THIRTY
IRIS
It was dinnertime, but food was my least of concerns as I stared at the rectangular strip in my hand in disbelief.
My body remained glued to the toilet seat as tears welled up in my eyes, my hands trembling and threatening to lose hold of the tiny foreign object which seemed to cause a burning sensation on my fingertips.
There must be a mistake somewhere. I should retake.
However, the dozen of used strips tossed across the floor of the toilet stall proved otherwise. There wouldn't be the exact repeated mistake in twelve pregnancy test strips, or would there? Two fucking vertical lines on each one of them.
How the hell is this possible?
A part of me began to wish I hadn't checked at all. I should've ignored the fact that my period was late for–what exactly–five weeks?
"Ignorance is bliss." they say, abi?
Quickly, I took a picture of the strip, sending it straight to Jared's direct message on WhatsApp. In no time, the two blue ticks appeared, followed by the indication that he was typing. Somehow, I anticipated that he'd be excited and talk about getting married and building a family.
Then again, I thought of Maina and how the whole thing would make him feel. I had no idea how I was going to tell him I'm pregnant, and I really didn't know what his reaction would be. Would he still be interested in me then?
Why do you care, Iris? You have a boyfriend.
I did have a boyfriend. And I was carrying my boyfriend's baby. I had no idea whatsoever why my mind was on Maina, and why my head was playing out possible scenarios involving his reaction to the news of my pregnancy.
<Abort it.
8:05PM
The text knocked the air out of my lungs. I suddenly couldn't breathe anymore. I looked at the contact name once, twice, three times. There it was, written: "Obim💞✨". Honestly, I was confused. Was this the boy I "loved"? I read the message again and was slapped with the reality that Jared had sent me that evil text. How in the world did this boy become so vile and wicked?
Abort a child? My child?
His child? He must be joking.
I laughed silently and began to compose a reply when his next message-even worse than the first-entered.
<I already know it's not mine so spare yourself the shame and terminate that bxstard.
8:06PM
Ehn???
My hands were shaking at this point. I found it hard to believe it was the Jared whom I believed I was in love with that I happened to be texting. To think I was even considering marriage. God forbid. There must be a mistake somewhere. Chuckling, I packed up all the used strips and threw them in the stall's bin, apart from one. I felt I'd need it somehow.
Or maybe a part of me just wanted to have some evidence that this was really happening and it wasn't a dream. Although I would really love to wake up if it was.
I made my way out of the hostel and to the dining hall, where as expected, Chimdi was standing right at the entrance, most likely waiting for me.
"What happened? Where's Larisa?" He asked almost immediately he spotted me. For a minute, I was confused. No, actually, I remained confused until he took me by my elbow. My eyes drifted down to his left hand which was gently holding my right elbow while he spoke and I noticed a single black braid with a pendant of a half heart. It made me wonder.
Has he always worn that? Does he have a girlfriend?
"Iris?" He called out to me and I looked back at his face. Ebony orbs stared down at me in obvious concern.
"Huh?" I blinked, then glanced towards where we normally sat. The others were already seated and Maina was on his feet, preparing to come find out what the hold up was about, as I sensed. "I'm okay." I said and looked at the reducing queue in front of the food counter.
"I better get something to eat, I haven't seen Larisa." I spoke quickly, then made my way to the food line just before Maina could reach us. No way I was facing him with this news. Not right now at least. I just didn't have the courage to.
When I got my food and got to the table, Larisa was still not present, which I considered weird. I didn't recall seeing her at the hostel before I left and Willow was here, so I had no idea where she could possibly be. After sometime waiting, Chimdindu came back to the table and suggested we eat, then go look for her later, seeing she also wasn't taking her calls.
Thankfully, Zaynab was already seated where I would normally be, on the right side of Maina, while Maia was on his left. Right next to Maia sat Evan, then Willow, leaving three empty seats for me to choose between. I chose to sit next to Willow to put me at a further distance from Maina, and Dindu ended up sitting next to Zaynab, stating that should Larisa join us, she'd like to sit next to me and Willow.
When we finally settled down to eat, conversation buzzed around the table as usual, but something caught my eye. That was Zaynab's dressing.
