You know, women say men are scum; but my sister, women are not the salt of the earth themselves.
They find it easy to call us names but some women can bring out the worst in you.
I met Ada when we were at school. I really liked her but she didn’t think much of me. No matter how hard I tried to get her to agree to go out with me, there was always some hotter guy she wanted more than me, someone who could spend more, someone who was more handsome, someone who had something more than me…she told me we could only operate as friends.
I gave up, I had other relationships but nothing really came out of these.
A few years after school, I met Ada again, this time around, I had become a ‘big boy’, you know. I was employed by one of the big three Telcos shortly after my NYSC and as you know, na, Telcos pay well, at least better than most. I am an IT guy, so I got a good package and because I am not the type of guy that splurges, I was able to rent me a decent accommodation in a decent area and after three years in the company, bought myself a nice Camry that I have been using to cruise around town. I live well.
I was quietly enjoying myself with the once in a while girlfriends; they didn’t stay because I was mostly not too keen on them.
Then Ada showed up in my life again; we met at a reunion of our classmates and it was as if I was a fool to have let her go that time. Fortunately she was not married, though she told me she had a boyfriend. I was more confident of myself and I knew I could take care of her this time around.
It wasn’t as if I made myself a nuisance but I had learned to really be the good boyfriend and when you love a woman the way I loved Ada, it wasn’t hard to do.
I didn’t let her rest; I was on her like white on rice trying to make sure she forgot her so called boyfriend; she said the guy’s name was Victor, someone she met at work. Thinking back now, it was a bad move; I should actually have let her go; I should not have tried to compete with Victor.
I showered her with love; I was attentive. I was understanding. I made her laugh. I truly cared…until one day, she herself told me she had broken up with Victor. I tried not to show too much joy, that was when I knew I would marry her, now she was all mine!
I told her I would marry her but she said we should take it slow until she finished her masters and got a better job so the whole load would not be on me. I thought it made sense and said we should wait.
About a year later, Ada took in; she got pregnant and I thought, wow, this is it.
When she told me, I was so happy and I was already planning a wedding in my head. Abi shouldn’t that be the next line of action? I didn’t think it would be right to have a child out of wedlock; I was settled, I had a good job, what else was needed and I loved this girl…
Ada didn’t want to be married yet, she told me what told me earlieer. She wanted to gget her masters, grow her career; to have some money of her own, to do this, to do that before getting married and having children.
I was shocked o.
Most girls would jump at this, they would be happy that the man that got them pregnant was ecstatic about marrying them…abi am I lying?
Hmm, the babe told me she wanted to remove the pregnancy!
I was mad!
What do you mean? You want to abort my baby? What wrong have I done to you?
I shouted, I pleaded, I threatened…nothing worked, she told me if I didn’t help her get rid of it, she would do it herself.
Like I said before, I loved the girl, no bi small,so I finally agreed; if that was what she wanted. I had to agree.
We finalized on where and when she would undergo the abortion; I got a friend of mine who worked in a hospital; though he said it was against his hospital’s policy but hey, how we go do am, na?
We went for it o.
It was a Saturday, they prepped her up for the procedure, they anesthetized her, and wheeled her in; of course I was pacing like an expectant husband at the reception praying that all would go well, asking for God’s forgiveness, wondering when we would be able to have one we could keep…
Imagine my relief when my doctor friend came to call me that they were done and invited me to her ward… that was when everything began to unravel.
Ada was still under anesthesia; and you know when like that, a patient is often speaking out things from their mind, they are not fully conscious but the mind is working.
She was still drowsy but calling another man’s name…she was saying, ‘Victor, Victor, where is my victor…our baby…victor…
Who is victor?
Her so called boyfriend, that’s who! The one she told me several times she had broken up with, the one she claimed was un-serious…the one she told me she had left for me…that’s who!
That was when it hit me!
Ada never left Victor, in fact, that pregnancy belonged to Victor. She had probably gone to him and in his characteristic manner had told her he wasn’t ready to be a father; she brought the pregnancy to me and panicked when I asked for marriage. She knew someday, one day down the line of years to come, I would find out, so she said she would remove it. She made me abort another man’s baby!
That’s how I walked away from the hospital that day leaving her behind; I was done with her. My doctor friend was there, hearing her moan about another man, while I was tearing my hair out over a pregnancy that wasn’t even mine!
I hope she called her stupid Victor to take her home because onve I left, I never looked back.
It was over!
(Series written and edited by Peju Akande and based on true stories)