When plans go awry

My cousin Chris is a good man who was like many other men in the world. He loved life, women and drinking. His hobby was to spend his hard-earned money on women and alcohol. He partied hard and drank even harder. He was jovial, hefty and had bronze-colored skin, with wavy brown hair and a sly smile. He was not academically challenged, but had not completed college because of what he called “social constructs.” I was sure he had, and still has no idea of where these words came from. He lived alone, but was a few blocks away from his mom’s house, where he had resided prior to that. Chris decided at one point in his life to find a woman, who would be so influential, that he would stop drinking and partying, just to please her. Most women found him annoying, but tolerated him nonetheless. Before he moved from his mother’s house, Chris went to a store one Saturday and met a woman who told him her name was Jennifer. She was attractive, intelligent and had a good body. He instantly felt a bond with her. She dated him for a while, even though his family was not sure why. He eventually told us that she was from a small island in the Caribbean. Our suspicions were formed, on the basis that we were sure she was after him because she wanted to remain in the country, but we never mentioned it to Chris. He seemed so happy, that we were afraid of disappointing him. Chris and Jennifer became somewhat close, in the sense that they were seen out together almost every day. Out of the blue, he told us and other family members that she was pregnant and he needed to be a lot more responsible. Jennifer, on the other hand, was very joyful, but at the same time, she seemed a bit uneasy around his family. She eventually told Chris that we were not happy for them and wanted something to happen to the baby, because he was irresponsible. Chris moved away and stopped seeing or corresponding with us on a regular basis, as he normally did. As the time drew closer for the birth of the baby, Chris began to shop and stayed home more often. He was elated, his first child and he hoped it was a son. He began to wonder how to proceed with marriage to Jennifer. Jennifer was secure in her manipulation and isolation of Chris from his family. He spoke his mind to a childhood friend of his, Bruce, who advised him that it would be better for him to wait until after the birth, seeing that Jennifer would want to look slim and beautiful in her wedding dress. Bruce told us of Chris’ plans, but we could do nothing, because he was an adult. A few months after, the baby was born and he was nothing like Chris, he was full Chinese. Chris almost had a heart attack and refused to see anyone after that. Jennifer, it seems was still with her Chinese boyfriend whom she has been with before Chris. Her boyfriend had no ties to the country, so she needed Chris to help her to form ties. She had told Chris about the ex boyfriend, but told him that she was no longer seeing him. She had told Chris that he was Chinese. In the midst of everything that happened, my sister called Jennifer’s ex-boyfriend and explained the situation to him, he denied having had anything to to with Jennifer, much less sex and eventually decided to pay her a visit. Lo and behold, when her ex-boyfriend arrived, we noticed that he was a full blooded Indian. Everyone was at a loss, because we realized then that Jennifer had not only played Chris, but her ex-boyfriend Raj and the Chinese guy, who wanted nothing to do with her, because he said, it was just a one-night stand and he was married. Our main concern was to encourage Chris to get tested, because it was obvious that no protection was used with either of the three men. In the end, Jennifer ended up being alone in a foreign country with a baby that no one wanted and no closer to having a green card than she was before. The only one who was able to provide her with that was my cousin, who removed from the house and now lives closer to his family. He no longer drinks, or parties excessively as he used to. He has grown very conservative where women are concerned and even listens to us when we counsel him. I guess you could say that he really did find a woman who was influential enough to get him to cut out his bad habits.