To Tame A Virgin #20 (The Wedding Invitation)

 

Finally, we come to the end of To Tame a Virgin. For all of you who started this and are here now, thank you. Your comments and retweets and facebook updates made me feel appreciated.

Special thanks to Oye and the 360nobs team.

This is dedicated to my husband…my muse. I almost threw away this story but he fell in love with the character, Dami, and introduced me to her.

HUGE DISCLAIMER: No character in this story is real. All my imagination. If they remind you of someone you know, I categorically state that I know no such person.

 

 

There was an SMS going round. Which simply read:

SHE’S BACK!

Click on the link to go to totameavirgin.com @rhodiumvee has a new post waiting for you.

 

Uyi got the SMS at exactly 7am; same time with Dike and every other subscriber to the totameavirgin website. Dike was still asleep when the alert came in. Kachi handed his phone to him as she got off the bed and went about her day. With sleepy eyes, he clicked on the link and was directed to the site. He could hardly recognize it as everything had Dami written all over it. There was a Youtube video. Dike clicked on it…

 

Uyi put his breakfast of noodles and eggs on his bed and set his laptop to click on the video link. With his other hand, he put a bottle of coke to his lips and waited with held breath.

 

Peter had watched the video a million times. It was he who edited it and others and got paid handsomely for it even though he clearly told Dami that he didn’t need the money. Nonetheless, the money had come in handy. With it he paid for two nights in a squalid hotel in the neighborhood. He was buying time before he went home to tell his folks about his HIV status. Strangely, he couldn’t stop thinking about Temi. He clicked on the link.

 

Temi was just two doors away from Peter in the same squalid hotel. Having accomplished what her mind set to do with the guy she met at the bar the night before, she saw no need to leave the hotel. Her eyes were grainy from crying all night. She had hit her lowest and was at the point where her life hung in an uncertain place; it was either going to make or break her. A can of beer found its way to her mouth and she clicked on Dami’s video.

 

Kachi peeped down the corridor to be sure Dike was not coming in the direction of the kitchen. She got the alert the same time he got his. He had no idea she was subscribed to the site. She did so when he first told her about it, just a day before it was put down. They hadn’t spoken about Damaris since then. It was a relief to hear from Ene that Damaris dropped the lawsuit against Dike. She had called Uyi to thank him for speaking on her behalf to her; but she was not too pleased with Dike’s tell-all on 360nobs about his affair with her even though he didn’t reveal his identity and marital status. Turning on the electric kettle, she waited for her browser to direct her to Youtube.

 

Thousands of other people online were watching Dami’s video at that moment. It was a two-minute montage of her sitting on her bed in crossed legs wearing nothing but a t-shirt over a pair of black pantyhose. With no makeup on and an early morning look to her hair, she began.

“So, it’s not news that a video of me going half-naked was spread by some mean girls that I called my friends. They succeeded in destroying my career, getting my dad to stop speaking to me and my boyfriend to break up with me. Nice one, girls. Secondly, I know you’ve all read the confessions of some guy who went on 360nobs to talk about my relationship with him and how it ended badly and how he got back at me by opening the totameavirgin site. Well, we’re friends now and he was kind enough to let me have the site and I intend to use it to rant, not giving a damn about those of you who are going to be coming here and leaving your player-hating comments. Sha, you’re all welcome. But know that this is not about you and your perceptions of me. Somehow you guys think by seeing my breasts you now know me. You don’t. I am not my breasts. I am Damaris Alechenu, a recovering drug addict, a model, a dancer, an ex-virgin and I don’t give a shit what you think.

“And now to the business of the day…”

Dami fished around the bed for something and came up with a card. “So ever since my boyfriend dumped me, I’ve been in a mess; crying, starving, playing Avril Lavigne, eating and adding weight, watching romance movies, drinking like a fish and doing a whole lot of other pathetic things. I don’t intend to share them with you but I’m using this medium to beg him nicely, since he won’t pick his calls, to allow me tell him how much he means to me. I was in rehab for twenty-eight days. Not your normal rehab but the Rihanna type. I was trying to do away with the addiction of loving you, Mr. Smith but I couldn’t. Instead I found twenty-eight more reasons why I love you and I am going to tell you today. But not here.”

She moved forward to the camera and placed the card in her hand before the lens. It was a wedding invitation with gold and blue writings. The bottom part that held the address was crossed out by a marker.

“My cousin’s wife’s younger sister is getting married and Mr. Smith, I am inviting you for it. You know the venue; it’s the place where we first kissed. When you come, look for the girl in the blue dress and she’ll tell you the twenty-eight reasons why I love you.”

Dami withdrew the card from the screen.

“And for the rest of you who are not invited, I have a brand new BB Q10 to give out.”

She went back to the bed and flashed Blackberry phone with its pack.

“If anyone can guess correctly, just three out of the twenty-eight reasons why I love my boo, they can claim the phone. But remember to follow me, then use the hashtag #Dami’s28 as you tweet. Be creative.”

She walked back to the camera and switched it off.

Word spread. Tweets and retweets flew across Twitter. People were talking. #Dami’s28 was trending in no time.

************

Temi got home sometime after nine in the morning. Ovie was not back from his sister’s where he had spent the night. Temi didn’t like the silence. The power was out. With a long hiss, she walked to where the fuse box was located to have a look at it. Something was wrong with some of the switches and she had complained severally to Ovie and Peter to find an electrician to fix it but they always did it themselves. She stood staring at the fuse box, lost. She didn’t hear when Edet walked in until he put a gentle hand on her arm. She jumped and turned to him.

“Edet! You scared me.”

“Sorry.”

“Thank God you’re here sha. Abeg, help me do this thing. I don’t know what they touch there.”

“Get me a stool or chair to climb.”

Temi walked into her bedroom and came out with a plastic chair. Edet got on it.

“So, you and Peter have broken up?” he asked. Temi was surprised at his question but she replied him even so.

“No.”

“And he left?”

“Yeah.”

“Doesn’t he know that HIV is not automatic death? There are so many people living with it in Nigeria.”

“Abi.”

“I pray he comes back. He has a good job and he’s intelligent. He can still live a full life.”

Temi was somewhat surprised at the way Edet spoke. To her, he had always been that jobless neighbor that sat around while everyone went to work and smoked himself silly.

“Edet, what do you do?”

“Mm?”

“Your work? Where do you work?”

“Online. I’m a third party merchant. I help people buy and sell stuff in naira on the web.”

“And it pays?”

“Yeah.” He shut the fuse box and pulled at the main switch, bringing power back into the house.

“Yay!” Temi beamed. Edet got down but missed his landing and tumbled into her. He had his face in her breasts and she backed away immediately as he straightened up.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“It’s okay. It’s not as if you planned to fall on me.”

She had no idea.

“See, I have soup in the fridge. I’ll warm it and make eba for us.”

“That sounds nice. Eba in the morning.”

“Okay, I’ll make semo. It’s lighter.”

“Eba is fine,” Edet said and pulled out something from beside her lips. He showed her.

“Tissue paper. Wonder where I got that.”

“And there’s one more here.” He picked out another tiny piece of tissue beside her right eye.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Fine girls should not be crying.”

Temi smiled. She needed the compliment and the relief it brought. Edet was going to be nice company if he didn’t fall into her breasts again. She didn’t want to be alone. There were condemnatory thoughts waiting for her in her mind, a flood she kept at bay that was pulsing at the seams of her emotions. The littlest moment alone with herself would send her crumbling.

When Edet left the house, she went into loud music mode, playing a collection of party songs as she waited for the water she put over the cooker to come to a boil. She sang out loud too; she didn’t want to hear her inner voice.

Finally, the water began to bubble out and pour on the cooker. She took down the pot, poured the water into a bowl and got out the Ijebu garri she had set aside earlier. She kept her feet busy in a light dance as she set garri to the steaming water. But tears came to her eyes. They was no stopping them. She sang really loud now, louder than the thoughts condemning her, still they forced her into a choking sob. She stopped for a second and sniffed to pull herself together. Afterwards, the loud singing continued as she danced more.

Then out of nowhere, she felt it. The hot breath on the nape of her neck, the hands on her sides and the unmistakable feel of a boner on her bum.

Temi swiveled round in instant anger and landed the wooden stirrer in her hand on the head of her assaulter. Edet backed away with his hand on the spot he had been hit and hot water splashed into his face. It scalded him at first but cooled immediately.

“Are you mad?!” Temi screamed. The stirrer in her hand went up in the air again and was aiming at him when Edet stopped her hand and gave her a slap.

“Look at this useless human being! You poured me hot water!”

Temi recovered from the slap and lunged at him but he held her hands and pushed her towards the counter. She aimed a knee at his groin. He ducked with a lascivious laugh and pressed his body into hers. Temi squirmed helplessly. The more she moved, the more he forced himself on her.

“Stay one place and stop fighting me! I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Leave me alone, Edet!” Temi was livid but it came with no power. She was afraid; Edet’s firm grip gave her no means of escape. She screamed out and he stopped her mouth with a hand. She shivered. Instant fever tremors shook her as his other hand grabbed her breast. For the first time in her life, she wished she had long nails. Her fingers on his face were not giving her the result she wanted. Therefore, she used the only weapon she knew. She dug her teeth into his upper arm and bit down as hard as she could but he raised his hand and rammed his elbow into her face. She went weak, her knees buckled. The floor seemed to shake underneath her as gravity forced her down.

Is this how you’re going to be all your life?

The voice from within her was loud. It came to her ears above the sound of Kcee’s Limpopo coming from the sitting room.

They pull you down, you fall. They abuse you, you hide in a hole. They hit you, you’re down to the floor.

Edet had her in his arms again, not letting her fall.

“Edet, please let me go,” Temi stopped fighting and lowered her tone.

Don’t let him get away.

“Please, stop,” Temi begged. Edet wasn’t sure at first.

“Please. I promise I won’t tell anyone. Just let me go.”

“You promise?”

Temi nodded.

“I didn’t want to hurt you.” He was breathing hard. “I just wanted to… I thought you and I could, you know… Your body, it does things to me.”

“Maybe we can but not now. Anyone can walk in.”

Edet nodded and moved away from her. Temi let out a relieving breath.

“I’m sorry.”

But Temi’s anger had been refueled by her inner person and she surged at him with renewed energy, picking the stirrer from the floor. This time she had him right on his forehead with three vicious blows. Next, she went for his nose, breaking it in one hit. She drew back with a heaving chest and watched him struggling with the stunning pain as blood flooded his face. She saw his eyes coming to rest on her in anger and she dashed out of the kitchen through the backdoor and ran all the way to the front gate.

