₦airaland Forum

A fictional story. Names and events are made up, but if you have lived in a Nigerian home, some parts will feel very familiar.

For nine years, Emeka believed he was the father of three beautiful children.

He paid the school fees. He did midnight pharmacy runs when any of them had fever. When money was tight, he sold his first car so that his eldest daughter could attend the private school his wife, Adaeze, insisted was "the best for her future".

Emeka was not a rich man. He was a building contractor in Enugu who worked under the sun so his family could live under a roof with light.

So when his younger brother in London told him about a genuine route to relocate the family to the UK, Emeka grabbed it with both hands. He gathered documents for months. Birth certificates. School records. Passports. Everything was set.

Only one step remained. The medicals.

The clinic was quiet that morning. The doctor, a calm man in his fifties, asked routine questions and took blood samples from Emeka and the three children, as part of the family health screening.

Three days later, Emeka returned alone to collect the results.

The doctor did not hand him the envelope immediately. Instead, he cleared his throat and said the sentence that would divide Emeka's life into a before and an after.

"Mr. Emeka, please sit down. There is something in these results that I am legally required to discuss with you in private."

Omo. Emeka's heart started beating in his ears.

The doctor explained slowly, the way you explain to a man standing at the edge of a roof. The blood group analysis from the screening did not match. Not for one child. For all three.

Biologically, based on the samples, Emeka could not be the father of any of them...

That night, Emeka placed the envelope on the dining table between himself and Adaeze, and asked one question: "Who is their father?"

Adaeze looked at the envelope. She looked at Emeka. And what she said next was not a denial. It was not an apology either.

It was a name. A name Emeka knew very, very well.

Read the full Part 1 and Part 2 (the name she called, and what Emeka did) here: https://highvalyriantranslators.com/the-husbands-secret-part-1/

I will post the next story here if you people enjoy this one.