Ruth Vicissitudes - Episode 11

 

The disastrous break up with Ericks left nothing but misery and pain for Ruth who still considered the break up unfathomable. Death took away Samuel and now, something to similar to death has taken Ericks away from her, maybe she didn’t have the luck of being with the man that she loved. She only hoped the moment will pass her and she returns to her normal life, the life she was before she met Ericks. She had no option than to succumb to the wishes of her parents by marrying Dolapo, she will try as much as possible to leave her days as happy as she could.
Ruth married Dolapo few weeks later in what was termed one of the biggest wedding of the year and a blissful moment for the Eruwahere family . From the events preceding the wedding, the preparations, the makeup and the invitation, the brides maids, flower girls all made the event awesome. Tonkey and Maureen helped do some of the decorations and Ruth’s make up. Then, she slipped on her beautiful silk gown that left some cleavage on her breast that wowed her friends both;
“You look so beautiful, wished I was the one in that dress” Tonkey admitted.
“Abeg, your turn will come. Lets prepare Ruth”
“Ha, can’t someone commend something beautiful if she sees it” Tonkey protested. Ruth feigned a smiling face all through, listening than talking

All episodes of this story can be found here >> https://www.ebonystory.com/story/ruth-vicissitudes

. Her chief brides maid, Tonkey gorgeously dressed in the same pinky garment as the other maids trailed Ruth, raising the crawling remainder of her long dress. Then, Mr. Jude in grey suit walked down her daughter the aisle to the waiting, smiling Dolapo, looking smart in his tuxedo.  After the ‘I do’ process, exchange of rings and kissing and taking of pictures, reception followed at Dolapo’s parents mansion. Ruth continued to force a smile at everyone that came her way, after all, It was her supposed ‘happiest day of her life’, like every other woman that looked forward to the day of her wedding.
Cynthia flung her arms outwards, resting them on her waist as she stood. She had been restless and having frequent insomnia for days. At night, she wakes up at intervals, complaining of nightmares about how unsuccessful her marriage to Charles would be to her cousin and so, wouldn’t sleep till the early hours of the morning. Recently, her cousin had left her for school, leaving her alone in the apartment and then, most times, she results to calling Sandra, narrating  her plight to her. she receives nothing but comfort and encouraging words to her to enable her sleep. That day, nothing seemed to work, she made up her mind not to call Charles or even relate her problems to her, it would become worse and she feared her frequent nightmares would be fulfilled. She opted to get a drink, after taking one or two cups, she poured another and gulped it down her throat in seconds. Alcohol was a way of liberating someone from pain and deep thinking, she heard a knock on the door, she wasn’t expecting anyone except her friend Sandra which turned out to be her. She ordered her to come in, the door was unlocked;
“Cynthi, I got down here immediately you called, so I had to suspend my early morning activities to be here. Have you started having nightmares again?”
“Girlfriend, am feeling very awful at the moment, far more worse I have ever been. Care for a drink?”
“Its six in the morning Cynthi, how could you be drinking so early?”
“I can’t help it. I haven’t slept since yesterday. What do you want me to do, maybe getting myself drunk will eliminate some of my problems”
“Stop okay, it will only get worse, no drinking will eliminate your problems. Instead, you will be worse than you were before you started drinking. Give me that” she took away the half filled glass cup and guided her to one of the seats.
“I suggest you call Charles, tell him what has been happening to you and maybe a solution may spring up. Have you called your doctor?”
“Sandy, am not calling Charles, its beyond me and am not calling my doctor either”
“Then, how are you going to get help? You don’t look too well”. Cynthia gave a brief pause and started to cry.
“Sandy, I cant hold it anymore, I cant. It’s a terror chasing me every now and then”
“What is it that you cant hold? I don’t understand what you mean”
“I have been hiding something from you Cynthi and right now, you are the only one I can open up to”
“Am beginning to lose my patience for crying out loud, you are getting me scared girl. Are you going to die this minute?”
“How I wished death could come knocking on my door, I will gladly open it and welcome it with open arms”
“Oh my God!  would you stop all these and tell me” She gave out a deep sigh and turned to face Sandra, holding her hands in hers, looking insipid.
“Am pregnant, I have been pregnant for sometime”
“Oh, that’s good news. Come on, it calls for some form of excitement. Charles is going to be happy and one lucky dude, what is the duration of the pregnancy?”