“Aunty Temi, wetin dey happen?” the gateman asked but Temi stood, the stirrer still in her hand which was shaking non-stop.

The pedestrian gate opened and Ovie walked in. He stopped and gave Temi a once-over.

“What’s wrong?”

Temi, amidst her tears, narrated her encounter with Edet to Ovie who listened with a face that got incensed by the second.

“Is that all? Apart from slapping and touching you improperly, did he go any further?”

“No.”

Ovie turned to the gateman. “Mallam, lock the gate. No allow Edet commot.”

The gatemen obeyed the instructions with no questions as Ovie drew Temi to sit on a bench by the fence. He got out his phone and dialed a number.

“Peter, show… Just come house abeg… Just come.”

He dialed the next.

“Uyi, abeg try come crib… Now… Ehn, me sef dey go for the wedding… Just come.”

He dialed the third.

“Murphy, abeg person need that your Buran Tashi… Carry am come for me now-now-now…  Guy chill, I go pay you… Just carry am come.”

“OV, what are you doing?” Temi asked when he was through with the calls. “Why did you call all of them?”

Ovie handed his phone to her and walked towards the front door as soon as he saw Edet emerging from it. Edet spotted him, took a step backwards and dashed back inside. Ovie set his own feet into a spring and went for him. Seconds after, Edet appeared from the backyard and ran straight to the gate but he was met with a huge padlock. Knowing there was no way out for him, he turned around with his apartment in mind but Ovie caught up with him and threw him flat on his back through a punch. A second fist in his face thumped him out cold.

************

Temi watched from the window of her bedroom. Peter, Uyi and Murphy had arrived and they listened as Ovie recounted what she had told him. She didn’t really see why they were having a conference over the issue. It wasn’t after she listened in that she understood what was really going on.

Apparently, Edet had slept with Uyi’s ex. But that wasn’t all. Odun, Doctor Ahmed’s younger sister once reported that Edet had tried to sexually molest her at the backyard where they hung clothes. Edet got a slap on the wrist but the girl was sent back to her hometown. Finally, Ovie added that a few weeks before, a girl who had slept over after one of their Friday parties told him how Edet had been inappropriate with her at the party. Edet denied and said the girl was drunk and came on to him. There was nothing Ovie could do about the incidence.

While he was still recounting the story to them, Peter left where he stood and went to Edet who was now awake and was seated on the bench occupied by Temi earlier.

“You know say na my babe you touch?”

Edet gave him a demeaning stare.

“Forget everything wey happen for these past few weeks, forget say we be neighbors and you know my shit and I sabi your own, forget all the gbana wey we dey smoke steady. Forget everything. Guy,” he tapped Edet’s chest and had his hand pushed away, “Temi na my babe. Me, I no be Uyi. You no fit touch my babe go free.” Edet got off the bench and faced Temi’s window.

“Temi, you said I touched you inappropriately? How? I just tapped you and you turned around and poured hot water on me and broke my nose!”

Temi pulled the curtain shut. She looked around the mess that was her room. She needed to pack her things quickly. With what had happened to her, she didn’t need anyone to tell her that her time in that house was over.

“Temi, come out and tell the truth! Did I touch you?!”

Edet’s voice caused her to cringe. It now had a creepy effect on her. She commenced on packing her clothes and shoving them into her biggest box which was sprawled open on her bed. She shut her ears to the sound of blows coming from outside. Schooling in one of the roughest universities in the country gave her a firsthand experience of what the male specie could do to their kind when it came to thrashing. She packed hurriedly but was compelled to stop when she heard Edet screaming and begging in a terrified tone.

Temi turned to the window and pulled the curtain aside to peep. Edet was on his kness, his head sandwich between Peter’s long legs as Ovie poured the first drops of a liquid in a brown bottle down his throat. He struggled but Uyi held his head firmly as the liquid went down. They let him go afterwards and he got to his feet. He staggered a little in bloodstained clothes and eventually sat on the bench.  Murphy poured a bucket of water over him and they gave him a short time to put himself together.

“Oya!” Peter tapped him and pulled him to his feet. “Commot your clothes.”

“Ah-ahn,” Temi butt in. “It’s enough na. Please, stop.”

“Commot you shirt and short knicker! You think say I dey play?!”

“Peter, please na. Forgive him.”

“Temi, close that curtain!” Uyi ordered.

“Uyi, please. Please, you guys stop.”

“Temi, close the curtain.”

“Okay Uyi, come. Please, come.”

Uyi frowned at her but she pleaded with her eyes. He left his friends and went to meet her in the house.

“See, let nothing happen to him because of me. Buran Tashi can kill him. Please, Uyi… Please, stop.”

“He’ll be fine. We didn’t give him much. Just two capfuls or so. He needs to learn a lesson. We want to teach him what it really means not to control a hard-on.”

“So you people will just leave him like that?”

“After we tie him to his bed.”

“Uyi!”

“Forget him. Are you okay?”

“Yes.” She listened to the sound of Edet being carried away and didn’t hear Uyi’s question.

“Temi?”

She came back to him. “Ehn?”

“Where are you going? You’re packing.”

“I want to go and stay with my friend, Hafsa, until I can come up with enough money to help me get a new place. But I can’t stay here again, not with Edet in this same compound.”

Uyi remained by the door, staring at her. She wasn’t the same girl he had known. She was no longer the Temi he still couldn’t stop worrying about. It looked like someone had come and sapped the beauty and life out of her in one night. Her skin was lacking its fresh glow and rashes had broken out on her face. The hunch of her shoulder was back.

“You’re looking at me and you’re still judging me,” Temi said.

“I am not.”

“I slept with someone last night,” she confessed. Her hands squeezed a t-shirt in her hand. “A stranger. A married man. I don’t even remember his name. After everything, he paid me like I was some prostitute.”

She sat down and proceeded to pick invisible things from the smothered t-shirt in her hands.

“As a teenager, I could give anything for attention. Anything to have somebody have my time. There was a time I used to steal dollars and jewelry from my aunt’s room to give my friends in school just so that they’d accept me into their click. Other times, I took them foodstuff because I was a day student and they were boarders. When boys came into my life, I realized I didn’t need girls anymore; male company was more fun and free. The only problem was all the boys wanted me and I didn’t know how to handle it. Eventually I ended up dating the headboy and almost every afternoon after school before I went home, I had sex with him in the storeroom of our class. Sometimes he took me back to his room in the hostel. Sex gave me the love and attention I didn’t get from my family. My aunt was always away, so I really had no one in my life. In the university it was worse. I had a boyfriend who made me have threesomes with his friend and so many times I wanted to break out of the relationship but he was the only one who had my time. When I eventually left him, my life became worse…

“Uyi, I don’t want to be like this. I am not a ho. Please, believe me.” Temi’s body shuddered in tears. “I wish you could look inside me and see my heart. I am not what people think I am.”

“I know.”

“I don’t want you to go away again. Please, Uyi. I promise I won’t kiss you; I won’t be a threat to your relationship and I won’t see you if you don’t want to see me but please, tell me you’ll still be in my life. You’re the only one who never took advantage of me.”

“Temi, stop crying, abeg,” Uyi muttered but it seemed he opened a dam. Temi cried for a long time and he watched from the door. He longed to comfort her but he needed her to understand her anguish and source of her sorrow.

“Would you like to go for a wedding?” he asked. “Just to get your mind off your pain?”

Temi shook her head.

“I promised I was always going to be around for you. You’re my friend and there’s still good in you. That’s what I want to believe…”

Uyi paused as he heard Edet screaming somewhere in the compound.

“You need tough love. A different kind of love. You need to see yourself differently and I think I can help you. I’m not intimidated by your body and gone are the days I wanted to sleep with you. I’m in love with my girlfriend and I’m committed to sticking with her. But I will not let you go, Temi. My conscience will kill me if I do. So, will you follow me for the wedding and quit this mad nonsense about you going to disturb your friend in her matrimonial home?”

Temi looked at him.

“Edet is the one packing out tomorrow. This is your house; you’re not going anywhere. You can’t keep running. Now, get up, have a shower, fix yourself up and look good and confident like the Temi I know. Then you can choose who will be your plus one at the wedding. We’re all going.”

“I thought you alone got the invitation.”

“Ovie and Murphy want to win that Q10 but I can help you get it.”

Temi smiled and Uyi saw a hint of life in her cheeks.

“Thank you.”

Uyi peeped out. “Your boyfriend is coming.” His tone flattened to almost a whisper. “He’s going through hell. He’s about to leave to his village to spend the rest of his life there. Please stop him. HIV is not a death sentence. Talk to him.”

************

To be Continued…

 

The conclusion comes tomorrow. Don’t miss it!

 Read previous episodes here

To Tame A Virgin #19

For Kef Richardson… HBD!

Temi received her query letter with an uncomplaining smile and put it beneath her keyboard. She made plans to reply it later in the day. She was relieved that she worked in an office where everyone minded their business. No one asked her why she had been away from work or why she had lost so much weight. No one bothered about her and for that she was happy. That was why she found it weird when one of the senior partners’ secretaries appeared before her table and said ‘oga’ wanted to see her immediately. Temi automatically assumed it was either Felix Enenche or one other man whose name she always forgot. She had no idea she was going to see Dike. She followed the secretary up the stairs to the management floor and they stopped at Dike’s office. Temi didn’t bother to read the name on the door before she walked in. It was his perfume that first gave him away before her eyes saw him standing by his window, looking out.

The secretary exited, leaving them alone. Dike turned to Temi and her insides churned just looking in his eyes. She bit her lower lip nervously and pushed her glasses to rest properly on her nose.

“Hi Temi. Please, sit.”

“No, I’m fine standing. This won’t take long, will it?”

“No.” Dike also remained on his feet. Temi was mighty uncomfortable. She had never imagined she would be with Dike in the same room again, let alone get flushed by his presence. She was beginning to see what Uyi had spent two full hours trying to make her understand. The problem was not with the men in her life; it was with her. And she knew that if Dike crossed the table separating them and touched her, she wasn’t going to resist. She cursed herself and felt tears burning her eyes. Dike wasn’t saying anything; he was merely staring at her and it was doing things to her body.

“Temi, what is wrong with you? Are you okay? You look emaciated.”

“I’m fine. If that is all you called me here to ask, I can tell you that I’m okay. Can I go?”

“Hope we’re good. You don’t hate me or anything like that?”

“No.”

“I just needed to clear it all up and apologize again. I was an idiot and I used you. I can’t forgive myself for what I did. I’m terribly sorry.”

