reduced to three inches. I saw this willingness in her
eyes that made my eyelids want to hug each other as
the motion continued. But out of nervousness, my left
hand, which rested on the table between us mistakenly
hit the glass of malt that was in front of me and it
spilled all over the table. Immediately, we retreated to
our normal positions, and the drink that had spilled on
the table became the talk of the moment till we left.
Next morning belonged to a Monday, and I was up and
prepared to leave for work while she was to leave for
school. Ogechi was a first year student of Creative Arts
in the University Of Nigeria. We bade each other
goodbye and left to our different destinations. Before
we left, she smiled at me and said; I enjoyed your
music. It's really nice. More grease to your elbow.
Thank you, I said, and we left. Sometime later, Ogechi
suggested to me that instead of continuing my
education at IMT, where I obtained my ND certificate, I
should apply for direct entry at UNN and continue
there. I told her I didn’t want to spend more than two
years in any higher institution, explaining to her how
long Ive spent already after obtaining my ND. She went
ahead to explain to me that if I’m taken into UNN via
direct entry, I’ll start from year two and will only have to
spend three years. Isn't it better to spend three years to
get a university degree than two years to get an H.N.D,
considering the fact that more value is placed on a
university degree? She tried to make me see reasons
with her. After many arguments, I consented, not really
because of the B.A and H.N.D thing, but because I was
going to become her course mate if I did. I studied
Communication Arts at IMT, and would be admitted
into the department of Creative Arts at UNN with the
necessary steps taken. I had grown so fond of her that
I didn't want to be apart from her when I finally left her
house. And talking about leaving her house, I was to
leave after two months. But this is the third month
since I moved in. She hadn't said anything about me
leaving. Seems like she had also gotten to love my
company so much that she didn't want me to leave
again, plus, I was really of good behavior. On the other
hand, I didn’t want to leave because I wouldn't get the
kind of treatment she was giving me anywhere else.
There was another reason why I didn’t want to leave,
but I hadn't figured out what that reason was. I just
knew there was. All the same, I knew I was going to
leave some day, hence the suggestion she brought up
ensured that our worlds never went apart after I left.
Ogechi got so concerned about the low state of my
finances and offered to borrow me some money to start
up any business of my choosing, so long as I promised
to make refund on a promised date. I agreed to that,
and got N100,000 from her, which she gave cheerfully.
She really trusted me. I added that to what I had saved
up and invested it in FOREX business. From then, the
mornings met me in front of my laptop, and nights left
me still trying to make some profit out of the stock
market. The time I spent conversing with Ogechi
reduced, we didn’t hang out often again, we rarely
came together except we wanted to have a meal
together, which we always did. I just had to make
enough profit to repay her on time and also have
enough left for me to become a big boy. After
countless sleepless nights, I started making profit from
the FOREX business and soon enough, I hit my initial
mark and repaid Ogechi. Then my approach towards
the business intensified.
It wasn't quite long before Ogechi’s elder brother who
graduated from UNN called in and announced his
coming over to Enugu in three weeks for his clearance
and some other things he needed to do before going
for Youth Service. Ogechi was dull after the call. I
asked why she was dull and she told me. I had only
three weeks to get my own apartment and leave before
her brother came in. Of cause everything was now okay
financially. All I had to do was to find a good
apartment for myself. I started my search for a house
and found one after nearly two weeks. I paid for it and
moved in without even furnishing it. My plans was to
furnish it little by little after moving in because I didn’t
want to spend more time at Ogechi’s house in case her
brother decided to hasten his journey down to Enugu.
Ogechi accompanied me down to my apartment on the
day I moved in. The apartment was virtually empty.
The only things that could be found in there were the
ceiling fan, the carpet, wall hanger and the mattress.
These were the first of the items I bought for the
apartment after I paid for it. We both sat on my bed
watching a movie (love don’t cost a thing) with my
laptop. It was about after 8pm when she asked me to
see her off. I urged her to stay a little longer. By
precisely 9:30pm when she was about to leave, the
cloud changed. It was definitely going to rain. She had
to pick a cab or board a bus before the rain started. We
both went outside and waited for the next available bus
or cab. Seemed like the bus and cab drivers also
wanted to hurry home to avoid being caught up in the
midst of a heavy out pour. We still waited for a driver
that probably was still willing to do a little business
before retiring for the day. Then suddenly, the skies
gave way to volume of water it held and it met us right
there. Apparently, there was no way she was going to
get a cab or bus to take her back home that night. The
only option we had left was to head back to my
apartment, and we did. We started running back home,
but before we reached my house we had already been
soaked by the rain because my house was some
distance away from the tarred road. We stopped at the
veranda and waited for some water to drain off our
cloths before getting inside the house to avoid messing
up the carpet. I took off my shirt and trouser and hung
them on the burglary proof. I was left putting on boxer
and singlet. I turned and looked at her, and she asked;
what? You expect me to do that too? I’ll do that in the
bathroom, she said. We went in afterwards and she hit
the bathroom to dry herself up and all that. I heard her
call my name from inside the bathroom. I answered
and she asked me to get her something to change to. I
had no girl cloths whatsoever, so I brought an oversize
t-shirt that was given to me by my father and handed it
over to a hand belonging to a body which hid right
behind the door of the bathroom. Some minutes later,
she came out of the bathroom with her hair loosed and
scattered. The t-shirt swallowed her but was a little bit
above her knee level. I also got into the bathroom to
get refreshed. On getting in there I noticed something.
Not only did I see her dress hanging in there, her under
garments were as well. She had nothing on except the
oversize t-shirt I gave to her. On realizing that, my
heartbeat increased. I had promised to be of good
behavior, and I definitely was while at her house. This
was my house for crying out loud. Does that promise
still stand? Many negative thoughts crossed my mind.
The more I tried to dismiss it, the stronger it got. Then
it became like Satan himself had sent me a voice
message from the depth of hades when what I refer to
as; ‘THE STRANGE VOICE OF A DECEITFUL THOUGHT’
crossed my mind. This is the voice I heard in my head;
When the time comes, you will stop,
For now, you can go ahead and sin.
Even God knows you will flop,
So just keep the mess from being seen.
These sins take long to fill a cup,
So fear not God's judgment, His mercy will always win.
If you fall today, God knows there were times when you
were up,
So don’t panic, soon, you'll again be clean.
Come on; take some time out from the top,
She eagerly awaits your arrival at her in-between.
It’s been forever, since anyone went there to shop,
So hurry! She's already high on dry gin.
She wants to be harvested like a wild crop,
Ha-ha, don't be amazed, it’s a thing in her gene.
Play her like hip-hop,
Forget the saying that God watches you like a TV
screen.
After that finished playing in my mind, I rushed out of
the bathroom with an attitude of determination and met
her lying on the bed and scanning through the songs
in my laptop’s music library. She noticed my unusual
manner, sat up and stared at me confused while a song
was still playing from the laptop. The look on her face
showed that she perceived something strange about
me. But she neither asked nor said anything. Instead
she lay back on the bed like one who ran out of
defensive measures, surrendering to an opponent that
couldn't be defeated. That action of hers provoked a
powerful response from my body system and……,
...To be continued!
1 comment:
Can't wait for the next episode...
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