BY NISSI ADEOLA
“Take a deep breath”
(Ladies first)Ladies and Gentlemen,fasten your seat belts,we are about to take off.
PROLOGUE
I entered the house after about an hour of aimless walking.
Strolling had become my second hobby recently and hardly would you find me at home around 5 o’clock in the evening. On entering the house, my heart raced, my head seamed bigger than its normal size, and i felt dizzy. Something is definitely wrong somewhere, i thought.
I had only felt that way twice, and those are times i don’t want to remember. I went into my room and did not see anything awkward, i instinctively made for my dad’s room, and there, i got the shocker of a lifetime.
For some seconds I stood, glued to the ground with my mouth agape staring at the person I knew to be my father. I just couldn’t understand why, of all the pot-bellied men in the world, I was doomed to answer the surname of this man. The reason why I still call him ‘dad’ remains a mystery to me. I ran out of his room and when I got to the sitting room, I was already crying. The b—h came rushing out some minutes later and ran past me thinking I would do something but I wasn’t after her. Memories of recent occurrences came flooding my mind and I had to quench it quickly. I heard my dad’s footsteps and dried my eyes quickly, not wanting him to see my tears. ‘Who gave you the right to come into my bedroom without knocking?’ he asked as he marched into the sitting room. There is a saying that you can only see the bottom of a chicken when the wind blows. The meaning became clear to me as I glared at my father.
I stood up and faced him. ‘I knew you never loved my mum, you made it so evident, but bringing someone else to her bed barely two weeks after her death…’ I laughed bitterly, ‘ you definitely deserve a trophy.
I hate you and everyone whose gender starts with ‘M’. I HATE YOU’.
*EPISODE 1
I knelt down by my bed on Thursday morning to pray but nothing seemed to come out of
my mouth. I placed my head on the bed and closed my eyes but I
didn’t have the enthusiasm to offer any prayer. Confusion, worry and anger has
become the order of the day since my mother died two years
ago.
Everything just seemed to go wrong at the same time. I lost
my job two months after her death and my plans to get my own apartment was truncated.
My plan to get another job with my First Class Certificate in Applied Psychology was also
fruitless but the latest
development seemed to be taking a great deal of my patience and self control.
‘Lord, I thank you for today, please Father, make it a good day’ I said and got up when
there was nothing else to say. I washed up my face, brushed my
teeth and went about the house chores.
Breakfast was already prepared before seven, I placed it on the
table for my father and went to take my bath.I went back to the
sitting room dressed and met dad eating. I mumbled a low
‘Good morning sir’ and just as I was about to eat, I heard a
knock.
‘Who is that?’ I asked pondering on the same question as I
opened the door. Standing before me was the very person
who made my life a living hell.
Prisca woke up to the ringing of her phone and from the ‘I just
wanna say I love you’ tone, she knew who was calling.
She smiled and picked up the phone.
“Morning baby boy”, she said.
“Hey honey”, Tony said over the receiver.
“Mmmm, it is nice hearing your voice early in the morning”, she responded.
“How was your night dear?”
“I dreamt of you” she said smiling foolishly.
He laughed and said, “hey baby, before you make me get late for
work, I need to tell you something.”
“Anything for me?” she asked.
He feigned seriousness and coughed, “Well, tell your friend, what is her name? Yes, Belina,
that she should come to our hospital on Monday to start work”
“What are you saying” she practically screamed, sitting up
instantly.
Tony laughed heartily, “yes baby, she got the job.”
I stared at Tunji coldly,
“what are you doing here?”
He shook his head,
”Is that the way you greet your future husband? Let me in”, he ordered.
I laughed mockingly,
“You are crazy.
I have always known that,
but I didn’t know it was this serious”.
He scoffed.
“Belina”, dad yelled and I
stiffened.
“Let him in now”.
I stood with my arms akimbo blocking the doorway.
“BELINA”
I eyed Tunji and reluctantly
stepped aside. I slammed the door after him with so much
force that the house shook.
Dad glared at me but turned towards Tunji and grinned.
“Good morning Mr Badmus”, Tunji said.
“Morning my son. Sorry for her rude behaviour, she is just being
childish”, dad said.
I rolled my eyes in disgust.
Amazing what people would do for wealth and power.
‘Why can’t
this idiot take ‘no’ for an answer?” I wondered.
“I am through with the
arrangements sir”, Tunji was saying smiling at me.
Dad nearly jumped out of his skin in excitement. “oh, oh Tunji, you are God sent, God bless you a
million times, ah…”
Puzzled, I asked, “what
arrangement?” Before he could answer, my phone rang, noticing
that it was Prisca, I went to the room to answer it. Unlike our
usually long chats, the call ended within two minutes. Unable to
conceal my joy, I practically danced round my room after
letting out a loud scream of joy.
Dad and Tunji ran into my room.
“What are you doing here?” I asked unable to hide my happiness.
“What do you mean by that? what is all the fuss about?” Tunji asked.
“Well, I just got a job, and not just a job, a very good one”, I said
grinning proudly.
Dad and Tunji stared at each other. “well, you are not taking the job”, Dad said.
“Excuse me?”
“Yes, we would be travelling to
London on Saturday. The arrangements have been made, so start preparing cos the
wedding would be done
immediately we get there”. Dad said.
I blanched.
Click 2 below to read episode 2