Bitch

Episode 39

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True to his words, John appeared at the front
of Jummy’s house by Nine PM. He did the
sign of the cross and murmured a silent
prayer before pressing the door bell. He
waited for a few seconds and when he got no
response, he pressed the bell once again…

The door swung open just as he was about to
press it the third time.

Jummy stood before John, looking the hottest
she had ever been… Or well, that’s what John
thought. She had on a custom made black
Louis Vuiton dress that looked like it had been
sown on her body because it fitted her
perfectly. And just to complement her blue
Gucci shoe, she held a small Prada purse of
the same color as the shoe. In the purse was
a few N1000 notes which she didn’t plan on
spending unless the date goes totally wrong,
in other words, it was her “Vex-Money”,
meaning the money she would use to settle
her bills and go home if John somehow got
her vexed. Typical Jummy.

John stared at Jummy totally spell bound for
over a whole minute, it took Jummy’s “are we going to stand here all day” statement to snap him back to reality.

“No… No… Pardon my manners. I was just…”

John cleared his throat thinking of the right
word to describe what just happened to him.
“I was just wondering how I’ll protect myself
tonight.” He concluded.

Jummy looked confused. “Protect yourself?”

“Yea, with your current dazzling looks, I’m
sure people would stare at you all night long
and get jealous and I don’t want that because
the next thing they would plan is how to get
rid of me so the can take over.” John kept
quiet afterwards and turned on his best smile
hoping Jummy would get his point. She did.

“Well the first step is getting me into your car
quickly, so the neighbors won’t see me.”

Jummy replied grinning.

“Oh! That’s true.” John replied and led the
way to beat-up FORMERLY red Beetle or
Tortoise Car as commonly called. The car had
terrible scratches and needed a thorough body
work, it looked like something that had just
been picked from the dumpster. John opened
a door and ushered Jummy inside.

“What is this?” Jummy asked. Not really sure
if she should be annoyed or confused.

“What?” John asked, trying to look sincerely
confused.

“Where is your car?”

“This is it na,” John replied, grinning widely
and pointing at the car at his front.

“No! Asin where is your car, because if this is
a joke, it ain’t funny anymore.” Jummy was
clearly irritated at this point.

“Why don’t you enter first and I’ll tell you the whole story on our way to the restaurant.”

Jummy contemplated on his suggestion and
even though she hated the whole idea, she
decided to just give him the benefit of doubt.

She entered the horrible looking car.

John quickly went over to the drivers seat and
they were on the road within seconds, Jummy
was surprised the car could even start.

“So what’s your story?” Jummy asked coldly.

John sighed. “Well, its a long story and it
might sound stupid to you but the first thing
you should know is, I’m sort of broke at the
moment.”

Jummy laughed uncontrollably, with John’s
family wealth and chain of companies, it was
literally impossible for him to be broke. “What
do you mean?”

“After our little situation. I kind of decided to
make some changes in my life to prove to you
that I’m a changed man.”

“I’m listening,” Jummy said.

“For starters, it was difficult but as I’ve stated before: I chased Samuel out of my place, then I moved out of the place too because I could afford to maintain it anymore.” John suddenly hit the brakes to avoid a reckless “Keke Marowa” (a tricyle) driver who obviously didn’t horn before trying to overtake the Beatle.

Normally, in such situation, Jummy would
have cursed the living hell out of the driver
but she was in a different world of hers, trying
to understand what John was talking about.

“What do you mean?” She asked, to urge him
to continue his story.

“Well, I read on one gossip blog about how
Zainab’s brother, Toafeek, left his palace at
Canada to come and hustle in Nigeria all in
the name of independence, and I was
touched.”

Jummy sighed. She had no f—–g idea how
the blogs got to know about that even though
only her and Zainab were meant to know. It
was shocking and she made a mental note not
to downgrade the quality of Nigerian Blog
news anymore.

“Touched?” She finally asked.

“Yes. I mean, it was very stupid and
unrealistic of the guy to do that and a fully
breed Nigerian would never do such but I
guess Toafeek isn’t really a Nigerian
considering he had spent his whole life abroad
so I guess that explains that.”

“You haven’t told me how or why you are
broke yet.” Jummy said.

“Well I did something similar to him. I felt that
all my life, I’ve been under my dads umbrella
and I too, just like Taofeek want to be
independent.”

