BELINA (Beauty Tender) Episodes 3, 4 & 5

****EPISODE 3****

As I walked on our ever quiet street, my blood flow started
normalizing & the incident that I had been trying to keep at bay
started pushing itself back to my memory. The slap that dad gave
me seemed to also slap back that memory.
Throughout my secondary school, I succeeded in keeping
men at arm’s length & didn’t have a boyfriend throughout,despite my numerous admirers. I
finished with a remarkable grade & gained admission
immediately into UNILAG & also focused on my studies not
glancing twice at any guy but my charade was cut short in my
3rd year when I discovered that
there are some guys that ur eyes can’t finish assessing with one glance
I sat on d open field one
afternoon reading, when one of my annoying toasters came.
“Oh baby”, he drolled, “u too dey read sef”
I ignored him
“Abeli”, he called in his usual way but I ignored him again. He yanked d book out of my hands and my head jerked up as
my eyes drilled holes into him
“Give me back my book”, I demanded.
“Why didn’t u answer me?
I stretched forth my hand,
“Hand it over now”
He smiled,
“A kiss and I would give u”
I wanted to slap him hard but . . .
“Give d lady her book”, a voice said. That voice chilled me to d bones and I could almost feel d
ground shake at d sound but surely, I was hallucinating
That was the voice that shook my world both positively and negatively.
“Enough of all this rubbish” I thought. I need to solve this
problem. After thinking for some minutes, I fished out my phone
from my pocket & dialed d only person I could.
She picked on the 3rd ring.
“Sweetheart mi”, Prisca said over the receiver.
“Pric, I need ur help”
***************

Tunji sat furiously at the owner’s side of the car on his way home.
He was busy clenching his fist like someone who was ready to
box d life out of Bashali.
“No woman has ever slapped me”he thought. He still couldn’t
believe that he had actually been slapped. And by a woman?
“No matter how beautiful she is, she won’t get away with this” he thought as he picked up his phone to dial a number
“Omo deputy governor mi, ur excellency sir”, a voice said
“Pls shut up Tolu, I need u to do something for me.
Someone had the nerve to raise her hands against me”. Tunji
said.
“Ehn… A she? She must be dealt with”
“Alright, here is what I want u to do …”
******************

You know at times, u get to a T junction
where u know that either way u go is going to change your life one way or the other. I
thought about my discussion with Prisca & knew that going with that plan was d best thing I could do
I got back home and met d house empty. My phone started ringing immediately I sat down
& I discovered it was an
unknown number. I picked it and waited until I heard a baritone voice at d other end saying
“Hello”
“Good morning, please who is this?”
I answered.
“Is this Miss Belina Badmus?” the
speaker asked
“Yes pls”
“My name is John, calling from
Heaven’s gate Chapel. We just want to remind u of d musical concert which would be
holding tomorrow” he said.
I opened my mouth as I realized that I had actually forgotten
everything about that concert
Though I hadn’t produced any album, I was invited by some
churches to minister in songs.
“I would be there, thanks a lot”.
I dropped d phone some
seconds later & mentally began
to search for a nice song for d
programme.
*********************

Mr Badmus entered the large compound of his friend, chief Olowodolu and looked round jealously. Every time he entered this place, he always remembers
his good old days.
He had nothing less than three buildings in island, and one
small building in the mainland, Ikeja to be precise. He had lived a
life of affluence but his business crumbled after 5years of
marriage. He sold off his properties in the island to pay debts & moved with his family
to Ikeja.
“I must be rich again”, he thought as he entered his
friend’s sitting room.
**************

“Let us go now Richard, I don’t want to be late o…” Tony and Richard are inseparable friends
and have been for 5years.
Apart from them being medical doctors, they were also in the
music line. Being exceedingly handsome, they weretheh envy of
other guys and the desire of ladies. Tony took advantage of this & had so many girl friends
by flirting with them but Richard was the quiet type, jovial at times which made him more desirable but he could turn the heart of
any girl perhaps unknowingly.
Tony seemed to have arrived at his bus-stop where women were
concerned and Richard had
become indifferent towards them.

Tony attended a musical concert
in a church some weeks ago and hadn’t stopped talking about it, for some unexplainable reasons,
Richard felt he needed to attend the next edition with Tony.
“For God’s sake Tony, u told me the concert would commence
5 o’clock, this is 4:20, what is the fuss about?” Richard asked
looking exasperated.
“If we don’t get there in time, all the good seats would have been
taken and we would have to seat at d back”.
Richard sighed;
“Alright then”, he said leaving the movie he was
watching for the bedroom.

Click 2 below to read episode 4