Private Lies (Ch.1-2)

CHAPTER 1

Ronke Ayo stepped out of the car into the humid Lagos heat.
It was going to be another melting one that day.

She was a dark girl with long braids almost down to her waist; a real beauty with dark eyes, a slight pointed nose and full lips. She was wearing a pair of tight blue jeans and a fitted white shirt to go. On her feet were the new white high-heeled slippers she had asked her father for an exorbitant amount to buy. Ronke took fashion seriously, no one could argue that.

"Girl, you're fine, stop looking at your reflection, we're late for class." Tonye said.

Tonye was her closest friend. They had been in the same secondary school, before entering the University of Lagos to both study Geology. They usually came to school together in Ronke's chauffer driven car thanks to daddy dearest, Ronke always passed by to pick Tonye up from her off-campus flat. Tonye had an even darker skin than Ronke, curvier though slimmer and was a head taller. Ronke felt she always had to be in heels to stand next to her, which was practically every day. Tonye had a very striking face, with chiselled features. Her nose, clear white eyes and black pupils with a full mouth (on which she never spared the lip-gloss) made her very attractive.

They were usually similarly dressed, like they had a theme for the day. Today was for blue and white. Tonye wore her light blue capris with a flimsy white top that flaunted her cleavage.

Ronke smiled, picked her books out of the car and said to Biodun, the chauffer,
"Please be back here by 5.30 latest."

"Yes, Ma." he replied.

Turning around to walk alongside Tonye, she said,

"I just hope Mr. Nice isn't early today, 'cause we're late."

"Yeah, tell that to Pam. She needs enough time to stare at him," and they both laughed.

Pam was the third person making them "three musketeers" as they were fondly called on campus. She usually made it late to class, except when Mr. Nice was coming. His name actually was Mr. Chuka, but because he was more than average handsome, they all called him Mr. Nice.
Pam claimed to be in love with him, from afar anyway. He had no clue.

"Puhleese, I wonder when she'll get over it," said Ronke

"Probably soon, this is only our second semester, she still has three more years to fall in love with every other lecturer."

"Well, but not everyone is Mr. Nice."

"Besides, he's married, so out of bounds."

They stepped into the classroom, heads turned as they did so, but they were oblivious to the attention they were getting.
Unfortunately, the air conditioner was broken and the class was damn hot, the windows all open, but the ceiling fans didn't make a difference either.

Aiming for the coolest seat near the window at the back of the class, Ronke was on the lookout for Pam, who suddenly appeared behind them grumbling,

"Imagine waking up early to catch Mr. Nice and it's already thirty minutes to the end of class but he's not here."

"You know, you should actually come in late for his lectures, that way he'll notice you," Tonye said.

"Ha! What kind of advice is that?" cried Ronke

"Miss Goody Two-Shoes," Pam said to Ronke.

She was always being teased by her friends as being too "goody" simply because she had her own virtues they didn't necessarily agree with.

"Thanks for the tip, Tonye love," Pam continued.

"Anytime, dear."

Just then Mr. Nice walked in; everyone suddenly fell into place in their seats.

"I love this guy," whispered Pam to Ronke

"Hmm," Ronke said to hush her up.

Pam was what Ronke secretly called a sex goddess, Light skinned in complexion with an hour glass figure; she was about the most beautiful girl Ronke knew and if not for the fact that they were friends, would have felt intimidated by her. Ronke had never met anyone so self-confident about her body, and that was the first thing that always caught the attention of any guy who came across her.

Mr. Nice was talking, something about an assignment everyone had crashed, but Ronke's mind was elsewhere. She was just remembering she had a date that night with Leo and was thinking about what to wear. Nothing too showy, she thought. She didn't want him getting the wrong idea.

She and Leo had met just 5 months ago at a party and he had caught her eye. They had had a few dances together and at the end of the day, he asked for her number, but she had warded him off. Next thing they had bumped into each other at school here a couple of months ago. She found out he was a third year Law student, one of the guy-men in school.