Jummy opened her mouth in shock. “So you
just dropped everything and …”

“Drop everything? No oh! I’m not as dumb as
Taofeek. I took enough money to start a new
business or so I thought. I wanted to invest in
what I know how to do best which is Clothing
and Textile so I literally stole a ridiculous
amount from the family’s account and
invested it in the company but I guess I
undermined the cost of starting a company on
my own. So I had to take loans and sell my
car to balance the costs, that’s why I’m riding this thing now.”

Jummy was speechless. She was wondering
what’s wrong with all these men who were
going solo and leaving the family business
without proper consultations. Is that the new
trend? She wondered.

“Why didn’t you just go back to the family’s
account and take more money?” She asked.

“My dad was mad at me so to make sure I
don’t do what you just suggested, he made a
few calls to the bank and I’m sure you know
what that means.”

Jummy looked at John and somehow, she
could see his sincerity and determination to
impress her, although she didn’t quite get how he expected being broke to look impressive.

“I don’t care if you are broke or not. You are
still going to pay for this dinner!” Jummy said
and they both bursted out in laughter.

@@@@@

SPLASH!!! Was all Taofeek needed to wake up.

He could feel something liquid on his face and
entire body as a whole.

With his eyes closed, he started pondering
what the hell was going on around him but he
seemed to have forgotten everything, even his
name so he had to focus on himself and
started murmuring words to himself.

What’s my name? Tayo? No, Picnic? No,
Trojan? Hell no! Jim Iyke? No! He smiled. It
starts with a T, he thought and then it
suddenly popped into his head. Toafeek!

Okay, good, so where the hell am I? He asked
himself once again but before he could think
about it… SPLASH!!! And bucket of water was
poured on his face.

He instinvely attempted to open his eyes and
it took a while for his sight to get accustomed
to the dark room which only source of light
was a 60 watts yellow bulb which seemed to
be powered by a low current power source.
With a failed attempt at trying to see who was
pouring water at him, he decided to at least
look at his environment, sadly, there wasn’t
much to see. All that was in the room was the
chair he sat on, the bulb and a fan that made
a loud squeaking sound and was spinning at
an annoyingly slow speed… He wondered why
they even bothered to switch on the fan.

“Hello Taofeek.” He heard a voice say and for a moment, he thought it was just his
imagination.

“How are you doing?” The voice said again,
this time, Toafeek was sure it wasn’t his
imagination.

“Where am I? Who are you?” Toafeek asked, he intended to yell, but didn’t have enough
energy to do so.

“Straight to the point hun? I like that. Anyway,
I’m Mr Dayo, like I stated a few hours ago and
I can’t tell you exactly where you are because
that would spoil the fun.”

“What am I doing here?”

“I thought you were smart? You have been
kidnapped but don’t to worry, I’ll make sure
you aren’t harmed… Well, that’s if you
cooperate with us. And firstly, you have to tell
me your phone password so we can make
contact with your celebrity sister so she can
send the ransom and we can let you go.”

Suddenly, Taofeek recalled everything, starting
from when he was seeking a job to him
walking into a suppose Ginger Net and the a
Mr Dayo placing a handkerchief on his nose…

That was all he could remember. The last
words of Mr Dayo rang in his head “welcome
to hell” so he tried to stand up from the chair,
it was only then he realized he was tied down
to the chair. He struggled and struggled but
the rope seemed to be getting tighter.

It was clear he had no other option. “The
password is 3210.”

@@@@@

The day ended pretty well for Zainab. She and
Henry had spent almost the whole day
together at work and she had enjoyed his
company, he had a good sense of humor so
she ended up laughing till tears rolled down
her cheeks.

As she stepped into her car, Henry had
reminded her of their date later on that night
and she tried asking him for the details but he
had refused to tell her, saying it was a
surprise and she should dress simple.

She sighed and drove home in anticipation of
what Henry had planned.

She got home by 6PM which only meant she
had less than two hours to prepare for the
date. She walked into the bathroom and took
a long thirty minutes shower, making sure she
scrubbed every sweat pore properly, then she
went to the kitchen and fixed herself a cereal,
she didn’t take anything heavy just in case
Henry’s surprise plan involved eating dinner.

She was for the date ready within the next
hour and by 8:00PM sharp she was already
with her purse and waiting for the bell to ring,
signifying Henry’s arrival.

By 8:05PM the door bell went life and Zainab
ran to the door and unlocked the door.

“You are late!” She said.

“Yea, I was at your door post by 7:50PM, I
didn’t want to seem to desperate so I decided
to wait a few minutes before I pressed the
bell.” Henry winked.

