I can’t remember who woke up first, but I knew we started at each other for a while just lying there..
Toun: do you feel bad?
Me: yepz
Toun: because you just had s-x with a girl or because of Abayomi?
Me: because of Abayomi and you. I should be a good friend and settle your s-x issue, instead I had s-x with you.
Toun: this had nothing to do with Abayomi and myself
Me: what about us, how would we be after this?
Toun: it’s a one-time thing, we will laugh about it very soon. Have you been with a girl before?
Me: nope, you?
Toun: what do you think?
Me: I dunno o.. She laughed, picked up her phone and called her boyfriend. He was supposed to come but he hadn’t. In class the next day, I tried putting my life in a perspective, with the drama that was unfolding in my life, I knew if I didn’t take my studies seriously I was going to seriously fail , I didn’t have an idea how I would turn it all around…but I had to.
Toun was beside me, dubbing an assignment from a friend, I was waiting so I would dub from her. I looked at her body, long and lean; she seemed to have moved on from what happened, I decided to push it off my mind. Toun tapped me with her pen, calling my attention to somebody walking towards us with rage in her eyes. It was Yewande, she came with a friend.
Yewande: why did you send your people to attack my boyfriend. I know you cannot imagine that he could have left you for someone like me, but you took it too far! I looked at Toun, who was trying as much as possible to ignore us and focus on the assignment
Yewande: his hand and leg are broken, I swear! You will pay I ignored her as it was becoming embarrassing; the aproko students in my class were already staring.
Yewande: bribing him with money to stay with you was not enough, you had to attack him…you have lost o…. Luckily a lecturer came in and she had to leave, promising me hell later. At this point I was getting tired, I decided I was going to call Abayomi to tell Jafar and his goons to take a chill, or maybe I would need to call Jafar myself. I stepped outside to call Jafar.
Me: hello
Jafar: Hey It sounded like he was whispering, but it was still audible
Me: about Acho yesterday I think your boys took it too far
Jafar: oh
Me: I don’t want that kind of thing associated with me
Jafar: what thing are we talking about here?
Me: attacks and beatings
Jafar: oh
Me: do I have your word that it would stop?
Jafar: what does my word mean to you?
Me: it would assure me and I would hold on to it
Jafar: meet me in my house by 7pm..
Me: wha… He hung up. That guy lacks manners, and he is sick if he thinks I would come to his house, I said to myself. We were seated when the vice-chancellor came into the conference room.
Earlier, Abayomi had called me that we had been summoned by the vice-chancellor for an emergency meeting. National and his deputy were to our left. Prof Akinbiyi, the VC was a man of medium build, his grey hair was bushy. I wondered if most professors generally scattered their hair to look mofasa.
VC: how are u doing? We answered that we were fine. He didn’t beat around the bush, he wanted to inform us that the school management would support any candidate that won , that we would be partners and if we had any grandiose plans that might conflict with the vision of the school if elected.
After the meeting I had the opportunity to explain to Abayomi what had happened earlier when Yewande came to my lecture hall. I told him I wasn’t comfortable with Jafar’s kind of security.
Abayomi: why don’t you want to go?
Me: why should I go?
Abayomi: are you scared?
Me: nope, but I shouldn’t be visiting a guy by 7pm in his house na
Abayomi: I want you to go, I want you to ask him about National’s involvement in the Ijebu-igbo fracas.
Me: why don’t you ask him yourself?
Abayomi: I would be going to Ikenne to campaign to the medical students, Timi and myself.
Me: how is Timi?
Abayomi: he is fine, he sends his regards
Me: tell him I send mine too
Abayomi: you should call the guy sometimes, he misses you.
Me: why should he miss me, he has Annie
Abayomi: does he?
Me: what do you mean?
Abayomi: I think you both should sit down and talk, that’s all..
Me: I hear…how is kofo?
Abayomi: we are over
Me: because I am going to quit if you don’t stop ramming her Abayomi looked at me and winked.
**********
Toun and I were watching Prison Break in her room when we heard a knock on the door, it was 7pm and I thought Abayomi had changed his mind about going to Ikenne. Uche was by the door.
Uche: hope you are ready?
Me: Jafar sent you?
Uche: yes, I am waiting outside.
Toun: Tee, should I come with you?
Me: nope don’t worry, lemme just change my clothe
Twenty minutes later, Uche drove me to Jafar’s crib. ]As expected a lot of guys were in front of the premises, some guys where in the sitting room playing snooker. With the amount of cash displayed, they were definitely gambling.
Uche: Jafar say make una comot. He didn’t need to talk much, the guys filed out like they were remote controlled. Uche told me to wait for Jafar, while he left the apartment. I was alone by myself in the premises. I could hear the guys gathering outside, shouting, laughing and always in an excited state. It was clear that Jafar was not around. The AC in the premises was in full throttle, I was dressed in a short gown with a scarf covering my hair, I was cold. After 30minutes I had gotten enough, I decided to leave and was on my way out when I heard a car pull into the drive. I peeped through the window to see Jafar get out the Benz. He brought out some bottles of liquor from his booth, the guys hurriedly took it from him. Then they started singing, songs that talked about freedom from oppression,suppression etc
As he entered the sitting room, I made up my mind I was going to give him a piece of my mind. Jafar was wearing a hooded top with a blue denim jean. His Vuitton frames were brown, sitting well on the bridge of his nose.
