Bitch – Batch 8

EPISODE 35

After a quick shower, Taofeek quickly dressed
up in a black p-nt trousers and purple long
sleeve packet shirt, he indeed looked really
smart even with out wearing the matching
jacket of the trousers.
He sat on his bed in the guest room of Zainab
house and pulled the trolley box he had
brought with him to Nigeria closer. He turned
the box in a way it lay on its back and then
input the combination: 3210, with a sharp
click, the box swung open.
Just like he knew exactly what he was looking
for and where exactly it was, he lifted two pair
of jeans and a polo shirt then brought out the
mini suitcase which laid under the clothes and
then went ahead to unzip the top layer of the
box and brought out a brown file that was
almost as thick as a regular James Hadley
Chase novel. He sighed at the sight of the file
and peeped in,side the file as if to confirm the
contents. Satisfied, he closed the box and
push it back to the former position then he
picked up the file and pull out all the
doc-ments in it.
The file contained about eight copies of his C-
V and many other doc-ments… Both originals
and photocopies. It was obvious he had
already sorted his credentials earlier.
He took four copies of his C-V and a couple of
some important doc-ments he guessed he
might need and then placed them neatly in
the suitcase which he had already opened
down. He stood up, dropped the file and the
remain contents on the bed-side table and
picked up his suitcase. He had a quick glance
of himself at the mirror and nodded in
approval as he saw he looked like someone
who meant business.
He left the house leaving the key under the
doormat with a note on the table for Zainab
which said: I am off to look for a job, I don’t
know if I’ll be able to make it home tonight so
I’ll call you if I can or can’t later on.
* * * * *

Sitting in his office, behind his desk, Boniface
grinned as he saw a new BBM friend invite. He
had emailed Zainab his pin few minutes ago
so all arrows pointed to the conclusion that
Zainab was the one who sent the invite.
His office was in every definition of the word
elegant. Every piece of the wood in it which
included the chair he sat on, the table and the
bookshelf at the corner, was Ivorian. The entire
floor of the office was tiled with a dark brown
cheetah skin patterned tile and the ceiling
wasn’t the usual white ceiling plates but some
assorted plastic-like ceiling plates which only
made the office look like it was owned by a
very wealthy oil mogul.
Boniface accepted the invite without any
hesitations and sent a “hi :)” message to her
which Zainab replied immediately. He grinned
at this and then plugged his phone to the
charger which was always plugged to the wall
socket, the last thing he need now was his
battery to run down.
He leaned back and replied with: I’m pretty
good, how about you?
“I am fine.” Zainab replied.
Boniface shrugged at the reply which seemed
kind of cold, but he didn’t let that get in his
way. He decided to play it slow then went
ahead to ask her about her night, day and
stuffs like that, within minutes, they were
chatting like they have been friends for years
and even Zainab couldn’t help but notice how
fun he was to chat with.
Just when she least expected it, he sent a
message that she had expected but was still
somehow surprised.
“Can I take you out for dinner tonight?” He
asked bluntly.

* * * * *
Jummy was more of shocked than surprised.
She had been on her computer working since
and John didn’t call, but the moment she
decided to open the ring box he suddenly
called, it didn’t seem like a coincidence but
she couldn’t think of any other explanation.
She contemplated on picking the call and
came to the conclusion that it was best she
didn’t pick it but after four ignored calls and a
text message which said: please pick up, with
a sad smiley attached to it, she changed her
mind and picked up.
She kept quiet.
“Hello,” John said in an expressionless tone.
“Yea? What’s it?”
“Have you checked the box?” John asked.
“Yes I have, and I’m going to send it back to
you as soon as I have the time to.”
“No… No… Please don’t. Just keep it. I bought
it as a gift for you and it won’t be fair if you
return it.” John said and Jummy could sense
he was literally begging.
“I’m going to return it, and that’s final.”
Jummy said unmoved.
John sighed, “errr… Jummy.”
“What?!” She yelled.
“Can I ask you for a small favor?” John asked
politely.
“No you can’t John! I did a lot of favors for
you and look at where I landed. Please I don’t
want to have anything to do with you again,
and if you are so dumb that you have figured
it by now, the reply to the deal you proposed
is no… Capital N O!!!.” Jummy replied
scre-ming, the veins on her neck were already
protruding and it was highly obvious she was
pissed, “goodbye and please don’t call…”
“Wait!” John cut in, “please don’t hang up
yet. I really need to talk with you, just once,
please Jummy. If all the times we spent
together meant anything to you please say
yes, I just want to talk.”
“Talk? Talk about what? So far you have been
doing all the talking, its my time to talk and
you still want to talk more?”
John didn’t quite get what Jummy meant by
that, she was beginning to sound like a heart
broken teenager rather than the adult she was.
“Jummy, I love you! I’m willing to do anything
just to spend five minutes with you.”
Jummy bursted out in an uncontrollable
laughter. “Love me? Do you even know what
love means?!”
“Yes! I do. And that’s why I need to talk to
you to tell you and show you how much I love
you.”
“John, please don’t make me laugh too much
before my lungs start to ache. You know
nothing about love, I gave you my all in all
and you treated me like trash, is that love?”
Jummy asked, suddenly feeling the urge to
cry.
“Jumoke, I love you and would do anything for
you. For starters, I’ve chased Samuel out of
my house.”
That got Jummy’s attention.
“What did you say?” She asked in a lower
tone.

