William walked into his father’s compound, his eyes covered with a black shade of sunglasses. He had come to see Mama and his son.
Sandra, the last child of the family, ran towards him and wrapped her arms around her elder brother and hugged him. She hadn’t seen him in two years. As he took off his glasses from his eyes to put them over his head, Sandra shuddered. It was difficult for her to look into his eyes. She felt this way each time William came to visit. One of William’s eyes is blind. She was very little when an ugly incident happened that caused William to lose one of his eyes.
William was a very social boy and carefree. One day, he had a fling with a girl on the street next to their home, and she became pregnant. When her parents showed up at William’s house with the news of the pregnancy, William denied being the one that impregnated her. This is because William knew one of his friends was also with her during the same period, and he said it to everyone’s hearing. The girl felt ashamed. The girl’s parents felt very disappointed that their daughter had become public property because the other guy denied being the one who impregnated her as well.
She was consumed with so much shame that after giving birth to the child, postpartum depression, coupled with all she had been through, led her to take her own life. His parents felt obligated to visit the girls’ parents to offer their condolences. They didn’t think it was wrong, but they needed to show empathy. They were not sure of the need to take William along, but they did at the end of the day.
Upon seeing the little baby, Williams’ heart melted. He felt a strong connection, and the resemblance to the little baby boy was so striking. He started crying that the baby was his. His parents were confused. The girl’s poor parents could not stop using abusive words on him, because his denial and that of his friend had led to their daughter taking her own life.
After so much back-and-forth argument, William’s parents decided they would take full responsibility for the child. Some years later, William graduated from the university and started working for a firm in Abuja. He began dating a beautiful woman, whom he described as the one who had captured his heart. Her name was Angela. Angela was from South Africa. She had come on a business trip when she and Williams met, and their relationship blossomed.
Angela came across Williams’ old photos one day and a particular child posed with William in four different photos. William said it was his cousin who lived with them when he was little. Angela had thought William and she had shared everything they needed to know about each other.
Their relationship progressed, and they wanted to get married. Angela travelled to see William’s parents in Warri. William had informed his family beforehand that he wouldn’t want Angela to know he had a child nor the circumstances surrounding it until he felt ready to do so. Everyone was on board. Angela lodged in a hotel in Warri and came to visit in the afternoon.
William’s cousin was in town, and he and William used to roll back in the day. He heard William was around and came with his fiance. So he visited. They were all gisting and catching up with old times when William’s cousin mentioned something concerning William’s child. Angela looked surprised. His cousin sensed that Angela didn’t know about the child and wanted to switch the conversation, but Angela insisted, questioning a confused William, who didn’t know how to begin the story of what happened.
Angela felt broken after William explained. She travelled back to Abuja and then back to South Africa, ending all marriage plans with William. Her mom had experienced something similar. If William could keep this kind of information from her, what more would he hide? She had been transparent with everything that happened in her past, but William hadn’t. She is not going to live a life of surprises like the one her mother lived and found out her dad had two children out of wedlock twenty years after their marriage.
Angela and her two siblings weren’t her dad’s only children. It broke their hearts, and their family had never been the same since it happened. William, devastated that Angela said she wouldn’t be moving forward with the wedding plans, got drunk and drove out to clear his head the night she called off their engagement. Unfortunately, he had an accident that cost him his left eye. It was really bad. He was lucky to have survived.
