Chains That Bind Us - Episode 3

 

The pain was getting too much for Eunice to bear. Carrying a child for nine months is a huge job to bear so one can just imagine what she was going through being pregnant for the past thirteen months. She couldn’t move around without someone supporting her and has been condemned to a wheel chair without being paralysed even though that’s exactly how she feels. She was always in constant pain and could barely even sleep at night . She felt so helpless and couldn’t wait for the child to be taken out of her. 
She had been medical induced to go into labour but the labour never happened. The doctors refused to operate on her claiming she and the baby would die if they do stating some technical jargons that no one understood to support their claim. Some of them even told them that her case was beyond the medical jurisdiction; meaning they should try other options.
So here they are at a white garment church in the middle of a prayer session. Eunice has been laid on a mat with the upper part of her body slightly raised because she was resting on her husband, Nelson, in the middle of the prayer warriors but instead of praying, all she could think about was the intense pain she was going through and the pain seems to be worse than that of a woman in labour which was not her case since her water refused to break.
It felt like hours but it was just some minutes later, the prayer ended.  One of the prayer warriors looked at Eunice and Nelson, “This is not her husband

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. She took over something that is not hers and she knew it”, the woman proclaimed. Eunice looked at her husband and saw him staring back at her so she tried her possible best to communicate non-verbally to him that she did not understand what the woman was talking about but she doubts that he understood her.
“But their union was blessed by God in a church.” Eunice’s mother cried out. She was just as confused as they all were about the matter. How on earth was it possible that Nelson was not her husband; that was impossible and unacceptable? They love each other so much.
“Tell her to think about it very well. She knows her husband’s real wife and if she does not go to her and she says from the bottom of her heart that she forgives her, she would go for the rest of her life carrying the child which may shorten her life span.”
Eunice looked away from the woman and stared at her husband who was staring back at her. The woman didn’t need to say more, she already knew who she was talking about.

SIX YEARS EARLIER
She might be her best friend since forever, they might have shared absolutely everything in the past but she didn’t have any plans of sharing this with her. Eunice sat across from Chidinma annoyingly hearing her gush about Nelson yet again. She also liked him too but you never hear her annoying the living hell out of everyone around her because of that. She needed her to shut up before she snapped her neck. Yes Chidinma had introduced Nelson and her to each other but in Eunice’s opinion you mostly meet someone through another person. She and Nelson are also close; they speak a lot though they have never really seen each other face to face before, they were phone pals. She couldn’t wait for the day she would finally see him.
“So why don’t you go out with him then. According to what you told me, you two have kissed and it was even a very good kiss at that”. She said trying to shut Chidinma up. People may think she was not a good friend but she was; she just couldn’t help the way she felt about Nelson. She knew way before Chidinma introduced them that she liked him and she was drawn to him despite the fact that they only spoke over the phone.
“I don’t know, sometimes I feel he really likes me in that way and sometimes I feel he is confused.” Chidinma signed sadly. Eunice felt like there was still something she wasn’t telling but seriously she didn’t want any details from her. She only wanted her to stop whining about a guy that doesn’t really want her. 
Her phone rang, it was his ring tone. The phone was beside Chidinma so she passed it to her while looking at the screen to see the caller in the process. Eunice noticed the expression on her face changed but the truth of the matter was that she really didn’t care.
Chidinma didn’t know why she did it but she just wanted to be sure. Why would Nelson tell her not to tell Eunice that she came to his place if there was nothing going on between them? So she mentioned it just to know her friend’s reaction but so far she hasn’t gotten anything from her. Eunice was probably a good actress. Then the phone rang right beside her so she had to pick it up and pass it to Eunice seeing the caller’s id in the process; it was Nelson calling her.
Her expression changed immediately, all her cover thrown out of the window. He never calls her, all he does is flash and when she calls him back, he tells her he was just calling to let her know she was remembered which only meant he had nothing to say to her. When he even has something to say, he calls only to tell her to call him back but here he is actually using his credit to call her; that’s something. 
She was getting angry and uncomfortable staying there listening to her talk to him but Chidinma knew courtesy demands that she stayed until the call is over although apart from that, she didn’t want Eunice to know that she was angry about her talking to him.
The call went on for the next five minutes or thereabout which is still quite some cash since they are both using different networks. Whenever Chidinma complained about him not calling, he always said one thing or the other about the fact that they were both using different networks. She was getting really mad now and she knew she had to get out of the place before she says something she would regret. Then fortunately for her, her phone also rang and she picked it up. She spoke to the person on phone for a while. During the call, it clicked to her that she could use the phone call as her escape route so after the call ended, she still had the phone to her ear telling the non-existent person on the other end of the line, “I am on my way, I will soon be there.” She said as she stood up picking her hand bag in the process. Eunice was now off the phone thankfully. “I have to go meet someone.”  She said as she walked up to her and gave her a hug which Chidinma noted was not returned but left her lips zipped instead. “See you later dear.” She called out sounding cheerful when she really was not then turned and left the room. It was not until she got outside that she decided where she wanted to go to next. Home.