EPISODE 36

“Bow down to me and I won’t destroy your
land!” A man on a horse said. He was of the
black race and had a funny looking piece of
metal on his head which was assumed to be a
crown.
“Never!!!” The person he was talking to
scre-med in response, “my people would
rather die and bow down to you!”
“Hmmm… Very well then. You shall all perish
before night fall!” He turned back to his
second in command who was patiently waiting
for an order and said the three words he had
been waiting to hear in a while, “Kill them all.”
The second in command just smiled and
bowed in response. He looked over his
shoulder to have a quick glance at the
millions of blood thirsty soldiers who were
ready to kill and with the loudest voice he
could conjure, he scre-med, “attack!!!”
And then Henry stepped in and scre-med,
“cut!!!” Just like that, the lights were turned
on and the actors on the stage all stood and
turned to wait for Henry’s directions.
Henry glanced at his wristwatch, “take ten you
all, when we come back, we would stage the
war.”
The actors all mumbled words of agreement
and stepped out of the stage to rest and so
other stuffs before the shooting continued.
Henry on the other hand turned went to the
extreme right corner of the studio to seat. A
table and chair had been placed there and it
was his supposed office during the shooting of
the movie. TOP believed that giving his office
in his studio would make him think more
about the movie and produce a better content.
After making slight adjustments to the script
and handing it going through it, he raised his
head and starred at the door of the studio. He
was worried. Zainab was supposed to be here
and she hadn’t even passed by once. Was she
avoiding him? He asked himself but
immediately responded in the negative, he had
done nothing wrong yet so there was no
reason for her to avoid him.
He decided to go and check on her in her
office for the second time that day.
He dropped the scripts and the little
microphone attached to his shirt and headed
to her office. He got there soon enough and
instead of knocking or entering straight up, he
stood at her window for a while, just admiring
her.
In the real sense, she wore a dark green skirt
which could be mistaken for black if not
looked at properly and a light green top with
a s€×y looking dark green jacket to match. She
initially wore black heels but after considering
the discomfort it rendered to her, she removed
it and replaced it with a flat she had brought
from home. Henry notice all this and even
more noticed that she was concentrating on
her phone so deeply that she didn’t even
notice he had been standing at her window for
nothing less than five minutes.
He thought clearly of his approach, he could
approach angrily asking her why she wasn’t
present at his shoot or he could go in warmly
and crack a couple of jokes… He decided to go
with the latter.
He knock just once and without waiting for a
response he barged in to the office. “I’ve
always wondered why women loved to stress
their selves. Why bother where a high heeled
shoe to work if you would change to a flat
once you get to the office?” Henry asked as he
walked to the chair.
Zainab was startled at first but almost
immediately gained her compulsure back, “I’ve
always wondered why you don’t ever wait for
me to invite you in when ever you knock. You
just barge in, you may as well not knock at
all…” She mischievously replied.
Henry wanted to fire back but Zainab response
had put in on a tight s₱0t and he had no
reply, he just smiled and changed the topic. “I
was expecting you at the studio but you never
showed up?” He said in a tone that made it
seem more like a question that a regular
statement.
Zainab quickly sent Boniface a “cwyl,”
message which meant Chat With You Later,
and dropped her phone. Without any argument
or mischievous reply which Henry had
expected she stood up and said, “I’m sure you
still have thirty minutes left, so let’s go.”
Henry remained in his seat, looking surprised.
* * * * * *

