RELIGION KEPT US APART, BUT DIDN’T STOP US

My boyfriend and I were madly in love when we were dating. The thing is, we are still in love. We didn’t have any serious issues and we could not live without each other. Religion was the only thing that came between us. My Islamic family was strictly against me marrying a Christian. His family was also against it so we had to put an end to a three-year relationship. At least that is what our parents wanted us to do, so we made them believe that we broke up. The truth is, we have been secretly seeing each other for years even though we are both married now.

 

I was the first to get married. My father linked me up to his friend’s son. It was more like an arranged thing. Even though the guy was good-looking, I wasn’t in love with him. I was even against it. But my boyfriend urged me to marry the guy. He promised to never leave me and told me the marriage was just a formality and we could still be together, so I went ahead. About two years later, he also got married and both of us were meeting in a single room he rented somewhere. We knew it was wrong. But it wasn’t our fault. Because of religion, our families forced us to separate and live our lives to please them. We have found a solution by being happy and marrying from our religions at the same time.

 

Now, I have three children. I know one of them is my boyfriend’s daughter. Her very fair complexion gives her away and some family members have playfully pointed out how different she looks from my two other children. My husband however believes she looks like his grandmother who was fair as well. Only I and my boyfriend know the truth. I feel like we have gone too deep to stop along the way. Yet I don’t see how any of us can end it. My husband is a good man and I care about him too. My boyfriend is also not doing bad in his marriage. He has a child with his wife. But what we share is so special. We have nurtured our love for years and if not for our annoying parents, we would have married each other.

The issue is, I am pregnant again. Looking at the timeframe of the pregnancy, it is for my boyfriend. This time he wants me to abort it because we cannot risk any more suspicions. But I want to have his babies. It is something I want to do. Having one daughter with him is not enough and I want more. He is insisting I should abort it but I don’t want to. He has threatened to end things with me if I don’t abort the pregnancy and I feel like my whole world is coming to an end. If I confess to my husband, he will never look at me the same way.