When Ifeoma and Osonye reached the hospital and a test was conducted, she expected it to be malaria but was shocked to the bones when she found out that she was pregnant.
“Doctor I think there is a mixed up somewhere. Check the result well doctor, I’m sure of what I’m saying.”
“Young lady, we don’t make mistakes in this hospital. And come on, I expected you to be jumping in joy after receiving this news”
“Doctor, you are not even getting it, this is not my test result” Ifeoma said as she angrily stood up and walked away from the doctor, refusing to collect the result from him.
Osonye apologized to the doctor on behalf of her friend, collected the result from him and ran after her Ifeoma.
“Ifeoma wait!” She said as she ran after her.
“What is wrong with you Ifeoma, why did you had to embarrass the doctor like that?
“Osonye, how can I be pregnant? Where is Kanayo? Probably, he is making plans of marrying another woman by now. You and I know how much I abhorred abortion, it’s against my principles. How can I carry an unwanted child at this my age? No Osonye, I reject it, its not my portion”
“But Ifeoma, I don’t understand you, hope I told you earlier you might be pregnant, so why are you still in denial after the lab test has confirmed it?”
“Osonye, pregnant for who? This is supposed to be the joy of every woman but why am I so unlucky?” Ifeoma said as tears galloped down her cheeks.
“Let’s return home first, enter the car, I’m sure we must find a solution to this” Osonye softly demanded
Ifeoma entered the car and they returned home. She couldn’t stop herself crying.
“Osonye, I still can’t believe this, why me? Love is so wicked. Just look at what my mistake has caused. The day I made out with Kanayo, I thought I was in my free period. How come I’m receiving this news that I’m pregnant? I really can’t figure out how I became pregnant, Osonye” Ifeoma continued crying, hitting her stomach.
“Stop it Ifeoma, what do you think you are doing? You will only hurt yourself, please stop it” Osonye said as she moved closer to her, urging her to be still.
“Osonye, this is a bad luck. I can’t bear this child.”
“Let’s call Kanayo on phone and inform him of this development” Osonye suggested
“Do you think he will listen to me?” Ifeoma asked
“Why not? He is the one who got you pregnant, he has every right to know about it and who knows, the pregnancy might bring you two back together again.”
Ifeoma stayed put thinking over what Osonye said and later affirmed her words that the baby might be a means of uniting them again.
“Osonye, I think you have a point, who knows, it might be the way God designed to reconcile Kanayo and I.” Ifeoma became hopeful.
“Yes, that’s what I’m thinking. Call him now” Osonye suggested.
Ifeoma said OK and called Kanayo on phone but unfortunately, his number was unreachable.
“Don’t worry, we will storm his place this evening. Nothing has spoiled yet, he must surely accept his responsibility”
“But Osonye, what if he refuses?”
“Refuse how? Not when another head is involved, he has a child coming, so nothing like rejection here”
“OK oo, I pray so oo”
Later in the evening, Ifeoma and Osonye drove to Kanayo’s residence but found out he had relocated to another place and none of the tenants in his former apartment knew his new address.
“Well since he has packed out, tomorrow, we will visit his office.” Ifeoma said
So the next day, as Kanayo was about stepping out, he met Osonye and Ifeoma, and became dumbfounded looking at them.
Ifeoma was left of the words to explain her reason for storming his business premises unannounced.
“Good afternoon Kanayo” She blurted.
Osonye greeted as well.
“Ifeoma what brings you here?” Kanayo asked
Osonye knew that her friend can’t express her self clearly so she decided to step in her stead.
“Mr Kanayo, we would like to discuss a very important matter with you, and its very urgent”
Kanayo stood, tracing his mind on what the matter could be, he said:” Ok, you guys can come inside”
And they both entered his office, Osonye began:
“Erm Kanayo, I’m sure you know who Ifeoma is and you have had one or two things with her in the past?” Osonye asked Kanayo who was so pleased staring romantically at the face of the woman he had been dreaming on the day he would make her his wife.
It was because of Osonye he decided to allow them inside, pretending to be nice so that he won’t be portrayed as a very mean and uncaring person.
“So young lady, can you please go straight to the point, I have somewhere serious I need to catch up with” Kanayo said stretching for the bottle water on the table. As he was about drinking it, Osonye released the bomb that Ifeoma was pregnant.
Kanayo gulped, getting chocked by the water. He exaggerated his face looking at Ifeoma’s tommy, paused for a minute and burst into laughter.
“Ifeoma, why? Why do you want to hang this pregnancy on my neck? I remembered you told me you were free after I told you to take contraceptives. I vividly remembered you mentioning free period, so how come?”
“Kanayo, I swear to you, this baby is yours, see the lab result”
“I don’t need to see the lab result because this baby is not mine, I refused to fall into this trap. Are you not ashamed yourself Ifeoma, where is your pride? I remembered sending you 100k just to settle you so that you won’t feel bad for the way I left you, so why are you doing this?”
“You gave me 100k but you never told me the reason you sent the money, I just saw the alert I thought we were still good until you stopped answering my calls and sent me a message that you can’t continue with the relationship”
Osonye was confused because it would be hard to convince Kanayo he was responsible because Ifeoma told him she was in her free period when they met.
“Mr Kanayo, this is not something you should get flared up at, let’s sit down as an adult and fashion out a way to solve this. Mistake happen sometimes, you know how confusing women’s cycle can be sometimes, maybe she miscalculated it”
“Osonye, I really respect your desire to help your friend, believe me, she is not telling you the truth. How can she tell you I’m responsible for her pregnancy? Its not possible”
“Mr Kanayo listen………..getting worked up is not the best solution here, I know my friend more than you do, she doesn’t hide anything from me, I believe her 100%. Mr Kanayo, you are responsible for her pregnancy… Trying to deny it won’t solve anything, believe me or else we will drag your name and business to the mud”
“Are you threatening me?” Kanayo flared
“You can call it anything you want but as for this pregnancy, you must accept it by force, you can’t shy away from your responsibility”
When Kanayo saw that Osonye was loosing her anger, he decided to act calm and control the situation so that his plans of having her in the near future won’t be jeopardized.
He paused for some minutes, and said: “Well, I will think about it and get back to you.”
“There is nothing to think about here Mr Kanayo, the deed has already been done by you, so you have to accept and marry her before the pregnancy becomes obvious.”
Kanayo got irked at the mentioning of “marriage”.
“Ladies, I have given you my own answer for now, give me sometime to think about it” Kanayo said, standing up.
When Osonye wanted to utter another word, Ifeoma stopped her and pleaded with them to leave to come back another day.
While they were in the car, Ifeoma appreciated Osonye for standing up for her but Osonye’s mind was far from where she was. The Kanayo’s voice she heard sounded exactly like the voice of her secret admirer. She was trying to capture the close similarity.
Kanayo irked at how Ifeoma wanted to use pregnancy to destroy his plans of marrying Osonye.
“Ifeoma, I swear, your plans will never work, so you are planning on portraying me as a wicked person in the sight of Osonye, right? I promise you, I am going to strain your friendship with Osonye. She will hate you to the extent of desiring to end your life. Osonye is my wife, and not you nor that thing in your womb can stop me” Kanayo determined.
To be continued..
Just a Tear by Ngozi Lovelyn O.
All Rights Reserved
