BELINA (Tender Beauty) Episodes 12, 13 & 14

BY NISSI ADEOLA

****EPISODE 12****

Tunji moved to Sparrow and asked him the same question,
“Where is Belina?”
Sparrow looked very strong and rugged so Tunji knew that he had to be careful with him no matter d answer.
“Oga, we do wetin we ask you to do o, but that girl be winch, we no even know as she leave our front and the next thing we see be say, we dey pursue her and before we open our eyes, close am, she don enter motor”, he said and then pointed at his leg,
“see, see my leg… the motor almost killed me” .
Tunji wished he had a gun to shoot him dead instantly, but instead, he faced Tolu.
“What is the meaning of this now? what kind of rubbish is this? I should be at the airport now, ehn…”
“I am sorry, Tunji, I didn’t know that these idiots would spoil things this way”, Tolu said
Tunji glared at him. I want to see Belina today, did u hear me?
Today. If you don’t have belina with you, make sure you have my money” he said and pushed
Sparrow into the bush as he made for his car.
*******************

Mr Badmus got to the airport much earlier than he ought to and he sat down in his car
waiting for Tunji. He put on the radio in his car and for the first time in a long while, he danced to the music which was being
played in the radio.
After he had waited for one hour and hadn’t seen Tunji and Belina, he called Tunji’s line. He did not
pick the first time so he called the 2nd time, already getting worried.
Tunji picked the phone
“Hello, Tunji. I have been at the airport for over an hour now and
I have not seen u, what is up?”
***********************

“Oh please, spare me all that. That miserable daughter of yours is
nowhere to be found”, he replied.
Shocked, he screamed,
“WHAT?”
“Please, don’t deceive me, are you telling me that you know nothing
about this”, Tunji asked shouting angrily.
“Ahn, Tunji…”
“Don’t ahn tunji me. if you don’t produce your daughter today, be
ready to return all the money I have been giving you since this
matter started. I have been recording it and I have given you nothing less than 180, 000 Naira.
Don’t joke with me o, failure to produce any of the two, I would
get you arrested. You should
know, without me telling you that I mean what I just said and I
have enough power to back me up”, Tunji said and hung up.
*************************

I entered the dining room along side Prisca and immediately Mrs
Jegas, Prisca’s mother, saw me, she jumped from her seat and
came to hold me tenderly. She had been almost like a second
mother to me ever since she knew me as her daughter’s friend. Her husband was also in the same vein although he covered his own; men’s characteristics. She was also so
emotional so I was not surprised when I saw her face swimming
with tears. The little display of affection made me feel sick cos it made me remember what it had been like with my mother. My
mother was not one who was perfect, infact, she was one of
the most imperfect people on earth but I loved her all the same.
I quickly cleared some air by saying, “mum, it is not a big deal… or maybe it is but I am
fine”
“No you look tired baby, come and sit down”, she said and moved me to a seat and quickly stuffed my plate with food.
Mr Jegas, prisca’s father who could not hide his anger later
said as we ate, “How can a man do this to his own daughter?
He must be dealt with” He looked at me and said, “you can stay here for as long as you want and anything you need, you can count on us”.
I muttered my sincere
appreciation and went to hug them lovingly. I sat down on my sit and I looked at Prisca who
was smiling at me.
************************

Mr. Badmus drove like a mad man back to his house and two times, almost collided with two vehicles because of his mental
distraction. He got home and sluggishly dragged himself into the house but once he got inside d sitting room, he sat down on the floor with his back against the door and put his hands on his head.
“Ah… I am finished”, he yelled,
“Belina has killed me… she has finished finished me, she ruined
all my plans, &… & where…
ah, where would I get the one 180,000 from today, ehn?”
He remembered how Belina’s mother, Linda, with d circumstances surrounding d time and cursed that day with all
his might. Since she came into his life, everything had gone
from good to bad and from bad to worse and now that he had a
chance to re-write his destiny, that witch has snatched that chance away from him giving
him more problem than he ever bargained for.
He had been 28yrs
old when he met Linda. He didn’t know the love of a mother cos she was always on
business trips not giving a d–n about whatever happened to
him but as busy as his father was he still had time for him. He had
been on a journey with his father one day when he was 25 when they got involved in an
accident. The accident did not claim his life but it claimed his father’s life. When he became
28, he went to d
doctor cos he had slept with several girls without protection and did not record any of them coming to him with the ‘I am pregnant’ story a test had been
carried out which brought his worst nightmare to light. The
doctor had looked him straight in d face and said, “…I am sorry, u can never be able to
impregnate a woman”.

Click 2 below to read episode 13