“Okay, I heard you. Can I go now? Please?”

Dike nodded. Temi kept her face down and with legs pressed together, she shuffled out of his office in a hurry. She dashed to the nearest restroom to let it all out. She couldn’t look into the mirror; each time she did, a whore was staring back at her.

“Something is wrong with you, Temi,” Uyi had said in a tone she never heard him use on her before. “You have to get help. Maybe from a doctor or a pastor or an older woman who can mentor you or something.”

“I’m okay. I just need to get over the shock that I almost got AIDS.”

“No, it’s not that. And it’s also not that sex is your comfort food. It’s more. I think you enjoy it a little too much.”

“You’re calling me a nympho?”

“No. And please be honest with me here. I’ll know if you’re lying. If I kissed you right now, would you stop me?”

Temi held her tongue but the look in her eyes and the instant change of color on her face told Uyi all he needed to know.

“Go and get help. And it’s time you quit the nice girl act. It’s getting irritating.”

That conversation didn’t end well. It left her in tears especially after Uyi made it clear that he wasn’t going to be seeing her again. How she survived that night was a miracle. The next day, she went for a HIV test and to her relief she was negative, though she was told she would have to return in six weeks for a confirmatory test. Like most people do, who find themselves in the dump, Temi sought God, beginning a self-imposed one week prayer and fasting and an everyday visit to a neighborhood church to spend her evenings. After the week ended, she believed she had successfully expunged the demons of lust in her. So why did just one look from Dike get her all flustered and wet?

She dared to look into the mirror and her image judged her. She commenced crying hysterically, not caring about the lady that walked into the restroom, staring at her through the mirror as she rinsed her hands.

“My dear,” the lady finally asked, “are you okay?”

Temi nodded.

“It’s obvious you’re not but whatever it is, know that God is control,” she said with a gentle hand on Temi and Temi’s eyes caught a hand rosary dangling from the lady’s wrist. She was once Catholic herself but had changed churches after dating a Pentecostal pastor. From then she never went back. Now seeing someone from her former church brought some form of peace within and authentication that she needed God completely to change her lifestyle. After work, she paid a visit to an old friend from her former church. The woman had been like a mother to her when Temi first came to Abuja. She had not seen her in three years. Temi hoped she was going to be received well.

Dressed in her most conservative of clothes and every Catholic paraphernalia she could use to piously adorn her body, she was ushered into the office of the Mother Superior at the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy. Temi stood by the door, unsure of how to greet the comely nun who was sitting behind her desk with a bland face; but a smile erupted from the woman’s lips and hands stretched out to Temi.

“Come here, Temidire.”

Temi rushed to her with a hug. After the greetings and small talk to catch up on lost time, Temi stated the reason for her visit in the most prudish face and voice she could muster.

“Mommy, I want to become a nun.”

The woman’s eyebrows went up and she crossed her fingers together. “A nun?”

“Yes ma. I have always wanted to be one.”

Which was not a lie. But Temi always found herself falling into the arms of a guy each time she made the resolution to get herself married to Jesus.

“My dear, dedicating your life to God like that is no easy feat and it is not for everyone. You must have a call from God.”

Then the lies began.

“I am sure of my calling, mommy. I have prayed and fasted for months and I keep seeing signs everywhere.” She got off her chair and walked to the woman. “This is where I want to be. Please, don’t say no. There’s no life greater than this.”

“It is a long process, Temidire.”

“I know but I have been living my life like a sister already. My friends at work call me Mary Amaka and men have given up on me completely. I don’t have any desire for the things of this world, especially not in these wicked days.” She held the woman’s hands and went on her knees. “Please, don’t turn me away.”

“My dear,” the woman touched her head, “I am happy to hear you say this but will you give me time to seek the face of God? And I think you should use the time also to pray some more and speak to your parents about it.”

Temi nodded. Not quite the answer she was expecting but it was good enough. She knew she would be accepted into the community. She thanked the kind nun and left her office a lot happier than she went in. The rest of the evening was good for her; it felt like angels walked with her all through. Even when she went back home and found that Peter had packed his things and left the house without as much as a note or text, it didn’t rain on her parade. To her, it was even better he left. He was one of the reasons she was in the damper; he had ignored her completely and often looked at her like she was the one that infected him with the disease.

She treated herself to a hot shower as if expunging her past, got into a simple dress, adorned her face with light makeup and took herself out for a treat in a bar somewhere in the neighborhood. When she drank beyond her limits, she told herself it was going to be her last. When she flirted with a group of guys on a table next to hers, she told herself it would be her last flirting. And even when one of them came to sit with her and his hand found its way up her dress, she told herself, he was going to be her last fling.

The guy took her to a hotel nearby and spent a good hour on her. After which, he wore his clothes and dumped some naira notes beside her on the bed. It was at that moment the alcohol spinning her senses receded and Temi shot up from the bed.

“What’s this? I’m not a prostitute.”

“I know. But you need the money, don’t you?”

“No.” Temi’s sight was getting clearer too. The guy was not as hot as she had believed.

“So why would a beautiful girl like you come out alone to drink and allow a strange man have sex with you just like that?”

The answer waiting on Temi’s lips bordered on something about it being the modern world and a girl not being made to feel like a slut just because she wanted to sleep with a stranger; but Temi kept quiet and concentrated on forcing her pooling tears of shame away.

“I’m a nice person. My friends wouldn’t have offered anything, so stop forming and take the money,” the guy insisted.

“I am not a prostitute!” Temi restated, took the notes, squeezed them into a ball and flung them away. Then she went to him and began unzipping his fly.

“My friends are waiting for me,” he stopped her.

“Let them wait,” she replied and continued what she began. Her heart burned within her. She hated herself for what she was doing but she wasn’t going to allow the last thing he remembered about her be centered around the money he gave her. She was going to prove to him that she wasn’t a slut by giving him the screw of his life free of charge.

************

Dike knew Kachi was a witch. A good witch. Who was doing bad bad things to him. She had some form of magic, a manner in which she wove her spell over him. She was a mistress of the art of knowing his heart, and boy did she work her charm like no man’s business.

Who knew she could smile so much? Or could even sing while cooking? Or endure watching National Geographic with him? Each day he observed her unfolding before his eyes like the pages of a fantasy novel. He was just getting to know her and it was beautiful to watch her reveal herself under his eyes.

Her enchantment was potent in him. Some would call it love but Kachi had found the secret to controlling his center of gravity. She kept him distracted and he forsook all other diversions. They were now chasings after the wind. In his own jungle, a wild lioness had been tamed and it was not by his control or even his knowledge. What had happened to Kachi was nothing he could take credit for. Maybe something really good came out of her newly found Christian faith in the end.

She believed in the power of her God. Dike’s God too. But Dike was skeptical about the whole spiritual issue. Mortals and immortals had little business with each other. What did a generic God care about a man’s love life with his wife? Such things were too high for Dike to comprehend. Thus he was okay with his little ‘mustard seed’ religion, even as enticing as the new Kachi made him hunger for more.

He had a more powerful craving though. Kachi was responsible for it. Why put cheese where a mouse can easily reach? But he had known what he was getting himself into when he brought her back in. Now she was binding him in another spell too strong to break; the trap was set and he was circling the cheese. To the casual observer, he barely noticed her but his phone followed her everywhere she went; and when she looked at him all she saw was him being absorbed in something off the web. But Kachi had also acquired the power of patience and perseverance through seduction. She kept displaying the shorts and tights and see-throughs diligently with a never-fading glimmer in her eye.

Witch!

Dike knew he was going to fall soon… One of these nights…

He had no idea it was coming sooner than expected. Ten days after she came back into his life, Kachi finally trapped him in a bottle. Only he didn’t know. Just arriving from work, he walked in to nostalgic sounds of love songs from 1998, the year they met. It was Shania Twain first and Dike laughed at the cheesiness of the song, asking himself how he could have ever been carried away with such music. Then came LeAnn Rimes, Janet Jackson, K-ci and Jojo, Usher, Boyz II Men, 98 Degrees, Aerosmith, Mariah Carey, Monica and of course, Celine Dion. It was while he was listening to Dreaming of You that it finally hit him that Kachi was playing a collection from a mixtape he had given her on her birthday that year. He remembered vividly waiting outside her family house with the guard dogs going wild at his presence. Kachi had kept him waiting twenty minutes before she showed up with an unwelcoming frown.

“Yes?”

She ignored his smile and greeting and crossed her arms rudely beneath her breasts. He would never forget how heavenly he thought she looked.

“Happy birthday.” He handed her a manila envelope.

“Thank you,” she said with no smile. “But you know I have a boyfriend, right? And he’ll be here soon. So you better go.”

Dike was deflated but he walked away with a sure grin. He knew she would love the presents in the envelope. One of them in particular had cost him a fortune. Others included a mixtape, a birthday card and hair care products he had gotten from his sister’s shop on credit.

The next time he met her, Kachi was wearing a tolerant smile but it was a smile nevertheless. She thanked him appropriately for the presents and accepted to have him buy her suya but she reminded him that she kept her heart for her boyfriend. Dike noted that she didn’t wear the one gift he had spent all his cash on, not then and not even after they got married…

 

Too Close by Next was playing at the time Dike walked by Kachi’s bedroom. He just had a shower and was dressed in a t-shirt and shorts, ready for his dinner and TV time. He stopped by her door to stare at her clad in her towel alone, holding a blouse in the air. She put the blouse aside and changed the music to something native; another very familiar sound from their traditional wedding.

“Will you stare at me all day or will you walk by and pretend you didn’t see me as you always do?”

“Where’s Travis?” Dike asked, ignoring her opening line.

“With Mama.”

“Hmmm.” Dike smelled a conspiracy in the works. “Have you seen my Mastercard?” he inquired and Kachi smiled in guilt. She walked to her dressing table and picked the card in question.

“That was not part of the deal, Kach.”

“I’m sorry but Ene’s sister’s wedding is tomorrow and I needed to shop.”

“So you went on a spree,” Dike said, eyeing the heap of native attires on her bed.

“Yes.” The guilty smile again. “I will reimburse you when my new boss pays me.”

“I see. Feeling smart with yourself, abi?”

He walked in and took the card from her. As he was turning away, she stopped him.

“Please, tell me which one you think fits me best.”

“Kachi, I just came back nau. Lemme rest.”

“It won’t take long.”

Dike looked at the heap of clothes and shook his head, pitying himself. He sat on the bed and without warning she dropped her towel.

“What is wrong with you?” he asked.

“What?” she looked at him innocently and picked a yellow, embroidered blouse to wear. She got into it, struggling. When it settled on her body finally, she couldn’t zip it together. She tried two more blouses and the results were the same.

