Cowrage(Episode3) By olumide lawrence Uche stared at Tunji in disbelief; “I hope you aren’t going in there to sell any dumb excuse to Dr Ajah. Be rest assured that I will be going in with you to refute every lie you’re thinking of conjuring for this unserious girl. It beats me to understand why you would even care!” Uche was playing the ideal class-rep and the seriousness in his voice was enough to make Tunji almost lose his nerve; but it was too late to change his mind, Dr Ajah had already invited him in. As he turned the knob, he still had enough time to see Amaka turn and walk away even as Uche remained right beside him as he stepped into the cool air-conditioned office of Dr Ajah. “Good Morning ma” Tunji bowed in courtesy. On sighting him, Dr Ajah quickly recalled the widely acclaimed young man who was always asking challenging questions in class. Tunji was popular among the lecturers as a student who was always ahead of the class and his reputation of asking controversial questions-much to the disgust of some lecturers and amusement of students-preceded him. But he was a darling to some lecturers, and Dr Ajah was one of them, even though Tunji knew nothing about it. “Tunji Adeleye, right?” Tunji bowed slightly and answered “yes ma”. “Good morning. What brings you to my office today? I hope you haven’t come to have me arrested?” Dr Ajah said with amusement. “Not at all ma.” Tunji replied with a smile. The warmth welcome she gave him helped his confidence and he proceeded with some more assuredness: “I’m here to submit an assignment on behalf of a friend” “A friend? Who’s this friend of yours?” Dr Ajah inquired. “Amaka…Maduakor Amaka. I’m with her IRS105 assignment. We happen to be reading partners. There was a mix up when we last read together and I mistakenly took her assignment with me…” Tunji stopped short, shocked at the spontaneity of the lie he had just produced. Uche stood with his mouth ajar; he knew Tunji was telling a lie, but Dr Ajah had no problems believing him. “Its alright, I only just received the assignment from the class rep anyway. Drop it along with others here.” The lecturer responded, still smiling at Tunji. She turned to Uche quickly, “what brings you back to my office, class rep?” Uche was confused, and wasn’t sure about what to say. He looked at Tunji and managed to mumble an inaudible “I came with him ma” he immediately turned around and walked out of the office feeling like a classic idiot. With obvious glee at the success of his “undertaking”, Tunji ran to his class as soon as he was out of Dr Ajah’s office hoping to still catch up with Professor Awofisibe’s test. He however returned to meet a rowdy class. They were passing several comments about the impromptu test and in particular, his weird behaviour. He was the latest celebrity and all eyes fell upon him as he returned to the class. “What came over you this morning?” Jumoke his ‘real’ reading partner, was really concerned. “I had an emergency to attend to…” he answered almost as soon as the question was thrown at him. “More important than the test?” She wasn’t giving up. “Well, I believe you understand the word ‘emergency’, don’t you?” Tunji responded as calmly as he could. “By the way, how was the test?” “It was okay…you just might be in a bit of trouble with the man.” Jumoke replied. “He’s asked you never to return to his class except you have a valid explanation for your action this morning, typed, and duly signed by the HOD!” Tunji was petrified. He’d known his action couldn’t pass unpunished but he didn’t see this coming. He was relieved that Amaka’s assignment had been submitted, but he wasn’t sure if his impulsive behaviour hadn’t pushed him from frying pan into fire. **************************************** It was a long day for Benjamin at the office. The last of his colleagues had said goodnight some four hours before he left, but he had to stay back because he had to sort out many files and also balance the books. When he finally left for his home in Oshodi, the traffic only served to make matters worse. He had to opt for the option of trekking the distance from Ikeja to Oshodi when the stand-still was entering the second hour. He arrived his apartment at about 11:30pm, to meet a worried Adaobi. She’d dutifully left a bucket of cool water in the tiny bathroom for his bath and despite his exhaustion, he considered it a taboo to miss dinner. “I had to warm the soup again just a few minutes before you arrived” Ada announced as Ben sat to eat. “Thanks dearie… today was really terrible. I had to trek from Ikeja to Oshodi due to the traffic despite having worked for extra hours” he complained as he downed the first morsel of eba. “That’s serious! Sorry dear, this is exactly why I don’t like Lagos. Everything is just hard here.” Ada replied compassionately. “But what can we do? I was born here, and I have lived here all my life; I’m already used to it. I just pray I can make good money to create enough comfort for the two of us and our children” he said with the warmth of a true lover, making Ada grin. “That reminds me honey, there’s something I want us to talk about.” Ada quickly changed the discourse. “What is it? Hope no problem?” Ben replied, as he gulped some water. “It’s my mum. She’s been asking me about our plans to get married.” Ben’s face immediately turned sour with worry. Ada continued nonetheless, “you know last week made it seven years since we’ve been seeing each other. She wants to know when we are going to seal our union.” He lost appetite for the meal at once; the issue was the last thing he wanted to discuss at that moment, but he tried to approach it with caution. “Yeah, I know we have been together for long and by now we should be making plans towards that direction. But you understand better than anyone else that things aren’t set for us to get married. Look around you, I still live in a two room rented apartment in Oshodi, I don’t even have a car. You know I only just recently got a job, and I don’t hide the meager salary I earn monthly from you. Marriage isn’t just in the cards right now. We have to be patient Ada, it will happen and soon but now’s not just the time.” He stood up from where he hitherto sat, and went to sit beside Ada. “Help me explain to mummy. I really would love to make plans, but the conditions are far from ideal. I want a grand wedding, or at least something we can both be proud of; not a pauper’s wedding. I want to create a future after the wedding, not go ahead with the wedding and then face an uncertain future” he explained calmly. Ada sighed deeply with a forlorn look on her face. She wasn’t getting any younger and she knew it. She would be 26 in two months, and if Ben kept insisting that he wasn’t