Misled

You won’t be misled, so he said, you just have to do this so you will become mature. The look on his face ensured me that he wasn’t going to leave me heartbroken just as Solomon did, ‘No he can’t’ I assured myself. Slowly I let him pull off the wrapper I was holding on to tightly and let his hand do the rest. At that moment I knew I was going to be matured, at last, no more mockery and loneliness, I was going to be a WOMAN.

The first month after the experience with Emeka was the best time of my life, he made me feel love, yes LOVE, he made me know what love felt like, he supported and made me the woman I always wanted to be; the ‘girl’ all the lady eyed in the campus. I was no longer a girl, they knew that. I had tasted what they all boasted about, the best part of it was that it wasn’t just anybody, it was Emeka. 

Who is there? I replied to the knock on the door, “it’s me” was what I heard and I started wondering who the fool was knocking on my door at that time of the morning. I peeped through the window which was just beside the door. What does he want? I thought, probably he has heard the news. I opened the door to see Solomon grinning at me. Won’t you let me in? Quietly he entered and sat at the stool just beside my bed.

Well, I know you already know my reason for coming. Please tell me it’s not true

What’s not true? I pretended. I’m a good pretender, note that down now

He stood up, came close to me and touched my hair; you can’t tell me you fell for that playboy? I moved towards my bed and sat down just at the edge of my bed. Emeka is not a playboy, he is far better than every boy in this campus, I replied. You and I know that’s not true, he said.

Getting angry, I felt it was high time Solomon left my room, going towards the door, I said Solomon you know what? It’s time for you to leave; I don’t have time for this. Embarrassed and shocked, he wore his cap which he left on the stool, adjusted it well and promised me that I was going to come to my senses, sooner or later.

Mtcheew, rubbish. “Emeka is not a playboy, he is not, he can’t play me,” I said this continuously, encouraging myself that Emeka had changed. Has he really changed nkem? I asked myself

Chapter 2

I ran out of the class closing my mouth with my hand and my eyes too cause I knew there were about a hundred eyes looking down at me. Outside the kiosk of Iya risi (the best indomie seller on campus) I washed my face with the pure water Josephine offered me and sat down on the bench reserved for those that prefer to eat in her kiosk." Ómo mí kí lo wá selé bayíí, kí ló jé" was one of the questions iya risi asked me continuously amongst the others which I couldn't remember due to the fear that gripped me when I suspected the cause of the continuous vomiting could be pregnancy. It can't be, can it? You should stop thinking negatively if you don't want it to happen, I told myself.

Josephine let's go, I thanked iya risi for her concern and left for my hostel. I couldn't go back to the class cause of the shame I knew I will feel for the rest of the month, I decided I wasn’t going to attend class, holiday was in two weeks, all I needed now was to sit and clear my head.

The queue at the hospital was so long I felt I would faint anytime soon. The cry of babies and the smell of different body odors made the environment toxic to me. Just as I was about to leave I heard my name "nkem okechukwu, any nkem okechukwu here?" I heaved a sigh of relief before answering the long call of my name which was already adding to my irritation.

Miss Nkem, our result proves that you're four weeks gone. Four weeks gone? I asked, hoping and praying within that it wasn’t what I thought it was. Yes, four weeks gone, I'm happy to say you're four weeks pregnant. I froze there on my seat thinking about the words I just heard, "I’m happy to tell you", "four weeks", "pregnancy", and then I thought about my life, my school, my parents, emekaaaaaaaa. "Nkem, miss nkem", I heard my name faintly and saw the doctor reaching out to me like he wanted to hold me, I wanted to reply, yes I wanted to, I wanted to open my mouth but instead I found myself falling to the floor. “Nurse, nurse, nurse".