Sunesis

Sunesis

Children are indeed the inheritance of the Lord
For those whom God had blessed with them
They are more often than not a blessing
Of course there are those whose children brought them sorrow
But those were few and far between
It is not rare to see one child, out of many choose an unfamiliar path in life
Sometimes such a child would desire to swim far away from the lifeguards and drown
Once in a while, by sheer luck or providence
Such a child would live to tell the tale of his or her struggle and how he or she came out of it
Her parents had three set of twins
She was the third child
The first of the set of twins in between the set of three
She was sharp, quick-witted and exceptional academically
Her twin sister was her opposite in everything
Her twin sister was fair skinned, beautiful, and was always about the looks
When she wants to head northwards
Her twin sister would choose to head southwards
And no matter how much she tried to have her way
Her twin sister was quite good in the art of manipulation
She would cry and throw tantrums and refuse to eat for many days if need be until she had her way
She did it when they were admitted into the secondary school
She wanted the girls only school their mother had high hopes of getting them into
Her twin sister refused to even consider the possibility of going to a school where there are no boys
She claimed boys motivate her
Their looks tell her if she was beautiful or ugly
Their attention helps her develop communication skills
Their interest helps her measure her level of maturity
Her twin sister said all these to her at the age of nine
When she told their mother
Her twin sister denied it and somehow turned the table in such a way that she was the one that got the blame
They were enrolled in the mixed school her twin sister wanted
She gave up on the protest long before then
By the time they got to Junior secondary class three
She had managed to put as much distance between herself and her twin sister
They practically had nothing in common except for their names
While she was in the JET club and debate team
Her twin sister found joy moving with the fashionistas and club girls
She proceeded to science class in pursuit of her dream of becoming a doctor
Her twin sister proceeded to Arts class
By the time they finished secondary school, they were barely talking to each other
Their parents didn't understand it
The other sets of twins
The ones ahead of them and the ones behind them were very close
What could be the cause of the obvious dislike between them?
Their mother called them several times to appeal to them
The more she talked about it, the further they grew apart
By the time they graduated from secondary school
She was admitted to a university in the United Kingdom on full scholarship and she left
Her sister went to a university in the country
She clubbed, partied, dated and eventually got pregnant
Her parents didnt see it as a scandal
They took the baby as their own and ensured her twin sister went back to school to finish her education
She graduated and proceeded to practise in a prestigious hospital in the UK
She didnt ask, beg , pray or seek for love
Love found her right at her place of work
One evening, she was attending to a patient
The next the same patient was back with another problem
The following day the same patient returned again with another set of complaints
She eventually came to understand that the patient specifically asked for her everyday and
waited until she was free to attend to him
She asked him what he wanted
He told her he wanted a date
Her collegues had told her he had the hots for her several times
It wasnt as if it caught her by surprise
She agreed to date him
He was a charmer
He owned a part of a start-up IT company which had come into a lot of money
He was young, rich and bored
He also loved her and had great plans for the future
She decided she would walk the length with him if he asked her
He did!
Ten months after they started dating
She said Yes!
She told her parents the good news over the phone
Everybody was delighted
The following Christmas, he took her home to meet her parents
Her sister was in Cyprus for one flimsy reason
The occasion was a sort of mini-introduction
He came with two of his friends and his younger brother
She went to meet his parents too
They accepted her as if she was their daughter
She was everything they had prayed and hoped for in a daughter in-law
The families eventually met
A wedding date was set
They travelled back to their station
Two months to the wedding
His mother called with the most incredulous news
"Her sister returned home, saw the pre-wedding picture
and suddenly remembered that her husband looked like the person who impregnated her years before
Though she couldnt be 100% sure because she was high that night
But looking at the pictures over and over again
She was sure the same set of guys that came for the introduction
The friends, the brother and her man were the ones that gave her a lift that man
According to her, her man dropped the others off and took her to his house where they talked and did drugs
She stayed with him for a week of fun and pleasure
He travelled the following week and few weeks later she found out she was pregnant
She tried in vain to locate him
She wanted to abort the pregnancy but she was too scared
She went home and the rest was history
But looking at the pictures stirred up ugly memories
It is very likely that her man was the one!"
She couldn't believe what her mother was saying
"We just felt we needed to be sure, you know how these things can be..."
She didn't say a word, she simply dropped the phone
At first she wanted to forget the phone call entirely
Her sister was too much of a party pooper when it comes to her that she was sure it was just one of her antics
But she couldn't
She couldnt get married and then come face to face with such a daunting reality
She tried several times to ask her man the question but she didnt just know how to frame it
He is a good man
If she asked him such a question and he was innocent, it would ruin their relationship in a way if they dont end up breaking up
If she asked him the question and he was guilty, it would certainly lead to the end of their relationship
She decided it would be best to pit the two bulls against each other
She invited her sister to the United Kingdom
She deliberately didnt tell her man
When her sister arrived, she invited her man over too
They met each other
She was watching the two of them intently
They didnt seemed to know each other from anywhere
Her sister didnt say a word about the allegation or even hint at it
it was a very pleasant meeting
Later in the evening, her man left
As soon as he was gone, her sister turned to her "He is the one!"
She couldn't believe what she was hearing
"He was here with you for over six hours, we talked, played scrabbles, watched a movie, and planned the wedding together"
You didn't even say a word
Your body language didn't even betray the fact that you had ever met him before
And here you are telling me after he left that he was the father of your son
You envious slut, get out of my house"
She didn't intend for it to get that far
It just did
She threw her sister out around 8pm
Her sister slept in a hotel
Called her parents and told them everything
Insisted her man was the person that fathered her child
Her father called, her mother called
"We will have no hand in this unless we have a very clear evidence"
She cried all night!
How was she to prove her man's innocence without destroying the relationship by telling him the truth!
Anybody could take up the issue with him as it was
Her father could call him and ask "wisely" as he put it
Her mother could call him and ask "politely" as she put it
Any of their siblings can call him and ask hastily
She knew her sister was lying
She knew her sister just didn't want her to get married and "have it all"
She was equally sure if her man was accused of such, he would simply walk away
Even if he was proven to be innocent,
the thought that he was framed up by his wife's twin sister for the fun of it would make him reel
She prayed fervently for divine wisdom that night
When she got to the office the following day, she took a DNA kit
She sent her hair and her man's hair to the laboratory for test
The result came out negative for paternity test
She sent the result to her parents
She lied that she had somebody take her sister's son's hair and she also took that of her man and sent it for DNA test
The result had shown they were not a match
Her parents were satisfied
Her sister shut her mouth
On the 2nd of october, 2010
She married her man in Enugu, Nigeria!

PS: They had been married for nine years
They have three children
Her twin sister also got married in 2014
She has a daughter
The two of them somehow drew closer after her twin sister got married
She said she couldn't explain the sudden closeness
But since her twin sister settled down, there seemed to be less rancour between them