Seeking Thrills

She said: I had a presentation of a lifetime to give at the annual APCON event in Lagos that year. I had been in the Advertising business for over ten years by that time, and I had risen to become one of the leading lights in the industry.

I worked very hard to get to that position, and my slot for the keynote address was earned through my hard work and creativity, and the amount of money I had generated for the media outfit I worked for at the time.

The meeting was an all-week affair, with the awards and dinner to be held that Saturday.

The morning session was to feature breakfast, some seminars, and my keynote address, which I was supposed to give by 11 AM.

After the forty-minute speech, we will have a break and return by 6 pm for the awards and dinner ceremony.

I was given the platform to dazzle and increase my profile in the advertising community. It was an opportunity many of my colleagues would give an arm and a leg for, an opportunity that had earned me the envy of many and put me also in the book of many headhunters in the industry

I arrived at the venue an hour early, and one of my colleagues asked me to drive over to the hotel opposite the one where we were having our event, to read over my speech one more time while they set up for the event.

It was a good idea

I wore an afro wig, light makeup, a white and black striped shirt, black pants, and a black jacket.

I looked good and I knew it.

I placed my laptop on the table and began to read while making minor adjustments to the speech

I ordered a cup of coffee and some buns

Suddenly, this guy walks up to my table, sits opposite me, and says, "Hi, I have been looking at you since you waltzed in. I would like to sleep with you."

I looked up from my laptop, wondering what sort of madness this person must be dealing with

My eyes locked with his eyes, and I began to stammer.

What I wanted to say and what I said were two different things

I smiled and said, "You are very confident. Wow. How can you just walk up to a woman and say something like that?"

He was about 5'11 in height, dark, he was rich and mature.

Late thirties or very early forties

I clocked that he was married right away

His grooming was not the overtly masculine grooming of a single man who was trying to look good for himself and the ladies that might swoon in his wake

He was someone with the relaxed air of an achiever, not someone with one more puzzle to put in its place

His confidence came from it, and so did his almost certain assurance that he would have whatsoever he wanted from anyone whom he came across

I said, "I have a meeting in the next thirty minutes. I would have loved to engage you, but this is my big day, and I would like to focus on my keynote speech."

He said, "We can do a lot in thirty minutes.

My room is upstairs. I am in between flights and had to spend the night here as my next flight is later tonight."

I rolled my eyes

He stood up and said, "Shall we?" and I found myself following him

I mean, I packed my laptop and notepad, picked up my car keys, carried my handbag, and sauntered after him.

I didn't even know his name.

We got into his room, I looked at the time, and said, "Okay, I have never done anything like this before. I have a speech to give by 11 AM, and this is 10:35.

If you don't mind, can I just hug you and get going?

He said, "Okay."

I hugged him, then I kissed him, then he took my wig off, and I was there for four hours.

I mean, I was there with him doing all sorts.

My phones (I had two) rang until the batteries drained out.

It was the wildest day of my entire life till today.

I practically threw a live torch on my keg of gunpowder of a career and burnt it to ashes

Nobody could locate me, but they saw my car in the hotel's parking lot

My colleagues and family members who came for the event tried checking if I was lodged in the hotel, but my name was not on their register

The entire keynote speech and the wonders it was supposed to be done for me, and my career went up in smoke

Till tomorrow, I cannot explain what happened to me that day

I was very well raised

I got married as a virgin, and my marriage at the time was less than two months old, actually, forty-one days.

My husband was one of those frantically searching for me that day

Everybody assumed something tragic had happened to me

They knew it had to be death that would keep me away from such an event on such a day and at such an hour

It had to be that either I was dead, or kidnapped, or had a form of accident or the other.

Nobody in their wildest dream would imagine what happened, even if I told them, they would probably not believe it.

Of course, I told a lie.

I booked a ride, jumped into it at the entrance of the hotel, and went straight to a nearby hospital

I pretended to have fainted the moment I got on the door

They rushed me to the emergency room and gave me a drip while asking questions

I was kept there till the next day

Colleagues came over after the dinner

My husband never left my bedside for a minute

Doctors called it mental exhaustion

I was discharged the next day

I kept my job

I rose steadily instead of meteorically, as I would have if I did that keynote address

I was given the "fragile" treatment for a few days, but things returned to normal soon afterward

I cannot explain how I felt about those four hours

If I tried, I would be lying

Sometimes I hate myself for it, and sometimes I tell myself it was worth it

I don't know if this made me evil in a way

I don't even know the name of the man, and I most likely can't recollect his face anymore

It was my "me" experience

The one experience I had that I most likely will never share with anyone, and yet I can still think about it and get excited about it all by myself

This happened about six years ago.

I am a mother of two now

I love my husband and my family

I have never cheated on my husband, and I will never do so

I don't think any other woman in the world can have such an experience

It was a unique one-off

The stars only align that way maybe once in several centuries

I came out of it with "perceived losses" or "what could have been losses," but I can live with that

All the other aspects of my life remained unscathed, and it could just so happen that I give that speech, and this will still be my life afterward

All the hype might never have materialized, and the meteoric rise might end up being a myth.

I decided to share this with you because of a recent story you posted about a woman who cheated on her husband.

I noticed you were trying to find the possible reason why she did it

Many people do that

Men especially enjoy saying "I gave her this, I gave her that, I took her here and I took her there, I did this for her, and I did that for her."

This makes it seem like women only cheat because they were looking for greener pastures, or more money, or more this or more that.

Sometimes it is just about the experience.

I know a lot of people will not understand this, and those who do so will most likely lack the courage to speak up.

I have shared my experience, so that what I think might also be considered.

What if she didn't hate her husband and children?

What if she is not one devilish woman who spread her legs because she was greedy or insatiable

What if she did it just for the experience?

I think that was why I did what I did

I didn't collect a dime from that man, and I never took his phone number or tried to Google his name or find out who he was from the hotel staff

Like I said, I "lost a lot of tangible things and I also spent some money trying to provide an explanation for where I was for those four hours," but I did it just for the experience.

Thank you, sir

Hope you won't deem this unworthy publishing because it didn't fit into your narrative, sir.

Mrs. J.A.D.

PS: Ecclesiastes 7:27-30 "Look, says the teacher, this is what i have discovered: "Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things -while I was still searching but not finding - I found one upright man among a thousand but not one upright woman among them all. This only have I found: God created mankind upright, but they have gone in search of many schemes."

 - Solomon

“There are three things that are too amazing for me,

 four that I do not understand:

the way of an eagle in the sky,

 the way of a snake on a rock,

the way of a ship on the high seas,

 and the way of a man with a young woman.

“This is the way of an adulterous woman:

 She eats and wipes her mouth

 and says, ‘I’ve done nothing wrong.’

- Agur

I woke up to this and had to share, I hope we all learn the right lessons from it and do better.

You were created upright, especially after you became a born-again Christian.

It is unprofitable to go in search of schemes once you come into this reality.

Always remember this.

-GSW-