[Story] A Daytime Nightmare – S01 E04

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 4

When a married person cheats on their partner by having extra marital affair with a third party, you don’t just endanger yourself but also endangers your innocent partner who’s being faithful to you. One thing I love about God is that he knows how to protect his own and shield them from impending dangers. Imagine if Tony had succeeded in making love to Becca that night, who knows what would have happened afterwards. For all we know, he was at a 50/50 chance of getting HIV from Jasmine, regardless of the fact that she was faithful in taking her Anti Retroviral drugs. At this point, all we can do is keep our fingers crossed that his test results comes out Negative; but will it? We would find out as we read on.

After the shocking discovery of the Anti Retroviral drug in Jasmine’s bag, Tony almost died from the panic and shock he felt at that moment. His mind was filled with over a thousand thoughts and his whole body suddenly became numb. Who wouldn’t suffer from a panic attack if they found such drugs in the bag of a lady they were having unprotected sexual intercourse with? It was normal for Tony to react that way because the thought of being diagnosed with HIV and not being able to face his family was enough to murder anyone. The confrontation of a lifetime was about to happen and I believe Jasmine wasn’t prepared for what was coming her way at all.

“Jasmine! Hey wake up!” Tony angrily said as he tapped her body in a bid to wake her up. She still had sleepy eyes but managed to open them. Immediately her eyes opened, the first thing she saw was the drug container in Tony’s hands. That sight alone sent chilled reaction all over her body. Her heart raced non-stop as she sat up to receive what was coming her way.

“What’s this drug for and why do you have it with you?” Tony bluntly asked as he gave her a piercing stare. Jasmine didn’t know what to say or do as she was dumbfounded. After being questioned for the 3rd time, she finally managed to say something; “They are mine!” she boldly revealed. That revelation was shocking and led him to probe further. “Ok, but why do you have them with you?” he asked again and there was silence afterwards.

Jasmine didn’t want to reveal her health status to Tony for fear of being put into trouble for deceiving him and not being truthful from the start. Her body started shivering in the process as she gently bite her lips. Tony wasn’t about to be patient with her, so he told her to speak up or risk being reported to the police and eventually detained. After several attempts to hide the truth by avoiding to answer the question, Jasmine finally let the cat out of the bag; “I am HIV positive but you don’t need to be scared because I take my medications, so the tendency of transfering the virus to you is low” she soberly said.

What a heart wrecking revelation indeed, and the fact that Jasmine had the guts to tell Tony not to be scared, actually made him more sacred and mad. “What the? What the heck did you just say? Are you crazy for deceiving me by not being transparent about your health status? Why on earth would you even think it’s OK to hide behind your trust on these drugs and think you have the right to sleep with people without protections? Who are you to decide that? My God! So I could be HIV Positive at this moment? Ha! What have I done to myself? You wouldn’t go scot-free for deceiving me. Just pray your medications worked and that I’m clean; otherwise, you wouldn’t find funny what’s coming to you. Now get the hell out of my room, get out!” he angrily said and went back to the dresser to finish putting on his suit.

At that moment, the whole atmosphere was heated and didn’t look like the energy was going to calm down anytime soon. Jasmine respected herself and hurriedly dressed up to leave. Before she left, Tony snapped a photo of her, which he planned on using to track her down if his results came back Positive. He wasn’t playing at all and was going to make sure that she paid dearly if anything ever happened to his health. A once cozy morning had turned out to be a disaster.

Shortly after Jasmine left the hotel, Tony suddenly became cold. He sat back on the bed and bent his head downwards. The thought that he could be HIV Positive, made him shiver in fear. At that moment, reality began to hit him as regrets set in. He began to regret ever cheating on his dear wife. The pressure Tony was feeling at that moment was high and his heart never stopped racing. Great fear gripped him as he sat on the bed thinking about his life.

Due to everything that went down that morning, Tony couldn’t attend to his work obligations because he wasn’t in the right frame of mind to do so. There was nothing else on his mind than the fear of being HIV Positive. It was a tough morning and things later worsened when he fell into depression. Tony Googled all day and read over a thousand articles on HIV and about the possibilities of getting the virus from someone that takes their Anti Retroviral drugs. Each article he read opened a new level of fear and worsened his depressed state. It wasn’t funny at all as that was the most traumatic day of his life.

Day in day out, Tony kept to himself and didn’t leave the hotel. He cancelled all work appointments with the excuse that he was terribly sick. He refused to communicate to Becca what was happening for fear of worsening the whole situation.

Up until then, Tony still hadn’t visited the hospital to take a test, in order to ascertain for sure if he had gotten the virus or not. He was really scared of knowing the truth and wasn’t ready for it yet. All his past actions began to dawn on him and made him wish he had been a better and faithful husband to Becca.

Every night, Tony would stay up thinking about his reluctant and nonchalant behaviour to his wife. “I was such a jerk, how on earth did I get here? I could have been a better spouse to my wife, but all I did was neglect and treat her badly; now look where I am. Oh God, I’m so scared of the unknown. What if this result comes out Positive, how will I face my wife and the whole world? I’m finished” he soberly said to himself as he laid on the bed. Life was truly taking a drastic dimension for the young man. Too bad!

Finally, the highly awaited day came when Tony decided to go for the test. It took him a lot of courage and strength to finally go for that test, so as to know his fate. The drive from the hotel to the hospital was the most dreadful thing he had ever done in his life. As Tony got closer to the hospital, his fear worsen because he was getting closer to know his Fate. He prayed silently as he drove down there and kept his fingers crossed.

“Good-day sir, how may we help you?” the nurse at the reception said, “I want to run a complete check up and test to determine my health status” he gently said, “Ok sir, hold on, you will be called in soon” she said and he thanked her. After sitting in the waiting room area for a while, he was called upon and a thorough test was conducted. He was told to return the next day for his text results but he insisted on having it done that same day.

With the high demand and pressure Tony was putting on the health workers, he paid handsomely to compensate them and they gladly began the process immediately. Tony was advised to come back towards the evening time for the test results. He left the hospital and located a cozy spot around to chilled while he waited for the appointed night to go back to the hospital.

Just imagine how low the mighty had fallen. For the first time in life, Tony wasn’t the almighty stock broker and business mogul, but was rather like a child that had his toy seized. A man that barely gave his wife time due to his busy work schedule, was the same man roaming around the hospital area till the appointed time he was given by the health workers to come for his test results. How much life had humbled him indeed.

As evening drew near, Tony made his way back to the hospital for his test results. He was summoned to the doctor’s office and immediately he entered the office, he could tell that something was wrong just by looking at the doctor’s face.

“Hello sir, please have a seat” the doctor said and Tony sat down. “I want to first tell you that you shouldn’t be afraid because it isn’t as bad as people think” the doctor continued. Those words were confusing and gave Tony cold reactions. “Why are you telling me all this? Is anything wrong?” he asked, “Not at all, everything is fine, it’s just that you have a health condition” the doctor revealed.

Gradually, everything began to make little sense and Tony’s fear increased. “Please Doctor, just go straight to the point, what is the problem?” he inquired as his heart raced non-stop.

The doctor looked at Tony with pity and dropped a shocker; “I’m sorry to say this sir, but I have to…….YOU ARE HIV POSITIVE!”

To Be Continued!