Must Read: Adventures of Yejide - Season 1 - Episode 14

7 years ago

Must Read: Adventures of Yejide - Season 1 - Episode 14

Immediately Eric left the premises and Yejide
was on her way to the kitchen, she met oga
Lucas who was just coming in from work. He
had seen Yejide and stopped to greet her and
also made his funny remarks as usual but
while he was talking to Yejide, he suddenly
paused and put on a serious face before
asking;
“Na who be dat guy wey dey talk like say e
head no correct?” he asked, giving Yejide a
funny look while referring to Eric who left in
an angry mood.
“Oga Lucassss. See no mind dat one jare.”
“No na. I just dey ask because e no fit say
sorry sef wen in jam me for gate and in just
dey talk to insef so na in I say make I ask
oo.”
“Woo make you no mind am jare. Pele.”
“Anyway, Yeji, me ah don dey go. I get
something wey ah won do for house. Take
care oo.”
“Okay oga Lucas, bye bye.” And with this,
their conversation ended.
Yejide received a call from Kelechi not too
long after her conversation with oga Lucas.

He informed her about a meeting he had set
up for her, Dupe and a man who could give
them jobs at the convenient store he owned.

Yejide was definitely happy when she heard
this and so was Dupe when the news got to
her. These were bright days for all of them as
a change could be seen. Later that Sunday,
Yejide stepped into the church again for the
second time, after a long time. She had been
openly welcomed just as the first day she
attended the church for a youth program.

This time around, she didn’t go alone as
Dupe followed her after many persuasions.

Both ladies were welcomed and since they
both knew mama ejima and Kelechi, they got
more people coming up to them. Dupe told
Yejide once they got back from church how
surprised she was by the warmth of the
people at the church.

Monday, the next day, Dupe and Yejide went
in for the meeting they had with the store
owner who then offered them jobs as sales
girls. They were to start work the following
day so he gave them a tour of the store and
told them some of the things they needed to
know as employees. Yejide called Kelechi
immediately after the meeting and told him
about the news. He expressed his joy and
told Yejide that he was happy they could now
do something better for themselves. Yejide
also expressed her gratitude and couldn’t
thank him enough for all that he had helped
them with.

They started work as salesgirls the next day
and in a twinkle of an eye, eight months went
by so fast. At the time, Dupe had fallen ill and
was weak to go to work. Yejide had also
taken time off work for three days to take
care of her friend who was bedridden at that
point. Dupe was finding it hard to do many of
her daily activities as she had been feeling
very sick for over three weeks. Yejide advised
her to go to the hospital after over-the-
counter drugs didn’t work but she dropped
the topic each time it was raised. It got to a
point that Yejide wasn’t in to listen to Dupe
so regardless, she took her to the hospital in
a taxi. After they had both seen the doctor
together and Dupe was advised to take a
blood test for some sexually transmitted
diseases, Dupe finally agreed to allow a blood
sample obtained from her. Yejide had been
surprised when the doctor mentioned the
reasons for the blood test mostly because her
friend mentioned that she had been sexually
active. She didn’t think Dupe had been seeing
anybody so she was stupefied. As scared as
Yejide was for Dupe, Dupe was the least
scared. She didn’t look or act surprised.

Dupe’s blood sample was taken in for
examination even though she was admitted to
the hospital the evening of their visit. Yejide
had also stayed the night with her so the
next morning before noon when the result
came out, Yejide was called out of the ward
and given the results of the test. As Yejide
opened the file, she fell to the ground in
shock but the nurse who was with her
grabbed her. Her heart was broken by what
she had just found out. The result stated that
after Dupe’s blood test was analyzed three
times, the test results still came out as HIV/
AIDS positive. Dupe had gotten the virus and
she knew there was nothing they could do
about it.

As Yejide went through the results, reading
the same thing over and over again, her eyes
began to water as tears streamed down. She
went back into Dupe’s ward where she had
been sleeping and sat down looking at her
friend. How couldn’t she have noticed? How
couldn’t she have known something worse
was up? She sat there thinking. Her friend
had gotten this sick and not even a single
thought of such disease crossed her mind.
She wiped her tears once she saw Dupe wake
up from sleep. Holding the results in her
hand, she lifted it, signaling to Dupe that her
results were out. Dupe’s statement surprised
Yejide even more when she said;
“I have it…”
At first, Yejide wasn’t quite sure of what her
statement meant until it occurred to her that
she was referring to the results.
“Ahh Dupe, so you know say you carry dis tin,
you no con tell me. Wetin our friendship
mean? I do you bad? Dupe why you do this
kind tin?”
“My friend, abeg, no be say I no wan teh you.
I just no want make you worry.”
“You mean say you still dey sleep around?
Dupe, no be Kelechi help settle us. Why
you…..” Yejide burst into tears at this moment
who was also joined by Dupe.
In tears and in a soft tone, Dupe said, “Yeji
abeg, abeg no vex. No be say I still dey do
ashawo business. Na Charles give me. Na
only Charles ah dey see. He called me one
day and told me that he just went to get his
test results and that it came out positive. Me
sef ah no no wetin make am do the test but
when in say he get am, I dey surprised. You
know sey me and Charles don dey. Ah no no
wetin happen. You no say e no dey show for
body…..”

Both ladies went speechless for a minute
even though they were still in tears when a
nurse came in to change Dupe’s drip. After
the nurse left, Yejide told Dupe that she
thought she had stopped having sexual
affairs after they started attending Church
and after Kelechi had spoken to them about
the issues/dangers relating to s-x and s-x
outside marriage. They both talked for a while
until Yejide asked what they were to do next.

Dupe who was hopeless at that point told
Yejide that it was left for her to bade her
goodbye as she knew her time was up. Yejide
got her angry when those words came out of
her mouth and told her that she shouldn’t
lose hope quickly. Dupe remained in the
hospital throughout the remaining days of
the month as Yejide went in and out of the
hospital, bringing all sorts of things for Dupe.

Dupe got worse each day, it was almost too
fast to be true. Nothing was stabilizing or
slowing down the pace at which her friend
was ill. Throughout all of this, Yejide did not
let Kelechi know Dupe was sick because she
had contacted the virus. She only lied when
he asked and said she had been admitted due
to a minor illness. Kelechi didn’t suspect she
was lying until he found out that Dupe had
been bedridden for a longer period than he
thought. He eventually got to know about
Dupe’s illness and confronted Yejide who
failed at trying to hide her distress. She told
Kelechi that she didn’t want him to find out
because she didn’t want to embarrass her
friend after all that he had done for them.
Kelechi comforted Yejide and told her that he
understood but that she didn’t need to lie
about it. After both talked for a while, Kelechi
and Yejide prayed together for Dupe before he
left the hospital where he had gone to see
her.