I came back from the shop in the evening and met Love, one of Chika’s friends waiting for me. She gave me a letter, claiming that Chika asked her to give me the letter on the day she travelled. I wondered why Chika should deliver a letter to me through a friend. She should have done that through Mummy. I collected the letter and appreciated her. As soon as she left, I opened the letter and read through. The contents of the letter left me dumbfounded and I quickly dialed Johnson’s phone number. Within 10 minutes, Johnson got to my house and I gave him the letter to read.

Bro Kel,
I never knew that you are wicked. Upon all the things that my mummy has been doing for you, you brought another girl you want to marry.
I am no good for marriage but you ate my food. You also allowed my family members to spend their hard earned money on you. God will judge you.
Don’t fail to delete my phone number from your phone; I have done that to your phone number. Good bye forever.
Chika.

After reading the letter, Johnson sighed and threw it away.

“Is this why you hurried me to this place? There is no news here.”

“Johnson I asked you to come because I was shocked beyond words. I can’t believe that this is happening.”
“There is no strange occurrence here. I knew what they were looking for, from the onset. I am the one that know this people, you are a new member. But when I was saying it, you doubted me. Now you are seeing it in black and white. That woman is desperately looking for who will marry her daughter.

She knows that no church member will marry her because of her wayward lifestyle. This was exactly the way she smuggled her first daughter into the life of the man they are now calling her husband. She begged me to marry Ugomma and I refused; that is why she hated me. If she had her way, she will not want you close to me so that the secret will not be revealed to you.”

“But Chika has a fiancé; in fact I know him. Immediately after her master’s degree the wedding bell will ring. It is her studies abroad that is causing the delay.”

“They told you that she has a fiancé and you believed them. Alright, why then did she write this letter to you? Is it not her hand writing?”

“That is another issue. Chika is a digital person; she prefers sending message through her phone. This is not real. I need to get to the root of this.”

Immediately I said that Johnson became very angry and it showed in the tone of his voice.

“You want to get to the root of what? You better save yourself from embarrassment. Let me warn you, I will never involve myself in any dance of shame. If you fail to heed to my advice at this point, I will abandon you. It is obvious that you don’t appreciate my efforts. If you do, you will not be looking for these same people who abandoned you at a critical time.”

“Johnson, I am sorry. It’s just that I am confused. I don’t know what to do.”

I was amazed and terrified at the intensity of his anger. I had no choice than to cooperate with him, though I couldn’t understand why he was weeping more than the bereaved.

“You have to avoid those people for your own good. Change the SIM card in your phone so that they will not be able to contact you. Later, search for another accommodation and vacate this place.” He persuaded me.

“Do you think all these are necessary?”

“Why not? I feel that those people are bent on frustrating you. I suspect that it was Mrs. Onyema that told Pastor that Jane was pregnant for you. You know that she is a nurse by profession; she can easily dictate who is pregnant.”
“You are right. The day I went to introduce Jane to Mummy, she told me that Jane was pregnant. I forgot to mention it to you.”

“You see, I didn’t even know that she told you so. That confirms my suspicion. Another is that while every other person is condemning what Pastor did to you, she is applauding it. Who is fooling who? Just do as I told you and avoid that family. They are evil.”

“I think that you are right. First thing tomorrow morning I will get a new SIM card. As for the accommodation, God will help me.”

“Kel there is no point waiting till tomorrow, let’s do the needful now.” Johnson got up, grabbed my hand and lifted me from the chair.

Everything Johnson said seemed to fall in place. Mummy never wanted to see me an inch close to him. ‘Could this be the reason?’ I asked myself.

However, the truth is that any time any day, I will choose Chika over Jane. I wished that I knew that there was such opportunity; I would have grabbed it with both hands. I never thought of marrying her because I felt she was my sister. Unfortunately, the door has been closed; Jane has come to stay and I have to accept my fate with resignation.

For a greater part of the night, I tossed to and fro on my bed, unable to find sleep. The way forward seemed unknown to me. Though I have decided to stop attending church, it did not appear as a solution to my problem. How to live with Jane under the same roof occupied my mind. I however took solace in the fact that there must always be a way out. Finally, at a few hours to dawn sleep overpowered me. As soon as the morning light creaked, I heard a loud knock on my door. I chose to ignore it because I was not in the mood for entertaining a visitor; besides the day was still very young. When the knock persisted, I reluctantly crawled out of bed to check on the person. When I opened the door, I saw Jane standing out there with her luggage.

“What are you doing here with all these loads? Did you miss your way?”

“Please I am tired. Allow me to cool off a bit. I will explain everything to you.”

I shifted to one side as I watched Jane pack in the load. Afterwards, she threw herself into one of the chairs panting. As I stood there watching in anger, a million questions were on my mind. After some minutes, I broke the silence.

“You didn’t tell me that you are coming here this morning, what is your plan.” I queried.

“Kel you are the one that should tell me what your plans are. I heard that your church has called off the wedding but you refused to tell me. If not for your friend, Johnson, I wouldn’t have known.”

“Which wedding are you talking about? Did the church give you any wedding date? It is good news that God is using the church to deliver me from the marriage you wanted to force me into. So, I owe you no apology. Everything that happened is your fault.”

“How is it my fault? Did I force you to date me or is the pregnancy not yours? Other churches wed ladies that are pregnant but your church said that it is a taboo. How is that my fault? Please leave me alone.”

I asked you a question, instead of you to give me an answer; you have been beating around the bush. What are you doing here?”

“I have come to live with my husband. We cannot be living apart whereas we are in the same city. The barrier, which is your church, has been removed.”

“It didn’t occur to you that you needed to inform me before coming.”

“I never knew that I and our child need permission to come to your house. I have never heard of such. Beside, you want me to inform you that I was coming so that you will run away,” Jane replied.

“Jane, don’t take my gentility for stupidity. That you have succeeded in trapping me with pregnancy does not mean that I am now your errand boy. If you try to make my life more miserable than it is already, I will show you a side of me that you don’t know.”

I picked my shirt and stormed out of the house.