Dear MIMsters: Just When I Was About To Smile Again, Life Happens

Just when I was about smile again, this happens.

I met Tony when Johnny turned 6. Disclosing who he was to Tony was not an easy feat for me. It was not easy because once men who showed interest in me found out I was a single mother, they took to their heels. I’m a beautiful woman and if you wouldn’t say I’m cocky, I can confidently say that my beauty can be exported.

I met Jude at the 18^th birthday party of Franca, my secondary school bestie. Jude had attended the party with Gbenga who happens to be Franca’s first cousin. They were both 300 level students at the University of Ibadan. I liked Jude at first sight and we clicked immediately! We talked well into the evening and when it was time for me to leave the party; we exchanged telephone digits and promised to call each other. I was the first to give him a call; that was immediately I got home and we agreed to see again before the end of that week.

Coincidentally, Franca and I had chosen UI as our first choices in JAMB and since we both scored over 200 marks, Gbenga had assured us that we would gain admission into the school. He promised to press some buttons on our behalf.

I convinced my father of the need for me to visit the school so I got on a bus headed for Ibadan. Locating ‘Bello Hall’ where Jude and Gbenga stayed was very easy, and true to his words, Gbenga was there for us; he connected us to a senior staff in the school that helped us with the admission process. We also luckily got accommodation in Queen’s hall which wasn’t too far from Jude’s hall of residence.

As far as I was concerned, all of these pointed to the fact that a powerful force was in support of the love Jude and I shared.

We became inseparable on campus. Jude had lots of money to spend on me so I was always either in his room or at his faculty in my spare times which were almost all the time!

By the end of the first semester, we were conveniently sleeping together. I became pregnant by the end of my first year which was Jude’s final year and with joy in my heart, I shared the good news with Jude. I had assumed that since he was graduating, we would get married; I would have our baby and my education would not be disrupted.

Though I was elated about my condition, I was likewise confused. I was elated because I was above 18, and I take it that it was meant to be but I was also confused because Jude hadn’t told me about his plans. Every time I brought it up, he would say, “Time would tell”. Unlike me, he did not really express any emotion so I was not sure of what his intentions were.

Anyways, when I was about five months gone, and had started to show gradually, I decided to confide in Gbenga. He was not happy that I had waited that long before speaking with him, he however promised to speak with Jude to know what his plans were.

The truth of the matter was that I loved Jude so much I would have aborted the pregnancy if he had kicked against it. Jude was his father’s only son and the last child of the family. He had 3 sisters who were married and they were all doing well.

I assumed his parents though may be disappointed when they get to know he had impregnated his girlfriend, but I also expected that with time, they would come around since my son would be their first legitimate grandchild; his sisters’ children belongs to their own husbands’ lineage, I thought.

My life crashed when Gbenga returned…

To be continued!!!