“Eugene was the kind of man a girl would never hesitate to say yes to. One, he was handsome, two he was from a wealthy family, three he was cool, calm and collected. He was also humble and nice to a fault.” I sat in Favour’s car listening to her story as I hoped silently this was going to answer a lot of questions that had been bugging my mind. “When I started working at his father’s company after School, we became friends by reason of my reserved nature amongst other ladies in the company. Eugene was every lady’s take home to Papa and Mama. He was a person of few words and that was my kind of person. He was the only son of his parents. He had five sisters who were all established in their matrimonial homes. From what I was told by other staff members when I resumed work, I found out my boss,Eugene’s father was the one who got Husbands for his daughters. I should have taken that information very seriously, but I didn’t pay attention to it,until it was too late. Eugene fell in love with me. He couldn’t hide it. It was very obvious that even his father took note of it and anytime he walked past us, or caught Eugene in my office having a chit chat with me, he would just say… “ Favour, Favour” He would always say it with a smile. I took that as an approval. Eugene proposed to me at our Annual End of the year Office Party in front of everyone. I was shocked to my bones, likewise everyone. His father was very shocked as well but very quickly his countenance changed and I saw him smiling. I kept staring at the Engagement ring he was pointing at me. I knew people were cheering me but It sounded more like an echo… “ Go Favour, Go Favour…It is your day!” I wanted to say yes, but I was scared I had not heard from God. Despite being smitten with Eugene and the thought of being his wife was like being granted a wish by a fairy godmother, I had a lot of reservations. “ Favour, you are wasting our time here..” Eugene’s father said jokingly from the high table… I stretched out my hand for the ring but instead of accepting the ring,I took his hand and dragged him out of the room. Eugene didn’t hesitate one bit… “ Favour what’s wrong? You don’t want to marry me?” He said with tears flowing down his cheeks. “ I would love to marry you, but instincts tell me it won’t last…” I said as I was obviously shaking “ Why would you say a thing like that, you think I am a playboy….?” “No…” I wanted to scream loudly but for the first time in my life I wished I didn’t have a daughter. I wished I had kept myself chaste, I wished I had not messed up as a teenager and had a child. I looked at the life God had prepared for me in my future, but my careless past was about to shut the door..” I thought to myself as I found it hard to wipe my tears… “ I have a daughter” I said with my head bowed. I didn’t look at his face but I saw that his body moved away from me… “ You have what?” He asked “ I had her when I was 15, She is 13 years old now” “ You never told me this!” He said “ I am a very private person and besides I never expected you to be serious with me. I thought you were playing around..” “ You thought I was just playing around and I guess that is how I have been playing around with other girls in the office…”. He said and he walked back into the party hall,grabbed his car key and left the party. I stood transfixed to the spot. I knew I had lost two things: I had lost my Job and I had lost a good man. I also left the party hall in a rush to avoid unnecessary questions. My journey back home was horrendous to say the least, as memories I had buried came back to haunt me. I had been raped by Jeremy but to be totally honest, no one could put the whole blame on him because I also wanted to be raped… To be continued
