All my life, I have always tried to avoid problems but they kept running to me! Honestly, I didn't do it.

Last year, December 26, I went to their house to see her after I had returned to the village on 24th but to my greatest surprise, I was welcomed by her protruding belly and I was shocked. This was the same person I left with good tidings about the future earlier on!

"How manage?" Was what I could hear myself say that afternoon.

"In-law, cool down. Come inside and let us talk!" Was all that her father could say. Honestly, I was shattered.

"E e eh, don't in-law me!" I said and ran out of the compound, then Nancy followed. The truth is, I had an idea of a great future for Nancy but she ruined it!

It's been days now, I haven't gone to see them.

2. One good turn deserves another.
The truth is that I promised to forgive Nancy because she had been through a lot for me! When I was in the village doing nothing, she raised the money for my travels! This was somebody who stole her father's money, gave her life savings and even sold her younger brother's bike just to see me through the storms of life.

When I complained to my bosom friend about all these, he blamed me for being too soft. "Na you cause all these," he said!

"You should have been hard on her so that she would reveal the identity of the father!" He concluded.

I was shattered, broken and even too emotional to respond. Just when I thought it was time to settle down, Nancy came up with this! I tried to move on but her voice still kept ringing bells in my mind.

"After all I have done for you, this is how you pay me back? Because of this little mistake. O' I see. You're now comfortable staying away from me." She accused me one morning that I went out to meet her under the udara tree on her requested.

I couldn't even utter a word because my mind was consumed with thoughts. That day, as I went home, I spoke with Chichi on phone and she told me that it was over between us because she needed sometime to prepare for her exams!

"What has gotten over me?" I wondered. Because the two women in my life deserted me, I couldn't eat.

"Chichi, I ghotago? " I tried to calm her down and let her know there was a reason for my absence without telling her but she wouldn't take it.

That day, I wept like a baby before going to bed and by the time I wake up, all my body was just cool.

3. Hmm.
If I tell you where I started, you will just pity me. When I think about Nancy and her pregnancy, I just shake my head! She had been pressuring me to give her attention but I refused. In fact, even when I left the village, I stopped picking her calls!

Yes! I was doing some things with Chichi in the city but I kept a large portion of my heart for Nancy! What baffled me most was that her parents were not even castigating her! It was even her mother that was going all over the village singing that she would soon be a grandmother.

One day, I sat down to think about my life but nothing came into my mind. So, I left. I gave myself to palm wine, bush meat and vegetable meals just to forget my sorrows but I couldn't. Within 8 days, I had lost weight like never before!

Oh' if only Nancy had waited!

Ok fine, do you even know what I have been through?

Have you even read my story?

Do you even know what life is like out there?

And you judge me. Mtcheeew.


www.turbanglu.com

I lived in a hamlet similar to what China Achebe must have described in his book, "Things Fall Apart." And I live for one day per time.

When I first met Nancy, I thought she was a decent girl. So, I gave her my all because I only knew her outer character. Today, things have happened and her real one is showing. Seeing how I treated her, she believed that she could trust me with her life. So, she sold one of her father's plot of land and sent me to the city to continue hustling.

That was where I learnt about Okrika business and the thing was just going fine. Already, I had made up my mind to marry her but she told me that marriage was not an achievement. She warned me never to talk of marriage untill I was well to do! How she later changed her mind was what I didn't know.

When I got to the village, she told me that she only got a surrogate father! I didn't know what that meant but I was visibly enraged!

"Why didn't you get a surrodoor one, instead?" I shouted.

"Calm down, my baby is sleeping." She said, rubbing her palm on her stomach and then, I knew that I had lost it.

That day, I went home in shambles promising never to disturb her and her family anymore but her thoughts kept coming into my mind. Imagine an illiterate talking about surrogate!

I was moved to tears as I went home but I consoled myself with my assets in the city and the thoughts of Ogechi. Bianca was even another option but my list was filled up! Despite my fortunes, I felt a vacuum without Nancy and her habit of always helping me!

For the first time in my life, I learnt to stand alone.