WHEN LOVE JUST HAPPENS 2 : EPISODE 21 – 30
EPISODE 23
It’s been one week since Jane was rescued from the hands of Sandra and her cohorts, and she was still unconscious. The doctors keep assuring Jeffery she was going to regain consciousness soon.
Erica had already traveled to India for her surgery. And the surgery was to be done the following week.
Amaka was fully recovered as well. She was already strong enough to do things on her own. But Jeffery insisted she still remains at his place, instead of going back to live alone in her and Jane’s apartment.
“I have decided to go to the east to visit my mother” Amaka said to Jeffery as he drove them back from the hospital, where they went to see Jane.
“Are you sure, you are strong enough to embark on such a long journey?”
“Yeah, the doctor said I’m fit to get back to my normal life, so long I don’t over stress myself and I take my medications”
“Alright, when do you plan on leaving?”
“Tomorrow”
“So soon? Why the hurry?”
“It’s something I just want to do and get off my chest, if I wait any longer, I might develop cold feet”
“Okay, I know that feeling, how about I buy you a flight ticket, instead of you taking a bus? I still don’t think you are fit to be traveling long distance in your condition”
“No, that won’t be necessary. You have done enough for me already”
“Are you sure? it’s not really”
“I’m sure, you don’t have to worry about me”
“Alright if you say so”
Jeffery had to drop her off at her and Jane’s apartment. So she could pack the few things she needed for her trip. Her boss had given her the remaining two weeks of the month off, she intends to spend a week with her mother and bury the hatchet between them.
WHEN LOVE JUST HAPPENS 2 : EPISODE 21 – 30
Very early the next morning, Amaka left for the bus stop. She wanted to follow the first bus, so she could get home on time. But rather, she ended up getting home late, because the bus she took kept getting spoilt on the road.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” Her mother asked, as she took Amaka’s bag from her at the door. “I could have come pick you at the motor park”
Amaka didn’t say anything to her mother, instead she went straight to her room which still looked very much like it was when she left.
“Would like something to eat? I have ofe onuegbo(meaning, bitter leaf soup in Igbo), and fufu, I can quickly warm the soup”
This was Amaka’s favorite meal while growing up. She wanted nothing more than to rush into her mother’s kitchen and dish out some for herself. But then, she remembers the last time her mother was this nice to her, she lost something precious.
“No, I’m not hungry. I just want to bath and sleep”
“You look really pale, have you been sick?” Her mother got closer to her as she assessed Amaka’s face. Some of the bruises on her face and body were already healed, but you could still find the scars that haven’t completely faded when you looked closely.
“I’m fine”
“Are you sure? Because you really look like you were sick. Did someone beat you? What are all these marks on your face?”
Her mother tried to touch her face, but Amaka pushed her hand away. “please mother, I would like to be alone”
Her mother who looked really disappointed, decided not to flog the issue. She dropped Amaka’s bag on the bed and left the room.
The next morning, Amaka woke up to find her mother having breakfast at the dining table.
“Mummy ututu oma (mummy good morning)”
“i rahukwara nke oma (hope you slept well)?”
“Yes mummy”
“Come sit and have breakfast with me” her mother offered.
“No ma, I’m not hungry”
“Amaka, how long do you intend to continue doing this?”
“For as long I can, I can’t risk being poisoned by the same person for a second time”
“What can I do to show you how truly sorry I am? Amaka please I’m sorry” her mother remorsefully begged.
Amaka who was going to the kitchen, stopped dead in her tracks, for the first time in nine years, that her mother made her lose her baby, she apologized.
“You are sorry? Did you just say you are sorry?”
“Amaka please I’m sorry, I deeply regret my actions, I was only trying to protect you”
“Protect me? Protect me from what exactly?” Amaka walked up to where her mother was seated.
“You were only a teenager, a child. I didn’t want you to miss out on your childhood because you are being forced to raise a child you didn’t plan on having in the first place”
“And who told you, you could decide for me? I told you I wanted to keep the baby. Didn’t my decision to keep it, matter to you?”
