TEARS OF A LIFETIME #2

Jide said “Riri, stop crying. It’s alright. I’m
always here for you. You saved me, Riri.” I just
couldn’t believe my ears. By that time, I had
wrestled out of Jide’s arms “Jide, I’m
pregnant?

How? It’s not possible. It’s just not
possible. I’m thirteen. THIRTEEN!!!” “ Riri, I
know… ” “So, what am I going to do, Jide? You
are my daddy’s sister’s husband; My aunty’s
husband! It’s not right. It’s not right. It’s not
right!!!”

He stood up “It’s not right? Stop it, Riri. Just
stop. How do you think it makes me feel when
you say things like that? You don’t even care
about the fact that you just vindicated me. If you
didn’t get pregnant, I would have resigned myself
to being an impotent man…” I was just so scared.
It felt like my world was crashing down and
there was no way out. “What am I going to do?
What am I going to do? Oh, God!!!” Jide was
trying to get me to calm down “Rita, as much as
I want this baby. You’re just too young. We’ll get
rid of it. It’s not yet 4 weeks old so it’ll be very
easy .”


“An abortion? I have to get an abortion? Hei!!!”
Jide was holding me “Rita, I’ll be here with you.
Nothing will happen to you, I promise. Just calm
down okay?” (Easy for him to say, he wasn’t the
one who would go through the pain). The
abortion was scheduled for the next two days. I
just wanted to be free and I didn’t want to go
home while pregnant.

I’ll never forget that day. No matter how Doctor
Bolu tried to take my mind off what was going
on, he didn’t succeed. I was aware that at
thirteen, I got pregnant for my uncle who I was
in love with and I was getting rid of the baby.
For the next few days, the pain was
excruciating. I was up at nights crying for the
pain and my regret(s) and most nights, Jide
was there to comfort me or to try to anyways.
Only God knows what excuse or reason he had
given Aunty Toyosi for my stay in the hospital
for two extra weeks.


I told myself that I was never going to let Jide
touch me again. So when he came into my
room two nights before I was scheduled to be
discharged, I refused to kiss him back or even
let him touch me. He begged, he tried to speak
to me gently but all those things didn’t matter
to me. All I remembered was the pain that I’d
been through and it gave me more strength to
refuse his advancements. He would try and try
and when I would give excuses of pain or
tenderness, he would back off for a short while
only to try again. How long could I keep up
with the charade though?