Chapter 3 Jamole's Nagging Wife Cheats On Him

• All his life as a janitor at the municipal post office in Antipolo, he never had savings due to the peanut he earned as salary. This had made him to shrink from his responsibility as a husband and lose sheer honor from his wife and among his peers.
• He never intended to eschew responsibility and in his gloom, he looked forth to the day he would earn enough money and surprise his wife with all she had ever wanted.
• Right about now all that his wife, Stella, nagged about at home and whenever she saw him was her Arabic Coral Gold Ring, even this had deprived them the consummation of their marriage.
• Recently Stella moved into the other bedroom, locked their bedroom and restricted Jamole to spend the night in the sitting room, with a stern warning never to sleep in the sofa but on the cold floor.
• “But I thought I promised to buy you the gold ring. Why are you doing this to me, Stella, why?” he protested when she wouldn’t offer him breakfast.
• This was the height of it!
• Already Stella was pained. Tears filled her eyes and trickled down her cheeks. She squeezed her eyes, shut them very tightly and stooped to talk to him, “You are very impossible, Jamole. I regret having you as my husband,” she fumed and pushed out her fingers, “Take a look at my finger. Can you see any wedding ring on my finger?” she queried and sniffed.
• He raised a thick brow and swallowed hard as he lowered his gaze on her finger. He gave a sullen look in response.
• She intoned yet further, “The one you gave me as wedding ring has worn out because it is too cheap and not even silver let alone gold. Only God knows from where you picked that rubbish ring.” She swirled around. “Take a look at me. Do I look elegant as other women? No, because you don’t own up to your responsibility as a husband. You claim to be a salary earner yet I feed you, cloth you and pay the rent!”
• Jamole interrupted her with a snort. His jaw went slack as he fought back tears. “But wifey, I thought I promised to buy you the gold ring. I want you to hold me by my words. Give me a little time to surprise you. Please.” He pled with his arms molded.
• The color drained from her face when she snarled at him, “Keep shut, you good-for-nothing husband! It has been one year I celebrated my birthday and another of my birthday is yet to come in few months and you still can’t afford an ordinary Arabic Coral Gold Ring, huh!”
• He was jaded and stolen by his melancholy. He couldn’t fight back his tears anymore. Expressly they landed on his chest. He wept from innermost hungry, shredded loins of his. She had starved him for four days now because of this gold ring.
• She pointed firmly at him and poked her finger in his face, while he stood as some frustrated statue. “For your information I don’t have any wedding ring on my finger, so I am as good as any spinsters out there. Until you buy me the gold ring, I cease to be your wife!” she yelled at the tops of her voice.
• Jamole’s voice shrieked as he gagged his mouth with his arms. “No don’t do this, Stella. I have been making plans toward buying you the gold ring. I promise to come through once I am done with my plans. Soon you are going to smile because I will adorn your finger with the Arabic gold ring…”
• She interposed him with her finger which clicked repeatedly in the direction of the door. “Now leave my house. I am leaving for work. I can’t leave you behind because I don’t trust you with my food and my property.”
• That was the problem!
• Right about now he was being possessed by the pangs of hunger. Since it was obvious she was going to deny him his transport fare, feeding became a necessity else he wouldn’t have the vigor to walk to his work place.
• His palms stroked his stomach. “Please dear if you starve me how am I going to have the energy to work? Please give me food. I am famished. You know quite well my job demands strain and energy, and I don’t have money to eat out…”
• She shot her thunderous gaze at him. “I don’t want to push you Jamole! Now leave!” she growled maddeningly at him.
• And when he hesitated, she pushed him and he stumbled toward the door. He settled his gaze on the floor as he wept from the hunger that churned his stomach.
• ***
• After three years of saving his daily income of one dollar as a janitor at the post office and the municipal town hall, he was able to realize one thousand dollars for the Arabic Coral Gold Ring.
• He chuckled, revealing lines of joy as he gazed upon the dollar notes in his sizeable box where he had been saving the money.
• This was more than a jack pot to him. He gave a lopsided smile as he recounted the money for the hundredth time.
• “Oh sweetie, I am going to buy you the gold ring now. I have managed to save up to one thousand dollars for the ring,” he intoned, peered at his wife’s sizeable photo in his hold. “I can’t wait to etch smile on that face of yours. Today is the premiere day of my life.” he began to walk away impatiently as he looked toward going to the store to buy her the ring.
• The excitement of a thousand souls hung over him as he made home with the Arabic gold ring cautiously held in his hands; this was the climax of his achievement as a husband.
• He was prone to greet every Dick Tom and Harry that came his way and any careful observer would notice he was at the prime of his life. At bated breath, he ran home to present the gold ring to his adorable wife.
• “Sweetie, I am back! Guess what! I just bought you the Arabic Coral Gold Ring!” his voice filled the entire yard as he pranced toward their bedroom.
• With the freedom of a bird, he heaved on the door and barged into the bedroom only to behold his wife moaning under the pounding of a flamboyant-looking young man.
• “Holy kitten!” he exclaimed at the tops of his voice and the bag in his hands dashed the floor beneath his trembling body. “Stella!” he wailed, shivering body struggled to stand still, and lost with what to do next.
• Neither of them flinched or was remorseful instead they kissed engagingly, flirted on and gave him the cold shoulders.
• Jamole stared at this iniquity and shut his teary eyes in heart-piercing hurt.
• His sobbing hung over the room and Stella finally snapped at him, “What is all this Jamole? Are you stupid? Have you gone ninny? How dare you interrupt our privacy?” she pulled out of the duvet.
• Tears clouded his eyes and phloem filled his nostrils. “Why did you do this to me? What did I do to deserve this?” Jamole cried through trembling lips which shook as strings on a guitar.
• Smiling cheek to cheek, Stella pushed out her finger and the gold ring glistened gracefully. “Well what you couldn’t buy in three years, my boss brought in less than two minutes. This is Arabic Coral Gold Ring. It is from a man that values my happiness….”
• He interrupted her, “But why?” he fondled into his bag and brought out the gold ring. “I just bought you the same gold ring. Why did you this to me, Stella? Why?”
• “You good-for-nothing husband, so you still have the nerves to pride in your poverty after taking eternity to buy me just a gold ring. Where did you steal that from, huh, because for all I know you have been a broke ass and can’t fend for yourself let alone buy me a gold ring.”
• He shut his eyes and raised his gaze at the ceiling; his heart thudded with heartbreak.
• She barked on, “Besides you have no right to disrupt our privacy. This house belongs to me and I have the right to do with it what I like. Now we deserve some apology. Go on your knees and apologize, Jamole!”
• Her boss tossed his head in agreement.
• Jamole raised a furrowed brow, widened his gaze and gaped at them.
• “Yes you heard me right,” she beamed, “Go on your knees and apologize before I do something stupid!” she threatened through clenched teeth.
• The veins under his skin pumped in fury. He shut his eyes as warm tears couldn’t stop sweeping down his cheeks.
• She leaned toward some documents on the shelf and tossed at the face of Jamole, “Since you wouldn’t apologize, I want a divorce. I am sick and tired of a broke as janitor that calls himself my husband. Sign those divorce papers at your leisure and never you show up your poverty-stricken face in my life again.” She said at a breath and resumed flirting with her boss.
• Jamole swallowed hard and there was no saliva to gulp down his throat. He fell upon his knees and gazed upon these divorce papers.
• “Oh God! Why is this happening to me?”
• With his sullen face raised at the ceiling, he wailed like a kid.