As he stepped out of a four story building IT
company which specialized in providing
internet services for firms and individuals,
Taofeek was pretty sure he would receive a
call from them within the next twenty four
hours.
He had just dropped his C.V with the
personnel manager on the third floor and even
though the receptionist on the ground floor
had told him there was no job vacancy, he felt
that with a C.V like his, someone would be
sacked so as him to to replaced.
He had two degrees from Canada number one
university and another from Oxford in England,
let alone the different professional degrees he
got from both online courses and from Yale
and Harvard. How and why he attend all these
schools still surprised and better yet annoyed
his dad up till present. All his dad wanted was
for him to get a B. Sc and join the family
company but due to Taofeek keen interest in
education, he had gone ahead to bag a B.Sc,
masters, Ph. D and an endless list of degrees
from the best universities he could lay his
hands on. Then to top it all he had more than
enough working experience as a manager in
one of his father companies which happened
to be a very huge and popular IT company
too. So when he expected them to call in 24
hours, he was bragging or trying to sound
c*cky.
That was the third company he had dropped
his C. V in that afternoon and decided to head
over to the last company which was at the
other side of the Lagos Island to drop his last
one before trying to look for an
accommodation. He didn’t like the fact that he
stayed with Zainab as that indirectly put a
pause to his search for independence. He
knew Zainab cared too much about him that
she would ask him tonnes of questions each
day after he comes back from work, he wasn’t
ready for that, he had already answered more
than enough questions during his years of
acquiring the degrees which rested
comfortably in the suitcase held firmly.
Taofeek headed to the bustop and waited
patiently for a taxi, after waiting for a short
while, one stopped at his front.
“Where you dey go?” The driver asked staring
at his through the rare view mirror.
In his foreign American accent, Taofeek
replied, “shey you know where Christ Embassy
dey?”
The driver was angry at first thinking it was
just a joke considering the fact that there were
thousands of Christ Embassy churches all
around but after turning to face Taofeek
directly and see his face was straight, he
assumed Taofeek just didn’t know what he
was saying. “Which one?” He calmly asked.
Taofeek had google possible IT companies all
around Lagos island where he could drop his
C.V and although others had a specific
address, the last one – the one he was about
to head to didn’t have one. Rather, a phone
number and direction to a Christ Embassy
church was on their website. The only reason
Taofeek was interested in them was the
amazing salary range they offered.
He picked up his phone and checked his saved
pages on his browser where he had saved the
website of the company and handed it over to
the driver.
The driver took it and starred at it for a few
seconds then looking confused, he turned to
Taofeek and asked, “you wan dash me your
phone abi wetin?”
It occurred to Taofeek that the driver could
either not read or had no idea what to do with
the phone, he took it back and gave him the
comprehensive address of the church.
“So na wetin you no fit talk since be that
shey?” The driver asked in disgust as he heard
the address and knew it, and it was also
obvious Taofeek was a “JJC” aka Johnny Just
Come, so the driver decided to make some
extra cash of him, “oya enter make we dey go,
your money na one thousand naira for thirty
minutes oh!”
Taofeek bursted out into an uncontrollable
laughter. He couldn’t exactly believe the driver
though he could cheat him that much. He
didn’t know the price but he was sure that
Nigeria drivers don’t charge based on time
but distance and here this driver was telling
him to pay half hourly… Simply ridiculous.
“Oga, if na play you wan use me play, abeg
carry you scatter scatter car commot my front
make better person come, na five hundred I go
pay for the wh0le journey, if you no gree, dey
go abeg!” Taofeek replied, and although he
still sounded funny with his American accent,
the driver could easily tell he was serious and
he knew what he was doing.
“Oya make we leave am as one thousand
naira, I no fit take five hundred for this kind
long journey.” The driver replied.
“I no get one thousand oh, you go take eight
hundred naira?”
The driver sighed, the original fee was actually
six hundred naira, “oya enter.” He said and
Taofeek entered.
The driver deliberately spent and extra fifteen
minutes on the road taking a longer road
instead of the usual shorted road to make the
journey seem longer and in his naiveté,
Taofeek had no idea all he wanted to do was
get there on time so he could do what he had
to do and then go house hunting before night
fall.
The driver eventually arrived at the destination
and after pointing at the Christ Embassy
church across the road, he took the money
and zoomed away happy over the extra two
hundred naira he had just ripped of Taofeek.
Taofeek on the other had stood on the road
side, carefully scanning the environment with
his eyes and searching for a huge building
that could possibly be the IT company
considering they paid that much, he expected
the company to be huge. He saw none.
He picked up his phone once more and dialed
the number on the their website. After the
third ring the call was picked.
“E gbon, ta lon soro?” The recipient said as
soon as he picked the call.
“I beg your pardon?” Taofeek said in response,
“please is this Ginger net?” He added.
The recipient immediately readjusted and
switched from his initial Yoruba to queens
english, “yes, sorry about my earlier response,
how may I help you?”
Taofeek sensed something suspicious about
that but just played along, “I saw on your
website that you guys were employing new
staffs and I also saw an address to your
company so I followed to the address and I’m
right where the address in the website says
but I can’t find your company.”
The recipient went silent for a while as if he
was trying to think of what to say or was
whispering to some one in the back ground,
after a few seconds he replied, “sorry for the
inconviniences. Ginger net is a new IT
company in Nigeria and we operate in the a
different way. We love to treat or staffs in a
special way and at the same time be
anonymous, thus the address on the website.
We would send a driver in a car to pick you up
in a few minutes so please just hold on a
while and put your phone on standby.”
Taofeek was confused but impressed at their
style of operation, “okay, I’ll wait.” He said
excitedly.
But maybe he shouldn’t have waited.

