Aso-Ebi: Preview

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Let’s start at the beginning. Okay, maybe not the ‘very’ beginning but let’s take you a few months back to the month of love. It is the day after valentines’ day and almost everyone seems to be… how do we say this? In love? Yes, deep inside love. Mrs. Mohini Gbadebo is no exception. You can tell from the way her hair sways to her weightless gait. “Sorry!” Mohini yelled out after the seemingly angry man she hit with her elbow as she rolled her grocery cart across the mall. The smile from her thoughts lurched at the corner of her lips made it difficult for her to notice the human traffic surrounding her. She was on a residual high from the night before. She giggled lightly as her left thumb stroked the ring on her fourth finger. Drifting into another bout of day dreams, she slowed down. She stopped and turned when she felt a tap on her bare right shoulder. “Moh! Mohini Lulu-Briggs!!!” Before she could recognise the excited enviably chiselled face before her, the woman extended her long, toned arms and wrapped her in a tight hug. “Oh my goodness! You look the same!” The woman continued. Mohini smiled enthusiastically, trying to remember why the woman looked very familiar. “You haven’t changed a bit either,” Mohini gushed convincingly. The woman laughed loudly in response and Mohini’s eyes widened when she realised who she was talking to. “Wow! SHERI!!!… I. Take. That. Back! You look… different… amazing! Lord!” She could not stop the surprise from flowing out with her screams. She stepped backwards dramatically, clapped her hands and placed them over her mouth. “Sheri Mogaji! QC’s biggest!” You know how this usually goes… “Oh my God! It is a lie!!” And all the other phrases and exclamations women screech at each other and use to make a scene when they see that old friend.                They laughed continuously as they pulled away from the disapproving looks of every other passer-by. Mohini had her eyes fixed on Sheri as she rolled her shopping cart in front of her. She could not believe that the fit woman next to her was the ‘big Sheri’ that she shared a room with in secondary school. “What are you up to these days?” Mohini asked as they turned towards the Da Viva fabric store on her request. Sheri laughed and replied, “You know… hustling here and there. You know how it is. We have so much to catch up on, babe.” Mohini’s smile began to disappear as he ran her manicured thumb over one of the fabrics in the pile adjacent to them. Memories of the times when Sheri tried hard to prove that she was better than her started creeping back. She wondered why Sheri was being evasive. “You?” Sheri interrupted her short-lived reminiscence, “last I heard you were not in the country. Yes?” “Ah yes. I graduated from Imperial… chemical engineering…” she called for one of the attendants with her eyes. “I studied chemical engineering too! At Texas A&M.” Sheri exclaimed. “I’m with Shell now. That’s why I’m here even. I’m taking a couple of people to a business lunch…” Mohini continued to smile until her cheeks felt bruised. It felt like a huge cloud had rested above her and released buckets of rain on her mood. She could see Sheri’s lips move and make words, but all she could hear in her mind was “Shell”. Leave it to Sheri Mogaji to throw the one thing that she craved in her face. “…so where do you work?” She faintly heard Sheri ask. She coughed slightly and opened her mouth to reply when she noticed Sheri staring at her finger. “Oh my goodness. Babe, are you married?!” Sheri exclaimed after pulling her way from the shop attendant beside them. Mohini forced a smile and nodded in confirmation. Sheri looked at her finger again and then back at her. That was when Mohini saw the pity and gloat in her eyes. She started to say something but Sheri interrupted her, “I’m so sorry, babe. I have to be on my way now.” She leaned in for a hug. “We should do lunch some time,” she added as she rushed out of the store with Mohini’s eyes staring at her back until it was lost in the crowd outside. How dare she? The buzz from her phone made her realise that she had been staring into nothingness for a while. She blinked a few times to moisten her dry eyes before picking up her phone. —- 13:20 Jayboo So sorry again that I had to work today, sugar. How’s grocery shopping going? Buy something I can eat off you, okay.  I love you. – J. —- She continued to stare at her phone’s screen as she absent-mindedly walked out of the store and joined the crowd. How could she let one night of valentines’ romance steer her away from her big plan to obtain freedom. “Sex sex sex. Ah! I don’t want again sef,” she murmured to herself. She clenched her teeth and selected a contact in her phonebook. Placing the phone next to her left ear and her cart before her, she walked briskly towards the exit doors ignoring the throbbing in her toe from hitting it at the edge of a wall. “Hello… How are you?… Tell Anita… of course I mean Dr. Momoh… tell her that I’m cancelling the three o’ clock appointment… ” —- At about the same time in another corner of Lagos, Dr Anita Momoh cannot seem to stop yelling… “If I talk now you people will say she has come again. Simple biodata is the only thing I have asked of the receptionist. Is it rocket science to document a patient’s name, age and sex? Do you need to be Napoleon Bonaparte to do that?” Anita yelled to nobody in particular. The receptionist unlucky enough to be the scapegoat today had long run to take cover. It was common knowledge that when Dr Anita got in one of her moods, the wise thing to do was to hide; else a stray bullet might hit. “Are there any more patients?” she asked, her back to the nurses surrounding the white reception booth, as she walked towards the white door of the laboratory “Any outstanding appointments? Because if I leave this hospital and… “ “Erm… Doctor, there was a 3pm appointment but the patient, Mrs. Gbadebo just called in to cancel.” Anita paused and turned to her left to see the person that was bold enough to interrupt her. She smiled when her eyes rested on the dark-skinned owner of the thin voice. It was the new nurse. No surprise there. “How will she not cancel? Anyone can smell your incompetence from the other end of a phone.” She hissed and darted her eyes. “I am going home. I hope the person on night duty knows what an emergency means.” Talk about touchy! Someone’s oxygen mask is obviously preventing her from inhaling all the love in the air. Anita turned and changed course towards her brown office door, mumbling words the nurses could not catch. They really could not be bothered; they just wanted her out as soon as possible. They exchanged knowing looks, trying hard to stifle the laughter threatening to leave their mouths. They could hear the thoughts in each their minds, ‘na because she no get husband’. Still agitated from her outburst, Anita dropped into her orange leather orthopaedic swivel chair, shut her eyes and inhaled deeply. She heard her phone buzz, but she ignored it. It had to be Bami. Between the night before and now, he had left her more than forty missed calls. She knew she could not stay mad at him for too long, but she needed to rid him of the foolishness that was beginning to resurface. She could hear his words from the night before. Don’t you see we’re great together? Just give us a chance. I love you… always have. Her subsiding anger began to rise again as she pictured him leaning in to steal a kiss the way he did last night. He was supposed to be the one person that understood her through and through. She could not imagine that he would misinterpret her taking him to dinner on a night that happened to be valentines’ night. She smiled faintly when she remembered how quick her palm reacted to his teenage-like behaviour. She was not sorry. If that was what it took to get him in order, she would do it over and over. Her phone continued to buzz. She pulled her arms out of the white lab coat that protected her beige suit and finally picked the phone off the table. She needed to talk to Mohini anyway. The poor girl had probably developed cold feet. She hit the call button and activated the phone’s speaker. “Hey babes,” she all but fell off her chair when she heard the familiar baritone on the other end of the call. “Charles?” She whispered, leaning forward with her elbows resting on her cushioned leather table. “Err… you rang me, no?” She slapped her forehead with her palm. Her phone really did have a mind of its own. “I’ll be at yours tonight,” he said before she had a chance to reply him. “Did you get my message last night?” She asked. The sweat threatening to drench her and her heart palpitations betrayed the disinterested frown she was trying to cover her face and disguise her voice with. “I did. I didn’t feel like coming over. I’ll see you tonight. Wear something nice.” She opened her mouth to retort, but it stayed open in disbelief. She was already mentally searching her closet for ‘something nice’. “Preferably that red sheer one you had on the last time,” he added. “Don’t stand me up,” she managed to say authoritatively before hanging up. Without thinking, she snatched her bag from the chair behind her and half ran towards the door. The bastard! —- 22:48 Anita You up?                                                                                                                                                                                           22:50 Moh Yeah b. Sorry I didn’t tell you I changed my mind about the thing. 22:50 Anita About that. Why? Last night you were so sure you wanted to start a family. What changed? 22:52 Moh I saw big Sheri today. That my frenemy in QC. 22:55 Anita Big Sheri? Eh… I remember her! The one you always reported to me abi? 22:55 Moh Lol. Yup. Imagine, she works with Shell. SHELL!!! She studied Chemical Engineering as well. I’m so pained, Anita. I made sure to ‘sleep’ before J got back. I may have slapped him if he tried to sex me tonight. I can’t do this much longer. I wasn’t made to be a house wife abeg. Nah, I have to get that job. 23:00 Anita Sweetie!!! I would preach, but you know what I’ll say. Do what you must. I should sleep. I need to be at the hospital by 5. Charles just left. 23:02 Moh Smh. Your benin winch dem don tie your pumpum join dat one toto. Isn’t this Charles that ignored your ‘booty call’ two nights ago? Charles that told you to come over and left you outside? You too dey mumu for this man. 23:04 Anita Lol. Razzclart. Leave this Charles’ matter. I’m going to bed. Night night. Love you boo. Is your brother here now? 23:04 Moh No o. Seminary is just stealing him from me small small. He should be here sometime in March sha. Love you more baby. Night :* —- Anita reluctantly rolled her naked body off the maroon silk sheets and turned off the light switch on the wall opposite the bed. She contemplated walking downstairs to the kitchen to heat up the leftover Chinese meal in her fridge. After all, she was already on her feet and even though her stomach felt satisfied, her mouth was not. She looked down at her stomach and grabbed the slight protrusion before slapping the inconspicuous flab and sucking her stomach in. She thought of the nasty jokes Charles had made about it and wondered why she still let him around her. She saw her phone’s screen light up as she climbed her bed again and reached for its power button. The pop-up text message looked strange and so she opened it as she dropped to her back and raised the phone up to her eyes. —- 23:44 07054436782 Lagos is small, I hope you know. I’ve heard your gist and I know your type very well. Stay away from my man or else…

hian seated

Okay

It's still not very clear but i just put 1 & 2 2geda & arrived dat Anita & Mohini r budies... While Anita is still unmarried but is frolicking with Charles who has her mumu button & it's using it at while, Mohini a stay at home wife is married to Jay & is desirous to start a family but that desire is being put on hold after running into an old sch. Pal (Sheri) whose doing very well for herself

[b]Aso-Ebi: Episode 3 – Dirty Linen[/b] Anita stared at her phone and asked herself why she made that call. She convinced herself that it was absolutely necessary. Bami was like family and the only other stable man she could parade before her mother and sisters was Charles. Anita dragged herself out of bed and grudgingly walked towards her large closet. She really was not in the right frame of mind for frolicking, but it was family. She had to be there. Besides, she had missed being with all her sisters in the same place and she was yet to hold the bundle of joy being named. She had been made an aunty for the ninth time. This time, by her little sister. Going for a family event at her age without at least a husband was like wearing red and dancing in front of a horny bull. A husband and children had graduated from being accessories in her family to being clothes. Without them, everyone saw you as a naked taboo. She was determined to escape the questions, prayers, words of advice and poorly disguised attempts at match making. The last time, one of her mother’s friends suggested that she stop driving her ‘big car’ because it was scaring the suitors away. In her grand wisdom, the woman said that men did not like rich women. She had brushed it aside at first but there is nothing like a long drive home to an empty house and a cold bed to make you start seeing the wisdom in foolish statements. —– In fair Verona where we lay our scene… Oh! Errmmm… Wrong script. Sorry. The scene in the Momoh’s residence is one that is not new to it. Towering headgears, flashy colours, the thick smell of firewood and mouthwatering food and a live band in the distance. Dr. Anita Momoh has blended seamlessly into this picture and one can tell that she is at home. The grin spread on Anita’s face, hard as she tried, refused to subside. She could not be happier. Whoever gave Charles the script he was acting out had her eternal thanks. He had been so charming. She was certain that her mother was already thinking up wedding colours. Her sisters had made it a duty to re-iterate the ‘grab this one’ speech that her mother started. She could not take her eyes off him and he stayed glued to her all afternoon. He had even held her pink clutch and guided her into the open space that held the guests. He was definitely getting rewarded for this. Amidst the loud music and chatter, Anita looked around in search of Charles. She wondered which of her sisters had taken him away for interrogation. She was beginning to feel uncomfortable. She excused herself from the small gathering in the sitting room and went into the open space, genuflecting to greet the elderly men making their way past her. She had barely stepped out when she heard a voice beside her. “Excuse me? You are Anita, right?” Hard as she tried, there was nothing familiar about the face of the tall light skinned girl that stood in front of her. She was well dressed and her weave obviously cost a lot. Anita wondered why she had not done something about the half tooth that screamed for attention. The girl had only said a sentence and the half tooth practically jumped at her. “Oh, there is even no need to answer. I am sure you are the one!” The girl was not smiling any more. She pulled at the tail of her blue jacket. It looked like she was dancing on the balls of her feet. She was moving without really moving. “I came here to disgrace you but I saw your family and changed my mind. You know why? I am a good person. But let me tell you something; goodness dey expire! So for your own benefit, LEAVE MY BOYFRIEND ALONE. Jonah in the ship oshi!” GHEUN! But wait o, Where is Charles?! OMG! Guys… Where is Charlie boy now?! Anita’s feet could not carry her out fast enough. She saw her elder sisters make a bee-line for the girl from the corner of her eye but she needed to get out of the place. She managed to keep her head up and looked straight ahead as she walked as fast as her five inched heels would let her. She could feel eyes piercing her from every angle. If she knew anything about Charles, it was his love for freedom. This understanding was what kept their friendship going. He had an itch that she knew how to scratch and he was perfect at scratching hers. So who was this girl? —- Later that night in the quiet Gbadebo mansion… “I feel really bad J. I promised Anita I was going to attend the naming ceremony,” Mohini grumbled as she took off her red pumps with one hand and removed the pins in her weave with the other. She sat at the edge of the bed, away from the door, her feet barely touching the cold marble floor, and did everything she could to avoid looking at her husband. “I know you have made me a housewife and my life’s purpose is to cater to you. But when I am not catering to you I hope you know I like to cater to myself as well. I have a life, J! I have friends. Things I do. Does all that matter to you? But of course you are the piper and the tune is yours to dictate. That is why you will wake up by 9am and tell me to get dressed for a 10am function. Like I don’t have plans of my own!” Jaiyeola was doing all he could to hide his smile. He pulled up his kaftan over his head and flung it to the floor in front of her. Mohini stared at it, rolled her eyes and snatched it off the floor. Her anger always amused him. She would go on and on when she got angry, and then when she had exhausted herself, she would start complaining about hunger. Of course, the ‘I eat too much because I do not have a job’ whine will come on immediately after. He knew his wife all too well. However, he never understood her desire to work. He made more than both their extended families could spend. He provided for all her needs, her wants and then some. “Oya, I’m sorry now. Come let me help you rub your feet.” He could not hide the smile anymore as he heard her loud hiss. He turned just in time to see her sashay into the bathroom. The sound of the door as she banged it shut with all the anger in her dispelled thoughts of her hips from his mind. He stared at the shut door and smiled to himself. Life was perfect. Now, if only they would get pregnant. Starting a family was long due. He could not understand his wife’s reason for refusing to visit a fertility clinic. God’s time for them had better be soon. “See what you’ve done! Now I’m hungry!” Jaiyeola jerked. He had not noticed when Mohini walked out of the bathroom. She stood, her naked back to him, tying up her hair in front of her hand-carved, wooden framed vanity mirror. He smiled to himself, reached out and dragged her towards the bed. Surely, God needs their help to hasten his work. —– 22:30 Anita The imbecile still isn’t picking his phone! I swear I will get in my car and drive down to Lekki this night! Fool! 22:30 Moh Babe you need to be calm. See forget him. Just let it go and forget him. I’ve told you, he’s bad for you. 22:31 Anita Mohini you should have been there! Nah he needs to hear from me. I hate hate HATE drama in my life!!! 22:31 Moh Babe, have some tea or something to calm you down or do you want me to come over? 22:32 Anita It’s fine. Don’t bother. I’m just too pained. You said you had big news? 22:33 Moh Oya chop keez. To hell with all these men babe. I’ll divorce J and we’ll get married, okay? 22:33 Anita LOL. Iranu! I love you boo. So, your big news? 22:35 Moh Oh yes. Anita, I got invited for an interview!!! Next week. I didn’t think it’ll happen but it did! 22:35 Anita That’s huge! We should do lunch tomorrow after church. I’m so happy for you. 22:35 Moh We should. Random question: Is J supposed to feel the thing in my pum pum. He complained about it today and he never has. Is that normal? 22:36 Anita Hmmmm… We can check it out tomorrow. Before lunch, I’ll meet you at the hospital and I’ll have a look. Night boo. 22:37 Moh Ok. Goodnight. P.S: I’m serious about us getting married. :p —– “Who were you talking to?” Mohini asked as soon as she heard the bedroom door open. She yawned and sat up, still looking at her husband. There was something suspicious about the way he stood in the door way like a child that had been caught stealing. “Err… it was just my new vice. He wanted to go through some things before Monday,” he replied after switching the bedroom lights off. “At midnight on a Saturday, J?” she pulled the switch of the lamp beside her so he could see her raised eyebrow. He kissed her forehead, fluffed the cotton-sheathed pillow and lay down with his back to her. She opened her mouth and tapped his shoulder as she carefully slid his phone from underneath his pillow. “I don’t believe you, J.” He turned, his tired eyes pleading with her to drop the subject. “Who were you talking to, J? You don’t lie to me, remember?” He sighed and sat up. “I employed a new vice. Biodun had to leave us so I employed this new guy last week. He’s still learning the ropes.” He saw that the question in her eyes and at the tip of her tongue was not disappearing soon so he touched her face and assured her, “I don’t lie to you, sugar.” Dissatisfied, she nodded and lowered her back to lie flat on the bed. “You know I heard women are most fertile at midnight,” Jaiyeola said as he rubbed his palm on her back. Ehn Ehn? He says he “heard” o! Na so. You guys know how these men can be when they are horny sha. Inventing more nonsense than that Uberfacts twitter account. More Fertile at midnight ko,  More Futile at midday ni. Anyway, back to our story… “No mother-in-law oh, yet pesin no go hear word about pikin,” Mohini murmured inaudibly as she shuffled her body further from him. She feigned a loud snore and Jaiyeola laughed loudly before kissing her neck softly. She carefully dropped his phone on the marble floor beside her and reached for the lamp’s switch. Her eyes glanced at the phone again and she bent over, yielding to her curiosity. She opened the call history and the calm in her head was gradually replaced by loud pounding. “Angela?” she mouthed. “J?” she swallowed hard. “Your new vice… male or female?” she asked with her eyes still fixed on the phone screen. “Male,” he replied drowsily.

