Withered Flower - Episode 2

Iyekoetin could not understand what was keeping Emem. She has been standing by the side of the road for close to 30mins now and Emem still hasn’t shown up.

I should have stayed back home and make her come get me from there she thought. If it is not because she is the one who wanted something from Emem, she wouldn’t be here.

“Iyeke! Iyeke!!”

She turns to the direction of the voice and sees Emem on the other side of the road, beckoning for her to come across.

“Well, a beggar has no choice” she muttered under her breath, as she crossed to the other side of the road. She opened the passenger side of the car and got in, away from the scorching sun that seems bent on darkening her flawless light skin.

“Madam na wa oh, five minutes don turn to…” she looks at her watch “Thirty-eight minutes”

“I am so sorry, I was at the Abattoir when you called. You know these butchers now, if I leave they will sell out the choicest part of the meat and leave fat and you know how Nkem is about his protein. I no want wahala”

“No problem. So what was the emergency that you had to drag me out of bed on a Public holiday for that matter?”

“Amebo! You too like gist. Make we reach house first” Emem laughed. She knew how impatient her friend could be. Twenty-three years of friendship? You gotta know someone in and out.

They drove off.

*************************************************************************************

“Where is my money? I have given you more than enough time to pay this money. The next time I have to ask you for my money, you will be losing a limb”. He dropped the phone and fell on the nearest chair.

Why he must keep doing this before people take his business serious, was beyond him. He thought.

As Kene sat on his luxurious couch in his luxurious living room, he couldn’t help but look around and marvel at his accomplishment. Within five years of leaving school, he had amassed so much wealth and this was without the help of his father, who was a well-known Business Man and Politician.

At the age of 26, major blogs were already talking about the “new catch” in town, he had a lot of twitter and instagram followers (majority of them females who were hoping to be the woman in his life) and at one point, one of the magazines in town rated him higher than the Kardashians (he had to consult google to know who they were).

He just turned 29 last week and already his mum and sisters were already singing the “marriage” song and it was difficult to ignore. Being the last child and only boy, there was no escaping it. Not that he had not dated girls, (in fact, there was a time when his philandering ways was the trending topic on every blog, soft-sell magazines, twitter etc. Thank God those days were behind him) but finding a wife who was not after his money, was a great challenge.

Several of his friends, including his family members have tried match-making him but it never really worked with any of the girls. Maybe he didn’t really want it to work, I mean why anyone would want to give up this “Single” life for marriage was beyond him.

Ring! Ring!! Ring!!

He looked down at his phone to see who it was before picking up (He had since stopped picking up unknown numbers, since so many strange people started calling him).

“Hey… Nkem my man, how you dey now?” he said as he picked up the phone. “Wetin dey happen my brother?”

He waited a while for the caller to finish talking before responding.

“Okay, I dey come. 5pm abi? Okay see you later” He dropped the call.

Nkemakonam Udo was his friend of 18 years and over time, they had formed a bond that was stronger than friendship. One could say, they were brothers from different parents.

Nkem’s call was very strange, as he has never invited him over for lunch. Not that he has never eaten at Nkem’s house but he never had to be invited, as that was his second home.

“Something is up” he muttered to himself.

*************************************************************************************

Ring! Ring!! Ring!!!

Emem picks up the phone and her husband’s voice echoes from the other end. “He is coming”

“Oh good, Iyeke is here already” she retorts.

“I hope this works out”

“I hope so too”. She drops the call and holds the phone to her chest, smiling.