She was so taken by him, the only problem was he wanted her in his bed ASAP, and she felt she was still so young to have sex, she was only nineteen; so every date practically ended in an argument.
What was the whole big deal about having a boyfriend in the first place, she wondered. Besides, even if she were to lose her virginity, she wanted it to be with someone she had known for at least a year. Her friends thought it was childish, but she didn't care.

Just then her phone started vibrating. She checked to see who was calling, it was Leo. She had to take the call.
"Please, excuse me sir," she said to Mr. Nice and quickly rushed out of the classroom before he had a chance to ask where she was going.

"Hi baby," she said when she was sure she was out of earshot from the classroom in the hallway.

"How's my girl?" Leo asked, his voice a deep baritone over the phone.

"You're calling when I'm supposed to be in class."

"But I miss my baby; can't I call to tell you that?"

"Of course you can, after class, or you could at least send me a text."

"So, are we still on for today?"

"Yeah, sure we are."

"Okay then I'll pick you up by 8, see you then," he said and cut the line.

She still had the whole day ahead of her; it was only now a little after ten in the morning. Her last lecture was ended by 2pm, enough time for her to get her hair and nails done at the school salon before the chauffer came back. Gosh the thing about the chauffer, she just didn't understand why her dad won't allow her drive herself to school. He kept making her look like Daddy's little girl on campus, she didn't need that.

She walked back towards the class.
Meanwhile in the classroom, Pam whispered to Tonye,

"Where'd she go?"

"I think Leo called," Tonye replied.

"Young love; we'll see how long it lasts."

"Shush, we're in class."

***********

Leonard Obichere walked down the double step to his car. Girls on the campus referred to him as Slick. Yes, that's what he thought of himself too. He was tall, about six foot two, dark, almost black he liked to call himself, and definitely had a handsome face that made the chics always want to be around him. He loved the attention. He loved girls. Besides, the fact that he had money, lots of it to spare didn't hurt either.

His father, Senator Obichere was a political figure to contend with in the state. Rumours that he had put the present Governor on seat were not just rumours, but a fact. Leo was the only male of three children. His two elder sisters had since been married and out of the house. He was now living like an only child at home, his mother pampered him. He could get anything he wanted, well almost anything, he thought, referring to Ronke.

Damn, she was cute, but taking a bit more of his energy than he had expected. Usually, he was able to convince a girl to sleep with him in less than two weeks max, but Ronke was being all pure with him. He should have just gotten ahead to someone else, but Ronke was different. There was just something about her that made him feel so good about himself when he was with her. And truth be told, he liked the feeling.

He put the keys into the ignition of his father's latest car, a Mercedes Benz e-class that was bought brand new a few months ago. He wasn't spoilt, he just liked to think of himself rather as privileged.

As he drove off, he hoped the night was going to end well, with Ronke finally agreeing to go home with him.

No thanks to Lagos traffic, he was ten minutes late getting to Ronke's at Ikeja.
He knocked on the gate and Ali, the guard, checked the peephole and seeing who it was, quickly opened the gate.

"Ali, my man, how're you doing?"

"I'm well, sir. Welcome."

"How's your family?" Leo asked as he slipped Ali a five hundred naira bill.

"Fine. Thank you Sir. Let me hurry to call her," and with that he rushed off.

These were the little perks of doe, he said to himself as he went back into his car to wait for her.
She came out a few minutes later, looking so breathtakingly beautiful. Her braids had been packed up into a bun and she was wearing a pale blue off-the-shoulder knee length dress that hugged her body in all the right places.

"Wow, how do you manage to look even more beautiful every time I see you?" he asked as she stepped into the car.

She leaned forward a bit for him to kiss her lightly on the lip.

"Flattery will take you everywhere," she said jokingly.

One thing she loved about him, he always noticed everything about her.

She settled into her seat and asked, "So where are we going?"

"First to the island, a friend of mine's party for whatever, then to Kunle's spot, Flash is performing there today, and then who knows," he grinned. "You're free for the night, right?"

"Yep. Told dad I'll spend the night at Tonye's place."