Hmmmmm! Seems like J is eating from outside... Anita dey dia dey enjoy Charles scratching till anoda lady pour you acid

next pls

guess j is cheating

[b]Aso-Ebi: Episode 4 – Vintage Golden Adire[/b] It has been exactly a week since Anita was humiliated in her family house. She still hasn’t lived it down but thick skin is just one of Anita’s many thick assets. Ah yes. So where were we? Today, she is with potentially more intimate company; and she ‘seems’ to be having a great time.  —- The plastic smile Anita had managed to keep on in the last hour was starting to hurt her cheeks. But for her love for Thai food and the fact that she had only treated her stomach to an apple throughout the day, she would have ended the date after the starter. Also, there was the fact that she needed to be distracted from her anger towards Charles that had built up all week. Somehow, he had managed to come up with a perfectly logical excuse for disappearing the week before without saying a word. But she knew Charles too well to believe him. She still was not convinced that he did not know the woman that had embarrassed her in the presence of her family. How did she let Charles get away with belittling her? It had only been a week and her body was already reacting to his absence. She still needed to let him know she was in control of whatever it was that they had or have. The bastard! At least this forced date was stopping her from driving over to his place and causing a scene. She watched her date’s mouth move swiftly as he began to tell yet another story. She could count, on one hand, the number of things she had said since he met her at the entrance of the restaurant. Was he still talking with food in his mouth? She lowered her eyes and fixed her gaze on his mouth. “Hello!” She heard faintly as the feel of a palm on the back of hand caused her to jerk. “I’m sorry, what did you say?” She smiled. He laughed lightly, took another bite of his cheesecake and replied, “Are you always so uptight? You sit like you have a rod up your back.” She forced a smile and shoved the last bite of her lava cake down her throat. His mouth continued to move. The only thing he had done right was pick her favourite place for this first date. Well, first and only date. She had put one foot off her high horse and decided to give him a chance despite his appalling language and spellings when he sent her messages. At least he spoke properly. “Shall I ask for the bill, dear?” He asked as he wiped his mouth with the white napkin. She nodded and he added, “We can go for drinks after.” He touched her hand again, this time gripping lightly without breaking eye contact. What did he think he was doing? She desperately wanted to laugh at the serious look that was instantly spread across his face. The fact that he had to look up at her did not help either. Why did Ibimina set her up with a much shorter man? He must be less than 5 feet tall. Where did Ibimina find this munchkin? And why had she set her up with him? What had she done to offend her? Sure, he was cute and he had that one-cheek dimple going well for him, but a man so much shorter than her? The images of him having to stand on a stool just to reach her face made her cough several times, to suppress the uproar of laughter begging to be released. He raised his hand to alert their waitress and then the smell hit her. It came as a whiff and then disappeared. Before she could make out what exactly had passed by her nose, the smell came back, this time with greater reinforcement. She held her breath for what seemed like more than a minute, yet, the smell grew stronger. “You haven’t said a lot about yourself, dear. Tell me, what are you like beneath this beautiful face and body?” Her eyes widened. The smell was beginning to suffocate her. She leaned in against her better judgement and with little thought asked quietly but with irritation, “Did you just fart?!” **** You know that customer that comes into a restaurant or a café, orders a couple of items off the menu and then proceeds to build a home there for the rest of the day? Well, this Saturday afternoon, Mohini is that customer… —- “What’s it called? The book you’re reading?” Mohini did not understand why she could not be left to read in solitude. This was the third guy that had feigned interest in the book she was reading. The other two had ended their brief conversation by asking for her phone number. Her eyes glued to the first page of the last chapter, she raised the book to cover her face and pointed at its cover with her left hand, deliberately flashing the rings on her fourth finger. He chuckled, “I see old habits die hard. Mini and her books. Inseparable.” The sound of the legs of the chair opposite her scraping the floor rang in her ears and she clenched her teeth. Who was this overconfident mister making a home in her personal space? Then it resonated in her head. Mini? She had not heard that in years. Besides, there was only one person that used to call her that despite her battle against it. Her heart began to respond violently to the memories surrounding that name. Reluctantly, she put her book down on the round wooden table and there he was, standing beside the pulled out chair,  lighter-skinned than she remembered. “I hated that name,” she said trying to hide the nervous smile forming across her face as she stood to match his height, well, at least try to. “Would you have preferred… let’s see… funsize?” he replied as he bent over to give her a hug. He squeezed her tight until it felt as if her breasts were disappearing into her body cavity; and then he lifted her a few centimetres off the ground. She felt the bottom of her yellow dress rise. If her back was not to the wall, she was almost certain that her bare bum would have made for the evening entertainment of the guests at the café. “Zino!” She protested until he let her feet feel the ground again and unwrapped her from his richly fragranced embrace. He held on to her left hand for a few seconds before allowing her to sit. “So Miss Lulu-Briggs really did get married,” he said, taking her face in. “It’s good to see you too, Zino.” The glint in his eyes was starting to make her feel uncomfortable. He continued to stare at her face without saying a word. What was he trying to do? Guilt trip her with his dagger eyes? “Zino? What are you doing?” she finally asked. She was beginning to feel sick in her stomach. He smiled mischievously. “Mini! I have missed this your face.” He said as he stood up, allowing her to properly assess all six feet of him. “I have to be on my way but we definitely need to see again. I need to hear about this man that you dumped me for,” he said, picking up her phone from the table and entering his phone number into it. “Zino!” “I’m playing! I’m playing, Mini.” He walked over to her and bent down to hug her again. “You look great,” he whispered before turning to leave. Her eyes followed him as he made his way out through the open glass doors. She was still staring at the exit when she saw a familiar face in the car park in the distance. Without looking away, she searched her bag with her hand and pulled out a pair of glasses. She put them on loosely and almost fell off her chair. She continued to watch as her husband wrapped the tall woman beside him in an embrace that was a second too long, before opening the door to let her into the back seat of his car. Hard as she tried, she could not make out the face of the woman. “What the hell, Jaiyeola Gbadebo!?” she hissed to herself. She placed her pair of glasses on the table and signalled for the attention of a waitress. Her entire body was vibrating. She picked up her phone and dialled Jaiyeola’s number. She watched the screen intently, adjusting her glasses around her nose bridge at successive intervals, until the pop up confirmed that he did not answer her call. Her eyes were starting to well up. “What. The. Hell?!” ***** A couple of hours later… —– The lemon tiled walls of her kitchen felt like they had moved in to trap her in. She had sent her reluctant chef back to his boy’s quarters and so she had the house to herself. She had paced the entire house since she got home about two hours ago, in hope of resolving her agitation. It was now 8:00 pm and there was no sign of Jaiyeola. She carried the last hand-painted ceramic bowl of chicken curry and placed it on the dining table along with the long spread that covered the table cloth. The food on the table could feed twelve people and there would be enough leftover to feed another twelve. She was folding her apron when she heard the front door open. Her body started to vibrate again. Jaiyeola placed his black n leather briefcase at the entrance to the kitchen, quietly walked towards his wife’s back by the sink and tickled her. She dug her teeth into her tongue before she managed to laugh convincingly. “Where’s Sunday?” he asked after kissing her lips. She bit her tongue again and replied, “I gave him the evening off.” She walked slowly behind him as he climbed up the stairs, making sure to keep at least four steps between them. Her palms were itching to push him hard. She narrowed her eyes, trying to make sure that his t-shirt was the same shade of brown as the man’s she had seen earlier. He stopped when he reached the carved wooden door to their bedroom and turned sharply, “are you alright, sugar?” She bit her lips this time and made a fist so tight that her nails felt like they were drilling a hole in her palm. She stared at him for almost a minute and smiled, “I’m alright oh, J. I’m very good. Why won’t I be?” And she walked past him and into the bedroom, leaving him puzzled. Ghen Ghen… Uncle Jay don enter hot soup today… **** 21:30 Moh How did your date go? 22:00 Anita Hey boo. I just woke up. Ha! My date… I have to call you about that one. I have concluded… Ibimina hates me! I’m done with you people and your set-ups abeg. I no fit shout. 22:05 Moh Ah! What did this one do this time o? Incomplete set of cutlery? Babe, your deal breakers are too harsh. 22:05 Anita I will ring you in a bit. 22:07 Moh Wait first. Remember the woman you said you saw with J like two weeks ago? What did she look like? 22:08 Anita Err… I don’t remember. Why? 22:08 Moh Never mind. Oya call me. 22:09 Anita Is there a problem? Did you see him with somebody? 22:10 Moh Nothing o! Madam call me abeg. I want to hear this gist na. 22:10 Anita Haha! In five minutes.  ***** To Anita’s sleep soaked brain, her vibrating phone felt like an earthquake happening in her room. She moaned as she reached for it, praying it was not the hospital. She blinked severally as though to make sure she was not sleep-reading the caller ID. Anita looked long and hard at her phone, her thumb hovering over the green button. “Abeg, I no dey for this one”, she sighed as she put the phone aside, waiting for it to ring out so she could put an end to temptations of the past that had come calling at night. Anita, pushing back the memories of a time better forgotten turned to lie on her bare stomach. She yawned and hissed at the thought of the battle she would have to resume to fall asleep again. Her face buried inside her pillow, she felt for the phone and moved it closer, while feeling for the power button. Her thumb had barely rested on the button when she felt another vibration. Reluctantly, she brought the phone’s screen closer to her face. 02:24 J We need to talk. – J.

Following

Observing

[b]Aso-Ebi: Episode 5 – Baby Lace[/b] Welcome back to the longest flashback in flashback history, and in this particular flashback, its a Monday. Now, there’s something odd about this particular Monday morning. It could be the fact that there is hardly any traffic or that Jaiyeola Gbadebo’s black Mercedes has an extra passenger in it, which is very strange. Even more strange, this passenger, the lovely Mohini Gbadebo, looks like she’s dressed for work! *gasp* We investigate… Mohini pressed her thumb firmly on the power button of her phone until the screen turned dark. Zino had incessantly called her phone all weekend and twice already since the day started. She expected that he would have got her silent message. The Zino she remembers is a genius at decoding non-verbal messages. She threw her phone into her black bag and struggled to put on her nude court shoes. “Let me help you with that, sugar,” Jaiyeola offered, pointing at her feet. She let out a sharp hiss before putting her right leg in his open hand. He stared at her irritated face and gently slid her foot into the shoe. “Moh… what’s going on? You’ve been so irritated lately,” he held her pointed chin between his two fingers and turned her face to his. “Have I done something wrong? I’ll make it up to you if I have, you know I will.” She fluttered her eyelashes several times and successfully stopped herself from hissing again. His eyes looked so innocent yet she could not shake off the feeling that the hug she saw between him and that… that.. woman, two days before was not at all innocent. She glanced at the rear-view mirror and saw the driver’s eyes watching them. Now was not the time. She had more important things to think about. “I’m fine, J. A tad moody but I’m fine,” she said giving him a reassuring smile. He tapped the back of her hand resting on her lap. “This one that you’re dressed formally to visit a friend on a Monday morning. Hmmm,” Jaiyeola said. Mohini smiled and busied herself with her reflection in her compact mirror. “Madam we’re at the place now,” the driver alerted them before she had a chance to reply. She looked at the fairly inconspicuous sign post on the high rise glass building and took in a deep breath. She kissed him lightly on his lips and tapped his stomach. “We need to do something about that pot belly. It’s getting a bit too big for my sensibilities,” she said as she got out of the car. She pulled at the hem of her skirt and heard him say behind her, “that skirt is too tight oh!”. She ignored his protest with a smile and began walking toward the entrance. **** The heat that surrounded her for the last thirty minutes was slowly being replaced by the cold air that filled the room. The sound of her voice, like meaningless rambling, echoed in her mind’s ears as she watched the panel of interviewers on the other side of the long glass table taking down notes. She smiled again, thankful that there was no woman on the panel. “Very good… eh… Mohini? Mohini. You should hear from us… eh… within the next week,” the tall, balding man with a grey mustache announced and looked at the other two men to his left, who nodded in unison. She got up smartly and shook all three men firmly before leaving the room. There was a tone in the man’s voice that she did not like. You should hear from us, she repeated in her head. She had been a little nervous but she was certain that none of them could tell. She shrugged and crossed her fingers before picking up her pace towards the exit. “Mrs. Gbadebo!” She stopped and turned in the direction of the voice. The lady at the reception desk motioned to her to stop. She sighted one of the men on the panel, the tall, balding one who had obviously been the most senior person there, walking with a slight limp towards her. He was a wearing a suit that was a few sizes too big and his lanky frame and limp made him look like he would lose his balance and keel over any minute now. She smiled slightly at him when he got closer, hoping to establish some professional warmth. Failing to reciprocate, he led her into an empty glass room near the entrance and carefully shut the door behind him. “Eh… I have another appointment in a few minutes… eh… so I’ll make this quick,” he said as he drew out a chair for her and stood beside her, casting a shadow over her. She nodded in response. “Eh…Your interview was eh…brilliant; your resume is eh… impressive too but… You know how they say during an interview, everything the interviewer tells you before the ‘BUT’, is more or less irrelevant to your case? Yeah, that.  “…eh… the only work experiences you have are the eh… internships you took years ago. You haven’t worked in eh… five years and eh… that’s a problem for us.” His face remained as stern as it was in the interviewing room, his mustache was ugly on his face and looked like it was shaved off a dead rat. She opened her mouth to respond but he continued, “I see that you eh… have a lot of potential but we have eh…seen candidates that are just as good as you but eh… with more recent experience. However we can eh… help you if you eh…help us.” He tore a piece of paper from the thick notepad on the long oval glass table, picked up the pen beside it and scribbled on the paper. Rising, he stretched the paper to her and said with the single, stern expression she had associated his face with, “Eh… I’ll be at eh…Southern sun this evening. That’s my number and the eh… room number in case..eh..in case you can’t reach me.” She stared at the combination of numbers on the paper for a while, shocked at what he was implying. Had he not seen that she was married? It was stated clearly on one of the millions of forms she’d had to fill before the interview. She was about to speak when she heard the door shut close leaving her in the room with the piece of paper that was now as ugly as the mustache of the man who had given it to her. **** At about the same time, the nurses at St. Francis hospital discussing among themselves, surprised that Dr. Anita Momoh was yet to perform her daily yelling ritual. Silence was rare when she was on duty but today, even Anita was in a fantastic mood.  “Mama, it’s okay,” Anita said to the aged woman that was about to drop to her knees in gratitude. She rushed out of her chair to stop the woman’s knees from reaching the ground and then pulled her up and gave her a hug. “God go bless you, doctor. God go bless you. Ah! So good people like you still dey?” Anita felt a warm sensation in her heart, rising like steam to the top of a pot. She had not anticipated this type of reception for her simple good deed. All she had done was deliver her gateman’s wife of beautiful triplet babies through her expertise and funded the required medical bills from her purse. She got a discount as a member of the hospital staff and she’d decided to use it for poor Onoriode’s wife who obviously needed extra care for such a complex delivery. It was the right thing to do and had not even put her out of pocket too much so the woman’s effusive thanks embarrasses her a little bit. “It’s alright mama.” She said for what must have been the one hundredth time. “Ah. Ok, Ehen Doctor, abeg, E get one matter wey I wan teh you,” the woman said as she mopped her tears with the roll of tissue paper Anita handed her. “Doctor, I know say you be good person and my pikin husband don dey teh me say you never get husband. I take God beg you, no vex o doctor but I bin wan give you small advice. As Mama an granmama” She pressed her lips together, folded her arms and sighed in a manner that suggested she was troubled. Anita was wary of this impending advice but nodded at her to continue. “Doctor, we be woman, we fit talk true for hia. We two sef know say woman dey expire. Small time, to get pikin go hard you. As you dey wait di beta man wey I know say God go give you, you fit find di one wey go give you pikin first. God no go vex.” Anita laughed and nodded vigorously. “Yes ma, Thank you ma.” **** Later that night, after Charles had called, pressed Anita’s mumu button again and then proceeded to press other, more interesting parts of her body with other, interesting parts of his own body… — Anita dismissed the thoughts of how stupid she was for asking him to come over when he called for the umpteenth time. It had been a long day and she’d needed something to relax her after all the activity and excitement of the day. Besides, he called her first. The rhythm of his heartbeat playing directly into her right ear combined with his fingers running through her hair was the perfect icing on the delicious man-cake that she had just been served. He was the only person that understood her body. Sometimes, she was certain he knew it more than she did. She rolled off his supine body and wrapped herself in the satin sheets. Charles dragged the sheets off her body and flung them on the carpet. He suspended his torso a little above her, shoved his tongue in her mouth and kissed her until she was breathless. He sat up and reached for his phone on the small chest of drawers next to the bed. She looked up at him and watched the monotonous dance of his adam’s apple. Why was he not ready to settle down and give them a chance? If only he would just say the word. She sighed. The odd advice from her gateman’s mother-in-law came to her again and she smiled as a sudden, mad thought crawled from her brain to her tongue. She sat up and looked at Charles again. “I think I want a baby,” she heard herself say as she playfully traced the letters of the word ‘baby’ on his arm. She heard the sound as though it had come from far away. Charle’s muscles tensed. Her eyes widened when she realized that he had heard her. He turned sharply and looked at her for a brief second before he climbed down from the bed wordlessly, picked his pair of black trousers from the floor and started to put them on. “Where are you going?” She asked, puzzled and worried. “Home,” he replied as he clothed himself in a hurry. He seemed as though the air in the room were attacking him and he needed to get out. “Ah ahn, I thought you were spending the night?” He did not reply her; instead, he picked up his keys from her vanity table, threw on his T-shirt and walked out of the room. She stared at the slightly ajar door in shock and listened to the stomp from his feet as he ran down the stairs like he was being chased by a pack of wolves. Never again, she thought to herself as warm tears began to flow from her eyes of their own volition. She did not make a sound. A foreign silence and sense of loneliness that she had never experienced filled her bedroom and she glanced at the spot Charles had occupied only a few minutes ago. She heard his car rev and drive off in the distance. “Fuck you Charles! Never again! Nah. I’m done… I actually want a baby, I want a baby,” she said to herself as she stretched in the direction of the foot of the bed to switch on the television. She picked up her phone, selected the number of the guy that was always there for her when she needed him and activated the phone’s speaker. “Hey you,” came the voice from the other end of the call. Her head began to pound as a sort of confused stubbornness regarding her situation replaced her anger at Charles. “Are you still on the island?” she asked. “Nah. Got home about thirty minutes ago.” He responded. “Can you come to mine, please?” There was no reply from the other end of the call. “Bami?” “It’s almost eleven and I’m already in Yaba, Anita.” “Bami please. I need to talk to you and I don’t want to…I cant sleep alone.” “Ok, but…” “But what?” “Never mind. I’ll just grab a change of clothes and I’ll be on my way.” “No. What were you going to say?” Anita was interested now. “I’m coming, don’t worry.” “Bami!” “I have company.” He said calmly. “Oh. Who?” Anita heard her own heart pounding erratically as he said the words. “I met this babe…”

Sorry for the late update, really busy with an important project so I wont be regular to the site till Sunday evening.. Pls bear with me

When would Anita grow up and realise that Charles is just intrested in straffing her? I hope what just happen have opened her eyes.

