A Married Heart

Chike writes love novels but has never loved, and after his latest book fails, his publisher gives him one final chance. A friend tells him to write something real, and when Damaris moves into his compound, he helps her after a picture frame breaks. She tells him she is married to Oscar, a soldier away for over a year. In A Married Heart, they grow close, but Oscar's mother and sister, Nora, arrive and make Damaris's life hard, slapping her for seeing Chike. Damaris removes them from the estate, and Oscar's phone calls grow cold. Damaris tells Chike that Oscar's family had hoped he would stay with an on-and-off girlfriend, so she has never been accepted. Chike writes again with her in mind, and on her birthday, since Oscar is silent, he brings flowers, cooks for her, and they play in the rain. When he kisses her, Damaris runs to her room crying because she knows she has crossed a line. Oscar returns to a cold wife, and after he questions her, she confesses the kiss. His mother has already told him about Damaris and Chike, so Oscar and soldiers beat Chike outside while Damaris screams and takes the blame. Oscar stops the men, Damaris visits the injured Chike, and Chike tells her he loves her, but she calls the kiss a mistake and leaves. Oscar accuses Damaris of returning to Chike, and she says she only checked on a friend. He reveals he is seriously ill and has roughly a year to live. Devastated, Damaris embraces him and agrees to put their marriage first, and she moves with him to his family's home, where his mother and sister apologize. In hospital, Oscar tells her not to cry, that he loves her, and that she should be happy even if that happiness is with Chike. She says she loves him too. Damaris sits alone on a bench, takes out a book titled 'To Love Damaris,' holds it to her chest, and smiles.