But he refused every single time.
“Me? Chuka? The lion? I can never be the problem. Do you know how many women throw themselves at me? If I wanted children, I could have ten by now with different women. You are the problem, not me,” he would shout.
Pride was his illness, and it ran deep.
The years went by slowly and painfully. Uju became a shadow of herself. She lost weight. Her bright smile faded. The light in her eyes dimmed.
Chuka’s family was no help either. His mother blamed Uju openly. His sisters whispered about her behind her back. Only Uju’s own mother stood by her, praying and encouraging her to hold on.
One cold evening, after another heated argument about her inability to have children, Chuka lost his temper completely. He grabbed Uju’s clothes from the wardrobe and threw them outside into the compound.
“Go and meet your God. Maybe He will give you the child you failed to give me. Pack your shame and leave my house,” he shouted for the neighbors to hear.
Uju stood there, humiliated, tears flowing freely. She gathered her scattered clothes quietly and walked away from the only man she had ever loved.
She went back to her mother’s house, broken and defeated. For weeks, she barely ate. She barely spoke. She just stared at the ceiling, wondering what she had done to deserve such pain.
Months later, Chuka married again. This time, he married a flashy young woman named Nkechi. She was young and beautiful. Chuka paraded her around town like a trophy. He wanted everyone to see that he had moved on and upgraded.
“Now watch me have children with a real woman,” he boasted to his friends.
Meanwhile, Uju had decided to start over. In her loneliness, she moved to Abuja. She was determined to rebuild her life far away from the pain and shame.
She got a job at a private firm as an administrative assistant. The pay was modest, but it was honest work, and it gave her something to focus on.
It was at this firm that she met Tobe. He was the company’s accountant, a kind and humble man who respected everyone.
Tobe noticed Uju’s sadness. He would greet her warmly every morning. He would ask how her day was going. Slowly, he began to invite her for lunch in the company cafeteria.
They would talk about simple things: work, family, life. He never pushed. He never rushed. He just listened and cared.
And slowly, like a flower receiving water after a long drought, Uju began to live again. She started smiling. She started laughing. The light returned to her eyes.
After a year of friendship, Tobe asked her out on a proper date. Uju was scared. She did not want to go through the pain again. But something about Tobe felt different. He felt safe.
Their relationship grew naturally. And when Tobe proposed six months later, Uju hesitated. She sat him down and told him everything. She told him about Chuka, about the mockery, about the seven childless years.
