The Night Before... 3

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Nina, do you need me to repeat the question? ”
“I heard you loud and clear Ade. I’m just trying to be careful with my next words. Does Toke know you know?"
“I assume that means that the news I heard is true. ” Ade felt a sharp pain pierce through him as his heart started beating fast.
“It was a very unfortunate incident because Toke was naïve at the time and Yele took full advantage of her. OMOYELE AGORO, hmnnn! We all went to the same JAMB Tutorial Centre back then in Ibadan. He was a very rich kid, richer than the average rich kid and he had most ladies eating out of his hands” she smiled as she remembered how Yele used to be the talk of the Centre then, especially when his dad’s driver dropped him off in different flashy cars. 
“Toke never liked Yele because she felt he was using his dad’s privilege to get things easily, but Yele took an interest in her because she was brilliant and didn’t seem swayed by his show of wealth. One day, we were given an assignment and nobody, not even I could get the answer. We were not bothered because we felt our teacher would work it out when he realized no one had the answer to the question, but Toke won’t settle for that. She went out of her way to meet another sister of ours in the area who was in the university at the time by name Beatrice and she helped us out. So when the teacher asked who did the assignment and no one else did but Toke and I, Yele was very impressed and tried to get to know us better, especially Toke because she called his bluff when he initially tried to talk to us. Long story cut short, Yele pestered Toke until she eventually gave in and thus began their friendship which blossomed into a relationship”

All the while Nina had been talking, Ade had been trying to put her words into pictures in his head. He could imagine his Omotoke calling Yele’s bluff because the scenario looked similar to how they met. He had also met her at a friend’s baby dedication. He was attracted to her immediately he saw her helping out with the serving, his friend’s wife was her colleague at her former workplace. He smiled as he remembered how he had tried to get her attention but she had given him a cold shoulder all through the party. He later found out that he had not been the only one trying to get her attention at the party, and she was at her wit’s end as at the time he came to her also, hence the cold shoulder treatment. He got back from his reverie to hear Nina say;
“…and that’s when she got pregnant”
“Repeat that please Nina”

“I said it was in the course of their relationship that she got pregnant. When she told me about it, we were in 200level and had just got back from a long strike action embarked upon by the Academic Union. According to her, she had gone to visit him at his school since he was in a private school but was allowed to lodge outside the school because of the privileges his father’s wealth afforded him. She had gone to pay him a surprise visit when she met him and another lady in bed. She was distraught and tried to break off the relationship but Yele would not have it. So he requested for them to have a talk for the last time even if they would break off the relationship” Ade wasn’t prepared for the next narration as it hit him hard “the talk turned out to be a planned rape. As at the time, Toke was still a virgin and we had this thing back then when we promised ourselves that the first guy to ever sleep with us will be our husbands. Thank God for the long strike that lasted for about six months, she had time to heal before school started again and that didn’t affect her studies. In fact, I had never seen her read voraciously like she did that semester. It felt like she was trying to rid herself of something and who could blame her”

“It was later in the semester before exams that we realized she was pregnant after fainting on the queue where we were waiting to stamp the final clearance to write our exams. After taking her to the school clinic, the doctor confirmed she was three months gone which came as a surprise to us because everything seemed normal. Truly she had complained of not seeing her period, but we just felt it was her erratic menstrual cycle acting up. Asides that, every other thing went normally so we didn’t have a clue she could be pregnant. Her mum, who was the only one taking care of her since her dad died when she was an infant, was heartbroken when she heard. More so, when Yele denied the pregnancy. Toke has always amazed me with her inner strength, I couldn’t have imagined if it was me, my world would have stopped but not OMOTOKE. She wrote to the Student Affairs to defer her studies for one year to take care of the child and hand over to her mum. I checked on her from time to time, till she put to bed. She gave birth to a boy, OlayoriJuwonlo. He was the exact replica of Yele which made Toke dislike him with a passion. For the first few weeks after birth, her mum said Juwon would be crying and Toke would not carry him, until she prevailed. Her mum threatened to run away with Juwon if Toke continued with the way she was treating him and that made her show some little affection for him. After six months, she returned to school, as at time, I was a year ahead but we remained inseparable nevertheless. When she was in her final year, I was out of the university preparing for my Youth Service. I was posted to the North and served with the one of the rural schools there. The reception there was so bad that I lost touch with almost everyone. I didn’t come home at all until service ended. Toke was the first person I was anxious to see and of course Juwon. I remember that day vividly. I went to their house with stuff I had gotten for Mum, Toke and Juwon to meet another occupant in the building. From asking the neighbours, I learnt Toke lost her mum in the course of my service and her aunt had to come pick Juwon on her mum’s request, because she said she didn’t trust what Toke would do to him when she wasn’t alive anymore. Aunty Janet took Juwon to the states. I tried to reach her severally after I came back to no avail, until we met here in Lagos”

“So why didn’t you tell me all these for the number of years you’ve known me with Omotoke?
“I figured it wasn’t in my place to do the telling, besides Toke has never seen Juwon as hers, she always said she was just a vessel to bring him to the world and I have tried to correct that impression for years but she won’t listen to me”
“Hmnn… this is all sounding like a movie script in that….what is that never ending series thing you women are crazy about on TV again?
“Telemundo?
“Yes, Telemundo”, he sighed. Ade felt like he had married a total stranger. How can his own Omotoke conceal such an award winning movie script from him?
“So what do you intend to do now that you know” Nina asked but in truth she was afraid of what his next line of action will be
“I really don’t know how to broach the subject with her but I’ll just take it one day at a time, although I must say I don’t even know how I feel. Angry? Confused? Disappointed? Drained?
“I understand Ade, it is not a common sight to see a man married to his wife for eight years, only to discover she has a child while they are still looking up to God for one, but please whatever you decide, I want you to know she did whatever she did because she probably didn’t know better”
“Thank you Nina, I will put that into consideration”