On Trial

On Trial – Episode 17

On Trial – Episode 17
© Onyinyechukwu Mbeledogu
A few minutes after Kaira had ended the call to Koje, a man who had left his car behind her to assess the traffic situation ahead, came running back. She wound down her window slightly, asking what the problem was.
‘The traffic extends to Ordinance road. There’s been an accident. A car ran into another car and the two men are out of their cars and fighting.’
That was not good at all. There was always the possibility of an accident occurring in the course of driving in traffic. Everyone knew that and so it was easy to forget about the man whose car had brushed yours and sort out your problem later. It wasn’t even safe to step out of your car in traffic! That was why she had wound up her windows and was using her air conditioner. She didn’t want to hear that something happened because her windows were wound down. And so she couldn’t imagine why two adults would be fighting at this time of the night as a result of something that could be reasonably expected, thereby adding to the already existing traffic. Well blame it on frustration. The fuel pump prices had hiked up, the current exchange rate was enough to make one scre-m with psychologically induced pain, and a lot of people lost their jobs on a daily basis.
She sighed deeply. This is just not my day, she thought.
She was hungry, exhausted and in need of the bathroom to empty her bladder. Lord help her.
She finally got to the traffic light after about forty minutes and found herself turning left and following Quadri’s direction. As predicted, a lot of cars had avoided the Slaughter road and so the traffic there was minimal. It took her about twenty-five minutes to get to Quadri’s home. By then she was so frustrated she would scre-m. If Quadri so much as gave her a smug smile, she would hit him so hærd, he would spend ten years undergoing series of reconstructive surgeries to put his face back in shape!
The gates were opened for her to drive into the compound surrounded by different species of flowers lit up by the security lights. The house was a storey building and she loved the architecture. She parked beside one of the two cars in the premises and stepped out of the car. She retrieved her handbag from the boot wishing this was one of the days she had taken Chibuogu’s advice and kept an overnight bag in the boot of her car. And overnight bag was very important.
Note to self, she told herself, always have an overnight bag handy!
She knocked on the double door and was let into the house by a young man in his mid-twenties. The interior of the house was beautiful in its simplicity. The young man led her into the sitting room, turned on the large flat screen television on the wall and handed her the remote control.
It was a few minutes to one in the morning and telly wasn’t she needed right now. She asked for directions to the convenience and hurried into it. She gave a smile of relief as she sat on the toilet seat and deftly relieved the contents of her bladder.
God, that felt good, she thought. She had been so pressed that she literally felt pains below her abdomen and had she been a man, she would have been tempted to pick the empty Eva water bottle in the car and emptied her urine into it while in traffic. Men didn’t just realise how lucky they were! She had been disgusted when the man in front of her while she was trying to get to Ordinance road had stepped out of his car, leaving the door open, then opened the back passenger door. Standing between the two doors, he began to relieve himself right there on the road. And then someone going to one of those white garment churches where you walk barefooted would walk on that s₱0t on the way to church in the morning. The holy ground had certainly been desecrated, she thought with a smile.
She flushed the toilet and washed her hands with the liquid soap, rinsing it with the cool water that flowed from the faucet. What she wouldn’t give for a nice shower! Her body felt sticky and she gave in to the temptation of lifting her left hand and sniffing at the armpit region of her white blouse, grateful to God for the idea that brought about the production of perfumes. Her suit was hung against the head rest of the front passenger seat of her car. She tucked her white blouse with its frills into her pencil thin black shirt. Her high heels which were tossed behind the passenger seat in favour of a fine pair of flat fancy slippers.
Koje was in the sitting room by the time she finally stepped out of the convenience and she wondered how long he had been sitting there. She felt self-conscious as he watched her. He was probably wondering if she had stayed there long enough to block his septic tank.
‘ Ẹ ku abọ . Welcome to my humble abode,’ he told her. ‘ Ef’okan bale Ile lewa.’
He looked good in his sleeveless t-shirt and joggers, revealing bulging muscles. She tried not to imagine him hitting Laide and unfortunately, immediately found herself thinking of how secure those arms could make a woman feel.
Don’t even go there, she quickly cautioned herself and found herself blaming Rashidat for putting ideas in her head.
‘I was trapped between the devil and the deep blue sea. The deep blue sea is the better option any day. If you can swim then there’s hope for you,’ she told him.
He laughed. ‘No one’s ever made that comparison where I am concerned. You must be tired so I won’t bore you with my presence for now. Come with me, let me show you to your bedroom.’ when she hesitated, he added, ‘Don’t worry it isn’t next to mine and neither is there a connecting door in between.’
She followed him up the staircase. He turned the knob of a door and it opened to an en-suite bedroom. It wasn’t large but it was really spacious. Most modern day houses weren’t made with big rooms because people realised that the children who grew up in those houses would one day leave and the building would be too big for just the couple.
The room was cool courtesy of the air conditioner that had been left on. He had clearly been expecting her despite her protests. The bed looked really inviting and she felt like curling up into it and sleeping for the next ten days.