[b]Aso-Ebi: Episode 6 – Fila Skontolo[/b] It was another Saturday. But not just any other Saturday, it was the 10th of March! You know what that means, right? *gasp* you don’t?! Party time!!! On the day, the massive space between the main gate and the front door of the Gbadebo’s mansion was home to a large white tent filled with music, food and chatter all in celebration of Jaiyeola Gbadebo’s 39th birthday. The sun was beginning to set but as we take you to join the Owambe, it doesn’t quite look like the party is ending any time soon. Jaiyeola pulled his wife towards him as she passed by in her green and silver lace Iro and Buba and Gele that perfectly matched his own lace Agbada and Fila. He danced around her while she smiled shyly until she eventually succumbed and started to dance in response. He held his bottle of beer above her head and chanted her name as she gyrated her way towards the ground to the music from the band, obeying their insistent orders to komole. She laughed as Jaiyeola set aside his beer, pulled out a wad of five hundred naira notes and began to throw them at her to the encouragement of onlookers who were now clapping for her. Mohini beamed despite herself and her observations of him and the suspicious woman from a few days before. She was very proud to see her six weeks of planning come together perfectly. She was pleased at the excitement in every step her husband took and every gesture he made. One would think he was previously unaware of the birthday party with the grin that sat comfortably on his face. Mohini spun around twice as the band came to the end of their song and kissed Jaiyeola on his cheek before disappearing into the crowd and finally escaping from the jubilation contained in the tent. She stopped close to the front door of the house and bent to take off her shoes. Her feet were tired of being imprisoned and she still had a lot of walking around to do. Her oleku wrapper was starting to feel loose and she needed to touch up her make-up before returning to the party. Sweat had adjusted it for her. She scanned around for her gateman but it seemed like she was the only person outside the tent. She turned, her shoes in her hand, into the house. “Mini.” She jumped and flung her shoes when she heard the familiar voice so close that it almost felt like it had come from within her. “What the hell, Zino?! You scared me. What are you doing here?” The frown on her face did not stop him from smiling. He leaned in for a hug but she stepped backwards. “I was invited,” he replied, still smiling. She recognised that smile. It was the one he had the last time she saw him, the one he had on years ago when she stormed out of his student room and cut him off from her life.  It was not genuine. It was laced with jealousy and anger. She sighed and put her feet back into her shoes. She grabbed his wrist and they walked quickly, her heels barely touching the ground, to the back of the house. She stopped when they reached the front of the pool house and stood underneath the flood lights. Positive that they were alone, she folded her hands in front of her chest and asked calmly, “Zino what do you want from me? Are you stalking me now?” His smile faded but she could still see its imprint. He stared at her as if he was searching for something in her face. “Zino?!” she almost yelled. “Why haven’t you picked any of my calls?” he asked smiling again. She opened her mouth to respond but he continued, “Why did you run off to get married the moment we had a small misunderstanding? More importantly, why did you run off to get married at nineteen?!” His oyinbo face had turned red and she was left without words. Perhaps it was indeed time to finally sit with him and have the conversation that she dreaded and was in fact convinced that she had escaped forever. She looked away from his clear brown eyes and turned to focus her attention on opening the door to the pool house. She had barely turned the handle when the door opened on its own. “Well done, Madam,” her gateman said, bowing as he stepped out and stood about six inches away from her. “Ahn ahn! Jeda. Is this your post? Come on get to the main gate, my friend,” she said, almost pushing him, while he slowly stepped away from her. The door opened again and a dark-skinned young lady that she did not recognise stepped out. Her thick braids peered out from underneath her shabbily tied scarf and the buttons of her pale, faded yellow shirt were mismatched from their corresponding holes. She looked at the young lady and laughed when she realised what their not-so sacred pool house had just witnessed. Looks like someone was having himself a good time… “Jedaaaa!” She clapped her hands together and finally put them to rest on her waist. “Madam, pleeze I take God almightee and im broda Allah beg you, no tell oga abeg. Abeg. I swear I no go do am again. Madam abeg. Na because say i hapi for oga na im make body do me like dis madam. Madam pleeze.” His hands were on his head and his face was a study in pathetic expressions -contorting this way and that as he begged for her silence. The girl had started to sob with her knees attaching her to the coarse gravel as though she were praying to Mohini. Mohini shook her head. She glanced at Zino who was now smiling, moved towards Jeda and pulled his ears. “No respect! Just this one time I no go tell oga. No do am again. Oya allele! To your post!” **** Away from the komole-ing guests, jubilating friends, fornicating gatemen and other assorted Owambe real-life vignettes, Anita, closely followed by Jaiyeola, escapes into the near solitude of the kitchen. From the look on their faces, it seems like its time for some serious discussion. Could this be the beginning of… ermmm… you know what? Why don’t you find out for yourselves.   Jaiyeola shut the kitchen door behind him after making sure they were alone and pulled out a stool for Anita. She saw the glaring unease on his face. “Please why have you disrupted my faaji?” She asked as she sat down. He opened the fridge and took out two cans of beer. “I haven’t seen Bami. Is he here?” Jaiyeola asked, fidgeting with the tab of the can. She snatched the can from him and replied, “Yeah. My car has issues so he picked me up.” “I don’t know why you won’t give him a chance oh. He’s the only stable man in your life, you know?” She raised her left eyebrow, questioning how he knew what he was talking about. In recent years, she had noticed his lack of interest in her personal life. She had decided to understand his unspoken reasons and had accepted them, just as she had accepted that their home was not and would never be entirely open to her. He and her had too much history and no matter how close she came to Moh, that history would never be erased. He chuckled and winked at her. “So is that why you took me away from the lovely man that was entertaining me?” She feigned irritation. He pulled out another chair and sat facing her. He did not believe in inviting a third person into his marriage but he had fiddled with talking to his wife’s best friend for a long time and decided that there was no harm in asking for her help, especially from Anita. He was one year closer to the big forty and despite the fact that he still loved his wife’s company, their home felt empty. In the first three years of their marriage, he did not want children solely because his wife was still in full time education; but it was now five years since she graduated and they moved back home. “Jaiyeola o!” Anita clapped in front of his face. He shook his head and took a sip of his beer. “Moh and I will have been married for eight years in a few months,” he started. Anita sat back and folded her arms. She already knew where he was heading. She let out a silent sigh of relief as the realisation hit her that this was the reason he had called her phone at odd hours in past weeks and not anything more… dubious. He continued, “I need to know that we’re both okay. I know that I’m fine. I’m not shooting blanks or anything like that but your friend has refused to come with me to a fertility clinic. If there’s a problem with her, I need to know now so that we can work around it.” Anita shifted in her chair. “Does she know that you got examined?” Jaiyeola gave Anita a blank stare and she nodded knowingly. “So what are you asking me to do? Divulge her medical history?” She was starting to get defensive. “Just convince her to go to a fertility clinic with me,” he said quickly when he heard footsteps approaching the door. “Please,” he added as he stood up. The door opened and Mohini stopped when she saw Anita and Jaiyeola. Jaiyeola grabbed two more cans from the fridge, walked towards his wife and kissed her on her mouth before making his way out past her. She narrowed her eyes just enough for Anita to see the question dancing around in them. “He suspects you’re hiding something,” Anita said quietly, ignoring the piercing look her friend was sending her way. “He thinks you have reproductive issues,” she continued. Mohini continued to fix her gaze on Anita with her back resting on the door of the kitchen. “What is it?!” Anita hissed. “What?!  You think I came to do your husband in your kitchen on his birthday? Give me some credit, please! And don’t annoy me today abeg. Ahn ahn. It’s been years oh, years, since you found out about our irrelevant history together. Get over it already. I don’t want your husband, please.” She was now almost shouting. Mohini’s mouth was open but nothing came out of it. Agreed, she was still uncomfortable with seeing Jaiyeola and Anita together, but she had every right to be. She had learnt that one can never be too careful. After all she knew her friend’s history with men, and in particular with her husband. And no matter how distant that part of Anita might seem now, it lurked in the back of her mind like a criminal in shadow. She smiled and spread her legs to prevent Anita from opening the door. “Guilty conscience!” she tickled Anita at the side of her abdomen. “Smile jor,” she continued to tickle her until Anita gave in to the laughter. “As I was saying, just go with him to the clinic. You don’t want your marriage to end over this issue. It’s bad enough that you’re going behind his back to get a job when you know he doesn’t want you to work,” Anita said. Mohini stepped away from the door and tapped her stiletto nails on the kitchen slab. “Who said I don’t want my marriage to end?” Anita chuckled and said, “If I hear?! My dear, trust me; you don’t want to join me where I am right now. I’m telling you that you don’t want your marriage to end. It’s not a big deal. Just go with him,” Anita replied her, almost shaking her into reasoning. “And the IUD?” Mohini whispered in Anita’s face for fear that if she spoke any louder, the walls would relay her words to the wrong ears. She pulled out a pair of slippers from behind the kitchen door. “That’s not a big deal now. We’ll take it out just before you go and put it back in straight after. Easy as. He won’t find out, if you don’t want him to, don’t worry.” Anita took Mohini’s hand and dragged her behind her. “This thing you’re doing though…well, you have guests. Let’s go. We’ll talk about this later.” **** Mohini tapped her feet uncontrollably as she watched Jaiyeola hug the woman goodbye again. She had not seen her face the first time but she was positive that it was the same woman from the week before. The woman waved in her direction before turning to walk towards the gate behind the man she came with. “Who was that?” she asked Jaiyeola before he was close enough for her to hear him whisper. “Oh! The Kalejaiyes. I wanted you to meet them but you were everywhere but,” he replied when he reached her, grabbing her hand and spinning her around. “I love you, sugar,” he cooed as he tried to kiss her. She leaned her upper body away from him. “J! You know people are still around, right?”  Now, Lean Back, Lean Back, Lean Back…  “Mr. J,” she heard a familiar voice beside them as she struggled to free herself of his grasp. “Ah. Zino!” Jaiyeola exclaimed extending his hand for a friendly handshake. “Moh,” he said turning to his confused wife, “this is my new right hand man I was telling you about the other day.” “I’m sorry, who?!” Mohini struggled to stop herself from losing her balance. She reached for her husband’s hand and held it for support as she felt a sudden migraine hit her at that moment. What were the odds!? “My new vice,” Jaiyeola smiled, placing his arm around her shoulders and drawing her closer to his side. “Zino Wright. Very smart guy. He’s the one that’s been helping me close all the new deals in Abuja and Port Harcourt this quarter” She felt her husband’s arm slide to her lower back. Zino smiled at her and stretched his hand towards her. She looked at it and smiled nervously, “It’s very nice to finally meet you, Mr. Wright.”

[b]Aso-Ebi: Episode 6 – Fila Skontolo[/b] It was another Saturday. But not just any other Saturday, it was the 10th of March! You know what that means, right? *gasp* you don’t?! Party time!!! On the day, the massive space between the main gate and the front door of the Gbadebo’s mansion was home to a large white tent filled with music, food and chatter all in celebration of Jaiyeola Gbadebo’s 39th birthday. The sun was beginning to set but as we take you to join the Owambe, it doesn’t quite look like the party is ending any time soon. Jaiyeola pulled his wife towards him as she passed by in her green and silver lace Iro and Buba and Gele that perfectly matched his own lace Agbada and Fila. He danced around her while she smiled shyly until she eventually succumbed and started to dance in response. He held his bottle of beer above her head and chanted her name as she gyrated her way towards the ground to the music from the band, obeying their insistent orders to komole. She laughed as Jaiyeola set aside his beer, pulled out a wad of five hundred naira notes and began to throw them at her to the encouragement of onlookers who were now clapping for her. Mohini beamed despite herself and her observations of him and the suspicious woman from a few days before. She was very proud to see her six weeks of planning come together perfectly. She was pleased at the excitement in every step her husband took and every gesture he made. One would think he was previously unaware of the birthday party with the grin that sat comfortably on his face. Mohini spun around twice as the band came to the end of their song and kissed Jaiyeola on his cheek before disappearing into the crowd and finally escaping from the jubilation contained in the tent. She stopped close to the front door of the house and bent to take off her shoes. Her feet were tired of being imprisoned and she still had a lot of walking around to do. Her oleku wrapper was starting to feel loose and she needed to touch up her make-up before returning to the party. Sweat had adjusted it for her. She scanned around for her gateman but it seemed like she was the only person outside the tent. She turned, her shoes in her hand, into the house. “Mini.” She jumped and flung her shoes when she heard the familiar voice so close that it almost felt like it had come from within her. “What the hell, Zino?! You scared me. What are you doing here?” The frown on her face did not stop him from smiling. He leaned in for a hug but she stepped backwards. “I was invited,” he replied, still smiling. She recognised that smile. It was the one he had the last time she saw him, the one he had on years ago when she stormed out of his student room and cut him off from her life.  It was not genuine. It was laced with jealousy and anger. She sighed and put her feet back into her shoes. She grabbed his wrist and they walked quickly, her heels barely touching the ground, to the back of the house. She stopped when they reached the front of the pool house and stood underneath the flood lights. Positive that they were alone, she folded her hands in front of her chest and asked calmly, “Zino what do you want from me? Are you stalking me now?” His smile faded but she could still see its imprint. He stared at her as if he was searching for something in her face. “Zino?!” she almost yelled. “Why haven’t you picked any of my calls?” he asked smiling again. She opened her mouth to respond but he continued, “Why did you run off to get married the moment we had a small misunderstanding? More importantly, why did you run off to get married at nineteen?!” His oyinbo face had turned red and she was left without words. Perhaps it was indeed time to finally sit with him and have the conversation that she dreaded and was in fact convinced that she had escaped forever. She looked away from his clear brown eyes and turned to focus her attention on opening the door to the pool house. She had barely turned the handle when the door opened on its own. “Well done, Madam,” her gateman said, bowing as he stepped out and stood about six inches away from her. “Ahn ahn! Jeda. Is this your post? Come on get to the main gate, my friend,” she said, almost pushing him, while he slowly stepped away from her. The door opened again and a dark-skinned young lady that she did not recognise stepped out. Her thick braids peered out from underneath her shabbily tied scarf and the buttons of her pale, faded yellow shirt were mismatched from their corresponding holes. She looked at the young lady and laughed when she realised what their not-so sacred pool house had just witnessed. Looks like someone was having himself a good time… “Jedaaaa!” She clapped her hands together and finally put them to rest on her waist. “Madam, pleeze I take God almightee and im broda Allah beg you, no tell oga abeg. Abeg. I swear I no go do am again. Madam abeg. Na because say i hapi for oga na im make body do me like dis madam. Madam pleeze.” His hands were on his head and his face was a study in pathetic expressions -contorting this way and that as he begged for her silence. The girl had started to sob with her knees attaching her to the coarse gravel as though she were praying to Mohini. Mohini shook her head. She glanced at Zino who was now smiling, moved towards Jeda and pulled his ears. “No respect! Just this one time I no go tell oga. No do am again. Oya allele! To your post!” **** Away from the komole-ing guests, jubilating friends, fornicating gatemen and other assorted Owambe real-life vignettes, Anita, closely followed by Jaiyeola, escapes into the near solitude of the kitchen. From the look on their faces, it seems like its time for some serious discussion. Could this be the beginning of… ermmm… you know what? Why don’t you find out for yourselves.   Jaiyeola shut the kitchen door behind him after making sure they were alone and pulled out a stool for Anita. She saw the glaring unease on his face. “Please why have you disrupted my faaji?” She asked as she sat down. He opened the fridge and took out two cans of beer. “I haven’t seen Bami. Is he here?” Jaiyeola asked, fidgeting with the tab of the can. She snatched the can from him and replied, “Yeah. My car has issues so he picked me up.” “I don’t know why you won’t give him a chance oh. He’s the only stable man in your life, you know?” She raised her left eyebrow, questioning how he knew what he was talking about. In recent years, she had noticed his lack of interest in her personal life. She had decided to understand his unspoken reasons and had accepted them, just as she had accepted that their home was not and would never be entirely open to her. He and her had too much history and no matter how close she came to Moh, that history would never be erased. He chuckled and winked at her. “So is that why you took me away from the lovely man that was entertaining me?” She feigned irritation. He pulled out another chair and sat facing her. He did not believe in inviting a third person into his marriage but he had fiddled with talking to his wife’s best friend for a long time and decided that there was no harm in asking for her help, especially from Anita. He was one year closer to the big forty and despite the fact that he still loved his wife’s company, their home felt empty. In the first three years of their marriage, he did not want children solely because his wife was still in full time education; but it was now five years since she graduated and they moved back home. “Jaiyeola o!” Anita clapped in front of his face. He shook his head and took a sip of his beer. “Moh and I will have been married for eight years in a few months,” he started. Anita sat back and folded her arms. She already knew where he was heading. She let out a silent sigh of relief as the realisation hit her that this was the reason he had called her phone at odd hours in past weeks and not anything more… dubious. He continued, “I need to know that we’re both okay. I know that I’m fine. I’m not shooting blanks or anything like that but your friend has refused to come with me to a fertility clinic. If there’s a problem with her, I need to know now so that we can work around it.” Anita shifted in her chair. “Does she know that you got examined?” Jaiyeola gave Anita a blank stare and she nodded knowingly. “So what are you asking me to do? Divulge her medical history?” She was starting to get defensive. “Just convince her to go to a fertility clinic with me,” he said quickly when he heard footsteps approaching the door. “Please,” he added as he stood up. The door opened and Mohini stopped when she saw Anita and Jaiyeola. Jaiyeola grabbed two more cans from the fridge, walked towards his wife and kissed her on her mouth before making his way out past her. She narrowed her eyes just enough for Anita to see the question dancing around in them. “He suspects you’re hiding something,” Anita said quietly, ignoring the piercing look her friend was sending her way. “He thinks you have reproductive issues,” she continued. Mohini continued to fix her gaze on Anita with her back resting on the door of the kitchen. “What is it?!” Anita hissed. “What?!  You think I came to do your husband in your kitchen on his birthday? Give me some credit, please! And don’t annoy me today abeg. Ahn ahn. It’s been years oh, years, since you found out about our irrelevant history together. Get over it already. I don’t want your husband, please.” She was now almost shouting. Mohini’s mouth was open but nothing came out of it. Agreed, she was still uncomfortable with seeing Jaiyeola and Anita together, but she had every right to be. She had learnt that one can never be too careful. After all she knew her friend’s history with men, and in particular with her husband. And no matter how distant that part of Anita might seem now, it lurked in the back of her mind like a criminal in shadow. She smiled and spread her legs to prevent Anita from opening the door. “Guilty conscience!” she tickled Anita at the side of her abdomen. “Smile jor,” she continued to tickle her until Anita gave in to the laughter. “As I was saying, just go with him to the clinic. You don’t want your marriage to end over this issue. It’s bad enough that you’re going behind his back to get a job when you know he doesn’t want you to work,” Anita said. Mohini stepped away from the door and tapped her stiletto nails on the kitchen slab. “Who said I don’t want my marriage to end?” Anita chuckled and said, “If I hear?! My dear, trust me; you don’t want to join me where I am right now. I’m telling you that you don’t want your marriage to end. It’s not a big deal. Just go with him,” Anita replied her, almost shaking her into reasoning. “And the IUD?” Mohini whispered in Anita’s face for fear that if she spoke any louder, the walls would relay her words to the wrong ears. She pulled out a pair of slippers from behind the kitchen door. “That’s not a big deal now. We’ll take it out just before you go and put it back in straight after. Easy as. He won’t find out, if you don’t want him to, don’t worry.” Anita took Mohini’s hand and dragged her behind her. “This thing you’re doing though…well, you have guests. Let’s go. We’ll talk about this later.” **** Mohini tapped her feet uncontrollably as she watched Jaiyeola hug the woman goodbye again. She had not seen her face the first time but she was positive that it was the same woman from the week before. The woman waved in her direction before turning to walk towards the gate behind the man she came with. “Who was that?” she asked Jaiyeola before he was close enough for her to hear him whisper. “Oh! The Kalejaiyes. I wanted you to meet them but you were everywhere but,” he replied when he reached her, grabbing her hand and spinning her around. “I love you, sugar,” he cooed as he tried to kiss her. She leaned her upper body away from him. “J! You know people are still around, right?”  Now, Lean Back, Lean Back, Lean Back…  “Mr. J,” she heard a familiar voice beside them as she struggled to free herself of his grasp. “Ah. Zino!” Jaiyeola exclaimed extending his hand for a friendly handshake. “Moh,” he said turning to his confused wife, “this is my new right hand man I was telling you about the other day.” “I’m sorry, who?!” Mohini struggled to stop herself from losing her balance. She reached for her husband’s hand and held it for support as she felt a sudden migraine hit her at that moment. What were the odds!? “My new vice,” Jaiyeola smiled, placing his arm around her shoulders and drawing her closer to his side. “Zino Wright. Very smart guy. He’s the one that’s been helping me close all the new deals in Abuja and Port Harcourt this quarter” She felt her husband’s arm slide to her lower back. Zino smiled at her and stretched his hand towards her. She looked at it and smiled nervously, “It’s very nice to finally meet you, Mr. Wright.”

