A Story Of Deceit

Episode 23

I looked at Dayo in a despicable way, he just stared back in guilt. I thought of several ways to start punishing him for his evil deeds and the thought came, ‘David, he’s not coming into this house’, I said, ‘what do you mean, Uwa?’, David asked, ‘I mean, he’s not entering this house’, I said again, ‘but I asked you before, if you’re comfortable witbh my friend coming’, he said, ‘i’m not comfortable with it, it was your friend, I heard, not Dayo’, I said harshly, ‘How do you even know Dayo?’, he asked, ‘David, you’ll know later, ask him to go or I’ll go’, I threatened. ‘David, we go see later’, Dayo said, ‘no Dayo na, wait, just like that?’, David asked, ‘no worry, I go give you directions, so you go come my place, next week’, Dayo assured him and left. ‘uwanah, what is your problem?’, David asked. ‘See, I’m sorry for the way I behaved, if it was another friend, my attitude would be better but it was Dayo’, I yelled, ‘What did Dayo even do to you, anyway?’, he asked, ‘Nothing’, I replied. ‘Nothing?, what do you mean by nothing?, I thought, we had stopped keeping secrets, Uwanah?’, he asked. ‘I’m sorry David, but I can’t just tell you all about my past just like that, just know that Dayo did some very bad things’, I said. David said nothing for a while, he knelt down, adjusted his mattress and lay on it. ‘Okay, it’s okay, if you don’t want to talk about it, but don’t you think, I deserve to know?’, he asked. ‘I will tell you some other time’, I said and my words ended the discussion, the rest of the evening was silent. I didn’t even really sleep that night, I was just thinking of the look on Dayo’s face, he had guilt and shame written all over it, I hated myself for still having a rush over him even though I pretended to be extremely angry, in fact, I was angry, but not as angry, as I claimed.

The little argument David and I had, hadn’t really cooled off the next morning. He was angry and I knew it but he just wanted to be a gentleman. We didn’t talk much, but that didn’t stop his constant display of care, no matter how hard, I tried to bring myself to tell him about Dayo, I just couldn’t, it wasn’t something I was proud of sharing. Moreover, I felt David might want to take advantage of my decisions and feelings, if I shared all my secrets with him. We went to work that day with grudges in our hearts as we departed to our duty posts without the usual goodbyes. I refused to sweep the room of Mr. and Mrs. Martins all day. They were both at home that day, I was very scared of being seen my Mr. Martins due to the way he stared at me in that party, I concluded that, he hated me so, I vowed not to get on his bad side. I was glad when Mrs. Martins hadn’t called my phone to bring supplies for cleaning her room, work was almost over, I was glad, I would soon escape. I was disappointed, when my phone rang, I wanted to pretend like I didn’t see the phone call but I knew one mistake was just what Mrs. martins needed to sack me, I hesitantly went into their room.

Mr. Martins was seated on a sofa in their room with a newspaper that covered his entire face.
Of course, since I was a maid, he didn’t bother to look up. ‘Good evening ma, good evening sir’, I greeted. Mrs. Martins aggressively yelled at me for not coming to tidy up their room all day. Mr. Martins responded normally, he removed the newspaper from his face while he got up go to leave the room. I immediately cowered my face and turned in the opposite direction, I didn’t want to catch his gaze. He left the room and I cleaned as fast as I could. Thankfully, I was able to finish before he returned.

David and I still went home on the same note, which we left the house in the morning, he really didn’t say anything to me, despite all my efforts of trying to talk to him. I knew he felt bad that he trusted me with all his secrets but I didn’t. After dinner, I decided to tell him all that happened between Dayo and I to avoid the rift the secret was causing.

‘Hmmm, Uwa, I’m sorry, I didn’t know about all of this, if I did, I wouldn’t have brought him here’, David explained after I narrated Dayo’s issue to him. ‘It’s not your fault’, I said, ‘so, we are friends again abi?’, I asked, he drew close to me, held my hands and called , ‘Uwa’, ‘Yes?’, I answered quickly, I wasn’t comfortable, holding my hands that way was awkward. ‘We’ll always be friends’, he said and smiled at me. ‘Yes, we will’, I said and freed myself from his grasp. ‘Hmmmmm, so, there will be no more Dayo?, right?’, I asked, ‘Yes, no more Dayo in this house, but you know, he has been a very good friend to me, so, I’ll just visit him instead’, he said, I wasn’t happy with David’s statement, I didn’t want him associating with Dayo, but I didn’t show it and there was nothing, I could do.