EPISODE 37 .
They say change is the only thing in life that’s
really constant… How true is that? Do people
really change?
* * * * *
Jummy was shocked. Even though she had
been putting up the I-don’t-give-a-f–k
attitude and acting like she didn’t care about
John, the feelings she had for him hadn’t
faded.
John at the other end of the line smile at how
Jummy reacted when he said he had chased
Samuel out of his house… Truth be told, he
really did.
“I said I’ve chased Samuel out of my house, he
was a bad influence to me and it took nearly
loosing you to realize that. Jummy I can’t
really tell you how much I’m sorry, but please
you’ve got to let me show you.” John said and
waited for a response but got non.
Jummy kept quiet.
“How about dinner? Say tonight?” John
suggested.
In Jummy’s head, she was thinking hærd. Has
he truly changed? Should I forgive him? What
would Zainab say? Should I risk this? Were the
questions she asked herself in quick
successions without even attempting to
answer anyone.
“Okay.” She finally blurted without even
thinking.
“Great! I’ll pick you up from your place by
nine.” John said and before Jummy could
reply or rethink her reply, he hung up.
* * * * *
Taofeek wasn’t smiling anymore. The Ginger
net agent he called had told him to wait just
for a few minutes for a car to come and pick
him, but he had already waited for nothing
less than fourty-five minutes and no sign of
the car yet.
If this is the way they truly operate, I don’t
think I’ll want to work here anymore, he said
to himself as he started trying to wave down
the cab that was already coming so that he
would go home.
The supposed cab stop alright but something
different happened. The driver wore a blue
p-nt trouser and white packet shirt, he
certainly didn’t look like a regular taxi driver.
“Mr Taofeek?” The driver asked as Taofeek
bent over to tell him where he was heading to.
“Urmm… Yea, how did you know that?” Taofeek
asked, totally forgetting about Ginger net.
“I’m the driver sent from Ginger net to take
you to our main office.” The driver said. “Sorry
for being late, there was a little police road
block when I was coming, I’m sure they would
have gone by now though, so don’t worry
about the traffic anymore.”
Taofeek ‘hmmmed and haaaed’ as the driver
explained. “Okay, it alright. I understand.” He
finally replied.
“Okay, please get into the car.” The driver said
with a smile Taofeek found so warm and
inviting. “I’m Bruce by the way.” He said as
Taofeek opened the door for the right back
seat, or ‘owner’s seat’ as commonly called.
“Nice meeting you Bruce.” Taofeek replied.
A few small talks and twenty minutes, was all
it took for them to arrive at their destination.
Bruce parked the car just across the street
and waited for Taofeek to step out of the car
to come and join him at the other side of the
road.
Before coming out of the car, Taofeek scanned
the building with his eyes.
It was an unpainted one story building with a
‘tipper’ of sand at the front which signified the
building was still under construction even
though he could see a couple of light bulbs
through some windows. The only sign that
made him know he was in the right place were
the two hand bill which were pasted on the
gate. Both hand bills were identical and
written in red rom-ns-new font was –
WELCOME TO GINGER NET.
Taofeek felt something was wrong but before
he could actually think much about it, Bruce
saw his facial impression and explained.
“We are a new company and haven’t really
even started operations. We don’t want to
waste much time that’s why we are already
employing even though we are yet to finish
our building, but as you can see, very little
work is left.”
The explanation made sense to Taofeek, “okay,
very well, may we proceed?” He asked and
followed suit as Bruce lead the way into the
building.
* * * * *
Boniface wasn’t surprised when instead of
replying him on his offer to take her to dinner,
Zainab had sent him a ‘cwyl’ reply.
Women! He sighed. Why aren’t they never
straight forward?
He dropped his phone and went down to
business. He was making a research for a new
case he had in his palm. After Zainab’s case
which spread round the media like wild fire,
his clients multiplied by two and more
technical cases started coming in.
The particular case he was handling at the
moment wasn’t so technical as it involved just
land ownersh¡p so he assumed it was the best
time to get in touch with the one lady he just
couldn’t get why she was in his head –
Zainab.
He leaped for joy as he saw the light led on
his phone blink a light blue light, just as he
had set his BBM messages.
He minimized the screen on his computer and
grabbed his phone with high hopes.
“Sorry, but I’ve got other plans for tomorrow
night.” Was the reply he saw from Zainab on
BBM.
He wanted to push it and ask more questions,
but he thought it would be better to let this
time go and take it slow, after all he had all
the time in the world, or so he thought.
“Okay, cool. So what are you doing now?” He
asked, trying to change the topic.
“Nothing much. Just staring at the actors
wearing funny looking costumes as the act a
movie.”
“Sounds interesting. You are a director at TOP
