The Exchange
Episode 8
I had left my eldest Brother Kola outside with Baba T because they were having a discussion & after BabaT left, he came in to inform us that he had some good news. He said the chat he had with Baba T during the wedding had landed him a promising job at their company as the head of the engineering department. The job was in Lagos, paid like five times what he currently earned, came with an official car, house and some other benefits. He was to come over in a week to have a formality-type interview as Baba T already offered him the job.
“Now I can finally get married” my brother screamed as he jumped up and clenched his fist in celebration like someone that won a race. I could tell that my mum was confused and happy at the same time.
I was simply confused; “How? When?” those where my questions for Brother Kola.
He said Baba T asked what he studied, when they met at the wedding, when Kola told him, he began asking some technical questions and finally said Kola is quite brilliant and would be a good fit for their company. “He confirmed it just now when I saw him to the car” my brother continued.
When brother Dipo returned home from work, we told him the good news but he wasn’t really impressed.
“So what? Do they think we are their charity project?” he said.
That statement almost turned to a physical brawl between my two brothers but my mum was able to quell it. She said we had to be thankful for every blessing; as God could use anyone to deliver answers to a man’s prayers.
Brother Dipo apologized to our eldest brother but said “I know there’s more to this sudden ’no strings attached’ Philanthropist and I will remind all of you when it’s time to pay back”; that’s why I didn’t entertain his line of questions at the party when we met.
Brother Dipo took after my dad; he’s not easily swayed or impressed by anything and had trust issues with strangers. We forgot about the whole thing and I settled in for the night.
Tunji came the following day and I went straight into his arms joyfully; it was really nice seeing him again; I had missed him so much. We got into his car and he dropped me at the salon before going to work. Thank God I had employed a very competent stylist/assistant else my salon would have been locked for over a week. We spent most part of the afternoon taking stock and I realised that we have run out of most of our products, so I made a list of the things we needed and some other things that was in demand. I want to expand the cosmetic section, so I discussed with the landlord about the small shop beside mine that has been locked up for the past two months. We negotiated and I promised to pay the rents the next day. He was so proud of me and prayed for my success and prosperity. He declared that on my wedding day, he was going to be father of the day. I left my assistant lock up because I couldn’t wait to get to Tunji’s apartment because I had missed him too much and baba landlord’s prayer had set me thinking. He was already home when I arrived at his place, he held me in his arms and k!ssed me before letting me go into the kitchen.
After a palatable meal of amala lafu (cassava flour) & efo riro, we sat relaxing in each other’s arms; he told me the real reason he couldn’t attend my cousin’s wedding. He said he had applied for a job with a multinational company a while back but the final interview had been scheduled for Friday & Saturday, the same days as the traditional and church wedding. The interview was in Ibadan and it went really well. He was really certain that they would consider him for the position. The job required a 3-month new employee orientation training in Germany there were just two of them left in the process. He said he didn’t give me the details earlier, so as not to get my hopes up unnecessarily since he wasn’t sure if he would scale through the initial interview. “If I get this job, I am going to marry you right away” he added.
I was excited for him, howbeit, angry that he did not keep me in the dark. He said he was sorry aNd we began k!ssing and making out until we almost broke our vow of chastity. I’m grateful that we were in the parlour or else we wouldn’t have been able to stop so I suggested we get married; we have been together for about eight years and betrothed for six, I want to be his wife and we are financially Ok to be married but he argued that he didn’t want us to start our life struggling and scrapping pennies. I argued that between his job and my salon we will do more than scrapping but his superior argument won again. He asked how the wedding went and I told him how the rich spend money! I told him about the gifts and that I made thirty eight thousand Naira.. I was so excited that I didn’t notice his countenance had changed but when he said the best man would have sprayed me the bulk of the money, I realised there was no excitement in his voice anymore so I edited the story and cut Baba T out of it.
Life was back to normal, my customers had missed me as I went back to work. I also gave my salon a facelift from the money I made in Lagos and it looked really beautiful. I had added the new shop as my showroom, added another dryer, painted and rugged the whole salon. I created an area for washing hair with a relaxing chair like the one I saw in Lagos. My customers were all ooos and aaas; they said very soon I will turn the salon to “ilu oyinbo” standard. I was happy for their complement and grateful that I went to Lagos.
Brother Kola got the job as promised and had to move to Lagos, he came back the following weekend with his official car, a brand new Citroen CX 2500 it was really beautiful. All my other siblings were home that day and they took the car for a spin. Brother Dipo congratulated Brother Kola but you could tell he was just being civil. My mum got in the kitchen and cooked like it was Christmas, just to ‘wash’ the car.
Before my brother left for Lagos, he handed me a little package with a note from Baba T and said “This guy must really like you, he is always talking about you and asking questions”. The note was just to let me know that he (Baba T) was out of the country and would be back in about a week. He also said he would come over to Abeokuta to see me once he got back. After reading the note, I began to wonder what Baba T really wanted from me. The wedding was over and I had thought parting ways would put an end to his infatuation.
My mind went to work, playing back all the different scenarios in my head but did not want to encourage him; I decided I was going to stay with Tunji because, he had been a good and reliable boyfriend and I had never regretted dating him. Baba T was nice too but he was too arrogant (although he liked to call it confidence).
Two weeks after my brother came home, Baba T showed up at my salon. It was a Saturday afternoon, he had gone to our house and my mum told him I was at the Salon, so he drove down in a silver colour Mercedes Benz.
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