Forty-Eight

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Daphne's POV

Timmi and I have been putting this off for a long time, now, the time has come to do something about it. She's hell-bent on having an abortion and I'm feeling so scared for her. After learning the truth about who the father of her unborn child was, I tried convincing her to get in touch with him and let him know about the baby. Knowing her very well, she abruptly turned me down also threatened to cut all ties with me and go ahead with her decision on her own, should I try to interfere again.

I know I was being stupid and reckless going along with her on this, but I felt that I was partly to blame for her current situation. If only I was a strong person and a better friend to her, then she might have not been in this puddle. This soup was a really thick one. There was no one to talk to about this. Timmi's parents were the religious type and wouldn't take it lightly the news of her being pregnant. Her brother, Joaquin, could be passed off as being the most unserious in the family and might spill the secret to their parents. Telling our other friends was out of options, who knew who could hear it next.

The secret was between the two of us alone, and to be quite honest, it was killing me by the day. The dreadful feeling that the abortion may not be successful, the guilt of lying to my mother everyday, just so I could see Timmi. As I had also done today. I had again, refused to stay at home with Bella and the rest- claiming that I already had a study group and didn't want to fail them. Of course mother didn't fail to advise that I include Bella in the group, but I managed to convince her that I needed to speak with my friends first on the matter.

I left the house after Tims called, I prayed earnestly that nothing goes wrong cause I don't know if I'd ever have the face to look people in the eye anymore. I did not wait for Aboy to drop me off, I took a cab to her house and together we went to a pharmacy. On arrival to the pharmacy, we gave a tall dark man- clad in white overall and a pair of reading glasses- a small white paper where Tims had scribbled the name of the pill. Wherever or whoever she got the idea from, she failed to mention it to me. The man- after staring quizzically at the paper and then at us- requested for a valid identification card from us. We couldn't present any.

"My aunt sent us," I was quick to cover up with a lie, but it seemed even that wasn't enough to fool him.

"Mind to explain why she couldn't come on her own?" he probed.

"She was feeling this acute pain, and we were the only ones at home with her." I replied.

His expression clearly showed that he didn't believe me one bit. "Well, tell your aunt that I can't give out the drug written down on this paper, without a valid identification card. Or...she could come on her own."

This was tougher than it seemed, but Timmi would just not give up, not when we were this close.
"But mister, if this drug was meant to save her life then, she might as well die from the pain," she started.

The man gave her a once-over and curtly replied, "the earlier she sought help, the better. So I would advise you two to hurry up."

"Come on, let's go." I nudged Tims on the arm, she stared at the man like he was her last line.
But, later she pulled herself together and followed slowly behind me, out of the store.

"Daph, a ko le lọ sibẹsibẹ, let's try again in some other way,"

"But how, you know we can't go back in there or else that man may see us again. We have to think of something." I paced the floors, cracking my brain for an idea.

After a while, one came to mind. We can approach any decent and responsible looking person walking the street- tell him a pity story and plead with him to buy the pill for us- only if it was as easy to carry out the plan as thought.
We managed to get a young man- probably in his early twenties- who agreed to help us. He showed us his voter's card and that of the lady beside him, whom he claimed was his girlfriend. His condition was that, should he be able to get us the pill, then we would pay him, a desperate Timmi had no choice than to accept.

We waited for him at a safe spot outside the pharmacy for some minutes before he walked out, followed behind by his girlfriend. When he eventually got close to us, he stretched out his hand- that we place the money in, before he would have over the medicine. Tims ransacked through her small purse and brought out some notes. He took the money and brought out the small transparent polythene (he used to wrap the pills) from the pocket of his worn jeans, before he could place them in her hands, another hand snatched them.

I suspected a shadow was hovering over us, but I didn't bother to put much thought into it as we were in a public place. I waved the feeling aside, because I thought it was all these passerbys and pedestrians. Had I been more careful, I would have realized it was Bella around all these while.

We were all shocked at the turn of events. Tims expression paled and her face became as though drained of blood. The guy who had bought the pill, quirked one brow, the prominent crease on his forehead indicated that he was confused about what just happened. He looked between Tims and I, then Bella, before he shrugged nonchalantly and took two steps back.

"Alaye, da one no concern me. I don do my job and una don pay. Babe come make we go enjoy ourselves..." he rambled on and on in pidgin English words, that I had to tune out of whatever he continued saying.
He took his girlfriend along with him, leaving Timmi and I to deal with the current situation.

"I knew something fishy was up with you, that was why I kept a tight look out, waiting for when you were going to slip up. Eventually you did so, I didn't mean to go to your diary but I realized that if I was going to find any useful information, it had to be there." Bella started, talking like her father ruled the world.

