“Let me help you with that” he said bending to pick the books as he approached her, Toke could not believe her eyes, she stood there staring like she had just seen a ghost. How was it possible that the very man she had been searching for all these months was right there in her apartment standing in front of her ,everything seemed so unreal. “Is this a dream?” she asked pinching herself so she’d wake up.
“Hello ,I’m Jide” he said introducing himself when he was done picking up her books. “how did you manage to get in?” she stammered, “ Your flat mate, Kike, gave me the keys to the apartment and asked me to wait for her here”
“Kike?” Toke asked “how do you know Kike?” he started to answer when Kike walked in, “Oh, I see you two have met” she said smiling, “not exactly” Jide Responded giving her a peck on the lips, Toke turned red “Okay what’s going on here?” Toke asked looking confused “am I dreaming?” “No silly, you’re not .This is the guy I’ve been telling you about, remember? the one I told you that I started dating few days after I met” “how come I never met him before now?” Toke stammered “he travelled almost immediately, he had to go on a business trip.”
“Oh, I see” Toke said nodding “I really have to catch some sleep now, I have a really bad headache. It was nice meeting you Jide” she said forcing a smile. She headed to her room locking the door behind her, she could not believe how unlucky she was, she eventually cried herself to sleep.
Months went by and the feelings she had for Jide didn’t go away, if anything they grew stronger, she could not help but notice how romantic Jide was, always surprising Toke with gifts and making her feel special, every time she would go green with envy wishing she was the one getting all the attention. She secretly hoped Kike would get bored and break up with Jide like she did with all the other men she dated in the past and was patiently waiting for it to happen until one day Kike burst into her room screaming and jumping, “what’s all the excitement about?” Toke finally asked when she calmed down, “I’m getting married” she replied, waving her hand at Toke so she could see the ring on her finger, “wow, that’s nice” Toke said trying her best to sound excited , “common get up” she said dragging Toke excitedly, “we have a wedding to plan.”
Wedding planning for Toke had been a nightmare, she had thought of all possible ways to sabotage the wedding, she had even considered purposely misplacing the wedding bands on the morning of the wedding. She became bitter every time she saw Jide and Kike together , it was not too long before she became a shadow of herself.
A few weeks to the wedding, Kike and her bridesmaids were sitting by the poolside of one of the finest hotels in town, having cocktails, Toke who had been selected to be the maid of honour was also present but had refused to eat or drink claiming she wasn’t hungry, everyone was having a good time when suddenly Toke started to vomit some brownish looking substance, she had been having severe pain in her abdomen before now but had refused to tell anyone, the vomiting got worse and she was starting to feel weak , “we need to take her to the hospital” Kike said looking worried “No, that won’t be necessary, I’m fine,” Toke objected, “ I just need to be alone” , “I think Kike is right” Temisan, one of the bridesmaids said supporting Kike, “we need to take you to see a doctor now” she said bringing her phone out of her pocket to call a cab.
Later that evening, Toke woke up feeling much better, she and her friends had agreed that she be admitted in the hospital after the doctor explained that it was in her own interest and assured them that she would be fine, they had promised to visit her the next day.
She pressed the call bell and asked to speak to the doctor, “good evening doctor” she said as the doctor walked in “Good evening” he said smiling “how are you feeling now? Much better I suppose?” “yes doctor, I feel better than I did before although if you don’t mind I’d like you to explain what exactly is wrong with me?” Toke replied. “that shouldn’t be a problem” the doctor replied “due to the symptoms you presented with , we suspected that you had a bleeding in your gastrointestinal system, otherwise known as your stomach and intestines” he explained, and “we carried out some investigations that confirmed to us that you have what is known as peptic ulcer disease.”
“Yes doctor, I’m aware “she admitted looking guilty “I stopped taking the drugs that were prescribed for me for a while now” “I thought as much” the doctor replied “that wasn’t a very wise decision .Let me tell you a few things you need to know about it. ” he began “peptic ulcer in lay man’s terms can be described as sores in the lining of the stomach, small intestines or lower esophagus and there are two types, there is the gastric ulcer and the duodenal ulcer, gastric ulcers are found in the stomach while duodenal ulcers are found in the first part of the small intestine.”
“what causes the ulcer?” Toke asked “there are many causes ” the doctor replied, “ but the commonest causes include a bacteria called Helicobacter pylori which infects the stomach, prolonged use of a group of drugs called NSAIDs(Non-steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs) some popular drugs that belong to this group include pain killers like aspirin and Ibuprofen” “really? I had no idea, I take Ibuprofen practically every month because of menstrual cramps” Toke said “well you should try as much as possible not to abuse it and since you are aware that you have peptic ulcer disease you should avoid taking it completely because it would only worsen the condition” the doctor advised “I will, thanks for letting me know “ she replied “I’m only doing my job” the doctor said smiling.
“the really bad pain I felt in my tummy before I started to throw up, was that also caused by the ulcer?” “yes ,you may feel a burning pain or sensation in your abdomen especially in the middle just below your chest down to your navel” he said “the pain may go away temporarily when you eat, although in some cases like in gastric ulcers, eating might actually worsen the pain” “so why was I vomiting the brownish substance, even though I had not eaten anything?” “you see my dear, that brownish substance you mentioned is called coffee ground vomit, it is clotted blood seen in the vomit and is usually seen in severe cases where there is bleeding in the stomach or intestines caused by the ulcer” “I see” Toke said nodding “what other symptoms could I possibly have as an ulcer patient?” “nausea, vomiting, poor appetite, weight loss, bloating just to mention a few”
“Thank you so much doctor, I really appreciate you taking out your time to explain everything to me, I’ll start taking my drugs more religiously now” Toke said, “it’s a pleasure” the doctor replied, there’s one more thing I’d like you to know” the doctor said with a serious look on his face “I hope it’s not bad news?” she asked noticing the serious look on his face “well, it depends on how you look at it” the doctor replied
“when you came in earlier today, you complained of severe pain in your abdomen, though you did not specify which part as you were too weak to speak, we had to do some routine investigations which included a pregnancy test, because we needed to be sure you did not have an ectopic pregnancy, the pregnancy test came out positive, but the good thing is we did a scan which confirmed the pregnancy is in the right place” the doctor said
“wait a minute doctor” I’m not sure I heard you right, did you say the pregnancy test was positive?” Toke asked looking worried “yes it was” the doctor said, “wow” Toke thought to herself, “I never knew getting pregnant was that easy” “thank you doctor, I’d like to be left alone now” she said dismissing him. “that’s okay , if you need anything we are here to help” the doctor replied before leaving the room.
She took out her phone from her bag and began to dial immediately, the phone rang and an all too familiar male voice picked “ hey, what do you want? I thought we agreed you shouldn’t call me anymore “ he said whispering “I don’t remember agreeing to any such thing “ she said “I need to see you now” “what for?” he snapped back “Jide, I’m pregnant , I’m carrying your baby”
Will Kike find out about the pregnancy? Will she go on with the wedding? Find out in the next episode. If you found out your best friend was pregnant for your husband-to-be the day before your wedding what would you do?
