The morning after Oge's visit felt like a nightmare that forgot to end.
Amechi sat at the edge of his bed, still holding the pregnancy test envelope like it was a ticking bomb. His eyes were heavy from lack of sleep. His thoughts wouldn't stop racing.
> "Two weeks pregnant," he muttered. "But it's been one whole month since we last… since that night."
He stood up and began pacing his room. The floor creaked with every step, matching the unrest in his chest.
> "She's lying. She has to be lying. Or… maybe not?" "God, why now?"
He looked at the calendar on his wall and counted the days again — slowly, carefully. From the last time they had been together, it had been four weeks and a few days.
> "Then how can she be just two weeks pregnant?"
He sat down again, head in his hands.
This didn't add up. Not at all.
---
Outside, the compound was waking up. Kids were laughing somewhere near the tap. The smell of boiling yam drifted through someone's window. But inside Amechi's room, it was silence and doubt.
He pulled open the drawer by his bedside and reached for his journal. Instead of writing, he just stared at the blank page.
> "Maybe… she just wants to trap me."
His phone buzzed.
Mama Emma.
> "Nwannem( my brother)," she said when he answered. "I'm going to the market early today. But I say make I check on you. hope you are okay?"
He hesitated.
"I'm fine, Mama Emma. Just… thinking."
"You think say na today Oge start her drama? No worry. Truth dey quick come out when person calm down."
He smiled weakly. She always had a way of cutting into the noise.
---
Later that morning, Amechi walked to the nearby pharmacy. Not for drugs — but to see his old secondary school classmate, amara, who worked there now.
She was just arranging medicine boxes when he entered.
"Amechi? Ah-ah, long time!"
He forced a smile. "Long time. I need your help."
She looked at him curiously. "Hope no problem?"
He told her everything — or at least most of it. About Oge, the sudden pregnancy, the timing. Her face tightened as she listened.
"You said she claimed she was two weeks pregnant, but last time you meet was four weeks ago?"
He nodded.
"Then it's fishy," she said, eyes narrowing. "If you want to be sure, tell her that you want to do a proper test. Not just that clinic paper they gave to her
"What kind of test?"
"Go for hCG at a reputable lab. And later, DNA — if it gets to that."
He swallowed. "Isn't that too much?"
She shook her head. "Amechi, is better you know the truth now than live with lies all the rest of your life.
---
On his way home, Amechi kept thinking about her words. He stopped near the roadside and sent a message.
> "Oge, if you're sure it's mine, then let's take a proper lab test together. Not just paper. A real one."
He watched the screen.
Delivered.
Read.
Then the reply came:
> "You don't trust me."
That was it. No more messages.
He slid the phone into his pocket and sighed.
> "No, I don't trust you. Not fully. Not after everything."
---
Back at the house, he found his Mother in the kitchen, slicing ugu leaves.
"You have not eaten since morning," she said, not looking up.
"I'm not hungry," he replied.
"You are thinking about that girl again!?"
He didn't answer.
She dropped the knife and faced him. "nna, listen. Woman that bring confusion once, can do that again. Make sure you don't fall to her trap the second time.
"I won't mama. I just want to know the truth."
"Truth will come," she said. "But don't use your soft heart to take responsibility of another person'.
---
By evening, Amechi was back in his room, alone again. The weight of everything sat heavily on him. He brought out the pregnancy paper one more time. The print was clear. The lines bold.
> "Positive."
But positive doesn't mean his.
He stared at it like it might start talking and tell him what to believe.
> "Why now, Oge?"
"Why didn't you just leave me to heal?"
He opened his journal and wrote slowly, line by line:
> "This kind of love can break people
I gave her everything. My heart. My plans.
She shattered it all… and now returns with a baby?
God, help me. If this is my cross, give me strength.
But if it's a trap, expose it."
He closed the journal, but the thoughts remained loud.
---
The next morning, a new message came from Oge.
> "I'm not trying to trap you, Amechi. You're the only person I've been with. But if you need a test, I'll do it. I just… I didn't want to go through this alone."
He read the message over and over.
It didn't calm his fears.
It didn't erase the timing.
But it was a start.
He stared out the window.
His voice low.
> "We'll see."
---
That night, Amechi dreamed of two roads — one quiet and peaceful, the other loud and dark.
He stood at the junction, unsure which one to choose.
And when he woke up, sweat drenched his back.
Maybe the child was his. Maybe it wasn't.
But either way… he knew life would never be the same again.
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