Cynthia couldn’t reply, she burst into uncontrollable tears, faced downwards and rested her head on Sandra’s lap. Sandra couldn’t fathom still the reason for her inexplicable attitude that baffled her.
“Oh my God, Charles is not responsible” she was bewildered. She couldn’t believe her friend was careless in going out with another man when she was engaged to Charles.
“I thought you told me you went for a pregnancy test after feeling feverish and the result was confirmed negative”
“I lied to you Sandra, I didn’t know how to come out and tell you, I thought I had it all under control”
“But Charles went to do the same test with you and it confirmed negative, you also told me that. Are you sure you are pregnant or you are just being paranoid”
“I paid the doctor to avert the real result, I needed to make the atmosphere cordial to everyone to avoid suspicion”
“Jesus Christ” Sandra screamed and then, lowered her voice. It was still early in the morning to be screaming, disturbing the peace of the neighbourhood.
“My world is crumbling at my feet, in my face and there is nothing I can do. How is Charles going to react when he finds out it isn’t his?”
“Cynthi, who is responsible then?” she asked her. Cynthia reluctantly told her that it was Mike, their boss who was. She buried her head in her palms while lamenting.
“Shit Cynthia, this is messy. How could you have not used protection, come on girl its rampant”
“I didn’t mean for it to happen, it wasn’t planned. It all happened in the night of the party of the Excos and workers, I got tipsy that night” she recollected the events that preceded that night, her returning home in the early hours of the next morning. She and Sandra came to the party in a sleeveless blue gown, nobody seemed to have noticed their presence as everyone was rocking one person or the other, shaking their bodies to the tune of the music. Moreover, they were about thirty minutes late, due to Cynthia’s reluctance of whether to attend the party or not. While Sandra proceeded to dance, Cynthia opted to have a drink or two, she was joined shortly by a male whose grey jacket radiated the scenery. He had been dancing for a while and opted to take a break before he gets back to the grooving;
“Cynthia, when did you arrive, I have been expecting you?” it was the voice of her boss in the office.
“I arrived about ten minutes ago sir, I decided to get drunk before I get to the dance floor”
“Oh, nice strategy, Drunk and dancing. By the way, you look ravishing in that dress”
“Thank you sir for the compliments and you look good too” she returned the compliment.
“Don’t call me sir, this is a social event, no one gets to involve any kind of business discussion or relationship here so call me by my name”
“Okay, thank you for the surprise birthday package”
“Its my pleasure. Wish I did more”
“Oh please, you did more than enough”
“I don’t think so. Anyways, would you like some more brandy? I can see that your glass is empty”
“Yes please, I would really love to”
“Don’t worry, I will serve”, he told the bartender
“Let’s play a game, let’s see who’s got a big stomach for alcohol. The game is called first to finish, first person to finish three glass cups in one gulp will get something special”
“Hmm, don’t think I can play it but I assure you I have got a large stomach for brandy”
“Is that a duel then?” he asked and the game began. From three glass cups to four and then, all over the place, more than thirty glass cups were littered over the table. They were fully feeling tipsy, especially Cynthia who couldn’t decipher her left from her right as she walked non-directionally. She didn’t know how she found herself in a hotel room, it was in the next morning that she discovered where she was after regaining consciousness. She saw an envelope placed by her side and she opened with, some dollar notes and a letter of how he felt sleeping with her. when she saw this, she became vexed and hated herself for being played by a con man like her boss, she was too delirium to think and occasionally, she thought of placing her resignation letter whenever she gets to the office but somehow, she tends to let it go, her reason being that suspicion will arise and a scandal will be eminent. Ever since the incidence occurred, her boss made some sexual advances to her which at every juncture, she turned him down outright. It was a one night stand that would never happen again, a warning she issued to him.
“I remembered looking for you that night and thought you had gone home. I asked the next day when you came late and you confirmed that you had a hangover at a friends place. You didn’t look like that sort of thing happened to you”
“I had to pretend nothing happened, I got to the hospital days later and found out that I was pregnant. I have been living in regrets ever since”
“Oh my gosh, this is a nightmare. He treated you like some form of a prostitute who provided an excellent service to him by leaving that kind of money and stupid letter for you. What does he take you for?”
“Does he know that you are carrying his child?” Sandra inquired.
