Sunesis

Children are indeed the inheritance of the Lord. For those whom God had blessed with them, they are often a blessing. Of course there are those whose children brought them sorrow. But those were few and far between, it is not rare to see one child, out of many, choose an unfamiliar path in life. Sometimes such a child would desire to swim far away from the lifeguards and drown. Occasionally, by sheer luck or providence, such a child would live to tell the tale of his or her struggle and how he or she came out of it.

Her parents had three sets of twins; she was the third child. The first of the set of twins is in between the set of three. She was sharp, quick-witted and exceptional academically. Her twin sister was her opposite in everything. Her twin sister was fair skinned, beautiful, and was always about the looks.

When she wants to head northwards. Her twin sister would choose to head southwards. And no matter how much she tried to have her way. Her twin sister was quite good at the art of manipulation, she would cry and throw tantrums and refuse to eat for many days, if need be until she had her way. She did it when they were admitted into secondary school. She wanted the girls’ school their mother had high hopes of getting them into. Her twin sister refused to even consider the possibility of going to a school where there are no boys. She claimed boys motivate her. Their looks tell her if she was beautiful or ugly. Their attention helps her develop communication skills. Their interest helps her measure her level of maturity. Her twin sister said all this to her at the age of nine. When she told their mother. Her twin sister denied it and somehow turned the table in such a way that she was the one that got the blame.

They were enrolled in the mixed school her twin sister wanted, and she gave up on the protest long before then. By the time they got to Junior secondary class three, she had managed to put as much distance between herself and her twin sister. They practically had nothing in common except for their names. While she was in the JET club and debate team. Her twin sister found joy moving with the fashionistas and club girls. She proceeded to science class in pursuit of her dream of becoming a doctor.
Her twin sister proceeded to Arts class. By the time they finished secondary school, they were barely talking to each other. Their parents didn’t understand it. The other sets of twins, the ones ahead of them and the ones behind them were very close. What could be the cause of the obvious dislike between them? Their mother called them several times to appeal to them. The more she talked about it, the further they grew apart. By the time they graduated from secondary school. She was admitted to a university in the United Kingdom on full scholarship and she left. Her sister went to a university in the country. She clubbed, partied, dated and eventually got pregnant. Her parents didn’t see it as a scandal. They took the baby as their own and ensured her twin sister went back to school to finish her education.
She graduated and proceeded to practice in a prestigious hospital in the UK. She didn’t ask, beg, pray or seek for love. Love found her right at her place of work.

One evening, she was attending to a patient. The next the same patient was back with another problem.
The following day the same patient returned with another set of complaints. She eventually came to understand that the patient specifically asked for her every day and waited until she was free to attend to him. She asked him what he wanted, he told her he wanted a date. Her colleagues had told her he had the hots for her several times. It wasn’t as if it caught her by surprise. She agreed to date him. He was a charmer. He owned a part of a start-up IT company which had come into a lot of money. He was young, rich and bored. He also loved her and had great plans for the future. She decided she would walk the length with him if he asked her.

He did! Ten months after they started dating, she said Yes! She told her parents the good news over the phone, and everybody was delighted. The following Christmas, he took her home to meet her parents
Her sister was in Cyprus for one flimsy reason. The occasion was a sort of mini-introduction. He came with two of his friends and his younger brother. She went to meet his parents too and they accepted her as if she was their daughter. She was everything they had prayed and hoped for in a daughter-in-law. The families eventually met. A wedding date was set, and they travelled back to their station.

Two months to the wedding, His mother called with the most incredulous news. “Her sister returned home, saw the pre-wedding picture and suddenly remembered that her husband looked like the person who impregnated her years before. Though she couldn’t be 100% sure because she was high that night but looking at the pictures repeatedly, she was sure the same set of guys that came for the introduction. The friends, the brother and her man were the ones that gave her a lift, that man
according to her, her man dropped the others off and took her to his house where they talked and did drugs. She stayed with him for a week of fun and pleasure. He travelled the following week and a few weeks later she found out she was pregnant. She tried in vain to locate him. She wanted to abort the pregnancy, but she was too scared. She went home and the rest was history. But looking at the pictures stirred up ugly memories. It is very likely that her man was the one!” She couldn’t believe what her mother was saying.

“We just felt we needed to be sure, you know how these things can be…” She didn’t say a word, she simply dropped the phone. At first, she wanted to forget the phone call entirely. Her sister was too much of a party pooper when it comes to her that she was sure it was just one of her antics. But she couldn’t
She couldn’t get married and then come face to face with such a daunting reality. She tried several times to ask her man the question, but she didn’t just know how to frame it. He is a good man
If she asked him such a question and he was innocent, it would ruin their relationship in a way if they don’t end up breaking up. If she asked him the question and he was guilty, it would certainly lead to the end of their relationship.

She decided it would be best to pit the two bulls against each other. She invited her sister to the United Kingdom; she deliberately didn’t tell her man. When her sister arrived, she invited her man over too.
They met each other, and she was watching the two of them intently. They didn’t seem to know each other from anywhere. Her sister didn’t say a word about the allegation or even hint at it, it was a very pleasant meeting. Later in the evening, her man left. As soon as he was gone, her sister turned to her “He is the one!” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “He was here with you for over six hours, we talked, played scrabbles, watched a movie, and planned the wedding together”, you didn’t even say a word. Your body language didn’t even betray the fact that you had never met him before. And here you are telling me after he left that he was the father of your son. You envious slut, get out of my house”. She didn’t intend for it to get that far, it just did. She threw her sister out around 8pm. Her sister slept in a hotel. Called her parents and told them everything and insisted her man was the person that fathered her child.

Her father and mother called. “We will have no hand in this unless we have very clear evidence”
She cried all night! How was she to prove her man’s innocence without destroying the relationship by telling him the truth! Anybody could take up the issue with him as it was. Her father could call him and ask “wisely” as he put it. Her mother could call him and ask “politely” as she put it. Any of their siblings can call him and ask hastily. She knew her sister was lying; she knew her sister just didn’t want her to get married and “have it all”.

She was equally sure if her man was accused of such, he would simply walk away. Even if he was proven to be innocent, the thought that he was framed up by his wife’s twin sister for the fun of it would make him reel. She prayed fervently for divine wisdom that night. When she got to the office the following day, she took a DNA kit. She sent her hair and her man’s hair to the laboratory for a test. The result came out negative for paternity test. She sent the result to her parents. She lied that she had somebody take her sister’s son’s hair and she also took that of her man and sent it for DNA test. The result had shown they were not a match. Her parents were satisfied. Her sister shut her mouth.

On the 2nd of October 2010. She married her man in Enugu, Nigeria!

PS: They had been married for nine years. They have three children. Her twin sister also got married in 2014. She has a daughter. The two of them somehow drew closer after her twin sister got married. She said she couldn’t explain the sudden closeness. But since her twin sister settled down, there seemed to be less rancor between them.

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