The One Night Stand
I had a one night stand with a lady named Veronica Karimi in 2017. We were both final year students at Kabarak University. In fact, that night that we slept together, we were at the very last week of our stay at the University. We had met at a club outside the school compound. Veronica was tall, dark in complexion with an explosive figure. That night when we met at the club, I was so drunk. We danced, had a few drinks, as we were particularly celebrating the 4 tough years.
At around 4 AM that morning, I asked Veronica to stay at my place as it was too late for her to struggle back to her hostel room alone. She agreed, and like they say, the rest is history. We were hungry for each other. The passion between our bodies was on fire and to be honest, I don’t remember if we even used protection.
A month after that night, Veronica called me and with panic in her voice, she told me that she had missed her periods. I blocked her instantly! Just like me, Veronica knew too well that it was just a one night stand and that was it. Why was she getting pregnant? What happened to P2? What happened to taking caution the morning after?
At some point she even wanted to blackmail me with pregnancy so that I would be sending her unnecessary monies. After I blocked her, she kept sending me long messages. How she regretted the night. How she can’t terminate the pregnancy, how she just wanted psychological support, how her parents would disown her if she got rid of the child. Blah blah.. I didn’t care. Come on, It was just one night... Where were all these pregnancy texts coming from?
Moving On
I relocated to Nairobi and I never heard from Veronica Karimi again. She got tired of calling and texting me. I don’t know if she kept the baby. I don’t know if she terminated it. Fast forward, I got a job as an accountant with a Real Estate Agency and years later, I got married to the love of my life Cathy who I met and decided to settle with. Cathy was a nurse by profession. Humble, sweet, incredibly graceful and a homely lady.
By all means she had won my heart and for sure I knew I wanted to be with her. To grow old with her. To bring up children with her.
Unfortunately, my Cathy underwent a fibroid removal surgery 3 weeks after our wedding and this severely affected her ability to bear children. We tried and tried and tried. But sadly my dear wife Cathy couldn’t conceive. This really really hurt. We visited dozens of doctors. We knocked at the doors of many gynecologists and experts. Some gave us hope to keep trying and trying.
Others took our money with the promise that the medication they gave us would help her conceive. After 4 years of childlessness, my wife Cathy and I were devastated.
The Burden
As a man, I felt completely defeated by life. Having a child is every man’s pride. But living with the painful knowledge that you and your wife may never have children was so hard. I was tempted to reach out to Veronica Karimi, the lady I had a one night stand with 6 years ago and claimed to have gotten pregnant. I was tempted to see if the pregnancy was real. At least that way, I would secretly know I have my blood somewhere. But that would totally damage my marriage.
I felt lost. Silently, I prayed that Veronica may have kept the pregnancy and that one day in the fullness of time, I would get to see him or her. I know it was wrong of me to deny the pregnancy and run away. I was young and stupid. Yes? I started drinking alcohol heavily.
I could go to clubs every evening just to drink myself off and forget the pain of childlessness. I couldn’t betray my wife Cathy by marrying a second wife. We had taken an oath in church to remain true to each other, no matter what. So alcohol became my escape. One day, I went to Rongai to attend a birthday party for a colleague of mine. It was a great night of partying and merry making. Alcohol was in its excess and we danced to the tunes of life. I temporarily forgot my misery. I just wanted a massive distraction. And parties really helped.
At around 2 AM in the morning, I requested for an Uber to take me back home from Rongai to Langata where I was staying.
The Revelation
The distance was quite long and to kill boredom, I struck up a conversation with the driver. He was a pleasant guy who was in his mid-30s. We spoke about everything in general and nothing in particular. He told me life had been hard for him, that’s why he worked during the day as a messenger and at night as an Uber driver. We blamed Ruto’s economy for everything bad.
He painfully narrated that he had a sick son at the hospital and every shilling he made from Uber was going to the hospital bills. I really felt for him. As we were getting to Langata, he told me that my Uber fee was 960 and that instead of sending it to his M-Pesa, he gave me his wife’s number to send the cash directly to her so that she could handle bills at her so that she could handle bills at the hospital where his son was.
When he gave me the number and upon sending the money, I immediately recognized the name that the M-Pesa message showed: VERONICA KARIMI. I also recognized the number too. I had just sent the money to Veronica Karimi, my University fling, my one night stand lady who claimed to have carried my kid. I began shaking. With a trembling voice, I asked the Uber driver if this Veronica, his wife, was tall, dark, with big eyes, and from Kabarak University.
He said yes, while shocked. I also asked him if this son that was hospitalized was biologically his or if he married Veronica as a single mother. With shock, confusion, and stammers, he told me that he was her so that she could handle bills at the hospital where his son was. When he gave me the number and upon sending the money, I immediately recognized the name that the M-Pesa message showed: VERONICA KARIMI.
I also recognized the number too. I had just sent the money to Veronica Karimi, my University fling, my one night stand lady who claimed to have carried my kid. I began shaking. With a trembling voice, I asked the Uber driver if this Veronica, his wife, was tall, dark, with big eyes, and from Kabarak University. He said yes, while shocked. I also asked him if this son that was hospitalized was biologically his or if he married Veronica as a single mother.
With shock, confusion, and stammers, he told me that he was just taking care of Veronica’s son as his own since he loved her and they were a couple. I immediately asked the driver to turn around and rush me to that hospital where Veronica’s son was admitted.
The Bitter Truth
I NEEDED TO GET THERE. That kid was mine. Veronica Karimi had kept the baby! I wasn’t childless after all. I needed to get there immediately and see my heir, my only hope. I was going to do anything to make sure that kid got first-class medication and be discharged. I just wanted to get there ASAP. The Uber driver saw the urgency in my voice and maybe thought I was Veronica’s cousin or brother or something. He didn’t ask questions. He drove me to the hospital, and as I rushed to the ward where I was told he was at, I met Veronica at the corridor, crying.
She saw me and ran towards me and fell so hard on my chest while crying painfully. Her now husband was so confused. She cried and cried. She cursed me for abandoning her. She accused me of using her. But most sadly, she painfully accused me of abandoning my own blood. My own son.
It’s at this point that one of the doctors came to where we were standing and painfully said, “We tried our best. But we lost the young boy an hour ago due to sickle cell complications.” Veronica fainted. I stood there. Lost and defeated. I wasn’t going to be a father after all. Karma is real. A better world is possible if you go back home and love your blood. Don’t be like me.
