I guess you have waited for the conclusion of the story. Well, here is it.
With no sound in the house, the three of us sat in the living room.
My heart twisted and sunk as I sat on the sofa with my head down, staring blankly at nothing, waiting for Jonny to speak.
I feared what we were going to tell Reena could ruin the peace rooted between my sister and me for years; I feared she would hurt any of us or herself after she heard it all.
Jonny began, Reena, there is something you need to know. Uhm…Sel and I have been seeing each other and…”
My heart hit my chest hard that I thought it would break my ribs as he went on and Reena kept on staring at him with absolute stillness. Her face was expressionless with no sign of emotions.
“…she…she is carrying my child. Yeah, she is six weeks pregnant,” he ended. There was an eerie sort of tranquility in the room and it heightened my anxiety.
“Reena, say something, please,” I uttered in a distressed voice.
Taking off her gaze from Jonny, Reena said “I know about it already. I know you two have been seeing each other and I know Sel is pregnant.”
Her words left Jonny and I dumbfounded. The shock had registered on Jonny’s face and every single muscle in my body froze.
Yes, she did! But why didn’t she say anything? Why did she not ask any of us about it? These were questions I needed her to answer since she left home after the discussion.
She returned very late that night and the usual smile on Reena’s face had extinguished. Her hollow eyes and sunken cheeks could tell she had been crying. She tried not to look at me when she entered the house.
I wanted to know where she had been but I had no right to ask her after what I had put her through, I had no right at all. She walked quietly towards their bedroom. I rushed out of the kitchen into my room to inform Jonny of her return.
“I want to go in there and talk to her but I’m scared,” I said to Jonny.
“Go ahead. She is your sister and you know Reena very well she isn’t capable of hurting you,” Jonny indicated.
In a quavering voice, I said “Not after what I have put her through. This side of her is new to me, she can do anything Jonny. I’m scared stiff of her right now.”
I’m going out so you two can have time and privacy to talk, call me when you are done,” Jonny said, grabbed his car key and left.
“May I come in?” I asked as I stood in front of their bedroom. Reena said “sure, you can.”
I still could not look my sister in the eye. I kept my head down and sought her permission to ask some questions?
“Why did you not do anything when you found out about Jonny and me?” she gave a chuckle and turned to look out the window from the other side of the room,
“Please I need to know, why did you not ask me, why didn’t you do anything?”, in my coarse, shaky voice.
She refused to answer these questions but rather said “Sel, I think we should inform mum and dad about it. You guys can go ahead and marry after we are through with our divorce process. I will be going to Ghana next week.”
Those words from her and the look on her face summed it all up. Reena was heartbroken. She was so hurt and I could feel it.
I tried to talk “Ri I know how you feel but ple….”
“Hell no, Sel! You do not have an idea of how it feels like!” she spat out before I could end my sentence.
She turned towards me. There was no trace of tears in her eyes instead they blazed with rage and it was getting really scary.
“You ungrateful being! Homewrecker! Get out of my sight now before I commit murder! Get out! Now!” she said in a voice like a foghorn.
Rage came out and consumed all that she was. I began to think of a possible way out as she came closer.
She smacked me in the face with the flat of her hand and stretched to grab an empty flower vase but everything went blank before I could draw a breath or take another step.
I woke up on a hospital bed and the first person I saw was Jonny. I felt a sharp pain in the head as I tried to speak. A feel of it with my hand proved my head had been bandaged.
“Hey, you are awake, how do you feel now? I replied him with questions “What happened, Jonny? Where is Reena?”
Jonny said Reena was fine but had travelled to Ghana. “I found you unconscious when I returned home that night. Police investigations show you were hit with a flower vase,” he added.
Thank God my unborn child was safe. Reena fled to Ghana before the police declared her wanted.
My parents now know about it all. My mother has been calling every now and then to find out how I am faring. She says Reena has been devastated since her return.
“She could never have forgiven herself if anything had happened to you, she has been so worried.”
Awww…poor Reena! She is still worried about me. Blood is indeed thicker!
It is rather sad that I did not think of this adage before getting pregnant for my sister’s husband. I gave myself a reason to think that what I was doing with Jonny was right.
Reena might have been forced to forgive me because of her actions but the guilt, the stain will forever remain an ugly scar on me.
But surprisingly, Jonny thinks he followed his heart and did nothing wrong. But I don’t feel the same way. I have destroyed my sister’s marriage and I am not proud of it.
He does his best to make me happy and forget about it but regret comes to me in quiet moments. I wish I could undo the whole thing, the pain I have caused my sister – I wish I could take them all back.
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THE END.
This fiction is by Akosua Asiedua Akuffo of Myjoyonline.com
