Now That You Are Here – Episode Five (A Tale Of Deception, Betrayal And Murder)

In case you missed episode 4: Click Here

She pulled on the loose strands of her hair nervously as she stepped into the doctor’s office. It wasn’t like she owed anybody an explanation on why she was getting rid of the baby but it still felt embarrassing telling a doctor she wanted an abortion. Her eyes did a quick scan of the office before settling on the smiling young man who waved her to a seat. The office had the same cold, sterile walls every hospital seemed to have. The whiteness of the walls made her feel as if she was about to taint it with the evil of her intent and to distract herself from this train of thought, she allowed her eyes rest on the doctor. He was young and quite good looking and she guessed him to be in his mid-twenties. Twenty-six or twenty-seven at the most, she thought as she sat in the seat he had indicated and continued looking at him.

She caught his amused smiled and the raising of his eyebrow was enough to jolt her out of her thoughts. She cleared her throat nervously, she wasn’t sure whether she was embarrassed because he seemed amused that she was staring at him or whether it was because of what she wanted to do.

She finally blurted, “I came for an abortion.”

His smiling expression didn’t change, that cool smile was still playing on his lips as if he encountered a lot of people like her every day and she felt ridiculous as she waited for his response.

He stared at her in silence for about a minute before he finally spoke, “if you don’t mind my asking, may I ask why you want to do it? He doesn’t want the baby?”

Damilola raised her eyes to meet his and hated the knowing look she saw there. Who was he to think he knew why she was having an abortion?

“Yes, he doesn’t because it is not his.”

His countenance changed then as a look of interest came on his face.

“Oh,” he said as if waiting for her to go on.

She continued, “I am doing it to save my relationship. We are engaged, but I messed up and I am pregnant for another man.”

He was silent and didn’t say a thing and the silence urged her on as she blurted the story to him. Having not had anybody to talk to, it felt good to talk to a stranger who she was sure was not going to judge her. Anu wouldn’t understand and even if she did, she would never be in support of an abortion to please a man that had also cheated.

“Why does it always have to be the women that suffer?” she heard herself asking. “He cheated too, not once, not twice but I happen to have a one night slip and here I am, knocked up and having to abort my baby to save my relationship. I love him, I really do doctor.” She laughed mirthless when she realised she didn’t know his name.

She took a look at his name tag then. “Are you married Doctor Muyiwa?”

“No I am not but I understand how you feel. I must however point out to you that I don’t think it is a good idea, the abortion I mean,” he said.

Muyiwa wasn’t sure what it was about her but she seemed so forlorn and confused as she talked in her soft voice. She was beautiful and he noticed the way she kept tugging on her hair absent-mindedly as she talked.

He continued, “You would be getting an abortion for the wrong reasons.”

How could she be willing to abort for a guy that cheated on her and although she referred to him as her fiancé? She had as much as said there was no official ceremony yet. What if the dude ended up not marrying her? As these thoughts went through his mind, he became certain he had to help her. If he refused to carry out the abortion, she would simply go to another clinic.

He found himself saying instead, “can I take you out for dinner later today and let us have a talk before we decide what you do please?”

Damilola was startled at the earnest expression on his face and she wondered why he seemed concerned about her. She nodded and he thanked her as he took her phone number and promised to call her after office hours.

***

It was now about three days since Gbade had gone back to the States and Damilola was feeling depressed. Following her meeting with Muyiwa who had convinced her against the abortion, there had been a big fight with Gbade when he learnt she was no longer going through with the abortion. His attitude towards her changed from forgiving to cold and on the day he was to leave, he simply brushed a kiss on her cheeks before hurrying out to the waiting taxi taking him to the airport as if he couldn’t wait to be rid of her. She sat in silence beside him in the taxi and after his flight departed, she cried all the way back home.

She was soaking in the bath, playing Rihanna’s Haunted when her phone rang.  It was Muyiwa. “Hey you,”

“Hi doc,” she said. She had told him of Gbade’s reaction and he had been calling her since Gbade’s departure.

“How are you feeling?”

“Still the same. Missing him. Feeling shitty and dead. I feel empty. I have so much work to do but I can’t even bring myself to do anything. I hate being in love. Two damn years of my life and he is just going to walk out. He didn’t even say goodbye you know.”

“I know, you told me that already, about a hundred times. What are you doing tonight? Scrap that, we should go out tonight, you need to get out of the house and stop moping around. Can I pick you up say by seven?”

Damilola had to admit, she found the doctor intriguing. Why so much concern and interest in her? She was in love with a man that had not dumped her nor claimed her, pregnant for another and an emotional wreck yet he was being so nice to her. He couldn’t find her attractive, could he? She laughed as she realized she was developing a crush on him the more she thought about it. She got out of the bath and began to prepare for her date with him. It would be good not to think of Gbade, she thought as she checked her reflection in the mirror.

She was dabbing on perfume when the doorbell rang and she hurried to the door. Muyiwa was standing there looking disheveled. The first two buttons of his shirts were undone and the shirt itself was half out of his trouser. He gave her a tired smile as she took his bag and closed the door after him.

“I am sorry about my appearance but I have been at the hospital for three days stretch now. I was hoping that I could cheer you up but I feel so tired and drained.”

She could tell he was tired and felt a twinge of pity that he had had to come see her instead of going home to rest.

“It’s alright if we can’t go out. I am fine really, thanks for the concern. Let me get you something to eat.” She was walking to the kitchen when his voice came after her.

“I like your perfume.”

“Gbade got it for me,” she said. The thought of Gbade brought a cast to her face and she laughed when she saw came back to the living room to see Muyiwa’s expression.

“I didn’t ask you who got the perfume for you. No talks of him, we are trying to get you over him remember?”

“Alright,” she said and entered the kitchen again to check on the food in the microwave.

***

As he ate, they talked. He had a girlfriend he had been going steady with for about a year. Several times during the conversation, she brought up Gbade’s name and he would say something about how she needed to stop talking about him and she would laugh. The two were lost to time and when Muyiwa finally checked his wristwatch, he was shocked to see it was already past eleven pm.

“I have to leave. Jeez how time flies. If only time flies this fast when I am on call. I would try see you next week okay?” He got up and slinging his bag over his shoulder, they walked to his car and Damilola stood waving as he drove off into the night.

As he drove out of the gate, Muyiwa shook his head in wonder. Damilola was certainly an interesting woman and it was obvious she was crazy about this Gbade dude. If only the bastard could see that he thought darkly. Some guys are just too blind to recognize the good placed in front of them, he muttered in disgust. Another thirty minutes and he was driving into his own compound and he was still unlocking his door when he dialed his girlfriend, Halimat’s mobile number. He wasn’t going to be one of those guys that didn’t appreciate what they had.

To read Episode 6 Click Here