Amara's heart nearly stopped.
The words hung in the air like a storm about to break.
"You're pregnant… aren't you?"
Her fingers tightened around the edge of the door as she slowly turned to face Tunde.
For a moment, she couldn't speak. Couldn't breathe.
"How…" her voice came out barely above a whisper. "How do you know that?"
Tunde didn't answer immediately. His eyes searched her face, as if trying to confirm something he had already suspected.
"I saw the test," he finally said.
Amara froze.
"What test?"
"The one in your bathroom," he replied quietly. "The last time I was here."
Her stomach dropped.
That day.
The day she had taken the test… the day her world had changed forever.
"You had no right to go through my things," she snapped, anger rising quickly to cover the fear building inside her.
"I wasn't going through your things," Tunde said defensively. "I just… saw it."
Amara let out a sharp breath, her emotions spiraling.
"And you decided to keep quiet?" she asked, her voice trembling. "You knew… and you still went ahead and married Chioma?"
Tunde stepped closer, his expression filled with conflict.
"I needed to be sure," he said.
"Sure of what?"
"That the baby is mine."
The slap came before she even realized what she was doing.
Her palm met his cheek with a sharp sound that echoed through the room.
They both froze.
Tunde didn't move. He didn't even react immediately. He just stood there, his head slightly turned from the impact, his jaw clenched.
Amara's chest rose and fell rapidly, her hand still slightly raised.
"How dare you," she whispered, her eyes filling with tears. "How dare you say that to me."
"I didn't mean it like that—"
"Then how did you mean it?" she cut in, her voice breaking. "You think I'm that kind of woman? That I would carry someone else's child and try to pin it on you?"
"That's not what I'm saying!"
"Then what are you saying, Tunde?!"
Silence fell again — heavy, suffocating.
Tunde ran a hand through his hair, frustration evident in every movement.
"I'm confused, Amara," he admitted. "Everything is happening too fast. One minute we're planning a future together, the next minute I'm being forced into a marriage I didn't want, and now…"
"And now what?" she asked bitterly.
"Now you're telling me you're pregnant."
"I didn't tell you," she corrected sharply.
He paused.
"You're right," he said quietly.
Amara turned away from him, wrapping her arms around herself as if trying to hold her broken pieces together.
"You don't get to come here and act like you're the victim," she said, her voice softer now but filled with pain. "You made your choice."
"I didn't choose her," Tunde said.
"But you married her."
"I had no option!"
"You always have a choice!" she fired back, turning to face him again. "You just didn't choose me."
The words hit harder than any slap.
Tunde's expression shifted, something in his eyes cracking.
"That's not true," he said quietly.
"Then prove it," Amara challenged.
He stepped closer again, his voice dropping.
"Come with me."
She blinked in confusion. "What?"
"Leave this place. Leave everything. Let's go somewhere else… start over. Just you and me."
Amara stared at him like he had lost his mind.
"You can't be serious."
"I am," he insisted. "We can fix this, Amara. We can still be together."
A hollow laugh escaped her lips.
"Together?" she repeated. "You're married, Tunde. Married. Do you even hear yourself?"
"I don't care about that marriage!" he said desperately.
"But I do!" she snapped. "I won't be your secret. I won't be the woman you hide while you go home to your wife!"
The tension between them grew thicker, heavier.
Tunde's shoulders dropped slightly, like the weight of everything was finally crushing him.
"I love you," he said softly.
Amara's heart clenched painfully.
Those three words.
The same words she had once dreamed of hearing forever… now sounded like a curse.
"If you loved me," she said slowly, "you wouldn't have married her."
He had no response to that.
Another knock on the door suddenly interrupted them.
Both of them froze.
Amara frowned. "Are you expecting someone?"
Tunde shook his head slowly.
The knock came again — louder this time.
More urgent.
Amara's heart began to race.
Something about it didn't feel right.
She walked cautiously toward the door, Tunde right behind her.
"Who is it?" she called out.
No response.
Just another knock.
Louder.
More aggressive.
Amara hesitated, then slowly reached for the handle.
"Wait," Tunde said, grabbing her wrist. "Let me."
She stepped back slightly as he moved in front of her and opened the door.
The moment the door swung open, the air in the room changed.
Standing there… was Chioma.
She looked nothing like the glowing bride from earlier.
Her makeup was slightly smeared, her eyes red as if she had been crying for hours.
But what shocked Amara the most…
Was the expression on her face.
Not sadness.
Not guilt.
Something darker.
Something dangerous.
"So this is where you ran to," Chioma said coldly, her gaze moving between the two of them.
Amara felt a chill run down her spine.
"Chioma…" she started.
But Chioma raised her hand, stopping her.
"Save it," she said sharply.
Her eyes landed on Tunde.
"You couldn't even wait one night?"
Tunde stepped forward, his voice firm. "This isn't what it looks like."
Chioma laughed bitterly.
"Oh, really?" she said. "Because it looks like my husband is standing in another woman's house… with the woman he was supposed to forget."
The word husband hit Amara like a slap.
Chioma then turned her gaze slowly to Amara.
And what she said next made Amara's blood run cold.
Cliffhanger:
"I know about the baby."