SOME WEEKS LATER
“Hey wassup, where are you, that place is noisy?” Chidinma said. She was speaking to Eunice and it sounded like the latter was in a bus or something like that.
“I am in a bus, I am travelling.” She replied. 
“Oh, you are on your way home.” Chidinma said to her.
 “Yes I am.” She replied. The network was bad so Chidinma couldn’t hear her very well because of the noise so she just told her; “Okay I will talk to you later, let me know when you get there”, and ended the call. 
They both live in Lagos but were doing their one year youth service in Edo state.

A WEEK LATER
A mutual friend just informed Chidinma that she saw Eunice at UNIBEN. She couldn’t remember her knowing anybody in UNIBEN apart from Nelson but kept the information to herself. He said he saw her with a guy. She didn’t say anything because she didn’t want to jump into conclusions and didn’t want a third party in the affairs of her and my best friend of many years so she made a joke about it and smartly changed the topic.
Now she was laying down on her bed contemplating whether or not she should confront them about it. At least one of them would confess to it if they have nothing to hide. So she made a move that she would always count stupid, she called Nelson for confirmation which he did; “Yes she was here, why?” But Chidinma couldn’t tell him why. She was hurting, for no reason tears were threatening to fall. Well it has a reason to fall, because without it happening yet, she already knew in her mind of minds that her best friend was on her way to betray her, if she hasn’t already.
She couldn’t do it on the phone; she needed to see her face when she confronted her but Chidinma couldn’t go to her place at that moment; she was still very hurt and angry about it. She needed to calm down first.
When Nelson called Eunice to inform her that Chidinma called him inquiring if she had come over to his place, she immediately knew who told her. That idiot was just out to get her for breaking up with him. So she wasn’t surprised when she showed up in her room for a question and answer session.
“You didn’t tell me you were going to see Nelson.” She said as a statement. It wasn’t a question so Eunice found herself wondering if she was actually supposed to respond to that or not. 
“Oh I didn’t, I thought I did.” She replied even though she didn’t actually want to. “No you didn’t, you said you were going home.” Chidinma said.
“No I didn’t, you merely jumped to conclusion as you always do not waiting for the other person to talk so I merely played along not seeing any reason to tell you of my every move.” She replied nonchalantly.
“Oh I see, I will see you later.” Chidinma said and with that she left the room. Eunice was tempted to call her back but decided against her better judgment and just let her be. Two nights ago, she had dreamt of the Nelson and Chidinma together. They were laughing happily as they bent over a basket filled with fruits. Then last night, she dreamt that she and Nelson were now the ones laughing at an half full basket of fruits while Chidinma and a face she couldn’t see clearly were putting fruits inside a basket which kept disappearing making the basket empty. She had no idea what the two dreams meant and didn’t care. All she knew is that she loves him and the decision of who he wants is not up to either her or Chidinma but she would sure as hell make sure his decision favours her instead.