“Didn’t it occur to you when you were buying them that you’re pregnant?”

“I should have just gone to my tailor to sew me something.”

“Well, that’s your business.” Dike stood up. “Pick something old.”

“One more! One more!” She picked a red, ankara gown from the bed and got into it, legs first; but there was a long zipper that ran from her upper back to her bum and she called Dike to help her with it. He walked to her and ran the zipper down with as much control and as fast as he could. In the end, he handed her the pull-tab.

“Dike, you spoilt my zip!”

“Sorry, the thing just followed my fingers and came off. You’re using my money to buy fake things.”

She turned around with an endearing smile at him and the sight of a glittering gold necklace on her neck caught his attention. He didn’t notice it earlier because his mind had been on ‘other’ distractions. He pulled the necklace and held out a D-shaped pendant with yellow stones on the surface.

“You still have it.” His voice carried silent surprise. “I thought you hated it.”

“I did. It was conceited of you to give me a gold necklace with a D on it on my birthday.”

Dike grinned naughtily and put the necklace down. “So, madam, are you done seducing me?”

“I’ve not even started.” Kachi turned around. “Undo the zip please.”

“What made you change your mind?” he asked and began parting the zipper.

“About the necklace?”

“You know what I’m talking about.”

Kachi didn’t answer immediately; she allowed herself feel the goosebumps his fingertips were deliberately creating on her skin.

“Travis.” She answered. “Travis changed my mind. What type of mother watches her son each night pray to Jesus to bring his mommy and daddy back together and walks away from that with an untouched heart? Every morning it was ‘mommy, is daddy coming today?’ ‘when are we going back home?’ ‘are you still angry with him?’ I was falling apart and I was angry that I couldn’t go against the prayers of a little boy who knew nothing of the pain I was going through. And then one day, it occurred to me that my pain was a lot bigger than my motherhood and my happiness and even my sensibilities. I was scared that it would swallow my life entirely. It was at that point I started fighting you hard because I was at my weakest then. Nnai, I had to stop and do a turnaround, to let it all go. And it’s not been easy. I still look at you sometimes and feel you don’t deserve to be forgiven but seventy times seven doesn’t come all in a flush, does it?”

“No,” Dike said but he was not interested in a conversation. Kachi understood and she turned around to face him.

“I’m going to kiss you, Onyekachi. And touch you everywhere. Then make love to you. But I don’t want to do it if you have an investigator lurking around or if I wake up tomorrow and hear you’re off to London or something like that. I need to be assured that you’re here to stay and your heart is here as well.” He made no show of hiding his defenselessness as he spoke to her.

“I’m here.”

“Onyekachi Chibuzor, I beg of you, biko, emekatakwala hapu’m.”

“I’m never leaving you again, Dike.”

“I ma na I ji obi’m.”

“And you hold my heart too.”

He moved away from her and sat on the bed. “Then dance for me.”

“What?” she laughed.

“Give me your best Igbo dance. Shake what I paid for. That’s the only way you’re getting back into my house.”

“Dike…”

He got out his wallet from the pocket of his shorts and brought out a healthy collection of a thousand naira notes. She laughed. “I’m shy.”

“I’ll put my money back and go and sleep o! Ngwanu!”

Kachi laughed again and gave a little shake of her body.

“Ehen! Na now you come!” he moved further into the bed and rested his back on a pillow. “I have all night. Let’s make the moment count. If you want this money on you, you better give me reason.”

Kachi knew this was Dike’s last fight to reinstate his ego. She wished he understood that there was no need for it; she was totally surrendering to him. Yet she felt the need to let him know where she stood, so she began to dance for him. It was one of the few things he liked about her; she was completely sold to her culture and was not ashamed of it. He was liberal on such things and would not bother to speak his language or visit his hometown if she did not make him.

She moved closer to the bed and gave him her best dance yet, twerking and mixing in a little Yoruba booty moves in her performance.

“Oriaku! Odoziaku!” he praised her, sitting up. “You no go finish me! Enenebe-eje-olu! Utommanuanu! Igodo obi’m! Mmazuruahu! Dance for your husband Obi’m! Ugochinyere’m”

The naira notes flew into the air and landed all around her.

“Yes O! shake am! Na only me get am! Nke’m! Lolo’m! Uto’m! Adaugo! Omalicha! Anyanwu! Ugegbe mma!”

Kachi stopped to catch her breath and fan herself.

“Oya rest. You’re carrying a baby, abeg. But you’ve not danced enough oh. Some money’s still in my hand.”

Kachi smiled, and then turned sad face as tears gathered in her eyes.

“What’s the problem now?”

She lowered herself and sat on him, accepting the embrace his arms offered.

“The last time you called me those names was on our traditional wedding. Sadly, I was not interested in hearing them then. I was not even there; it was all an act.”

“But you’re here now and this is not an act, sweetheart. Isn’t the end of a matter better than the beginning?”

“It is.”

“So why the tears na? See how far we’ve come after everything. I am not with some girl and you’re not with some guy. We’re here together. We fought and worked things out even with all the childish conduct from two of us. We’ve really come a long way, Kach. So why cry for the past that is being erased at the moment?”

“I wonder o,” Kachi mumbled as his fingers stopped her tears.

“All these tears spoil breastmilk oh. It will become sour now.”

Kachi laughed. “You listen to Mama too much and she’s taught you one of her old wives’ tales.”

Dike pulled a serious face. “This is not about old wives, biko. It’s about a man who is getting the breastmilk first before the baby comes. Please, don’t use tears to sour my pleasure.”

“Speaking of which…how about that kiss and touch and lovemaking you were talking about earlier?”

Dike rose up from the bed, carrying her with him, but he placed her on the bed again.

“I’m hungry jor.” He began walking out.

“I knew you’d be difficult. Your too form!”

“I learnt from the best!” Dike stated in a raised voice, heading towards the kitchen.

Kachi hurried out of her gown and dug under the pile of clothes for the attire she had kept for the night and wore it. Next, she changed the music to a collection of songs from Kenny G, one of Dike’s favorite musicians, and dabbed her perfume on his pleasure spots on her body. On her way out, she bumped into Dike. He had a contrived frown on his face.

“If your plan was to starve me and seduce me with that hot lingerie on your body, it’s working… oh, it’s so working I want you to feel it.” He pulled her close. “My mom was so right. You’re a witch, Onyekachi.”

^©Sally @moskedapages

To Doctor Val and his Uzoamaka…the beauty that graces his life.

 

 

Translations

biko, emekatakwala hapu’m – please don’t ever leave me.

I ma na I ji obi’m – you know you hold my heart

The names Dike called Kachi while she danced are just terms of endearment men use for their women in Igbo land.

 

 

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To Tame A Virgin #11

So, this episode is really long, so I had to break it into two. Enjoy!

Read previous episodes HERE

Dami was in a good mood. A very, very good mood. She loved it when it rained. She always had a mad desire to run under it like she loved doing when she was little. Uyi nicknamed her ‘wet girl’; a name that connoted more than what the rain did to her.

Monday morning came with an angry downpour that put Uyi in a bad mood. Unlike his sweetheart, rainfall never eased his state of mind or emotions. If anything, it made him worse. He grew up in poor conditions and the rains meant for him then, a leaking roof, a flooded neighborhood with water carrying all sorts of filth and debris, and the fear of being constantly struck by lightning (having experienced it once as a kid and narrowly escaping death from it). Even as a grown man now, he still sometimes found himself scared of thunderstorms.

“Uyi, look! Hailstones! Closest thing to snow around here! I’m going to get me some!” Dami giggled and ran outside like a little child running on jet fuel. Uyi who was lying on her bed, sat up and pulled his laptop to him. He ran his fingers over the mouse, popping up a window on his screen that displayed the face of a man that made him frown. That face was primarily the reason why he was upset.

He had spent the better part of his weekend (when he was not having sex with Dami) tracking down the person behind the totameavirgin website. The first result he hit was a brick wall, leading him to a proxy server used to mask the real IP address of the individual behind the website. But Uyi had his ways and his connections in the IT world and in no time, he traced the site back to Dike. Determined to revive his image in Felix’s eyes, he dug for more and found to his dismay that Dike was good friends with Felix himself. There were pictures of both men’s families in Dike’s Facebook albums and he even discovered Felix had attended the same university and once worked as a business partner with Dike. The thought of them being friends aroused Uyi’s curiosity and he began wondering if Felix ran the site alongside Dike. But that line of thought was ludicrous and Uyi abandoned it immediately. Why would Felix ask him to investigate something he was part of? And why would someone of his status do something so juvenile? To Uyi, he saw a man merely being protective of his cousin and opening a site centered around her sex life couldn’t be something someone like Felix could do. Uyi’s conclusion was that the Dike character that he knew nothing about had to be running the show alone.

And that pushed him further into his investigation. He wanted more dirt on Dike. To him, a forty-something year old man did not start acting like a teenager for the fun of it; Dami must have, in her notoriously annoying way, done something to push him. Hence, on Saturday he contacted a friend working with the mobile network provider Dike was using and asked for Dike’s phone call logs. He got a reply by Sunday evening, an email with an endless list of Dike’s call history in the past year. Uyi ran the list on a program and requested the most frequently dialed numbers. Three numbers appeared—the first, Uyi knew nothing of but the last two belonged to the two women in Uyi’s life. Dami and Temi. While Dami’s was dated six months back, Temi’s was quite recent. In fact, Dike had dialed her twice on Saturday afternoon.

When Uyi had fallen into this discovery, he was very confused. He planned on questioning Dami but he held back and investigated further by hacking into both Dami’s and Dike’s email accounts. However, he came up with nothing. He couldn’t get into Temi’s because of a security measure she had put to track down anyone hacking into her personal files. Hence he compiled his findings, made a detailed note about Dike’s involvement with the site and the process he had used to trace him, and he put everything in a folder named ‘Dike’. Now because Dike was a family man and a friend of Felix, Uyi had no true intentions of sending the information to Felix but he kept it around in case it was ever requested. Still the thought that Temi, especially, could have something to do with Dike bothered him. Was he the ‘boyfriend’ she always spoke about? Was he the one that hit her? These questions bothered Uyi more than the fact that he had a job interview in less than two hours that he had not prepared for.