"Cool. And being a Friday night, there's no hurry getting home tomorrow. TGIF."

"TGIF?" she asked, puzzled.

"Thank God it's Friday, duh," he laughed.

********************

Pamela sat down on her sit by the window on the flight getting ready to take off to Port Harcourt. She hated going home, but she had to. She brought out a Cosmo Magazine she had borrowed from Ronke and was about flipping through when she noticed who was coming to sit next to her, Mr. Nice.
What a coincidence, she couldn't believe it.

"Good day, sir," she said.

"Hi, em..."

"Pamela, Pamela Ono."

"Yes, Ono, how are you?"

She simply nodded her head.

"You're off to PH?" Mr. Chukka asked

"Yes, Sir."

Wow, she had news for the girls. She was sitting next to Mr Nice. It promised to be an interesting flight.
The flight attendants came round to prepare everyone for take off. This was the part of flying she hated. The idea of being lifted off the ground without any personal control. She felt helpless.

Mr. Chukka noticed her tense beside him and asked,
"Is there a problem?"

"N-no sir, I'm fine," she stuttered

"Of course you are fine," he said, looking her up to down, "I mean what's wrong? Nervous about take off?"

She couldn't believe this, was he flirting with her? No, she was just imagining it because she wanted him to. The plane dipped a bit in altitude and just then, Mr. Chukka put his arms around her. What the hell was going on?

"Em, I'll be okay, sir," she said.

"So how come you're going by air if you're scared?"

"I don't like the night bus, and if I spend the whole day travelling by road tomorrow, I still have to come back Sunday. But this way, I get to have 2 full days at PH and be back first flight on Monday morning."

"Cool, what's in Port Harcourt?"

"My family. My dad's in the hospital on admission for Diabetic foot."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear about that. It can be tough; my aunt that brought me up had Diabetes before she died. They require so much care."

"Exactly," she said, happy he understood. "My mother complained I haven't been in to see him since we started school, so I finally got money to make the journey."

"Hmm, big chic uh?" he mocked.

She knew he was refering to her being able to afford to fly, if only he knew better.

"Nothing like that, more like community effort."

"Yeah right. You're very beautiful, and with that face, you have the world at your feet," he smiled and looked her all over again.

She blushed. What was wrong with her was she sending out signals that she liked him? She had read somewhere that guys always sensed when a girl had the hots for them.
Gosh, this was crazy, much as she liked him; she'd never dreamed she'd ever talk to him like this one on one. Besides, he was her lecturer for Christ's sake.

"What are you in PH for?" she asked and suddenly realizing herself said, "Sorry sir, none of my business."

"No, it's ok. I have a little business there. We'll probably come back together same flight Monday."

They were now cruising steadily and she was more relaxed. She opened the magazine and began flipping through.

"Where exactly do you stay in Port?" He asked.

"At D-line. Just beside Streamline."

"Really? The manager's my friend."

"Oke?" she asked.

"Yes. You know him?"

"Of course!" she laughed. Small world, she said to herself.

"Small world," he said aloud.

"That's what I was just thinking. Oke is like a senior brother to me. He's my
brother's friend."

"How many are you in your family?"

"We're five children. I'm the second child, first girl. The rest are all girls."

"How old are you?"

"I'm actually going to be twenty-two in August,"

"That's all grown-up. So you didn't start school early?"

"No, when I passed JAMB the first time, there was no money for my education; my brother was already in the university. So I had to wait till now."

"Better late than never, right," he smiled.

Please stop smiling; she thought to herself. He was making her mushy all over.
She turned again to her magazine.

"Is it more interesting than my company?" He asked amusingly, pointing to the magazine.

"No, not that, it's just that I don't want to intrude," she said politely.

"Well, I'm not complaining am I?"

"No sir."
"Look, feel free with me, we're not in class, ok?"

Tell me about it. How free do you want me to be?

"Thank you, sir."

"My name's Nnamdi Chukka, as I'm sure you know. If you forget that I'm your lecturer, I'm not much older than you, so we can be friends, right?"

