The next morning before she left, Osas thanked me for accommodating her and said she
would attend her job interview that morning before going back to Benin. She made me
promise not to say a word to Charly or anyone else of what she told me the day before.
According to her she had made up her mind to let sleeping dogs lie—Ken belonged in her
past and since he had found happiness with her sister she was willing to let go of her past
and move on to allow peace to reign.
I commended her for her decision and gave her my word that I would keep her secret. Deep
down I wished I could at least tell Yemi, I mean how can you have such hot gist and keep it
to yourself?
Unfortunately, I’m a woman of my word and I had made a promise so there was no gossiping
going down later that night. I still didn’t know how I was going to look Ken in the eye again
when I saw him and not feel weird or how I’d talk with Charly and not feel guilty about
keeping what I knew from her. I had made up my mind to keep my big mouth shut since the
Yemi and Bayo saga where I became the victim because I’d tried to warn Yemi.
Come to think of it! I forgot to mention that Bayo was eventually arrested by the SSS. They
traced him to where he was hiding in Ibadan and you won’t believe it— he was actually
squatting with one of his student girlfriends. He’s currently in police custody while they
investigate the case between him and Madam Precious. Yemi is considering getting a
divorce although I think that’s just crazy, considering she just got married less than 6 months
ago. I feel bad for her, I just wish she had listened when I tried to warn her earlier, it would’ve
saved her the heartbreak.
Sometimes we girls are so desperate to get married that even when friends and family are
looking out for us we see them as enemies of progress. I remember how Yemi humiliated me
at her wedding during the catching of the bouquet with that miserable petal she gave
me—one would’ve thought I was there to steal her husband the way her expression changed
when she saw me.
I had planned to spend my weekend just chilling at home and making some delicious “isi
ewu” (a Nigerian delicacy) to cheer Yemi up. Just as the “isi ewu” was about ready, there
was a knock at the door. Oh God, who is that again? I thought. I wasn’t in the mood to share
my “isi ewu” with anyone; it’s so annoying when people with ‘long throats’ (Nigerian slang for
wanting what is not yours) show up at your house just as soon you finish cooking some
delicious food as if they have a hidden camera somewhere and are just waiting for you to
finish cooking. Part of me wanted to whisper to Yemi to ignore the knock and pretend we
weren’t home but she was already skipping towards the door as if she’d been expecting
someone, besides the TV was on so loud, whoever it was would obviously know we were
home.
“Ah! welcome ma, good afternoon,” I heard her say when she opened the door. Welcome
ma? I thought, who could she have possibly been greeting that way? I peeped through the
kitchen door to see who she was talking to, only to see my mum standing at the door—I
almost fainted.
My mum had no idea I was pregnant, I hadn’t seen her since my pregnancy had started to
show, I had made it a point of duty to call her at least once a week but I avoided going to the
village to visit because I didn’t want her to know I was pregnant.
Yes I didn’t! I knew she’d freak out… you know how our African mothers can be… it’s bad
enough that I’m her only daughter and I’m not married, then to add insult to injury she was
about to find out that I was also pregnant with Mr. Nobody’s child. I’m sure she had come to
give me her usual lecture on getting married and giving her grandchildren.
READ ALSO :Old Enough Yet Unmarried – Episode 32
I had successfully avoided her all this while because she had surgery for cataracts and was
paranoid about travelling alone for reasons best known to her, even though I didn’t complain
because it worked well for me. I just kept sending money to her and using work as an
excuse not to travel home to see her. I’m sure a lot of people have heard about cataracts but
don’t really know what they are, let me break it down for you: cataracts occur when a part of
your eye called the lens, which is usually transparent, becomes clouded such that you begin
to see things as if you’re looking at them through a foggy window. Damn! That must be so
annoying. Anyway, it is common in old people and usually develops slowly, interfering with
the vision until eventually surgery is needed to replace the affected lens in the eye. The
cause of cataracts is currently unknown but factors like diabetes, positive family history of
cataracts and eye injuries increase your risk of having them.
My plan had been to keep the pregnancy a secret until after I had given birth—at least when
she saw the babies she would probably calm down and be excited about seeing two
grandchildren instead of the one grandchild she’d been bugging me for and everything was
going as I had hoped until that day.
I didn’t know what to do, she was inside already, how on earth was I going to let her see me?
How was I going to explain my giant belly?
“Where is my daughter?” I heard her ask excitedly. “Tell her to come out and welcome me!”
“She’s in the kitchen,” Yemi replied. Immediately, I heard her footsteps coming towards the
kitchen, I didn’t know what else to do so I stupidly ran and hid behind the door. “Tessy?” she
called out to me as her footsteps drew closer. “I wonder what she is cooking that is so
important that she can’t come out to welcome me!” I heard her say aloud. I just stayed
behind the door holding my breath. I felt like I was in a scene from a horror movie where I
was the victim hiding behind the door and hoping that the big bad monster wouldn’t find me.
“She’s not here,” she called out to Yemi when she stood at the doorway and didn’t see
anyone. She was going to turn and head back towards the living room when I dropped the
spoon I was holding by mistake making a loud noise. If that spoon had been a living thing I’d
have beaten the hell out of it for dropping out of my hand and blowing my cover,
unfortunately I couldn’t, it was but an ordinary spoon. I was left to face my mum.
“Goodness gracious!” she shouted when she looked behind the door to see what had
caused the noise and realised it was me. “What were you doing behind the door?” she
asked, looking at me suspiciously. The area behind the door was poorly lit, so she didn’t
notice my belly immediately. She was still concerned about finding out what I was doing
behind the door when suddenly her eyes travelled down to my belly. “My God!” she
screamed, jumping back and holding her chest as she spotted it. “Have I started seeing
double again? I thought these people said they had removed the cataracts,” she said,
rubbing both eyes vigorously and blinking like a blind man who had just been healed. “Your
belly is looking like a pregnant woman’s own!” she said, pointing at it and looking puzzled.
“Or is it the cataracts?” she asked again, still in denial.
A part of me wanted to give a sarcastic reply like “yes mummy, cataracts have the power to
reappear after removal and selectively magnify other people’s bellies to make them look
bigger” but I just stood there scratching my head and wondering how I was going to explain
my tummy palava—my earlier fantasies of sitting down to a delicious plate of “isi ewu” were
suddenly gone with the wind in a twinkle of an eye..
Find out what happens next…