The Choice

In The Choice, Tobi is married to Bugbemi, the woman who supports him. For an upscale Lagos event, she teases his vanity, lends him her car, and buys him perfume with money from Chief, her older wealthy patron. Tobi's friends at that event praise Meg Adams, his poised former lover, in front of Bugbemi, a reminder that he could have been with a richer, more sophisticated woman if Meg had not stopped calling. Before his marriage, Tobi once waited for Meg for hours in a room decorated with rose petals. She never appeared, her phone was unreachable, and a worried call to his friend Brainard produced no answers. When he caught up with Meg at a pool, she accused him of inventing a rich life to belong in her world, yet she admitted she was still in love and had tried to call him weeks before his wedding, only for his fiancée to answer. She promised to leave her partner if Tobi admitted he still wanted her, but after an intense exchange he let her walk away. After his wedding, Meg returns and tells Tobi at another event that he does not love Bugbemi the way he loves her, and she urges him to take one last chance. This time Tobi refuses, explaining that what he feels for his wife is commitment and that their secret meeting has to end. Bugbemi learns about the meeting and confronts him, calling him selfish and saying she has always been the second choice he settles for. During a bitter follow-up argument, Tobi sees an incoming call from Chief on Bugbemi's phone, assumes the old arrangement is still alive, and spews cruel insults about her past. Bugbemi responds that Chief is only passing along a professional real-estate contact, then she admits that she is three months pregnant and that she is worn down by secrecy and fertility treatments. Tobi begs Bugbemi to listen and kneels in front of her. He speaks about growing up as an orphan and says he refuses to repeat that fate with his own child.