Her face was completely coated with makeup, which was something I'd never seen of her before, and her hijab was nowhere to be seen as well. Her hair was packed in a low ponytail and her cleavage was well exposed. I hadn't gotten a full look at the dress she had on, but for some reason, the whole thing threw me off.
"Zaynab," I called softly after a while, and as expected, all eyes were on me. I could especially feel his eyes on me. It was as if he was trying to talk to me without saying anything, and God forbid it I met his eyes.
"What's up?" She quirked an eyebrow at me, then slowly, dramatically, placed her hand on Maina's which was on the table gripping his fork, and asked him to pass her some serviettes.
The serviettes were stacked neatly on the centre of the table, and she could easily have picked some herself. Everything was confusing to me. I watched silently as he handed her the serviettes.
"Oh, please I can feel something at the corner of my mouth. Could you help me get it?" She spoke in her usual quiet tone, handing Maina the serviette but keeping her eyes fixed on me. I saw a ghost of a smile play on her lips, before her eyes darted over to the boy who was now wiping off whatever it was she felt from the corner of her mouth.
It all seemed to me like she was making every action directly and deliberately super obvious to me.
Or maybe I was just paranoid.
"Why are you dressed that way?" I had to ask. "I mean, not like it's my concern and not that it doesn't suit you oh, but the sudden change? And overnight too? Is everything okay, Zaynab? I'm not one to judge and neither am I a Muslim, but I'm pretty certain modesty is a pretty big deal to y'all. So, what's going on?"
"It seems to me like you did this for attention." the petty part of me buttressed and the look on her face told me I'd caught her in a space she didn't want to be.
"How's that any of your business?" She practically snapped at me, and glared at me as though she intended to blast me with laser beams.
"Hey, Zee. Calm down," Chimdindu quickly came to my defense. "I'm pretty sure she didn't mean it like that".
The others on the table were quiet, making the noise in the hall echo even louder to me. Deliberately, I kept my eyes fixed on Zaynab who still glared daggers into my soul, not wanting to mistakenly lock eyes with Maina, not for a second.
It seemed to me that with one second of eye contact, he'd find everything out.
"Yeah, he's right. Your dressing today actually threw us all off. I'm sure she's just concerned." Maina's voice almost had me looking at him. I felt he was desperately calling out to me without speaking to me.
"You're supporting her right now. Are you even serious?!" Zaynab yelled, slamming her palm on the table and attracting the attention of closer tables. "You all sat here, watched her accuse me of being an attention whore, and you're here picking sides? What's there if I choose to dress all sexy? She can do it but I can't?! I don't get it! I'm not ugly, so what the heck is going on right now? How's it a big deal?!"
Inserts *expresses shock* sticker.
No, I was in shock. I really didn't understand where this was coming from. I understand I was a bit petty, but I didn't think this whole scene was called for. The others on the table stepped in at this point, trying to calm the girl down all to no avail. Her voice kept getting louder and louder.
"Come at me all you want, but however I dress doesn't change the fact that YOU are the whore, not ME!"
"Zaynab!"
Silence.
"That is enough, Zaynab! That is enough!" For the first time, I took a good look at Maina. He was furious. His eyes were narrowed at the girl next to him, and even his sister looked startled. "I won't have you sit here and talk to her that way. If you want to be rude, get out."
Zaynab scoffed with her eyes still trained on me, looked to Maina who stared at her like she was the devil and her demeanour shifted considerably. Her shoulders dropped suddenly and she took one last glance at me in which I could see that her eyes were much softer now and clouded with tears threatening to spill.
Pushing her seat back without a word, she got up and stormed out of the dining hall.
"Zee!" Dindu called after her, getting up to go after her as well.
Looking away from Dindu, my eyes darted around the room, glancing at each person still seated on our table, until finally, they met his.
Hehehehehe.
Wahala, wahala, wahala. Wahala³.
That's all I can say sha😂. Hian o. It's like Zaynab's plan didn't work here o😂.
Sha, me idk.
Pray for Iris o😂 pray for Maina, pray for our ship.
I want to go and sleep. Comment the time you see this sentence.😭✨💞
I love Chimdindu.😗
If Evan knows his name didn't even appear once in this chapter ehen, he'll faint.😂✨
This Jared sef come be like demon. But it's well.
Shout-out to Rhoddie_writes. Thank you so much for the support b <3.
Byeeee!!!✨