Too Precious Episode 23
TITLE: TOO PRECIOUS
WRITTEN BY: OGECHI ALABI
CHAPTER 23
While PB was having conversation with her mother, Chief Adeoye dealt with Biodun and his family.
First, the lawyer Biodun hired was paid not to represent him anymore. Any lawyer they got backed out soon after collecting money. Then, Biodun was thoroughly beaten in the cell. His parents received several death threats. They ran away from Sango and moved into Biodun’s apartment with his wife and children. There was no money as Biodun’s accounts had been frozen. Tope was assisting with the little she could bring.
Biodun asked his father to call a particular client of his. The man was an elderly man. He knew Chief Adeoye and he was an upright man. Biodun knew with time he would be a forgotten case in prison. He didn’t want his extended family members to know what had befallen him so he had to do something quickly. This man was his only options because others that he had sent to Chief Adeoye never picked his call or agreed to see his parents again. This was his last hope.
Chief Enahoro listened to Biodun’s parents and then went to see Biodun in the prison. He said to Biodun, “I know Rotimi very well, he cannot be doing all these just because you betrayed his trust. There is more to this allegation and it will be terrible if I find out from him what you did that made him this angry with you.”
Biodun confessed to him that he tried to blackmail Biodun to help him. He told him exactly what he said and what happened afterwards. Chief Enahoro knew there was more to Chief Adeoye’s anger. He wasn’t one to react unless his family is threatened and this blackmail was the cause.
“Was his granddaughter there when you blackmailed him? Did she hear the allegation?”
“Yes sir.”
“Ah! It will be difficult. Chief will never forgive you. That girl is his pride and joy; you should know that now. You shouldn’t have said that in her presence. Interestingly, you can’t prove it because his son would say anything to come out of prison. His wife has asked me to convince Rotimi to free her son but Rotimi refused because of his granddaughter and her mother. You don’t know anything about the family you are messing with. I will talk to Rotimi but, you will serve your punishment. Is that ok?”
“Yes sir”
Chief Enahoro spoke with Chief Rotimi Adeoye at the country club. He appealed to Rotimi to allow the boy serve his time. He told him the boy was stupid thinking he could blackmail him. He appealed to him to look for other ways to handle him than allow him rot in jail for not perfecting his bail.
Chief Adeoye listened to his friend. His annoyance was PB finding out about this. He couldn’t remember what happened that night as he was drunk when he returned home. He had taken to drinking when his son came back a drug addict. When Titi told him what he did the night before, he resolved never to drink to that extent anymore and refused to allow his son’s predicament force him into doing things he normally wouldn’t do. “I didn’t even know Gbenga was sleeping with her. She was so young and timid. I apologized to her and gave her money to treat herself. I swear, I never touched her again. Why would this boy have gone to see Gbenga in prison if it wasn’t to get information to blackmail me with? Why say this in the presence of Precious if he didn’t intend to destroy our relationsh¡p? He has done his worst. The only way he will have peace is for him to divorce my granddaughter and never have anything to do with her again. If I see him anywhere close to her or I find out he contacted her, I will not spare the lives of his children. Then I will castrate him. He should not try me”
Chief Enahoro convened the message to Biodun. Biodun filed for the divorce and sent it to PB. She signed off and they agreed to a speedy divorce with the judge. In six months; it was over.
Biodun sat with the MD of his company and signed over the two properties to them. They were in prime locations and had appreciated. He asked to be given ten million naira back but they refused any form of negotiation. Eventually, involving many people to appeal to Chief, they settled for three million naira. It was also agreed he wouldn’t be given a bad reference so he could get another job and carry on from there.
Immediately Biodun was released, he moved his parents out of his apartment leaving his wife and now three children in the apartment he shared with PB. When the rent was due, he paid. He changed his children’s school. Then he went job hunting to keep body and soul together. The jobs he got, he didn’t last two months before he was asked to leave. He didn’t know what the reason was for his dismissal. The money he was given was running out. He didn’t know what to do.
He decided to sell the Toyota Prado in his possession. He couldn’t because it had PB’s name on it too. He contacted her grandfather to appeal to him for her to sign off on the sales agreement of the car. She agreed as long as she was getting half of the price of the car. Biodun couldn’t believe his ears. He didn’t have a choice but to give in. He gave her half the selling price of the vehicle. He knew he had to do something fast before they would be disgraced.
PB hadn’t spoken to her grandfather in months following the revelation. She was upset he never confided in her even though they were very close. She didn’t make any attempts to speak with him and he didn’t make any attempts to speak with her either.
Seun had informed Chief Adeoye that she had confessed to PB. He was upset with her but she told him it was for the best. It was better it was out in the open. Chief felt everyone was working against his close relationsh¡p with his granddaughter and so he decided to ignore everyone and focus on himself. He knew with time, PB would find her way back to him because she genuinely loved him.
PB ran into Allen outside a mall. With all she had been through she had forgotten about Engineer Collins’ stroke. PY had told her he was stable and they had to hire a nurse to give him 24 hours care. PY was more interested in PB’s situation and they spoke about it more. They exchanged greetings.
“PB, babe you look hot!! What are you doing on the side of town?”
“I live here now. Moved down here when my marriage ended”
“Your marriage ended? What happened?”
“It is a long story. He wasn’t worth it. I have moved on with my life. The only problem I have is commuting from here to Ikeja where my chamber is”
“Why are you doing that? My company is the owner of the building we work from. We had just discussed letting out some office spaces in the building to help reduce our cost. You can take a wing of the building. We might even need some of your services”
“The rent will be my major concern. I will rather pay my staff than move to an upscale building.”
“We will discuss rent. Whatever you can afford to pay and you will pay off the rest with services”
“I will discuss with my staff and get back to you”
“Perfect.”
‘How’s your dad? I am sorry I haven’t come to see him, I have been through a lot. What of your mum?”
“They are both fine. You are aware dad suffered a stroke. He is recovering from it. He can walk aided now.”
“And your mum?”
“She is enjoying her life. She has moved in her lover and is having the time of her life. She asked me to take my father to his mansion he built in the village to be taken care of there so the place doesn’t deteriorate. It has laid fallow for a long time since Precious didn’t get traditionally married there. I asked him if he would like to live there for a while, he agreed to go there. He is sad and broken. My mother’s revenge was unpredictable. It shook him. Her attitude worsened his situation; she had no compassion towards him. Years of betrayal brought them to this point.”
“I hope you have learnt a lesson from this. Once you remarry, you have to remain faithful to your wife. If you follow your father’s style, she will do worse than your mother. You know girls of these days aren’t as patient.” PB laughed as she concluded.
‘I was faithful to Adaeze, what did she do to me. Now she wants to come back after seeing how successful I have become. She had no faith in me before and was looking for men to give her the life she could have built for herself. Now, I have two steady girls I spend time with when I want to. I have told them it is not a relationsh¡p; we are just friends with benefits. One of them owns a fashion line and I have been of assistance to her in terms of online presence of her business. That’s my support. She seems more interested in the relationsh¡p than the other lady. Let’s grab a snack and a seat so we can discuss further. I haven’t seen you in a long time and we have been in this Lagos together.”
Tbc