"Right, sir," Pam said, and deciding to be bold about it, asked, "How's your wife?"

"Oh, you know I'm married?" he laughed.

"Yes, sir, I think everyone does." She wondered why he didn't wear a wedding band.

"Well, she's okay." He replied.

"Do you have any kids?"

"Yes," he said, she could hear the pride in his voice, "We have a son together, he's two and a half."

"That's so nice. Do you hope to have more?" she inquired

"Well we'll see how it goes. For me, the fewer the better."

"Yes, I understand," she smiled sadly as she thought of her own family.

She kept thinking of how things might have been different if there had been just two or three children. Definitely better.
It was amazing how the rich had a few kids while the poor had lots of them.

"What's on your mind?" he asked, intruding her thoughts.

"Nothing much. Just thinking how much more convenient it is to have fewer kids."

"Tell me about it. I come from a family of eleven children."

"What?!" she exclaimed, "Was your mother getting pregnant everyday?"

"Incidentally, my father had two wives. The first one left, so he married my mother like a year later. My mother had just four. But by the time she started having kids, my father already had seven kids to take care of. The seven include the two he had outside his first marriage. They weren't actually living with us, but they were almost always around."

"That must have been tough."

"Yeah, but the good part of it is, it toughened me up. Made me my own man. I was married by the time I was twenty-seven."

"How long have you been married?"

"Four years now."

"Hmm," she said, quickly doing the math that made him thirty-one, nine years older than she was.

"I know what you're thinking. That I'm nine years older than you," he said, looking into her eyes and making her feel so uncomfortable.

"I was just wondering, because you seem so young, unlike the other lecturers."

"I'm young. I finished school early, rushed through my masters, and here I am now."

"It's just that, is being a lecturer all you want from life?"

It was no big secret that university lecturers weren't well paid.

"Ha ha, I'm always being asked that. The thing is I do other stuff on the side, but I need an everyday job too that is sure to pay at the end of the month. One thing about having a family, you have to feed them, no excuses."

"I guess it's not easy being a man."

"You don't know the half of it," he murmured to himself.


****************************


The party was going well, but she was tired and wanted to go.
The club was jam-packed with people. She wasn't really into crowd.
Several guys had asked her to dance and Leo was right now dancing with some girl who was viciously rubbing her body all over him. How disgusting. Didn't she know Leo never went for the obvious?

Ronke knew Leo was someone all the girls wanted, and everyday she kept hearing about how girls did things to get his attention, or how Slick (as he was popularly called) usually flirted with them. Leo loved girls no doubt, but she had started the relationship with him on the grounds that she would be his only one. She took another sip of her drink and was looking at Leo, waiting for him to look her way so she could signal him that she wanted to leave.

"Hello," a deep baritone voice said behind her and she turned to see who it was. "I'm Brandon."

Brandon-whoever-he-was stood over a head taller than she, just as dark with a clean shaven head and a thin moustache. A dazzling smile, she noted, but right now, she wasn't in the mood for another dance.

"I'm done dancing," she said.

"Yeah, I know. I thought you'd like a little company while waiting for Leo."

"You know Leo?" Who didn't know Leo in this town?

"Know him? Leo and I go way back."

"Really?" She asked, not really interested.

"Yes, really. Why don't we sit over there?" He asked, pointing to the sofa by the lounge where it was less crowded, away from the bar where they were.

"Leo will look for me any second now. Besides I don't think he'll find it funny if he comes to see me in the corner with some guy."

"Well, he does seem pretty occupied at the moment," Brandon said as they both watched Leo put his hands on the girl's butt pulling her closer to him as they swung side to side.

"Yeah, I have to go," she said and walked off to the dance floor towards Leo.

She tapped him on the back lightly and as he turned, she asked,

"Can we dance?"

"Hi baby," he smiled as he saw her. To the girl he said, "Thanks for the dance" and turning back to Ronke he took her into his arm and with one sweep kissed her deeply, his tongue dipping into her mouth as she struggled to catch her breath. He wrapped his arms around her as they started swaying to the beat and slowly removed his lips from hers.