hmmm following

alright

next

[b]Aso-Ebi: Episode 7 – Quilted Kampala[/b] 10:17 Anita Ticket? 10:22 Moh Yup. Arik. 11. If they’ll be on time that is. 10:22 Anita Ok. I still don’t understand how a person will just up and decide to go away for the whole week o. And these lies to J… What is happening? 10:24 Moh I already told you. I’m not in a good place right now. I needed to get away from the house and from him. Need to think. 10:24 Anita So if you had told J you were running to abj, he would have…? 10:25 Moh Asked too many questions! J is understanding but his mind works funny. Quit the interrogations abeg. Now remember, I’m on my way to Ibadan in a cab to spend the week with my darling bro, Jai. Capisce? 10:25 Moh Switching off this phone now. Might not contact you until I get back. I love you, okay. And please you better have gist waiting for me on Saturday. 10:30 Anita You worry me. I won’t even lie. Feel like you’re shutting me out but you know me, I’ll drag it out of you. Enjoy your ‘sibling bonding’. I’ll deal with you when you get back. Love you baby :*. *** Once upon a time, when a certain house had a different landlord… *** Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), 2002. —— “Move,” she said as she gathered the non-existent debris beneath his feet with her broom and shoved it into the blue plastic parker. She emptied the dirt into the small black plastic bag next to the fridge and proceeded to fix the crumpled sheets on the bed opposite the one he sat on. “Anita!” he reached for her right arm but only managed to grab the side of her black jalabiya. She stopped and stood straight, her back to him. He held on to the side of her jalabiya and dragged her towards his laps until she reluctantly dropped her buttocks onto them. “Are you even listening to me?” he asked, steadying her elusive face between his left thumb and index finger.  She looked at him and sighed, “Yes. J, yes. I have heard everything.” “And?” She turned to him and looked away almost immediately. “And what do you want me to say? We were obviously not on the same page. I get it, this was a fling and now it’s over. I get it.” She stared at his face, waiting for him to jump in and disagree with her but his lips stayed sealed. Her eyes began to feel warm and as she opened her mouth to speak, there was a knock at the door. She jumped off his laps and made her way to the plain wooden door, a tad grateful for the visitor’s timing. “Shoot!” she exclaimed as she opened the door slightly and filled the narrow space with her head. “Ahn ahn! You don’t look ready. Abi is this how you feel like going for lunch today ni?” the tall visitor commented before attempting to make his way past her. “I’m so sorry, Bami. I completely forgot!” she replied, stopping him from pushing the door open. She read the questions off his face and replied with one of her many expressions that he understood without fail. “Oh, he’s here,” Bami nodded unenthusiastically and turned to leave. “I’ll call you later, okay?” she called after his disappearing back and shut the door without waiting for his reply. Desperate to avoid the eyes of the man in the room, Anita walked over to the reading table, pulled out the wooden chair and dropped herself into the harsh welcome of bare wood. “I’m so stupid!” She exclaimed as she flipped violently through the pages of one of the open textbooks. “Anita,” Jaiyeola sighed. She turned sharply towards his direction. Her gaze fixated on him, she folded her arms on the back of the chair and rested her head on it. “Do you know why I had never opened myself to anyone before?” she asked without looking away. “Anita, please…” he started to reply but she ignored him and continued. “Because of this. This stupid, avoidable hurt. I don’t know, I just thought we were going somewhere. Did I ever think that maybe, just maybe this whole us thing may have been summer fun for you? Oh yes, I did. But you were too sincere. I said sex was off the table and you understood. We were too real. So I figured when your vacation was over and you were ready to go back to London, you would say, ‘hey babes, let’s try out this long distance thing’.” She was standing now and slowly making her way towards him. Her heart was pounding and her mouth felt mopped of all its moisture. “But here you are saying things like ‘were’ and ‘miss’ and… and ‘fun’. Fun, J. You said you’ve had FUN! And you’re asking me to say something.” She was now standing adjacent to him. He reached for her hand but she moved away. “Babe,” he started calmly, ”this is hard for me too. But it would be wicked for me to tell you that what we have now will survive the distance.” “But it can!” she protested. “I have electives in a few months. I can choose to do it in a school in London. It’ll be six weeks but at least we’ll spend time with each other. If we want it to, it will survive!” He held her hand in his and pulled her to the bed. She turned her face to him and his eyes caught the pool of still tears at the surface of her eyes. His heart sank. Jaiyeola had never fared well with tears. Hard as he tried, they still made him weak. He leaned in and locked her slightly open mouth in his. He pulled back and looked at her vulnerable expression and guilt wrapped him in a way he had never thought it would. He took her hand with one of his and with the other, twirled the ends of her thick braids. Her lips yielded to a weak smile and without thinking, his lips parted and gave way to words he had never intended to speak. “I love you.” He watched as his words plunked into the pool in her eyes and caused a big splash. Her lips quivered as they reached for his. Her hand stroked his coarse stubble as their mouths danced harmoniously to the rhythm they produced. “Do me,” she managed to say after pulling away from his mouth, her hands still on the sides of his face. “What?” he asked, confused. “My virginity, take it.” He tried to make sense of what she was saying but the innocence and hurt across the face before him did little to help him rationalise his thoughts. “Okay,” he whispered as he drew her face back to his. *** We know what you’re thinking… “Oh no they didn’t…  They didn’t just pull off a flashback within a flashback…” Well, we say… Oh yes we did! Inception style! How could we not tell you all that sweet gist that was stored in the past?! Hian! Now, where were we? March, 2013! It was a very busy Monday at the hospital and the blood vessels in Anita’s forehead were threatening to pop. *** Anita rolled her eyes at the man’s subtle comment about her looks and turned her attention to her patient carefully making her way towards the door. “Just the door at the far right. You won’t miss it,” she called at the woman’s back. The woman turned, smiled and nodded before leaving the room, shutting the brown door behind her. “Pregnant women and the bathroom!” the man chuckled. “What are you trying to do?” Anita scolded, trying hard to keep her voice hushed. The man raised his left brow and rested his elbows on her black cushioned leather table. “Oh you think I haven’t noticed all your… remarks?” she moved to the edge of her swivel chair, waved her hands across the table and almost spat the words in his face. “Ah! So I managed to get your attention then,” he sat back in his chair, folded his arms and smiled to reveal a slight gap in his upper teeth. Anita narrowed her eyes at him and leaned further into her table. “My God! How shameless can you people get, ehn? You are hitting on your pregnant wife’s gynaecologist in her presence! What the hell is wrong with you people?! In her presence!” she managed to maintain a firm voice at a whisper. His eyes widened and he sat up in his chair, his back pulled away from its rest. “My wife?” he laughed. “Oh, it’s funny? I cannot believe your species!” she exclaimed with disgust. “Just when I think I have seen it all, you come here acting like a… a…” Her gaze moved swiftly to the door when she heard its handle turn. “That was quick!” the man commented before Anita had a chance to speak. Anita smiled weakly at the woman and adjusted herself in her chair. The man glanced at Anita and laughed softly as he shook his head. She caught the smirk on his face and rolled her eyes as she finished scribbling on the case note on her desk. She found it difficult to reconcile her patient’s husband’s behaviour with normalcy. She looked up from her desk at the couple seated opposite her and wondered what had happened to the sacred institute of marriage. “So Mrs Avazi, like I said, everything looks good in there. I’ll just need you to come in a week from today just so we can be sure that night fever has been taken care of, okay?” “Thank you so much doctor,” the woman said as she shuffled out of her chair with the help of her husband. Anita walked towards the door and gave the woman a hug before letting them out. Her smile disappeared when the man walked past her and she shook her head. She had barely shut the door, when the man forced his way through and back into her office. Her hand at close reach to the door’s handle, she furrowed her brows and placed her other arm on her waist. “Yes? Mr Avazi,” she clenched her teeth. He stared at her and smiled. It was as though he knew she found his gap teeth attractive. “Are you always this feisty?” he asked without breaking eye contact. “Mr Avazi, is there something I can help you with?” she was starting to raise her voice now. “Ladi. It’s Ladi.” “Mr Avazi, I’m going to have to ask you to leave now. I believe your wife…” she paused, “you know, the woman carrying your baby, is waiting for you,” she turned the door’s handle and he burst into a fit of laughter. He started to make his way towards the door but then stopped as quickly as he began. “I want to take you somewhere we can talk. Just two of us,” he said, his expression now as serious as hers. He was staring at her intensely and she could not hide her confusion and discomfort. “I need to know who made you this cynical.” She opened her mouth to speak but he interrupted, “if you are free for lunch today, that’ll be brilliant. Else, I will be here every afternoon this week until you find the time to step out of your head and just listen to whatever nonsense it is you think I have to say.” He walked slowly towards her and the door and as he left her office, he turned to her puzzled expression and smiled, “oh and your patient is my brother’s wife. I’m not married.” He flashed his left hand before her face, chuckled and walked off. As if an empty left fourth finger is the Litmus test for one’s marriage status in this 21st century Lagos where married men are on the prowl. Still though, in the famous words of our people, “dat ting dey pain!” *** At about the same time in Abuja, Mohini’s ‘vacation retreat’ seems to be in full swing… “…Jai abeg when you’re sure about your arrival, then call me… Yeah, yeah, okay I miss you too… alright speak to you later. Love you.” Mohini ended the phone call with her brother and looked at the pile of messages waiting to be read before switching off her phone. She threw her head back and massaged her temples with her middle fingers. The ache in her head that had started the night of Jaiyeola’s birthday party had refused to leave like the other visitors. When on Sunday morning she woke up crying frantically without reason, she knew that the best option available to her was to go on a vacation from the place she called home. She had fiddled many times with the idea of confronting her husband about the affair she suspected he was having but strangely, fear built up inside her each time she tried to voice her thoughts. She had no qualms with being the unsatisfied one in their home but the thought of Jaiyeola being unhappy to the point of disrespecting her filled her with anger towards him and herself more. She downed what was left of her glass of strawberry daiquiri, picked up her phone and wallet from the poolside stool and reluctantly dragged herself into the Protea hotel lobby. She rubbed her sleepy eyes as she approached the elevator door and called for its descent. She tapped impatiently on the screen of her phone, while her head followed the group of chatty young women that had passed her. It seemed so far away now, her feeling of youth and freedom. If idle thinking was responsible for aging, then her mind must have aged ten times over in the last couple of years. She had never thought of marriage as a prison of sorts, but now, here she was, peering at the world through the tiny holes formed by solid, hollow bars that she willingly surrounded herself with. It hurt more that hard as she tried, the whip of blame always ended up breaking her skin; not her husband’s, just hers. The sound of the opening doors drew her attention back to the elevator. She turned to enter when the face that met her eyes caused her to jump as if a pin had pricked the sole of her feet. She sighed, too defeated to let out the unpleasant surprise inside her, “Great! Zino. It just had to be you abi?”

next epi

[b]Aso-Ebi: Episode 8 – Double George Wrappers[/b] From the moment Mohini kissed her husband goodbye earlier that morning, her stomach began to develop sickly knots. She had tried to ignore the growing discomfort that exaggerated the watery guilt she felt every time she told a lie, but by the time she boarded the flight to Abuja, she was certain that her nervousness was a premature reaction to future occurrences. She widened her round eyes and found her composure as she watched, in what seemed like a slowed down version of real time, Zino step out of the elevator with a smug expression. It was as though he was expecting to see her. “I just had a feeling,” he said calmly, albeit with enthusiasm as he arched his back and leaned forward for a hug. In near synchrony, she leaned away from him and opened her mouth to let out her disapproving surprise when she caught the high traffic around them from the corner of her eyes. She bit the inside of her lower lip and slid herself out of the incomplete ring his arms had made around her waist. She contemplated going past him and into the elevator as she noticed the door drawing close behind him, but the pounding in her head that was threatening to deafen her seized her innate dislike for confrontation. She grabbed his right arm and marched towards the lobby’s exit, her slippers slapping on the marble floors without mercy. “Mazino Wright o! Sebi you want to see my madness? You will now tell me why you’re following me around. What is it now?” She managed to control the volume of her voice as her irritation poured out of her. Her arms were now folded underneath her breasts and her eyes stayed elevated, darting across the face of the light-skinned man before her. Zino started to smile but the smile faded just as quickly as it appeared when he noticed her body was vibrating with anger. “Mini, can you be calm, please?” he said, stroking both her shoulders. She let out a sharp, irritated hiss and shrugged his hands off, her eyes still fixed on his face. “Why on earth will you think I’m following you around?” he sighed. She made an incoherent gesticulation with her hands as she struggled to fuel the anger that was dying out with every word he calmly spoke. “Listen, Mohini. Granted, I really need for us to sit down and talk, but stalking you?” he chuckled. “It’s me o. Zino. Your Zino. Not some creep that wants a strand of your pubic hair for juju.” He smiled when he saw her fail in her attempt to suppress her laughter. She was amazed and ashamed at the effect he could still have on her. The faint music reaching her ear made her realise that the pounding from her head and heart had subsided, and her body felt calmer. He was right; he was not a creep, he was Zino. Her heart skipped a beat. Yes, he was her Zino but she knew for a fact that her Zino was capable of doing anything under the sun. “So why are you here?” she asked, the sternness in her voice was now replaced with friendly curiosity. Her eyes trailed from his face down to his left hand. She smiled. “Business. You?” he asked with a hint of confusion at the smile across her mouth. “Nothing important.” He raised his left eyebrow and nodded slowly. “Mini,” he said as he took her hand, “I really do want to talk. Can we go somewhere? One of our rooms, maybe?” She started to decline but then she realised that if she did, she would be giving him the opportunity to continue to pop up in her life at unappreciated times. “Fine.” *** Back at the hospital where Anita has just swallowed a bitter dose of her own medicine… With her jaws wedged separate by the shock of the last couple of seconds, Anita’s eyes roamed the confines of her office space, as if searching for the person that had received the brunt of Mr Avazi’s words. There was a spell that accompanied the way he dismissed himself that left her body paralyzed to her mind’s instruction. She glanced at the black court shoes shielding her feet, and then out the door at his slightly curved back in motion. In seconds, she had tried and failed to recall the last time she had heard that tone in his voice directed at her. She snorted and began to slowly make her way back to the case notes waiting on her table. ‘Who made you this cynical?’ she repeated to herself before each involuntary snort. There were quite a number of qualities she had been working to possess; and walking away from unnecessary confrontation was one of them. She gave herself a mental pat on the back when she accepted that her body was moving in a direction opposite to where her mind was. A series of possible ‘comebacks’ danced around in her head and as if suddenly thrown into a trance, she stopped and turned around, midway between the office’s door and her swivel chair. She dashed out of her office and filled the reception area with the fast-paced rhythm of her heels violently colliding with the ground. The nurse that had been enjoying a conversation with the receptionists all but ducked underneath the reception booth on sighting a visibly ticked off doctor. Anita rolled her eyes in the nurse’s direction, sending a loud message that could not have been conveyed any better with words. She continued to march towards the hospital’s exit, ignoring the incoming man that her right arm briefly impacted. “Anita o!” she heard the familiar voice interrupt her by pulling gently at her wrist. She turned sharply towards him, feigned a smile and signalled him to wait with her left index finger. Bami circled his hand around her wrist again causing her to lose her balance slightly. “Who are you going to beat?” “Bami, abeg I’m in the middle of something. My office is open. Wait for me,” she replied, clearly irritated. “I have brilliant news,” he announced and gave an exaggerated smile, exposing a set of perfectly structured teeth. She dropped her head, inhaled deeply and looked up at him, “See Bami, your news is not what I need right now. I need to put somebody in his place and you are denying me the time!” Her voice was getting louder now. “Whoa! Madam cool it. Kilode? Who worked you up like this?” She moved the fringe away from her eyes and narrowed her eyes. Just then, she heard the sound of a car engine a few meters away from them and she knew that she had lost her window. “Damn it, Bami!” she nudged his side with her elbow. “You’re so annoying!” she clenched her teeth. “Hey! Hey, woman!” he started with false anger lacing his tone, “first you don’t want to hear what I came to say and now I’m annoying? Anyway, I came to take you to get some food since you’ve been here since 4… oh and on a completely irrelevant note, my promotion fell through,” he finished without breaking a smile. She widened her eyes and in that moment, she could not remember why she was angry before. She screeched in excitement and threw herself shamelessly in his embrace. In the beginning, she had attributed his career stagnancy to his selective carefree attitude but after years had passed and his glaring commitment and hard work earned him only extra pats on the back, she concluded that he was just unlucky. She pulled away from him and adjusted his tie knot. “Awww! Bam Bam!!! I’m so proud of you!” she cooed as she watched his face light up with more enthusiasm than he had met her with. “I can’t eat out today though. See how I look like a badly upgraded Ekaete.” “Who cares? I don’t,” he laughed heartily, infecting her within milliseconds. “Please I’m hungry. Drop your lab coat and let’s go!” “Bami o! First and last time. I’m only indulging ‘cause we’re celebrating o,” she smiled and turned into the building before stopping in her tracks. She sensed that she was the first person he was sharing his excitement with and glad as she felt, she was still curious about his supposed love interest. “Ahn ahn, where’s your babe?” “What?” “The new girl. Isn’t she why we’ve not seen your brake light in recent weeks?” “Oh! Her,” he smiled. “She’s okay.” Anita raised her eyebrows and swallowed the question that was at the tip of her tongue. “True sef. When do I get to meet her? I don’t even know what she looks like.” Bami smiled and pointed at the face of his watch before replying, “I’ve not had time. You’ll meet her soon, b.” He sighed when he noticed that Anita had changed her course of movement and was now walking back towards him. “Oya let me see a picture, and then I’ll go drop my coat.” “This woman o!” he threw his hands in the air as she forced them out of the pockets of his grey trousers, pulled out his phone and stretched it towards him. He shook his head continuously as he searched the picture folder on his phone. After what seemed like a long minute, he laughed and held the phone in front of her face. Anita’s smile faded. She stared at the picture longer than expected as she barely struggled to recall why the woman’s face looked painfully familiar. Since their brief encounter at her nephew’s naming ceremony, the face of the gap-toothed lady had stayed imprinted in her subconcious. For some reason, she was certain that she would run into the lady soon and make her explain why she had not only stopped at embarrassing her in public but continued to send her threatening messages. The skin of her forehead creased effortlessly. “She’s pretty!” Anita managed to exclaim convincingly. She looked up at a confused Bami who she was certain had read through her little act. “So when did you say you met her again? Recently?” “Christmas time last year but nothing got serious until very recently. Why? Do you know her?” Bami asked, a tad worried. “No. Not really. No. Well, I don’t know her know her, but I know enough to tell you that she is a nut job and from one good friend to another, I don’t think you should be with her.” *** In Zino’s hotel room, Mohini has settled down and thanks to old memories and some alcohol is now in very high errmm… ‘spirits’ “Wow! That has to be the most shocking thing I have heard all year. Jai and seminary? Two things I would never have imagined in the same sentence.” Their laughter filled the room the way it had almost an hour before. “He even insists on being called Nathaniel oh. He says since our parents, rest their souls, named us because of their Hare Krishna religion, he doesn’t want Jai anymore.” She slipped her feet out of her brown embellished slippers and stretched her legs on the bed. The last couple of hours had been a healthy mixture of nostalgia and revelations. They had exchanged a lot of truthful words that she could not now remember. It took her a great deal of willpower to refrain from stating to him that her feelings towards him all those years were supremely dwarfed by his for her. She could not deny though, that the aura that attracted her to him in the past was not locked in the past, and even now, she could not think of any other place she would rather be. “Thanks for this, Mini. I really needed it,” she heard him say through the new silence. She turned her head to the man lying beside her and smiled. “I still can’t get over the fact that you’re married though,” he continued. She remained silent and shuffled to sit up, her back against the headboard. “Are you happy?” the question cut sharply through her. It felt as though a curious hand had found the key to her insides and let out a stash of doubt and uncertainty for her male companions to see. It was the first time she had been asked the question since Jaiyeola had asked the night of their wedding. Then, the answer came very easy to her; one would have thought she had been waiting eagerly to be asked. Zino sat up and moved closer to her. She looked at him and forced an exaggerated smile before replying, “My marriage has been a happy one. Yes.” He continued to stare at her and she allowed herself to get lost in her reflection trapped in his clear brown eyes. “You know if you want out of that marriage, I’m here with wide, open arms,” he winked. “Zino!” she protested, leaning away from his face. “I’m playing! I’m playing, Mini,” he chuckled and tickled her calf lightly. “Does that still do it for you?” he continued to tickle. She screamed and flapped her legs to evade his fingers until she successfully bit his arm. Their laughter returned, this time richer than before. “Seriously though, if you’re happy, then I’m happy for you,” Zino watched her catch her breath and allow her back rest on the wooden headboard again. She batted her eyelashes uncontrollably as she smiled, turning her face to the opposite direction. Just then, he felt a rush of activity trail down his spine, contained in a thin line, and without hesitating, he grabbed her jaw, drew her face to his and pressed his lips firmly on hers. As if rehearsed, she threw her arm around the back of his head and allowed herself to get lost in the sensation building up in the pit of her stomach. She was lost somewhere in the past where they were still together and there was no Jaiyeola. He pulled away and buried his face in the croon of her neck, planting soft kisses as his right hand felt for the hook of her bra. As she felt the grip on her breasts come loose, she snapped back to reality, her eyes flung open and she pushed him off her. What was she doing? She hit him hard across his cheeks with both palms. She held the hem of her dress in one hand and jumped off the bed, rushing into her slippers. “Why the hell did you do that?!” she yelled without looking at him as she searched for her phone. The pounding in her head was beginning to return in pumps. “I love J for chrissake! He is your boss! You shouldn’t have done that.” Her eyes were welling up now as she headed for the door. She stopped before turning the lock and then turned to look at him with all the authority she could find. His hands had formed a cradle for his head. “The day J finds out you ran into me in Abuja,” she started, her anger growing with each word, “that will be the day you lose your job.” Her eyes found an empty tub in the bin next to the door and flung it at him. “I did not need another secret! I really did not!” She turned the door knob and with her back to him said, “henceforth, the only reason you know me is because I am your boss’s wife. No more past, no more Mini.” She looked over her shoulder and caught his confused eyes. “Mr Wright. I am married… and happy.” With that she let herself out and quietly shut the door behind her.

