On the heels of Doctor Chidinma Ude’s slow acceptance of Onyeka Michael into her life came other long-buried issues. And newly birthed ones.
She was alarmed to notice feelings of jealousy and possessiveness stirring within her. Chidinma was aware of Onyeka’s penchant for flirting with beautiful female doctors and nurses, and she had ignored his behavior, refusing to believe that she felt a bit slighted that he hardly ever flirted with her. It was of her own making- she had deliberately kept their interaction professional and barely friendly to prevent too much familiarity, so why was she irrationally annoyed?
She noticed that one particular nurse seemed to have particularly caught Onyeka’s fancy. Yetunde was taller than average, almost as tall as Onyeka was. Her south-western genes were generously evident in the flare of her hips and the smallness of her waist. In her uniform of blue pants and top, she was a head-turner. And the auditor was not immune to her appeal. Chidinma wondered if her disapproval of the seeming closeness between Onyeka and Yetunde was because the nurse was engaged to be married or because of something more personal.
After coming across Onyeka and the nurse giggling and chortling in a corner for the umpteenth time, Chidinma decided to finally express her concern.
“Mr Michael, I don’t mean to intrude, but I hope you know Nurse Yetunde is engaged?” she blurted.
Onyeka blinked hard in surprise. They had been discussing performance reviews when she interrupted him.
“Woah! Are you jealous, Doc?”
Chidinma glared at the grinning Onyeka. She already regretted her outburst, but she decided to see it through to the end. “Jealous about what? Listen, Mr Michael, I’m not joking. I know you like your ladies and it’s none of my business, but Yetunde should really be off limits to you.”
Onyeka’s grinned widened. “Doc, I’m serious about one thing too- please feel free to be jealous. It would be flattering to have a woman as beautiful as you on my case.”
Chidinma’s response was a silent glare. But long after the conversation she found herself thinking about what he had said. She had not failed to notice that he did not confirm what he knew about the nurse’s relationship status, but something more worried her. Perhaps she was slightly jealous. She had found herself taking extra pains to use more make-up and wear clothes that showed off her figure since she met Onyeka Michael. Was she trying to impress him? She had not missed the way he looked at her sometimes and the few compliments he paid her sometimes made her feel good, but she knew she had to be careful. Since her separation from her husband, she had only dated one man, and the relationship had been strained and unsatisfying. When she found out he also had the traits of a cheat, she had broken things off with him immediately. There was no way she was going through the motions with a dishonest lover again.
One bitten, twice shy.
So she locked the gates around her heart tight and pushed down her attraction for the young auditor. She hoped when he finished the clinical audit and finally left, he would not leave too many bruised female hearts in his wake.
One week later, Chidinma found out her fears may have been legitimate. Nurse Yetunde was pregnant- and it was not for her fiancé.
**
Chidinma found out about the nurse’s situation purely by accident. She had stopped to use the female restroom on her way to her office and when she emerged from a toilet cubicle, had found Yetunde staring blankly into the mirror that ran the length of the room. She had only thrown the young lady a curious glance, but then, as she was washing her hands, she noticed the laboratory report beside the nurse’s hand. Unintentionally, her eyes zeroed in on the piece of paper, which she immediately recognized as the usual pregnancy test scrip.
A smile blossomed on her face as she noticed the positive result. No wonder the nurse looked dazed.
“Hmm! Yetunde, I didn’t mean to look o, but that looks like good news in your hands there. Congratulations o!” she teased. “I heard Yoruba men like to be sure their wives-to-be can conceive but I didn’t know your fiancé was like that. Anyway, congrats are in order. When are we buying aso ebi? We have waited long…”
She stopped talking when she noticed tears were pooling in the nurse’s eyes. Alarm filled her. “Yetunde, what’s wrong? Isn’t your fiancé happy about this? Are you upset about the positive result?”
Yetunde turned her gaze to Chidinma, the tears rolling down her cheeks. “Doctor, I’m just confused. I don’t know what to do.”
Chidinma dried her hands quickly and stepped closer to the nurse. “Look, you’re in the right environment for this. Talk to me; it’s my job to help you get over emotional bumps like this. Are you unprepared for pregnancy? Is your fiancé the unprepared one?”
“Anything I say to you is in confidence, right?” Yetunde sniffed. “You’re a therapist.”
Chidinma hesitated, and then nodded. “As long as keeping it confidential won’t harm anyone or hide information about an impending crime…”
“It’s not that serious.” Yetunde cut in. “I’m just confused. And I don’t know what to do. I’ve only talked to one other person about this. I told him this morning.”
“Who? You fiancé?”
“Mr Onyeka Michael.”
Chidinma was surprised, but then she remembered how sympathetic a listener the auditor seemed to be. Even her own son was rapidly growing attached to Onyeka, so why not Yetunde who saw him face to face every other day?
“I see.” She said, after a pause. “Well, may I ask why you haven’t told your fiancé about the pregnancy?”
Yetunde sighed. “Because I can’t, Doctor Chidinma.”
“Well, why not?” There was a note of surprise in the doctor’s voice. “It’s as much his responsibility as yours…”
“It’s not Tunji’s responsibility.” Yetunde cut in, her face writhing in anguish. “We’ve been using protection. It’s not his baby.”
Chidinma opened her mouth to ask the next obvious question, but her brain raced ahead to the answer. Onyeka Michael. Of course. All that time spent flirting with the nurse had finally paid off. In a big way.
Two women entered the restroom and Yetunde quickly wiped her hands across her eyes. “Can I come to your office later, Doctor? So we can talk about it?”
Chidinma simply nodded, numb, as Yetunde quickly grabbed up the laboratory pregnancy test result and slipped out of the restroom.
The doctor remained at the tap for a few more minutes rinsing her hands incessantly, feeling dirty at the thought of all the times Onyeka Michael had touched her with his philandering hands.
When she finally left the restroom, her face was grim and her lips were tight. She made a beeline for her office, where she knew the auditor was waiting for their daily work session to begin.
There would be hell to pay.
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