Ariana's Royal Adventure.

♕24♕

｢｢A R I A ｣｣

I was sited in one of the meeting rooms of the palace with Folake and some female leaders of Skyvaila. We were discussing on ways to reduce teenage pregnancy and how to encourage young girls to hold themselves, stand firm, get educated and wait for the right man to settle down with. Over the years Skyvaila had an increasing percentage of teenage pregnancy at which 56% of these girls have died. So us as the women of Skyvaila had to put a stop to this.

"Sometimes it's not their fault, it's peer pressure, since their other friends are sleeping around." Madam Adeze said, earning nods of agreement.

Madam Adeze was a widow, her husband was brutally killed in an armed robbery about eight years ago. They invaded their home and raped her, she had suffered greatly. They beat her up after rapping her and she was in coma for 6 months. When she woke up she made a promise to support women all around Skyvaila, she didn't want anyone to suffer like she did.

I nodded my head and spoke up, "You're very right ma, and sometimes they are being manipulated or raped! And this has to stop, our girls cannot be treated like that. These men recklessly sleep around with different girls, as though they're rags! They don't even put on protection, they just do as they please. I say enough is enough!"

The women around me applauded and repeated after me, "enough is enough!"

Folake cleared her throat, "I have something to share with you all," she said as she held my hand under the table. "I was sexually assaulted when I was a teenager. I'm not going to say when and who because I never reported it and I'm not planning to. It's probably a stupid decision but I hope that you can all respect it.

"He was a friend of mine, I never expected, I never- but he did. It started with a kiss but he had other plans. I remember that I had already told him that I was a virgin and I wanted to save myself for my husband, he knew. But he forced himself on me, I remember saying no so many times but he kept kissing me trying to distract me. My jeans were on, he tried so hard to pull them off but it wasn't easy. It got to the point where he succeeded and I gave up the fight. I mean I could have yelled, hit him but no! He manipulated me into having forced sex. This thing really took a huge part of me because I wasn't ready. I blamed myself for what happened though, if I had stayed home. 

"By the time I realized what he had done it was kind of too late, I didn't know the impact of what he had done to me, it was months later but I forgave him. We met and he apologized, it seemed genuine and I couldn't hold a grudge. Imagine if I had told mommy or Ade, they would have killed him! I just didn't want drama so I dealt with it alone. But when we touched this topic, it hit a really deep place in my heart and I just had to share it with you all."

My heart sunk after hearing her story, she went through all that alone. I immediately gave a her a big hug, "you're really strong to have gone through all that buy yourself and I'm so glad it's all over."

All the women got up and clapped for her, I guess it was a way to show that they appreciated her for sharing her story and they were showing their support. 

"We shall write to the Kings office and inform him about our plan. We will start by holding a program for girls aged 12 to 24 from every household in Skyvaila," Folake announced with a grateful smile as she wrote down some notes on her book.

We shall fight for our girls.

"No I'm fine, don't worry!" I insisted making my way back to the living room with the tray of spicy chicken wings, chocolate, ice cream and apple juice. 

Agnes narrowed her eyes and gave me a disapproving look as I walked past her with my big belly and my tray of awesomeness.  

Can't a pregnant woman carry a tray and relax with her sister in-law in peace? 

Folake was sitting comfortably on the black leather couch when I arrived. She looked up from the tv as I approached. "What took  you so long? I was starting to think that you ate everything by yourself o," she joked, getting up from the couch to help me set the tray down on the table

I let out a hiss and chuckled, "is it not Agnes? She keeps saying that I need to rest, and she kept insisting to help me carry the tray, claiming it was too heavy!" 

"Maybe Adekunle told her to make sure you don't stress yourself, you never know!" the beautiful girl teased with a smirk playing on her lips. 

As if that fool would even care.

I simply rolled my eyes and got comfortable, hoping that I didn't miss much of this episode of 'Criminal Minds' that we were watching. 

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Heyy there loves! It is I again. How long has it been again? 2 days? yeah. Hope you've all been doing well? My prayers are going out to all of you in this very difficult time, I pray we all make it out.

Anyway, thoughts about this chapter?! Folake was sexually assaulted yikesss. 

But hey ya'll I think I just lost it. 5k reads????? Do I even deserve it? Part of me is saying no but hell yas I do. My life is shit but I still try to find time to write. I get discouraged sometimes but ey, WE MOVE. Thank you all really for reading my book! and also Happy Independence Day!! 💖