COMPILED STORIES WRITTEN BY DIANA

30 Years ago

Onyeyechi and Ignatius met in the University their relationship got off with a bad start but soon after they became friends and gradually they got engaged and in a few months time they were preparing for their wedding ceremony. 3 months later Onyeyechi and Ignatius went for their usual family check-up (they decided to start ever since their wedding.) After the check-up ”You both are normal but ….. ” When the doctor trailed off with a ut Onyeyechi and Ignatius got worried so they waited for the doctor to spill the beans ”CONGRATULATIONS you are a few weeks pregnant ”.

For a few minutes their brains stopped functioning and the only thing they could think of was the doctors words which kept on replaying in their heads like a track on repeat then tears rolled down Onyeyechis cheeks while she murmured ”Im pregnant ” ”Im going to be a mother ” Then Ignatius felt pain seeing her cry thinking she was not ready to be a mother yet so he tried to console her even though he himself was happy he was ready to wait for her then her next words made his day. ”We are going to be parents. This is the happiest day of my life. ” The doctor left the couple to celebrate the good news while she attended to other patients. That night Ignatius took Onyeyechi on a date to celebrate when they got home they slept peacefully since it was a Friday night and they don go to work on weekends. Few months later Onyeyechi was at home on a Saturday afternoon with Ignatius when she went into labor. While she was in the labor room Ignatius paced about Uncomfortable especially when hearing his wife scream in pain. His throat felt dry.But due to fear and panic he couldn remember that there was something like water. Soon after Onyeyechi stopped screaming then a nurse walked out of the labor room he immediately grabbed her arm and began firing questions at her about his wife. ”I don know sir please behave rationally you are in a hospital ” After answering him she moved on to get what she came out for then she went back into the labor room few minutes later the doctor came out wearing a bright smile the distressed Ignatius went up to him and immediately began to fire questions at him after calming Ignatius the doctor congratulated him and informed him that his wife had successfully given birth to a bouncing baby boy. With tears of joy Ignatius went in to see his wife and child. He met Onyeyechi and their child sleeping peacefully. They named him Stephen .Three years later onyeyechi gave birth to a bouncing baby girl they called Victoria. Victoria was at home with her elder brother. She had just been tucked into bed. Stephen went back to his room when the butler came in with a bomb that forever changed their lives ”Your parents have been confirmed dead , please accept my sincere condolences ” Stephen was shocked with the news and tried to assimilate what had just been said to him. While mourning his parents he realized that he was now responsible for his late parents duties though it was too much for a young boy of his age but he was determined. The next day he gave excuses to Victoria which she believed wholeheartedly. When she went to school Stephen began working. When he couldn give excuses anymore he finally told her the truth and comforted her while she mourned she got better faster than he thought. Soon she was back to her normal self. Victoria was in school chatting with her newly found best friend , when she was called to the principals office when she got there she was informed that her brother/guardian has been hospitalized and had only 5% chance of survival. Victoria fainted immediately she received the news, words where passed across to Tayo, he ran to the school as soon as he heard the situation on ground. Victoria was revived and immediately taken to the hospital by Tayo . From the school to the hospital Victoria cried in Tayos arms , when they arrived at the hospital she jumped off the car and ran towards the reception but she then say a word because coherently Tayo was behind her,so he explained to the receptionist , the patient whom the needed to see and there relationship with the patient. When they got to Stephens ward, Victoria walked in only to find her brother looking pale and ash. She wept bitterly and later slept off while weeping in her sick brothers bed.when she got up she has the urge to use the restroom.Victoria had only taken a ten minutes break to visit the restroom when her brother died. She was hysterical and refused to believe it. Tayo had tried to comfort her but to no avail.

A month later

A meeting was held and one of Victorias uncles named Ndubisi was given custody of both she and the company. While her familys wealth was shared among the rest of her fathers brothers. When she moved in with her uncle and his family was when her hell began. She did, all the house chores, all of her cousins assignment. Meanwhile the company her father and brother had built over the years had nosedived hitting rock bottom. Her happy moments were only when she snuck out to see Tayo which she paid dearly for.

When Tayo travelled to Canada to further his studies ,he had paid for Victorias first and second year tuition fee including her accommodation fee. When Victoria got to her third year, she had to start up a pastry business in order to retain herself in school. For that period she was able to pay her tuition fee,I .C.T fee and renew her accommodation fee all by herself. After schooling she went for the compulsory youth service (NYSC). She was posted to Kaduna as an information technology(I.T) instructor in a government school. Due to her hard-working nature she was given a 30% bonus add to her previous pay. After her Nysc camp she could cater for herself in terms of accommodation and feeding but she was running out of money. At that time many graduates were seen carrying their cv from one company to another because of technology development and creation human like robots that seem to do better jobs than real humans,this has lead to a very high rate of unemployment . Six months after her NYSC Victoria had no job of her own. A day came when she realized and said to herself ”I can believe that Ive been this stupid I studied computer engineering and know how to bake I could employ myself ” and also employe lots of people, these will help to easy the rate of unemployment.The next day Victoria withdrew all her money and made a loan appeal to the bank then built a house like structure and began Inventing different types of pastries which she started selling and began broadcasting a web show , showing how to make simple dishes and fries. Business grew fast due to technology and she began to employ lots of people as she initially planned. Soon she started baking and her pastries were sort for vastly. Slowly her business climbed its present status