Consequences

Chapter 17

Coming home from work one afternoon, I was about to open the door and enter the house when I overheard my parents talking.  They were discussing and arguing about the outcome of my possible union with Ola. My father was beginning to get fed up with the numerous appointments Ola's father had been cancelling. 

And it was all due to Ola not staying much in the house. This made my father arrive at the conclusion that Ola would certainly disappoint me.

I felt saddened hearing him say that, as I couldn't imagine Ola disappointing me. But it made me remember the past, especially that episode at the restaurant when he left without telling me. 

When I thought of that particular moment, and how Nancy had distanced herself from me-due to my not being harsh about it, I came to agree in part with my father.

"Fola, I think this young man will disappoint my daughter." My mother didn't want to hear that.

"Papa Tola, I don't like the way you are spoiling my daughter o." She pointed out seriously.

"Me and you who is the one spoiling her?"

"Is she a man? Don't you know she will soon be clocking thirty? Who will look at her then?"

"Well until then, she still has time to look around since this young man is not reliable."

"And how do you know he's not reliable?"

"Don't you see  the number of appointments his father has cancelled? And  all because he is never in the house. Where does he go and what does he do?" My mother couldn't answer that question and this worried me.

Where exactly does Ola go? It touched me that I had no knowledge of what he was doing and where he always went. And yet I was telling myself I loved him. 

I quietly opened the door and went in and greeted my parents. They saw the sadness on my face and looked at one another. My mother asked me if I was hungry. I told her  I wasn't hungry, that I was tired and needed some rest. I went to my room and lay still on my bed.

I was lying down and thinking of what to do. I had to take a decision. This was going to be a painful one  as I had already given my heart to Ola and didn't know if I could withdraw it or not. But I had to make an attempt, after hearing what my father had just said. I knew  relying on Nancy to help me out could prove difficult. And I knew I couldn't rely on any of Ola's other friends to help me either. 

This meant I was somehow on my own and  had to make my own decisions. Lying in bed, I decided in that instant, that as painful as it was, I just had to forget everything about Ola and move on with my life.  I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but I had to make an attempt.

This decision seemed to have lifted up my spirit. The sadness that I had, when I entered the house, had magically disappeared. I got up from bed and went to meet my parents.

"I'm hungry mom is there anything to eat?"  My mum looked at me surprised I was asking for food.

"Tola, didn't you say you were not hungry just five minutes ago?" I sighed as I came and sat next to her.

"I know, but I was tired and wanted to rest my head."

"Do you have a headache?" she asked

"No." She observed me quietly trying to figure out how I could have changed my mind so suddenly. I knew soon she would be asking questions. But I reasoned she wanted to do it when my father wasn't in the house. 

Instead, she got up and told me to follow her to the kitchen. When we got there, the first thing she did was question me.

"Tola tell me the truth. You came in when we were having a discussion. Did you hear what we  discussed?" I sighed as I knew I had to tell her the truth.