“It is a fair question, Chuka. For seven years, you called me barren. You mocked me. You threw me out of your house like trash. Yet here I stand today, a mother of not one, not two, but three children. You refused to go for medical tests because you were too proud. You insisted the problem was mine, but clearly, you were wrong about me. So I ask again: are you sure about this child?”
She paused and looked around at the crowd.
“Maybe today you should finally agree to the medical test you always refused. A simple DNA test would answer everything. Do you not think?”
The guests erupted in whispers.
Chuka’s face turned from red to pale. His hands clenched into fists. He looked like he wanted to say something, but the words would not come out.
All eyes turned to Nkechi.
She had been quiet the whole time, but now she was shaking visibly.
“A DNA test would be the perfect way to end this conversation and prove me wrong,” Uju added softly, her eyes on Nkechi.
That was the final push Nkechi needed.
She broke down completely. She fell to her knees right there on the ground. Loud sobs escaped her throat.
“Please, please,” she cried out.
Chuka rushed toward her, confused and angry.
“Nkechi, what are you doing? Get up. Stop this nonsense.”
But Nkechi could not stop. The guilt had been eating her alive for months, and now it was all coming out.
“I am sorry, Chuka. I am so sorry. I did not want to end up like her.”
She pointed at Uju.
“You refused to see a doctor. You kept saying you were fine. But month after month, nothing happened. I was so scared. Your mother kept pressuring me. Your sisters kept asking questions. I did not know what to do.”
The crowd leaned in closer, not wanting to miss a single word.
“I was desperate, Chuka. I did not want you to throw me out like you threw her out. So I… so I…”
She could barely get the words out.
“The baby is not yours. I am sorry. I slept with someone else to get pregnant.”
The compound erupted.
“Who?” Chuka shouted, his voice cracking. “Who did you sleep with?”
Nkechi continued sobbing.
“The gateman. Ibrahim. I am so sorry. I just wanted to give you a child. I thought if I gave you a child, you would be happy, and we could just move on.”
Chuka staggered backward like he had been physically hit. His mother, who was sitting nearby, let out a loud wail and started crying.
Chuka’s face was a mixture of pain, anger, and humiliation. His whole world had just collapsed in front of everyone.
The child he had been celebrating was not his.
The wife he had married to replace Uju had betrayed him.
And worst of all, this revelation came at the hands of the woman he had spent years mocking.
He looked at Uju, his eyes filled with tears.
