HOW I MET MY CHEATING GIRLFRIEND

Episode 16

Two months later, Peter came back from school. They had completed their second term. Being the last holiday to National exams, Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education, KCSE, he was very busy revising for his forthcoming papers. Later at night, I decided to inform him of what happened to his ex-girlfriend. "Bro, congrats. I fear you!" I began, smiling.

"You stop jokes bro. Congrats for what and haven't finished my Form Four?" Peter replied.

"Hehe... Bro... You have a baby."

"A baby!" Peter exclaimed, "which baby?"

"Betty is pregnant for you."

"You can't be serious, Oscar!"

"I am very serious. Even mom is aware. She came here to inform us."

"Mom!" Peter took a deep breath and leaned back on the chair. He dipped the  pen he was holding on his right hand side in is his mouth, trying to chew it. He raised his head and was looking up the ceiling. He was disturbed. I called him twice and he never responded. "Oscar, are you sure momma is aware of this?" He asked again.

"Am sure, Peter. In fact, she wanted to inform you the day she came for parent's visitation but being that you were doing your midterm exams, she never wanted to give you stress. You could have failed." I explained.

Peter took his phone. He wanted to call Betty despite the earlier warning of his number being blocked. He wanted to confirm if she was really pregnant for him. However, Peter insisted that it was her own fault. Betty received his call, and that was a surprise to him. "Hi Betty, am Peter. How are you?" He said.

"Good evening. What's up?" Betty asked.

"Nothing. I just wanted to greet you," said Peter.

"Ok." Betty replied and cancelled the call. Peter looked at me and said, "Oscar, don't cheat me bro. She's fine."

"But did you ask her about that issue? Ah? You didn't. You can't expect an answer to an imaginary question." I responded.

Shortly, he received a text message from Betty. "Peter, you're just like a confused harlot who thinks no pains a lady feels after you've stretched their stomachs. How could you do that and run away?"

"Betty, am sorry. But remember you were the one who messed everything up. Such was never my intentions. How about it now?"

"Don't worry about me. If you text me again, my dad will come for you. You're just a pipsqueak!"

Peter confirmed to himself that it was true Betty was pregnant. With the mentioning of her dad, he feared for his life and never wanted to ask more on the pregnancy. Peter closed his books and went to sleep. Even though Betty told him not to worry about her, he was under apprehension.

The following day, Peter tried to spend much time with mom just to check if there was anything she had for him. He feared inquiring about it. However, he looked restless. I called him later in the evening to inform him that Betty had terminated her pregnancy at one month old, with the help of Sweeney.

"If you were here, things could have been worse; you could have taken the full responsibility of the child and the mother. It's good they called me and I informed them you had gone back to school. But be free, mom doesn't know anything about it." I finally opened up to him.

Peter got relieved! He promised himself never to repeat the mistake he had done. He vowed never to talk to Betty, and their last conversation was that of the previous night.

"I will visit you when I have joined campus." This was the song Sweeney used to sing to me whenever I could ask her to come over to our place.

It was on 31st of August, the day Sweeney was to report to university. They left town as early as 5am to help them finish up the admission early. She was accompanied by her mom. By 9am, they were already at the compound of Moi University, main campus. Sweeney was never happy about the campus just from the time she received the message on her placement. She had arranged with Betty to be around that day to help them do the registration. Betty was to go back to campus two weeks after the first years admission and orientations.

Betty, being a senior student in the institution, directed Sweeney and her mom to the School of Education where their registrations were being done. It was a long queue and they had to wait for the next one hour to get serviced. Should they be in need of anything, Betty was like the messenger. She assisted Sweeney and Madam Mary entrusted her with her daughter. "Please why can't you stay here for some times to guide Sweeney more..." She requested Betty. She was staying with her friend who was operating a salon.

"Momma, as you wish!" Betty said. "I'll be still around up to Saturday. I'll be with her most of the times, trying to take her through what she need to know and do while here. She's safe." She added.

After Sweeney had been taken to her hostel, where they were to stay with another lady, they left to escort her mom to the gate where she would board a vehicle back to Eldoret town.

"My daughter, just the way have been telling you; be very careful while here. I know there are few restrictions here, I want you to respect yourself and respect your body. Understand what you've come to do here and make it your priority always. You can see Rose has been very nice. She's going to begin her final year and haven't heard of anything that's calling for our attention. Don't be the first to bring shame to our family. Most importantly, pray. I know there are Churches here. Be close to Betty and let her guide you..." Madam Mary had a lot to tell her daughter before she could leave.

"Momma, I will never disappoint you. Trust me." Trying to think of everything her mom told her, Sweeney responded with a lot of emotions. In addition to that, she loved her mother so much and she couldn't imagine herself spending couple of months without being close to her. It was late and she had to leave.

"Even though I didn't want to be here, it's indeed a good place, a very nice environment. Am just very happy being in campus." Sweeney said to Betty.

"Congratulations sweetie. You really need to evaluate and keep whatever your mom has said," Betty said, "and another thing, have you seen those boys?" She asked.

"Yes. What's up?"

"Don't fall into their traps my dear. They will start coming to you as early as tonight. Some of them thought I was also a first year and they had begun to seduce me. Now be careful." Betty said in an advisory tone. Both laughed.

"I have a boyfriend, Betty! I can't allow that to happen. I love Oscar." Sweeney said.

That evening, Sweeney called to tell me how her day had been. She was very happy. "I'll miss you so much darling." She told me. I felt the love she had for me. I also loved her so much. Just to top up the pieces of advice she had been given, I insisted on her faithfulness. I tried to think that she could change her mind, but she was a principled lady, she could not just disappoint me.

Sweeney's roommate was a Kikuyu from Kiambu. She later introduced her to me as Terry. She was pursuing Economics. One night, I received a call from an unknown number. I never wanted to pick it. I thought that the way we were almost resuming, Cate would begin to chat with me. The first missed call was recorded. "Hey, pick up the call." I received the text via the same number. It was about 11pm. "Who are you?" I asked. "It's your love!" The person replied.

"My love?" I asked myself. It must be Sweeney. But why did she have to use another number? "What's wrong with your own phone number?" I asked, just to confirm if it was really her.

"Nothing wrong with it honey. I wanted to talk to you but it has no airtime. This is for Terry." She said.

Sweeney could feel much lonely and it was our communication that could cheer her up. Sometimes she could fall asleep as we were talking. I could also wake up to several missed calls and love messages if I failed to talk to her that night. I remember one night we lost power in the house and my phone went off without informing her. She called over night severally with no response.

The following morning, after I had recharged my phone, I received messages from the voice mail and her. She called immediately I powered on my phone. "Why did you have to do for me this, Oscar?" I knew when the name"Oscar" had appeared in her statement, nothing was to be happy about. She cried literally over the phone. What else do a man need? A caring lady? A loving lady? Yes. I got all the possible things I could be in need of from a lady in Sweeney. My heart bled for her.

Betty travelled back to Kisumu on Saturday. She had been given something in an envelope that was wrapped well and stapled to bring to me. Sweeney was a neat lady and she never liked her privacies getting leaked - she trusted Betty. She gave her my number for our communication on the parcel delivery.