Did I just shake hands with Chief Agbabiaka? The owner
of Agbabiaka Group of Companies?
“Yes oooo”
Deola responded, with a mischievous grin on her face.
I thought my question was in my head, I didn’t even
know I voiced it out.
I counted the wad that he had handed me and it was
twenty thousand Naira…crisp That night, Deola came clean with me and confirmed all my suspicions and others' insinuations. She told me the story of how she was fortunate to meet Chief Agbabiaka when she was at her wit’s end. Her parents were about to become homeless and she was going to forfeit her University admission the second year in a row because there was no money to pay her tuition and get her registered.
According to Deola, this was a man God sent to help her
and her family out of the hydra-headed money problems they had.
When the man later requested that they should
be dating, she just couldn’t say no. The man had done so much for her that she
needed to pay him back somehow…and since what he requested was available, she
handed it over on a platter of gold.
“Was I not
dating a young boy back then?
How did that help
my situation or solve my problems?
Was he not sleeping
with me for nothing?
Did I not allow him
deflower me based on blind love and empty promises?
This same guy took
a hike when we thought I had become pregnant…I saw the way he treated me. The
professed love dissipated fast.
Thank God I wasn’t
really pregnant…I would have been in real trouble.
With Chief, it is a
convenient and beneficial agreement
It’s the same
commodity; I just had to learn to use it to get out of the abject poverty that
plagued my family”
“But isn’t that
close to prostitution?” I interjected
Deola looked at me in astonishment but continued
“Was I standing
on the roadside when I met him?
Was I out to trade
my body for money? Of course not
It was a meeting
that fate orchestrated. I was busy sipping from the bitter cup that life had
handed me and simply walked into an oncoming vehicle’s path.
It was Chief
Agbabiaka’s car…his driver almost ran me over. It was so scary, I heard a
screech and the car bumped into me but not enough to hurt me…I actually thought
I had died.
I couldn’t stop
crying as I sat on the floor, in the middle of the road. The driver was equally
scared, he thought it was worse. Chief had to step out of his car to pull me up
and talk to me. He told me to ride with him. He wanted to take me to the
hospital but I wasn’t hurt…not even a scratch. He then ordered his driver to
drop me off wherever I was going.
He asked what my problem
was that made me cross the road without looking out for oncoming vehicles. I
couldn’t say much as I kept crying. He gave me some money, handed me his
business card and said I should come see him in his office. That was how I met
chief and the rest is history.
You may not want to
accept this but every woman does it…some are just done subtly.
Every woman trades
what she has for what she wants.
Some claim to only
sleep with their boyfriends because that’s who they want to marry…isn’t the
potential of getting married what they are exchanging for sex?”
“But He is
married; the whole world knows his wife…what if he doesn’t marry you?” I
asked again
“Well, I don’t know
but even if he doesn’t, he would have changed my status to the point where I
won’t marry a pauper and end up like my parents
Whatever happens,
it’s a win-win for me”
We talked for a long time that night and Deola opened
up to me some more. How chief completely changed her life. How she had been to
the United Kingdom, the United States of America, even a weekend visit to Paris courtesy of Chief.
All the money and gifts, how she was the one paying for her 2 younger siblings’
education, how she was the one paying her parents’ rent and taking care of her
father’s health bills after he suffered a stroke.
Deola must have noticed the way I was looking at her
and said
“I still have my
dignity; I don’t hop from bed to bed or date anybody else
If Chief ever let
go of me, I’m still way better than most of these campus girls jumping from one
broke boy’s bed to the other
Some of them have
slept with countless guys for nothing…but I had to do what I had to do and I
have no regrets whatsoever”
I sighed heavily as I processed the information. Most
of the things she said made sense to me but I wasn’t sure I could ever do it.
The following day, I paid Mr. Sesan the money he had
demanded to fix my score…I remember raining curses on the money before taking
it to him. I felt like he robbed me but I was helpless.
I still had a lot of money left; I don’t think I had
ever owned that much money in my life, before that day.
I took Deola out for
lunch because I didn’t know what to give her and while we were eating, she
asked what I was wearing to the weekend party.
“I’m not sure I
want to go o
I just said yes
because I couldn’t bring myself to say otherwise
I was caught up in
the moment and overwhelmed so I had to say yes to Chief”
I could tell Deola was not very happy with what I said…I
quickly begged her not to be mad at me and that I would think about it.
“Better…if you choose
to go, I have the perfect dress for you. But I won’t let you see it unless you
are going and until we are leaving” She responded
“Haba! Let me
see the dress now” I whined but she insisted that she wouldn’t show me.
All week I was devising a way to avoid the party
without incurring Deola’s anger. I didn’t want her to see me as “knowing how to
eat from it, but not wanting to be part of it”. I later decided to tell her that my mum asked me to come. I would stage it as if I got the call that morning and since she knew my mum’s condition she wouldn’t stop me from going.
Friday evening, after we got back from our classes,
Deola told me to come with her and we drove to a beauty salon off campus. It was a
pampering session as we went through the entire beauty regimen…hair, nails; it
was my first time having a professional manicure and pedicure. I looked totally
different in a good way and almost couldn’t believe my eyes.
When we got back, Deola made a call…she didn’t tell me
who she was calling but it wasn’t long before I could tell she had called
Sister Grace. She said she wanted to say hi and find out how mama was doing.
She also added that she needed my sister’s permission because she was thinking
of visiting her uncle that weekend and wanted me to come along. My sister
granted the permission and they talked some more; Deola then passed the phone
to me...
© 2017 Lanre Olagbaju All Rights Reserved
2 comments:
Interesting!
Deola is way smarter than the narrator.
Thanks for posting.
Being away for a while...good job Lanre... More and more episodes plsss.. Thumbs up for u!
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