The lab's waiting area was too white. Too clean. Too quiet.
Amechi sat on the edge of a plastic chair, his hands balled into fists, his foot tapping the tiled floor like it had somewhere urgent to go. Oge was inside. The door had closed behind her ten minutes ago, but it felt like a lifetime.
He had barely spoken to her since they arrived. Not on the bike ride. Not while signing the hospital form. Not even when she looked at him and said, "Thank you for coming."
He had only nodded — tight-lipped, guarded.
> "This is not about trust," he told himself. "This is about the truth."
But that truth was already too slippery to hold.
---
He stared at the wall clock again.
Tick.
Tick.
His head replayed their last night together — the way she had cried, the desperation in her voice, how broken they both were. That night had left a mark, deep and bitter.
> "But it was four weeks ago," he muttered under his breath.
"And now she says she's just two weeks pregnant?"
His eyes burned. Not from tears — but from exhaustion. Doubt.
Just then, the door creaked open.
A kind-looking nurse in navy scrubs stepped out. "You're the father?"
He hesitated.
"Are you the person that came with Miss Ogechi?" she corrected.
He stood. "Yes. What did the result say?"
The nurse gave a soft smile. "She's confirmed to be pregnant. The blood test shows her hCG levels align with an early pregnancy — about four weeks in."
Amechi's brow furrowed.
"What did you say?"
"Approximately four weeks," she repeated gently. "The hormone levels are in that range. It aligns with—"
He raised his hand. "Hold on, madam. Did she tell you the date we were together?"
The nurse blinked. "No, but—"
"Then how can you know it's four weeks?" His voice was firm now. "Just two days ago, she told me she was two weeks pregnant. How come now it's four weeks, conveniently matching the last time we…?"
The nurse's calm cracked slightly. "Sir, please understand — hCG levels are an estimate. Every body reacts differently."
"No," Amechi snapped. "Let me understand this very well. She brings a clinic result to my house saying two weeks. I argue. Now we come here, and you — just like magic — say it's four weeks, which conveniently lines up with me?"
He folded his arms. "Tell me the truth. You and Oge… you people planned this, right?
The nurse's mouth opened in shock. "Excuse me?"
Oge stepped out behind her just in time, her face pale. "Amechi, what are you saying?"
He turned sharply. "I'm saying something is not adding up! When exactly did you get pregnant, Oge? Which week is it really?"
"I don't know the exact day—"
"But you said two weeks. You said that in front of my mother, in front of Mama Emma!"
"I didn't know the exact timing," she said quickly. "I just said what the clinic told me."
"So now it's four weeks because this nurse said so?"
The nurse stepped forward, defensive now. "Sir, please. This is a medical facility. We don't falsify reports. If you have concerns, you're free to take her elsewhere."
He scoffed. "Don't worry, I will. Because this — all of this — smells like a setup."
---
Oge's eyes welled with tears, but Amechi didn't look away.
"I was healing, Oge. Trying to find myself again. Then you came with this. And now even the timing doesn't make sense."
"I didn't lie," she whispered.
He didn't reply.
---
As they stepped out of the lab together, the hot sun met their faces like a slap. Amechi walked ahead, trying to breathe, trying to think.
That's when he saw her.
Across the road, near the junction — a girl in a pink blouse paused, mid-step.
Nneka.
She stood frozen for a moment, eyes locked on Amechi… then on Oge beside him.
Then she turned and walked away, fast.
Amechi's eyes narrowed. "Wait… is that not—?"
He turned to Oge. "You know that girl?"
Oge hesitated. "Which girl?"
"The one that just saw us and ran like she saw ghost!"
"I didn't see anybody."
He stared at her for a moment, then looked in the direction Nneka disappeared.
Something in his chest twisted.
That evening, Amechi sat outside, journal open, words slow and heavy:
> "Even when the truth stands before you, sometimes you still can't trust it. Because truth has no meaning… when your heart is already broken."
He closed the book and whispered, "God, help me."
He wasn't sure what was worse — the fear of being lied to again…
…or the possibility that this was real.
And he was about to become a father.
Find out who is nneka in chapter 10
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