Continue

Welldone. More of it

I knew that would happen the moment you accepted to follow Zino to a more private place to talk... Anita i don't know what stopped you from being serious witg Bami. It's very obvious the guy loves you dearly... That explains the confrontation and embarrasment by his supposed gf

ok

[b]Aso-Ebi: Episode 9: Gele To Le[/b] It was 09:10am when the taxi stopped at the gates of the Gbadebo mansion. Mohini had not slept through the night and the place she had run to for solace had become a deep blue sea of tumultuous emotions that she decided to return to the devil that was her home earlier than planned. As she stepped out of the taxi and into the compound, she felt a strong sense of belonging; a homecoming of sorts. She had not realised it but she had missed her home. She contained the tired yawn from her mouth with the back of her left hand and began to yearn for the hours of sleep she was about to enjoy on the bed that knew her well. “Ah Madam! You don return?” she heard behind her just before she turned the key in the lock of the house’s metal door. She turned to find her gateman smiling excitedly and attempting to relieve her of her luggage. “Jeda so this is how you leave the gate open and go your way abi? It seems like you’re getting too big for this gate o. Perhaps I should have a word with your oga this evening.” She snatched her bag from his hands and opened the door before making her way into the house, with Jeda almost walking on the back of her feet. “Ah! Madam no now. Abeg. I go shit. Madam abeg. Na di ting hook me wey I take forget. Madam abeg no vex.” He bowed repeatedly as if dancing to rhythm. Mohini shook her head and laughed as he continued to ramble behind her. She entered into the living room, dropped her bag on the carpet and flung herself on the white leather sofa, her legs above the ground. “Your wahala plenty o. Jeda! Dey do like person with sense abeg.” She hissed, pulled out her phone from the side zip of her black leather tote and switched it on after days of inactivity. He was now standing still, head bowed with his hands locked behind him. “Please go and man that gate and call Sunday for me. I’ll deal with your issue later.” Mohini threw her head back and rubbed her temples for the umpteenth time. Unwanted memories were beginning to saunter into her mind’s eye and she needed to dispel them and prevent them from following her into her dreams like they had done the previous nights. She could not help but blame Jaiyeola for the chaos that had become part of her insides. However, a part of her was rotting with guilt and had managed to convince her in firm whispers that her little stunt had put her in a position where she had to let go of the baseless convictions she had about Jaiyeola’s unfaithfulness. “Madam,” Sunday’s voice interrupted the thoughts that were starting to slowly rock her to sleep. She opened her eyes in a hurry and sat up. “Welcome ma. Oga said you were returning tomorrow.” “I was supposed to. Did he have breakfast?” she asked as her eyes surveyed the living room, inspecting the surfaces, corners and floors. “No ma.” “Ok. Do we have soup?” “Banga, ma.” “Ok. Please make pounded yam. I want to take some to him later in the day, alright?” Just as she dismissed him, she felt her phone vibrate underneath her thighs. She reached for it with her hand and pulled it out in time to catch the pop-up text message from an unfamiliar number. Hesitant, she unlocked the phone and opened the message. —– 14/3/2012 @ 10:22 07035772426 Thank you for your interest in Haywood Petroleum Consultancy. We have reviewed your application and are interested in interviewing you on the 16th of March, 2012 at 12:15pm. The venue will be Café Vergnano 1882 at the Palms shopping mall, Lekki. The table will be reserved in the company name and the Subsurface Manager, Mr. Nnadi will be there. —– “Yes!” she exclaimed victoriously as she scanned the text message again. It was just what she needed – productive distraction. It was one of the first applications she made when she was brave enough to start the secretive process of job hunting. She squealed again and decided to share her excitement with Anita. She had missed talking to her friend and confidant. She ran her eyes over the texts of the message one last time when she caught a piece they had ignored before. She paused; her breathing still as if any sudden movement would interfere with her sight. She returned to the phone’s home screen and panicked slightly as she searched for the date. Fri 16 Mar. Her eyes moved swiftly to the time. 10:02am. Sleep deprived and panicked, she sighed and dialled her brother’s number. “Hello? Jai… See, when you finally become a priest, we can start calling you Fr. Nathaniel but for now you’re still our Jai… This man! When will you learn? Please don’t be answering your phone when you’re driving… Anyway, something has come up so I won’t be home when you get into Lag this afternoon… I’ll tell you later… Yes. So Sunday will wait for you in the main house and he’ll let you in when you get here… See you in the evening.” *** Over at Anita’s house, there seems to be subtle tension between her and her visitor… “Bamidola!” Anita snapped and stood over a disinterested Bami. “Don’t piss me off, please. I’m trying to explain stuff to you and you’re using me to do what?” she snatched his phone, “temple run. Really?” She stared at the blank expression on his face as he sunk his back into the welcoming comfort of her custom-made sofa, throwing his head up and removing his gaze from her sweaty, post workout body. Her calming heart rate was starting to work itself up again as she struggled to prevent herself from lashing out at him and throwing him out of her house. She sighed and sat on the arm of the sofa beside him. “Look, Bami, I’m just looking out for you. This thing won’t end well. You can’t be rendezvousing with a mad person and not expect her to bite you one day now.” Her hand was now resting on his right thigh. He placed his hands behind his head, looked at her and burst into a laughter that irritated her nerves. “So,” he started with his eyes fixed on her, “because you showed me a couple of threats that she sent you, she has suddenly become a mad woman?” “Ahn ahn, have I been talking to myself? Bami she crashed a family function and embarrassed me in front of everybody! I mean, you were the first person I spoke to now after I managed to escape the place so you know! You know I was so sure it was one of Charles’ hoes and…” “And what does that make you?” he interrupted, his face now stern. “Bami, what’s that supposed to mean?” He sat up, leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, bowed his head and looked back up at her almost immediately. “Is he your friend? No. Were you two exclusive? No. But you were shacking up on the regular and putting up with whatever rubbish he had to dish out to you. So I’m asking you now Anita: what does that make you?” Her lips parted slightly to put words to her confusion. “Where is this coming from?” They were meant to leave her mouth as harsh anger capable of bouncing off the cream walls of her living room and reverberating in both their ears, but when they reached her ears, they sounded like the defeated whisper of a bullied toddler. He chuckled, “I would really like to say that this is because since you started hooking up with that jerk, I’ve watched you misbehave and do things that you swore you never would. I really would. But no, Anita, I’m ticked off.  Anita I’ve known you for what? Forever? I’ve seen you at your worst and I’ve stuck by you through whatever. People will even say I dashed you my mumu button.” He looked away and continued, “Anita you know how I feel about you… heck, the world knows… and if I was unsure all these years, that slap on valentine’s day told me in very clear words how you feel about me and the moment I try to move on, you strut in on your ‘I know what’s best for Bami’ horse to… what did you say again? Forbid, was it? To forbid me from seeing a girl that felt threatened by you and was proactive about it?” He forced a sarcastic laughter as he shook his head and got up. He picked his keys from the round glass top coffee table and began to make his way to the door, without even as much as the urge to glance back at her. He had not realised how uncomfortable he was until he stood up. His fingers were twitching and he rolled his right hand into a fist. “Bamidola Badmus!” Anita yelled as loud as her lungs let her after she found her voice. He paused just as his left foot was about to join the right one outside the house. She opened her mouth to speak again when the sharp, sound of her metal door hitting its frame with a force typical of only angry men caused her to jump a little. She was not sure what it was that kept her mouth open; the way he spoke to her or the fact that in the many years of their friendship, this was the first time he had walked out on her. Her eyes felt as warm as the heat that was trapped inside her head and for the first time since she could remember, she felt an anger that caused her to remain silent. Her tear-filled eyes were still glued to the door when she heard the music coming from the phone in the pocket of her sweat pants. Reluctantly, she pulled out the phone and responded immediately when she saw it was the hospital. “Good afternoon, doctor.” “Afternoon,” she managed to find composure in her voice, “what’s the problem?” “Mr Avazi is here again and he wants to speak with you. He says it’s urgent.” She sighed and to her surprise, felt a faint smile form across her face. She needed to brighten her mood before she had to resume her shift at the hospital in the evening; Mohini was supposedly somewhere in Abuja and there was no one else around to lift her spirits up. Against her better judgement, she asked for the receptionist to put Ladi through to her. “Doctor Anita,” she heard him smile. An image of the attractive gap in his teeth formed in her mind and she smiled again. “Mr Avazi, I thought I asked you not to come by the hospital again to ask me to lunch?” “I’m a man of my words. I told you on Monday that I’ll be here every day for the week. I didn’t ask your permission when I made that decision.” She smiled involuntarily and replied, “Fine. You want to talk abi? Meet me at the Palms in an hour. Café Vergnano. And don’t even keep me waiting.” *** Mohini mopped lightly at her lips with the white piece of tissue as she laughed at another of Mr Nnadi’s jokes. She was a walking capsule of nerves when she arrived at the café five minutes before the appointed time, to find the man already waiting. He looked younger than she had imagined and initially, she had found his unconventional casual attitude intimidating. She soon relaxed into his company and she could not remember the last interview she had enjoyed as much. She was about to give him her brilliantly prepared answer to his question about her long term goals when her eyes wandered for less than a second and caught a familiar figure at the other end of the room. “I like to think of the future as today,” she began speaking to the attentive man opposite her as her eyes frequently glanced at the far end of the café. She watched as a woman that had entered the café walked in the direction of the familiar figure and that was when she saw her husband’s face. The woman wrapped herself in his embrace and planted a kiss on his right cheek. Mohini’s feet began to tap themselves violently on the ground. “Go on, Mohini,” Mr Nnadi cajoled, soaking in every word she struggled to coherently produce. She paused, the brilliance in her head now replaced with violent thoughts and fire. Her gaze was now fixed on the table were Jaiyeola and the woman were now seated. She tapped her fingers on the table and clenched her teeth. Her chiffon blouse now seemed like it had trapped all the heat from the sun outside. “Mrs Gbadebo?” Mr Nnadi called after following her gaze. “Is everything alright?” She turned to him sharply like a possessed soul and began in a whisper, “Mr Nnadi, are you wasting my time? After this interview are you just going to comment about how much prospects you think I have but how you will not give me the job until I perform some ritual like sleeping with you?” The sound of her pounding heart prevented her from hearing the words that were leaving her mouth. Mr Nnadi opened his mouth to speak through the confusion written on his face, but she pushed her chair back and sprung to her feet, allowing them to carry her directly across the café to the other end of the room. “Moh!” Jaiyeola exclaimed when she grabbed his arm. “Let’s go,” she said, attempting to drag him up by his arm. “Ahn ahn. What are you doing here?” he asked, worried about the foreign expression on her face. “Shut up. Get up and let us go Jaiyeola Gbadebo!” her voice was now loud enough for neighbouring customers to hear. “Madam, what’s the problem?” she heard the woman ask. She turned sharply to her, stared at her and dug her nails into her palm to prevent it from rising of its own will and striking the woman’s face. “Moh?” Jaiyeola removed her hand from his arm. She felt an explosion in her head and she stepped back dramatically. “Mr Jaiyeola Gbadebo! You married me, didn’t you? Now I am ordering you to stand up and leave gaddemmit!” The light buzz in the café was now replaced by curious silence. *** “Some women just love public attention,” Ladi said to Anita as nearly all the heads in the café turned to find the location of the mini afternoon drama. Anita shook her head and turned in the direction of the other heads and gasped, “Oh my goodness!” She let herself out of her chair. “That’s Moh oh.” “I don’t think going there is a good idea,” Ladi said, shaking his head as she pulled at the hem of her blouse. She started to reply him but ignored him when she heard Mohini yell again. *** Anita grabbed Mohini’s wrist and began to drag her out of the café. She could see now that the activity at all the tables in the restaurant had ceased. Mohini freed herself of Anita’s grip; shot her a look that told Anita that her friend had snapped. “Please hurry up! People are waiting for us to leave,” Mohini said with false calm as Jaiyeola, defeated and beyond embarrassed, picked up his keys and slowly got to his feet. He looked at Anita as he made his way past her, behind his wife and her eyes pleaded with him. Just as they approached the door, Mohini turned sharply and marched back to the mortified woman on the table, burying her head in her phone. She tapped her index finger on the table and leaned in. “I don’t know you so I won’t touch you, but your time with him is over now. I won’t threaten you but you don’t want to upset me more than you already have,” she saw her reflection in the woman’s eyes and she shut her eyes for a couple of seconds. She tapped on the wooden table again, smiled nervously at the woman and made her way, head high, to the exit of the café, ignoring the eyes that followed even the movement of the hairs on her skin. —–

