A Story Of Deceit

Episode 6

Dayo looked at me with disgust , ’Uwa what is wrong with you？’, he yelled angrily, ‘okay,so you know me now abi？’, I asked, he stood up and was about to leave the seat when Bimbo held his hands, ’no mind am abeg’, she said,my mouth dropped open,was he really going to lay his hands on me？was another girl trying to stop him from doing it？,I thought of all these and Bimbo started ranting,the other people in the shop complained about the scene I had just created,I was only concerned about Dayo,I didn’t want him to hate me.

My right foot was naked,my sandal was still under their table,I gathered courage and pushed myself foward to their table,I’m sure Dayo would have wondered the kind of audacity I had,I got to their table and bent over the table and picked up my sandal, Bimbo’s rant was not getting to me before, untill she said, ’wetin dey worry you sef,you wan wound my boyfriend？’, my ears grabbed those words, ’wetin dey worry you？’,’boyfriend’, I was not going to let that pass,I’d have replied Bimbo in the most effective language which was pidgin but I wanted to show Dayo that I was brilliant, ’ who is your boyfriend [B] I asked？[B] fool yourself very well,Dayo is my boyfriend’, I replied, immediately I said that Dayo starting laughing,Bimbo joined in the laughter,some customers there also laughed,I was embarrassed and very furious, one more word from Bimbo,I would slap her, Bimbo would definitely hit back,fighting was her hobby,then,I could pretend to be weak and fall to the ground. She did say a word that hurt me, ‘your boyfriend kor,your boyfriend ni,you blind？mumu’, she said, ‘eh’, I yelled and I aggresively slapped her expecting her retaliation as well but Bimbo displayed the most shocking act I had ever seen, ’my head ooo’, she cried out, ‘I did not touch her head oooo’, I defended myself and I asked myself when Bimbo became a weakling？, Dayo stood up,I thought he would slap me too,he just pointed a finger at me, ’you’re crazy oooo’, he said, ’my head oooo,’ Bimbo said again, Dayo immediately sat down and consled her.

I was still standing when the owner of the canteen left the box that looked like a witness box in a court, marched towards my direction and said, ’oya make una dey go’, she said, ’we didn’t do anything’, Dayo replied,other customers attested to his claims and all fingers were pointed in my direction, ’na she,na dis girl start the wahala’, they all said, ’oya dey go’, the woman ordered,I had been embarrassed enough,I made up my mind,I wore my sandal which I held with my right hand all along.

I turned around to leave when Dayo called me, ’Uwa,Uwanah’, I was stunned,why was he calling my name？,I turned around, ’don’t you ever try this nonsense ever again’, he warned,I didn’t utter a word,I just stared at him, ’dey go na’, the woman said again,tears formed a pool in my eyes,not just becase of Dayo,I was still hungry,the aroma of food filled my nose and I would miss out.

At first,I thought Dayo didn’t recognize me or he wasn’t in a good mood when I saw him that day at his house,it dawned on me that Dayo had changed,he was not in love with me anymore. I walked down the street towards the direction of my house,I wasn’t going to my mum’s shop that night to avoid trouble,Dayo and Bimbo had ruined my mood again as they did the other day,I was hungry and tired,I might just damage something again and incure the wrath of my mother.

I had planned to work,give myself a new look,be someone worthy,to be called Dayo’s girlfriend,he was the only reason,I wasn’t thinking of leaving Boma,but with the way things were,staying in Boma would ruin me. I decided to start saving every penny,I had to leave Boma for the city even if it meant starving,afterall I hadn’t eaten all day and I didn’t die,work was fine, based on what I saw and if I saved almost everything I received daily,I could save enough in six or seven months to leave Boma but things didn’t go as I expected it would go,because, things took a twisted turn at work.