Chapter 30: Chapter 30

Halal avoided Daria for two weeks fearing that Daria unlike her brother would notice she was pregnant. She was a mother after all, mothers were sensitive to those kind of things.

Darrell was surprised when Daria called him right before he left for the hospital the next day. "Is Halal over there? I've been trying to reach her for days now" Daria asked the minute her brother answered the phone.

"Really? Daria, no hello brother, good morning, how have you been? I still can't believe you love Halal more than your own brother" Darrell joked.

Daria chuckled "Girls before bros, Halal is my sister okay?" Daria retorted playfully.

"Hold up, hold up. Halal is not your sister. There is no way I'll be sleeping with my sister's sister" Darrell corrected.

Daria groaned "Ewww, Darrell. I do not want to hear about your sex life with Halal. That makes things so awkward, please" Daria said.

"Fine, fine. Halal is here and she's asleep. I'll tell her you called when she wakes up, she'll call you back" Darrell said.

"No,  she won't call me back. Halal has been behaving weird these days. Wake her up, I want to speak to her now" Daria insisted.

"Okay" Darrell walked over to Halal's side of the bed, sat beside her sleeping body on the bed and shook her.

"What?" Halal groaned turning the other way.  "Halal, Daria wants to speak to you" Darrell said.

Halal opened her eyes and watched Darrell's face for a few seconds before replying "Tell her I'm asleep. I'll call her later" Halal mouthed.  Darrell frowned "You're awake now, might as well talk to her now" Darrell handed Halal the phone.

Halal glared at him but said nothing. "I'll make breakfast, toast, egg and coffee" Darrell said. "Just toast is fine" Halal said before switching her attention to Daria.

The smell of eggs hit her nose the minute she walked into the kitchen, Halal scrunched up her nose as nausea hit her like a wave. She clutched her stomach and heaved, this was the worst part of being pregnant.

The morning sickness, the dizzy spells, the nausea,  headaches and everything. How long was she going to go through this?

"Are you okay?" Darrell asked his eyes perusing her body suspiciously.

"I thought I said no eggs!" Halal snapped at him. "You said you didn't want eggs, I wanted eggs" Darrell corrected.  "Well I can't stand the smell of eggs" Halal snapped again.

"Since when?" Darrell asked. Since I got pregnant, she wanted to yell but she didn't. "I don't know, just trash it.  It smells terrible" Halal hissed and walked out of the kitchen.

Darrell followed her "Sooner or later you are going to tell me why you are always irritated by almost everything these days.  You snap at me, you're avoiding Daria and ignoring Jacques. I get that divorce is a bïtch but we are your family Halal, don't push us away at a time like this. We want to be there for you all the time" Darrell said.

"This is not about the divorce Darrell, just leave me alone!" Halal shouted frustrated.

"Tell me what the problem is then,  you do this all the time Halal.  You bottle up your feelings for so long till it eventually chokes you, I hate it when you do that. If there is a problem, tell me right now" Darrell said.

Halal sighed "Everything is fine" she lied. Darrell softened his anguished expression "Is it that time of the month yet?" Darrell teased. Halal froze for some seconds before nodding stiffly.

"That's odd,  I thought you only menstruate during the first week of every month" Darrell frowned.

"Can we not talk about this?  I get that you're my boyfriend or whatever but can we not talk about my period right now?" Halal huffed.

"I'm not your boyfriend or whatever " Darrell frowned. "But most importantly I'm your doctor, it shouldn't be weird for us to talk about such things. I take pride in knowing the littlest things about you" Darrell smirked.

Halal didn't want to talk about her period,  its due date or why it was late so she quickly ended the matter. "Sometimes it's late, don't worry about it" Halal said a small smile on her face.

Darrell nodded before picking up his mug of coffee.  Halal felt another wave of nausea as the smell of coffee hit her nose. She walked out of the kitchen before Darrell could notice or say  something else.

'What's so important that you're  calling me by this time of the night?' she snapped.

"It's about Halal"

'What about her?  My sources say she's pregnant again, and you know the rules.  She can't have any baby, so you better start working' she ordered.

