My family and I had been happy for months, but one of my kids was almost old enough to go to school, and I had to find a way to pay for her fees. One of my mother’s friends recommended that I’d work as a house help for a lady in the city. I’d be given a room in her house, and would have to cook and clean. After thinking about this for a couple days, I decided to leave my kids with my mother and moved in with the lady and her husband.
The pay was very good and my madam was very kind to me, but after a couple months, her husband started hitting on me. At first, he was just flirting, but later he started touching me. I was scared to say anything because I knew my madam would never believe me, and maybe even fire me. When I called my close friend and told her about this, she advised that I flirt back. My madam’s husband was clearly interested in me. This was my chance to get out of poverty, the husband was rich after all, she said. I really needed money to pay for me kids’ school fees, so I took my friend’s advice and started flirting back.
My madam had been married to her husband for over four years but she was unable to give him a child. I knew that if I got pregnant with his child, he’d take care of me, my child as well as my two other children. I might even become the new madam of the house, I thought. I felt bad thinking this, because his wife was very nice to me, but I had to think of my kids first. So, I started sleeping with my boss behind my madam’s back.
Two months later, I still wasn’t pregnant. I began to think that he was the reason they couldn’t get a child. We were very discrete and my madam never suspected anything. Her husband always gave me a lot of money, and expensive gifts too. I never kept anything though, I would sell everything and send the money to my mother to buy food and to pay for kids’ school.
Two months later, I found out that I was pregnant. My boss was the only man I was sleeping with, so the unborn child was definitely his. One day, after lunch, his wife left the house to meet her friends, and I took the opportunity to tell him the news. I thought he would be happy but I was wrong. He told me to leave the house, and that he couldn’t ruin his marriage for a woman like me. He told me that he’d take care of the child but I had to leave his house before his wife came back. He gave me a lot of money. I packed my things and left as soon as possible. Since then, he’s been sending me a monthly allowance to take care of the child. At least it was enough to pay for the school fees. He remained with his wife and the truth never got out.
23 February, 2023
