EDGE OF SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER TWO
Deception Meets Rejection
Flashback
Palmers Hospital.
09:09PM
"Madam you lost the baby!" Doctor Julia reported to Jessica.
"Not again! My marriage is at the edge of breaking away because of my inability to carry a child. "Jessica cried out profusely.
"Take heart my dear. "Doctor Julia said and walked out of the ward.
"No! Mark is on his way down here. If he finds out that I lost his eightieth baby after our eight years marriage,he won't take it likely with me. " Jessica thought to herself. "I must do something to eradicate this threat of losing my matrimonial home. "Jessica said audibly when the ward nurse gulped up on her. "Madam,I think you should consider adopting a child if you don't mind. "The nurse suggested calmly. "Because if Mark gets here, history will always repeat itself. " She said.
"Look,I'm ready to pay any amount of money,so long as I see the new born baby," Jessica quickly adjusted herself. "I heard your colleagues talking about a seventeen years old girl who just gave birth to a set of twins(boys) but her supposed boyfriend and father rejected the babies. "Jessica threw in.
"Yes! I will go speak with the father,but you must give me my own share too, because this is a dangerous game. "Nurse Agnes replied. "Most importantly,you should bargain with doctor Julia about this too. "
After nurse Agnes' suggestion to Jessica,they finally met with my grandpa,Frank,somewhere at the hospital that same night and that was how my elder brother was sold by our grandpa. My mother became blind after the incident.
End of flashback.
Highway drive,09:24PM.
Without awareness of the rain, the BMW M760i xDrive moved over the highway, lights on full beam and top speed acceleration. The tires made their monotonous hiss over the rain-washed tarred-roads.
Interrupting Mark's focus from the highway,his phone rang. He turned to take it and it was from Palmers hospital, Lagos. " Hello,yes! My wife Jessica is already in the labour room? I'm on my way right now. Give me few more minutes and I will be there. " Mark hung up the call and continued his journey till he arrived the city bridge.
"My God! What do I do now? My wife Jessica is in labour and Sarah is also in labour?," Mark confusingly thought as he climbed up the city bridge. "How can a seventeen years old girl be so stubborn like Sarah? She could have terminated the pregnancy long ago,but no;she blatantly refused. There's no way I'm accepting those boys as mine. If my wife finds out about this,my home will be a wreck! No way!" He thought to himself.
He believed he saw something in the river but when he looked back at the road something darted out in front of him, a deer. Mark swerved to miss it when he lost control and the car spun out across the bridge.
Palmers Hospital,Lagos
12:45AM
Mark was later rushed to Palmers Hospital that night. Jessica was told about Mark's accident. She rushed to his ward with his newly bought baby.
"Mark! Mark!! Please stay with me and your baby. I have given birth to a son after eight years of no- child. " Jessica cried profusely.
"Madam,he's still asleep right now. Allow him to rest till tomorrow morning. "Nurse Agnes advised.
The next morning,my mother and I returned home from Palmers Hospital with my grand parents,but she was still blind. The doctor could not help her as they already concluded that it was her fate to be blind after her successful birth.
Few days later,Mark woke up from his sleep.
Mark woke up to the pungent smell of hospital disinfect, invading his nostrils. The room was silent apart from his heavy breathing and the beep beep sound you often hear in hospitals that indicates you're alive. He slowly opened his eyes, squinting in attempt to sharpen the blurred images before him. He glanced around and took in the deserted, blue and white colour schemed hospital bedroom.
"He's awake! My son is awake!" Mrs Loveth, Mark's mother said joyfully. "Congratulations Mark, your wife was delivered of a bouncing baby boy. " Mark's mother celebrated the vitality of a new life of his grand son.
"A son! I have a son?!" Mark smiled uncontrollably in a celebratory tone.
"Welcome back son. "Mark's father said with a smile.
"Thank God you're awake," Doctor Julia said. "But right now you have to manage the condition you find yourself. "
"Doctor what other condition again?" Mark asked as he sprouted a smile.
