CHAPTER FOURTEEN (IN THE ACT)
As Zainab prepared to leave for school that morning to go over her Valedictorian speech with her English teacher, she hurriedly packed everything into her bag except the small envelope with test result. Yesterday’s dinner with Alhaji had gone slightly well and her father didn’t completely ignore her like he normally did during dinner. Maybe it was because of Alhaji’s presence, she thought wistfully. She rushed downstairs but only her mother was down, she greeted her quickly before rushing out, her Uber was waiting for her outside, since she wasn’t going to school first and she didn’t want anyone at home to know, she didn’t bother telling Uncle Tete to drop her off. Vee was already waiting outside when the ride arrived
“Good morning” she greeted Zainab cheerlessly
“Morning” Zainab answered with the same enthusiasm, sarcasm intended.
“So?” Vee started as they entered the highway
“So?”
“Did you call him to check if he’s back?”
She closed her eyes and adjusted her hijab “No, not yet”
“You do know a child doesn’t need your permission to grow abi? You can’t hide a pregnancy for long”
“What exactly are you saying?” she looked at her friend
“I am saying you have to make a decision quickly, either you keep it or abort”
Zainab looked at Vee again and sighed, before turning to the window and her eyes met the billboard with her photo on it with the caption ‘Award Student Of The State’, she quickly turned away in shame and Vee noticed it but kept shut about it till they got to school where they had to part ways.
“Call Tristan today or I will” Vee told her before walking away shocking Zainab.
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Tristan looked at his friend, Kade, he didn’t know why but his day and mood were both turning sour.
“What’s up with you?” Kade noticed his friend’s restless behavior
“I don’t know, I just feel so weird today, and easily irritated”
“Did Anu call you?” he asked knowing only Anu could make his friend like this
“No, why?” he shook his head
“You just seem really angry, but turns out it’s not her doing”
“She left one missed call, one voicemail and one text and after that, she just stopped”
“You literally walked out on her forever; I’m surprised she hasn’t come to throw a fit”
“Anu is smarter than that, she only throws tantrums when someone is there to tolerate it and my walking away spoke volumes of warnings”
“Then what’s with the foul mood”
“I can’t help but feel like something is about to happen, something big” he tapped his hands on the table
Kade looked his friend up and down “these days, I don’t even have words to reassure you again”
Tristan opened his mouth to say something when his phone beeped “Excuse me” he told Kade and unlocked the phone.
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“This is good, perfect even” Mrs Dale, Zainab’s English teacher praised whilst going through her speech
“This is just 1500 words, I still have 500 to go but my head is blank” she admitted. The rule of the speech was the amount of words written by the valedictorian, not too much but not less than 2000 words and she planned to meet the exact scale.
Mrs Dale looked at her “Oh, is something bothering you?”
“It’s just normal head-block; I will get something before then”
“Are you sure everything is okay? You can talk to me”
“Everything is fine Ma, thank you” she smiled politely at the woman
“Okay” Mrs Dale although suspicious dropped the topic quickly and turned her focus back to the sheets in front of her “so for the correction, I have them circled, once you’re done, run them by me okay?”
“Yes ma” Zainab took the papers and got up “thank you”
“You’re welcome”
She made her way to the library to quickly continue her research and writing, her mind far from the reality of her predicaments. As she engrossed herself into her speech, she didn’t know things were about to change even more.
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“Doctor Tristan?” Venus called out to the man in front of her
Tristan turned with a smile and Kade looked in awe at the beautiful girl before them “Vee?” his smile changed to confusion
She gave him a reluctant smile and shook his hand “Hi”
“Hi” he was genuinely confused “you were the one who sent the text?”
She nodded and moved forward “I need to talk to you about something in private” she motioned at Kade who licked his lips “hi”
Tristan noticed Kade “this is my friend, Kade” he introduced “Kade, this is Vee” he didn’t quite know where to place her.