"Oh! she's not pregnant, they're only spreading rumors. I think they came up with a plan to get your attention. I can handle them"

'Don't worry then, leave them. Let's humor them, make them think that Doctor Femi was a liar and that no one in the hospital is working against Halal'

"Sounds like a plan. Okay, I know how to go about that. That's not the only reason I called you though, I actually called because I was hoping we could discuss the tapes"

'When I've gotten what I want, I'll send you your dirty tapes so no one will know your secrets' she hissed.

"Alright, I'll keep you posted"

The last person Halal expected to call her that evening after cooking dinner was her ex husband Valentino.

Halal answered immediately thinking he was calling to talk about their divorce. "Hey Val, how are you?" she answered nervously.

"I'm fine, how are you?" Valentino asked. His voice sounded coarse,  she suddenly got worried and wondered if he was okay.

"I'm fine....Where are you?" she asked concerned.

"I'm in Lagos at the moment but not for long, I'm leaving Nigeria soon Halal" Valentino informed.

Halal sighed "Oh... " She didn't know what else to say to him.

"Can I see you one last time before I leave?"  Valentino asked.

Halal twisted her lips in thought "Sure, when do you want to see me?" Halal asked. She closed her eyes and wondered if it was right to see Valentino again or if Darrell would be okay with her seeing him.

"I'll call you tomorrow, take care of yourself H" Valentino said. Halal was about to reply him when Darrell walked  into the room.

"Halal,  I can't find my charger" he called entering the room. Halal ended the call and turned to him immediately. "I don't know where it is" She answered quickly.

Darrell noticed she was jumpy and narrowed his eyes immediately. "Are you okay?" He asked. "I'm fine" Halal replied.

"Who were you talking to?" Darrell asked curiously.  He'd heard her speaking before he walked into the room. "Daria" Halal lied. Darrell nodded and left the room.

She felt guilty, she didn't like hiding secrets from Darrell but she didn't think he'd support her going to see Valentino alone. They'd talked about it before and he'd advised that the lawyer should be present in every of their meetings.

And why did she even have to see Valentino anyway? She asked herself. Guilt, that was the answer to that question. She felt guilty, she just needed to see that he was fine without her before she could completely move on without guilt weighing her down.

Valentino had grown lean, his eyes were dark and sunken, his skin not bright as the last time she'd seen him, he was also unshaven and scruffy.

His lips crooked into a small smile when he saw Halal.  Halal smiled back and hugged him. "You look well, your boyfriend must be taking care of you" Valentino commented. Halal cleared her throat feeling uncomfortable "How have you been?" Halal asked her eyes settling on his bushy hair.

This couldn't be the same Valentino she'd been married to months back. He looked like a homeless, druggie. "Just how you left me Halal" He said bitterly.

Halal sighed before looking around for a waiter.  She called the first one in sight to get the menu.  "Where have you been Valentino, you just disappeared into thin air?" Halal asked.

Valentino shook his head. "I've been paying for my sins Halal" Valentino said.

Halal didn't understand him but she didn't ask him to explain.  The waiter came over with the menu and handed it to the duo. Halal took it gratefully and distracted herself with it's contents.

"I'll have Irish coffee" Valentino said. "You look like you haven't eaten in days, I don't think you should have just that" Halal said.

"I didn't think you cared" Valentino sneered.

Halal dropped the menu "You caused this yourself Valentino, don't you dare blame me for anything. You treated me shabbily and you pushed me away everytime. You made me so unhappy, weak and worthless. Don't act like I'm the cause of your problem" Halal snapped.

The waiter coughed causing Halal to look up.  "Oh...I..." she stuttered and looked back to Valentino who was trying not to laugh. Feeling embarrassed, she picked up the menu and scanned it's content. "I'll have chicken nuggets and apple juice" Halal said handing the  menu back to the waiter.

The waiter smiled and looked at Valentino. "Chicken sandwich and Irish coffee thanks" Valentino said. The waiter took the menu and left.

"My lawyer said you rejected the house, why?" Valentino asked. Halal shrugged "I have no use for it Valentino, we had a lot of good memories in that house but we also had so many bad memories too" Halal said.

"I don't want to live there, sell it Valentino" Halal suggested. Valentino  smiled and nodded "Okay, if that's what you want" Valentino said.