‘Okay, that’s fine by me’, I lied.

I hadn’t called my mom all day and I couldn’t because, David was with me and he might request to speak to her. The thing is, my mum didn’t know I lived with a boy, I just couldn’t bring myself to tell her, pending the last advice, she gave to me before I left for the city, she would freak out. For some reason that night, David complained of cold and gave the excuse that he couldn’t take his bath when I knew that it was obviously laziness, therefore calling my mum that night was scrapped, I also switched off my phone to avoid any call from my mum. I slept and decided to call it a night.
I discovered the next day that Mr. John was a pretender. Not minding all that happened, I refused to blame him, I thought he had no other choice but to succumb to his wife’s threats because, he was scared of her.

Well, that morning, Mr. John and his wife got into a heavy argument, it caught the attention of all the neighbours, we could hear his wife raining curses on him and his daughter begging them to stop. All of a sudden, we didn’t hear his wife’s annoying insults anymore, all we heard were thuds from his punches, screams from his wife, and pleas from Bidemi. ‘so, this man fit beat im wife?’, some neighbours who were also as surprised as I was asked that question.

It made me apoplectic when I remembered Mr. John’s gentle attitude the day I needed his support against his wife’s baseless judgment about me. I chanted, ‘yes, yes, yes’, in my thoughts, when I heard Mr. John’s wife yell in pain, in my own opinion, she deserved it, besides, not her or her daughter would spoil my mood that morning. I had a contented smile as David and I left to work that morning.

‘Uwanah, Uwanah’, Ngozi called, immediately I entered the kitchen, ‘Mr. Martin, has been asking of that maid, that was serving cake at his homecoming’, she said, ‘but, there were many hired catererers serving cake that day’, I said, ‘I know, Uwa, but after all the descriptions he gave, it pointed to you and he requested that you see him immediately, you get to work’. I felt dizzy, not that, I was hungry but, fear took over. The same man, I had been trying to avoid was asking for me. ‘Uwa, Uwanah?’, Ngozi called, ‘errrrm, errrrm’, I stammered, ‘he’s in the computer room’, Ngozi informed. ‘I have work to do can’t I see him later? ‘, I asked Ngozi, ‘are you okay, Uwa, I said the oga of this house asked you to meet him, when you arrive , you’re asking me, if it’s okay to see him later, better see him now or else you will not even have any work’, she said. ‘Okay, I’m going’, I said and left the kitchen hurriedly, I was walking normally, till I got to the hall way of the computer room, where I walked like a pregnant snail. I finally had the courage to knock on the door after standing there for almost thirty minutes. ‘Yes?’, he said angrily, it seemed like I had interrupted what he was doing, ‘errrrm, sir, it’s the girl, you said you wanted to see’, I said, ‘okay, come in’, he replied in a much calmer tone. ‘Yes sir’, I said and slowly pushed the door open like it was a very heavy obstacle that was difficult to move. ‘Ekaite?’, he yelled, immediately I entered, Ekaite was my mum’s name, she didn’t like to be called by it, not everyone knew that name, but it was her name, why would he call me by my mother’s name?’, ‘Sir, sorry sir, I’m not Ekaite’, I said, ‘I know you’re not Ekaite but you look so much like her, you are like a carbon copy , I just want to know if you’re related to someone called Ekaite’, he said, ‘Uhm, no sir, I don’t know who you’re talking about, I don’t know Ekaite sir’, I lied. I had to lie, I didn’t know why he was asking of my mum, what if someone named Ekaite had offended him in the past and he wanted to take revenge, how was I even sure, it was my mother? . ‘But, you look so much like her’, he said, ‘I’m sorry sir, I don’t know her’, I said, ‘oh, okay, no problem, you can go’, he said.

I left the computer room relieved, I wouldn’t have to hide from him anymore, he just wanted to make enquiries from me, about someone named Ekaite. I was still confused about it, I knew, it was my mother, he asked about but I had to ask her first if it was okay to tell one Mr. Martins about her. On our way home, I told David about the issue and asked him, if it was wise to tell my mom about it. ‘Of course, she has to know’, he said, ‘alright, no problem, I’ll tell her’, I said. Days passed and I didn’t tell my mother about such an important issue, I felt it was pointless, telling her, since she wasn’t the only Ekaite anyway, I didn’t for once, stop to remember that Mr. Martins said, I looked like the Ekaite he knew. ‘Have you called her?’, Dayo asked on our way to work one morning , ‘have you called her?’, I asked back, ‘ah, ah, Uwa, I’m asking you if you have called your mother, even Mr. Martins has traveled and you still haven’t told her’, he said, ‘and I’m asking you, if you’ve called Stella, that girl hates me, she thinks, I’m the reason, you have refused to call her’, I said pretending like I didn’t know I was truly the reason. ‘I have heard you, I promise to call her today but you have to tell your mum about Mr. Martins, I’m serious, Uwa’, he said, ‘okay, sir, I’ve heard you’, I said. Few hours later, after I arrived at work, I decided to keep to my promise of telling my mum about Mr. Martins, I went into the store room where Mrs. Martins wouldn’t discover me idle and start her nonsensical yelling. I dialled my mum’s number, it didn’t ring for long before she picked it up, ‘Yes, Uwanah baby’, she said, ‘good afternoon ma’, I said, ‘afternoon Uwa, how you do?’, she asked, ‘I’m fine, ma’, I replied, ‘how are the city been do you, hope working were fine?’, ‘yes mum, everything is fine, how is Boma’, I said, ‘Boma are fine, we are do good here, nothing was changed’, she said, ‘okay ma’.
We spoke for a while, I was about to hang up when I remembered the Mr. Martins stuff which was my main reason for calling . ‘Ehen, mummy, there’s one man ooo’, I said, ‘Eh, man, what are he done wrong to you?’, she asked yelling, ‘relax ma, nothing, it’s just that he said I look like you’, I told her, ‘yes na, you were resembling me’, she said laughing , ‘but, how are he know, you resembling me?’, she asked. ‘That’s what I’m coming to, he said I look like someone called Ekaite and you’re the only Ekaite I know’, I informed her, my mum said nothing for like five minutes, I thought, it was network hitch, so, I ended the call. several minutes later, she called me back, ‘a man call me Ekaite, only my family knew that name, what are his name?’, She asked in a frenzied tone, ‘Mr. Martins’, I replied, ‘ Okay, I have feared, only your uncle in the city knowing that name, his name are Bassey, I not know who this Martise are’, she said chuckling, ‘mum, it’s Martins, not Martise’, I corrected her, ‘yes ma, I heared you’, she said.

Maybe it’s another Ekaite, I look like. When my mum said it was my uncle in the city, that knew that name, I jumped for joy in my heart that a rich man like Mr. Martins was my uncle but I was disappointed when she said, his name was Bassey. It was like something hit me, when I left the store room and remembered that I only knew the last name of Mr. Martins which was Martins, what if his first name was Bassey?, I needed to know immediately, I ran straight to the kitchen to ask Ngozi. ‘Ngozi, Ngozi’, I yelled breathlessly, ‘what na’, she answered frightened, ‘sorry to disturb you, please, what is Mr. Martins full name?’, I asked, ‘so since the past three months, you’ve been here, you don’t know?, they even mentioned it once or twice at the homecoming and you still don’t know’, she mocked. ‘why do you want to know all of a sudden?’, she inquired, ‘Just tell me’, I pleaded with her. ‘It’s Bassey Ekong, well Martins is just an English name he adopted, but sha, it’s Bassey Ekong Martins’, she said. I opened my mouth in amazement. I couldn’t believe my ears, Mr. Martins was Bassey?, the uncle who left my mum in the village, after she helped him leave the village. My mum was going to hear about my new discovery. As far as I was concerned, my days of struggles were over. Mr. Martins was going to start taking care of all my needs and my mother’s with immediate effect to atone for his sin of abandoning us, I thought of what to do now that Mr. Martins was on a business trip, I had not even the slightest idea of when he’d return, how was I even going to break the news to him?, my phone started ringing while these thoughts engaged my mind, it was an unknown caller, I picked it up, ‘hello, who is this’, I said rudely, ‘Uwa, calm down, it’s me’, said that devil in disguise, Dayo.