ROSA, MY LOVE
CHAPTER 6
I rushed to her house in fear, but when I got there, she started laughing and threw the test result on my body. It was of course negative. She just wanted my attention.
“Never you joke like that again.” I warned her.
“It’s alright, Daddy. See how you are sweating.” She laughed.
“Why won’t I sweat. Is that something that one should joke about?”
“I am sorry. Now can we go on to have our baby?”
I didn’t have any answer to that question. Rosa wanted marriage immediately. I, on the other hand, wasn’t ready to be married in that kind of a way. I wasn’t ready for a woman to move in with me when we were not legally married. So, I discouraged the idea and told her that I needed some time to make up my mind about that. We ended up having s*x. This time, it was unprotected. Rosa was unsafe and that is why she proposed that we had s*x that day. I was aware and accepted to do it unprotected.
Unprotected s*x, despite the risks involved, actually felt good. For a very long period, I had been relying on condoms. Now, I was able to feel the difference. I wondered now if I was ever going to be able to use a condom again. Rosa was ready to get pregnant on that day and after we were done, I saw a smile of satisfaction on her face. She was very sure that she was pregnant for me and there was no going back.
After about two weeks, she called me to say that she had stomachache, and also that she had been sleeping a lot. She said she had a feeling that she was pregnant. I was surprised.
“How come you are pregnant, Rosa. Who got you pregnant?”
“What kind of a question is that? I have only one man. I have been dating only one man. I have slept with only one man. So, what are you talking about?”
“But sleeping with you doesn’t necessarily mean you would be pregnant. Does it? We have been using protection every time.” I countered.
“Yes, we have been using protection but remember that last day, that day you came to my house for the test result. On that day we made love.”
“Yes, so what?”
“I was unsafe on that day, and you know what that means.” She declared triumphantly.
“Well, I am sorry to disappoint you. On that day, I didn’t release inside you. Actually, I didn’t release. I knew you were unsafe and ready to get pregnant. So, I acted like I had released but I didn’t.” I spoke.
“Jesus Christ!! You really did that?” She asked, anger mounting.
“Yes, I did.”
“Then why do I feel this way? Why do I feel like I am pregnant?”
“It’s just psychological. You feel pregnant because you think you are pregnant. But you are not. If you are, then it’s not me.”
True to what I said, she conducted a pregnancy test the following day and the result was negative. She was very annoyed and told me she never wanted to see me again. He reason was that, I deceived her and made her feel like she was pregnant. She had already started making preparations to receive her new born baby. She had already told a few friends and had started seeing herself as a prospective mother. I tried to beg her, but she wouldn’t budge. So, for a while, we stopped talking to each other.
One day, I was deep asleep when as if it was a dream, I heard the sound of heavy gunshots. The sounds were so loud and seemed closer. I woke up from sleep and realized that it was real. There was a shootout between some separatists and the military. The shooting was intense, very intense and lasted for more than four hours. When I woke up in the morning, I discovered that there were four corpses in the neighbourhood. I also discovered that were numerous gunshot holes in my neighbour’s wall. Luckily, she didn’t sleep at home that night. Had she slept at home, she would have been killed.
I got so scared that I travelled to Calabar for a week to calm my nerves. When I got back, I decide that I would no longer live in that neighbourhood. In fact, I decided that I was done living in a “Face me I face you” neighbourhood. I decide that I would move to a better part of town and get a decent apartment for myself. Haven made up my mind about that, I went back to Calabar to see how I could raise some money. I had an account there in which I had stashed some cash for rainy days. On my way back from Calabar, I entered the same bus with a beautiful girl and her beautiful daughter.
I had no intention of talking to the girl, but the girl wouldn’t let me rest. She said she was coming from Calabar to see her baby daddy. However, when she got there. She was informed that her baby daddy had tried to jappa by road and had died somewhere around Morocco. So, as she was now, she was stranded because her parents had thrown her out of the house. She needed somewhere to hole up for a while before she looked for a place of her own.
