Vagrants

Chapter 38

It was time for the school exams. Everyone was busy preparing for it. The students were reading and organizing group discussions while the teachers were busy reviewing notes and setting questions.

Things weren't so easy for me. As a pregnant woman, I was stressing myself and travelling from Ikeja to Lekki, leaving every morning and returning at night. I had to move out of the house even if it's for the time being, especially now that the exams were on.

I asked Cassandra and she was ecstatic to know that I wanted to stay with her. I took all I need in a small bag and I made sure to lock my wardrobe because I couldn't risk Mother finding out that I had things that belonged to Damba in there.

"Adeola, my friend!" Cassandra hugged me when I arrived in her apartment in Lekki. Even though it was not really big, it was quite spacious to occupy us both. It was a two bedroom flat and it seemed someone lived there with her too.

"Thank you for letting me stay here with you." I smiled.

"Rubbish, why are you thanking me? I should even be thanking you for wanting to stay with me."

"Okay then." I looked around. "Do you live with anyone?"

"Oh yes. I have a roommate." She chuckled. "Do you think I can afford this huge place alone?"

I smiled. "You can afford something better when you start working."

"Amen! I know I will." She offered me a glass of water.

"Thank you." I drank a bit. "So where is your roommate?"

"She travelled. I heard her Father got sick so she went to check on him."

"Ahh! I see."

"So Adeola," Cassandra sat beside me on the bed. "How is the baby?"

I sighed. "It's fine."

"Hope you're taking care of it and yourself too?"

I nodded. "Thank you."

"Can I touch?" She asked.

"Sure." I placed her hand on my belly and I saw how her face lit up. "You love babies?"

She nodded. "My mother used to allow us to touch her belly when she was pregnant."

I stared at her. "Hmm."

"We were three. Me, my sister and brother so she used to allow myself and my sister to touch..."

"Were?" The use of past tense just registered in my brain.

"Yes. Still born."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"No oh!" She laughed. "Sorry ke? Something that happens a lot with women."

"I know but it is still sad news."

"I know." She sighed. "I just pray it doesn't happen to you."

I looked down at my belly.

She touched my belly again. "I can see all the stress you're going through with school and traveling all the way from Ikeja and you even got ditched so you're doing this all by yourself right?"

I nodded.

"You see. Imagine after going through all this stress, you now end up losing the baby."

"No, no, no." I shook my head and waved my hands. "I won't let it happen. Never!"

"I will pray for you." Cassandra sighed. "Please just take care of yourself and stop stressing."

"Th-Thank you." I don't know why I got emotional and broke down into tears.

"Oh, no. Please don't cry. I didn't mean to scare you."

I nodded. She placed my head on her chest and patted me.

I already lost Damba, wouldn't it be a good thing to lose his flesh and blood too? But if I wanted to, I'd have aborted it even when Mother stopped me from doing so. It wasn't easy carrying a life inside of you and the thought of losing it after enduring all the pains and stress it brought along was scary.

"So tell me about your lover." Cassandra said.

"Who? I don't have a lover."

"I mean this." She gestured to my belly.

"Oh Damba." I sighed.

"That's his name?"

"Yes." I nodded.

"So tell me. What's he like?"

I don't know the demon that came over me but my eyes lit up and I started talking.

"He's an handsome, tall and body built man. He's quite fair in complexion. He has a tad amount of beards and he used to complain about not having a lot after using lots of creams." I laughed.

"There's cream for it?" She asked.

"Yes now. You didn't know?"

She shook her head.

"There is oh. He always complained about beards. He was such a romantic you know, he was always so kind to me." I smiled. "Cassandra, he is rich and generous. I've still not figured out where he got those money from."

"You didn't ask him?"

"I did. But he said he'd tell me when the time is right and then he said something about a family business."

"Then he must be rich!" Cassandra grinned.

"He might have lied to me. Rich people don't have time to be playing people and using them."

"What if he didn't use you?"

"Cassandra, please don't raise my hope. He ditched me and that's it."

"Okay." She sighed. "Can I see his picture?"

"I don't have them. I already deleted everything." I lied. I had hidden his pictures and the ones we took together in an album and I didn't want to look at them.

"Okay but you have his social media handles, his pictures must surely be uploaded somewhere."

I remembered the day that I was stalking him on Instagram during camp and my roommates came to advice me about Damba.

I turned to Cassandra. "I blocked him on all social media platforms and for some reason his account is private so I have to send a request before I can..."

"Yeah, I know all that."

It sounded as though she didn't believe me but I was telling the truth. I angrily blocked him and even his number too. I spoke more about Damba to Cassandra while she listened attentively.