The Game I Played

Episode 5

Stanley Pov
I got home with joy and happiness despite the fact that i got scam again, I can’t believe Lagos is a scamming place like this, I never believed anyone would call using my bank account officer to scam me again, but thank goodness that Afeez has told me he’s going to help me and we got appointment for tomorrow, firstly i felt i should tell Emeka but then i decided to make it as a surprise maybe after i have gotten the job work out, maybe then i can now tell him how i got to meet Afeez. Afeez is a Yoruba guy but to be sincere I just like him naturally maybe because he had for once helped me when I needed an urgent assistance, thank God for knowing someone like him i sighed. Emeka got back from work with two poly bag, one with foodstuffs while the other was for the ingredients.

I collected one of the poly bag from him as we entered the room together, we talked and gist then he told me he spoke with Anita this afternoon while he was at work, oh so how’s the family i managed to asked, everyone seems to be fine, though i sent her some money to get some food for the family he said in conclusion, seriously Emeka has been trying for my family, I just hope i can pay him back with all this that he had been doing for my family. Thank you bro i said.

He told me he also spoke with one of the company that he had helped me send my CV to and they promised him that everything will be fine once they start recruiting again, anyway it’s a good news but to be sincere I’m not happy about staying home while my friend will go out to work, I’m a man too, it’s not really comfortable for me to stay indoors without not working, anyway thanks bro i said, I noticed that he got something he wants to tell me but maybe he was scared to say it or he got another plan for me, do you want to tell me anything? I manage to ask him, yeah he said. I just think you can have your own apartment so you can also have a free moments, you’re a grown up guy you need a lady in your life, you have your life to live, this is Lagos nobody will want to hangout with you like this, you need to settle down and live comfortablsle he said , then he told me he had a plan if he can help me get a rented apartment somewhere in Lagos and their i can also stay and plan for my life.

At first i thought what he said was out of self interest, but later got to consider that truly I’m a man, I need my life to live, I can’t be staying here forever and again I’m also tired of been feed by a friend everyday.

Okay but the problem here is money, I myself do not plan to stay here long but since I’m yet to see any job to do, that’s why I’m still here. The following morning i woke up earlier that morning, after which Emeka had gone to work, I also went to meet Afeez who promised to help me today.
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Afeez POV.
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As usual i new i need miracle to convince him that i steal to survived, this is what i have been doing for years and if he truly want me to help him he should join me with what i do, this is Lagos, if you’re not wise, you will never be wise again. It’s not like i also love to steal people’s properties, but here i don’t have a choice, my mom died when i was young and since then I have been staying with my father but one certain day, something happened some gang came in the night to steal from us and since my father dont have any money at home then, they got frustrated, they killed my father in my present, since then everything had be so hard for me, I school here in unilag but later dropped out when i couldn’t pay for the school fee anymore so since then i have been going around the streets to steal people’s properties to survived, so nobody should blame me.

That morning Stanley came to my house, as usual i have put on my operation clothes, we both went out, we talked and gist for a while before we got to a corner where it seems to be silent and cool, this has been my main base of operation and the reason was because people don’t too pass there and there are many jungle that leads out from the street to the main road. I told him to stop and watch me, but he shouldn’t make any sound so nobody would notice him there, but there he can see me very well. Then a lady was coming from afar, he asked me what i intended to do but i told him not to say anything.

It got to a point when the lady got to my hideout I quickly removed her purse from her bag as i ran towards the jungle. She called for help which some persons came out but then I have hide somewhere watching all that was happening. I looked at Stanley directions who was just opening mouth like he had never seen thief before, after about 20 minutes I came out of my hideout to meet Stanley who was short of words, this Lagos bro i said as we both walk home that morning. I knew he got so many questions to ask me and sincerely I’m truly prepared for it. Afeez or what do you call yourself he said, so you mean you steal to live his asked. I smile that’s not stealing, it’s called picking pocket I said, I saw him look at me like i must be crazy.

Anyway i may be crazy but this is the truth, do you see me with any gun i ask him, but you steal he said. Yeah I only want to let you know that it’s what i do, if i don’t want you to know you will never know I said. Do you remembered that day we first met, yeah he said. I paid your food fee with you your money, I laughed, i saw him want to rush to me and hit me, I jokingly run ahead of him. Anyway it’s fine, now that’s you have known what i do, it’s your choice to make, I brought out the purse as i open it, I counted #27,000 I saw him look at the money very well, guess he must have been counting the money from the beginning. I removed #10,000 out of the money. are you in or out I said as i pointed the money at him. He collected the money from me, I laughed at him, bro this is what i do we can always do this together and get a lot of money before the end of the day I said as he left the room that morning, guess he needs to go think about it maybe, I went outside to go check him, but to my surprise he had gone. This guy ehn!