I and Danny dated for six years before his family succeeded in putting us asunder. While dating, there were some indications that his parents, especially his mother didn’t like me and they didn’t hide it. The first day Danny introduced me to his parents, the mother asked, “My daughter, who are your family and where do they come from?” I told her about my mom and dad and what they did for a living. Immediately I mentioned where we come from, the father asked anxiously, “Wait, so you mean you belong to that tribe.” I answered proudly, almost in laughter, “Yeah, my dad and my mom are both from that tribe and that makes me a very typical tribe woman.”
Their faces changed. The mother gave an excuse and left the conversation. The father said, “Anyway, we leave it in the hands of God.” He too left. When it was time for me to leave their house, I went and said goodbye to them but their response was some sort of repressed sadness. You could see how disappointed they were in the way they carried themselves immediately they heard about my tribe. I told Danny, “I think your parents don’t like me. They don’t like my tribe. Did you see how they behaved when I told them about it?” He answered, “Leave those old folks alone with their archaic thinking. We didn’t come this far for them to separate us.”
We had dated for four years then and the last two years of our relationship was made hell by his parents, especially the mother. She could call me on the phone and virtually beg me to leave her son alone. Sometimes she said that pleadingly. Other times she ended up insulting me. The father called me too. His was a very simple statement, “Leave my son alone. He’s the only child and our family tradition doesn’t allow him to marry from your end. Leave him before it’s too late.” We fought very hard. We thought we could change them. We thought we could survive. We were strong in our will but they were stronger. When the frustration got us drowned, I told Danny, “Love shouldn’t be a living hell. I love your parents. My parents love you but from the way I see it, your parents would never return the love and they will never rest until they see us apart. Let’s end things before it gets more complicated than it is right now.
That day we both cried. Our souls wanted to go on but our bodies were too weak to survive the onslaught from his parents. We broke up. Came back together a week later. We broke up again. Came back together a month later. We broke up again and came back together a day later. All the while, Mike was lurking in the shadows, doing everything to win my love. He was cute and he was gentle. He understood me in a way that baffled me. I gave him a chance. I told Danny about it and that was when we finally let go.
Five years down the line, Danny is married and I am also married. Both of us had moved on completely—so we thought until one day a call came through and I picked. It was Danny. I hadn’t spoken to him for years though I thought about him sometimes. I was so elated when I picked the call and realized it was him. We got over the “how are yous” quickly and started talking about life after us. He said, “I met a beautiful lady a year after we broke up. Three years ago we got married. We have a child now.” I told him, “You remember Mike? The guy I told you about? We got married two years ago.”
That day we both learned that we were living in the same city. We both learned that our workplaces aren’t that far from each other. We both learned that though our flame had died long ago, it was still able to flicker, at least. We met one day after work and damn Danny looked gorgeous. He looked well taken care of and there was this aura of maturity around him. “Gosh you still look good,” he said. I murmured something I don’t even remember. We both had nothing to talk about but the memories of our past life. I learned his mother died and I told him how I’ve missed him and how I hated his parents for doing what they did.
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In his car that evening we kissed and that set the ball rolling for the beginning of our love after love. Nothing died between us. We buried what was between us alive and that evening, we stood at the edge of the grave with pickaxe and shovel in our hands. He dug and I fetched the soil until we uncovered the love that we buried. We met most times after work. We hang out while telling lies to our spouses. Sometimes the dew began falling on us before we knew how late we had stayed out. Two years later, we took a break when we realized that I was pregnant. He called every day to check up on me and when he didn’t call, I called.
When we could, we sneaked a video call in. He would throw me kisses on the phone and I would catch it. Months later, I gave birth to a bouncing baby boy. The first time the nurses brought the baby to me, he was sleeping. When he woke up, it was his eyes that caught my attention. His ears too and a little bit of his nose. He looked like a child that belongs to Danny than Mike. When Mike saw the baby he said, “Look at his cheeks and nose, exactly like mine.” When Mike’s mother also saw the baby, she said, “He looks exactly like Mike when he was a baby.”
Whatever!
Maybe I was the one hallucinating. Maybe the love I have for Danny wouldn’t allow me to see the truth in my own baby. Mike said it and his mom confirmed but there’s always this lingering voice that tells me, “You know it might as well be the son of Danny, right?” Right. It could be but he’s not. I’m not going to dig any further to know what I don’t want to know. Things would stay as it is now and forever. My son is the son of my husband and no one else. Let this be the truth and everything in my head be the lies.
