An hour after her siblings and her parents had left, she had already started feeling hungry. She was eating a lot these days, and she had eaten only an hour ago. (Her mother had brought her some home-made food).
She picked her phone to dial Kay’s number when she heard a voice she was oddly familiar with, calling her name all the way from the hall way. She laughed. Kay could be so extra sometimes. She smiled when his face came to view.
“Hey” Chorale greeted cheerfully. Kay dropped the basket he was holding on the table beside her bed and went to give her belly a kiss first, before he kissed her on the lips. She noticed but didn’t say anything. Instead, she just smiled to herself. He sat on the bed beside her and brought the basket to his lap. He opened it and took out a napkin and spread it in front of her crossed legs on the bed. Then, he took out a bowl with so many fruits and placed them before her. She licked her upper lip and he laughed. “Mama Rica asked me to give these to you.”
“Thank you. I was just about calling you. I’m so famished!” There was a bit of annoyance laced in her voice. Her hormones were solely responsible for this. “Oh….where’s she anyways?”
Kay laughed, “You don’t want to know.”
She looked surprised, “I do. Tell me”
“She’s gone on a date with her new boyfriend” he said smugly.
“Oh Come on Kay! Stop joking” she laughed, playfully hitting his arm. He missed it when she did that.
“I’m dead serious, Chorale. You know Obed, right? Obed, from my office?” Chorale nodded.
“Well, she’s been going out with Obed, for about two weeks now.” He informed, tucking his tongue in his cheek.
Her mouth hung open. “Oh this is so lovely! I’m happy for her!” Then she remembered that Mama Rica was not the only one who had a new partner. Derrick did, and in fact, Kay did too. She really hoped to God that the rumors were not true.
“So everyone around here got a new partner while I was away?” she asked, expecting a particular reaction from him but instead he threw his head back and laughed. She smiled sadly, picked up a banana and started eating. They would have that talk, just not now.
She finished the banana and picked an apple. She finished that too in no time. The fruits Kay brought were so many but she finished them all in less than fifteen minutes. Kay didn’t say a word to her while she ate. He was too surprised to, because Chorale never ate this much.
“What happened to you?” He asked out loud, not intending to.
She gave him a look, “This happened” she asked, pointing to her big belly.
They both laughed.
After she was done, Kay took out his phone and showed her the video of the baby’s movement in her belly that he took yesterday.
"Wow! This baby has never done this before." She was amused. Kay laughed.
After that, he showed her some of the latest trends and news on social media. One of her celebrity crushes, a musician, had gotten married while she was away, but because she deleted all her social media accounts, she was just finding out. She was so pained that he had gotten married and Kay couldn’t stop laughing at her.
“Why couldn’t he just wait to marry me instead?” she whined in a fake brittle voice.
“Don’t be sad. If he doesn’t marry you, I will,” He teased.
She was about to comment on that, when someone burst in through the door.
They both turned their attention to the intruder. Chorale couldn’t see too clearly from where she sat but she could make out a woman’s features. The woman closed the door and walked, no, scratch that. She sashayed towards them. She looked familiar but she couldn’t remember where she had seen her.
“Did I interrupt anything?” the lady asked, chewing gum so loudly.
Chorale noticed Kay was fidgeting uncomfortably on the bed. He spoke up, “Ms. Davis, what are you doing here?” he asked, struggling to keep eye contact with the lady.
Ms. Davis? Then she remembered. This is the woman she had seen in the news. Chorale put the bowl in the basket and placed it back on the table. She crossed her arms on her chest and watched, eyes shifting between the lady and Kay.
“Really, Kay? ‘Ms. Davis’? That’s how how'll address me now? After everything we had?” she asked, taking off her black shades that matched her black leather jacket, black jeans and black dress boots.
Chorale’s heart started to beat wildly, “What do you mean by after everything you had?” Chorale asked, heart racing in fear of finding out the answer to her question.
She looked in Chorale’s direction for the first time since she entered the room. She eyed her from her head and stopped at her pregnant belly. Her eyes remained there for some time before she met her eyes again. Betty laughed humorlessly, “So you are the other woman, huh?”
Kay stood up and went to Chorale’s defense, “She is the only woman, Betty. Not the other woman,”
“Oh really, the only woman huh?” she asked, mimicking Kay’s tone. “Listen to me, woman. My Kay here is in love with me and me only. I don’t know what he told you to get you to open your legs for him but he loves only me” She warned Chorale.
A tear rolled down her face. It wasn’t because she was weak or scared or anything of the sort. It’s just that she never expected that there’d ever come a day when another woman would fight with her over Kay’s love. It hurt her a lot.
“Listen to me, Betty. There’s only one woman I love and she is the one sitting on the hospital bed right now. All this you’re doing, you’re just embarrassing yourself. Stop it and leave” he ordered angrily.
“There’s only one woman you love huh? But you can get two women pregnant?” she laughed.
Kay’s heart skipped a beat.
“What are you talking about?” he asked.
“I’m carrying your child, Kay.”
A sob escaped Chorale’s throat and she covered her mouth with her hand.
Kay’s heart dropped to the pit of his stomach and he looked pale, all at once, “That’s a lie, Betty....a very big lie” he accused, anger and frustration etched his face, “I’ve never even slept with you!”
“You never have, huh?” she asked mocking him with her eyes, “So how do you explain this,” she took out a brown envelope from the inner pocket of her jacket. She took out some pictures from the envelope, handing some to Kay and some to Chorale.
Chorale’s hands shook as she took in the pictures that had just been handed over to her. They were pictures of both Kay and Betty, naked in bed, in varied positions.
Chorale threw them to the floor and the unshed tears flowed down her cheeks. She put her head in her palm and cried into it. Kay knelt down in front of her, “Baby, listen to me please. I don’t have any idea what she’s talking about. I’ve not been with any other woman since I met you and you know it” he begged, holding her free hand in his.
Betty clapped her hands as she laughed, “The oldest line in the book!”
Kay stood up from his kneeling position and turned to face Betty, “Get out!” he ordered. He looked so angry. Things had started getting better, and now this?
“I will, but we’re not done yet. Meet me tomorrow and we’ll discuss our baby’s future.” She picked up the pictures and put them back into her pocket. Then she pointed her shades at Chorale, “Lady, back off!” She put it on, and exited the room, banging the door loudly behind her.
There was silence.
“Baby,” Kay called but Chorale raised her hand to silence him.
She smiled sadly, “So everyone really got a new partner in my absence, huh?”
“Chorale, please believe me. I’ve never slept with that girl” he defended.
“So those pictures, where’d she get them from?” she sobbed
“I…I…” he put his head in his palms, “I…”
“Please leave.”
“Chorale, please don’t do this” he begged.
“Just go” she curled up on the bed, turning her back to him.
Right on cue, a nurse came in to announce the end of visiting hours, “Mr. Sanders, “it is past visiting hours.”
He stood up reluctantly from the bed and made for the door while Chorale cried. He stopped at the door and said to her, “I love you. Only you.” then he left.
That night Chorale cried herself to sleep.
Twenty-six years, and this was the first time she had experienced an actual heartbreak. Now she understood what people went through.
YOU ARE READING
CHORALE SANDERS
Romance"I cannot tell you anything right now, but promise me, Mama Rica. Promise me you'll take care of him for me, now that I won't be here to." She took the older lady's face in her hands, looking at her with very teary eyes. "Don't leave him like I am...