The waiter came with their order minutes later.  Halal eyed the coffee in front of Valentino and willed her stomach to behave.  The taste and the smell of coffee nauseated her ever since she found out she was pregnant.

"Come with me Halal" Valentino said out of the blue. Halal looked at him confused "What?" She asked.

"Come with me to Canada" Valentino said. Halal shook her head amused. "Are you joking? You can barely stand me.  We don't love each other, we're getting divorced and I have another man in my life" Halal said.

"I'm afraid" Valentino said. "I'm afraid he won't protect you like I would. Come with me" Valentino said.

"Protect me from what? You were hardly ever around me and you barely protected me from anything while we were together. Darrell is doing a good job trust me, I'm sorry to rub it in your face. Anyway I can't come with you, it's not complicated" Halal said.

"I love him and I'm pregnant. I can't leave Darrell, not for anything in this world. It's as simple as that" Halal finished.

"You're pregnant?" Valentino asked. He looked frightened, it scared her. "Yes" Halal said. She knew he was probably frightened because he had a good idea of how every of her pregnancies turned out. She tried not to feel hurt but she couldn't help it.

"Does he know?" Valentino asked. Halal shook her head. "I'm not sure.... I'm not sure this one will stay. I can't tell him yet"  Halal said.

Valentino nodded and sipped his coffee.  "Trust no one Halal, no one" Valentino muttered leaving Halal even more confused.

"Whenever she's moody I give her space, she can be very annoying also.  You know Halal" Darrell said taking out a plate of fried rice from the freezer.

Daria watched her brother rant.  "So I left her alone, I moved into the next room and minutes later she's banging the door asking if I want her gone and why I left the room" Darrell explained looking irritated.

Daria chuckled "I didn't know what to tell her so I picked up my pillow and laptop and moved back into our bedroom. She made me sleep on the floor" Darrell finished.

"Yes,  she's psycho when she's being moody. She won't call me and she won't answer my calls too" Daria pouted.

Darrell shook his head before putting the plate of rice into the microwave. His phone chimed noisily. He picked it up and saw it was a message from an unknown number.

'It's Valentino, I talked with Halal today. She's pregnant but she doesn't want to tell you because she's scared she'll lose it.  I'm telling you because you're the only one she has to protect her now. You're welcome' Darrell looked at the text in disbelief.

"What is it?" Daria asked noticing her brother's stiff expression. Darrell swallowed hard thinking about his plan with Felicity, what the Fück!

This baby had shït timing,  he face palmed himself. "Darrell,  say something" Daria said looking worried.

"Halal is pregnant" Darrell said with groaned. "Oh my God" Daria gasped. She was happy she'd finally have a niece or nephew but she was also worried because of the danger they would deal with.

"What are we going to do Darrell?" Daria asked.

"We just have to keep it between ourselves for now,  she hasn't even told me yet.  What the hell is wrong with that woman?" Darrell asked frustrated.

So she could tell her ex husband and not him, the father of her baby?

"So that's why she's been so moody, I thought it was something else. Who told you?" Daria asked.

"Valentino" Darrell hissed dropping his phone on the kitchen counter. "I have to think of something quickly, I can't even think at the moment" Darrell said.

So finally he was having a baby, the best news ever and also the worst news ever because some monster was waiting somewhere planning to kill the baby before or after it's birth.

"Calm down Darrell, we'll think of something. No one has to know at the hospital" Daria said.

"I am her freaking gynaecologist to start with, how do I stop her from coming to the hospital without telling her the truth. And what do we do when it's time for her to give birth? I can't protect Halal all by myself, she's so stubborn sometimes, she doesn't listen to me.  I don't know what to do!" Darrell said furiously.

"Darrell calm down, Halal is not alone. She has me,  she has you,  she has Jacques too" Daria said.

Darrell frowned before a thought registered. "You're right, she has Jacques. What if Halal left Nigeria before the baby comes?" Darrell asked.

"I'm not sure she'll want to leave with Jacques but it's a good idea" Daria said.

Darrell nodded. "Well,  we have a few months to come up with something. I'll talk with Felicity" Darrell said.

Daria nodded and smiled.  She had faith that everything would be absolutely fine this time.