‘The heater’s on,’ he told her. ‘Just in case you need a bath. There are also fresh towels, soap, unused tooth brush and paste and other stuff you might need in the bathroom. We are about the same height so I’m sorry my t-shirts won’t look the least bit decent on you but you would have to make do with the longest I could come up with. Raphael will bring your food up to you. I’ll see you in the morning. Good night.’
As he turned to leave she called him back. He paused at the door.
‘Thanks.’
‘Don’t mention it.’
‘Say hi to her for me,’ she couldn’t help teasing.
‘Jealousy jollof rice with peppered snail and
asun ,’ he laughed.
‘Big baby,’ she called after him.
He was being kind to her and she doubted if she would have reacted in the same way had the tables been turned.
* * * * *
After a pleasant sleep, Kaira forced herself to get up from the bed. It was so comfortable she felt like continuing from where she had stopped but she had a lot to do today and besides, this wasn’t her home. The shower had been great and she had dozed off once her head hit the pillows after eating the sumptuous meal Raphael had brought to her.
She yawned and muttered a short prayer before straightening the bed and walking into the adjoining bathroom for her early morning rituals. She neatly folded his t-shirt and placed it on the bed. Being in,side it had been like sleeping on the same bed with Koje. She had his masculine scent all over her.
She buttoned up her pink blouse and tucked it into her black skirt, slipping her feet into her shoes. She went down stairs in search of Koje. She ran into Raphael who pointed her in the direction of the dining room where Koje was having breakfast of pancakes.
‘Ẹ ku aarọ ,’ he greeted.
‘Ẹ ku aarọ,’ she responded.
‘Se daadaa ni o wa?’
‘Mo wa daadaa. Iwọ naa n kọ?’
‘I’m good. I hope you slept well?’
‘I did. And no I didn’t dream of you.’
He laughed. ‘Clearly. Or you would have come down in my t-shirt and given me the rare privilege of glimpsing at those dark thighs you hide beneath your skirt.’
She blushed and then glared at him.
‘Too bad,’ he said and then gestured for her to join him.
The pancakes looked delicious and she was tempted to nab one of them and throw it into her mouth.
‘No thanks. I have to hurry home,’ she told him.
‘Why the hurry? After all, this is Saturday.’
‘I don’t want anyone thinking I spent the night here,’ she reminded him.
‘Hello! You spent the night here.’
‘And I don’t want anyone else to know.’
‘My l-ips are sealed. Besides, your neighbours know you didn’t sleep at home and it’s day break already. Those who see you leaving here would probably think it was a lawyer-client visitation. I’m sure that happens. So relax and have breakfast.’ When she hesitated, he added impishly, ‘The last time I checked, having breakfast with a man wouldn’t get you pregnant.’
She ignored that remark and sat on the chair on his left. The pancakes were as delicious as they looked and she commented on it.
‘That’s thanks to Raphael,’ he responded. ‘I’m useless in the kitchen. Spoilt rotten by doting parents.’
‘So it’s just you and Raphael here?’ she asked.
He nodded.
‘Isn’t it too large for a bachelor?’
‘I intend to get married when the trial is over and if I’m set free,’ he replied. ‘They say I’m good looking but I guess I’m no Ted Bundy who received proposals from women while facing trial for murder. No woman has propositioned me since my arrest.’
‘As is to be expected. Are you seeing someone right now?’
‘Why? Are you interested?’
‘That’s not a nice thing to say.’
‘Why?’
‘A man who would easily toss a lady aside so quickly because he met another woman has no respect for the female folk and has no business thinking of marriage.’
‘I am very sure that I don’t know what you’re talking about. I also don’t want to believe that you have been reading and digesting all the gossip on social media about me and my love life. But let’s say that’s the kind of man I am, why would you think that I would easily dump you for another woman?’
‘I wasn’t talking about me,’ she sputtered.
She could tell he was enjoying where this conversation was headed. She shouldn’t have been nosey.
He looked at her, shifting his chair backwards a bit so he could look down her legs. She unconsciously pulled her skirt down her thighs.
‘You’re a beautiful woman,’ he finally said when he was done looking at her assets. ‘Why on earth would I dump you if you were mine?’
His looks told her that his words weren’t meant as a joke. Rashidat’s words came back to her and she wondered if the other woman had been right about Koje Quadri fancying her.
Having seen the pictures of Laide on Facebook, Kaira doubted if she could meet up. The petite woman had curves and was well rounded. Kaira on the other hand was tall for a female and very slim. Erhus had teased her about being slim enough for him to wrap one arm around her twice. She had a small bust she needed push up bras to assist and although she finally had a measure of backside after being wickedly called ‘FBF- Flat bottom flask’ back in chemistry class in secondary school, it looked nothing like what Laide revealed in her jean trousers in her photographs. But did the lack of those expressive assets bother Kaira? Not really. She ate a lot of food and couldn’t seem to add weight so she had grown used to the way she looked and particularly liked the fact that no one would look at her h¡ps and mistake her for a boy!