right?”
“Yes, how did you know?”
“I know a lot of things… I have my ways.”
Zainab sighed, Boniface hadn’t changed much
after all just like she had thought. He was still
c*cky and so full of himself.
“Okay oh. How about you? What are you
doing?” Zainab asked.
“Nothing interesting. Just googling some
people to have a basic background knowledge
of them.” He replied.
Zainab was about to type a reply when Henry
walked up to her. “Are you going to be pinging
all day?” He wasn’t smiling.
“What na? You wanted me to come here even
though you had everything under control and I
obliged.” Zainab complained.
“I wanted you to come here and see what we
were doing so I can get your professional
opinion on the movie. This is my first movie
and I don’t want to mess it up.” Henry replied.
“Oh! I see. You should have just said that na.
I thought you just liked see my cute face.”
Zainab said with a wink and the dropped her
phone, she looked up at Henry, “are you sure
you want my PROFESSIONAL advice on this
movie?”
“Of course!” Henry replied.
“Okay then. For starters, why is the crown of
the supposed king and ruler of the world so
ugly?” Zainab asked mischievously.
Henry turned to look at the crown which was
still on the head of the actor and back at
Zainab. “Hmmm… You have a good point.” He
said. “But if that is just for ‘starters’ I’m not
sure if I’ll want to hear the other
PROFESSIONAL advice.” He said, emphasizing
on professional.
* * * * *
The in,side of the building was quiet
impressive in contrast to the unpainted
exterior. It was tiled all through, but it was
painted white as if it was an hospital and not
a regular IT company.
Bruce took Taofeek to where looked like an
hospital reception with the long rows of chairs
at the front of a counter and he then
instructed Taofeek to take a seat while he
went to call his boss.
Taofeek sat and in the few minutes he was
alone, he looked around and the building
looked indeed more like an hospital. He could
sense something was wrong but he another
part of him suggested maybe the building was
formally intended to be a hospital but bought
by Ginger Net or maybe it was just the work of
a horrible architect.
Few minutes later. A man in jeans and polo
materialized before Taofeek. He looked a few
years older that Taofeek and his smile was
warmer and more welcoming than Bruce’s.
He stretched his hand forward to Taofeek.
“Hello… Good afternoon.” He said.
“Good afternoon.” Taofeek replied as he waited
for an introduction. He had been here for quite
some time and all he had seen was Bruce, a
new face was welcomed.
“I’m Mr. Dapo or may just call my Mr Ginger if
you wish.” His smile grew w¡der as he felt
what he just said was smart.
“Hmmm… Nice to meet you sir.” Taofeek
replied.
“Okay, enough of the talk, let’s head down to
my office and get this over with.” Mr. Dapo
said, and lead the way.
They walked into a long corridor with nothing
less than four doors at both sides and finally
stopped at the third door by the left. Mr. Dapo
opened the door and walked in.
The office was nothing spectacular. A table,
three chairs and a desktop computer.
“Have your seat please.” Mr. Dapo said and
Taofeek gracefully sat down after saying thank
you.
“Just so you know, I’m the owner of this
company and I want it to succeed so I
interview all staffs myself so as to be sure
what I want is what I get. And I like to know
all I can about my staffs so kindly answer all
my questions truthfully. Understood?”
Taofeek nodded in response.
“So what’s your full name?”
“Dauda Taofeek.”
“Where are you based?”
“I just moved into the country, but I currently
stay with my sister at festac.”
“Where were you based?”
“Canada.”
Mr. Dapo shrugged at smiled at the mention
of Canada but he quickly straightened his face
before Taofeek noticed.
“Why did you move back to Nigeria?”
“I’m truly Nigerian and thought it was best to
come back here and help in the growth of my
country rather than another’s man country.”
“What did you work as in the Canada?”
“I was the manager of the IT branch of D****
company.”
Mr. Dayo rose an eyebrow. His brain just gave
him a thought. “Wait a minute,” he said doing
a horrible job at disguising the surprise in his
tone. “I’ve heard about the D**** company and
its owned by a Mr. Dauda. And you told me
your surname is Dauda too, is it just a
coincidence?”
Taofeek was getting uncomfortable with this
line of questioning. What has all this got to do
with him working in Ginger Net? He wondered.
“No… Mr. Dauda is my father actually.” He
replied.
Mr. Dayo nearly jumped out of his seat as he
had just won a lottery. He had gotten more
than enough information and was convinced
the Taofeek was the right man for the job…
The problem is, it wasn’t the kind of job
Taofeek was expecting.
Mr. Dayo stood up from his seat and went
over to the back of Taofeek. He brought out
his handkerchief from his b—-t pocket and
without any warning, he placed it on Taofeek’s
nose and held on tight to him.
The handkerchief was drugged and in no time
Taofeek became drowsy and stopped
struggling. Before he passed out, he caught a
glimpse of Mr. Dayo still smiling face and he
heard three words.
Welcome to hell.