Outside, Dami was standing under the cover of her roof, chewing on tiny hailstones. Her excitement was closely viewed by her gateman and his wife from behind the frail curtain of their small room by the gate. Dami knew they were watching her but she didn’t care. She was in high spirits. And it wasn’t just because of the two bottles of cough syrup she had secretly consumed in the bathroom an hour before, nor was it just because of the rain. Throughout the weekend, she had carefully observed Uyi and his laptop. For every moment she was not in his arms, he was fixated on the thing. And each time she tried to see what he was doing, he always shut it and pushed it away. But she got her moment when he drifted to sleep the previous night, leaving the laptop on. Stealthily, she took it out of bed and into the sitting room where she investigated what it was that had his attention all weekend. And there she stumbled upon the ‘Dike’ folder and when she clicked it open and read the note Uyi had made, she was stunned. Right away, she fished around for a flash drive and copied the folder before sneakily returning the laptop back to where Uyi had left it. She stashed the flash drive away and nestled into his cuddle, going to bed a very happy girl.

 

“You’ll catch a cold with what you’re doing.”

Dami turned to see Uyi behind her. She shoved a tiny hailstone into his mouth and he spat it out.

“Come in, Damaris.”

Uyi drew her in with a kiss. Her mouth was cold against his and so was her body as his fingers ran over the drops of water on her thighs. She held unto him hungrily, her hands heading for his boxers but he pulled away and took her hand.

“I’m hungry. Come let’s find something to eat.”

She hopped on his back and wrapped her legs around him. “You’ll cook for me?” she asked, giggling.

“Yes, I will. And you have to eat. No girl should space between her legs like a guy.”

“Girls I know would kill for the space between my legs. People even do liposuction to get it.”

“And yours is natural?”

“Yep. Naturally hot. But I have curves na.”

“Surprisingly. Still I’ll fatten you.”

Uyi dropped her on the kitchen counter and began making breakfast.

“I’m a bit nervous about the interview,” he revealed.

“The job is yours already. Just speak geek to them and you’ll be fine.” She assured him.

“Dami, we’re talking about DPS Solutions here. It’s not Geek Elysium oh. Do you know where we all were when DPS started with the internet in Nigeria?”

Dami shook her head. “Mnh-mnh.”

“We were in the stone age. In short, only rich people in this country knew about computers then. Those that had them couldn’t even use them. But DPS was light years away!”

“Whatever. It’s just a bunch of geeks like you but with a lot of money. They are now fat and lazy and are looking for young blood to do all the work. So just go there and wow them. But first…” she pulled him to her, “you have to wow me.”

“Damaris, not now.” He moved away.

“Why?” she sat up, pouting.

“Because I am not a sex machine. Geez! I’m tired.”

“But I want you.”

“Come on, close your legs; you’re in the kitchen for heaven’s sake.”

She gave up and jumped off the counter. “I have decided to go to work today.”

“Good for you.”

She put her arms around him from behind and rested her head on his back. “But I want to follow you to your interview.”

“No. Go to work, and try not to piss Mr. Enenche off. He’s older than you and you should respect him.”

“I’ll try.” She pinched his nipples before she walked away.

************

Dike held Kachi tight beneath the soft, blue duvet that shielded them from the cold weather. He refused to let go even as she squirmed restlessly in his hold. She was in a laughing fit and it felt good to Dike to hear the cheerfulness in her voice. He knew she was still bitter at him but he saw that she was fighting it and he was grateful for that.

“Ogbudike, let me go to work na,” she begged, giggling. His fingers were mercilessly tickling her sides.

“Which work?” he asked, not stopping. “It’s raining.”

“Just because you’re jobless…”

“My friend, shut up. Who says I’m jobless?”

“But seriously,” she stopped moving, “you don’t have a job, Dike.”

“I do.” He went for her calf next, running small lines on sensitive spots near the sole of her foot. She wiggled her leg away and sat up, throwing the blanket off. The freezing air coming from opened windows hit her naked skin and she hugged herself as she got off the bed.

“I’m not supposed to announce this but I’m now a secret senior partner at Geek Elysium.”

Kachi turned around at the breaking news. “When?”

“Last week. Felix isn’t so sure how Justice Alechenu would handle it, since Geek Elysium is a family business. So we’re keeping it under the radar. Don’t let Ene find out too. For obvious reasons, she still has reservations about me.”

“Felix told you she has reservations?” Kachi asked walking into the bathroom.

“He didn’t have to. I just know.”

Kachi replied something to his statement but he didn’t hear. He sat up and pushed aside the duvet.

“So when are you moving back in?” he inquired.

“Moving back in?” Kachi returned with her toothbrush in her mouth. “Dike, we’re still in the wooing process. Until I’m sure that you’re hundred percent in love with and faithful to me, I’m not coming back to this house.” She made brushing motions and smiled with her eyes as she saw the sad look on her husband’s face.

Dike’s phone buzzed beside him and he looked into the screen, his brows gathering in surprise. He picked the phone and walked out of the bedroom. Kachi tried not to bother about the fact that he was taking a call away from her as she continued with her oral hygiene. After she was done, she had a long, hot shower. Wrapped in Dike’s bathrobe, she walked back into the bedroom and found him standing by the door.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, detecting the serious expression on his face.

“Kachi, we need to talk.”

Kachi’s heart sank and her shoulders fell. “Please don’t tell me there’s another girl.”

“It’s Damaris. She was the one on the phone.”

“What did she want?”

“Baby, please sit.”

“No, I’m standing. What did the brat want?”

Dike took in and let out a heavy breath and in very few but concise words, told Kachi about the website. Astonishingly, Kachi said nothing, though he could see her chest heaving and her eyes turning red.

“Why did you do it?” she asked.

“I was in a bad place, Kach. I really had feelings for Damaris then and when she dumped me and exposed the relationship…”

“Affair,” Kachi corrected.

“Affair. When she exposed us, I was terribly shaken. I got mad and…”

“Vindictive. As usual.”

“I’m sorry.”

Kachi nodded but her nostrils burned with suppressed tears.

“So she wants to sue you?” she asked. Dike nodded. “Does she have proof?”

“She does. She traced the site back to me. I shut it down on Saturday but it takes seventy-two hours before the host company finally disables it. It’s a precaution for people who might want to change their minds later.”

“So the site is still on?”

“Yeah. But don’t worry. Everything’ll be fine.”

“Everything will be fine? Oh, Dike…” Kachi slumped into the stool before her vanity table. “What are we going to do? You have to tell Felix to talk to her.”

“I can’t. Felix doesn’t know it’s me behind the site and he’s been really angry about it and had even ordered an investigation…”

“Oh God…” Kachi muttered. “Justice Alechenu will bury you alive. They’ll sue you for libel. We have to go and beg before it blows up.”

“Over my dead body.” Dike glowered and walked away from the door.

“How bad is this site, Dike? I want to see it.” Kachi reached for her phone on the vanity table but Dike walked to her and snatched it.

“It’s better you don’t. There are naked pictures of…her there.”

Kachi’s mouth dropped open.

“I didn’t put them. A registered user did but the necessary parts were blurred…”

“Dike, what happened to you?” Kachi looked at him as if she was staring at a stranger. “How did it get so bad?”

“I don’t know. I really don’t,” he replied in honesty.

“Oh God, help me.” Kachi was now in tears, her head buried in her hands. Dike sat on the bed and reached for his phone.

“I have to call my lawyer.”

“Just go and apologize to Damaris and her father.”

“No, Onyekachi. I won’t.”

“But that man will use his influence to ruin you, Nnai. Remember what he did the last time. He’s the reason all your clients dropped you. I know what he can do.”

“I am not begging him, woman!”

“Why did you do that type of wickedness to Damaris na? Why?” Kachi sobbed.

Dike stood, putting his phone to his ear as he walked out of his room. Kachi crumbled completely. She felt the familiar strings of resentment tugging at her heart and prayed to God to help her remain sane.

************

Anyebe concentrated on the iPad Mini in his hands, his eyes deepening by the minute. Dami sat on his table, facing him, restlessly swinging her legs as she waited for him to devour the evidence before him. He finally raised himself to a straight posture and looked at her.

“Get off my table, child.”

Dami hopped down and stood where her feet landed.

“How did you get this?”

“From Uyi’s laptop to my flash to my phone and…”

“Omoruyi compiled this?” he asked. Dami nodded.

“You see? I told you he’s a keeper and would do well with DPS.”

“Can we sue Dike with this, dad?” Damaris asked impatiently.

“You said you have more evidence?”

“I have screenshots of the site from the very first day it was up.”

“What does that mean?” Anyebe asked, leaning back on his chair.

“It’s pictures taken with my iPad of pages on the site. We can use those as proof.”

“Tell me more about this proxy server thing.”

“Basically,” Dami began, “when you connect to the internet through a proxy server, the home IP address of your machine will not be shown but rather the IP of the proxy server will be shown, providing you with privacy and making it difficult and sometimes, even impossible for anyone to track your real IP address,” she finished. “Can we still get him, Dad?”

Anybebe was in deep thought for a while. “If we can trace the proxy server back to him, why not? I wish your mother were here. She was the computer genius. She would have figured out what to do.”

“Well, she’s dead and the company lawyers are very alive.”

“I’ll see what we can come up with by the end of the day.”

“Dad, please hurry. The site is shutting down tomorrow afternoon. Registered users have already been sent alerts.”

“Damaris, stop getting ants in your pants. Relax and let me handle it.”

“So we’re suing?”

“But of course.”

“Yay!” Dami did a little dance and hugged her father, leaving a peck on his forehead. He gave her a calm smile and patted her cheek. As she picked her iPad Mini and left the office, she did not see the angry mien that settled on his face.

^©Sally @moskedapages

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To Tame A Virgin #6

As God has willed, I am well again. Thank you for your prayers and healing words. I’m back on my feet…er, sorry, back on my fingers. 🙂

Things are going to change drastically for the characters of this story. Some hearts will break, some will find love, what has been hidden in darkness will come to light and like water spilled to the ground which cannot be taken back, some of these changes will be irreversible.

And here it begins…

Just a kiss. That was what she said. But it was more than that to both of them. It had been ignited from the moment she raped his mouth at Mr. Enenche’s and since then, they hadn’t been able to stop the fire that drew them into an endless kissing game. Uyi had left the Enenches’ that evening, embarrassed and in a hurry but he could not hastily erase the taste of Dami’s tongue over his all through that night. Work was a bore for him the next day and with Temi’s absence, his weariness was turned up a notch. But Dami spun things around when she materialized before his desk with a bogus assignment she wanted him to do which would require him working overtime. He acceded to her wish and continued his day with a renewed zest.

When evening came and the office building was empty save for the two of them, the kissing kicked off again. Scared that they might be caught by the numerous surveillance cameras, they moved to Dami’s car at the parking lot where they went on for a prolonged time.