[b]Aso-Ebi: Episode 10: Ripped French Lace[/b] Ehen, our country-people…welcome back. The air in Café Vergnano is still agog to propagate some more drama. One afternoon’s worth of drama is obviously not enough to satisfy its customers. In the midst of the murmured questions and buzz, Anita decides to attempt to blend back in. Anita walked calmly towards the table she shared with Ladi in the last hour. He guided her every move with his eyes and was amazed at her composure. If he had not witnessed the fast-paced display of the last few minutes, nothing about her calm demeanour would have given it away. She pulled out the chair, sat and smiled to hide her embarrassment. “So,” he smiled, “that’s not something one sees every day.” “Me neither. Trust me. I’m the dramatic one and even I have not pulled something like this. I’m just really worried about her. She’s been all over the place lately.” He leaned across the table, his chest resting on his arms and asked quietly, “are you alright? Do you want me to sneak you out of here? ‘Cause the eyes in this place look like they’re waiting for you to give them an explanation.” She moved her head closer to his. “I can feel them piercing through my back. Lagosians!” She sat up, her upper back barely touching the back rest and said, “Let’s just sit here and frustrate them. Besides, you’ve turned out to be better company than I imagined.” “Oh I’ve done nothing but sit here and listen to you pick both our brains. I have to say though, you’re not as paranoid as the woman that almost bit my head my off when I brought my sister-in-law to see her.” “Well, you’re not the douche husband that was hitting on his wife’s doctor,” she shrugged. He stared at her with admiration and widened the smile that had grown comfortable on his face since their afternoon began. “I’m really sorry about bringing this up again, but your friend, is she married to the guy?” He had sensed that she was a temperamental woman and he hoped that his question would not tip her over the edge. “Aha! I was just waiting for you to ask. I knew you wanted the gist. Just look at you,” she said as they both laughed. “Married for eight years now,” she started, “perfect fit, the pair of them,” her eyes wandered into nothingness as her mind began to search for possible explanations for her friend’s outburst. “So was that something they do?” he teased. “Moh doesn’t lash out. In fact I never thought she knew how to.” “It’s the guy’s fault. A man ought to handle his woman well so that she knows not to air their dirty laundry in public no matter what.” He took a gulp from his cup of coffee, watching her from above the white ceramic rim. Anita’s forehead creased and she wondered what he insinuated. She opened her mouth to challenge him but she bit her tongue again, in her resolve to pick her battles. She nodded and finished up her bottle of water. Ladi glanced at his watch and gave an exaggerated sigh, “Break time’s over missy. I need to get back to the office to prepare for a meeting.” She took a quick glance at her watch and sulked a little inside. “Say we go out to get a proper meal tomorrow, is there anybody that would potentially cause a scene and perhaps orchestrate my death?” he asked as he dialled his number with her phone. She chuckled, “What did you mean when you said a man ought to handle his woman well?” He looked at her with surprise and laughed, “and the paranoid doctor is back!” The smile on her face faded and she stared at him, waiting for him to diffuse the ticking bomb. “It’s all about discipline. Most women are highly emotional, hence, irrational…” She raised her eyebrow and folded her arms underneath her breasts, pushing them up. “All I’m saying is just as a woman should not encourage abuse and disrespect from her man, a man should not give her a reason to act irrationally. Discipline and effective pre-damage control, very important.” He smiled. “You and I will get along very well,” she nodded as she got to her feet. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.” *** Although there were two adults in the bedroom, it seemed like the air conditioner was doing all the talking and breathing in those moments after Mohini slammed the door behind her and lay on the bed, her back to Jaiyeola. “Can we talk about this, please?” Jaiyeola’s calm voice broke rudely through their short-lived silence. Mohini rolled her eyes and shut them, attempting to calm her racing heart. She jerked when she felt Jaiyeola’s hand on her ankle and turned sharply, giving him a clear view of the red anger clouding her eyes. “Talk about what? You’re a cheat, you got caught. End of,” she said as she continuously clapped the back of her right hand on her left palm. “Ha! You think I’m cheating on you, Moh?” he was now standing by her side of the bed, his hands locked behind him. She shot him a look that told him to ensure a safe distance between them. “Unbelievable!” he exclaimed as he threw his head back. “That woman is Mrs. Angela Kalejaiye o.” She stared at him and narrowed her eyes, “so? You talk to her at odd hours and I’ve caught both of you together on days when you were supposed to be at one meeting or another. All that is okay because she is Mrs Kalejaiye?” “Sugar, she needed my help! They were deep in financial crisis and her husband’s ego would not let him come to me, so she went behind him to ask for my help.” He squatted beside her. “Jaiyeola Gbadebo, please don’t even lie to me right now! Don’t! I know what I know. Now be a man and accept it. You were helping her financially that’s why you lied to me about who you were speaking to the other night abi? J you tell me everything so if this ‘help’ was genuine, I would have known about it. So don’t even try to make me feel stupid.” She got off the bed and walked past him towards the bathroom. “Woman,” he grabbed her arm, “what have you done with my wife? Because this woman that has been walking around this house these past months is definitely not my Mohini. How dare you conclude that I would disrespect you to the extent of cheating on you repeatedly and in public with the same woman?! And that stupid stunt you pulled this afternoon? My God! What were you thinking?!” She struggled to free herself from his grip. “Please just shut up!” she yelled in his face with her weight resting on the tip of her toes. “Shut the hell up and listen to yourself, please. Jaiyeola I basically gave up my life for you and you can’t even look me in the eyes and admit that you’ve messed up?” His right hand was twitching now and he could feel the anger that he had worked hard to suppress, rise from his stomach and travel to his hand. He scanned the room for the keys to his car, snatched them off her vanity table and almost pushed her to the ground as he stormed out of the bedroom and down the stairs. Without hesitating, she rushed behind him, running to catch up with the wide strides his long, sturdy legs afforded him. “Yes, run away! Just keep running. Sebi you live here? When you’re done running and lying, you’ll come back to face me and then you’ll tell the truth. I’m not stupid, okay?” she yelled after him as he walked through the sitting room, in front of her brother, and out of the house. She stood, her chest heaving rhythmically, staring at the door and fighting the hot tears threatening to boil over. Jai pointed the black remote control at the television and turned off its volume, before standing to wrap her petite body in his embrace. He swayed from side to side until her body vibrated in response to the river of tears coursing down her face. “Shhhh,” he soothed while his hands stroked her hair. “My world is falling apart, Jai,” she managed to articulate amidst sobs. He guided her to the sofa and she lay down with her head resting on his laps. “Talk to me,” he quietly cajoled as he found her calf and tickled it lightly with his fingers. She screeched and jumped up, managing a weak laugh. “That never gets old,” he smiled, motioning her to take her place next to him. “Jai…” she began, “I didn’t tell you… I didn’t tell anybody. I didn’t want anybody putting ideas in my head and making me doubt my decision, so I kept quiet about it. In the third year of our marriage, J started talking about us moving back home and I wasn’t entirely excited but at the time, apart from school, there was nothing tying me to London as such. My graduation was only a couple of months away and I had not heard back from the places I applied to so I warmed up to the idea of moving back home with him. I couldn’t imagine living miles away from him, you know… Jai, I got the Shell job,” she looked away from him. “I got the job but I turned it down. I was certain that after our move, I would get something here. I don’t know what I was thinking. As soon as we moved into this house, he came up with one excuse or the other until he finally came out and said he didn’t want me to work.” She turned to find him listening intently. “Jai, I’m unhappy,” she shook her head vigorously. “I’ve been unhappy for a really long time. Jai for some reason, the moment I discovered he wasn’t going to let me work, I calculated that if children came into our life, I would stay a housewife forever. Plus, I was so sure that at some point, he would yield to my whining and I didn’t want anything to jeopardise my opportunity when it came. So I went to Anita and she put in this IUD thing.” His furrowed eyebrows told her that she had lost him. “It’s some contraption that basically prevents pregnancy. Over the years, I have contemplated taking it out and starting a family with J but something happens and then I change my mind. He really wants children. I see it every time I look at him. Oh Jai, I’ve told that man so many lies that I can’t keep track anymore… He’s a good man and I want to believe him ehn, but I’ve been difficult and he has every reason to cheat on me. Jai, he has never walked out on me before. Never.” “I’m just a horrible person,” she sighed. He took her hand and squeezed it lightly. “Moh, we’ve all done things that we’re not proud of but the important thing is that we are willing to seek forgiveness and lead better lives. I’ll talk to him when he gets back but I don’t want you to give up on this marriage. It is salvageable and I assure you that once you work through this, your marriage will be stronger than you can imagine.” He wiped her face with his hand and she hugged him tight. *** Anita looked at the caller ID and finally decided to pick up the call. She activated the phone’s speaker before placing it on the kitchen slab as she busied herself with the peppers she was dicing. “Are you home?” She could hear fear laced with frustration in his voice. “J, are you ok? Moh’s not picking up her phone.” “We had a fight and I really need to talk to you.” “J, are you cheating on her?” He sighed and replied defeatedly, “Anita, no. No, I have never and will not cheat on Moh. You know it and I thought she did too. I really don’t understand what’s going on with her. We need to talk. Can I come to yours or are you still at the hospital?” “I’m home. Night shift.” “I’m on my way.” “J… I don’t know how I feel about you coming here. Moh might want to come here to talk to me and if she meets you here I’ll be in trouble. She’s not completely over our history yet, doubt she ever will be and I don’t want to give her something else to be upset or suspicious about.” “Anita, look, I’ll see you in a few minutes.” *** 20:16 Anita Babe, pls pick up. 20:30 Moh I didn’t know where my phone was. Sorry jare. 20:32 Anita That’s fine. How are you? 20:34 Moh I feel like baby poopoo. If Jai was not here, I’ll probably still be feeling like constipation shit. 20:35 Anita Well… you’re making jokes so that’s good. 20:35 Moh I’m sorry for shutting you out. L. I didn’t feel like talking about it and I felt like Abj was going to help but… 20:37 Anita Did you come back earlier to surprise me or something? 20:37 Moh The story is long. I’ll come to yours first thing tomorrow. I’m waiting for J to come upstairs. He has been talking to Jai since he got back. I was quite scared when he walked out today. 20:39 Anita Sweetie, J adores you. You know that right? Please just listen to whatever it is he has to say. I find it hard to believe that he would cheat on you. 20:40 Moh Even the best of us will slip. Trust me; I know what I’m talking about. Give me correct gist abeg. I need it. 20:45 Anita I’ve missed you, b!!! There’s gist o. Man gist. 20:45 Moh Ewooo! So I’ve been the one cock blocking you? Damn! Tomorrow morning, I will be at your door. 20:46 Anita Can’t wait. You’ll be fine, okay boo? 20:48 Moh I’ll be fine. I will. :* *** Moh sat up when she heard Jaiyeola’s familiar footsteps heading up the stairs. All she wanted to do was hug him in silence and cry out what was left of the tears in her tear glands. She wanted him to look into her eyes again and reassure her that he had never and will never seek satisfaction with another woman that was not her. She now felt lighter than she had felt in months. She stood up, walked towards the door and stopped when she heard him approach the door. He stood outside the room, staring at her, before he entered and gently shut the door behind him. That was when she saw the look of pure disgust on his face. His back to the door, he continued to stare at her, his eyes searching hers. He was silent and her heart began to race in response. Then all of a sudden, he spoke. “Eight years, Moh. For eight long years you have made me stay up worrying and praying for us to get pregnant. Eight. Years.” Oh Shit. Oh Shit. Oh shit.   He nodded and slowly made his way to their bed. Moh felt like she had been shot. “You know how much I wanted a child. You know. And yet you kept it from me.” His voice was as cool as ice. “I have to give it to you, though. Very smooth. Well done. You really are deceit personified.” Moh continued to stare at the space he had occupied at the door, her mouth open, her mind blank and her heart racing as she watched all hope of redemption for her marriage slowly fall to the floor and shatter into a million sharp, ugly pieces. —–

Moh! You really went overboard with yr suspicion and anger.. Knowing yr husband adores you should have availed u d opportunity 2 push yr demands and desire and get it in the most civil way ever. Knowing yr husband really wants a child and doing what u did is cruel of you (yeah, u av yr reasons bt dey r jst stupid). That stunt u pulled at d resturant is shameful.. Anita! Notwitstanding yr age, u still haven't seen nor realise that Bami loves u more dan just a friend is disgraceful. Well, Laide seems 2 b a gr8 guy & i hope dat he cures u of yr stupid obsession (i dnt knw what else 2 call yr foolishness with Charles) for Charles

Moh see what your indecisive caused you I just pray this won't break your home

@itzprince, comhan continue oow.

@hormortiyor am short of data that's why I've been irregular recently. But I will surely continue tonight

it hasn't been easy for me recently but its well

next

[b]Aso-Ebi: Episode 11: Organza Drama Extravaganza[/b] Weeks have rolled by as quickly as dawn becomes morning and in the lives of the women that we have come to know, things are beginning to shape up, hazes are now floating off; some bringing unpleasant revelations and others, like in Anita’s case, bringing sunshine to hearts. There was a new spring in Anita’s steps. She shone and there was a constant smile on her face. In the last couple of weeks, each time she had caught her reflection in the mirror, she stared at the new woman she had become and she loved her. She had made up with Bami and there was a new man in her life that had shown her the true meaning of perfection. When her eyes opened with a smile, it took her a few seconds to recognise the bed she felt so comfortable on. She grabbed her cream see-through house coat that was neatly folded on the maroon couch opposite the bed and followed the smell of fried eggs. “How are you already out of bed at this time on a Saturday?,” she asked as she wrapped her hands around his waist from behind. He turned his head and kissed her mouth before returning to clean the dishes in the sink, “this woman! Why will you allow me kiss morning breath? So evil!” She playfully dug her nails into the skin of his arm before opening the fridge and poured herself a glass of water. “My morning breath trumps your post fluoride breath, okay?” she teased. He threw his head back and laughed as she watched, lustfully, his back dance to the motion his hands were making in the sink. “Oya please come and finish up these dishes for me.” “I’m still asleep,” she yawned. He rinsed his hands, grabbed a kitchen towel adjacent to him and turned completely to face her. “You’re so undomesticated. Dear God, what breed of woman have you brought my way?” he said, dramatically speaking to the heavens. “Any plans today? You’re off today, aren’t you?” he asked as he walked towards her at the other end of the kitchen. “Ah!” she sighed with relief, “No hospital today. I’m so spent. I just want to lie in all day and catch up on all my shows…” “We can do that,” he interrupted her while burying his nose in croon of her neck. “Awww but I have to pick Moh up later this afternoon. Things are really tense at theirs these days.” He sulked, “will you be back here tonight then?” “Aren’t you tired of seeing me yet? We’ve hung every single day for more than two weeks. And don’t get me wrong, our time together? Best hours of every day. I’m just starting to think we’re speeding things up too much.” He removed his arms from her waist and stared at her for a few seconds before replying, “I understand but then we’re adults. There’s no timeline for us, you know. No timing rules. If we know what we feel, we act on it whether it’s been less than a month or more than a year.” She stared at the odd expression on his face when he threw his hands in the air and motioned for her to put her hands in his pockets. Puzzled, she put her right hand in his left pocket and felt the smooth velvet covering and what seemed like a little box. She pulled it out and darted her eyes between him and the box. “Ladi,” she whispered, almost apprehensive, “what is this?” “Open it,” he smiled nervously. She reluctantly opened the box and held it to her eyes. Her jaws dropped and her heart jumped in its cage as soon as the light reflected from the marquise cut diamond seating elegantly on the thin silver band laced with tiny amethyst stones. It was perfect. The few nights she allowed herself to dream about the perfect ring for her left fourth finger, it was synonymous to what she saw. When she felt the drool about to make its way out of her mouth, she closed her mouth, shook her head sharply and looked up to find half his height looking up at her. “Oh my God, Ladi,” she shook her head in a disapproving manner, “please stand up. What is this now?” He put his finger in front of her mouth. “Like I said, I know what I feel and I don’t see the point in waiting months or years, even, before letting you know. I’m not asking you to marry me today. If I know you, this is far from what a proposal for you should be,” he smiled and she chuckled, “I’m just letting you know that if you will have me, then I am done searching for that woman that I will build a home with. You’re a fascinating woman, Anita Momoh. You have no idea what you do to me and yes, it might seem too fast but when you know, you know. Listen, I’m ready to deal with whatever side of you there is left for me to see and you know by now that I am as old fashioned as they come. So, when I promise to stay with you till the end, I will be there till the end and I will fight to work through whatever might happen. I’m a man of my words, you know that. Anita, I’ve been looking for you and now that I have found you, with your permission, I want to keep you.” Hard as she tried, she could not keep the tears from falling out of her eyes. She stretched out her hands and he took them and got to his feet. “Oh Ladi, you have managed to leave me speechless,” she gulped. “Look at you taking the fun out of the guessing game for me. Now I won’t get to ask, ‘Ladi, what are we doing? Where are we going with this?” “You’re welcome,” he laughed. “So…,” he was still holding her hand and staring into her eyes. “So now I need to go and tell my babalawo that his juju has worked,” she laughed. “But seriously… you’re amazing but I don’t want us to jump into anything. One day at a time, babe. I know for a fact, though, that even when you’ve said or done things that vexed me, I have still wanted to be around you. That is gold right there. Let’s just take this one day at a time, alright?” He smiled with his eyes and kissed her on her forehead. “Your breakfast is getting cold. Let me jump in the shower. I’ll be back down in a bit.” *** Darling Mohini’s life, on the other hand, does not seem to be getting much sunshine these days. If the mood in their home is anything to go by, then her marriage to Jaiyeola Gbadebo may be drawing to a sad close. Her hands clasped underneath her chin, Mohini’s eyes wandered from the busy family portrait on the tastefully painted coral walls to the cluttered table of the priest’s office. She looked up at him as he spoke again to them from the other end of the table. She looked at Jaiyeola in time to catch the irritated look he was sending her way and she thumped her back into the soft back rest of the chair, keeping her mouth sealed. She did not want to be there but Jaiyeola had insisted that they met with their parish priest for counselling. She had not understood why he was yet to yell at her. In the last couple of weeks, they lived as strangers. But for Jai, their home would have felt completely cold and unwelcoming. He was the one that made it easier for her to ignore Jaiyeola. But each night, when she reluctantly enters their bedroom to find him sitting up on his side of the bed, she expects him to begin to pour out his disappointment and betrayal. Instead, he would ignore her and when she finally lays on the bed, her back to him, he would say ‘goodnight’. It always pushed a pin through her skin and it did not take her long to realise that it was his way of punishing her. “Mrs Gbadebo,” she heard the priest call again. She looked at him and turned to look at the door, itching to stand up and make her way out. “Can you please say something and stop wasting Father’s time,” Jaiyeola said to her in the calm tone he used when he was starting to get irritated. “I don’t having anything to say. I didn’t ask to speak with Father. You did. So why do I have to say something?” she said without looking at him. “Just answer his questions. That’s all I’m asking,” Jaiyeola pleaded. She rolled her eyes at him and continued to scrutinise the office space. The priest began to speak to Jaiyeola again when Mohini interrupted, “you want me to talk. Ok. Father, he has not said anything tangible to me in more than two weeks. Two weeks, Father. We live in the same house and sleep on the same bed and he has said more to me in this office than he has in weeks. I’m unhappy and he doesn’t care to know why. He doesn’t even want to know why I did what I did. See, I’m miserable, tired and I want a divorce. You wanted me to talk shay? Well, there you have it!” She was now sitting at the edge of her chair, her legs shaking of their own will. Her final sentence had barely left her lips when she heard Jaiyeola’s laughter. “You don’t have any basis for divorce. If anything, I’m the one with very solid reason.” He turned to her and made sure to lock his eyes with hers so that she could see the seriousness with which he spoke. “Nobody is getting a divorce, okay? One day, when I forgive you and you’re ready to, we’ll move past this and make it work. And on the odd chance that this marriage cannot be salvaged, I will pull the plug. This marriage ends only when I say it does. So the sooner you come to terms with that, the better for you.” *** Anita looked up from her phone when she heard Jai walk towards her and place the tray with a glass and a bottle of malt on the table adjacent to her. “I’m sure they’ll be back soon. Mass finished hours ago,” Jai smiled as he took his place beside her, struggling to ignore her distracting cleavage. She barely nodded. He had known her almost as long as he had known his sister and so when she struggled to respond with a weak smile, he could tell that there were issues weighing heavily on her mind. “Are you alright?” he asked her while she busied herself with returning her phone into her bag. She started to answer but when she turned to look at him and she saw that he was genuinely concerned, she sighed and tucked her right leg underneath her left thigh, making herself comfortable enough to let him into her mind. “To be honest, I’m not even sure. There’s the issue with these children that want to throw away their marriage… you’ve been here with them sef. How are things here?” He removed his pair of glasses and placed them carefully on his laps. “I’m even surprised Moh still speaks to me. I honestly didn’t realise I had told J about the IUD issue until after I had said it. Me and my big mouth. I’m really worried about them as well. They don’t talk to each other and that’s the beginning of the end,” he sighed. “You still do this thing abi? Going off topic to prevent talking about your issues. It’s Jai you’re talking to o. Oya, what’s on your mind?” She nudged his side with her elbow and when she opened her mouth to speak, it felt like she had swallowed a bee that had blocked her throat and was causing her eyes to well up with tears. She rolled her eyes to the back of her head to stop the tears from flowing but the harder she tried, the easier it flowed. Jai wrapped his hand around the back of hers and squeezed gently as he watched her try and fail to put her emotions into words. “I really don’t know why I’m crying,” she laughed. “How do you cope in seminary? Don’t you feel lonely?” she looked up at his gracefully carved face. “I… I try not to think about it. It was hard at the beginning but it gets easier with time and increasing will,” he did not take his eyes off her. She sniffed, “I’m scared, Jai. This guy just basically proposed to me and now all I can think of is how he’ll end up being a con and how I’ll end up alone again, nursing my hurt. I’m just tired of the cycle, you know. I was getting very used to the idea of being alone and then he came to remind me just how scared I am of ending up alone. I don’t know, if he’s a fake, I’ll just… I don’t know.” With every powerless emotion she felt leave her body through the tears, she was not convinced that the sobs she was hearing were hers. It usually took a lot more to get her to break down and now here she was, crying over a hypothetical situation like a teenage schoolgirl. Jai continued to stare at Anita as she let go of the battle for composure and in those moments, he felt a surge of thoughts of all that he had given up to follow his ministry rise to the surface. He drew her closer to him as she whimpered, circling his arms around her body and stroking her back. She hid her face in his shoulder, allowing her senses to soak in his alluring masculine scent. She lifted her head to his face, staring into his eyes through her tear-clouded ones. He began to feel an urge that he thought he had successfully rid himself of forever and as the realisation hit him of the pending danger, he released her from his embrace and stood up from the couch. As if she was programmed to follow his every move, she got to her feet and before he had a chance to open his mouth, she pressed her lips against his and her body against his. That was when he began to fight his own battle inside. His lips stayed pursed together as his body refused to obey the distant voice in his head pleading for him to pull away and run far from the temptation he was slowly yielding completely to. She continued to kiss his lips and just as he was about to will his body to walk away, he felt all the power, will and judgement rush down from his head to between his legs. With the last bout of will he had left, he forced his lips open and took hers in them, allowing himself to fall with her on the couch and obeying whatever instruction her body had for him to follow.

