Chapter Fourteen

It had been a long time since she had slept so well, Bukunmi reckoned, as she brushed her long ebony black hair in front of the mirror, gently and skilfully. She had on a pair of black palazzo trousers, with a white cotton shirt, and was still considering whether to leave her hair down or roll it all up in a bun as usual. She later settled for the latter, and in less than five minutes, had styled her hair into a bun, purposely leaving a few strands to fall on her face, giving her a youthful look. After applying powder to her face, she took a few hairclips and pinned them to her hair, before completing her look with a transparent lip gloss, and small black earrings. Admiring herself in the mirror was one thing she enjoyed doing all the time. Her father had always told her she was beautiful, and with time, she knew it was a fact, and he didn't just say that because she was his daughter. Back in school, she had been the fairy-tale of many guys. Most of them admired her from a distance, some just came close to her in pretence of wanting to be friends with her, and the others who summoned courage to tell her of their feelings were all turned down and rejected by her. All Bukunmi cared about was making her father proud of her, and just always read her school books and wrote stories. To support herself financially, she took on a part-time job as a waitress in a fancy eatery, where she was paid a minimal sum of 13,000 naira at the end of every month. It was chicken change; but it did help to solve some of her problems. She picked up her phone from the bed, and tried to take some selfie photos, but they all came out as blurry. She sighed exasperatedly, feeling like throwing the phone in a trash can. Heaven knew she needed a new phone so bad, but she couldn't even afford it. Seeing that there was still about thirty minutes before the conference continued today, she decided to scroll through her Instagram page, since it had been a while and thankfully, the hotel's Wi-Fi was accessible. Humming, she scrolled through the recent posts people had made, either ignoring them or reacting to them. She hardly posted a comment, because she wanted to be a ghost; not literally, but as a forgotten person, because she didn't want to look pathetic to those who knew her and were living well which was evident from their pictures. She came across a certain post..."SHE SAID YES!" With eyes almost popping out of their sockets in an overwhelming surprise, she highlighted the pictures and zoomed them out over and over again, hardly able to hide her curiosity and surprise. It was Jackson... He was a former school mate, and he had proposed to a white girl, and she had said yes to his proposal. He had just made a post about their engagement, and although, she knew he lived abroad because of his job, she hadn't expected him to get engaged at such a young age. On the other hand though, when you're rich, in love and an adult, shouldn't you just get married? The closest she had ever had to a boyfriend was a guy named Jackson. He was taller than she was, handsome, very smart, and they had become quite close after having to work on a presentation together. Bukunmi liked the fact that he was serious with school, and started daydreaming about him. Jackson reciprocated her feelings, and they'd come to school together, eat together in the canteen, read together in the library, and had shared kisses a few times. However, at the end of that semester which was actually in her third year in the university, while she had successfully made distinctions in all the courses, he had passed, but not with straight A's like she had. His ego got crushed, and so, he started distancing himself from her. She tried to talk to him, but he told her he had to focus more on school, and it was a shame for a mere girl to have done better than him. 'What a jerk! He doesn't deserve you!" Nneoma had practically yelled, when Bukunmi informed her of what had happened. Bukunmi sighed as she remembered that occurrence. 'Yeah. He deserved someone better," She said to herself, with sagged shoulders. Jackson now lived in London and worked as an editor in a publishing company, and she, the best graduating student, basically lived off her mother until recently. She sighed, forever grateful to Tade Wellington, for helping her out of her predicament. Why do those who struggle so hard end up living as peasants? Life was just unfair, and did as it pleased, not caring about who got hurt in the process. No one asked to live in this world in the first place. Since we were all just brought to the world and compelled to live, why couldn't we find living easy to do? We should have had a choice in order to choose if we wanted to be alive, and if we did, the kind of life that we wanted to live. It wasn't fair that some people lived well and others didn't. The most painful part of it all was trying to move away from your situation and being unable to; just trying and failing again and again, till all hope was lost, and you didn't even see the need to try again. Bukunmi blinked back tears. Although, she was thankful to have finally gotten a job, this was not the life she had wanted. She had envisaged living in a comfortable cosy house in a serene environment, far away from her mother's troubles. Everyday, she'd eat ice cream, noodles, type on her laptop aggressively, watch reality TV shows, stalk everyone on Instagram without being noticed...She'd be sending money home every now and then, and all her books will be hits, so, she'll just be making money from the comfort of her home, having no worries in the world. She had thought they were all achievable. The only thing that she had thought wasn't going to be possible was bringing her father's killers to book. Life liked to play games by making things go in a way you never thought it would. Now, it was more possible for her to get her father justice than to live the life she thought was most comfortable. Letting out a sigh, she turned off her Wi-Fi, determined not to let Jackson and his achievements make her feel any more of an underachiever. She wore the black silhouette chic shoes that she had placed at the side of her bed, then rose up from the chair, for the purpose of staring at her full outfit in the mirror. Her mouth soon gave way to a smile, as she admired the classy way she looked. Turning to the bed, she picked up a medium-sized black bag, which she had gotten at the boutique, then began to stuff all the necessary documents she needed into it. When she was done, she grabbed her phone and the key to the hotel room in which she was staying, and proceeded to leave the room. On her way out, she turned off the lights, and casting one last glance on the room, she stepped out, locking it from outside. She soon met with Mr Oshodi and Mrs Brown Aniedi at the entrance to the conference room, where they had agreed to meet. The other two employees which were representatives from the Ogun State branch of Welling Fam Heights, were also there by the time Bukunmi arrived there. In order to save herself from some of the criticisms that were likely to be thrown her way, probably not in public, but in their private discussions, Bukunmi made a show of checking her phone to see what the time was saying, and pretended to be alarmed. 