Mm mm mm, the guy was such a good kisser, she said to herself even as her heart was still beating rapidly from the kiss.

"What was that for?" she asked.

"To tell everyone here you're mine. You look so good. Don't want anyone getting any ideas."

"How very territorial," she laughed.

"Call it what you want," he said, stroking her back lightly with the tips of his fingers.

"I'm tired; this is the third party this night."

Squeezing her palm, he whispered into her ears,

"I'll just pay a penny and we'll go"

"Ok."

She stood by the corner waiting for him and turned when she heard,

"What was that all about?" It was Brandon, again.

"Why do you keep creeping up on me?" she asked, a little irritated.

"You're the most beautiful girl here tonight", he smiled his dazzling smile once again.

"Yeah, I know, Leo told me that," she said.

"Ouch," he laughed. "She's got fangs. So all the PDA was so no one can come close to you?"

"PDA?" she asked, puzzled.

"Public display of affection"

"Well, it didn't work, did it? You're here."

"I want you. See ya, soon." And with that, he gave her a quick peck on the lips and was gone before she could say anything else.

A few seconds later, Leo came back from the restroom.

"Can we go now?" she asked.

"Yes, love, your place or mine?"

"Ha ha, very funny," she said dryly.

As they settled into the car and he got it started, Leo asked,

"Seriously, Ronnie, why can't we go back to my place?"

"You know why, let's not go through this again, you'll just end up getting angry as usual."

"Why not, we're dating, aren't we?"

"Yes, Leo, but I'm just not ready for it now."

"Why? Are you saving it for your wedding night?" he asked mockingly.

"Please just take me to Tonye's place, please, I'm fagged out."

Without saying a word, he drove off.

*********************

She had slept off while trying to do her physics assignment. The sound of a soft knock on the door woke her up. Her one bedroom flat was quite well furnished for a student with wall to wall rugging, air conditioners in the living room and bedroom. The living room was equipped with a state of the art sound system, a twenty-four inch TV and a DVD player. There was a black leather three-seater couch, a chaise lounge on the opposite end and a rocking chair by the side of the door.

Tonye woke up from her queen sized bed that was filled with fluffy pillows and had been ruffled by her sleep to put on her bedroom slippers. As she stepped on the soft sinking rug, she checked the time from her bedside clock to see the time was two-thirty five a.m.
It must be Ronke, she thought.

"Who's it?" she asked aloud.

"It's me, Ronke, open up please."

As she opened up the door, she said, "Welcome back, party chic."

"You know I'm not a party chic. It's all about Leo, if it's happening, he has to be there."

"And you have to be there with him, as Leo's babe."

"Whatever. Any food, I'm starving," Ronke asked as she walked towards the refrigerator in the kitchen to open it.

"But you were supposed to bring take-out for me," accused Tonye.

"You know how all these things go, there's never any food, just plenty of booze."

"No I don't. I've been out just once at night, so I'm not one to talk. Anyway, how was your night?"

"It was ok; there was just this silly guy I met towards the end at the club, Brandon. Cute, but full of himself."

"Silly? Aren't they all?" Tonye asked with a sigh.

"Free your mind, Tonye. You need to get a life outside books. We're both just turning nineteen. Our whole life is ahead of us. And like they say, you can never regain your youth."

"Yeah yeah. Meanwhile, Dr. Bashorun killed us with the physics assignment."

"Mmh, if it's tough for you then I have no chance. That man's just angry at the world, so he expresses it through undoable physics assignments."

"Truly, I mean is it my fault his wife left him cause he was impotent or that he drives a 70s volks?"

"Ha ha ha," Ronke laughed, "please let's go and sleep."

"Aren't you going to eat anymore?"

"There's nothing in this fridge except noodles, I'm too tired to make it and I just don't have the patience now to start defrosting anything frozen"

"Suit yourself."





CHAPTER 2

Ronke turned off the TV as she heard the sound of her father's car enter the compound and ran out to hug him.

Mr. Tunji Ayo was a robust man who would have broken quite a few hearts in his time; he was almost always dressed in traditional kaftans. Ronke was his only child and he had lost her mother during childbirth for their second child, but unfortunately, even his little son had died a couple of days later. Ronke was barely two years at the time, so she had no memories of his dear wife, Sade. Ronke had turned out to be just like Sade and every time he looked at her he remembered Sade and why he had fallen in love with her. He loved Ronke so much, probably was a bit too protective over her, but he couldn't help it. If only Sade had stayed alive to see what a woman their daughter had become. She had died before he had become a made man. She had died without achieving half her dreams. As much as he could, he tried to make life a breeze for his only child, not wanting her to go through all the struggles he and Sade had gone through. His extended family all thought he was spoiling her, but they didn't know his daughter the way he did, she was principled. She was far from spoilt. Another thing he loved her for.

"Oh daddy, welcome home, I missed you yesterday," Ronke said.

"Missed me? You were the one who left me to go and party."

"Dad, I have to have a social life."

"Do you see me stopping you? Just don't do anything..."

"I wouldn't do," she finished off for him, laughing. "Dad, you're lines are so dated"

He laughed also.

"Let's go in. What's food? I'm starving," he said as he put his arm around her and they walked back into the Ayo mansion.

"I made some Egusi soup, with goat mea.t"

"Hmm, my favorite. Any pounded yam to go?"

"Yes, I told Tina to make it."

Tina was the cook who lived in at the staff quarters of the mansion; she had been working for the Ayos for over eight years. She had thought Ronke all she knew about cooking, and was like an aunt to her.

While they were eating their meal, Ronke asked,
,
"How was the wedding?" He had just returned from an employee's wedding.

"Very nice, you know, everything was well organized. Sweety, the day you get married, we'll close down Lagos."

"Dad, I'm just in my first year and only nineteen."

"I know dear, but these things happen so fast and sometimes as you get into the university you meet who you'll end up marrying."


Ronke let it slide because she knew she couldn't win an argument with him.

"Meanwhile, the student in the flat beside Tonye's own is moving out because she's just gotten married. I was thinking if you can come and look at the place to see if it's okay for me," she said and held her breath while waiting for him to reply.

When they had started the school, she and Tonye had wanted to get a place together, but her dad wanted her to get her own place, or so he said so he could delay her leaving the house. He didn't want to let her go.

"Ronke, it's not about the suitability, I just think you're still too young to live on your own for now."

"Ok then, let me go and stay with Tonye. I need to be in the school environment. I can't read well at home," she said, frustration showing in her voice.

"Tonye is a nice girl, I know, but what I want for you is to have a place to yourself."

Ronke dropped her fork that had a piece of meat she was about to eat and said,

"Then let me stay in the hostel if I'm too young to stay on my own."

"You? Hostel?" then he laughed. "You won't even be able to cope, and besides, the hostel is no place for my girl."

"The people staying there are human beings also."

"Look, I am your father and I love you very much, so you know I only want what's best for you," he said with a mouthful of food.

That's what he always said. Sometimes she wished she weren't his only child, so there was love to spread all around. Much as she loved him, she needed to be free from him a bit.

"What about my going to school?" she asked.

He looked up at her and said, "What about it?"

"Can't I start driving myself? You said it yourself that I'm a good driver."

"Yes you are, but you see after lectures, you may be too tired to drive back. With a driver you can always relax on your way back home."

"Daddy, the thing about it is that I'm practically the only student that is chauffer-driven at school everyday. Everyone stays on campus and those that don't, drive down themselves or take transport. I feel like I'm still in Secondary school," she complained.

"Ronke," he laughed, "Thank God I also went to the university if not you would have killed me. In my days, I suffered staying in the hostel and had to leave early so I could trek to meet up my lectures. If anyone had offered me a chauffer-driven car then..."

And then he went on and on in his usual manner about how tough it had been for him and how even when he had met her mother he had had nothing to offer her, but himself and Ronke just zoned out.

***********************



Pamela sat beside her father in the hospital as he slept.