“His neighbor” she quickly intercepted and shook Kade’s hands as well
Kade took the hand with a charming smile “Hi Vee, it’s a pleasure to meet you”
“Same here” she gave him a beautiful smile before turning back to Tristan “well?”
He excused the both of them from Kade asking him to wait as they went to the far end of the eatery to talk.
“Do you want something to eat or drink?” he asked politely
“No thank you, I’m fine”
He studied her face but she wasn’t giving anything away, and it bothered yet relieved him “is everything okay?”
“I think that’s a question only you have an answer to”
What!!!!! He was worried now.
“I don’t feel comfortable with that answer” he admitted
“I had to text you with Zainab’s phone so I wouldn’t give anything away” she paused “Zainab doesn’t know I’m here”
“I figured”
“And you can’t tell her”
“Okay? What’s going on?”
She took in a deep breath before she started to speak. Zainab was going to hate her but she had to do this.
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Unable to reach Vee after finishing from the library sent her home alone, she had only received a short text ‘had to do something, call you’. She got up mid-afternoon and only her mother’s cars and hers were parked outside, so she went in hoping to find some quiet before trouble in form of her father got back but the scene at home shocked her. Her mum was seating down quietly with a paper in her hands and immediately she saw Zainab, she called her over.
“You are back? Come here”
She walked slowly towards her mum; her heartbeat was starting to rise
“Will you walk fast or I should slap you?” her mum threatened hating the sluggishness
She walked faster to her mum feeling something was wrong “good afternoon ma” she greeted kneeling beside her mum
“Afternoon, how was school?” her mum asked not looking at her
“Fine Ma”
“What did you today at school?”
What was going on? Nobody asked her these questions at home but she replied truthfully “I went through my Valedictory speech with our English teacher”
“Is there anything you feel you should tell me?” her mum asked
Zainab felt her heart skip for a second “Ma?” she asked again like she hadn’t heard her mum before
“I said is there anything you think I should know?”
“No ma” she bit her lips and turned away
“Okay, go upstairs, freshen up and come down, we are going out” she told her
“Out?”
“Out” her mother replied
Seeing that she wasn’t getting anymore replies, she nodded and got up “okay ma”
“Call Uncle Tete for me before you go up, he’s in his quarters”
After freshening up, she changed into a sky blue chiffon gown with a deep blue hijab and a pair of wage slippers, with as little makeup before going back downstairs where her mum was waiting in the car with Uncle Tete.
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Immediately Vee left, Kade joined Tristan and his friend’s eyes were more of anger though his expression was calm.
“What’s going on? Why do you suddenly have a weird vibe?”
Tristan turned to Kade “I need you to drive me”
“Okay, sure” Kade got up “where to? Office or home?”
“None”
“What?”
“Just come with me”
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Zainab sat still in the car as her mother spoke with someone on phone in hushed whispers, all while directing Tete what way to follow, and immediately they go their destination, Zainab’s facial expression turned slightly uneasy and she struggled to walk with her mum.
“Zainab? Why are you being so sluggish? Walk fast”
She nodded and walked even faster to keep up with her mum.
She breathed in the smell of disinfectant in the room and it choked her, but she followed her mum further into wherever they were going and immediately they got there, everything fell into place; at least it did after a few minutes of conversation.
“Doctor Stella” her mum greeted their family doctor
“Alhaja, welcome Ma” she smiled broadly at Zainab’s mother before turning to Zainab “Laide, how are you?”
“Good day Ma” Zainab bowed slightly to her although her heart felt like it would burst.
“Please have a seat” she offered them and they sat down “what can I do for you?”
“I want a culture test carried out discreetly”
“Okay, it’s no problem, we could arrange that” Doctor Stella nodded
“I want the results today”
“But it could take a while”
“We will wait”
“Okay? So who is taking the test?”
The room was silent for a while and Zainab’s heart dropped immediately she heard her mum’s next words:
“Laide”
Her grip on her phone tightened, and the room suddenly felt too small for her, she swallowed and got up slowly following Doctor Stella’s instructions to come with her. She didn’t flinch nor even make a sound when they drew her blood, everything happened in a blur and she was back to waiting with her mum at the Doctor’s office for the results.