“I only thought I was helping you, I didn’t want you to make same mistake I made”
“And what is this mistake you always talking about?”
“Sit down please” her mother drew out a chair for her to sit on.
“When I was in my first year at the university, just a little older than you were when you got pregnant. I started dating your father, we were both from the same village, and attended the same church back at home. So when he asked me out, it felt like a match made in heaven. He was a 300level senior in my department, so I saw him as a god, and felt honored that he asked me out”
WHEN LOVE JUST HAPPENS 2 : EPISODE 21 – 30
*Flash back*
Amaka’s mother was always following Mathew around, whenever she wasn’t having classes, she would go to his hostel. Everyone in campus knew about their relationship. At a point, they became the hottest couple on campus.
They were so much in love with each other, they went practically everywhere together, wherever you saw one, the other was bound to be there. They were like two peas in a pod that couldn’t be separated.
Until during her second semester holiday, Amaka’s mother missed her period, and later discovered she was pregnant.
Mathew had insteaded she abort the pregnancy, because he wasn’t ready to become a father yet, he needed to finish university and get a job, before thinking of settling down. But Amaka’s mother wouldn’t hear of it. Instead she decided to report him to the reverend father of the cathedral they usually attended in the village. The Reverend father in turn, called the two families together, and told them about it.
Both parents insisted they got married as abortion was a sin. Few weeks later, they were both married in a small traditional wedding. But Amaka’s father never forgave her mother for forcing him into marriage and making him give up his dreams of becoming an engineer, because both of them had to drop out of school to work, so they could provide for the child.
“So daddy never wanted to marry you in the first place?” Amaka asked in disbelief.
“No he didn’t, he always resented me for it”
After nine months she delivered a baby boy and three years later, Amaka followed. But the boy died of a mysterious illness, when he was in secondary School.
WHEN LOVE JUST HAPPENS 2 : EPISODE 21 – 30
After they had buried him, Amaka’s father decided to divorce her mother.
“The child that brought us together is dead, of what use is there for us to be together?” He had asked her the day he packed his things to leave.
“What of Amaka? Is she not your child too?”
“I will support you with her education and everything that is needed for her upbringing” he took his bag and left and never came back.
“I’m sorry mother, I never knew any of this”
“I was only trying to save you from same unhappiness I experienced, but instead I ended up causing you more unhappiness. I’m sorry”
“And because of what you did, I might never have a child of my own” Amaka spoke with a tearful eyes.
“What did you just say?”
“I found out few years back, that I might never have a child because of the abortion drug you gave me that night” Amaka cried as she spoke. It was for this reason she swore never to talk to her mother again.
“Oh my God, I’m sorry” Her mother was crying too.
“Sorry won’t take back what you have done mother, I actually promised myself that I wasn’t going ever see you or speak to you again. But I know that, if I want to be happy, then I needed to sort things out with you. Mother you took away the only thing that makes me a woman” Amaka was sobing as she spoke.
Her mother who couldn’t defend her actions any longer, just sat there crying uncontrollably. If only she had known, she would never have added any abortion substance into the food and drink she gave Amaka that night.
“So you see, you not only hurt me but yourself too. For you might never carry your own grandchild”
She might never even get married, because no African man in his right frame of mind, would want to marry a woman who can’t give him a child. So she was bound to remain a spinster for the rest of her life.
“My daughter please, I beg you to forgive me. I know no amount of pleading can undo what I did, but please I’m sorry”
“Mother I am not going to tell you, I can forgive you so easily. But I’m willing to try”
“Thank you so much my daughter”
After opening up to her mother, Amaka felt a heavy weight leave her chest, it was as if she has been carrying an invisible burden all these years without knowing. And for the first time in forever, Amaka hugged her mother. She knew this wasn’t going to be an easy journey but she was willing to try for the sake of her own peace of mind.
WHEN LOVE JUST HAPPENS 2 : EPISODE 21 – 30
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