EPISODE 38

True to his words, John appeared at the front
of Jummy’s house by Nine PM. He did the
sign of the cross and murmured a silent
prayer before pressing the door bell. He
waited for a few seconds and when he got no
response, he pressed the bell once again… The
door swung open just as he was about to
press it the third time.
Jummy stood before John, looking the hottest
she had ever been… Or well, that’s what John
thought. She had on a custom made black
Louis Vuiton dress that looked like it had been
sown on her body because it fitted her
perfectly. And just to complement her blue
Gucci shoe, she held a small Prada purse of
the same color as the shoe. In the purse was
a few N1000 notes which she didn’t plan on
spending unless the date goes totally wrong,
in other words, it was her “Vex-Money”,
meaning the money she would use to settle
her bills and go home if John somehow got
her vexed. Typical Jummy.
John stared at Jummy totally spell bound for
over a wh0le minute, it took Jummy’s “are we
going to stand here all day” statement to snap
him back to reality.
“No… No… Pardon my manners. I was just…”
John cleared his throat thinking of the right
word to describe what just happened to him.
“I was just wondering how I’ll protect myself
tonight.” He concluded.
Jummy looked confused. “Protect yourself?”
“Yea, with your current dazzling looks, I’m
sure people would stare at you all night long
and get jealous and I don’t want that because
the next thing they would plan is how to get
rid of me so the can take over.” John kept
quiet afterwards and turned on his best smile
hoping Jummy would get his point. She did.
“Well the first step is getting me into your car
quickly, so the neighbors won’t see me.”
Jummy replied grinning.
“Oh! That’s true.” John replied and led the
way to beat-up FORMERLY red Beetle or
Tortoise Car as commonly called. The car had
terrible scratches and needed a thorough body
work, it looked like something that had just
been picked from the dumpster. John opened
a door and ushered Jummy in,side.
“What is this?” Jummy asked. Not really sure
if she should be annoyed or confused.
“What?” John asked, trying to look sincerely
confused.
“Where is your car?”
“This is it na,” John replied, grinning widely
and pointing at the car at his front.
“No! Asin where is your car, because if this is
a joke, it ain’t funny anymore.” Jummy was
clearly irritated at this point.
“Why don’t you enter first and I’ll tell you the
wh0le story on our way to the restaurant.”
Jummy contemplated on his suggestion and
even though she hated the wh0le idea, she
decided to just give him the benefit of doubt.
She entered the horrible looking car.
John quickly went over to the drivers seat and
they were on the road within seconds, Jummy
was surprised the car could even start.
“So what’s your story?” Jummy asked coldly.
John sighed. “Well, its a long story and it
might sound stupid to you but the first thing
you should know is, I’m sort of broke at the
moment.”
Jummy laughed uncontrollably, with John’s
family wealth and chain of companies, it was
literally impossible for him to be broke. “What
do you mean?”
“After our little situation. I kind of decided to
make some changes in my life to prove to you
that I’m a changed man.”
“I’m listening,” Jummy said.
“For starters, it was difficult but as I’ve stated
before: I chased Samuel out of my place, then
I moved out of the place too because I could
afford to maintain it anymore.” John suddenly
hit the brakes to avoid a reckless “Keke
Marowa” (a tricyle) driver who obviously
didn’t horn before trying to overtake the
Beatle.
Normally, in such situation, Jummy would
have cursed the living hell out of the driver
but she was in a different world of hers, trying
to understand what John was talking about.
“What do you mean?” She asked, to urge him
to continue his story.
“Well, I read on one gossip blog about how
Zainab’s brother, Toafeek, left his palace at
Canada to come and hustle in Nigeria all in
the name of independence, and I was
touched.”
Jummy sighed. She had no f—–g idea how
the blogs got to know about that even though
only her and Zainab were meant to know. It
was shocking and she made a mental note not
to downgrade the quality of Nigerian Blog
news anymore.
“Touched?” She finally asked.
“Yes. I mean, it was very stupid and
unrealistic of the guy to do that and a fully
breed Nigerian would never do such but I
guess Toafeek isn’t really a Nigerian
considering he had spent his wh0le life abroad
so I guess that explains that.”
“You haven’t told me how or why you are
broke yet.” Jummy said.
“Well I did something similar to him. I felt that
all my life, I’ve been under my dads umbrella
and I too, just like Taofeek want to be
independent.”
Jummy opened her mouth in shock. “So you
just dropped everything and …”
“Drop everything? No oh! I’m not as dumb as
Taofeek. I took enough money to start a new
business or so I thought. I wanted to invest in
what I know how to do best which is Clothing
and Textile so I literally stole a ridiculous
amount from the family’s account and
invested it in the company but I guess I
undermined the cost of starting a company on
my own. So I had to take loans and sell my
car to balance the costs, that’s why I’m riding
this thing now.”
Jummy was speechless. She was wondering
what’s wrong with all these men who were
going solo and leaving the family business
without proper consultations. Is that the new
trend? She wondered.
“Why didn’t you just go back to the family’s
account and take more money?” She asked.
“My dad was mad at me so to make sure I
don’t do what you just suggested, he made a
few calls to the bank and I’m sure you know
what that means.”
Jummy looked at John and somehow, she
could see his sincerity and determination to
impress her, although she didn’t quite get how
he expected being broke to look impressive.
“I don’t care if you are broke or not. You are
still going to pay for this dinner!” Jummy said
and they both bursted out in laughter.

**********@@@@@**********

SPLASH!!! Was all Taofeek needed to wake up.
He could feel something liquid on his face and
entire body as a wh0le.
With his eyes closed, he started pondering
what the hell was going on around him but he
seemed to have forgotten everything, even his
name so he had to focus on himself and
started murmuring words to himself.
What’s my name? Tayo? No, Picnic? No,
Trojan? Hell no! Jim Iyke? No! He smiled. It
starts with a T, he thought and then it
suddenly popped into his head. Toafeek!
Okay, good, so where the hell am I? He asked
himself once again but before he could think
about it… SPLASH!!! And bucket of water was
poured on his face.
He instinvely attempted to open his eyes and
it took a while for his sight to get accustomed
to the dark room which only source of light
was a 60 watts yellow bulb which seemed to
be powered by a low current power source.
With a failed attempt at trying to see who was
pouring water at him, he decided to at least
look at his environment, sadly, there wasn’t
much to see. All that was in the room was the
chair he sat on, the bulb and a fan that made
a loud squeaking sound and was spinning at
an annoyingly slow speed… He wondered why
they even bothered to switch on the fan.
“Hello Taofeek.” He heard a voice say and for
a moment, he thought it was just his
imagination.
“How are you doing?” The voice said again,
this time, Toafeek was sure it wasn’t his
imagination.
“Where am I? Who are you?” Toafeek asked, he
intended to yell, but didn’t have enough
energy to do so.
“Straight to the point hun? I like that. Anyway,
I’m Mr Dayo, like I stated a few hours ago and
I can’t tell you exactly where you are because
that would spoil the fun.”
“What am I doing here?”
“I thought you were smart? You have been
kidnapped but don’t to worry, I’ll make sure
you aren’t harmed… Well, that’s if you
cooperate with us. And firstly, you have to tell
me your phone password so we can make
contact with your celebrity sister so she can
send the ransom and we can let you go.”
Suddenly, Taofeek recalled everything, starting
from when he was seeking a job to him
walking into a suppose Ginger Net and the a
Mr Dayo placing a handkerchief on his nose…
That was all he could remember. The last
words of Mr Dayo rang in his head “welcome
to hell” so he tried to stand up from the chair,
it was only then he realized he was tied down
to the chair. He struggled and struggled but
the rope seemed to be getting tighter.
It was clear he had no other option. “The
password is 3210.”

