A Story Of Deceit

Episode 30

The next few weeks were a disaster, particularly for Stella and her mother. For the first few days, Mrs. Martins tried to stand her ground but my mum’s size, height and threats were enough to overshadow their decisions. Stella became respectful to my mum, due to my mum’s influence. Now, my mum wasn’t a horrible person, she just didn’t like people who treated others like trash. Mr. Martins received constant complains from his wife and daughter about his sister but, he was silent about it, most nights in the house were consistent family meeting which always ended on a terrible note because, that was the only time Mrs. Martins and Stella had the opportunity to say anything. ‘I didn’t come hear to disturbing the peaces of this house but Bassey, your wife are not trained your child wells at all’, my mother would always say, ‘it’s you that didn’t train your child well, how dare you say that about my daughter?’, Mrs. Stella would ask and an argument would occur, which would make Mr. Martins yell on top of his voice. The scenario would look like two wives quarrelling over their husband. I never questioned my mum’s actions but one day, I was just curious to know why she wasn’t scared of her brother chasing her out of the house. ‘Chasing me away?, he can’t tried it’, she assured. ‘How are you so sure ma?’, I asked. ‘I are sure very well, do you know the sufferness, I suffering with my business I carry and send him here?, he say he were came and carried me after he succeeding but he forget me and after all this many years, now he have camed and took care of us, he couldn’t tried to sent us out’, she assured. ‘hmmm, are you very sure ma?’, I asked again as I was still skeptical. ‘I say, he couldn’t tried it’, she said, ‘even if he had want to tried it, we couldn’t agree’, she said. ‘Okay oooo’, I replied. ‘But mummy’, I called, ‘yes, what?’, she asked, ‘Just try to calm down with Stella and her mum, I’m not trying to tell you what to do, but please just take it easy’, I admonished. ‘Hmmmmm, okay, I heared you’, she replied. ‘Thank you ma’, I said. ‘okay’, she replied. ‘Ehen, mummy, that my friend I was telling you of, that you refused to meet all this while, will you try and see him this evening?’, I asked. ‘shey, he have share money to me, what was I saw him for, don’t disturbing me ooo’, she said. I had explained to her times without number, the good things David had done, I even came clean about the truth that I stayed with him when, I arrived in Lagos but, she just wasn’t ready to meet him, all she would say was, ‘eh eh, he are does all that?, thanking him ooo, greeted him for me ooo’. I stop trying to persuade her after that day.

David and I didn’t miss our constant meetings every evening after he finished working. We became closer than when we used to live together and I initiated that closeness because, I had started developing feelings for David. ‘Uwa, you know, in a week from now, you’ll celebrate your birthday’, he said. ‘yes, I know’, I replied laughing. ‘So, will your uncle celebrate it’, he asked, ‘I’m not sure, he hasn’t said anything about it, I’m not even sure, he knows’, I explained, ‘okay, I’ll celebrate it for you, even if, he doesn’t’, he assured, ‘okay oooo’, I said laughing. ‘So, which friend is staying at your house?’, I questioned, ‘it’s not someone important’, he said. ‘Okay’, I said, ‘but is it a girl?’, I questioned. ‘Uwanah, not it’s not a girl’, he said with a smirk on his face. ‘what?, I just asked’, I said, ‘And I answered you’, he replied mockingly. ‘So, Uwa, are you gonna start work or something?’, he inquired, ‘uhm, yes, I think so’, I said. ‘Which work?’, he asked, ‘honestly, I don’t know yet but, my uncle said he wants to see Stella and I tomorrow night, so I will let you know the full story’, I said, ‘okay’, he replied. We talked for a while till it got a little late and I admonished him to start going home.

The next day, My uncle asked my mum to follow him out, she had been asking for a job and I guess my uncle was fed up of her constant pester, that’s why, he took her out, that day. Stella’s mum went out and Ngozi followed her after preparing lunch, in a bid to stop at the supermarket. There were no foodstuffs in the house so, Ngozi would basically spend almost the whole day at the market. Stella and I were left alone in the house. I just went into my room, shut the door and was about to take a nap. When I heard, the door bell ring. If someone could ring the doorbell, that means he had been given that permission, by the security men but, who could have so much influence to be given that permission?, I was very curious. I ran out of my room, I got to the living and met Stella already there. ‘I’ll open it, you can go back’, she said looking at me like a peasant. ‘I’m not going, I just want to see who it is’, I said. ‘It’s my friend, it’s none of your business’, she said bluntly. The door bell was getting louder, I would have left but, I wanted to show Stella that I wasn’t afraid of her. She eventually opened the door and a guy way taller than Stella and I came in, Stella seemed all excited when he came in, she didn’t care to introduce him to me, he didn’t care to know who I was and I also didn’t care to know who he he was. I went back into my room and they went upstairs into her room.