Jafar: I am sorry for the delay, I was held up..
Me: I can see
Jafar: goodevening ma’am
Me: good evening Jafar
Jafar: are you hungry? He stood beside the snooker table, he just asked me If I had eaten like I was his daughter.
Me: I am good. Can we talk about what happened to Acho?
Jafar: yes, but I am very hungry, can u cook?
Me: I beg your pardon?
Jafar: I am not a very good cook, but I try to.
Me: Jafar, its late…lets talk so I can go. He looked at me and smiled. Some minutes later he came back with a canned Coke and gave me. He went back inside his room and when he came back, he was on singlet and a boxer short.
Jafar: lets talk in the kitchen, I am famished.
Me: ermmmm….ok… The kitchen looked very tidy, I was sure it was so because of the amount of girls that visited. The kitchen was bigger than my room, I admitted to myself.
Jafar: my favorite food is Yam and egg, what is yours?
Me: Rice, jollof.
Jafar: do you like fish?
Me: yes He smiled as he brought out some fresh tomatoes and pepper from a fridge with a transparent door.
Jafar: you will see some eggs behind you, while you deal with that I will peel the yams..
Me: what are you trying to do?
Jafar: we are cooking, later we eat..then we talk. I quietly started cutting the tomatoes…. Me, Chief Dike’s daughter.
The food came out well, at least it looked good. He ate in the kitchen , quietly like I wasn’t around. He had insisted I eat with him but I declined. He didn’t seem like someone that cooked his meals, it was sexy I must admit. After eating, he started washing the dishes, that was when he started talking..
Jafar: so what problem do you have with how Acho was handled?
Me: that was not the kind of security I wanted.
Jafar: I heard he almost raped you
Me: nope! He was my boyfriend until two weeks ago, I guess he just wanted to prove a point
Jafar: I thought Timi was your boyfriend. I was speechless for a while
Me: Timi is an ex too He laughed, laughter that exposed his teeth. When he laughed he seemed to have difficulty breathing, he laughed in bits.
Jafar: you dey vex o…you just dey ex all of them. That didn’t sound funny to me so I kept a straight face. He took out his phone and called someone to come meet him in the kitchen. The guy came and took away the yam that remained in the pot and the eggs in the frying pan.
Me: are you their father or what, how old are you?
Jafar: 26
Me: what are you?
Jafar: I am a guy…lol
Me: you know what I mean
Jafar: I don’t ma’am
Me: you are a cultist? He laughed again. He laughed like I was kid asking why mummy had a big tummy.
Jafar: what do you think?
Me: I think you are a cultist
Jafar: hahahahahaha..
Me: aint you?
Jafar: cultism is otokoto shii..all them blood money n all…
Me: so you are what?
Jafar: Confra….
Me: what is the difference?
Jafar: we fight for black man’s liberation
Me: you believe your bullshit?
Jafar: bullshit?
Me: you kill yourselves in campus, intimidate and all
Jafar: there are bad eggs in every organization. When Wole introduced Confra to the university, it was for social equalization. Rich or poor, everybody being equal..no matter the tribe and all. The military hijacked it and started bribing our boys to intimidate people. Later political criminals started using them for election violence. Unfortunately, it has given us a bad name.
Me: so why involve yourself with it, you seem very intelligent.
Jafar: to have brothers with a common goal, to protect the oppressed and suppressed…to protect people like you…fend for people you would probably never know about. I realized we were getting nowhere; I had to shift back to Acho’s matter.
Me: you can protect the Abayomi and the other peeps…leave me out of it.
Jafar: I can’t.
Me: why?
Jafar: you are an investment now; I am responsible for your safety.
Me: you are saying I don’t have a choice?
Jafar: as regards your safety, you don’t…I am sorry ma.
Me: I don’t like the way you handled Acho’s issue
Jafar: ok, we will reduce violence to the minimal
Me: thank you.
Jafar: now that we have an agreement, can you shoot pool?
Me: nope.
Jafar: come let me teach you.
Me: not interested, thanks though. He was already moving to the sitting room, I had to follow, no be my kitchen na? He gave me a stick, placed a white ball and a red ball on the snooker table.
Jafar: now you are going to learn how to hit a ball with the cue ball. The cue ball is the white ball, the stick is called the cue stick.
Me: its like you didn’t hear me, I am not interested. He led me to the table, stood at my back. He grabbed my left hand and used it as a rest on the table, my right hand held the butt of the cue stick. My bum was crested on his crotch, his shoulder enclosed mine as he tried guiding me to take the shot. I could smell him, I could hear his heartbeat. I wondered if he heard mine. The last time I felt this tense was when Timi held me for the first time.
Jafar: in snooker, you, your eyes, your stick and the cue ball have to be one, they have to trust each-other. Your aim is the other ball…the middle of the other ball.. remember trust is everything…he whispered in my ears. His lips brushed my ear lobe. The shot I made was the worse shot he had ever seen, he had to admit.
To be continued
