Just then, the door opened. It was the nurse who accompanied the doctor operate on me. She promptly raced towards me. “You are awake,” she smiled like one who was genuinely glad to see me awake. “How are you feeling?” she asked.
I nodded. “Okay, but feeling pains inside me. Hurts me badly, wondering how I will get home in this state without anyone noticing something is wrong with me.”
“Okay, just hold on, let me inform the doctor you’re awake, he will do something about the pains you’re feeling,” and she disappeared before I could stop her to ask if I could get something to eat or drink. I was feeling terribly famished but not sure if I would be able to eat much considering the discomfort I was feeling inside. Soon, she reappeared with the doctor in tow.
“Wow! See who’s awake already! That was fast,” the doctor said as he closed the door behind him. “You must have a very stubborn system, you should still be sleeping by now. So, how are you feeling right now? Anything important you feel you should let me know?”
I tried again to sit up, still not able to muster enough strength to do so. But this time, the doctor supported me and helped me sit up.
“Thank you,” I said to him. “I’m feeling serious pain in my private part, in my tummy…don’t know how I will walk home in this condition without arousing suspicion.”
The man smiled. “Don’t you worry, it is to be expected. The pain will come but it will subside soon. Within the next two hours you will be fine and ready to go home. But right now, you have to rest.”
He examined me briefly and appeared satisfied with what he’d seen. “You will be fine,” he said with a reassuring smile on his face. “Oh, by the way, someone has been waiting patiently outside for you to be awake, can he come and see you now?”
“Someone waiting to see me? Who?” I asked. My head was heavy. I couldn’t think clearly.
“Fred, of course, who else did you think would be here waiting to see you?”
“Oh, yes, of course, sorry, I still can’t think clearly yet,” I told him. “Yes, he can come.”
There were two chairs by the door, the doctor led me to one of them. “You sit here, he will join you soon. He has been worried about you” the doctor said as he made me comfortable on the chair before leaving the room. Less than a minute after, Uncle Fred stepped inside….
“How are you feeling, my darling?” he said the moment he came inside and saw me. He had a pretty worried look on his face.
“I am fine,” I answered, still trying to get myself together. I could still feel the pain gnaw at me from the inside.
“Are you….are you sure about that? Are you sure you’re okay?” he insisted on knowing.
I nodded. “Yes, Uncle Fred, I will be fine, just that I am feeling the pain seriously right now, but I think it’s getting better gradually…”
“Yes, the doctor said you complained about the pain but he says it’s normal, that it will subside soon,” he said to me. “But if you think it’s not getting any better, don’t hesitate to let me know, I will make the necessary arrangements with the doctor to give you all the medical attention that you require, all I want is to see that my baby is okay.”
I felt touched by his compassion and love for me. It was such a strange feeling to see that the man was genuinely worried about me. And to be honest, I wasn’t expecting him to leave work to come see me at the hospital. The pregnancy wasn’t his. It wasn’t his problem. He could have chosen not to help me and just turn away, like others have done. While others took advantage of me, he chose to stay by me even after he had forced himself on me without knowing I was pregnant. He gave me money for the abortion and still followed me to the hospital. And now, he left his office to come see how I was doing. How I wish he was not married to my Aunty, things would’ve been so, so different….
“Thank you very much….” I didn’t know when the words came out from my mouth. “You have been so very kind to me and I am so grateful, thank you,” I reached for his hand and held it, squeezing it gently.
He smiled. It was his flirty smile. I loved it when he smiled like that. It made him look younger, like a kid, and his handsomeness showed.
“You have never spoken to me like that before, with such softness in your heart…..and you have tears in your eyes too, my beautiful baby,” Uncle Fred teased me.
That was when I realized I was actually in tears. It was tears of joy. Tears of victory. Tears of all the humiliation, the violation, I suffered. Tears of betrayals suffered. Tears of a long, grueling and tortuous journey that has finally come to an end. Tears of, hopefully, a new beginning for me. The nightmare is over, I am finally free!
But there was still one little problem though. Or, two problems actually. The first is Aunty Florence, how am I supposed to deal with her issues when she finds out that I have aborted the pregnancy she so badly wanted me to keep? She will definitely get into a mad rage. But to be honest, I wasn’t scared anymore of her and what could happen to me. The worst case scenario is that she would send me back to the village. But at least I won’t be going back there with a big tummy. She wanted to use my condition to better her own condition. She was being unfair to me. She was being selfish, that’s why I no longer feel any guilt that I was sleeping with her husband.
And then, my mother. She will be terribly distraught. For purely religious reasons, she wanted me to keep the pregnancy. And then, I think that secretly, she too wanted to be a grandmother. But that would’ve been at my own expense and that’s where she got it all twisted. She didn’t think of me. She didn’t make my own concerns her priority. Like I felt about Aunty Florence, I wasn’t scared anymore of my mother as well. She would get over whatever pain my aborting the pregnancy would bring her. It’s all about me now. From now on, I would start living my life for me, and not for anybody!
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