He looked much older than she remembered. That's what illness did to people. His condition was getting worse. The doctors had said that because of his poor glycaemic control the wound on his leg was taking a very long time to heal. He had gotten the wound just from a little fall. The wound was getting bigger everyday instead of healing and now they were suggesting above the knee amputation because gangrene was setting in.

Problem was there was just no money. She didn't know what to do. Her mother was only a seamstress and before the illness her father was a store clerk at a bottling company. His salary had been peanuts and they had to farm on the side with the sale of their harvest supporting them.

Dare, her elder brother didn't seem to realize he was the first child. He didn't yet have a job after graduating, and apparently was not concerned about it. He moved around with his friends every night coming home drunk, if he even bothered to come home at all. Her mother was tired of talking and cried everyday to God asking why he gave her only one son, and a useless one at that. It angered Pam when she did that because she kept telling her mother it wasn't the sex of the child that counted. It only made Pam very determined to make something out of her life.

Talk of the devil, her mother just walked into the ward. They couldn't even afford the side ward of the teaching hospital so they had admitted him into the general ward. It was terrible; they had no privacy at all.

"Welcome, Mummy."

"Pam how was your night?" asked her mother. Despite being poor, her mother was an obese woman. It made Pam so body conscious because she never wanted to be that size.

"He didn't sleep early because we were up all night gisting. He fell asleep early hours of the morning."

"Okay. But the night was peaceful?"

"Yes mummy, it was."

Pamela's mother sighed. She wished she could sleep one night and awake to a brand new life. One without poverty and sorrow. She dropped the basket of food she had brought with her.

"What's he having this morning?" Pam asked as she assisted her mother to arrange the plates.

"What else? Wheat bread and eggs without the yolk."

"Hah, this diabetic diet is so dry, I mean..."

"Well, we don't have a choice do we? Your father and his stubbornness. If since five years ago he had been diagnosed he had been keeping to his diet, we wouldn't be in this mess right now."

"Mummy, we both know it's not easy. Besides, there's no use crying over spilt milk."

Just then her father stirred in his sleep and woke up to see both of them.
"Millie, Pam, you're both here," he said still a bit drowsy.

"Daddy, good morning."

"How was your sleep?" asked Millicent

"This mattress is terrible, but what can I say? Were you able to see Jumbo?"

"As usual, his wife said he's out of state. Ehi, I don't think he wants to help."

Jumbo was Ehi's cousin who had suddenly made a lot of money, though no one was sure how. He had promised to help with the hospital bills when her father was first admitted, but since then he had been difficult to get a hold of.

"Mummy, I don't think she's lying. I saw him in Lagos two weeks ago."

"You didn't tell me. What did he say?" asked Millicent.

"Nothing, he didn't see me. He came to see a girl in my hostel."

Ehi shook his head, saying,

"That man will never change."

"If only you had spoken with him, at least we'll know whether or not he will help. He's the only hope we have," her mother complained.

This was one of the reasons she didn't like coming home, there was never anything to be happy about.

"Mummy, I promise that by the end of this month, I'll be able to get the deposit for the surgery."

"How? By robbing a bank?" her mother asked, with sarcasm in her voice.

"The scholarship money from Shell, they're to pay into my account by then."

"It's nice to be optimistic, Pam, but the truth is that sometimes these things get delayed. They may not even pay you till you're in your final year. It's not impossible."

"Don't worry, I'll get it."

"Sixty-five thousand naira no be come chop. Don't say what you can not do."

"Why not go home and rest now your mother is here to take over," Ehi said, trying to change the subject. His wife and Pam were always at logger heads.

"Okay. Today is Mary's turn to sleep over, but I'll still breeze by in the evening."

"Alright, when you get home, make the soup at once for me, I already bought everything, then send Mary down with it."

"Yes, mummy."


***********************


Leo woke up from sleep with a banging headache. All the late night partying and the alcohol was telling on him. After dropping Ronke off yesterday, he had gone back to the club and had ended up coming home with some girl, what was her name? He couldn't remember.

