I Was a Cleaner in Warri. My Boss's Wife Never Knew I Knew Her Secret.

Back in 2019, I was 34 and cleaning houses for a living in Warri. One of my regular clients was a big madam, wife of a man who owned a filling station. Every Tuesday and Friday, I would go to their duplex in Ekpan. I saw everything. Her husband was never around, always traveling. She was lonely, I could see it.

Then one day, she introduced me to her 'cousin' who had just come from Lagos. A young man, maybe 26. He was always there when I came. I would be on my knees scrubbing the bathroom and I would hear them laughing in the sitting room. The way she looked at him, the way her voice changed. I am not a foolish woman. I knew.

One Friday, I finished early and forgot my phone in the kitchen. When I went back to get it, I heard her bedroom door close. I saw her slippers outside the door, and his shoes right next to them. Omo, my heart started beating so fast. I just took my phone and left. I never said anything. Not to her, not to anyone.

I kept working for her for another year. She paid me well, even gave me extra for Christmas. Her husband would come home sometimes, and she would cook for him, laugh with him, act like everything was fine. I would serve them food and smile. But I knew. The whole time, I knew.

Sometimes I wonder if she knew that I knew. Maybe that is why she paid me well. To keep my mouth shut. And I did. I needed the money, my children needed to eat. But it taught me something: everybody dey carry their own cross. The big madam with the big house, she was just as trapped as I was. We were both just surviving.