovering each other. There were even short dreamy moments were I believed that she would never leave me.
On the last day of my vacation, I woke up to find Estelle gone and a letter lying in her place. Reading through the contents of the letter, she narrated to me how she had left me and taken with her all that she needed to build a new life in Brazil. She further explained how she had discovered who I was the week before from a team mate; she ended the letter telling me that what we shared would forever remain a secret.
I quickly searched through my belongings and discovered that my money and jewelries were gone. In disbelief I hurried to the bar, only to find out from Mr. Lane that she had quit her job the day before and told him she was returning to Brazil. Comprehension dawned on me that evening as I took the flight back to Atlanta with my team mates. I left my affair and the letter behind in South Africa; I should never have done that.
The letter was the beginning of my frequent visits to court three months after I returned to you. It took me away from your side in the middle of the night and made me break my very first promise to you; never to tell a lie. The night I lied about my whereabouts, the night Jasmine was conceived. I lay awake thinking about what a fool I had been. I didn’t want to live a dream in South Africa; I wanted my reality, my best friend, I wanted you.
The day I returned from the last court hearing, I was relieved. We had won; an injunction against the Newspaper had been secured. I opened the door and saw you seated on the staircase with my laptop beside you, tears streaming down your face. I knew you were leaving me that day; my second promise had been broken. The purpose of the injunction had been defeated.
You did not accuse me, you did not even speak a word. The look in your eyes were as clear as crystal; you loathed me. As you made a move to walk out the door I asked the only question on my mind.
‘Why? ’
I still cannot forget your reply as you closed the chapter of our lives together.
‘Because you lied.’
If you would look into my eyes once again, I would at least regain some semblance of normality in my life.
‘Forever Yours,
‘Jermaine’

The drive to Blakely is long and strenuous, yet I bubble with anticipation. I park my car a few meters from the Wilson’s residence and walk down the graveled path to the front porch. Quietly I drop the letter and ring the doorbell. Walking away, I hear the front door open and I turn around to see a tall elegant woman come out of the house; she reaches down and picks up the letter. Tears fall from her eyes as she reads the words, a mixture of happiness and disappointment on her face, it seems as though with every second she wishes that she could be sucked into the alphabets scribbled along the sheet.
After a while, she looks up and stares directly into my eyes, that moment I feel all the pain seep away, down my body and into a pool at my feet. I can never stop loving this woman; even though she belongs to someone else now. I feel a thump in my chest and I smile, this is the power of Hailey, it is beyond all the magic and pleasure of Cape Town.
Her smile communicates understanding and forgiveness. As I drive home, I feel myself break through the hard cold walls which have imprisoned me since Hailey said goodbye. I leave the torment; I leave Estelle.