He sat up, suddenly realizing she wasn't on the bed with him. Anyway, thank God she had already left so he didn't have to go through the whole ordeal of trying to make her leave. He had brought her back to his off-campus place near school. That was why he kept the flat in the first place, for his own privacy, because in as much as he could very well do what he wanted at home, he didn't want his parents to think he had a different girlfriend every week.

"Hey, Slick, you're up," Miss whoever walked into the room wearing the T-shirt he had had on last night.

Imagine the audacity! Just because he had slept with her didn't give her the right to wear his new Tommy Hilfiger T-shirt.

"Oh hi, em..." he trailed off.

"Ha, you've forgotten my name. So let's start all over again. Hi, I'm Bola Deniji."

She walked up to the bed, sat beside him and put her left arm around his shoulder. Her full, soft breasts pressed against his naked chest. He was already getting a hard on. She had a very beautiful body, even in his drunken state last night, he had made a good choice.

"Bola, nice name, nice body, I like," he said as he pulled her down and lay on top of her.

Later, while they lay, spent, his cell phone rang. He reached across the bedside table to pick it up, Ronke was calling.

"Hello, babe. Up already?"

"Yes, of course. I can never sleep too late. I've been back home since eight a.m."

"Aha, what's the time now?" he asked.

"One thirty. I even made lunch for daddy, and he's gone back out. Will you come over later, there's plenty of food."

"Ok, but I thought I was to pick you up from Tonye's place? How did you get home?"

"I knew you'd sleep in late, so I called Biodun to pick me up."

"Always on the move. Let's say I'll be there by five, latest. It's Saturday, what are we going to do thereafter?"

"When you come, we'll plan. See you soon."

The line went dead. To Bola, he said,

"Get up, I have to go somewhere."

Bola stroked his abs with her well manicured fingers, saying in a sultry voice,

"Is that the girlfriend? I thought you told her five?"

"Well you have to leave for me to get ready, and you know Lagos traffic, the earlier I left the better."

"Ok, Slick, whatever you say."

**************************

"Pamela, there's a man out there, looking for you," Mary, her younger sister said as she entered the room.

"Me? Who is it?"

"I don't know, I didn't ask his name."

Wondering who it might be, she got up and walked out of the house to see who it was. Mr. Nice stood by Mercedes Benz 190. What a pleasant surprise. The weekend was getting better.

"Good day, sir. How did you find me?"

"Hi, Pam, how're you doing today?" he asked as he held out a hand for a hand shake.

"I'm fine sir, just a bit surprised to see you," she said shaking his hand, but after that he didn't let go, rather he pulled her a it closer to him. She was already shaking, she hoped he couldn't tell.

"I told you Okey is my friend, remember?"

"Oh, yes, I had forgotten about that. Em, have you seen him?"

"Yeah, he told me where to get you."

"How's your wife?" What was wrong with her? Did she want to spoil the moment?

He laughed, and said,
"Why do I get the feeling that's a mischievous question? Anyway, she's good. And how's your father?"

He noticed the smile vanish from her face,

"He's worse than I expected. Now they're talking about amputation."

"Sorry, that's serious."

"I tell you, and the worst part is the finance."

"It's going to cost a lot, huh?"

"Yes, I have to come up with sixty-five thousand at the end of the month."

"I thought you said you have an elder brother?"

"I do, but he's hardly ever at home, and I don't think he gives a damn."

"It's a pity. Life can be such a pain..."

"Tell that to my mother, she rants a lot," at least she laughed as she said it.

"Are you free? Can we go for a ride?"

"Where to?"

"I don't know, maybe Eltees, for ice-cream?"

"Em, I was cooking, but I'm now free. It's just that..." she trailed off.

"What?" he asked.

Gosh, she was lost. He should stop putting on the innocent school boy's face.

"Would it be nice to be seen together?"

"Why not? We're friends aren't we?"

"Okay, sir, let me just put on something nice."

"If we're friends, you better stop calling me Sir. My name is Nnamdi, ok."

"Okay."





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