She just rendered me speechless with her last statement. I was meant to get mad at her for going through my stuff, I hated when someone did that even if the person was my mom, so how dare she?
But instead of the anger, all I was felt was guilt, shame and more fear. In my journal, I had written about Timmi's pregnancy, it seemed like the only thing to do then. I wrote it the day I found out that uncle Praise was responsible for getting her in the family way. Tims made me swear that I wouldn't confront him with the truth, not until she's had the pregnancy aborted, and I was tied down by an oath of secrecy.

I couldn't talk to my mother either, she was becoming too attached to Bella that I feared she might say it off anytime. So much protection for something that ended in vain. Bella had to be the next person, asides me, who found out about the pregnancy. I should have had my fears when she walked in on me writing down on my journal, then she asked me what I was writing about. As usual, I barked a reply and told her to stay off my business, had I known she would do the total opposite.

"Which...wh... journal?" Tims stammered, then fixed her gaze on me. "Daph, what is she talking about? Which useful information is she talking about?"

"I...uh...I wrote down," I sighed softly, trying to release the tightness that was growing in my chest. "She knows that you're pregnant now,"

"Wha...what?" her voice came out so low and without emotion. For a second, I thought she would fall unconscious.
I held her arm in support, to show my loyalty, and she didn't try to fight it off.

Everything happened so fast, I saw her aunt Ayomide (her mother's sister) coming out of their black Honda Accord, she didn't look angry or like she wanted to kill someone, she just stared straight at her niece. How did she even get here? Let her better not claim that she got a revelation about this, where was her revelation when Timmi was having numerous escapades with Praise.

Timmi must have caught sight of her, that she started moving back. I panicked. What if she falls over. Then, she tried to run, but her father appeared behind her and held her still.

"We know everything and no, we won't hurt you. Omo mi ni iwo, the mistake has been made. We won't beat you, no one will raise their hands to you, mo ṣe adehun."

Timmi didn't seem to believe him, she tried to pull out from his hands but he held firm.
Timmi's dad didn't look all stout with pot-belly, like most married men appeared. He was very tall, slim with an oblong face that was a perfect fit for his stature.

He continued, "Just come home with us, let's talk about this. Tell us everything, running away is never the solution." Anyone could clearly see the pain and agony in his eyes, somewhere deep down there's also disappointment and betrayal.

Tims succumbed afterwards, she walked away with her dad but not before giving me a look of helplessness. I've never known Tims to be like that, for that I feared for her. I walked behind them until they arrived by their car.

"Can I come with you to your house, I'd like to be by my friend's side during this time.." I requested.

"No Daphne, she might be your friend but she's my daughter, right now she needs her family more than her friends. Go home to your people, we'll get in touch with you if we need your help." Just like that, he told me off. It seemed these days, everyone was out to crush my heart.

"It's a good thing her people came as early as they could, before things got out of hand. Nothing that happens from here on is our business," the French she-devil said behind me.

"How could you be so wicked, yet pretend to be the most kind person in the world?" I said to her.

"You're the wicked one, you might think you were being loyal to her as a friend, but in reality you're helping her destroy her life. I called her people as soon as you set off the house, I told them what I read in the journal and decided to give them a heads-up about everything. Good thing I stopped Timmi from taking those pills or else..."

"Or else what? How's that your business, you just like to butt into everyone's life and family and create a rift because you've lost yours,"

"You're right you know, I may have lost what I can call a family, but I'm never one to sit back and let people ruin their lives, not if I can do something to help. At least I'm being the reasonable one." Bella rolled her eyes at me.

"And I'm not reasonable?"

"You said that, not me. Now let's go home in peace, or you can choose to come back at your own time and face the risk of your mom finding out from me?" she gave me a sly smile before walking out and headed towards her father's car.

I truly don't know how my mother would react and I was trying not to pay so much attention to it right now. But one thing was for certain, she definitely won't like it if she heard it from Bella. In fact, that would earn Bella the daughter-of-the-year award, and I wouldn't like it. The last thing I wanted, was for my mother to think any less of me than she probably already does.

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Ouch! That hurts.

Let's see if I can finish this book by the end of this year, like I said.

Also, who's on Bella's side??

If you ever find yourself in Timmi's situation, or something similar, please know that running away is not an option to any problem. None at all, give yourself sometime to think, pray about it, tell someone who has more experience and then calmly pick your options.

You can even talk to me. I'm on Facebook, Instagram, Wattpad and WhatsApp.
Peace out >>> Love y'all 😘