'Oh, my goodness. I lost track of time. I'm so very much sorry, this will never repeat itself again," She apologised, looking like she actually hadn't taken note of time, when she had actually acted like she had time on her side, and had, therefore, taken her time in dressing up for the conference. 'It's fine," They all chorused, looking like they were stopping themselves from yelling. She gave a small smile, and extended her hand for a handshake with one of the representatives from the Ogun State branch. 'I'm Bukunmi, you are?" 'Shelly," The fair-skinned petite girl said, as she shook hands with her. The guy who was by her side, declined to shake hands with her, and just waved his left hand, giggling like a young girl who had nothing to giggle over. Wait a minute! Bukunmi eyed the guy from head to toe, and realised that he was undeniably gay. First things first; he was wearing a pink suit, and it was all pink...the jacket, the shirt, the trousers...practically everything. His hair was jelled and he chewed gum, blowing the bubbles...and his phone's pouch was pink and silver, encrusted with a lot of shiny fake diamonds. He also had a ring on his tongue and... 'If you think I'm gay, well, I'm not," He said, eyeing her. 'No, I didn't think..." 'Save yourself the explanation, b," He said, and reaching into his multi-coloured leather bag, brought out an envelope which he handed over to her. Not knowing what to think or how to feel, she accepted the envelope, staring at him with a million questions going on in her head. 'That's my wedding invitation card. I'm getting married...to a girl. The wedding will take place in two months, you're invited," He said, and flicked his hair. Bukunmi shrugged and forced a smile. 'Congratulations," She managed to say. She wasn't surprised that he was getting married. A lot of gay guys in Nigeria had the tendency to get married to women, partly because they thought that being with a woman will make them straight, and partly...if not mainly because the court will sentence you to 14 years in jail if you came out as gay. No one would want to associate with you, even your family and friends would desert you. 'So, Miss Bukunmi, you're going first, right?" 'Sorry? First in what sense?" Bukunmi asked, having being jolted from her thoughts. 'Haven't you been listening?" Mrs Brown Aniedi asked, looking slightly offended. 'I was, just got carried away for a moment," Bukunmi said. 'We had a group chat on how the presentation should be done, but you weren't in that group chat, so, you can't possibly give a presentation with us," She explained. Bukunmi was thrown into a state of surprise. 'Well, no one informed me that there was going to be a group chat, neither did anyone send me an invite link to the group, and I already practiced what I'm to say," She said, totally at a loss on what to think or do. 'Relax, b..." 'Don't call me that again," Bukunmi warned sternly, flashing a cold glance at him. He put his hands up in surrender, and went back to licking his lollipop, determined not to involve himself in their discussion anymore. 'We assumed Mr Tade Wellington had informed you, we're so sorry," Shelly said. 'Tade?" 'Yeah. He's the one that told us how to go about the presentation. You're just going to introduce us, and we'll handle the rest." ‘Oh, wow," Bukunmi mumbled, barely able to hide her annoyance. 'He said you were his Personal Assistant, and since you were representing him, it wasn't your duty to make a presentation," Mr Oshodi said. 'I wish I were in your shoes. I don't get what you're so worked up about," The guy in pink chipped in. 'I know. I just don't like it when people make plans without informing me first, especially when I've made my own preparations for it," She explained. 'I'm sorry," A familiar voice said from behind. Bukunmi turned around to see her boss, Tade, dressed in a green shirt, black trousers and a black necktie. He held his suit in his arms, and he looked dashing and stunning as ever. She opened her mouth to tell him how good he looked, but decided not to, upon remembering that she was supposed to be mad at him. So, instead of smiling at him and throwing compliments she knew he got on a daily basis in his direction, she folded her arms underneath her breasts and looked away. 'I wanted to tell you yesterday, but I forgot, and I'm so very sorry. Please, forgive me," He said, giving a puppy face, with his chin tilted down, and his eyes staring at her, looking like he was about to cry. She tried to maintain a cold countenance, but soon couldn't, and burst into a fit of laughter, unable to stop herself. 'Why are you laughing? What's so funny?" He asked, still not stopping to give a puppy face. 'You are. Stop giving that look now, it doesn't suit you," She said, wearing a big grin. 'Not until you say you forgive me," He said, widening his eyes and tilting his chin the more. 'Fine, I forgive you," She said, chuckling hard. His face went back to normal at once, as he flexed his muscles. 'Twas about time," He muttered. 'Yen yen yen," She mimicked. He started poking her arm playfully, and she let out a small chuckle. 'Stop it," She managed to say, in between laughs. 'You don't want me to stop. If you wanted me to, you'd have been struggling," He said. She wore a big grin on her face, smiling excitedly. 'How come you know me so well?" She asked, still wearing a big smile on her face. He shrugged. 'I just do," He said, then, unexpectedly, he poked her on her sides, and she laughed out loud. The other staff, who were partaking in the presentation as well, couldn't help but notice that they actually had a spark between them, and there was something more to them than just being an employer and an employee. Fred, the guy in pink, smiled, admiring their playful nature, asserting in his mind that they looked good together, as well as his co-worker, Shelly, who started asking God silently, when she would ever have someone in her life, who could joke around with her like Tade was doing with Bukunmi. While Mr Oshodi seemed indifferent about the whole situation, and was more focused on replying his wife's WhatsApp messages, as he was already missing her dearly, Mrs Brown Aniedi decided that if she didn't stop what they were doing, they may end up spending all their time there. 'