On their way home, not much was said because they sat inside a tricycle with another stranger. They rode quietly until they were dropped at the bus stop close to their home. As they got to the front of the gate, they bumped into mama ejima who greeted them with a smile but worry written all over her face. She asked the ladies if they were okay, after looking at Dupe’s condition. Mama ejima stared at Dupe for a while who held her shoes in her hands. Her scattered hair, floating in the air due to the wind that suddenly gusted around the neighborhood. When it became a little awkward, Yejide broke the silence and told mama ejima that they were fine. The woman looked at them one more time before leaving their sight. Yejide sighed and got into the compound with Dupe following behind. As they entered, they saw oga Lucas who was just walking towards the bathroom with a bucket of water in his hand. They tried as much as they could to not be seen by him because they were trying to avoid his tireless and endless conversations. They were not in the mood for his hyper behavior so they gently and quietly entered into their flat without being seen.
Yejide sat on her bed thinking of what to do next while Dupe looked around for what she could possibly eat. She opened the pots that lay on the table in their room to see if she would find anything but they were as dry as she predicted. She finally opened the fridge to fetch a bowl of stew she had made the afternoon before she got arrested. Even though it was very little, she thought it to be enough for a small meal for her and Yejide so she took some raw rice in a bowl and left for the kitchen. Yejide who had been sitting and thinking on the bed rubbed her eyes that were heavy with sleep. She thought she could fight it but she yawned and lay on the bed before drifting into a deep sleep. While she slept, she had a dream. A strange dream of a guy whose face she could not see. In the dream, she had been walking when she tripped over something which made her fall flat on the ground. Dupe hadn’t been around except for a guy who stretched out his hands towards her in order to help her back on her feet. She stared at the man with no face and hesitated to reach for his hand but when he saw this, he bent down close to her and still insisted that she grabbed his hand. She could only look at his face with fear and puzzlement, trying to figure out who he was but everything became even blurrier. She finally woke to Dupe eating beside her. She hadn’t been woken up but she had felt like something made her get up. Dupe asked if she was okay and Yejide told her about her dream. Dupe only laughed and said;
“Na african magic you dey watch for dream. I was even thinking you would say something better. Nor dey worry yourself joor. If hunger dey catch you. Food dey for pot. And your husband, oga Lucas sey make I greet you.”
Yejide didn’t expect less from her friend so she just hissed and laid back on the bed. In an instance, the dream was long forgotten just like the rest. So Yejide and her friend talked for a while before planning on how they would go about their business in the same brothel Yejide had gone to the previous night. As much as that was the last thing Yejide wanted to do, Dupe was always up to stimulate her. That night, when they got to the brothel, Yejide saw that there were more men at the bar than the night she was there. The two friends stared at each other before going to sit down amongst some other girls that were seated at a corner. Yejide was the first amongst them to get approached by a man who took her to one of the rooms. He was a younger man than the men she came across. He looked like he was just in his late twenties. The man did not immediately ask for sex when they went up to the room. Instead, he told Yejide to relax on the bed while he fetched her a glass of wine. Yejide who saw all these was surprised but didn’t want to object because she didn’t want to spoil her business so she did as she was told. She looked at the young man with confusion and a little fear in her eyes because this was the first time she had actually been treated that way by a man or rather a young guy. Yejide couldn’t help but wonder what was on his mind as he sat down close to her.
“So tell me about yourself?”
When Yejide heard this, she didn’t know if to laugh or cry at his question. She thought that it was some kind of a joke or he was drunk. He brought her to room for a reason but yet he was beating about the bush. She coughed out before telling him how uncomfortable she was with his question. He noticed this and so he moved closer to her, took the glass of wine and dropped aside before taking off her clothes. Yejide couldn’t help but feel very awkward with his behavior. He was particularly slow with everything. The other men would have jumped on her and done all they could with her body but it wasn’t like that for this young man. In order not to get confused, he wasn’t younger than Yejide, he was just younger than the other men she had been with.
To be continued…
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