Zainab couldn’t help but smile, the date was
just starting and Henry was already cracking
jokes. She had a good feeling about the date.

“Well, now that you’ve told me your intentions,
you look pretty desperate. So I guess you plan
didn’t work.” Zainab replied grinning.

“You make it sound like you aren’t in my
shoes too.”

“How?” Zainab asked.

“Look at you! I didn’t have to even press the
bell twice before you opened the door. It was
as if you were standing at the door waiting for
me to arrived.

Zainab cheeks went red in embarrassment.

“May we proceed?” She said to change the
topic.

“No!” Henry replied abruptly.

“Why?”

“You are over dressed for where I’m taking you to. I told you to dress simple and by simple, I meant just a jean and a top not a fancy
Made-In-Tokyo dinner dress.” Henry replied
looking serious.

“You know you are a pain in the butt right?”

Zainab said as she walked back into the house
and let Henry through.

“Yes, I know I am. Now, can you do me a
favour and go and change into a simple jean
and top?”

Zainab didn’t bother replying. She just did as
told, obviously pissed… Normally she would
have cancelled the date on that spot, but
there was just something about Henry she
couldn’t resist and then she was really curious about what he had planned for the night.

Few minutes later, Zainab materialized before
Henry wearing a jean and top. “Shall we?”

She asked.

“How do you do It?” Henry asked.

“Do what?”

“I told you to wear a jean and top thinking
you would look less fabulous but here you are,
looking more fabulous than ever. Can you do
me a small favour?” He asked.

Zainab was now over blushing, her cheeks
were fiery red and she could literally feel her
head swelling… Like literally.

“What favour?” She asked, hoping Henry didn’t notice her blushing.

“Can you change back into the gown?”

Zainab couldn’t hold it anymore, she bursted
into an uncontrollable laughter and Henry
joined her.

“Just kidding,” he said. “Now can we start
going?”

“Sure… Of course.” She replied puntuating her laughter with the response.

They both left the house and entered Henry’s
car. He switched on the car and did
something very strange. He drove for a few
seconds and pressed the horn at the front of
his home gate. The security guard came out
almost immediately and opened the gate for
him to drive in.

Zainab couldn’t help but stare in confusion.

“Are we changing cars or what?” She asked.

“Nope… I have just one car na. What gave you
that impression?

“Errr… Shouldn’t we be heading to wherever
you are taking me to and not parking your car
in you compound?”

“This is ‘wherever I’m taking you to. Just
follow my lead.” He said.

Zainab wanted to protest but didn’t. This date
just got quite interesting she thought.

The both walked into the house and Henry
took her to the kitchen. She sat on a chair
staring at him as he filled a pot with water
and placed it on the fire.

“What are you doing?” She asked.

“I’m boiling the pot.” He said sarcastically.

“No, seriously? Shouldn’t we be on our date
by now?”

“This is the date,” Henry said. “I’m going to cook for you now then we would go to the
dining table and eat.” Henry replied grinning.

“This is what you had planned!” Zainab
exclaimed.

“Yup.”

“Can you even cook?” Zainab asked.

“I’m not entirely sure but I plan on finding out now…”

“What do you want to cook?”

“Promise me you won’t laugh and I’ll tell
you.” Henry replied with a wink.

“I promise.”

“Well, I’m cooking Indomie Noodles and Egg.”

For the second time that night, Zainab bursted
out into an uncontrollable laughter. “And you
filled the pot with water? Do you plan on
cooking one carton?” She asked between
laughters.

Henry scratched his head in response. “I
thought that…”

“Get away from there let me teach you how to
cook Indomie.” Zainab cut in as she stood up
and walked towards the gas cooker.

She emptied half of the water from the pot
into the sink and place it back on the fire.

“Where is the Indomie?”

“Wait… Wait… Wait oh! I plan on cooking for
you and I plan on doing that, you can tell me
how to cook it but you ain’t cooking it. So tell
me what to do next.” Henry said with a false
serious face, trying his best not to smile.

“You know you are a clown right?” Zainab
replied.

Before Henry could think of a reply, Zainab
phone went life as it rang.

She went to purse and brought out her phone.

“Hello?” She asked and listened to caller.

Henry watched as the smile on her face faded.

Immediately as she dropped the phone she
slumped to the floor.

“What happened?” He asked.

“My brother… My brother… My brother…”

Was all she kept on repeating as if in shock.