In Murky Waters – Episode 6

In Murky Waters – Episode 6
© 2018 Kayode Odusanya
Kiki had been too engrossed in the movie and didn’t hear him come in till he coughed and made her jump. “Freaking Bleep, Frank.” She said out loud as she cleaned off the drink that had spilled on her blue floral blouse. “You scared the shiit out of me.” She added with a chuckle. She stopped what she was doing to look at him for a few seconds before saying, “What’s wrong? You look…perplexed” He didn’t say anything back. He just stood there, leaning on the room door, staring at her.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” He finally said.
She looked at him confused for a few seconds and then sighed. “I’m sorry, Frank.” She said and bowed her head in shame. “You wouldn’t have wanted to be my friend if I did.” The room was quiet for a few seconds before Kiki continued with, “So…how did you find out?”
With a funny smile on his face, Frank shook his head a few times before saying, “You have put me in deep poo, Kiki.”
“Does he know?”
Frank didn’t respond to her question, but kept looking at her till the smile on his face disappeared and he asked, “How much of what you told me is true?”
“Well…I’m not a call girl. I never was. I was there that night because I was the one that suggested that he use you for his biography, so I knew he was meeting you.” She looked up at the ceiling for a while before adding, “Every other part is true. I’m an orphan that returned to Nigeria from UK to escape s€×ual abuse from my adopted father. I was working at a bar Fatai frequented a lot back then. That’s how we met.” She stopped to look up at him from where she sat, wanting him to say something. When he didn’t, she continued with, “He was trying to polish his English at the time, and got attracted to me because of my British accent. We started talking, and I suggested he start reading novels and watching American movies.” She stopped to clear her throat and take a sip from her drink. “He did all that but believed his English would improve faster if he spent time with me. So, he started taking me out on dates, to different places, and we would just talk, and talk all day. He learnt pretty fast.” She said with a lost look on her face for a while before adding, “Then we fell in love. Or so I thought.”
“What do you mean?” Frank asked, appearing to really be engrossed in her story now.
“Fatai is a great guy and all, but he is a chronic womanizer.”
“Mmm!”
“I think I wouldn’t have minded much if he saved some loving for me too.” She said and took another sip from her drink before adding, “It would have been bearable if he at least had s€× with me.”
“What?”
“Frank, in the two years we have been married, he has never had s€× with me once.”
“Are you for real?”
“Yes.”
“Wait, what of when you were dating?” He asked and she shook her head. “That’s strange. Didn’t you talk to him about it?”
“Well, at first I thought he was g-y and married me as a cover, till I found out about his numerous girlfriends.”
“You went through his phone?”
“Nope; that’s not my style. One of his girls approached me”
“That’s interesting. What did she want?”
Kiki smiled before saying, “Actually, she is the one you would have gone home with that night.” Frank looked lost, and Kiki added, “The night we met…outside the club.”
“Oh!”
“That was busty Sarah; my confidant. She informed me about one of Fatai’s girl’s that was plotting to take my s₱0t, and…” Kiki stopped talking and sighed before continuing with, “That’s a story for another day. Anyway, Sarah told me Fatai had done some sort of Juju that prohibited him from sleeping with me, his wife.”
“But he could sleep around?”
“Yea.”
“That’s some weird jazz.” Frank said and started laughing, and laughing. When Kiki looked at him wondering what was really on his mind, he said, “It’s funny that I’m here relaxed, listening to your story when I was almost killed a few hours ago.”
“What?”
____
After Frank narrated the wh0le ordeal to her, it was her turn to appear stunned. The room seemed to spin around and around, and she felt nauseated. She sat still, shocked for a while then she jumped out of bed all of a sudden and started picking her belongings from different corners of the room. “Was Scarface there?” She asked as she swung her bag across her shoulder and put her phone to her ear.
“Who?”
“The big tall guy with the nasty scar on his face…was he there?” She was speaking faster than usual now.
“Pascal?”
“Yes.”
“Yes. He was there. We would have been killed if it wasn’t for him.”
The person she was calling didn’t pickup, and with shaky hands, she put her phone in her handbag and hurried out the room.
“Wait.” Frank said as he rushed after her. She was by the front door when he got to the living room, and she reluctantly turned around slowly with a lost look on her face.
“What if the Assassins come back at night to kill me and Fatai?” She said as she let go of the door handle and sat on the couch closest to the door.
“Trust me, no one is coming back to do anything. What we have to worry about…” Frank was saying and then stopped to clear his throat before continuing with, “What we need to worry about right now is what Fatai would do to us.”
She sighed. Without looking at him, she asked, “Did you tell him anything?”
“No. He showed me a picture of you, and when he saw the look on my face, he asked if I knew you.”
“And?”
“And the assassins opened fire on the car. I didn’t have time to answer his question.”
“Then I don’t think there is a problem.”
“Kiki, your husband is not dumb. He would have put two and two together.”
“He would probably think we had something together before he met me. Fatai would never believe I would actually cheat on him.”
“But why, Kiki?”
“Why what?”
“Why did you do it?”
“I’m sorry. I guess I was really selfish. I just wanted to feel alive.” She was saying then stopped to look up at him. “I wanted to be like the female characters in your novels.”
“Mmm!”
She smiled at him before saying, “I know it sounds childish and stupid, but if you are in my shoes, you might see reason to why I did it.”
“So…where did you think it would lead to?”
“Honestly I didn’t think that far.”
“Mmm.”
The room got quiet for a while before Frank broke the silence with, “Has he called you at all today?”
“No. He sent me a text message a few minutes ago asking how I was.”
“That’s all?”
“Yes. And I replied with that I was fine and would be home in a few hours.”
“Mmm.”
“I got to go now.” She said and got up from where she was sitting. He walked behind her as she stepped out the door, and she turned back to face him. “I don’t think it would be wise to walk out your door with me right now.”
“Okay.” He said and stood there, staring at him. She leaned in and gave him a k-ss on the l-ips, turned around and walked out the door.
To be continued