ready, it wouldn’t go down well with her parents who were understandably eager to see her get married quickly. She had turned down many eligible men who asked for her hand in marriage just to be with Ben and her mother had never been reserved about criticizing her lovey-dovey commitment to him. But for her father, her mother’s attitude would have been too much to bear. He saw Ben as a bright prospect and continued to encourage his daughter to marry for love regardless of what her vain mother said. Amaka, her younger sister was her mother’s favorite, and she was always quick to praise her for her beauty, intelligence and all the fancy gift items she brought home without questioning the source. “No problem Ben, I’ll talk to her. But I want you to also realize that I am a woman, and time is not on my side.” She finally submitted. Benjamin heaved a deep sigh, and his fatigued mind coupled with his already tired body made it a burdensome chore for him to drag himself into the adjoining small room which served as his bedroom. “Goodnight” He mumbled weakly as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. ****************************************** Dominic was ten, but he was much smarter than his age. His mother knew immediately that she would need to come up with a quick explanation of the drama that had just played out in front of her son. Gbade was to blame, but Dominic saw her shove him aside and injure him in the process, and that meant that he deserved some explanation with an apology. She bit her lips hard in regret wondering why her kids always had to see her on the wrong side of every argument with their father when all she ever did was fight for their interest. She had promised herself never to accuse Gbade of infidelity to the hearing of her kids, she couldn’t risk the pain of setting her kids against their father. But she also knew that her position was at stake, because for the umpteenth time, she had to apologize in front of her kids for being rash towards their father. “Come on Dominic, you should be sleeping” Juliet quickly pulled her son away, leaving Gbade groaning in pain. She led Dominic quietly back into his room, lulled him back to sleep, and went into one of the guest rooms. Making sure the door was securely bolted, she sat on the bed and placed a call across to Patience, her friend. “Juliet! Its late” Patience cried as soon as she answered the call. “I know, I just needed someone to talk to” Juliet responded, “I finally caught him tonight…my husband” she said already sobbing. “Oh…at last! Now you have seen for yourself what I have been screaming in your ears for so long. Tell me what happened” “We went for a dinner, and just as soon as we arrived, he excused himself and left me sitting alone at the table for close to an hour. I felt very awkward as I seemed the only single person around, so I decided to look for him. After looking around for some minutes, I found him around a corner with one ugly-looking frog, they stood so close to each other and were going to kiss. I couldn’t bear it, I screamed and ran out in confusion. He drove me home and we had a quarrel, I pushed him… I think he’s injured… but that’s not the problem… the problem is Dominic… he saw me push his father yet again.” She burst into tears. “He may never understand me… He may never understand that I’m fighting for him. What can I do?” “Take it easy with yourself Juliet.” Patience answered after drawing a deep breathe. “The boy is only ten. You don’t need to worry so much about him. He’s still growing.” “You know Dominic. He may just be ten, he thinks and speaks like he’s eighteen.” Juliet explained. “I need to find another explanation for my actions by tomorrow morning, but I don’t know what other lie to come up with” “Lie? Why lie? You just said your son reasons like he’s eighteen…if you ask me, I don’t think you should lie to him. Tell him the truth, let him know the reality on ground.” “That would be dangerous Patience. It might set him against his father, I don’t want that to happen. I want to keep my family together, not further tear it apart. I need solutions, I need to bring my husband back to his senses!” “Its alright. It’s quite late now to drag this issue. Don’t worry about it, just go to bed; sleep has a way of sorting thoughts and thinks would look brighter in the morning. I’ll visit your boutique tomorrow and we can talk about this extensively. Just try to handle your son as you have always done. All will be well…good night.” “Good night Pat, I look forward to seeing you tomorrow” she said and hung up. With a heavy heart, she closed her eyes as she laid her back on the soft bed, hoping to find escape in sleep. Gbade Johnson, on the other hand, was still in pain in the master bedroom. He managed to stand up and put on his night wear. He still felt embarrassed by events of the night, and he was confused about what next to do. He wasn’t sure if going after his wife, who was obviously still mad at him, was the better option, or calling Ibinabo, his new catch, whom his wife had embarrassed. Beautiful and well endowed Ibinabo; she was the exact kind of girl Gbade loved to hang out with. He had several other girls on his list of concubines, but Ibinabo, whom he met just that evening at the dinner party, was the rave of the moment. His wife’s anger wasn’t enough to drive her out of his head, so he chose to call her. “Hello Ibinabo, it’s Gbade Johnson” he announced, when the call was answered. “You again? You can still call me after what your wife…” Ibinabo was seething with anger. “Ssshhh! Calm down miss. I have it under control. Everything is now sorted out. It was just a misunderstanding and it is solved. I only called to tender an apology…and err…to ask when we can see again… At least to prove how sorry I am about tonight’s incidence” he said calmly, but there was no response from the other end. “How about I take you shopping tomorrow at any mall of your choice?” Silence… “Suit yourself” Ibinabo finally responded. “Oh great! I’ll call you at exactly 1pm…okay by you?” “Whatever” she retorted, and hung up. Gbade smiled sheepishly, oblivious of the pain in his hand. He whistled his favorite old skool tune and was nodding his head triumphantly. He turned around to lie down on the bed and his face went aghast with fear; Juliet was standing by the bed, looking like a hangman poised to kill a criminal already sentenced to death. To Be Continued Please help us with your comments, suggestions, and complaints in the box below. Thanks. Olumide Lawrence @motivei8ht Like GlowVille on Facebook here Follow us on twitter @glowville
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 11:50:45 +0000
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