I tried to sleep, I just couldn’t, few hours had passed and the front door hadn’t opened so, obviously, the guy was still in the house. I was super Inquisitive, I wanted to know who the guy was. I struggled with the decision of staying in my room or going to Stella’s room for several minutes, till I decided to stay in my room. I lay down and slept off, I hadn’t slept long enough, when my phone rang. I woke up with shock that left my heart pounding furiously. I picked up immediately I saw “Ngozi calling”. ‘Hello’, I said, ‘Hello, Uwa, please, I need you to come to the bustop, I didn’t come with madam and these things are too heavy, I need your help, if I call that aunty, she will not answer me’, she said. I knew the aunty she referred to, was Stella and she would indeed not answer Ngozi.
I went out hurriedly to the bustop and found Ngozi looking very tired. I assisted her with some of the things she carried. When we entered the house, she remembered an amount of money Mrs. Martins asked her to hand over to Stella. ‘please Uwa, I need to unpack these things before madam gets back, please give this to Stella for me’, I almost told her about the guy in Stella’s room but, I changed my mind, however, I was inquisitive to know what was going on and telling Ngozi, might ruin everything. ‘Okay’, I said and hastily ran up the stairs.

I would have knocked but, for intense curiosity, I pushed the door open, I opened my mouth in awe, Stella was on the bed sleeping.
‘Where is the guy?’, I asked myself. Even if, he wanted to leave when I went to help Ngozi, I would have seen him because, that bustop was the only way you’d connect to the other roads and the bustop was really close to the house, ‘he couldn’t have gone that far na’, I said. ‘Maybe, he’s under the bed’, I thought. ‘I sneaked into her room since, she was asleep, I took a peek under the bed, opened her wardrobe and searched everywhere but, I still couldn’t find the guy. I tapped Ngozi, she woke up looking angry and I handed the money over to her.

I would have helped Ngozi with her work but, she asked me to relax and return to my room.

I entered my room and screamed out loudly, it was the guy I just searched for earlier in Stella’s room. ‘What are you doing here?, get out!’, I ordered. ‘Please, calm down, I came to your room earlier but you weren’t here, then Stella and I saw you coming in with a lady, so, I decided to wait here for you’, he said. ‘Uwanah, Uwanah, what is it?’, I heard you screaming’, Ngozi said and knocked continuously. ‘Can I come in?’, she asked. ‘please, I’ll be gone before you know it’, he whispered, ‘okay, lemme hear what he has to say’, I thought and said, ‘no, nothing, all is well, I’m fine, I remembered something, that’s why’, I lied. ‘Okay ooo’, she said and left. ‘Start talking right now’, I ordered, he started saying meaningless things which was starting to get on my nerves. ‘Oya get out’, I said and tried to push him out when I heard a knock and it was Stella, I opened the door. ‘Stella what is he doing in my room?’, I asked furiously.

She didn’t say anything, she just brought out her phone, he came behind and held my waist, I turned around in an attempt to release myself and Stella took a picture.

‘Ngozi’, I yelled. I was about calling out for her again before Stella said, ‘even if you call her, your story is baseless, what would you tell her?, that you found him in your room?’, she asked. ‘Of course’, I replied. ‘Okay, you’ll tell her that, the first time you screamed and told her nothing happened, he wasn’t in here with you?, I knew when you entered my room, I wasn’t sleeping, you’re very lucky, Ngozi called you out, otherwise, I’d have gotten a worse picture’. She said bluntly showing me the picture. The picture didn’t look like I was struggling to get out of his grip, it really looked like the opposite. ‘Delete the picture please’, I begged, ‘why would I?’, she said, ‘anyways, sneak him out of this house, when you’re done, we’ll talk about it, she said. ‘Okay’, I replied looking very sad. I smartly got him out of the house, without him being seen by Ngozi. I ran to my room but, Stella wasn’t there.

I was certain, that she had returned to her room, I went there and pleaded like I had never pleaded with anyone before. She threatened to show my mum, her mum, Ngozi, David and my uncle. ‘Even, if your mum believes you, no one else will, they’ll just think your mum connived with you’, she said and laughed me to scorn. She literally vowed to make my life miserable with that picture.

After much begging, I left her room very angry at her and myself. There were mistakes to make but that mistake was foolishness, ‘how could I be so foolish?’, I thought. ‘So, I’d have to do everything that witch wants me to do?’, I asked myself.

Suddenly, I recalled her threat of sending that picture to David, I dialled David’s number immediately and asked him to meet me outside. After narrating all that happened to David, I expected comfort, but he did the exact opposite. ‘Uwanah’, he called softly. ‘Yes, David’, I answered, ‘Do you know, you were not using your sense of reasoning?’, he asked, I got angry, ‘what’s the meaning of that?’, I asked, ‘you’re asking me, what stopped you from calling Ngozi when you saw the idiot?’, he questioned. ‘I just wanted to know what he had to say’, I responded. ‘Oh, okay, you just wanted to know’, he said. ‘You know what?, it would have been better for me to see the picture, then I would know that you were framed and without asking you questions, I’d comfort you because, I know you wouldn’t try such but now, your explanation doesn’t make sense’, he yelled.I was dumbfounded. ‘Okay, if she had not taken that picture, would you have told me what happened?’, he asked and walked away, leaving me almost in tears and he was right. Had Stella not taken the picture, I would have not felt the need to tell him. I called him all through the night, he ignored all my phone calls and even switched off his phone at some point. I was really scared, would David really cut off communication with me?.