**********@@@@@**********

The day ended pretty well for Zainab. She and
Henry had spent almost the wh0le day
together at work and she had enjoyed his
company, he had a good sense of humor so
she ended up laughing till tears rolled down
her cheeks.
As she stepped into her car, Henry had
reminded her of their date later on that night
and she tried asking him for the details but he
had refused to tell her, saying it was a
surprise and she should dress simple.
She sighed and drove home in anticipation of
what Henry had planned.
She got home by 6PM which only meant she
had less than two hours to prepare for the
date. She walked into the bathroom and took
a long thirty minutes shower, making sure she
scrubbed every sweat pore properly, then she
went to the kitchen and fixed herself a cereal,
she didn’t take anything heavy just in case
Henry’s surprise plan involved eating dinner.
She was for the date ready within the next
hour and by 8:00PM sharp she was already
with her purse and waiting for the bell to ring,
signifying Henry’s arrival.
By 8:05PM the door bell went life and Zainab
ran to the door and unlocked the door.
“You are late!” She said.
“Yea, I was at your door post by 7:50PM, I
didn’t want to seem to desperate so I decided
to wait a few minutes before I pressed the
bell.” Henry winked.
Zainab couldn’t help but smile, the date was
just starting and Henry was already cracking
jokes. She had a good feeling about the date.
“Well, now that you’ve told me your intentions,
you look pretty desperate. So I guess you plan
didn’t work.” Zainab replied grinning.
“You make it sound like you aren’t in my
shoes too.”
“How?” Zainab asked.
“Look at you! I didn’t have to even press the
bell twice before you opened the door. It was
as if you were standing at the door waiting for
me to arrive.”
Zainab cheeks went red in embarrassment.
“May we proceed?” She said to change the
topic.
“No!” Henry replied abruptly.
“Why?”
“You are over dressed for where I’m taking you
to. I told you to dress simple and by simple, I
meant just a jean and a top not a fancy
Made-In-Tokyo dinner dress.” Henry replied
looking serious.
“You know you are a pain in the butt right?”
Zainab said as she walked back into the house
and let Henry through.
“Yes, I know I am. Now, can you do me a
favour and go and change into a simple jean
and top?”
Zainab didn’t bother replying. She just did as
told, obviously pissed… Normally she would
have cancelled the date on that s₱0t, but
there was just something about Henry she
couldn’t resist and then she was really curious
about what he had planned for the night.
Few minutes later, Zainab materialized before
Henry wearing a jean and top. “Shall we?” She
asked.
“How do you do It?” Henry asked.
“Do what?”
“I told you to wear a jean and top thinking
you would look less fabulous but here you are,
looking more fabulous than ever. Can you do
me a small favour?” He asked.
Zainab was now over blushing, her cheeks
were fiery red and she could literally feel her
head swelling… Like literally.
“What favour?” She asked, hoping Henry didn’t
notice her blushing.
“Can you change back into the gown?”
Zainab couldn’t hold it anymore, she bursted
into an uncontrollable laughter and Henry
joined her.
“Just kidding,” he said. “Now can we start
going?”
“Sure… Of course.” She replied puntuating her
laughter with the response.
They both left the house and entered Henry’s
car. He switched on the car and did
something very strange. He drove for a few
seconds and pressed the horn at the front of
his home gate. The security guard came out
almost immediately and opened the gate for
him to drive in.
Zainab couldn’t help but stare in confusion.
“Are we changing cars or what?” She asked.
“Nope… I have just one car na. What gave you
that impression?”
“Errr… Shouldn’t we be heading to wherever
you are taking me to and not parking your car
in you compound?”
“This is ‘wherever I’m taking you to. Just
follow my lead.” He said.
Zainab wanted to protest but didn’t. This date
just got quite interesting she thought.
The both walked into the house and Henry
took her to the kitchen. She sat on a chair
staring at him as he filled a pot with water
and placed it on the fire.
“What are you doing?” She asked.
“I’m boiling the pot.” He said sarcastically.
“No, seriously? Shouldn’t we be on our date
by now?”
“This is the date,” Henry said. “I’m going to
cook for you now then we would go to the
dining table and eat.” Henry replied grinning.
“This is what you had planned!” Zainab
exclaimed.
“Yup.”
“Can you even cook?” Zainab asked.
“I’m not entirely sure but I plan on finding out
now…”
“What do you want to cook?”
“Promise me you won’t laugh and I’ll tell
you.” Henry replied with a wink.
“I promise.”
“Well, I’m cooking Indomie Noodles and Egg.”
For the second time that night, Zainab bursted
out into an uncontrollable laughter. “And you
filled the pot with water? Do you plan on
cooking one carton?” She asked between
laughters.
Henry scratched his head in response. “I
thought that…”
“Get away from there let me teach you how to
cook Indomie.” Zainab cut in as she stood up
and walked towards the gas cooker.
She emptied half of the water from the pot
into the sink and place it back on the fire.
“Where is the Indomie?”
“Wait… Wait… Wait oh! I plan on cooking for
you and I plan on doing that, you can tell me
how to cook it but you ain’t cooking it. So tell
me what to do next.” Henry said with a false
serious face, trying his best not to smile.
“You know you are a clown right?” Zainab
replied.
Before Henry could think of a reply, Zainab
phone went life as it rang.
She went to purse and brought out her phone.
“Hello?” She asked and listened to caller.
Henry watched as the smile on her face faded.
Immediately as she dropped the phone she
slumped to the floor.
“What happened?” He asked.
“My brother… My brother… My brother…” Was
all she kept on repeating as if in shock.

