My father gave me a pensive stare and Zainab who felt so ashamed, quietly walked out of the house after rubbing my shoulder in a bye-bye gesture.
“How do we know that he’s not even sleeping with her? Despite her dirtiness, this stupid boy still slept next to her, holding her like a pillow!”
“Chike.” My father called me quietly, fixing a cold stare at me.
“Yes papa.” I mumbled, unable to meet his eyes.
“What has that girl fed you with? Are you sure that you are not possessed? Out of every girl in the village, you chose that Yoruba girl whom we don’t even know where she came from. Chike, do you want me to die before my time?”
“No, papa.” I said sheepishly.
From that day, I was not allowed to go anywhere unsupervised. My sister was told to follow me around and to make sure that I didn’t go anywhere near Zainab.
Anytime I was coming back from school, Zainab would see me and happily wave at me but I couldn’t wave back and she will simply give me a sad look, wondering what was wrong.
My sister and friends teased me about Zainab, they called me “a boyfriend of a mad girl”. Exam was coming and I couldn’t concentrate, all I could think of was Zainab. One evening, I damned all the consequences and snuck out to see Zainab and I took the yam and oil my mother had served me for lunch to her.
To be continued…
© Angela Okoduwa