"I had watched a multitude of Nigerian movies while growing up, and most of them had the same storyline. However, one thing I learned from watching these Nigerian films was how to identify if a girl is pregnant. The symptoms were always the same in every movie. So, when I saw my friend's hostel roommate, Deborah, exhibiting those same symptoms, I knew she was pregnant. But I didn't tell anyone and kept it to myself. I didn't realize I wasn't the only one who had noticed until the other girls in the hostel brought it up.
It was a sunny Monday afternoon, and my friends, Nina, Favour, Amaka, and I decided to visit the hostel to charge our phones after our classes were over for the day. We met Nina's hostel roommates in their room and, just like other days, we were having a gossip session. "Did you guys notice that Deborah has been throwing up, and she is getting fat?" said Preye, Nina's roommate. That was the only statement we needed to kick off the gossip about Deborah's supposed pregnancy. We were so focused and interested in our conversation that we didn't even bother to care who heard and who didn't hear.
The next day, the rumor had spread all around the hostel blocks, and everyone "knew" that Deborah was pregnant. I couldn't understand how the news got out, but it did. I went to Nina's room to see how Deborah was reacting, and when I got there, she was having a heated argument with more than six girls in the hostel. I quickly went to stand behind her as her backup, even though I didn't know what they were fighting about. I tried to settle the matter amicably, but the other girls wouldn't have it. When I saw that they weren't listening, I dragged Deborah to her room and closed the door to prevent them from fighting.
Immediately after we walked into the room, Deborah burst into tears. "How can they say that I am pregnant?" she said, sobbing. My eyes widened at the realization that it was because of our petty gossip that they were fighting. "I am not even pregnant; yes, I've been throwing up, but that is because I can't digest my food very well," she continued in tears. The guilt that I felt at that point was overwhelming. We had been busy gossiping and barking up the wrong tree when she wasn't even pregnant. If only we had confronted her rather than gossiping behind her back. I wanted to tell her that it was me and her roommates who had started the rumor, but I was afraid of how she would react. I am still afraid of how she will react because this happened this week."