“No, he doesn’t and I don’t plan on telling. There are ears everywhere, ready to pounce on any negative news. You know some people are already thinking that having an affair with him was what got me to this position at the expense of others”
“Yes I know that”
“I am gone Sandra, I caused it. I should have avoided him the moment he came to my table. What should I do now? Definitely in the next few weeks, my stomach will enlarge and Charles would know the obvious. I think I should abort it”
“Wrong idea girl, abortion could cause you more harm. I think you should keep the pregnancy, seeing the size of your stomach, I don’t see it enlarging beyond this to the point that it becomes apparent. Next week, you are getting married, you can pass the baby to him as his and he wouldn’t know”
“You think I still have chance? That I should be optimistic?”
“Yes, you better be, that’s the only possibility. You just have to pass it on as Charles baby”. Cynthia couldn’t thank Sandra enough for everything she had done, her words of encouragement and the fact that she always came to her aid when she was called upon. She was a friend that she always trusted with everything about her, when difficult situations arises just like that of her boss, Sandra always provides breathtaking ideas. Sandra concluded she could no longer stay as it was almost eight, the time she was to be in the office, detriment to Cynthia who wished she stayed the whole day at her apartment, she was not mentally and physically fit to go to work and placed a letter Sandra will give to her boss when she reaches the office, indicating illness as the reason for her absence.
Charles was next in line to make a withdrawal at the ATM from the long queue. After punching some codes and commands, some notes spilled out from the pinch hole and he departed, not too long, blinded by his looking downwards, he checked his back pockets for something like he missed something and in the process, he hit an incoming customer on his way to the bank, fortunately for him, it was his friend Benard.
“Goodness gracious me Charles, what’s up man?”
“Never been better, came to make a withdrawal”
“Oh nice, just came to correct some account errors. How’s your fiancée?”
“Oh absolutely wonderful and I think I should thank you for bringing about a scandal, libelous facts about my fiancée”
“What do you mean? I don’t understand”
“Of course you do, like the snake you are, you want to spoil my engagement, make my life miserable like you are right? I get why you are still a bachelor, because you spend half of your time in the hospital and the remaining time orchestrating lies about peoples affairs”
“Excuse me are you trying to insult me in public?”
“Don’t pretend that you are because you are not. The test result confirmed negative by the way”
“Come on Charles, that’s a lie. Am your friend and I cannot lie to you. I have never betrayed your trust”
“I just feel standing here talking to you degrades my reputation” he excused himself and wanted to proceed to the car,
“Wait Charles, where did you carry out the test?”
“Why do you care? At your hospital of course, Doctor Stephen was on duty”
“Come on man, you have been played. That was the same doctor that diagnosed that she was pregnant. I overheard them and you have to believe me that am telling the truth”
“You know what, get out of my presence please”, he tried to force his way out but impeded.
“She wore a pink coloured skirt and a white fluffy shirt, her hair was permed”, Benard described the dressing she wore to him but he still wasn’t interested to listen to him.
“Okay, why don’t you take a strand of her hair and go to another hospital, they would be able to check her DNA and extract it to see if she’s telling the truth”
“Don’t you get it destroyer, am not interested in your conspiracy theories Mr”, Charles yelled at him.
“All I want is your happiness man, I cant destroy your happiness in the name of lies and libelous facts. Am telling you the truth” Charles uttered no word and left for his car. He totally discarded everything Benard said, he wouldn’t mistrust Cynthia in his life again and now that he was going to marry her in few days time, he needed to completely be sincere with her in all dealings. He thought of what to do and he opted to visit her, he just got excited at the thought of her all of a sudden. While he got there, Cynthia herself couldn’t fathom his ecstatic attitude, his reason for his happiness. She thought it was the wedding coming up and then asked Charles who responded that he was happy that he came to see her;
“You are definitely weird sweetheart. Am also excited to see you but…”
“Hey don’t ask further. You know what, since we are getting married in days to come, I don’t see any reason why we can’t break our vows and be intimate for the first time you know. I am in the mood” he grasped her close, so that his nose was against hers seductively. Cynthia couldn’t object, she had been craving for his touch as intimate as this and a moment as magical as having to have him inside of her at last, she would have a congent reason for being pregnant and wouldn’t doubt the child she had been carrying as his. She responded to his touch and kissing at all part of their bodies while undressing each other. Cynthia floated in his arms while he took her to the bedroom. She totally forgot the horrible things she had felt earlier in the morning, it seemed her world of happiness was just starting.