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"Isaac the chef," Adunni's mother teased and hailed. The table broke out into a rowdy sum of laughter, dabbing their oily lips with their napkins. It was a nice meal, but Adunni could not fake a laugh this time. The atmosphere was tense because she knew they were all here because of her. If only she hadn't consented to have sex with Isaac, she wouldn't have been in this position that distanced her relationship with her parents, that made her feel like a prodigal as she dabbled her lips.

"Won't you finish that?" Doctor Hope asked, pointing at the large remnant in Adunni's plate.
"No. I'm okay. Let's just get to the discussion ", Adunni replied, sounding rude, even though she didn't want to sound that way. She wanted to sound fierce, bold, courageous,  like the pregnancy was not a regrettable mistake for her like it was a bold step she wanted to take, like she didn't miss her blue room in her parents' house where the bed was for her and her only, and she could lie on her stomach, and not on her sides.

The room fell silent for a short while, followed by her father's cough and raspy throat-clearing before he spoke. "I apologize. I shouldn't have said some things." He started. "It's just that you my baby girl, and a pregnancy,  out of wedlock...I was unprepared and I didn't know how to take the news. Dunni, will you come back to the house?"

"No", wasn't what she wanted to say, but there was no turning back.

Mr Balogun gestured, 'At least I tried', to his wife and fell back into his seat. He remembered many unwanted pregnancy situations and how his father and other men in his home town in Nigeria, dealt with them. They would scold their daughters and threaten to disown them if they did not speak up about who impregnated them, and their mother, after major wailing, would drag the daughter by her ears to the boy's house. It was dramatic. It was what he knew, but here he was begging his daughter to come home after his wife refused to feed him the whole week.

"You can't say that, " Adunni's mother pitched in.
"I can. I'm not a child anymore, I know what I can and cannot say and do, and going back to that house is what I cannot do."

Isaac's Father, lost in the conversations, and obviously,  with no say, pushed his chair backwards and made a screeching sound against the chair, "I need to use the toilet". He said no further and excused himself as the other eyes peered at him until he was no longer in sight.

"Adunni, Please," Her mother said, already losing her patience. There was only a little composure her parents could offer to the situation before they lost their temper and handled it the way they were indirectly taught to handle such situations.

"No".

"I don't have time for this madness!" Her father shouted. "See, you will no leave under another man's roof that is not mine unless he is your husband."

"Otan!" Well put, His wife said, followed by a subconscious clap. He had hit the nail on the head.

"Unbelievable!" Adunni mouthed. She turned to walk out of the discussion, but her mother grasped her firmly, "Won bi iya eda," her mother threatened. Your mother was not born well enough to even dare.

At times like this, Mrs Balogun hated the freedom that came with America. She, while in Nigeria, thought that she would not need to discipline her children, but times like this just fuelled the right amount of anger to dash slap across Adunni's cheeks.

"Now this isn't by force," Doctor added. She turned to Isaac who had been quiet and sitting still since he finished his meal, "Is this really a choice you're ready to make?" She asked.

He looked down at himself and then glanced at Adunni, muttering to himself voicelessly, the same question, "Is this really a choice you're ready to make?"

He remembered how he first met Adunni at the Senior centre helping the elderly. He had run over his neighbour's dog a week earlier and his neighbour,  who he still considers a maniac, took him to court for Animal murder. He got a lawyer and he was able to pay a fine and get community service because the judge needed to find a way to punish him satisfactorily for the maniac dog owner even though the murder had not been intentional. When he told Adunni the story, she laughed. He bumped into her when she was carrying the bingo glass raffle spinning thingy, and the glass came shattering all over the place and so did the numbered pieces of paper within and that was how they hit it off.

He wouldn't have thought that he would marry her even though on their third date after they ate Mac and cheese at his apartment on this same dining table, he lifted her against the wall and kissed her fiercely like he owned all that she was. He remembered how he removed her bra through the single thin strap hands of her gown and then pulled the zip of the gown after. He remembered how she roughly unbuckled his belt, slipped off his shirt and threw it across the room. He stopped briefly to find his condom in those drawers, where he always put them. Where he should have had extra to prevent this baby.

"Is this really a choice you're ready to make?" He muttered to himself one last time. He looked at his mother and smiled. Yes, this was it. She was the woman of his dreams, the one he had always imagined he would spend his life with. Adunni Balogun. He shifted his chair backwards and went on his knees.

"Adunni Balogun, will you honour me and make me, and OUR baby, the happiest beings alive by marrying me?"

Adunni glanced at her parents and Isaac's mum. "No", slipped out of her mouth as she ran past Isaac's father who was just returning to the dining table. It felt too sudden and they looked too expectant for her. How was she sure this wouldn't be another mistake?  Marrying the wrong man because of the baby.

Isaac's father's eyes still beamed, "What did I miss?"