“Are we ever going to have a serious conversation?” Uyi asked when he stopped to breathe. Dami shook her head slowly at him with what seemed like a naughty smile.

“Who wants to speak geek this night, Uyi?” she whispered and bit his lip so hard he flinched. Then she continued again. No touching was done, no phone numbers were exchanged, no words were said, and she kissed him all the way to his doorstep… and then stopped, breaking into laughter when she saw his roommates staring at them with gaping jaws. One look at Ovie and Peter had Uyi changing his mind about staying home.

“Let’s go to your place,” he suggested to Dami and she nodded readily. “Er…wait for me in your car. I just want to get something quick.” As she walked away, Uyi dashed into his apartment and was welcomed with loud whooping from Peter and Ovie. They followed him into his room, begging for juicy details about what they had just witnessed. Uyi said little to them but it was enough. They already had evidence of the kiss, a photo taken with Peter’s phone. They waited for him to leave before logging into www.totameavirgin.com to upload the photograph. And that was how Uyi’s name joined the list of Dami’s potential deflowerers. In less than thirty minutes, he topped the list and Dike’s phone buzzed for three full hours, alerting him of new bets placed on the newcomer.

 

However, Dike couldn’t concentrate on his incoming alerts. He had his own headache to deal with at home. Kachi had been crying for five long hours and had refused to tell him why. He suspected that she had somehow found out about Temi. But Dike wasn’t really fazed. In fact, he had half-expected her to catch him because he wanted a big showdown. So bored he was of his life and marriage that he was willing to risk it all to start over again. He believed he loved Kachi immensely but the fire was long gone and he just couldn’t see himself playing the role of a husband anymore. His heart was dead cold towards her. He had tried to revive it severally but without success. Now, all he wanted was a way out of the prison he called his marriage, and if Temi was the exit, he didn’t give a damn if his affair with her was exposed. Still, it hurt him somewhat to see Kachi cry. She once was his best friend and if there was left any part of his conscience that was alive and jabbing him at that moment, it was for the friendship he once shared with her.

“Kach, talk to me nau. Why are you crying like this?” He didn’t know how many times he had asked that question in Igbo and in English but the answer was always the same – silence and more tears. He was tired and heavy-eyed and one look at his blinking phone reminded him that he had messages to attend to, so he sighed and said, “I’m turning in. If you want to talk, just tap me.”

He rested on his side of the bed and connected his phone to charge as he began to attend to his messages. Just as he was about logging into totameavirgin.com, a text message arrived. He clicked on the SMS icon and saw that the text was from Kachi. He glanced at her side of the bed where she was crouched, and saw her fiddling with her phone. He turned back to his and clicked on the SMS and it read thus:

Mrs Dike, my name is Temi and I have been sleeping with your husband. I’m very sorry about it. Dike told me he was divorced. I didn’t know you guys were still married. Pls forgive me. But I have worst news. I am pregnant for him and have no intention of aborting it. Again, I’m truly sorry.

Dike was dumbfounded. Temi couldn’t be pregnant, he argued in his head. She was just trying to cause trouble. What on earth would possess her to send such nonsense to Kachi?

He looked at Kachi. She was still crouched and backing him. She sent him another text.

Temi, thank you for letting me know. I do not advise you to abort the child. And I do not advise you to stop seeing Dike if you love him. I am leaving him for you. Enjoy.

“Kach?” Dike called Kachi in a very low voice and she lifted herself from the bed and faced him. “Nnai…” she began and stopped and rubbed her swollen eyes. “I… actually found out about two of you earlier today. I followed you from work until you got to her house. I saw you guys kissing in the car, I saw everything. And I was so angry. I planned to go back to her house to beat the hell out of her before descending on you… but her text came in and… everything changed. It was like someone poured cold water on my body and anesthetized me and I am yet to recover. So here I am, Ogbudike, all fight in me gone. I can’t come to blows with another woman over a man who doesn’t love me, over a man who takes away my dignity and shares what is mine with someone else. I can’t keep giving you all of me only to find out it’s not enough and you want more outside. What you and I have is more than physical but you take it and make it small and strip it of all its essence and it’s killing me, Nnai. It’s killing me. I can’t do this anymore…” She covered her face briefly and sniffed, then let down her hands and pierced his eyes with a tormented stare. “I want… a divorce.”

Dike shivered without his helping it. He was afraid to look into Kachi’s eyes to discover she actually had the power to break him completely with just one stare. It was only his pride left and he wasn’t going to let her take it away and emasculate him all over again yet he felt some sort of darkness covering him, something profound leaving him, severing a cord between him and Kachi that he never knew existed. He was experiencing, at that point, what Kachi told him she had experienced earlier. A cold sensation took over him and he could hardly feel any part of his body.

“Are you serious?” his throat burned. The kneeling image of Kachi on the bed stirred something strong in him. She had never looked so beautiful in all their life together. He wanted to just reach out and hold her but his hands were like dead weights beside him. He desired to tell her he was sorry, to tell her that he truly loved her but had been consumed with his ego. He needed to ask to be forgiven but sadly, nothing in him budged. He remained there like one who was dead.

Kachi drew a long sniff and slowly dismounted from the bed. She took her wrapper and phone with her and was heading out of the room when he finally found his voice. And it came out with anger that surprised even him.

“You want a divorce?” She turned to him as he sat up. “Fine! I will give you your divorce so I can rest from your controlling hands because Kachi, I am tired! You choke me every single moment! I can’t breathe when I’m with you. It’s like walking on thin ice! You always find fault in everything I do! It is either how I laugh or the way I swallow my food or the fact that I speak pidgin in public or that I fart in bed! You push and push and push AND DRIVE ME CRAZY! You don’t know when to stop! And now, you’ve pushed me into the arms of another woman who gives me the respect I deserve! Yes, she is better than you and more woman than you will ever try to be!”

Kachi whimpered.

“So don’t stand there taking the moral highroad with me! I know your dirt, in and out and I ate it without complain! But you… baby, you destroyed this marriage! You! Not me. And I have totally given up too. You can have your bloody divorce!”

With his face etched in stone, he picked his pillow and phone and stormed out of the room, banging the door behind him. As he headed for the guest room, he dialed Temi.

 

Temi was in a cab headed for Gwagwalada when her phone flashed silently in her hand. Dike’s number appeared and she hated herself for knowing it by heart. She had already deleted his details but saved every text and ping in a folder named ‘bastard’. Five hours ago, she was sitting with Hafsa in her room, traumatized by his betrayal.

“So what will you do with the baby?” Hafsa had asked her.

“I’ll keep it na. What else will I do? I can’t abort it oh.”

“I’m not asking you to, but Temi, he’s a married man. The baby will tear his family apart. Don’t you think you shouldn’t involve…?”

“What are you trying to say, Hafsa?” Temi grimaced heavily.

“So you want to carry the stigma on your head that his marriage scattered because of you?”

“Oh, I should just be shoved aside because I’m not the one with the ring on my finger?!”

“Temi…”

“I was not a mistress, Hafsa! I was Dike’s girlfriend!”

“But he’s married.”

“And I don’t want him again! How many times will I say that?!” She emphasized. “I just want him to be in my baby’s life and I don’t care if his wife cannot handle it! I did not snatch her husband! I was innocent and so is my baby!”

Hafsa didn’t argue further. She left a few minutes later and it was then Temi sent the text to Kachi. It had taken a whole hour for a reply but when it came in and she read it, Temi experienced a cold feeling wash over her. Numbed at once, she read Kachi’s text over and over again and Hafsa’s words returned to haunt her. She paced around her room endlessly and each time she stopped, it was to eat something. The hours dragged by leaving a heavy weight on her shoulders. She was all out of tears, and it seemed, of options as well. But there was just one alternative left for her to take. She went through her contact list and retrieved a number she hadn’t called in years and dialed it. Fortunately for her, the person on the other line remembered her. They conversed a little and she ended the call. The black Diesel clock on her bedroom wall struck eleven and Temi hurried into the bathroom. She had a quick shower, changed into clean clothes, picked her wallet and exited the house. Uyi had not yet arrived and she doubted that he was on his way, hence she took her key along. Outside her house, she hailed a cab and asked the young driver to take her to Gwagwalada. Sitting behind, just by the window, she felt the wind outside blowing over her as the cab sped on. It was then she finally released held tears.

Now Dike was calling. She looked at her phone and though she had no intention of taking his call because of what she was planning, something pushed her to press the answer button. She told herself that she had to say her final goodbye to him.

“Dike?” she said, rolling up her window to stop the bellowing wind from interrupting her call.

“Cuddles?”

“Mmm?” she answered in a moment of weakness.

“How are you?”

“I’m good.”

“Um…quick question. Are you pregnant?”

His voice was affectionate, filling her with warm memories.

“I am.”

“Haba, Temi, why didn’t you tell me first? Why did you have to tell my wife?”

Temi burned in instantaneous anger. “Why didn’t you tell me you were still married? Why did you lie to me?” Her tone was raised and she caught the cab driver looking at her through the rearview.

“I’m sorry, cuddles. I wanted to but…”

“Dike! Dike, Dike! I beg you, leave me alone! As it is, I’m going to abort your child now, now, now! I don’t want to tear anybody’s family apart. Lai-lai! It’s not me God will come and punish! So if you know what’s good for you, don’t ever call me or text me or even show up at my door! Me and you are through! I don’t want to ever use my two eyes to see your cheating, lying face again!” Temi hung up and hissed. She cussed in Yoruba for a long time before she let down the window to take in fresh air. Uyi had crossed her mind without warning as thoughts of him usually did, so she dialed his number and waited for it to ring as she had breathed in unsullied air to calm herself. But something weird caught her attention when she noted the environment they were in. Her brows creased and she looked around, searching for signs to indicate they were en route Gwagwalada.

“Ehn, oga?” she drew the attention of the cab driver and he stared at her through the rearview mirror. “Where we dey go? I say Gwagwalada, not Nassarawa State. Ode oshi.”

The cab driver took a few seconds before responding but he turned with his hand stretched out holding a piece of cloth which he shoved into Temi’s face. On impulse, she hit his hand and pushed the cloth away but she realized that her sight became instantly blurry. She blinked severally but it only got blurrier. The car appeared to her as if it was rocked by giant hands. Temi tried to hold on to something for balance but she failed and slumped on her seat, her right hand still holding her phone.

 

Uyi pried away from Dami’s lips and went for his phone. He saw it was Temi calling and though he didn’t want to pick the call, the gentleman in him would not let him ignore it. Besides, he felt he owed her an explanation for not showing up at hers.