EPISODE 39

It was all Henry’s idea. Zainab didn’t like it at
first and she even suggested the called the
police but after convincing her, she had a
rethink and decided to play along.
The time was about 9PM when Mr. Dayo
called again. Zainab didn’t even let it ring for
more than a second before she grabbed the
phone, picked the call and put it on loud
speaker for both Henry and her to hear.
“Hello,” she said.
“I’m going to be very blunt and straight to the
point.” Mr Dayo replied almost immediately.
“I’m listening.”
“Good. If you ever want to see your brother
again, you’ll have to pay ten million naira in
CASH because I don’t think bank transactions
would be safe for this kind of operation.”
To his greatest surprise, all Zainab replied
was, “when, where and how do you want me to
send the money?”
“Ah! I like you already. Straight to the point
just like me.” Mr Dayo complemented.
“Anyway, divide it into three equal parts and
put it in three different different bags, I’ll call
you later on tonight for further details. If you
play your cards well, you’ll have your brother
in your arms by ten AM maximum tomorrow
morning… You have my word.” With that, Mr
Dayo hung up before Zainab could reply, not
like she had anything to reply though.
Henry looked at Zainab and asked, “how much
do you readily have?”
“About three million, although I’m supposed to
pay in two million of that sum into TOP
account tomorrow morning.”
“Okay, that’s good enough. You are a rich
woman oh! If I had know that, maybe I would
have planned an exclusively expensive dinner
instead of trying to cook out of my ‘Henry’s
super cook book’.” He ended his statement
with a wide grin.
For a second, Zainab smiled but the smile
faded almost as quick as it came. “Do you
joke every time? Asin, why don’t you take
anything serious?” She asked.
“See… A wise man once said: if life shows you
pepper, take it and make pepper soup. What
I’m trying to say in essence is, life shouldn’t
be taken too serious, that way, nothing would
be able to surprise you.”
Zainab sighed in response, her brother was in
the arms of kidnappers who might be get
vicious and attempt to do drastic things but
here Henry was, blabbing something about
pepper and pepper soup.
Henry saw her reaction to his little speech and
then finally spoke up, “okay, go and bring the
three million you have, don’t worry about the
bags, I’ll handle that.”
“What happens after that?”
“We wait.”

**********@@@@@**********

John still had it in him, or so it seemed.
Jummy had always known him to be a very
rom-ntic person and so far so good, he had
proved her right.
Few minutes ago, John had parked his beat-
up beatle at the front of the ten story GNP
building, then lead the way into the building
through the back.
The security guards who all had suspicious
smiles on their faces just waved as they
passed by.
“What are we doing here?” Jummy asked.
“Just follow my lead and trust me.” John
replied.
“You realize this GNP… Asin where I work
right?”
“Yup… That why I even brought you here.”
“But you know that…”
“That you need to shut up and just follow my
lead.” John cut in.
Jummy kept quiet until the got to the back of
the building and watched John climb the fire
escape.
“What are you doing?” She asked.
“Climbing a tree,” he replied sarcastically.
“Well, I’m not climbing that tree with you.”
“Why do you complain so much?” John asked.
“Say what ever you like,
I.AM.NOT.CLIMBING.THIS.THING.WITH.YOU.
Full stop!!!” Jummy yelled… Few minutes later,
she was climbing it, John had his ways.
When they got to the top, Jummy started
complaining about how much her legs ached
before she rose her head and saw what was at
her front.
A table clothed with a red table cloth and two
chairs placed at both sides rested comfortably
on the carpet which had the words: I LOVE
YOU, written all over it. Rose flowers were
littered all around the table and a candle was
lit and placed at the middle of the table.
Jummy was blown away.
“Shall we?” John asked seeing Jummy’s
reaction
“Yes… We most definitely shall.” She replied
and offered her hand for John to lead the way.
The table was still empty and for a moment,
Jummy wondered if they were meant to eat
the candle and table cloth but just as she
smiled at the naughty thought, two people
appeared from nowhere with one holding a
huge tray with Jummy’s favorite delicacy and
the other holding a bottle of red wine and two
cups… Viola! Dinner was served.
“Perfect.” Jummy murmured inaudibly.

**********@@@@@**********

Taofeek heard foot steps just right outside the
door and could also hear two people speak
but couldn’t quite make out what they were
saying.
He tried to survey his environment but it was
a pointless idea. He had seen all he needed to
see: a chair, a light bulb, a bucket.
By this time, he was fully aware of his
situation. He had been kidnapped by an IT
company, or fake IT company as it now
seemed and they had made contact with his
sister, what he didn’t know was how much
was requested as ransom and what was going
to happen to him next.
Suddenly, the door sprung open and two
people walked in. He recognized one as Mr
Dayo but the other was new to him.
Without saying any word, the other person
walked up to Taofeek and after looking at him
for a while then turned back to Mr Dayo and
asked, “is this him?”
“Yes… It’s him.”
“Oh! I see… And you are sure he is the one?”
“Very sure.”
“Okay then, let’s get this over with. Hold him
down.”
Mr Dayo walked over and held Taofeek while
the other person picked up a suitcase Taofeek
hadn’t noticed was there before, he placed it
on the table and opened it.
Taofeek couldn’t see the contents, but the
look on the man’s eye, told Taofeek nothing
favorable could come out from it.

TO BE CONTINUED.

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