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Tristan stopped in front of Zainab’s house with Kade and even though he knew he should have thought it through, he still went ahead to knock and Suleiman answered.
“Yes?” he eyed Tristan up and down “how can I help you?” he asked in English with his heavy Yoruba accent
“Hi, good afternoon” Tristan greeted “is Zainab around?”
“Wetin happen?”(What happened?) Suleiman asked with suspicion, after all no man had ever come to ask for Zainab
“I just need to see her, please” his voice was laced with frustration
“Sister Zainab no dey, she comot with mummy” (Sister Zainab isn’t around, she went out with mummy)
“Do you know when they will be back?”
“No Sir” Suleiman shook his head
“Thank you” Tristan gave him a nod and gave him a small wad of cash from his wallet much to Suleiman’s happiness
“Welcome Sir, come again Sir” he waved at Tristan who rushed to the car where Kade was waiting for him
“Where next?”
“Home” Tristan said absentmindedly
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“Venus dear, a minute” Mrs Agbara asked her worried daughter who had mastered the habit of pacing an hour ago
Vee turned to her mum “Sure”
“Come seat dear”
She walked over and took a seat beside her mum “What’s up mum?”
“Is everything okay?”
She looked at her mum “what do you mean?”
“Since you got back, you’ve been restless, is something bothering you?”
At what point in time did her mum notice that? Wasn’t she too busy making money? But somehow, the thought of her mum caring a bit warmed her heart
“I’m okay, it’s just school stuff”
“Oh, do you want to talk about it?”
“I can?” she was surprised her mum was even interested
“Of course you can”
Vee smiled and opened her mouth to say something else when she heard a cell phone ring and it wasn’t hers; she looked at her mum who gave her a sorry smile “take it”
Her mum turned her face to the other side to pick up her call “Okay? So the connection is back on? I will check it right away, thank you Boyd”
She smiled bitterly, how could she ever think her mum wanted to talk to her about school stuff? How naïve could she be?
“Vee dear” her mum started as a form of appeasement
“I understand, you should go, wouldn’t want you to miss that important meeting” she gave her mum a tight-lipped smile.
“We will talk about this later, I promise” she pecked her daughter “I will be right out” she yelled through the hallways
“Right out indeed” Vee pursed her lips holding in tears.
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“Dude, why are you just telling me this now?” Kade looked at his friend
“At what point would I have told you when I myself just found out?” Tristan asked Kade with slight anger in his voice
“Her friend came to the eatery; you should have said something when I asked”
“It doesn’t change anything”
Kade sensing his friend’s worry sat down “okay, so what do you plan to do now?”
“I have no idea” he admitted
“I think you should wait” Kade suggested
“Wait? What do you mean by wait?” he looked at Kade
“You said that girl comes from a Muslim family?” he asked Tristan and the latter nodded “you going there will worsen everything, that’s like throwing her under the bus”
“I still don’t understand you”
“I don’t know a better way to explain this, but going there especially with her parents around will get her into more trouble”
“That’s my child she’s carrying Kade, what if she’s forced to abort?”
“I doubt that, these wealthy families hold themselves in the highest regards, they wouldn’t want their name soiled for any reason”
“But still”
“Calm down” Kade hit him on the shoulder lightly “let’s think this through”
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Zainab’s mother struggled with her thoughts the moment they got the test results, where had she gone wrong with raising her daughter? How was her husband going to take this? She looked at the child kneeling before her and she tried several times to question her but words evaded her.
“Why?” she asked her after several minutes
Zainab’s eyes were already red from crying and she shook vigorously
“What did I not give you in this world, tell me where I have failed in raising you Laide, tell me where I failed in being a good parent” her mother screamed
Zainab didn’t know why but it relieved her than the previous silence but she didn’t look up.
“Why have you decided to ruin your life?”
As she closed her eyes in shame, more tears ran down and just when things couldn’t get any worse, it did.