Her Other Self

Photo credit: black women

When Eve discovered that she was pregnant, she knew immediately that there was no way she would give Ade that sort of news. She hardly knew the guy and was sure he did not even remember her name. 

They met at the club one month earlier and danced all night, Eve invited Ade into her home after he dropped her off and they rest they say is history. 

It was Saturday and she did not want to be alone that evening; she had a bad fight with her boyfriend OG and so she needed to get her mind occupied with other things. The only way for her was to go to the club in an Uber so she didn’t have to worry about drinking and driving. 

OG and Eve had dated for seven years and her parents had grown tired of telling her to stop wasting her life with a married man but she had stayed with OG even though something told her that she was being played. 

She met him at a church function, he was a first time visitor at the church where she was a worker, he came with his friend who insisted that they went to church together that Sunday. She was assigned to work with him as a newcomer and so they exchanged numbers. He lived in Lagos but was often in Abuja for meetings. He attended the same church any time he was in Abuja and soon they started to spend a lot of time together.  

OG was only twenty five years old when he got married to Isioma, as an only child, his rich parents wanted him to settle down and start a family early. Isioma was the daughter of her mother's business partner and so she was arranged for him. 

He told Eve that he had tried to love Isioma but never could; she was a good woman, very submissive, intelligent and an excellent home maker. She had a good job but still managed her home like it was her only job and gave her husband peace of mind, like she specially trained to be a good wife and mother.  OG had the nicest things to say about Isioma only that he did not love her but only married her to please his parents.

One thing led to another and Eve found herself falling for OG, she was five years older than him and she got a kick from OG treating her like she was a baby even though she was older. She had a a well paid job and lived in a nice neighborhood in Asokoro in a very cute and tastefully furnished studio flat; it became their safe haven and OG found himself going to Abuja more than he should. 

Eve became his addiction, she was the first older woman he had ever been with and he enjoyed the confidence and experience she brought with her to the bedroom. While Isioma would not expose her body till the lights were off or she was safely tucked under the covers, Eve cooked on Saturday mornings totally unclad. She would walk around the house completely naked without a care in the world; she called it her “Eve day” after all her name was Eve. At first, OG struggled to reconcile the person Eve was in church with who she was when they were together, but he got used to it and enjoyed every bit of her other self. 

There was no doubt that the two of them were compatible in many ways and whenever he visited, they spent every time they could afford together and it was always a sad goodbye whenever it was time to go.

OG had the key to her apartment and sometimes came unannounced which thrilled Eve, she was committed to him; on such visits, he would lament about how loveless his marriage was and they talked about how he could walk out without hurting his wife who was committed to making their marriage work. 

On that particular day, Eve had every reason to believe that OG was messing with her; he said he was no longer intimate with his wife, so how did she get pregnant again? He told her that he slept with her out of pity, Isioma was on her knees begging him to touch her and that was it, she told him the following month that she was expecting their fifth child. He said the same thing when she got pregnant with their fourth child, then he said it would be wicked to end their marriage while she nursed her new baby. She was sure he would say the same thing again to buy more time. 

OG had made his intention to marry her known to her parents; her father told him outright that he would never approve while her mother pleaded with her gently to open her eyes to see that she was being used. 

She asked him to get out of her home and after he left, she sat on her bed and cried her eyes out. 

It was on that day that she met Ade, she had asked her friend Susan to meet up with her as usual and it was Susan who encouraged her to go wild and do something ststupid. 

She had had unprotected sec with OG many times but never got pregnant, this was her first pregnancy ever; she was a mixture of scared, excited, worried and confused. All she knew about Ade was his name and profession. He was a lawyer and businessman.  

She finally picked OG's call, she felt subdued and desperately needed to talk to someone else and not her best friend Susan who already asked her to keep the baby. She couldn’t believe that Susan would ask her to keep the pregnancy and it annoyed her a great deal. 

OG got on the first flight out of Lagos to come and be with her which made Eve very happy. He told her that she sounded downcast over the phone and promised to come and help her get through whatever it was that bothered her. She had missed him and so was surprised that she had the willpower to stop him when the kiss was going to lead to something else.

Finally they began to talk, OG went crazy when he learnt of Eve's little adventure with a stranger. With an angry voice that Eve had never heard him use, he told her that she must get rid of the pregnancy. “Go and get dressed, I’m taking you to the hospital right now, I can’t let you have a bastard”

Eve was all dressed up in a pair of loose joggers and a teeshurt, ready to go when she had a brain wave, “you have four children and expecting a fifth, I do not even have one child”

She stopped abruptly as they made it to the stairs and said to him, “I’m keeping this baby” OG was livid but Eve was adamant.  She made good money, had a beautiful home and could take care of one child by herself. She was forty-eight years old and eventually understood why Susan asked her to keep her baby. 

Trying to convince Eve was like pouring water on a stone, the more OG tried the more agitated Eve got and finally he had to leave her alone.

To be continued 

(All names used are fictitious for privacy sake)