“Temi?” he answered the call with a guilty smile but met silence. He suspected that she was upset with him. “Tems?” There was more silence though he could hear something like movement in the background. “Come on, Tems, I know you’re there. Answer me nau.”

He heard more movement and the line went dead. Uyi looked at his phone with a smile and shook his head. He was in too deep in the middle of his kissing game with Dami to bother about Temi. She could be handled better at a later time. He switched off his phone completely and turned back to Dami who was sitting behind her wheels.

“Where were we?” he asked.

“In my car, parked just outside my house and you were saying something about it not being right for you to be here by this time and because I didn’t want to hear that, I stopped you with a kiss.”

“Dami…” Uyi looked like he had another objection to make, hence Dami hushed him with her finger.

“Let’s go in.”

They both got down from the car and walked to her house, slowly and silently, holding hands like lovers do, not wanting to spoil the moment. Dami unlocked her front door and welcomed him in. The house was beautiful as he would later discover but for that passing moment, Uyi had eyes for Dami alone.

The kissing started all over again but this time, their hands proceeded to discover each other’s bodies all the way from the sitting room to Dami’s bedroom. However Uyi stopped when jolted to his senses the instant his hand found its way down her underwear. He pulled away as if stung by something and apologized.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“I can’t.”

“You can’t what?”

“I can’t have sex with you, Dami. You’re a virgin.”

She laughed, her twinkling eyes, laughing as well. “Relax.” She held his hand.

“No, I’m sorry, I can’t.”

“I said, relax. I’m not a virgin,” she said.

“What?”

She shook her head. “I started the virgin rumor to give credibility to my career as a model here. It was my selling point. Because God knows I needed to enter the Nigerian market after my relic of a dad burned my entire modeling career in Europe.”

“So, you’re saying…”

“I’m not a virgin. I lied to help my market sell and while my career lasted, it worked, until my dad burned me here again and shoved my ass to work for Felix’s firm,” she said in slight bitterness. “So, don’t you worry, child. I’ve had sex before. Relax.”

“Are you sure?”

“Wouldn’t I know if my hymen went missing?” she laughed.

“Dami…” Uyi still complained but Dami pulled open the drawer attached to her nightstand and showed him an array of condoms.

“If I was a virgin, would I need these?”

“Okay, the number of condoms in there bothers me.”

“Er, I don’t use them. It’s just for… well, you know…” She stretched from her bed to the wall and switched off the lights in the room. Immediately a soft blue glow of moonlight from her wide windows illuminated the bed.

“Is it true you have four boyfriends?”

She shook her head. “I’m seeing four guys but nothing serious. Just casual, nonphysical dates. Nigerians are funny sha. Once a girl goes out on a date with a guy more than once, they assume she must be seeing him exclusively. That’s why that stupid website they created about me is a waste of time. None of those four guys stand a chance. I hardly even see them these days.”

“And what about me?”

She smiled and pointed at her wide grin. “See this? That’s what you do to me.” She sat on his laps. “Be my boyfriend, Uyi. My real boyfriend, not the play-play type.”

Something in the weird accent she used to say the Nigerian expression made him laugh.

“They say you’re a tease,” he stated.

“Am I teasing you now?” she nibbled his earlobe and he squirmed.

“They say you change men like underwear.”

“Make dem say wetin dem wan say. You send dem?”

Again her accent made him laugh.

“You’re an ajebutter and I’m ajepako. Can you handle that?” he asked.

“Butter meets pako. Butter falls in love with pako. Butter makes pako her man.”

Tickling her, Uyi pushed her to the bed and lay over her to look at her intricately carved form under the moonlight. She looked too perfect to be real, like he was staring at real life Barbie.

“Is this just a onetime thing?” he asked.

“No. So if you have a girlfriend, better dump her.”

“She’s already trashed.”

“You talk too much,” she hoisted up to meet him with a kiss.

“If we’re going to be exclusive, no more PDA,” he said.

“Already laying down the rules like a typical Nigerian guy.”

“No clubbing and partying during the week.”

“Yes sir.” She began unbuttoning his shirt.

“And lastly, no…”

“Oh, shut up,” she covered his lips with a fierce kiss him and pulled him to her. A voice told him he was playing with fire but he silenced it and peeled off her clothes and underwear one after the other. She responded to him in a way no woman had ever done before and all of his senses were fully employed in the occupation of pleasing her. To him, it was more than just an act of affection between two lovers; it was a hoorah moment, for on that bed, thanks to his triumphant boner and his new, insanely beautiful girlfriend, he proved that he was not a learner.

However, a while later, as Dami pulled him to the bathroom to have a shower with her, something on the bed seized his attention. He stopped, turned back and turned on the lights and right there in the middle of the bed, staining the flowery, pink bed sheet was evidence of Dami’s lost virginity.

Like cold water being poured over him, he became speechless as he looked at her.

“W-w-what just happened?” he asked.

“Ouch.” She smiled mischievously. “I lied. But you, you just boldly went where no man has gone before. Clap for yourself.”

 

^©Sally @moskedapages

 

 

^©Sally @moskedapages

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To Tame A Virgin #5

Read Previous Episodes HERE

“She what?” Dike held laughter on his face as he looked into his friend’s equally amused eyes that twinkled in the dimness of the office they were seated in.

“She kissed him!” His friend replied in laughter and Dike laughed as well but he stopped just as he started.

“Why did she kiss him?”

“You know how Dami is nau. She was in one of her moods and wanted to piss me off. So she grabbed the poor boy and forced her tongue into his mouth!” Dike’s friend came apart in laughter again. “You should have seen his face when she finally freed his lips. It was classic.”

Dike expressed slight amusement, then frowned. “Who is this boy sef?”

“You won’t know him. Some corper like that. But from what I can tell, she really likes him. She has even mentioned that I move him to a better office.”

Dike grunted and hissed.

“Na madam she be nau,” the other man chuckled. “She has shares in the firm too. She’s also demanding to be senior partner.”

Dike who was initially scratching a spot on his trouser looked up into his friend’s eyes.

“Felix, you have to find a way to domesticate that girl oh. She’s going too wild. And I’m saying this not because of the history I share with her…I’m saying this because I truly care…”

“Tah! Care my ass!” Felix threw a casual hand in the air and leaned back on his chair. “If you cared, you wouldn’t have had an affair with her in the first place. Dami’s young enough to be your daughter.”

“Haba, Felo! Are we going down that road again? You know it wasn’t my finest hour nau. I was going through midlife…”

“Mid gini? Mtsheew! Make I no slap your face with shovel this evening! Commot dia! If Damaris had willingly given you access, you would have hit that thing without stopping.” Felix leaned forward. “And speaking of which… Kachi spoke with Ene after the naming yesterday.”

“And?” Dike frowned.

“You cannot let this get back to Kachi because Ene promised to keep it a secret.”

“What did she tell her?”

“She thinks you’re cheating again.”

Dike made a snout and turned his face away. “She’s always suspecting me. If she thinks I’m not faithful, she should willingly divorce me.”

“But are you cheating?”

“Me? With who nau? Abeg, I no get time for that one now.”

“Na so.” Felix didn’t believe him. “Jokes apart, Dike, if you’re having an affair, you better stop.”

“You don start again.”

“But mehn, what happened to you? You used to be one of the few good guys around.”

“And nothing has changed.”

“But dude, I’m telling you. Extra-marital affairs are not worth the trouble in the end. Look at me. Happily married for fifteen years and I have been faithful to my wife the entire time.”

“Because Ene is a good woman. She treats you like a king, she doesn’t nag…”

“And na Kachi come be bad wife?”

“Felo, you no understand. I’m not admitting to anything but when you have a wife like Kachi, it’s hard to be devoted to her. I dey tell you. Na women dey cause their own wahala for dis world.”

“Me, I’ve said my own. You cheat on your wife and your blessings begin to diminish. I’m suspecting that it might be the reason for your failure in business.”

Dike laughed. “Felo, you for just become pastor make all of us hear word. See, no mind Kachi. Make she dey dia dey suspect me, make she no concentrate on reviving her womb for another child.”

“Yeah, I heard about that too. It’s about time…”

The intercom on Felix’s table buzzed and he answered.

“Mr. Enenche, your four o’clock is here,” his secretary chirped.

“Tell them to wait,” Felix replied.

“E be like say na go get me now.” Dike stood to his feet and straightened his trousers. “How far with that your investigation on that website nau?” he asked Felix.

“I’m still on it.”

“Any progress?”

“Not yet oh but I swear if I catch the guys behind that thing, it will be bad for them.”

“But you go blame dem? Dami is unruly, seeing four guys at the same time and with this one she just kissed… then before the month runs out, she’ll dump them all and go for new meat. You really have to control her or better, send her back to her modeling job abroad.”

“Her father wants her to settle down. My guy, just leave Dami matter for now. E dey give me headache.” Felix stood and shook his friend. “Good luck on job hunting and baby making and if all else fails, you should consider my offer for partnership.”

“I might just do.” Dike smiled and walked out of the office.

************

Kachi blew a bubble into the minty gum in her mouth and drew it back in with a pop. Chewing noisily, she moved her bum restlessly in the seat beneath her. She was uncomfortable, her waist felt like it was on fire and her bladder threatened to explode. She had been sitting in Ene’s car for two hours and the long wait was beginning to tell on her. Yet she held on. Dike was going to appear from Greek Elysium anytime soon and she was going to follow him to his mistress’ home. Kachi didn’t care if the woman lived in a different city; she had a full tank, a car full of snacks and even a bottle to pee into if it came to that. She felt a sharp pain in her left temple and concluded it was time to throw the gum in her mouth away. It had awoken her migraine veins and stiffened her jaw. She let down the window and spat it out. Next, she looked for something else to put in her mouth. She found a can of Pringles and went for it.

************

Somewhere else in town, in a popular private clinic in Maitama, Temi had just been handed her blood test results. She carefully dropped her handbag on the waiting bench behind her, stared at the paper in her hands numbly and spoke incoherently to the nurse standing before her.

“I can’t hear you,” the nurse said impatiently.

“Aunty, wh-what is this? I came for malaria and typhoid test and you’re showing me this? What is this?”

“Are you not Temidire Olaniyi?”

“Yes but…”

The nurse gave Temi a nasty eye work-up that went down and up and down again before she stopped on her face.

“Am I the doctor that ordered a pregnancy test? He said, ‘take her blood and tell the lab to do a pregnancy test in addition to the other tests’. Was I supposed to say no?” She hissed. “You should be thanking God that you can get pregnant. Many women want children but they can’t find.”

