Withered Flower - Episode 8

When her bus reached its last bus stop, the woman got down. It has been 15 years since she came back to this town. The first time she found herself here, she had been involved in a ghastly accident that claimed the lives of all her travelling companions.

She walked straight to the queue of bike men calling out to passengers and soon got on one, after a prolonged haggling on the price of the ride. She didn’t know the name of the street but she knew where she was going to and was able to describe it to the bike man.

A bike ride later, she arrived at a worn out compound, with over grown weed. The compound looked uninhabited from the outlook but she knew there was someone living there. She clapped and called out to the inhabitants of the house.

A young woman came out. She was really beautiful with very generous child-bearing hips. She couldn’t be more than 18 years of age.

“Good afternoon Ma”

“Ehen my child. Please I am looking for Madam Odosa. Is she still living here"?

"Efomo, nah who be dat"? A woman called from behind the house.

"What is your name? Mama wants to know". The young girl who was called Efomo said.

"I'd rather see her"

"Come with me" the young girl motioned for her to follow.

She recognised the old woman sitting by the fire instantly. Fifteen years hadn't done a lot of damage to her appearance. Apart from a few wrinkles here and there, she didn't age at all. 

The elderly woman turned and looked at her, there was a glimmer on her face and then she turned back to the fire to stir the pot and without looking up she said.

"You stayed away longer this time, Ogoshukwu"

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Iyeke sat across Chief Mezu at the hotel bar. It had been like two weeks since she last spoke with him. Not that she hadn't tried. His Personal Assistant was always on hand to say he was busy, in a meeting etc. Calling Chief's mobile was a no no, as his wife could pick up the phone.

"I haven't heard from you in a very long time. Is everything okay with us"?

"I have been very busy"? Chief replied, looking at his phone.

Iyeke knew he was lying and something was wrong. She would like to think that she knew Chief better than he knew himself. Well, she wasn't going to probe further, as chief had a bad temper that she didn't like witnessing, let alone be at the receiving end. So she remained quiet.

The silence between them, could cut through a tuber of yam. They sat there for a couple of minute before chief started making and receiving calls. This was the part she didn’t like, chief being on his phone. 

After about 20 Minutes of this, she had had enough and decided it was time to go. She wasn’t going to sit here and act like something was not wrong.

"And where are you going" Chief asked, putting his call on hold. Then he told the person on the other end that he would call back.

"Chief, you are not speaking to me and I know that something is wrong but you are not saying anything and the honourable thing to do is to leave". She replied.

"Since we are talking honourable, how honourable would you say you are"?

"I don’t understand chief"

"I know you won’t but I will let you understand. When were you going to tell me about your boyfriend"?

“What boyfriend she responded?” This was bad, she thought. How did he know? She had wanted to tell him about it and also use the opportunity to break it off but he beat her to it.

“My friend, stop asking me stupid questions. And what are you also doing with my son?”

Iyeke was confused, she had thought that chief was talking about his son but chief’s statement implied that he knows she was seeing someone else. In that moment, she tried to scan her brain to decipher who chief was talking about.

“You better not be going out with my son because you know that will be an abomination of the highest order”. Chief was now raising his voice and people were starting to look their way.

“Chief, can we go somewhere else to talk? People are starting to look at us”

Without looking at her, Chief Mezu got up from his seat and started heading outside. Iyeke sat there for a moment, then got up and started walking towards the door. She could feel thousands of eyes drilling holes into her. She could feel them judging her but she managed to reach the door and exhaled. It felt like she had been holding her breathe. She looked around for Chief’s car and saw it pulling out of his allocated parking space.

At first she was confused. Maybe that wasn’t his car but she ran towards the car anyway. She never made it to the car before it zoomed off. Everything seemed hazy and she had to sit down for a while. She couldn’t believe that chief had driven off without her. She opened her purse and took out her phone. She hadn’t been able to take out cash from the ATM and so had used the last cash on her to get a taxi to meet with Chief, so she knew there was no money.

She scrolled through her phone, wondering who she should call. Ordinary, she would have called Emem but their friendship had not being the same since their last meeting. Emem was now a different person and she knew their friendship will probably not stand the test of time.

How is it that she doesn’t have any other friends apart Emem and Nkem? As she was looking at her a phone, a deep voice called out to her.

“Need a ride Lady?”

She looked up and saw an unfamiliar but handsome face looking down at her from a Prado jeep.

“It’s okay, I’m fine. Thank you very much”. She replied.

“I don’t think you are fine because I have been watching you for a while. I can drop you off anywhere”.

Iyeke knew she was stranded and didn’t know who to call. She looked at the man again, he looked harmless and besides, he was cute. She got up from where she was sitting and moved towards the car. She would drop off a few blocks from her house, as she didn’t want anyone coming back to look for her.

“Can you please drop me at Ogba”? She pulled the seatbelt and buckled it.

“Not a problem, I stay at Magodo. Lanre is the name, what is yours?” He asked.

“Iyeke”. She replied.

“Nice to meet you”.

“The pleasure is all mine”. She said.

The rest of the drive was silent.

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“Bros, I really like Iyeke. I only wish I knew how she felt about me”.

Kene and Nkem were seated at a bar in Lekki, having a few drinks. 

“She makes me so unsure of myself and no girl has ever made me feel that way. Who is this girl and why does she make me feel this way?” Kene rambled on.

Nkem laughed. “Maybe it is because you have never had a girl say no to your advances”.

“No, I don’t think so. Remember Pamela refused my advances” Kene replied.

“Pamela didn’t know you were rich. Don’t you remember she started pestering you with calls when she found out”?

“Yeah”. They both laughed really hard. “Maybe, Iyeke doesn’t know I’m rich. I should tell her”. He laughed about it. His phone rang. He knew it was a text message and wanted to ignore but he decided against that and picked it up.

Kene jumped up the moment he read the text. This was not good at all. He turned to Nkem with a worried look and handed him the phone.

Nkem took the phone. Before he read the text, he knew who sent the text. He scrolled down to read the text.

“I have your girl, you know where to meet me”.

Nkem quickly brought out his phone and tried to call Iyeke’s number. It was switched off. He turned to Kene.

“What do you want to do bro?”

Kene just put his hand on his head and replied;

“Kill him” he said and stood up from where he was sitting. “The moment someone moves to family, it is war. Call the brothers” Kene said.