The Blue House S03 E07

Dear reader please note that this is the last season of The Blue House- yes I know I should have mentioned it earlier. Forgive me. A new series is in the works so don't despair!
In the meantime, enjoy the rest of the season while it lasts;)


"Hello?” Ayodele wasn’t sure he had heard correctly.
“Ayodele it’s Peace…”
He had suffered a great deal because of this girl, why was she calling him now?  “Peace? Why are you calling me?”

“Err… I want to tell you something…”
“Tell me what? Why did you tell your Aunt that I raped you? Did I ever rape you?”
“I didn’t…” Ayodele could hear vehicles and people on the other end, it was noisy and he was straining to hear her.
“Peace?”
“Ayo I’m in trouble…”
“What trouble? There’s so much noise in the background!”
“I’m calling from… business center… area...I think I’m pregnant.”
Ayodele shot up as if he had just been pricked by a needle. “You think what?...”
“I’m in trouble…”
“How can you be pregnant? Hello?... Peace?... Peace?” She had hung up. Ayodele suddenly felt cold, his skin erupted in goose bumps. Pregnant? How could she be pregnant? He had always been careful to use a condom, there was no way that she could be pregnant. Suddenly he began to cry because now he was in real trouble, what would his father say or worse still do? There was only one person that he could talk to at a time like this, Brother Tunji the barber.
**********
“Hi” Obiora kissed Helen on the mouth, she gave an indifferent response.
“Hi. How was your day?”
“Not bad. How was yours?”
“Tiring.” She slumped on the sofa, resting her head on her arms.
“Where are the boys?” Obiora had taken a seat beside her.
“Sleeping.”
“Wow that was early!” Obiora was relieved, he had some news he wanted to share with her.
“Yeah I sent them off to bed. They were stressing me out.”
“Too bad, I bought beef suya”
“Really?” Helen perked up. “Please bring it out, let me go and soak some garri.” Helen got up eagerly while Obiora handed over a white nylon showing the foil paper-wrapped delicacy. Watching her go he smiled at the immediate change a small surprise made, he was going to miss her thoroughly. He would let her eat her fill and then tell her he had been given his offer letter.
Helen and Obiora ate and chatted happily, sniffing every now and then because of the peppery meat. Helen was glad that Obiora seemed to be trying to make up for the past weeks of their tense relationship. Obiora on the other hand was genuinely enjoying the moment, the next thirty minutes might be heartbreaking. They finished eating and Helen packed the plates to the kitchen.
“Do you want to take a bath?” Helen asked, hoping he would say yes.
“Yeah… boil enough water for the two of us…”
“I was hoping you’d say that.” Helen said coyly. Obiora gave a sad smile, her mood was about to change.
“So, Olayinka wants to go into event planning.” Helen began chatting again as soon as she was back from the kitchen. “She and Effiong have been making plans. I really think they’ll work out their issues and…”
“I got the job.” Obiora said suddenly, there was no better time to say it.
Helen stared at him. “When?”
“Today. I picked up my letter today.” He retrieved it from his bag and gave it to her. Helen read through the letter feeling so sad, Obiora had finally done as he wished. “We can work it out Helen, please let’s try.”
Helen started to cry as the kettle whistled.
**********
“So I did some more research on starting a new event planning business and strategies for gaining customers.” Effiong said as Olayinka returned from the kitchen wiping her hands on a kitchen towel. Effiong had laid out several sheets of paper on the dining table.
“Wow this is a lot of research!”
“Yes, and I want you to read as much as you can. I’m really looking forward to what you can do with this business.” Effiong smiled.
Olayinka stared at him then looked away. Why was he so helpful, was he doing his best to get her back on her feet financially so that he could divorce her without feeling guilty? “Thank you for believing in me.” She finally said, afraid to ask the questions on her mind.
“I sense a “but” coming.” Effiong had seen the look on her face, there was something she wasn’t saying.
“There’s no “but”.” Olayinka said as cheerfully as possible. “I’m just awed by how much you’ve helped me with this project.”
Effiong’s face became stern. “I know when you’re lying and you’re doing it now. Your lies got us here.”
Olayinka gasped, it had been a while since Effiong spoke unkindly to her. “I don’t want to offend you Effiong… you’ve been of so much help and I don’t want to spoil things by asking the wrong questions.”
“Well you might as well ask since you’re thinking so much about it.”
Olayinka inhaled. “I… I… Why are you being so nice to me Effiong?” She blurted out.
It was Effiong’s turn to gasp then he laughed. “What sort of question is that? What’s going on in that head of yours? Can’t I just help you?”
“You can but I don’t know what you want to do with me!”
“What I want to do with you? What would I want…? Oh!” he finally realized what she might have been thinking and sank into his chair. “Let’s take things one step at a time.”
Olayinka’s head was bowed, she spoke softly. “I know I don’t have a right to demand anything from you but that’s not good enough for me. Am I just hanging around till you decide what to do with me or can I… can I hope that you still… that we can work things out?”
Effiong put his head in his hands thinking, searching his mind for the truth. “Who did you sleep with?”
Olayinka was shocked, he had never asked that question. In fact he had never spoken about the affair no matter how much she tried to bring it up. He just didn’t want to speak about it. “My…my boss”
“No surprise there.” Effiong muttered. “Did you want to keep his baby?”
“No, well, yes at a point, because I didn’t want to die. But I had the accident on my way to the hospital to abort the baby.”
“How is it that you got pregnant for him when I had been pleading with you to have another child? Did you want to start a new life with him?”
Olayinka didn’t know if she could tell him the truth. He would know if she was lying so she said: “In my foolishness I thought I could have a new life with him. He is a smooth talker, has a lot of money, he’s widely respected in the industry and I was just awed that he paid me attention. That he took notice of my hairstyle or my makeup, that he praised me for a job well done. I didn’t trust you anymore and I chose to listen to poor advice, I really thought I had things under control. I got carried away, so yes Effiong I wanted to start a new life with him but I realized too late that I was just a pawn in his hands.”
“Do you still keep in touch with him?”
“No it’s over. It was over as soon as he found out I was pregnant.”
“Do you still love me?” Effiong looked straight into her eyes.
“More than ever before, yes I still do.” She cried.
Effiong wiped the tears that had fallen down her face. “I can’t promise you that we can go back to the way we were but I can promise to try to work things out.”
“You won’t divorce me?” Olayinka heart was beating faster.
“I really wanted to but for some weird reason I can’t.”
“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” Olayinka flung her arms around his neck and wept.
That night Mr and Mrs Brown slept together in their bed facing each other.
**********
Ayodele was frantic. Brother Tunji had travelled leaving him to his misery, the boy cursed the day he met the unfortunate man. “I think I’m pregnant” Peace’s voice resounded in his ears. By now Ayodele had convinced himself that his father would kill him and he had no intention of dying at an early age so he had hatched a plan. He would steal as much as he could from his mother’s store in the compound and run away to Ibadan during his lunch break at school tomorrow afternoon. While Posi was taking his bath he had packed a few things and stuffed his bag under his bed.
Now that everyone was asleep he got up quietly and crept to the kitchen where his mother kept the key to the store downstairs. Grabbing it without allowing the keys to jingle he unlocked the front door quietly and tiptoed downstairs. It was cold outside and he shivered but he was determined to save his life so he walked on glad that the power was out. He had slipped the key into the padlock when he heard a voice behind him.
“Ayodele what do you think you’re doing?”