“Three weeks?” Temi said to herself, still staring into the paper. The irate nurse turned and marched away. Staring vacantly in confusion, Temi slipped slowly into the waiting bench and dialed her estranged friend, Hafsa. Predictably, Hafsa did not answer the first two times until she dialed the third time.

“Hafsa?” Temi’s voice was low and shaky. “Please, I need you. Come. I’m at Abuja Clinics.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“Well, thank God you called. We need to talk; I’m on my way.”

Hafsa hung up. Temi held her phone in both hands and was tempted to dial Dike but commonsense prevailed and she put the phone away. The moment she dropped it her handbag, it buzzed in and she got it out. It was Dike pinging her. He was asking if she was home. She put the phone away again but it began to ring. She didn’t have to be told he was the one calling. She took out the phone and there was a moment’s hesitation before she answered.

“Where are you?” he asked.

“I’m at Hafsa’s,” she replied.

“I thought you were ill.”

“I am.”

“Come quick, abeg. I’m getting dinner. What do you want?”

“Rice and coleslaw,” she answered.

“Drink?”

“Just water.”

“Give me thirty minutes. And hey…I really miss you.”

Temi bit her lip and nodded before she replied. “I’ll be there soon.”

************

Kachi watched Dike on the phone as he emerged from Greek Elysium and neared his car. He opened the driver’s side door and threw in his suit before he got in. Leaving his left leg outside in typical fashion, he concluded with his call. Unable to wait, Kachi started the car and left the engine running. Finally, Dike got into his car and drove out of the area. Kachi tailed him closely but gave him a good distance. As they approached a busy street, her phone started ringing; she stared at the caller ID and saw that it was Ene calling. She ignored it just like she had ignored her calls all day. She knew what Ene wanted to tell her. It was the same thing that had gotten Kachi all riled up the night before.

“Kach, I blame you for Dike’s misbehavior. A woman should know how to handle her man and from what I’m seeing, baby, you’re not doing your job well.”

“So Dike is parking his car into another garage apart from mine and it’s my fault? Inukwa! Just because your husband is faithful to you, doesn’t mean all men are like him. Unfortunately for me, I have gotten the bad end of the stick and it has nothing whatsoever to do with me! Dike is to blame! What he did with Dami is unforgiveable! If she had not exposed him, he would have carried on with her behind our backs, not being even sensitive to the fact that our families are close!”

“Kachi, if you’re still harboring this much beef over that ended affair, why did you come back?”

“To work on my marriage!” Kachi had risen up at this point and she was towering over Ene angrily. “And it’s sad that no one is seeing my efforts! It’s all Kachi’s fault. Kachi this! Kachi that! What about Dike? Hmmm? What about the fact that he is desecrating my bed and sleeping with someone who smells like citrus and coconuts? Then he comes back home and puts that same dirty penis inside me and expects me to have an orgasm and scream out his name! I hate him, Ene! I hate my husband, yet I love him so much that I can kill for him!”

“Abeg oh!” Ene exclaimed. “See, I’m just saying you should try a different tact than this anger and nagging…”

“Please, please, please, don’t give me that load! No one knows Dike more than me and I know how best to deal with him. I will first start with the bitch he’s banging behind my back and I will show her why they fear Igbo women and when I’m done with her, I’ll unleash my wrath on him!”

“Kachi? Kachi?” Ene reprimanded. “This your anger will make you lose your marriage oh.”

“Did I tell you that I’m fighting Dike? I’m not. At least, not yet. Until I finish with the slut he’s sleeping with.”

“Kachi! Listen to reason oh. Calm down.”

“Ene, abeg, I don’t want to hear! Your over-sabi is too much. I’m going home! Goodnight!”

Kachi could clearly recall the expression on Ene’s face as she had walked away from her. Her friend was evidently wounded. She had always been a fine friend. She was the only one who had gone out on a limb to ensure that Kachi got back with Dike. While she was still in Suleija, Ene would call her almost every day and would begin each conservation with, “when are you coming back home?” It was also Ene who submitted Kachi’s CV to a new primary school in Jabi and arranged a date for the job interview for her. Kachi had reluctantly gone for the interview, making it to Abuja and back to Suleija on the same day, without seeing Dike. She had not expected the school to call back but when the call came, she knew it was time to listen to Ene’s good sense and save what little was left of her marriage. Ene was definitely the guardian angel God had put into her life and Kachi was filled with regret as she recalled her insensitive words to her. She erected a huge mental signpost to call and apologize later. Also she had to apologize for stealing Ene’s car key and driving away with the car from right outside her boutique earlier.

Kachi parked across the street from an eatery Dike had gone into earlier. As she waited, she descended on her Pringles and a bottle of warm water. Then her phone began to ring again. Ene was calling for the twenty-eighth time. Kachi watched it ring with a growing annoyance as it added to her throbbing migraine. Sighing, she visited that mental signpost and decided to pick the call.

************

“Dike is a married man. I can bet my life on that.”

Temi looked at the strange, scrawny girl Hafsa had brought to convince her that Dike was married. Temi had never met the girl before and at first glance, she concluded that she didn’t like her, especially her pimpled-tattooed face.

“Dike is divorced,” Temi mentioned smugly and the girl shook her head at her.

“His wife is my customer. And sef, I saw him in church on Sunday with her. She even gave thanks for the healing of their son and he was there.”

Hafsa turned from behind the wheel and looked at Temi who was seated behind carrying a stubborn expression on her face.

“Didn’t I tell you?” Hafsa scolded. “I told you but you were forming spirit and refused to talk to me for a whole month! Because of a cheating, lying bastard! Now, see. Here’s the proof and you’re still there, forming strong head.”

“See,” the girl cut in, “if you don’t believe it, let me take you to his house and you will see for yourself,”

It sounded like a tempting idea but Temi stubbornly stuck to her argument. “He’s not married. Maybe you’re mistaking him for someone else.”

“Ha-ahn! I did the wife’s hair just this last week na. She’s my client and I have her number with me. If you want I can give you.”

“I don’t want any number. Dike is not married! Period!”

The girl couldn’t believe Temi’s stupidity. “Shebi he’s that tall, fine Igbo guy with a dimple on his right cheek and he drives one Audi S6?”

Temi’s eyes shifted to the left and right as if trying to escape the truth. She sensed a wave of tears sprint up from her insides but her buzzing phone in her pocket stopped her from crying.

Dike was pinging to let her know he was already waiting for her at her place.

“Take me home, please,” she told Hafsa. Hafsa said nothing and turned on the engine of her car. The three girls drove to Temi’s neighborhood in silence and when they came to the gate, Temi stepped out of the car.

“Wait for me. You can park where he won’t see you. But wait… I won’t stay long.” She got out and walked into her building.

************

Kachi was doing another long wait. At least, that was what it seemed like but she had only waited for ten minutes. Dike’s car was hiding under a grove of mango trees near a house that had a TO LET post on the gate. Kachi had followed him on foot when he got out of his car and trekked to Temi’s street but she stopped when she saw the house he walked into. Kachi noted the house number and name of the street and went back to wait for him. Her heart was a bit lighter after apologizing to Ene; now, all she needed was to catch Dike in the act. But she felt he was taking too long and she needed to take a pee badly. She crawled to the passenger seat, got out through the door and stooped down beside the car to do her business. After she was done, she stretched into the car to get a tissue and she noticed Dike strolling down with a beautiful and fully endowed girl. They were approaching his car. Kachi stumbled back into the car with her jeans and underwear halfway down her bum. Pushing her petite frame in back behind the wheel, she lowered herself but kept her eye level unblocked. Dike and the girl stopped by his car and they both got in. Kachi raised herself to get a clearer view and was dismayed to find the duo kissing in the car. Unrestrained, she began to steam up like a pressure cooker and reached for her Pringles to control her. Stuffing chip after chip into her mouth, she chewed furiously as Dike continued his lewd act in dimming daylight. When she knew she couldn’t take what she was seeing any longer, she started the car and drove out of the neighborhood in a rage.

She hadn’t much to say to Ene when she dropped the car off minutes later. She simply thanked her and got into her own car and maintained her rage as she drove home.

************

The three girls in Hafsa’s vehicle were riding in silence again. Having said goodbye to Dike, Temi agreed to be driven to his home to ‘see for herself’. She had now folded and unfolded the pregnancy test result till it had formed dirty, rough edges. She had tried for tears but found they were far from coming. She didn’t know exactly what she felt. A part of her (that kissed Dike unrestrainedly in his car) refused to believe Hafsa and the scrawny girl; another part of her itched to share the news of the pregnancy to Dike and damn the consequences; yet another part drew her to seek the truth.

“Tems, are you okay?” Hafsa asked in concern and Temi nodded with a smile. She had missed her friend for a whole month and held back in calling her because of her big ego. Still, it was a good thing they fought, else she wouldn’t have gotten close to Uyi whom she found herself thinking about very frequently, even more than Dike. She pressed a button on her phone and the backlight came on, illuminating the car which was currently as dark as it was outside.

Temi began to thumb her phone and sent a quick text to Uyi.

Miss u. need to see u. desperately. urgently. in an hour or so. Please?

She added a batting eyelash smiley and sent the text. Uyi replied immediately with a full grin smiley.

Working overtime. Will be there when I’m done. Hope there’s food and a warm blanket 4me. Might sleep over.

Temi smiled. Uyi always made her smile.

“We’re here,” the girl said and Hafsa slowed the car. “That’s the house. They live upstairs.”

“Okay. We’ve seen. Can we go now?” Temi grumbled but Hafsa stopped her.

“Look… That’s Dike’s car!” Hafsa pointed to Dike’s Audi S6 driving down the road towards his building. As he approached, all three girls docked. Dike stopped outside his gate and blared his horn. The girls slowly raised their heads again as another smaller car came into view with bursting speed.

“I think that’s the wife’s car,” the girl sitting in front announced. Hafsa and Temi strained their necks forward to have a look. The small car stopped behind Dike’s and the driver, a short, beautiful but troublesome-looking woman, alighted from the car. Dike also got out from his car and hugged the woman, lifting her off the ground to give her a kiss that caused Temi to swallow painfully. She spied Dike’s wedding finger and saw a gold band she had never seen on him before. She proceeded to bite her lip really hard and when she felt she was going to bruise it, she chewed her nails very fast and angrily.

“Convinced now?” Hafsa asked Temi, watching Dike and his wife discuss by his car. Temi looked at the pregnancy test result in her hand and tapped the girl in front of the car.

“Please can I have that number? His wife needs to hear about her husband’s latest accomplishment.”

^©Sally @moskedapages

 

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