Too precious episode 13

TITLE: TOO PRECIOUS

WRITTEN BY: OGECHI ALABI

CHAPTER 13

The church wedding took place first. PB looked so beautiful and radiate that Biodun shed tears when he sighted her. Chief Rotimi Adeoye couldn’t stop smiling at PB as he walked her down the aisle. He was very happy. It was the happiest day of his life so far.

The engagement began immediately after the white wedding. It was grand. Biodun invited fewer relatives and more of his clients. He used his business sense. This way, they received more quality gifts including financial gifts. Chief gave them a Toyota Prado as a wedding gift. Biodun was excited but PB didn’t want it. She didn’t have a choice.

As she left home that night to join Biodun in their new home, PB ran to her grandfather and cried in his arms. “I will miss you,” she said repeatedly. It brought tears to Chief’s eye and everyone in the room was equally in tears.

“My child, I will miss you too. But, we are still close to each other. You can always come here and walk into my room for us to have our usual chats. Most of all, give me a greatgrandchild so I will have someone who will continue our night chats with me”

Seun watched her daughter and her grandfather. She knew they had a bond but exposing it for everyone to see scared her. Interestingly, no one seemed offended by the exhibition of heartfelt love, not even Titi.

Titi prayed for PB and blessed her. Her uncles and other family members also prayed for her. She went into her mother’s arms. Her mother held her close and said to her, “Thank you for not putting me to shame. You have proved to the world that a single mother can bring up a child with the loving support of the man’s family whether he is there or not. You are wise. I know you will be a blessing to that home you are going into. Don’t be like me, I know you won’t. You are a strong woman; never forget that”

All the gifts received during the wedding were placed in PB’s room in Chief’s house because of the crowd in the couple’s home. All the cash sprayed were placed in a bag and put in,side the car PB was going back with.

When PB came with a girl her mother had brought for her. She had requested for bowls of soups and stew to be made and packed for her. The girl took them into the kitchen and deposited them in the freezer. Biodun asked who she was and she told him she was the help to do the house chores. He was ok with it.

The house was rowdy and PB was uncomfortable being intimate with her husband in a house full of people. She suggested they check into a hotel in their estate to spend the night. Biodun agreed and they left for the hotel.

They made love that night for the first time. Biodun was determined to make the experience worthwhile for PB. PB was willing to give as much as she received. It was a wonderful moment. Biodun was amazed; with Precious being ‘hot’ and exposed to many guys, she was still innocent. He thanked her all through the night and promised never to disappoint her. He confessed his love for her again.

Early the next money, Biodun woke PB up and asked for the gifts and money given to them during the wedding. PB told him she had left them in her room in her house but came with the money sprayed. She said her mother advised they count it together.

He said he wanted his family to count it but PB declined. She insisted they do it together as a couple. Biodun wanted them to count the money immediately. PB went downstairs to bring the bag upstairs. They arranged the money from 3 am he woke her up until past 8 am. They were supposed to be at the church for thanksgiving at 10 am. They had an idea of how much was there. Biodun told PB he would like to give his family some of the money. He said he would want them to start a business with the money as his father was retiring soon.

PB told him she didn’t have a problem with that. She insisted they calculated it, divide the money into two equal parts. Whatever he decides to do with his share of the money, he was free too.

“You are funny. Why do we have to share the money? It is our money and we are using it to help our family”

“You want to use the money to help your family. I have people to help too. Whatever we get, we share. I believed we could have taken all the money we made to start an investment. We have a future we need to plan for. But, if you insist, you take your share”

“I thought you had accepted my family. The first thing you did was make us leave the house and spend the night here. Why couldn’t we sleep in our home?”

“Biodun, other people spent a night in the home I have spent weeks furnishing before I did. I don’t think it is fair but do you see me making a fuss out of it? There were too many people in the house, how do we make love when people are all over the place? There was no way I could do that”

“You should have told me how you felt”

“You didn’t tell me they were going to stay in the house. I would have refused and gotten them hotel rooms. It’s our house and I wanted just us to be together in it for our first night”

“I am at fault here. I didn’t consider you. Please forgive me. I want to start something for my father that’s why I want to give him this money. We got cash and cheque gifts, we can keep that one. Let’s give them this one”

“Let me think about it”

PB wasn’t comfortable with his decision to sidetrack the money they were sprayed. She realized he had made this decision before the wedding but never spoke to her about it. Why? She wasn’t comfortable. She withdrew from him. He didn’t notice it in time.

PY was at the church with Simon for the thanksgiving service. After the church service, Chief took everyone present to have a buffet lunch at a classy hotel. There was excitement, especially from Biodun’s family.

PY and PB sat together on the ride from the church to the hotel. They had a lot to talk about.

“So, how was your first night as a couple”

“It was nice. He thanked me almost all night for being a V-rgin. I don’t get what all that was about.”

“He sounds like Simon. He proposed to me the first night we had s€×. He couldn’t believe I was still a V-rgin. He was so excited. I didn’t enjoy it at all. It was the next time it became better and then we explored together and it became great”

“Simon is not serious. He proposed because you were a V-rgin? What’s so special?”

“Ask Biodun”

“There is something else bothering me,” PB told PY about the money issue.

“Babe, he is from a poor home and they will always depend on him. Let him have the money if it will help them”

“What of the financial gifts we got? I don’t intend to live off my grandfather for the rest of my life. We need to save money and have our investments. He is a stockbroker; do you know how much we can make from stock if we invest everything we made here today? His parents wouldn’t need to work; he will meet their needs. I don’t want to insist but I don’t like this.”