next epi

[b]Aso-Ebi: Episode 12: Aso-Oke Patchwork[/b] **SEMI FINAL** Previously on Aso Ebi… **** “Why the hell would you do that?!” she yelled without looking at him as she searched for her phone. The pounding in her head was beginning to return in pumps. “I love J for chrissake! He is your boss! You shouldn’t have done that.” Her eyes were welling up now as she headed for the door. She stopped before turning the lock and then turned to look at him with all the authority she could find. His hands had formed a cradle for his head. “The day J finds out you ran into me in Abuja,” she started, her anger growing with each word, “that will be the day you lose your job.” Her eyes found an empty tub in the bin next to the door and flung it at him. “I did not need another secret! I really did not!” *** He stood outside the room, staring at her, before he entered and gently shut the door behind him. That was when she saw the disgust on his face. His back to the door, he continued to stare at her, his eyes searching hers. He was silent and her heart began to race in response. “Eight years, Moh. For eight years you made me stay up worrying and praying for us to get pregnant. Eight. Years.” He nodded and slowly made his way to their bed. “You know how much I wanted a child. You know. And yet you kept it from me.” His voice was as cool as ice. “I have to give it to you, though. Very smooth. Well done. You really are deceit personified.” Moh continued to stare at the space he had occupied at the door, her mouth open, her mind blank and her heart racing as she watched all hope of redemption for her marriage slowly fall to the floor and shatter into a million sharp, ugly pieces. *** Anita looked at the caller ID and finally decided to pick up the call. She activated the phone’s speaker before placing it on the kitchen slab as she busied herself with the peppers she was dicing. “Are you home?” She could hear fear laced with frustration in his voice. “J, are you ok? Moh’s not picking up her phone.” “We had a fight and I really need to talk to you.” “J, are you cheating on her?” He sighed and replied defeatedly, “Anita, no. No, I have never and will not cheat on Moh. You know it and I thought she did too. I really don’t understand what’s going on with her. We need to talk. Can I come to yours or are you still at the hospital?” “I’m home. Night shift.” “I’m on my way.” “J… I don’t know how I feel about you coming here. Moh might want to come here to talk to me and if she meets you here I’ll be in trouble. She’s not over us yet and I don’t want to give her something else to be upset about.” “Anita, look, I’ll see you in a few minutes.” *** Jai continued to stare at Anita as she let go of the battle for composure and in those moments, he felt a surge of thoughts of all that he had given up to follow his ministry rise to the surface. He drew her closer to him as she whimpered, circling his arms around her body and stroking her back. She hid her face in his shoulder, allowing her senses to soak in his alluring masculine scent. She lifted her head to his face, staring into his eyes through her tear-clouded ones. He began to feel an urge that he thought he had successfully rid himself of forever and as the realisation hit him of the pending danger, he released her from his embrace and stood up from the couch. As if she was programmed to follow his every move, she got to her feet and before he had a chance to open his mouth, she pressed her lips against his and her body against his. That was when he began to fight his own battle inside. His lips stayed pursed together as his body refused to obey the distant voice in his head pleading for him to pull away and run far from the temptation he was slowly yielding completely to. She continued to kiss his lips and just as he was about to will his body to walk away, he felt all the power, will and judgement rush down from his head to between his legs. With the last bout of will he had left, he forced his lips open and took hers in them, allowing himself to fall with her on the couch and obeying whatever instruction her body had for him to follow. ***  “Oh my God, Ladi,” she shook her head in a disapproving manner, “please stand up. What is this now?” He put his finger in front of her mouth. “Like I said, I know what I feel and I don’t see the point in waiting months or years, even, before letting you know. I’m not asking you to marry me today. If I know you, this is far from what a proposal for you should be,” he smiled and she chuckled, “I’m just letting you know that if you will have me, then I am done searching for that woman that I will build a home with. You’re a fascinating woman, Anita Momoh. You have no idea what you do to me and yes, it might seem too fast but when you know, you know. Listen, I’m ready to deal with whatever side of you there is left for me to see and you know by now that I am as old fashioned as they come. So, when I promise to stay with you till the end, I will be there till the end and I will fight to work through whatever might happen. I’m a man of my words, you know that. Anita, I’ve been looking for you and now that I have found you, with your permission, I want to keep you.” *** Anita’s throat felt dry and gritty, her eyes sore and her palms felt like she had soaked them in hot water. She turned her face away. “Moh…” She felt a hard slap across her cheek forcing her mouth shut. Mohini turned to walk away when she felt Anita’s hand holding back her dress. She faced her sharply, oblivious of the growing crowd surrounding them. Slap. “SLUT!” Slap. “Lying, desperate, SLUT!!!”  **** And now, we’ve come full circle. Back to the end that was the beginning… Anita’s face stung from the humiliation of being face raped in front of what now seemed like hundreds exclaiming, yet watching intently at the free piece of theatre before them. She felt her entire body flush with heat that made her eyes water and caused her palm to itch for rapid retaliation. She looked at her friend’s eyes and all she saw were streaks of lazy crimson, clearly beating behind a glaze film. Mohini turned to leave the scene again when she heard Anita’s voice, struggling to remain as silent and calm as an anxious whisper. “Moh, calm down and listen,” Anita said, reaching out to touch her friend and hoping that some chill will flow from her fingertips. Mohini stared at Anita’s fingers on the back of her hand and then back up at her sharply, “listen?! What have I done all our lives? I have listened to you whine about your family. I have listened to you whine about school, I have listened to you whine about work, I have listened to you whine about men! ‘Oh I do not like that one, he farts.’ ‘That one smells cheap.’ ‘Never Akin! He… he breathes!’ All I have done is listen to you complain and whine like the spoilt ungrateful bitch that you are. And what do I get in return? What do I get?!” She was screaming now and the blood pumping violently in her ears prevented her from hearing the words that had pulled them a larger audience than that inside the hall. She shook her head violently and tried to walk away, her petite body visibly vibrating even the air around her. She had barely taken a step when she turned sharply, pointing her right middle finger at Anita’s face. “I knew it! I just knew it! ‘Haba Moh! J and I are irrelevant history. You have nothing to worry about, trust me.’ I just knew you were bidding your time. My God! I cannot believe I called you friend and sister! So you waited till my marriage was falling apart and swooped in like a dirty, desperate, lonely… vulture. Now, you have the guts to tell me to listen? Listen to what? Listen to how my supposed best friend is pregnant for my husband after she helped me not get pregnant for him? Argh! Anita!!! You are the devil’s right hand woman. The devil’s manager.” The tears rolling down Anita’s cheeks were hot and unshy. They flowed freely, not minding the whispers of the crowd that had since shifted closer for a better view. She could very clearly hear the whispers of ashewo, husband snatcher and the likes but the shock of Mohini’s words, loud in her head, held her tongue steady behind her teeth. Mohini finally turned in her glorious anger, walking away with head held high, like a woman holding on tightly to anger to keep from breaking down into the tiniest of pieces. She marched straight through the wide open entrance to the hall, sandals in hand, and eyes darting across the room like a mad bull dog that had had his first taste of human blood. She was at the centre of the hall when the MC announced the long awaited arrival of the couple. She glanced towards the entrance in time to see the white stretch limousine shield what she recognized as Jaiyeola’s car. She all but ran towards the entrance and stopped as soon as she sighted Jaiyeola step out of his car and to the limousine, to give the ecstatic groom a congratulatory hug. He glanced behind him and the genuine smile on his face faded gradually when he sighted Mohini standing arms akimbo, soaked in madness. She could not take her eyes off him. She wanted to charge at him and just claw at his skin and then she wanted to find the guilt in his eyes and punish him with silence. As he opened his mouth to question her, she spoke; but the words which she threw like David’s stones were incomprehensible. She spoke in a language that only those who have fallen apart will understand.  Suddenly, in response to the tortuous vein that was now visible on her forehead, she turned away from Jaiyeola, past Anita who was hurrying towards them; leaving the bride, groom and the new crowd of escorts of the couple staring in awe. “Anita, what’s going on with your friend?” Jaiyeola asked as Anita took her place beside him. She began to speak but Mohini’s voice over the public address system rang loudly throughout the hall and into the ears of those just outside the hall. “Good afternoon everybody,” Mohini said with the calm of a possessed soul, after successfully reclaiming the microphone from the MC. “Some of you may have witnessed the scene that my friend and I caused,” she chuckled and clenched her teeth. “I apologize. I had no intention of tainting this beautiful ceremony. I also want to wish Beverly and Enejo a very fruitful and happy marriage. Beverly dear, be very careful of the friends you allow close to your husband. You see, my best friend over there by the door, the one wearing the blue dress… steel blue as she calls it…,” she flinched and smiled awkwardly, “she’s really particular about everything; she always knows what she’s doing… that’s how I know she had this planned for a long time. She just told me that she is pregnant with my husband’s child!” The tone of her announcement suggested that applause follow, but as her words reverberated a tad louder than expected, the heads under her voice turned as one to have a good look at the culprit standing at the hall’s entrance. The shocked silence that grasped the hall at the start of her little speech was now replaced with exciting chatter and gesticulations of disbelief. “Oh by the way,” she continued, “my husband, J, is the tall fine man standing beside the groom. So, Beverly, and indeed every woman here… hmm don’t be doing my friend, my friend oh and trust what is precious to you with people… Don’t do it!… That is my advice to the new couple. Thank you.” Jaiyeola moved the empty plastic chair closest to him and he sat down quickly like his legs could not hold him anymore. With his elbows on his knees and his hands supporting his face, he laughed and shook his head. The groom looked at Jaiyeola, his eyes asking questions, while his stunned bride tugged at his suit asking for confirmation. Anita felt her remorse and shame slowly being replaced by anger as she watched Mohini approach the exit. She mopped at the tears dancing in her eyes and walked ahead swiftly to block her path. Mohini ignored her and found her way past her. Anita rolled her eyes, stretched her hand and held on firmly to Mohini’s right arm, pulling her towards her, not caring that her nails were boring into her skin. “You tink say na only you get crase abi?” Anita’s voice was audible and steady, “you will now stand here and allow me to finish what I started, okay?! Then, you can go running around like a headless chicken and bring every lagosian into every dirty detail of your life. Since that’s what interests you these days.” She placed her other hand on her stomach and took in a deep breath in an attempt to fight back the nausea. “Yes, Moh. I messed up,” she said with her eyes dancing about Mohini’s face. “But I wasn’t talking about Jaiyeola…” she sighed, shame covering her once again. “It’s… Jai… your brother.” She said this softly and she watched it sink in as Mohini looked back at the smirk on Jaiyeola’s face and then at Anita. You know that feeling you get when you’ve been railing violently in righteous indignation against someone for doing something only to find out someone else actually did it? That feeling that’s like someone just threw a bucket of ice-cold water on your face? Yeah, that.  Mohini’s mouth opened and closed repeatedly like a fish in search of water, and then she shook her head repeatedly as an unexpected chill engulfed her from her crown, down her spine, to her sole. She fell into the empty chair beside Jaiyeola and looked at him again. She moved her gaze to Anita, waiting again for her to tell her she did not just hear what she thought she had heard. “But… but… Jai? But… how? You? Jai? When? Why?… Wow!” *** Later that night at the Gbadebo home… “Where were you?” Jaiyeola asked as he heard the door to the bedroom creak open. Mohini turned on the light switch on the wall adjacent to her and found him lying on the bed, his back to her. She rolled her eyes, placed her bag on her vanity table and sat at the edge of the bed to remove her shoes. “Didn’t you see all my calls and messages?” Jaiyeola spoke again, this time sitting up. She turned her head to him and sighed, “see, stop questioning me abeg. I’m really not in the mood.” Jaiyeola smiled and motioned to her with his right index finger, “come, come let me give you a hug. You need it. You have a lot of anger for a woman your size, don’t you?” He tugged at her blouse and she sprang to her feet, pointing a finger at him. “Ehn ehn! Jaiyeola, leave me alone! Leave me!” Her voice was hoarse, “what do you want from me?! Am I not miserable enough?! Do you not see what I’m turning into? Stop acting like everything is normal. Stop it!!! I’m begging you, give me a divorce and let me go on my way. How much longer do you want to keep punishing me?” She was now pacing the breadth of the room, her eyes twitching and her previously blank mind opening doors to troubling thoughts she had worked hours to suppress. She had almost recovered from the shock of the news she received earlier in the day and the last thing she needed was Jaiyeola’s recent fondness for sarcasm. With every step she took, her skin itched on the insides and her restlessness grew. She felt a constant feeling of scatteredness; it was as though her person had left her body, hence losing the ability to control what it did, thought or said. The only thing she felt in control of was swallowing and for a reason she did not care to understand, she held on to this power as she heard her feet glide continuously across the marble floors; preventing herself from swallowing her spittle for fear that she might choke. She glanced at Jaiyeola who was watching intently, with a smile sitting comfortably on his face, the entertainment looming. In a short amount of time, to his surprise, he had grown accustomed to her new lunatic outbursts and although he was certain they would end, he was beginning to doubt the short lifespan he had apportioned them. She reached for her phone in her bag, dialled a contact and activated its speaker phone. With every ring, she felt her heart pump black blood, firing her anger and pushing remorse far into the background where her shame and sense of reason were starting to feel comfortable in. “Moh…,” Anita’s voice, calm and apologetic, reached her ears and she focused her gaze on the phone’s screen. “So when and how did this happen?” Anita sighed, “Moh please, I’d rather not. It’s not something I’m proud of.” Mohini scoffed, “not something you’re proud of abi? Of course. Anyway, I just need to find out… did you talk to my brother about it? Or have you spoken to him since he went back to his base?” “No, no I haven’t.” “Wait sef, when exactly did you bang him?… Oh… this is the reason you sent away Ladi, prince charming, isn’t it?!” “Moh… please, don’t. Don’t do that.” “Oh are you getting angry now? Miss ‘I have the self control of a thousand men’? Anyway, don’t tell him. That devil that pushed you to taint a man on a journey to God’s service will not succeed in ruining his life o. Nobody will tell Jai anything.” “I don’t plan to.” “Good. So when are you getting an abortion?” “Is that a joke?” Anita asked, perplexed. Mohini looked at Jaiyeola’s confused expression as if expecting him to share in her disbelief. “Do I sound like I am ready to joke around with you? You can’t possibly be thinking about keeping the baby, though. You know that can’t happen. You want to have the baby but you won’t say anything to Jai? Nah, I’m not letting you risk it.” “Mohini… listen,” Anita’s voice was now stern and confident, “I messed up, I owned up to it. Should you be mad? Oh yes, yes, by all means, you should. I’m not even asking you to apologise for the humiliation you put me through today. That’s all fine. Be mad. But my dear… nothing! Absolutely nothing gives you the right to ask me to abort this child I’m carrying, okay?!” Mohini stared at the phone’s screen, silence keeping her mouth open and dry. She looked at Jaiyeola again whose head was now buried in his palms. “So you won’t get an abortion?” “No Moh, you know what my convictions are on that issue. No, I’m keeping the child.” “You want to keep the child,” Mohini nodded slowly as she articulated each word as if trying to understand how they each made sense in the sentence. “Why will you even suggest it?” “Fine. Bye… and when I say bye, I mean bye. Done with you.” And with that, Mohini ended the call and began to walk towards the bathroom as if nothing had occurred, ignoring Jaiyeola as he began to speak. “How dare you?! Why did you ask her to do that?” He rose to his feet, hurrying towards her in time to pull her away from stepping into the bathroom. He turned her body to him and shook her from her shoulders. “So you don’t even care about how you might feel tomorrow? She made one mistake and because she won’t yield to your… your irrational solution, you’re done? Did I write you off like that?” She freed herself of his grip and stepped backwards, “please, please, please. Did I ask you not to write me off? I’ve been begging and…” His heart sank at the reality looking up at him. He shook his head and said in a near whisper, “this is never ending, is it? This… this… new you?” He looked at her again and his head welled with hot emotions. “Go and shower. I’ll file for divorce on Monday.” She had barely turned into the bathroom when his voice stopped her again. “Funny; there was a time when that word, divorce, made you cringe and forever was what appealed to you. Remember when I made that joke about leaving you and you made me promise never to give up on us? Well, look who is forcing my hand now.” He smiled weakly at her and she stared at him, a certain chill running through her body, holding her numb and frozen to the ground; sewing her lips and her mind tightly shut.