"You are currently battling Testicular trauma due to the accident occurrence," Julia paused.
"And! What's the meaning of that?" Mark asked.
"It means that you will no longer be able to impregnate a woman,"Doctor Julia educated.
"Use a clearer term please. " Mrs Loveth,Marks mother said.
"What's Testicular trauma?!" Mr Ayo, Mark's father inquired.
"Testicular trauma is a frequent acquired cause of infertility; being accidents, work injuries and sport activities that are the most common causes of testicular traumas." Doctor Julia explained. "He won't be able to impregnate a woman again. "
"Holy Mary!" Mark's parents chorused.
"At least he has a son now," Doctor Julia said. " That way,he's now a father already. "
"I won't be able to give birth again? What if my wife Jessica had not given birth to my first son before the accident?" Mark wept in agony. "Doctor,do my wife Jessica know about this?" He asked.
"I haven't told her yet. I wanted to hear from you if you will be okay telling her yourself or I should. "Doctor Julia said.
"No! Don't tell her. She's now the mother of my son. If she finds out about this terrible information of my health deterioration,I'm afraid she wouldn't want to continue this marriage with me. " Mark cut in.
"No body tells any body anything outside this ward's room or this hospital's wall. "Mark's father,the state governor cut in," If this terrible news about my son,Mark get leaked,of course you know what I can do, doctor Julia. " Mark's father threatened.
"I give you my word your excellency. This remains here. "Julia promised. "I will send you the fax documents about this. "
Few months later in my mother's village after her successful delivery,rumours sprouted from every angle concerning my mother and how she became blind. A lot of people went as far as calling her names like;a witch,others called her an adulteress. Some of the villagers believed she had a sexual intercourse with a married man or men which was the clear-cut of her blindness and her fatherless baby.
The family's plight worsened even more when it seemed as though nothing was working out anymore. Grandpa became a bone on her neck. She sat under a mango tree with me on her arm one day as she sang and cry bitterly.
Grandma had gone to the church,but grandpa being a traditional man visited a native doctor concerning my mother's blindness.
"Your daughter's blindness is as a result of the oath she entered with the young man who impregnated her. " The native doctor said. " She also vowed at the iKon's shrine, the night the young man flee this community that she will never be separated from her child. Although,she never knew she had a set of twins in her. She chose her fate. " He continued.
"So, what's the solution to her predicament? Because I have gone round to seek solutions for her,but all to no avail. " Grandpa inquired.
"She will remain like that for seventeen years. " He replied.
"What's?! Seventeen years? Why?" Grandpa asked. "Why seventeen years?!"
"Your daughter will only regain her sight when the two boys get back together again. It could have been better if you had not sold one out. "He said. " And! The possibility of their meeting will occur in the edge of their seventeenth birthday,but her sight will be restored the moment the sold out boy steps his feet in your house. " He concluded.
"This drought is too much for me alone!" Grandpa wailed bitterly.
"Your selfish desires and self centeredness brought all these drought and plights into your home," The native doctor fired at grandpa. "What's wrong if you stand with your daughter in her tough days? But no,you chose reputation over dignity. You sold your grand son and lavished the money on married women. You should leave this shrine this minute. I'm done with you. "
Grandpa then returned home from the shrine. Mum was still under a mango tree when he came.
"You are here crying with your bastard son. I knew it from the beginning. You've always being an evil child. " Grandpa fired." That's by the way,I want you to take this gallon,go to the stream and filled up those empty drums. Your mother is not strong enough. "
"Papa where have I ever wronged you? Where? I have loved you as a daughter,yet you treat me like a slave,your own daughter. "She broke out again in tears.
"I have not started with you,by the time I am done with you,you will go to the city in search of that young man that impregnated you. " Grandpa fired at her and walked away.
... To Be Continued.
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Author credits to ® Rihanne Maya
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