BETWEEN DAD AND SON

By Femi Abulude

I enjoyed life to the fullest when I was in the University. I had to reduce my social gyration on the Campus when I succumbed to the advances of the School Chief Accountant, Mr. Akapo. This handsome man was very generous about money and gifts. He was the one who advised me to thread softly on the Campus so as not to embarrass him. Thus I became reserved for him and him alone.

I used to travel with him outside the town on official assignments and on weekend outings. As a rule, Mr. Akapo would never visit me in my hostel. The affair was only known to few of my close friends. I was contemplating marrying him as a second wife when catastrophe struck. He was accused of gross financial misappropriation and got suspended from the school. Thus this lengthy legal tussle started. At the end of it all, he was found guilty and jailed.

It took me some time before I could get over the trauma. I did not know which one pained me more, whether the financial flow that got stuck or the love I had for this man. Imagine this happening to me at the final year. At any rate, I managed to pass my examination and got posted to Kwara state for my NYSC assignment.

It was while I was in Ilorin that I met this handsome boy who was a pharmacist in the general hospital. His name was Seyi. He proposed to me and we became lovers. I was his live-in-lover throughout my stay in Ilorin. I felt relaxed with this guy. This was strange. It was as if we had known each other for years. He proposed marriage to me before the end of the service year, but I was stalking until I left the city.

When I got back to Ibadan where my parents were, I could not secure a job. I was at a cross road and running out of patience when Seyi came to Ibadan to inform me that he had secured a job for me. I told my parents about this development. I have informed them about Seyi. They liked the idea. My father who had been pestering me about him took liking in him instantly. My mummy confessed she liked him too. With their supports, I went for the interview which was more or less a formality and secured the job. That was how I became Seyi’s live in lover for the second time. I agreed to marry him and we started the marriage process. I had met his mother several times, but he would not discuss his father.

I made my own private investigation and got to know that Seyi was a love child. I also learnt that the dad abandoned him and refused paternity claiming that his pregnancy was shrouded in controversy. The mother’s parents took care of him and gave him their family name Odeyale.

In one of my visits to mama Seyi, she assured us that efforts had been made to reconcile Seyi with his father who had just come out of a terrible trauma. True to her assurance, the reconciliation came earlier than expected and that was the beginning of my present predicament.

Seyi’s father happened to be Mr. Akapo, my campus Aristo! He had changed a lot. He seemed to have aged in prison. When I was introduced to him, I fainted.

When I recovered the following day, I saw my parents by the side of my bed. There was a doctor and a nurse. I recognized the environment to be the hospital where Seyi worked, but he was not in sight. I tried to talk and ask questions but the doctor waved to me not to talk.

“Young lady, you have just gone through some psychological trauma. You need to relax and put the agony out of your system as early as possible.” That was the doctor.

When I saw my mother’s swollen eye lids and my father’s sad look, I started crying. Without being told, I knew I had lost my pregnancy and lost Seyi too for good!