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Episode 32

‘Stella’s trying to blackmail you, with your picture’, David explained holding my hand tight in front of the compound. ‘David leave me alone’, I yelled. ‘What kind of blackmail is that, is it not the picture I deleted yesterday?, why didn’t you just ask me first?’, I asked. ‘See, she said, if I date her, she’ll delete the picture’, he explained. ‘And has she shown you any picture?, okay, I will try to understand Stella’s case but how come Dayo’s in your house?, the same Dayo, you asked me to stay away from?’, I questioned. ‘No, Uwa please try understand, he doesn’t have a place to stay, I know, I asked you to stay away from him but, he came begging, I just couldn’t let him sleep outside’, he explained. ‘So, that’s the friend that has been staying with you and you kept it a secret. Yet, you opened your mouth the other day to say I take you for granted’, I yelled.

I remembered the nefarious look on Stella’s face when I opened the door and the guilt and shame written all over Dayo’s face. While David rushed outside to beg me, they both remained inside.

‘Uwanah, I’m sorry, I kept this from you, I just didn’t know how you’d react’, he begged. I felt unimportant in David’s life, what if I hadn’t barged in on them?, I’d still stay at home all day worrying about him. I knew there was sense in what he was saying, I just didn’t want to listen. ‘You said, you’re ill but, you look fine’, I said. ‘Actually, I’m fine’, he said. ‘Wow, so you must have another explanation shey?, okay you’re fine, why haven’t you gone to work for the past two days?’, I asked. He seemed hesitant about telling me why he had been away from work. ‘Okay, don’t worry David, I’d be on my way’, I said. ‘Uwa, the thing is, I’ve gotten a better offer for a new job, I’ve been going there but I still don’t want to resign from your uncle’s place yet, I want to confirm the new job first’, he said. ‘Okay oooo’, I said and turned around to leave. ‘Uwa’, he called. ‘What?, I’m going na, just better know what you’re doing with Stella, she has no picture of me, I deleted it yesterday and for the fact that, she hasn’t shown you any picture, she’s lying. Besides, your excuse about blackmail is somehow stupid. I won’t talk about Dayo ooo, but just know, I didn’t expect this from you’, I said and walked out before he’d say anything.

I felt so bad, that David kept all those secrets from me, ‘maybe, I’m not as important as I thought’. I said to myself. ‘If he wants to stay on his own, let him stay on his own’. I concluded. I got home and got to cleaning, I needed to keep myself busy to avoid unnecessary thinking. I was cleaning but, I was still lost in thoughts. I wasn’t just thinking of David, Dayo or Stella, I was also thinking of having a private tutor or learning a handiwork. ‘Uwanah’, I heard Ngozi hurl, ‘Yes, ma?’, I answered. ‘Are you alright?, I’ve been calling your name since the past few minutes’, she informed. ‘Eh, sorry, didn’t hear you’, I said. ‘Your uncle asked me to make preparations for a small party here in the parlour for you, so I need to tell me the kind of things, you’d like’, she said. ‘Eh, party?, no!, no!, please let’s forget about it’, I said. ‘Ah, ah, Uwa, I thought you’d be happy about this birthday, what’s wrong?’, she asked. ‘I don’t feel like having any party, I don’t have any friends and besides, I don’t want Stella and her mum to spoil anything for me, a simple birthday cake is enough’, I said. ‘Okay ooo, I won’t force you, a small birthday cake it is’, she said. ‘Thank you’, I said smiling.

Stella returned later, stinking of liquor. I wasn’t sure, if she drank the liquor at David’s house or she drank it somewhere else, I just didn’t want to know. ‘So, you can’t greet abi?, or you’re angry that David didn’t tell you about our secret meetings?’, she said laughing. I ignored her and went into my room. ‘Wait, secret meetings?, no joor, why would David be meeting her?’, I asked myself. On second thought, I remembered if I hadn’t barged in and seen Stella in David’s house that morning, he’d have kept it a secret from me.

‘So, David didn’t call since morning?’, I asked myself angrily. ‘So, he cannot call?’, I said and picked up my phone. ‘What?!’, I exclaimed as I realized my phone had been switched off. ‘How did it go off?’, I wondered. ‘Mtcheeew’, I hissed and switched it on. Not long after I turned it on, I received three apology texts from David, all which were sent in the morning. I expected that, since my phone was switched on, David would call but, he didn’t. Then, I decided to call, after dialing tirelessly, he didn’t pick up which increased my doubts about the stories he told earlier that day.

Through out that week, David didn’t come to work, it was assumed by Stella’s mother after checking the attendance, that David was no longer a worker in the garden. I guessed that his new job might have clicked but why didn’t he want to talk to me about it?, why wasn’t he returning my calls?, What made him change so much?. Though, Stella made a usual boister daily of how she had snatched David away from me but, I knew she was just trying to get on my nerves. Even if David had fallen for another girl, it would definitely not be Stella. I was beginning to fear that he would not even call to wish me a happy birthday the next day. My mum was hyped up about my birthday, yelling, ‘My daughter are an eighteen years baby, she are a fishion designed’. She wanted me to forget about private tutor and go for a trade, preferably fashion designing. ‘Mummy, I’ve not decided’, I told her. ‘What you are knows?, you knows nothing, fishion is the best thing for you’, she said without considering my own thoughts.

The next morning, seemed like every other morning, there was nothing special about my birthday morning. I even thought, my mum and Ngozi would stand at my door yelling, ‘happy birthday ‘, due to the way, they had been talking about it. I didn’t feel like getting up from bed that morning.

There was still no call from David, the number one person, I thought that would have sent a dozen texts and called a million times, just to wish me a happy birthday. I was emotionally devastated. I didn’t realize, I had come to care so much about David, that I grew sad over his recent actions. He was the main reason, I cancelled the small party.

There were no other friends besides him, if I had a phone that could enable chat on Social media, like Stella’s, I’d probably have more friends.

I couldn’t wait for the day to be over, Stella didn’t wish me a happy birthday but her mother did, which was actually a surprise.
Ngozi was giving me great lectures, being that, I had turned eighteen and the number eighteen meant adulthood. My mum was constantly giving me suffocating hugs which was out of Love anyway. I only had a piece of cake, before my mum and Ngozi devoured the rest of the cake, leaving a teensy bit for my uncle. It was like torment until the best part of that day happened. My uncle called me out to the living room and handed over a brand new phone to me. A very beautiful phone, way nicer than Stella’s phone, the phone whose screen I damaged few days ago. I could feel the pain in her eyes from the way she clenched her teeth. I wanted to make it worse, so, I increased the rate at which I thanked my uncle. ‘Thank you sir, thank you sir, thank you sir’, I said. My mum and Ngozi also joined in the thanks, thereby agitating Stella and Mrs. Martins, especially Stella.

‘Daddy, my phone is bad, I need a new phone’, Stella said bitterly. She must have been fed up of my superfluous gratitude to her father. She showed the screen of her phone to her father. ‘Ngozi, I just got you that phone, what happened to it?’, he asked furiously. She stared at me intently giving me creeps. I know I made claims that I didn’t care, even if she reported to my uncle about me destroying her phone, well, I really cared. If she wanted to expose that fact on any other day, I’d be cool with it, but not on my birthday and the moment, I was being given a new phone. ‘Answer me, what happened, why did you do this to your phone?’, my uncle questioned. ‘I didn’t do this to my phone’, she replied. ‘Then, who did?’, my uncle asked. I was ready to deny the truth that evening if she dared mentioning my name.

I was short of words, when I heard, ‘It’s mummy’. ‘What?, why would she blame her mother?’, I asked myself.


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