Comments needed

Oh Please They shouldn't divorce ooh God please step into their marriage

Next episode biko

marriage wahala

I can't believe Mohini! She's acting like her senses ain't okay, like she's unstable mentally.. First, she almost cheated on her husband with Zino, accused him wrongly of cheating and even embarrassed him publicly. As if that's not enough, she started acting up and demanding for a divorce. Taking into cognisance her public embarrassment to Anita and her later instruction and demand for abortion, it's obvious that Mrs. Mohing G. is an irrational and self-centered woman with a lot of trust issues

Owk.....expecting d final

Will Jaime file a Divorce?

[b]Aso-Ebi: Finale: Bottom-Box Voile[/b] Once upon a time, there were relationships so solid that one failed to see a day when they would be no more.  Yes people, we are not very happy. Why? Well, it has been months, people, months and this trouble in paradise seems like a permanent one with no solution in sight. Well there is also the fact that our women, Anita and Mohini, although clad in different attires this sober noon, are wearing similar cloaks of mourning and despair on the outside and on the inside. **** Some things should never change. Some people should be constant. I have always thought this way. Not any more  I never thought a day will come when I will find myself so distant from Anita… literally. I should be right there beside her, holding her hand and helping her get through this celebration of her mother’s life; but just look at me trying so hard to avoid looking in her direction. I feel like I don’t even want her to know that I came. I don’t know when it was that I lost myself to irrational irritation and anger; funnier though, I am not sure when it was that all that fire burning inside of me was doused. I keep telling myself that it happened after I received Bami’s call about Ma Momoh’s passing, but a part of me keeps pointing out the lie in that thought. It tells me that it was that defeated, yet scathing look that I saw on J’s face the night he agreed to let go of me… of us. Ha! The smallest ones do the greatest things, isn’t it?  I just took my little hands and tore up every good thing in my life; I didn’t even need anybody’s help. Oh, did I do a fine, fine, job on my own.  Now standing here alone, feeling like a party crasher amongst people I once called home, common sense has returned to me and I know now that I should never have faulted Anita’s friendship to me. I look at her smiling and hugging; accepting condolences so graciously and all I can think of is how much my old friend has changed. She was probably forced to drop her drama as mine had made public appearances so often in the past months. Or maybe that’s what losing one’s mother as one prepares for motherhood does. I really did fail her, didn’t I? She is pregnant, alone and friendless. Well maybe not friendless… no, no, it was always Anita and Moh, so without Moh, I think I am right to say that Anita is friendless. Or maybe I am the friendless one now, I don’t know. I have been so concerned with my scattered life and my own hurt that I failed to notice her baby bump. And J… Oh I still love that man. My marriage is definitely over now, though. All my bags are packed and after signing the final legal documents later today, I’ll be on my way to sort myself out. Funny how I craved this freedom for so long and now that it is here, I don’t want it any more  Ah well, there doesn’t seem to be anybody I can throw the blame on this time except myself. Anita is standing alone now and my feet are itching to walk towards her and to just hold her hand. I should probably go and offer my condolences… it is the civil thing to do. *** What I remember clearly now is my mother asking me if I would let her die without carrying my child. Of course, then, I laughed and told her a lie. I told her she was definitely going to carry a child from me. I knew it was a lie when I said it to her because at that time, I was starting to accept that perhaps I was not made to get married and have children. Well, at least I know now that I was meant to have children… or child. God has not clarified the part about getting married, yet. This child is probably even a punishment for pulling his son into temptation. Did I make a mistake by keeping this pregnancy? No, if there were words that have stuck with me my whole life, they are the ones my mother said the day I started my period. She said, ‘… and if you are stupid enough to get pregnant, be wise enough to keep that baby.’ That was probably the seed the formed my averseness to abortion. Moh… I wonder if she came today. I know that Bami must have informed her and J. How did our friendship even end? I am not sure that seeing her will help the betrayal and hurt that I have been nursing for months now. She was the only other person that never judged me and the moment she began to turn into she-hulk, I was ready to stand beside her and not judge her. I wonder how things have turned out in the Gbadebo mansion. No, I don’t owe her any apology. There are two people I owe that… Jai, who I really should never speak to again if I am to allow him tread the path he has chosen and Ladi, who frankly must be sick of my constant apologies. Oh how perfect would life have been with the idea of him he had shown to me! I could not have him around me any more  I just could not. Self-saboteurs like me do not deserve people like him. If I had told him the reason I left was because I was carrying another man’s child, he would have looked at me with disappointment and would have told me he would take care of the child like it was his. That was what I feared the most about him. He made a lot of intense promises; promises that I was too scared to believe. And Bami… I have pushed that man away so much that it now seems like the harder I push, the closer he gets. One would think that at birth he was sent to protect me from myself in some way. Even his age long loyalty towards me now scares me. There is nothing that I have done to deserve his friendship. He was the first person I ran to after the pregnancy test and he has been there every minute of every day that I fear I may be starting to see him in another light. Speaking of Bami, where has he gone to hide now? Ah, I see Moh made it. I really hope she is not walking towards me to speak with me. It will do us a lot of good if she just walks past me and ignores that she has seen me. *** Anita watched as Mohini’s steps came to a halt beside her. She turned to face the guests that were having hushed conversations, her eyes scanning the room for an excuse to leave where she was standing. “Hi,” Mohini said softly after a minute of awkward silence. Anita glanced at her and nodded in reply. She was uncomfortable and she began to feel an itch at the back of her throat causing her to want to lash out at the woman standing beside her. She wanted to yell at her and express her disappointment and shock. She wanted to hit her over and over again and not care about the consequences…but she was weak and tired of heated arguments and sharp-tongued comebacks. It was the one change she had noticed since she discovered she was pregnant. “I’m sorry about your mum,” Mohini said again after a short pause. Anita nodded without looking at her. “It’s alright if you don’t want to talk,” Mohini continued, “I can understand that… That’s… that’s all I came to say.” Anita replied dismissively, “thanks.” Mohini’s mouth was heavy and they held a lot of words that she wanted to release but she was ashamed of herself and she hardly knew where to begin. As the most logical alternative, she turned away and began to make her way towards the gates of the Momoh family house. “Moh!” Mohini stopped and turned back hurriedly as if she had been expecting to hear her name.  Without giving Anita the opportunity to speak, she threw her arms around her, the tears in her eyes flowing freely, dampening Anita’s shoulder. It was the first time Mohini had broken down in tears in the past months and her body shivered and her head pounded in response to each tear that fell. “I’m sorry,” she managed to utter repeatedly and frantically too, like a child that was about to be beaten. “I’m sorry” “I’m so sorry, Anita”   Anita’s mouth opened as she tried to steady her feet to the ground, and in that moment, it became clear to her that those were the words from that voice that she had needed to hear to rid herself of the excess emotional baggage that burdened her for so long. Anita, teary eyed, hugged her lost friend in return and closed her eyes as she inhaled deeply as if the air around her had not been so fresh and light in a long time. Anita pulled away from Mohini, aware of the attention they were starting to attract, looked at her friend and asked, “Did J come with you?” Mohini shook her head vigorously and Anita could tell that her friend had been dealing with just as much as her. She mopped at her eyes and took Mohini’s hand. “Let’s go inside and catch up.” Mohini nodded and replied, “I miss you. I want to listen to you… tired of my own voice. And if you don’t feel up to it, I just want to sit beside you and continue apologising.” The two women chuckled lightly and if you stood close enough, you could hear the relief leave their mouths as they smiled at each other. Awww! Friends! Don’t get it twisted! Friendship is a beautiful thing!! *D’banj dougie* But… we are still sad. *** That evening an unusual type of quietness filled the Gbadebo mansion. It was different from the hostile type that its walls had grown accustomed to. It was mixed with reluctance and regret… and for this we are very unhappy. Mohini watched as Jeda carefully rolled out the last suitcase across the sitting room and through the door to the waiting taxi. “Ermm, ermm… madam, sure say you no forget one of dat ya fine bag for up?” Jeda said after putting the suitcase in the boot, as he rubbed his head, refusing to make eye with contact her. “I’m sure that’s everything Jeda, thank you” “Madam, I just talk am because say, I feel say, e be like say you get one fine red bag wey I never see. I just no wan make you forget anytin ontop say we dey rush. Sorry ma.” She obliged him. “OK, Jeda, Let me just check.” She needed to say goodbye to Jaiyeola anyway. A heavy sigh let itself out of her. She walked back into the house and stood between the mute television and Jaiyeola whose head was buried in the newspaper in his hand and took in every detail in the room. Her throat was dry and she felt harsh, warm tears make their way to the surface but she struggled to keep them down. Now was not the time. Her eyes stopped at one of their wedding pictures and she continued to stare at it. It was her favourite of the bunch they had taken. It was an aesthetically imperfect picture; her head was thrown back, her eyes closed and her mouth open wide in laughter at a joke Jaiyeola had made and his head was tilted, his eyes smiling at her in admiration at how fascinated and optimistic she was about life. In the five years she had lived in the house, she had never seen that picture like she did on this day. It captured everything that she loved about him… about them; but it was too late. She had ruined everything. Sometimes, walking away is the best form of redemption. She stood there for a long time, the word “Goodbye” stuck in her throat, choking her to inaction. The horn from the cab parked outside brought her mind back to the room where she stood and she sighed almost inaudibly. Jaiyeola looked up at her from his newspaper and asked, “Have you checked that you’ve taken everything?” He got to his feet and she nodded, working to make the tired smile on her face convincing enough for even her to believe it. “Well, if you remember something, you can always come back to get it,” he hugged her for a brief moment and she whispered “goodbye” before she made her way out of the house, resisting the urge to look back at him.  She was about to enter the back seat of the cab when she realised that her phone was still in the house. She rushed back inside and stopped when she saw Jaiyeola still standing, his back to her, staring at the same wedding picture on the wall. He turned to her and then back to the picture. “I never understood why you liked this picture so much,” he laughed. “What was I even saying that was so funny? See how you just opened your mouth… and see that gum just at the side of your tongue…” His back still to her, he chuckled and said, “there were so many things I didn’t think I was capable of before I met you… this whole loving another person. I never thought that love was necessary in marriage. I mean it’s a union between two people that have decided to spend their lives together because they can tolerate each other so, yes, I did not believe in love. And then… you happened to me…” Mohini realised she had been holding her breath since she stepped back into the house. Her palms sweaty with nervousness, she managed to say, “I just came to get my phone.” Jaiyeola turned completely towards her. “Don’t go, Moh.” Her heart leaped once and she spoke faintly, “what?” His gaze locked with hers, he whispered, “Don’t go, Moh.” “J… it’s ruined. We can’t… I can’t…” she stuttered. “Yes, Moh. We have issues to work through. We do. But I’m willing. Moh, I know you. You don’t want to leave any more than I want you to stay. We’ll make it work. Kids, jobs, anything. We’ll find a way,” he looked away, “I… I need you to stay.” She continued to stare at him, her lips quivering as he drew closer to her and took her hands in his. “J… I’m so scared,” she whispered. “Watching you walk out that door just now has made it to the top five scariest moments of my life. Stay, Moh. Stay and let’s talk.” He kissed her forehead before walking out of the house to pay off the cab driver as he called for Jeda and Sunday to take her baggage out of the trunk. Mohini did not realize that she was crying until the tears began to splatter from the puddle on the ground, in tiny droplets, onto her feet. *** Morning came and brought with it the promise of a new day… the promise of new beginnings and even more smiles. For Anita, it brought a chance to finally go home after a long night at the hospital. “Excuse me doctor.” The knock on her door interrupted the short sleep that Anita had fallen into. She jerked up and looked up at the nurse. “Mr Badmus is here to see you.” Anita looked at the time on the table clock. “What time is it?” She asked the nurse. “Five to five, doctor.” Anita rubbed at her sleepy eyes and yawned. “Oya let him come in.” She could not think of any reason Bami would have for coming to look for her at the hospital so early in the day. Was he in trouble? She looked up to find an obviously jittery Bami about to take the seat opposite her. “Ahn ahn. Bami. Are you okay?” she asked, concerned. “I’ve come to pick you up,” he smiled, reassuring himself that he had nothing to be nervous about. “Pick me ke? At 5 am? Shouldn’t you be getting ready for work? Wait sef, so what time did you leave home that you’re already here? Besides, my car is here.” “I’m just worried about you. You refused to take time off work to mourn, you still take these night shifts… you need your rest. You of all people should know,” he shifted in his seat. She narrowed her eyes at him, “Bami… are you in some kind of trouble? You’re acting really dodgy.” He nodded and then shook his head. He reached into his pocket and held the little box between his fingers. “I’ve thought and thought about the best way to do this and the best things to say but I couldn’t sleep all through last night. I… I want to marry you…” he stared at her stunned expression. Her eyes were widened and her forehead creased. “Bami am I still sleeping?” she asked without breaking a smile. He laughed nervously. “Anita, I’m serious. And no, this is not because I pity you or any logical reason your head is coming up with right now. No. I love you immensely… I don’t understand it myself and I just want to take care of you and this child. I want it to be my duty. I want to marry you.” Her mouth open in disbelief, she nodded her head slowly. She really did not deserve the things that Bami was saying to her. She did not deserve him.“Yes?!” Bami asked excitedly. She chuckled with tears in her eyes, “did you ask me anything?” He smiled and walked to her side of the table, his right knee holding him to the ground. He opened the box and looked past the tears in her eyes and she felt like he could see into her soul; like he could tell what she was thinking. She saw the nervousness he walked in with float away and a confidence that she had not noticed in him before covered him. It was almost as though he already knew what she was going to say. Now, she could not remember why she had put herself through all the pain and disappointment when he was right there, where he was now… beside her. “Anita Ejemen Momoh… will you marry me?” She shook her head continuously as the tears broke free and fell uncontrollably down her face. “Yes. Yes. Yes, thank you. Yes,” she whispered between sobs. His eyes brightened and he sprung to his feet and asked enthusiastically, “yes?!” She nodded and managed to laugh. “You do know what yes means, right? You’re not sleep talking, are you?” he asked before pulling her up. Her lips faltered and she came closer to him, “thank you,” she whispered again. “No, thank you,” he whispered before he took her lips with his and she shut her eyes involuntarily, savouring every moment of what she deemed their first kiss. YES!!! Finally! Finally!! Finally!!! Anita threw her eyes open with a smile on her face, to find the same nurse she thought she had seen earlier standing beside her. “Doctor, I’m sorry to disturb you but it’s already past 5,” the nurse said sympathetically. Anita glanced around her office subtly and that was when she realised she had been dreaming again. She sighed and nodded at the nurse as she began to pack up her desk. At that moment, her phone vibrated and without looking at the caller ID, she picked it up. “Are you home already,” she heard Bami’s voice at the other end of the line. Her heart jumped. “No, not yet. Just leaving the hospital.” “Is it… is it alright if we do lunch today or dinner?” She could hear the nervousness in his voice but she decided not to question him. “Lunch is fine.” “Yeah. Lunch is better. Erm… alright, I’ll see you later,” he fumbled. She smiled to herself, her heart fluttering as she picked up her bag and made her way out of the office wondering just how often dreams actually came true. **** 15:30 Moh OMG! OMG! Why won’t you pick up your phone???? I want to screeeeeaaaaammm!!! 16:44 Anita Sorry b. I was sleeping. I woke up and looked at that rock again… so it wasn’t a dream?! 16:49 Moh Bami took his eyes to the market o. That rock is something! Awwww. Shay you’re in the rest of today. I’m coming to see it for myself. Aww. Sweetie! CONGRATULATIONS! 16:50 Anita Sigh. Classic going to Sokoto to look for what has been in my shokoto. I’ve missed this b. Talking to you like this. 16:50 Moh Me too, babe. I’m sorry… 16:52 Anita You oh! How many times will you apologise na! It haff do. Don’t make me start crying again. Lol. 16:53 Moh So preps have to start asap na abi. OMG! You’re getting married!!! 16:56 Anita Wow. Wow. Wow. I’ve been chanting ‘I’m engaged’ in my head o. Totally forgot that that means I’m getting married. I’m crying, Moh! I don’t deserve this. I don’t. 16:57 Moh Sweetie, you do! Ok? Ehen you know the one that is number one on my agenda na… 16:58 Anita Of kes. We have to choose Aso-ebi! 16:58 Moh Yes ke. Double Aso–ebi infact. One for the naming ceremony, one for the wedding. Don’t worry, I shall begin my search and research asap. Its not easy to be an aunty. 17:00 Anita Lol. Trust you. I love you, Moh. 17:01 Moh I love you more, Anita. :* **** Mohini had kept trying to decide if it was time to tell Jaiyeola about her and Zino but she couldn’t convince herself on either course of action. There seemed to be no right answer. If she told him now,  it could ruin the fragile foundation they were rebuilding. If she didn’t, there would always be this secret she would have to bear, just as she had borne the secret of the IUD before. She stepped out of the shower, wrapped herself in a towel and made a firm decision in her head. Zino was in the past, there was no point digging up old skeletons, dwelling on the past. She would focus on the future. **** Jaiyeola stared at his phone’s screen and allowed it to ring out for the umpteenth time. He had successfully avoided her for long weeks now and he was sure she was smart enough to receive his subtle message. Now it was clear to him that either his perception of her was faulty or he had, by that one regretful act, latched on the devil to his back. “Baby, I’ll be down in a bit okay?” Mohini’s voice that now sounded melodious to him reached his ears and he was grateful again that they were on a new path to work out the old kinks in their marriage. They were going to get it right this time, starting with their date tonight. His phone rang again. Just as he decided to pick up the call and hopefully put an end to the looming nightmare threatening to jump out of the phone and finally destroy the marriage they were about to rebuild, he heard Mohini hurry down the stairs. She looked new; even the familiar glint in her eyes made him feel like he was seeing her for the first time. “Oya let’s go and stop looking at me like you want to take me back to the bedroom,” she smiled and made her way to the door. He chuckled, “oh sugar! You have no idea.” He glanced at his phone and then at her back. “Let me just quickly send a message. I’ll be with you now now.” He took a deep breath. 19:07 To: Angela Kalejaiye I thought you were smarter than this. Please don’t call me. Do you really need me to tell you that whatever it is that happened between us was a big mistake?! I’m not leaving my wife and I don’t want anything to do with you any more.  I didn’t want it to come to this, but if you try anything funny, you know that I can destroy you and Jimi for a long time. So please, please, leave me and my wife alone.  “J” ——- He hit the ‘send’ button and picked up his keys from the sofa, before making his way out of the house. There was so much he wanted to say to her but for now, the past would have to wait. He joined her at the door, kissed the faint dimple on her left cheek and said, “I love you, sugar.” And for the first time in a long time, it did not sound like just an age-long ritual.   ***** And here ends our story. Thank you all so much for reading and sharing Aso-Ebi with us. Oh and thank you for all the comments as well. We really appreciate them and we hope you enjoyed reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it.  — **** THE END

So Jaiyeola really cheated on Moh or was it during their divorce saga that it happened? It all ended happily for Mohini and Anita.. Those two are great friends

Wow,, welldone....

Wow Amazing Kudos to our writer Nice episodes Such an educative piece

Happy again

@itzprince make sure you let me know when the aso-ebi is finally available