CHAPTER 5

“You’re pregnant.”

A breathless gasp left my lips. “What?”

“You’re pregnant,” the doctor calmly repeated and handed over to me the white paper in her hands from the hospital’s laboratory.

I collected it and adjusted in my seat. It felt as though a thousand pins were beneath me, prickling me as I sat across the doctor's table.

Quickly, I scanned the white A4 paper, slowing down at the place where a plus+ sign rested on the HCG column. What? I was really pregnant from the one -night stand three months ago.

“Congratulations, Ms Parker!” the doctor said, looking at me with beaming eyes.

“No, no, no. It can’t be!” I thought aloud. “I cannot be pregnant. I’ve had sex only once and that was three months ago; at that night. It can’t be. I cannot be pregnant.”

Surviving alone was already difficult for me, how could I with a little one on the way?

It’s been three months since I left my apartment that morning, I’d taken a bus to the nearest train station, and from there booked the first flight I could find out of the country.

Even in the heart of Africa, life has been hard for me. I’ve been jobless, even after applying at different firms for a job. I’ve had to resort to the money paid from the Forte nite ball—but even that too was almost spent, with a few dollars left on me.

And now, I am pregnant? For who? A man who humiliated me that way?

Can my life get any worse? “No, it cannot be! It’s not true. I’m not pregnant,” I rasped.

Dr. Patricia, according to the tag on her white labcoat, smiled. “Oh, you’re dear. As a matter of fact, you’re three months gone,” she said and tears stung my eyes. “Do you want to see for yourself?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

Rising to her feet, she walked to a bed near an ultrasound machine and gestured me to come over.

With shaky legs, I crossed over to her. “Lie down,” she muttered.

Taking a deep breath, I laid down and she gently raised my T-shirt and applied a jelly-like substance on my belly. Carefully, she used the transducer to spread the jelly around my tummy, before setting the equipment at a spot.

Almost immediately, the monitor came up with a black and white image which I couldn't translate.

“You see, Ms. Parker?” the doctor said. “The test results were correct...you’re pregnant.”

But I couldn’t understand a thing on the screen.

“I’m sorry. I’m not seeing anything.”

She adjusted the monitor and pointed a small round object with tiny limbs. “There is your baby, and this is her heart.”

My breath hitched as I saw a tiny, rhythmic pulse in the center of the small round shape. “You see it, right?” Dr. Patricia asked. “That’s your baby’s heart beating strong.”

She suddenly stopped and focused on the screen, readjusting the transducer, only to look at the screen again. “Hold on a sec,” she said, applying more jelly on my belly and focusing on the screen again.

“You’re getting me scared,” I muttered.

“Oh, do not to worry, darling,” Dr. Patricia said and smiled. “Apparently, it seems you’re expecting more than one fetus, three actually.”

What? My eyes were wider than meatballs. I gazed at the doctor, before dragging my gaze to the monitor. She was right! There were three tiny hearts pulsating on the screen.

“Congratulations, Ms. Parker, you’re pregnant with triplets!”

My world tilted in its axis.

Triplets? Just when I was still trying to process the news that I was pregnant with with one child. “Are—are you sure?” Tears pooled in my eyes. My emotions were all over the place.

She pointed at three hearts I had already seen on the screen. Dr. Patricia grinned.

“Are you on any prenatal vitamins?” she asked.

“No.” I shook my head.

“Then it’s time for you to start one.” She cleaned my belly, helped me back to my feet, and rounded her office table. I straightened my shirt and joined her at the table. “Here,” she gave me another piece of paper. “Get this on your way out from the pharmacy and start them tonight. The first three months of pregnancy is the most critical. This is when your babies’ major organs are developing, so getting the right nutrients is essential. Prenatal vitamins will help ensure you’re getting enough folic acid, iron, and other important nutrients to support their growth.”

I nodded still struggling to wrap my mind around the fact that I wasn’t just carrying one baby. I was carrying three.

“Your pregnancy is considered high risk, that means you need to be extremely careful. You need to commence antenatal as soon as possible too.”

Everything was happening so fast. It felt like a fragment of a dream.

I offered her a reticent smile, collected the paper, and rose from the chair. My feet moved towards the door as though not part of my body. My mind was disconnected, my thoughts jumbled up.

It’s been three months since I came down to this city in the heart of Africa to start something new for myself. Where shall I begin?

Stepping out of the doctor's office, I crashed into the nearest seat in the reception, grateful to find the hall empty.

Fresh tears seeped from my eyes and I buried my face in my palms. My thoughts darted to the father of my unborn children—a man who pleasured me one night and humiliated me the next day.

Straightening, I pulled out my phone from my handbag and scrolled through his social media page. It’s been exactly three months since I stalked his page, a week after I left home.

My stomach dropped as I saw the latest post on his timeline—he was getting engaged to the love of his life, the lady from the hotel that morning. What was that her name again? Angelina. Attached to the post was a loved-up photo of him and the beautiful model. I stared at the screen, unable to tear my eyes away, each pixel was a dagger that pierced my already fractured heart.

I shut the app with shaking fingers and stuffed my phone into my bag as if it could bury the painful truth. He would never care about me. I have been nothing but a night of mistake in his life. Someone of his caliber can never stoop so low for someone like me—a nobody.

His heart would always belong to her.

I dabbed my face with a handkerchief and straightened from the chair. I sauntered to one of the bustling streets of Port Harcourt. The cool breeze tousled my hair and caressed my skin.

I needed to come up with how to survive in this city...to provide for myself and the lives blossoming inside me.

Suddenly, my phone vibrated, pulling me from my spiral of emotions. Reluctantly, I fished it out of my bag and my fingers tapped on the screen, unlocking it. My heart raced as I saw the notification—I'd been hired! My breath caught in my throat, and for a moment, I couldn’t quite believe it even as I dashed to a nearby bench and calmly read through the email. There it was—The Allwell Company had offered me the job after last week's rigorous interview. It felt surreal. Tears welled up in my eyes as the weight of the moment hit me. My hard work, my determination, had finally paid off!

I clutched my phone to my chest, overwhelmed with emotion. For a moment, despite everything, I allowed myself to believe that maybe, just maybe, things were starting to fall into place for me.