Martin’s Plight (Ep. 1)

Pamela excitedly followed Martin as they climbed up the staircase. She was startled when he stopped suddenly on the landing between the fourth and fifth floors.

He looked at her and said, “Do you remember this place?”

“Of course I do,” Pamela replied, with a broad smile that revealed a well-arranged dentition.

This was the exact location where Martin had bumped into Pamela two years ago. He had been employed as a Junior Business Analyst in the Consulting firm that rented the entire sixth floor of the office complex and was in a hurry to catch up with a meeting when he stumbled into her.

“Come and stand here,” said Martin, as he gently led Pamela to stand on the staircase while he stood three steps below her. “I want you to see my face while I’m talking to you without looking into heaven,” he added with a sarcastic smile.

Pamela chuckled as she climbed the staircase. She had gotten used to being taunted by Martin about her short stature.

Pamela, a beautiful lady with an infectious smile, was just a little below 5 ft tall. Still, she carried herself with so much confidence; you would think she was the tallest in the room. Her height was not the only contrast between her and Martin. Apart from being above 6 ft tall, Martin was of a slim structure, with an athletic build. He also possessed an incredible sense of humor.

His friends sometimes tease him that if he ended up in hell, all he needed to do was to crack some jokes to the demons and get them carried away in laughter, and he’ll be able to escape. Back in High School, he was once punished by his Biology teacher for being late. As a punishment, Mr. Bolaji asked Martin to stand before the whole class and explain why he was late. Martin’s response threw the entire class into a fit of laughter, and even Mr. Bolaji could not help himself as he was choking with laughter for several minutes.

Martin said with his romantic, manly voice and eyes filled with emotion. “I have given so much thought to what I’m about to say, and I have spent some time praying about it as well. When we met here two years ago, I never thought I’d one day ask you this question.”

He held Pamela’s hands softly and looked straight into her eyes. By now, Pamela was perturbed, not knowing what this was all about.

“I’ve never felt for any woman the way I feel for you, my dear,” he continued. “Before I met you, I was a simple guy bothered about the many uncertainties of life. But you have infected me with your confidence and taught me the secret of sublime trust in God. You have been to me, a companion, a sister, and a friend, and now I feel it’s time to ask you for something more… My dear Pamela, will you marry me?”

Martin got down on his left knee and reached out for a black box containing a costly diamond ring. Pamela was speechless, with her hands on her mouth and eyes full of shock. Martin smiled and kept his gaze on her, hoping she’d quickly get over the shock and say yes to his proposal. He was already slightly disturbed by the awkwardness of her delay in responding.

In an unexpected twist, Pamela broke into tears. She ran down the staircase, sobbing loudly as she descended to the exit.

It was shocking to see Pamela’s smile dissolve into sobs in such a brief moment. Martin was perplexed. What had he done wrong? Did he say something wrong? Can Pamela really pretend that his proposal came as a shock to her? Was he coming on too fast? What if he had invited his friends to stream this proposal live as his colleague Jimmy had suggested? He was glad he didn’t, as the embarrassment would have been too difficult for him to bear.

Martin closed the black box and slowly walked down the staircase, still pondering on what just transpired. He hoped that, whatever the matter was, Pamela would soon get over it and say yes to his proposal. He was sure she was the one for him.

Martin spent the next four hours trying to reach Pamela, all to no avail. Her number was not going through, and she wasn’t responding to her WhatsApp messages.

“Pamela dear, I’m so sorry if I moved too fast. Can we please talk?” he wrote her.

“We can remain just friends if that’s what you want, but please say something. I’m getting bothered about you.”

“Please call me when you see this message. I’m waiting to hear from you before I sleep.”

“I’ll be at your place tomorrow. We can have an early lunch at Starwell Cafe. I’ll bring you chocolates too. Anything to make you happy.”

He got no response. Martin was not someone to worry easily, but this incident bothered him more than anything he had dealt with in recent years. He finally managed to fall asleep after dialing Pamela’s number more than twenty times and sending her nothing short of fifteen text messages.

The vibration of his phone awakened Martin. He hurriedly unlocked it, hoping it was a response from Pamela. He hissed in disappointment when he saw that it was just a notification to download the latest Samsung update. 30 minutes later, there was another vibration from his phone. Martin instantly leaped from his bed. Pamela had finally sent a response. After several hours of silence, he had expected a lengthy message from her and was both disturbed and confused at the four-word response he got from her.

“I have no womb.”, the message read.

“What did she mean she has no womb? Why was the devil playing with Pamela’s mind? Pamela, of all people, should not be ignorant of the devices of the enemy. She should know that Satan was putting thoughts into her mind to prevent her from marrying him and fulfilling God’s purpose with him. Maybe she was still overwhelmed with emotions and was not thinking logically.”, he thought to himself.

Just then, another vibration from his phone interrupted his thoughts.

“I’m so sorry, Martin. I should have told you this much earlier”.

Martin knew he had to respond to her quickly to deliver her from the lies of the devil he felt had entered into her head.

“Pammy, you are a fruitful vine. God has promised us in His word that there will be none barren among us. Learn to speak positively about yourself. There is power in words. I feel you still need to rest. Please take time to catch some sleep, okay? I’ll be at your place early tomorrow. We can talk this over.”, he wrote.

“My Uncle raped me during the summer break between my JSS3 and SS1. I got pregnant, and he threatened me that I’d have to drop out of school permanently if I did not abort the baby. He took me to his doctor, who attempted a dangerous abortion procedure on me. The procedure got complicated, and I was in so much pain. The doctor said he had to remove my womb completely, or else I would be in so much pain, and I might die. I have never mentioned this to anyone until now.”

Martin sunk slowly to the floor with hands on his head. He couldn’t believe what he had just read. He read through the messages over and over again, hoping Pamela would eventually write something like “I’m just kidding” or “Gotcha…lol” at the end.

He was confused and didn’t know how to respond to her. His confusion turned into sorrow, sorrow turned into pity, and pity turned into anger. So, Pamela knew this and still played along with him, positioning herself properly and responding to the many hints he gave her about marriage. How evil could she be?

When they had their last discussion on the topic, Pamela even mentioned that she’d love to call her first son Daniel. Martin had been so happy because Daniel was his favorite Bible character. What kind of devilish person was she? How could she pretend for so long that all was well? Why did God not reveal this to him ahead of time? What had he got himself into?

“Martin, please respond to me. I really need to hear from you now.”

“Will you be able to forgive me? Or will you confirm the suspicion I’ve always had that no man will agree to come near me if he knows of my situation?”

“I may not have the right words to tell you how sorry I am for not telling you this before now, but my heart is longing to hear you say something, please…”

Just then, a notification popped on Pamela’s screen: “Love of my Life has blocked you.”

Pamela wept.

To be continued…