“That’s marriage; it is all about compromise. Discuss it with him”

“Also, his family stayed in my house before I could even spend a night. We had to sleep in a hotel. I am offended about that too.”

“I think this Biodun guy likes you as in loves you. He might also like money or is overly ambitious. Take advantage of the situation to your advantage. In whose name is the SUV your grandpa gave you?”

“Both our names.”

“You have a good car. Let him drive it. You still have a car. Retain the vehicle in both your names”

“The car isn’t the issue but as I said, I will deal with it”

During lunch, PB told Biodun she would be going back to Chief’s house after lunch. Biodun asked why and she explained she doesn’t do well with too many people in a space. Biodun promised her everyone will leave on Monday. She agreed to come back on the day they leave.

Biodun took her aside to talk to her.

“Do you dislike my family?”

“I don’t. Why would you say that?”

“I feel you are looking down at them”

“Because I want my space and privacy? I want to sleep well Biodun. You woke me up at 3 am to arrange money. We have checked out of the hotel. I wouldn’t be able to sleep in the house. Where should I go to have some peace?”

“I don’t know what is upsetting you. I have apologized for what I did. If you don’t come home with us, they will feel they are not welcome in the home. They will leave on Monday, I promise. Or is it because of the money? I just don’t want you upset about anything. We will discuss this when we get home”

True to his words, they retired to bed when they got back. PB slept for a long time after a little rumble in the sack with Biodun. When she finally woke up, Biodun wasn’t in the room with her.

She heard voices coming from the sitting room. PB opened the door quietly and stepped out. She heard her husband say, “Na me break am. I’m telling you the truth, I am her first and hopefully her only. I don’t need any other babe, she is the complete package. She has everything I need”

The people with him there cheered. From the noise, there must have been more people in the house. She went back into the room. It was her home but she couldn’t feel free in it. She was pissed off hearing Biodun share their intimacy.

She picked her phone and called Biodun. He came into the room. She told him she wanted to go home and return later in the night. He allowed her to leave. There were more than twenty people cramped in her sitting room. She called the help and asked her to make food for them. Thank God she still had bowls of soups and stew. She gave the excuse her mother had called her and left.

She was still away until 10 pm. She was gisting with her grandfather in his room. They were discussing generally when a help informed them her husband was around. PB came downstairs to see Biodun.

“I came to esc-rt you home. We will drive together while my brother drives your car home. He can drive very well. Let’s go back home. Everyone has gone except my parents and sibling who are leaving tomorrow. I love you and I want you to be happy”

PB went home with him. They went into the room and Biodun made sweet love to her. He assured her of his love and commitment and asked her to trust him. This was beautiful to hear especially when she was close to orgasm. All her doubts flew out of the window.

The next morning, Biodun’s mother, Asake, called PB into the kitchen. She said to her, “send that girl you brought away. Don’t bring anyone to live with you except a boy or an elderly woman. You don’t need anyone now, you can manage this house yourself. Don’t bring problem to your home. Send her away before I leave”

PB found this strange. She would have asked questions or defended the innocent girl but something spoke to her and decided to obey her. That morning, immediately after breakfast, she sent the girl back to her mother. She told her mother she had decided to manage her home herself. It was the same line she told Biodun.

Biodun asked PB her decision about the money. She agreed for him to give it to them but insisted on knowing the total amount. They were sprayed almost a million naira. Biodun was speechless.

“This money is too much for them to start a business. Give them some of it and use the rest to trade in stock. Let us try them with a small amount and see how well they do.”

“I promised to give it to them and I will. We can use the financial gifts for trading”

“We will share that money then. And I will take N500,000 more from it. I also have investments I am interested in”

“Why are you like this? We agreed to give them this money”

“You decided to give them this money and you want to emotionally blackmail me into succ-mbing. It doesn’t work that way. I will think about it.”

Biodun gave the money to his father. He drove them to the park. PB stayed at home and tried to clean up as much as she could. When he returned, he asked her if they could go to retrieve the gifts and financial gifts from her grandfather’s house. She agreed.

They opened all the envelopes. Most of the checks were in PB’s name while some were in both their names and some in Biodun’s name. PB calculated how much the entire money was and it was over N5,000,000. She gave Biodun the cheques in his name and the ones in both their names. She kept the ones in her name with the intention to transfer the difference to him.

PB wasn’t happy that Biodun wasn’t being smart. The money his parents went with would have tripled before the year was over if he had listened to her. No business can bring such returns. Now she intended to make her investments for her future.

Biodun appealed to her to allow him to invest in stock for her but she refused. She used most of her money to buy land with the help of her grandfather. She left the doc-ments with him.

Biodun felt PB didn’t love him or trust him. He mentioned it all the time. He told her to believe in him. He made comments like, “I will be a rich man someday”. It made PB laugh because she knew he would and she will tell him so. He didn’t want her to diversify her portfolio with another stockbroking firm (he didn’t know she bought a property).

Chief Rotimi received more gifts for PB. He gave her cheques from friends and clients who couldn’t make the wedding. She gave Biodun half of the money less the N500,000 to add to the money he had to start up his firm. This was a major opportunity but he didn’t take it. He told PB he needed additional qualifications to be able to stand on his own.

Apart from the money issue, they had no problems. They were close and loved each other. Biodun didn’t change after marriage. He called her often and sent surprises every week to her office.

Tbc