Eric was with his friend when he recieved a message from his mum that Ada came to look for him. He was shocked.

“O boy, you boy is in a big mess” he told his friend.

“What is the matter” Osadolor asked him.

“Ada is with my Mum”

“Which Ada are you talking about?”

“My babe on campus”

“How is that possible?” Osadolor asked.

“I don’t understand Ada o. She want to pour sand inside my garri,” Eric lamented.

“But is it wrong for your babe to visit you?” Osadolor asked with a mischievous grin.

“Which babe? I say I no do again, na crime?” Eric shouted in anger.

“But why did you leave her for Itohan? Did she offend you?”

“I cannot marry that girl. She is not a human being ,” Eric said firmly.

“But this the same Ada you were telling me that she was nice , caring , loving. What has changed?”

“The girl has deleted all the babies in her womb. ”

“Can you listen to yourself? You better go and settle with that girl. Even if you don’t want to marry her. Atleast, beg her to forgive you. You are saying she deleted all the babies in her womb, as if you are not an accomplice”

“Yes, I agreed that I told her to do it. But I never forced her. I am an only son, I cannot marry such a girl. See, what I need now is an advice on how to escape this girl.”

“That one is a small thing. Have you blocked her from reaching you on phone?”

“I have already done that,” Eric told her.

“Does she know your house?”

“No, it’s only my mum’s house that she knows.”

“Better, avoid going to your mum’s house for now. Avoid the route totally. She might still be lurking around. But if she mistakenly catch you, just give her story ”

“Ofcourse, afterall, I lost my phone and all my contacts. The hackers deleted all my contacts with goggle.”

They both busted out in laughter.

“Eric, you are a bad boy. I never knew that hackers can delete phone numbers saved with Google.”

“If she doubt it, let her go and ask google,”he said with a mischievous wink.

*********
As days went by, Itohan’s character kept changing. She was not attending church programmes regularly any more. She hardly prays and engage in any spiritual exercise. Uloma was not comfortable with her activities. She kept having the urge to caution her but was trying to be careful so that she will not be seen as being jealous.

She felt the best way to draw her back again to God was to propose that they should be praying together.

Any day that they proposed to fast and pray together, Itohan would never come on time from work. Most times, Uloma would wait till.6:30pm for them to round off the prayer together but Itohan would be nowhere to be found.

One of those days, Uloma summoned courage to talk to her.

“I T, what is going on?”

“I don’t understand your questions?” Itohan told her.

“We have been scheduling to pray together many times, but you have not shown up even for once. ”

“My dear, I have been busy. Please forgive me.” Itohan pleaded.

“It is this your busyness that I don’t understand. You used to come back latest 5pm but these days you come back very late. What is going on? ” Uloma queried.

“My dear, it is not my fault. It is because of preparation for our wedding. Eric has been taking me around to meet his family, friends and even trying to show me his business.”

“Even at that, I still want you to make out time to pray. The journey you are about to embark on is not as easy as you are seeing it. You need to prepare spiritually, in order to make it.”

“I understand. God will help me”

“Amen!”

“My sister, if I tell you what I experienced today, you will pity me,” Itohan told Uloma

“What could that be?”

“Sandra came to my place of work to embarrass me. She warned me to steer clear of Eric or else, she will deal with me,”

“Which of the Sandra’s are you talking about?”

“It’s the one that you and I know. Our church member.”

“Ha! It’s she come back from the National Youth service?”

“Yes o. She just came back o and decided that Itohan is her problem.” I.T explained

“But why would she do that? She ought to meet Eric and sought out any issue they have. Why would she involve you.” Uloma wondered.

“My sister, that is it. I know that she is just being jealous. Eric cannot stoop so low to have anything to do with her.”

“Have you tried to to find out Eric’s part of the story?”

“There is no need. Eric cannot date that girl. I trust my Eric. ”

“That you trust him is not the issue here. You just need to hear his own side of the story,” Uloma pressed on

“There is nothing to find out. The Eric I know cannot cheat on me. He loves me so much,” Itohan insisted.

“No one is doubting Eric’s love for you. What I’m saying is that he needs to know that someone is accusing him of dating her. Let him clear his name.”

“I insist that I will not do that. Our love for each other is unshakeable. I will not allow an unfounded accusation to destroy it. They know that Eric is rich. That is why they are bringing in all these accusations. We have both made up our mind to avoid distractions. Erictohan must come to pass.”

“Wow! Is that the name that will be splashed on the wedding card?”

“O yes. My dear, I went out with Eric. Do you know that Eric is 10 times richer than what he has been showing us here. He took me to his office. Then, to his warehouse. Eric is an importer,” Itohan traveled.

“What!”

“I’m telling you. I was really surprised. We also went to his house. He is living in a duplex. Could you believe that the property belongs to him.”

“Really?”

“I’m not done. We also went to his sister’s house. I was shocked to discover that the building that his sister is living in belongs to him too. He also reserved a 2 bedroom flat there for himself. That is where he stays, whenever he visits his sister.”

“Wow! I’m amazed. I knew that he was rich. But I didn’t know the extent,” Uloma chipped in.

“When I got to his office. They were just greeting me, welcome madam’ I was shy to answer. He encouraged me to answer them. He even told me that he want to buy another car for me, but I didn’t agree
. Let me even learn how to drive the one he bought first.”

“That’s the best decision. But don’t you think that you need to start attending driving school?”

“No! I don’t need it. Eric promised to get a driver for me after our wedding.”

” That’s nice but it shouldn’t stop you from learning how to drive. This is the best time to do that. You might not have time when you start giving birth,” Uloma advised.

” I actually would have loved to learn driving. But since Eric is not in support, I have to forget about it. He is my king so I have to obey him.”

“I have been waiting to hear about your wedding date but everywhere is silent. It’s been 8 months since he engaged you. I thought he was trying to gather money. But with what you just said. It is obvious that money is not the issue. Buying things for you is fine. But let him also try to see your parents and declare his intention to marry you.”

“You are right. I’ve been worried too. I have told him severally. His challenge is that they seized his goods he has been running helter skelter, trying to see that the goods would be released. He want to round off the releasing of the goods, so that he can concentrate on the wedding plans. I missed out an information. One of the places that we visited today was the event hall that we will be using for our wedding. It’s very big. I can’t believe what is happening to me. Eric has turned me to a princess.”

“Really?” Uloma gasped in surprise.

“Yes o. I can’t wait to be married to Eric. He told me that immediately We get married, I would resign from my job and start working in his office”

“wow! That s a good one. Congratulations!”

“I’m thinking of speaking to Eric on your behalf, so that he can employ you,” Itohan offered.

“No, you don’t need to disturb yourself about me, I am fine.”

“If you insist,” Itohan told her.

“Yes, I insist. The only thing I need you to do is to pray about your relationship. Tell God to speak to you do that you will be convinced that Eric is meant for you.”

The last statement made Itohan very angry.

“Uloma please it’s enough. Eric is my choice. Accept it that way.”

Watch out for the next episode.