Interloper

Interloper

 

 

The moment she discovered she was pregnant

She panicked

She was just nineteen

She was an undergraduate

She was a pastor’s daughter

She was a choir leader in her church

She was a born-again sister

What would everybody say?

She didn’t even consider her options

What options?

There was only one

She must abort the baby?

The man she got pregnant for was a youth corper

He was posted to the state from the east

He rented an apartment not too far from her hostel

He was matured, easy going and a good prospect

She liked him a lot

Perhaps because she had always been drawn to guys way older than her

Perhaps because he treats her like an adult unlike her peers

They became friends one evening when she was returning from the library

The distance between the library and her hostel was about two kilometers

She had been in the library for almost six hours and was walking home around midnight

Campus was always safe at any time of the day

He walked up to her and asked if he could keep her company

She had seen him on the road often

She knew he was living in one of the staff quarters

She liked the company

It was better than walking by herself

Plus, the chit chat made the journey seemed shorter

He offered the extra-key of his apartment

It was a boys quarters behind a professor’s lodge on campus

He told her the room was quiet and ideal for study

He said he usually returns late to the room on weekdays but stay in the room on weekends

She can come around at any time during the week and read elsewhere during the weekend

All he would ask of her was that the room be kept tidy

She liked him

She really liked and felt safe around him

She collected the extra-key

He was true to his word

He was rarely in the room

The room was quiet and the room became a hiding place for her

Many of her roommates and classmates asked her where she studies

She kept the room all to herself

As her examination drew nearer, she began to go to the room during the weekend

He was a voracious reader and his room was littered with bestselling novels and biographies/autobiographies

Whenever she came around he would lave her to study

He would sometimes leave the room or at other times he would stay glued to his novel

Once in a while they got talking

He would ask her what she was studying and explain it to her in his own way

He studied Medicine

She was studying physiotherapy with hopes of switching to medicine in future

He was good

She picked his brains and unlocked great gems

She didn’t know how

Perhaps it was the space they shared together over and over

Perhaps it was the giddy feeling she gets whenever she caught him looking at her breasts or her body

She knew he wanted her

He didn’t ask neither did he behave in any improper manner

She really wished he would

One day she asked him why he was so guarded

“I know you like me but like any typical man, instead of you to say your mind, you are forming hard guy”

She had nothing to lose

She was merely making an observation

He had always encouraged her to be blunt with him

He told her the truth

He was engaged to be married

His fiancé was also serving at that moment

His reaction to her was pure biology

It had nothing to do with his mind or heart

It was just chemistry

She heard him

But she didn’t believe him

Sometimes guys would do one thing and say another

All the signs she saw pointed to “love”

She had fallen helplessly in love with him

Even if he wouldn’t marry her

They have a few months to enjoy each other

He could read her mind

She knew he could

He opened his arms

She shrugged

He smiled

She threw herself into his arms

Love unlocked all her defenses

He played the accordion

Then the guitar

The piano

The local drum

Even the cymbals

By the time he started playing the flute

She was singing in perfect pitch

It was everything she had daydreamed about and more

After they became lovers

She practically moved in with him

She still had her bed space in the hostel but with him she had her privacy

He became her personal tutor

Her coach in academics and practical art of loving

She milked him and he harvested her honey in return

They were together for one session

He finished service and returned home

A month later, she discovered she was pregnant

His departure shook her badly

Second year students were not given accommodation in the school hostel

He arranged for her to have the room

He left his electronics, beddings everything for her

She knew he loved her in his own way

She loved him more than anything

Of course, she knew her feelings were irrelevant!

She still had several years of schooling ahead of her

He would have to settle down soon

She had enough money to do the abortion

She had enough time (The new session had just resumed and lectures were not yet coming thick and fast)

She just couldn’t get around to do it

She wasn’t procrastinating

Her head kept saying, Abort!

Her heart kept saying, keep the baby
After the first semester, she wrote the appropriate authorities and deferred her admission

She went home to her parents

Five months pregnant

She explained herself

Her father was a little disappointed but took it in good faith

Her Father was 49 years old when he had her

Her mother was 46

They had her younger sister two years later

They were already close to seventy

Her mother was very happy she didn’t do the abortion

“What if you died? You this girl? Don’t ever think like that! You were not raised in a toxic home”

By the start of the new session, she had delivered her baby boy and returned to school

Her mother and younger sister took care of the baby

Her parents had asked her who the father of the baby was

She said the father died in a motor accident on his way to school

He didn’t say more than that

Her parents asked her if she had notified his people that he had a son with them

She said she didn’t know her people!

Her parents took her explanation with a pinch of salt

She graduated

She got a job as a physiotherapist with the state hospital

Sometimes she would get a patient through referral whom she would do home services for

One day she got a home services engagement

The money was very good

A rich woman had stroke and her services was needed to help her regain the use of some parts of her body

Three days after resuming the job, he came

Her first and only lover

The father of her son

He was the son of the woman she was treating

He had since travelled abroad and returned home only because of the sudden sickness of his mother

The moment he saw her

He recognized her

They talked

He told her about his marriage and life abroad

She bit her lips from telling him about her son

She asked him about his children

He said they were still waiting on the Lord

It ended there

She faced her job

She was engaged to work on his mother four days in a week

After the first week, he showed up at her office in the general hospital

She thought there was an emergency with his mother

There was none

He simply wanted the milking and the honey harvest to continue

She knew that was what he wanted

As usual he was distant and subtle

He took her to dinner

They talked

This time, she was patient

After five days of dancing in the rain

He told her he wanted to play archery again

She told him to come and pick her at home the next day

When he arrived, she invited him in

Her parents and siblings were all there

She introduced him to them and then introduced him to his son

He didn’t say anything.

He just fixed his gaze on the eight-year-old boy for a little close to eternity

Then he said “This baby is your child”

He had done the calculation

The child couldn’t have been born by her aged parents

She looked at him and said “That baby is your child”

He couldn’t believe his ears

He came that night looking a pool where he could wet his beak

He got much more than he bargained for

 

PS: He took two weeks to think

After the two weeks, he told his wife he wanted a divorce

She kept out of it

The divorce eventually came through two years later

They had practically been living together as husband and wife

He established his own hospital and started practicing

Few moths after the divorce

She followed him to the registry with her protruding belly (she was 5 months pregnant) and married him

Their 11 years old son was the ring bearer