I felt pity for her and believed her story. I told her that I would allow her to spend the night in my house. She and her daughter. I however, told her that I was moving to a new house soon. So, she would have to leave as soon as possible so that I could begin packing. She accepted all my conditions without hesitating.
When we got to my home that night, I made water available for her and her daughter to bathe. When they were done, I got them something to eat. After they had eaten, her daughter fell asleep immediately. She was just three years old. I had a small mattress that I rarely used. She put it on the floor and her daughter slept on it. Both of us slept on the bed. It was around 2:00 AM now. I wasn’t sleeping but I pretended to be sleeping. I usually don’t sleep when there is a strange person in my house.
As I laid there, in the dark room, because I had turned off the lights, I noticed that she had put her hand on my chest. I assumed she had done that by mistake. So, I gently removed her hand. After about three minutes, she flung her leg on my body. Again, I assumed that it was an unconscious act, and once again removed her leg. But she was done using tactics. She now came fully on me with her whole body and told me she wanted me. You can figure the rest for yourself. When we were done, we apologized to each other and promised not to repeat what we just did. But that was a half-hearted promise because early in the morning, what happened in the night happened again.
She was supposed to leave the following morning. But now that we had had s*x, she used the opportunity and delayed her leaving. She stayed until I decide that I was going to move into my new apartment in spite of her presence. It was she and I who even did the parking. She had been living with me now for about ten days. She and her daughter. When we got to the new neighbourhood, everyone thought she was my wife, and her daughter was my child.
Rosa and I had not spoken for almost a month. However, I was keeping tabs on her and had learnt that she had started going to a medical school. She intended to become a nurse. She didn’t even know that I had moved to a new house in a new neighbourhood. I was happy she didn’t know because I didn’t want her to come to my house and start causing trouble because the baby mama had refused to go. In fact, she had made herself very comfortable. Her daughter had even already started calling me daddy.
My new landlord had a beautiful daughter. She came to visit me during my first days in the neighbourhood. Baby mama wasn’t at home. She had gone to the market. While we were talking, I realized that she was going to the same nursing school as Rosa. That meant, someday, their paths might cross, and she could tell Rosa that I now live in her father’s compound. So, in order for me to make sure that doesn’t happen, I told her about Rosa and entreated her never to bring Rosa to my house or tell her where I live, in case they happened to meet. That was my mistake.
Two days later, Rosa called me and invited me to her house. I was happy to receive her call. I figured that she had forgiven me and that was why she had called me. I had really missed her. I didn’t just miss her; I also missed her natural endowments. After working hours, I got a bike and went to her place, excitedly. When I got there however, the Rosa I met wasn’t the same Rosa I had always known.
She was very passive and cold towards me. She was very unlike the Rosa that used to be so crazy about me. The Rosa That used to want me to come to her house every day. The Rosa that used to adhere to my whims and caprices. She was so different. In fact, she had even stopped calling me “Daddy”. She now called me “Foolish man”.
“Foolish man.” She spoke. “Welcome to my home.”
“What is wrong with you, Rosa? Why talk to me like that? Why call me a foolish man?”
“Because that is exactly who you are.”
“What are you talking about, Rosa? I don’t seem to understand you.”
“You have a wife, right? And a child too.”
“No, I don’t. How did you come by that kind of information?”
“You think you are smart, right? But I will prove to you that you are not smart. I am smarter than you.”
All the while we were talking, it hadn’t even occurred to me that it was the baby mama in my home she was talking about. Her school was a big school. So, I knew it was very unlikely that she and my landlord’s daughter were even going to meet. I had decided to tell my landlord’s daughter about her only as precautionary move. I was very positive that they were never going to meet and even if they did meet, the landlord’s daughter was going to adhere to my instructions. I was wrong.
“So, tell me what is wrong with you. Where is all this talk about a wife and child coming from. You have known me for a while now, and you can testify that I am as single as an old widow. Not only am I single, but I have also never been married before.”
“Then who is the woman and child living with you?”
TO BE CONTINUED…
