Chapter Eight

I blinked twice and shook my head slowly.

"What are you talking about, what did you find out?" I leaned forward.

"My parents already decided and there is nothing I can do about it. I'm getting married in two months," he said as he shut his eyes.

He couldn't be serious.

"That's not possible, you haven’t even proposed to me yet." I froze as the realisation hit me. “Oh, you mean you are getting married to the other woman.”

I had always thought it was going to be Akin and me, together forever but I guess life had other plans. Lara once teased me that Akin and I would be the first couple to get married within our circle of friends.

"Eni, I'm sorry," he whispered and tried to hold my hand but I quickly snatched it back.

"Couldn't you have said no?" I whispered as I shut my eyes, I tried to fight back the tears that built up behind my eyelids.

Oh, dear Lord, I did not want to cry in public.                                

"I couldn't. Everything has been planned and she, well, she is pregnant for me," Akin hesitated and looked away. "I have to get married to her. My mother will never let me abandon a woman who is carrying my child, you know how she is."

“How far along is she?”

“About six weeks.”

I scoffed and rubbed the bridge of my nose.

“So you wanted a sexual relationship so bad that you went and got her pregnant right? Now you’re going to sit here and tell me that you plan to marry her and abandon me in the process. To think that I have wasted two years of my life with you.”

He visibly flinched.

"Listen, Eni. If I could turn back the hands of time-"

"Well you can’t, can you?"

"I’m sorry,” he sighed.

“How long have you known about this?”

He stiffened.

“How long, Akin?”

“I have known for about a month now.”

I glared at him in shock. He strung me along for a whole month! I pushed my chair back and moved to get up.

"Where are you going?" He asked, shocked at the sudden movement.

"Far away from you and out of your life."

He ran his hand down his face and pursed his lips in an irritated manner.

"That is the problem with you, Eniola! You jump into conclusions too fast and react quickly. I am sure that when I asked you out back on campus, you already concluded that we would get married and have kids together. But the truth is you are just too hot-headed and irrational.”

I was so shocked that I slowly lowered myself back unto the chair.

“How dare you? Do you expect me to sit around meekly and hope that you would consider me as a second wife?”

He opened his mouth to speak but shut it again, which was good because I was not done talking.

"You say I am jumping into conclusions? At least I am not the one jumping into marriage and dismissing a relationship that lasted two years. Was it so wrong that I thought we could end up together and start a family?" 

"Listen, I’m sorry. I was waiting for the right time to tell you, okay?"

I laughed bitterly at the irony of it all.

"So you chose our anniversary to do that?” My voice was laden with as much sarcasm as I could muster.

His eyes widened almost comically at that.

"What?" He tilted his head in confusion.

I did not know whether to laugh or cry at the situation. He didn't even remember that today, the 21^st of November was supposed to mark our second anniversary of being a couple. It was exactly two years ago, that I accepted his request to take our relationship to the next level.

"You didn't even remember, did you?" I asked sadly.

Before the meeting, I secretly hoped he had something special planned. I hoped he would explain that it was all a big mistake and we would make up then he would treat me to an outing or something to rekindle our relationship. But I knew now that it wasn’t going to happen. Akin didn’t say a word but his eyes held guilt.

"You know what, never mind. We are already done."

I stood and he didn't try to stop me. I took a deep breath as I stared at the face of the man I thought I would spend forever with. Just because I resisted the temptation to do so the previous time, I decided to make up for it. I picked up my glass of sparkling water and threw it in his face.