I was twelve weeks gone and I was drowned in confusion. I drove down to my friend’s estate so I could pour my mind out to her.

Fast forward, thirty minutes after I broke the news, she stared at me silently. She broke the silence by asking me what I planned to do with the foetus. I mumbled for a while and said “ flushhhh”. She screamed at first, then she told me she was never going to help me do that. She told me she’ll never consent to such a devilish act. She asked me who the father was, and I couldn’t say. Telling her I didn’t know who the father was startled her. I’d one too many partners. Before coming over to see her, I told two of the guys about the pregnancy. I knew them on a personal level, they both were ready to take responsibility, yet I was confused. The banker guy was so crafty and I couldn’t imagine him fathering the child. I just told him because I wanted to get his reaction. 

The other was a doctor, and I thought of the many instances we fought about his inability to give time to the relationship. Moreover, he was a chronic cheat. I couldn’t get anyone else to father the child. She asked me why I told them if I didn’t see any of them as potential fathers for my child. I told her the other guys were random guys at the club, and vacation resorts I flew to. I didn’t have their contacts. I told her I didn’t want to have a child ruin the life I was building for myself. She paced around silently for a while.

After pacing, she sipped her drink, and smiled. I wondered why she smiled so broadly when I was clearly expecting an answer to my problem. She told me her wedding in January came as a surprise. I couldn’t understand what that had to do with the problem I had. She told me she forged her fertility test results and made it seem like she could still carry a baby. All her test results before the wedding were forged. She had had five abortions for her boss, and they destroyed her womb. Her boss refused to be responsible for the pregnancies because he was married with four kids. Now, she is HIV positive. Prolly contracted from her other colleague. Her husband married her knowing she was the “saint” he never imagined he’ll marry. She took a deep breath, and without remorse she said her husband will never find out she wasn’t even the virgin she pretended to be before they walked down the aisle. I was too stunned to speak. I asked how she was able to convince the doctor to make her results clean and she raised her glass saying she did what she knows best. Unfortunately, her husband walked in. He couldn’t believe his ears and he needed no explanation because he had been eavesdropping the entire conversation. He simply told her to pack up before he returned home. I had my own problem, yet hers kept me terrified and wondering the kind of human being she was. We had been friends for fifteen years, yet I had no knowledge of all she had done. Nothing prepared me for all I had heard that day. I picked my stuff and left in shame.

Now, I’m left wondering what the future holds for this pregnancy.