She looked at Koje. He looked too relaxed for someone who might end up spending the rest of his life in prison, but she knew that this exterior he put out bellied the fear he had of getting a guilty verdict at the end of his trial. She’d had the rare privilege of witnessing that fear once during her interface with him but it had been fleeting that it would easily have been imagined. Everyone reacted differently to situations. She figured this was his way of dealing with his.
‘It’s not like I’m seeing someone right now,’ Koje continued. ‘This trial is burning my rep. I can’t even get a decent date and I don’t do pr-stitutes.’
‘Don’t expect me to feel sorry for you,’ she said, taking a bite of the delicious pancake.
‘You should. You are currently the only woman in my life who isn’t related to me. And you’re not even treating me well. It’s not fair o.’
‘Don’t look at me.’
He laughed. ‘You know what, Ms Kaira Madukaife? After all said and done I have no doubt that you are going to be a very interesting person to date.’
He likes you, that annoying voice in her head came again. Koje likes Kaira. Koje likes Kaira,
and then like a child, Koje and Kaira sitting on the tree, k.i.s.s.i.n.g.
Oh shut up, she rebuked, not realising that she had spoken aloud until Koje said: ‘I’m being serious. You may be rude and quite annoying but you are still a very interesting person. I can’t wait for when it’s safe to take you out and we can play “knowing me knowing you”.’
‘The only game we would be playing is “Getting the Mouse out of the Box”. I’m surprised that you’d be thinking of dating even as a joke at this time considering the charges you are facing.’
‘I guess I forgot your warning that any woman I date now would also bring a rape charge against me if I don’t marry her.’
‘Yes. And so what you should be concerned about now is securing an acquittal in your favour. Cobwebs aren’t going to grow down there if you decide to wait until then. Even if they do, you would have some happy cobweb removers at your disposal when you’re discharged and acquitted.’
‘Cobwebs and cobweb removers,’ he repeated, his eyes large with restrained laughter. Then he tilted his head back and asked, ‘Who are you and what have you done with my prim and proper lawyer?’
‘Ha ha ha, very funny.’
‘You know what your problem is, Kaira Madukaife? You are too serious.’
‘I am too serious!’ she repeated.
‘ Bẹẹ ni.’
‘I’ll pretend you didn’t just say that to me. The threat of spending one’s life in prison is a serious affair and…’
‘Of course it is, but I’d rather think of other things so that I am not depressed. I don’t have to put my life on hold simply because I am facing criminal charges with the punishment of possibly spending the rest of my life in prison. If anything I should be flexing the little time I have just in case anything happens.’
‘I’m not saying you can’t enjoy your life. You should hang out with friends. I am sure you have a lot of friends. But you already have enough problems as it is because of a female without thinking of another one.’
‘You want me to go stark raving mad?’
‘Just because you have to be careful around the female folk for now?’ she asked incredulously.
‘ Ra ra ,’ he replied. ‘If I have to think about the charges brought against me all the time, I’d go crazy. And the only way I can maintain my sanity is to pretend, most of the time, that I don’t have any criminal case pending in court.’
‘But the more you think about the case, the more you are likely to remember things you haven’t yet spoken about.’
‘You still think I’ve told you half-truths.’
‘Have you?’
‘What do you think?’ he returned, and when she said nothing, he continued. ‘I can assure you that even if I think about it from now until the case comes up next year, you won’t get any new information from me.’
‘Because there is none to give or because you think you have given me enough information?’
He shrugged.
‘One day, Ms Madukaife, you are going to tell me about the man who did this to you.’
‘You think I’m hærd on you because a man broke my heart?’ she asked incredulously.
‘I’m not talking about that man, although he’s a bloody fool. I’m talking about the other one.’
What other one? Surely he didn’t know about the…no, he couldn’t. Erhus was the only one who knew about that incident because he had been there for her.
‘I’d rather not talk about my case, at least until whenever we meet in your office. It’s depressing.’ He told her, changing the topic. ‘Satisfy my curiosity, ife mi . What does your name mean? Is it a version of Kara?’
‘No. It’s an Igbo name, short for Kairaluchukwu, meaning, ‘let’s leave it in God’s hands or let’s leave it to God’.
‘Never heard that name before. But it’s a nice one. Mine means ‘God won’t allow humiliation.’
‘A befitting name considering your present predicament, don’t you think?’
He arched an eyebrow and she returned her attention to her cold coffee.
Her phone rang at that moment. It was her mother. She had assigned a special ringtone for her mother and for good reasons. She contemplated whether to excuse herself and take the call somewhere else but didn’t want Koje thinking she was taking another man’s call. Not that it was any business of his.
Translations
‘ Ẹ ku abọ – welcome
‘ Ef’okan bale Ile lewa. – make yourself at home
‘Ẹ ku aarọ – Good morning
‘Se daadaa ni o wa? – how are you?
‘Mo wa daadaa. Iwọ naa n kọ? – I’m fine, and you?
‘ Bẹẹ ni – yes
Ra ra – no
Ife mi – my love
To be continued

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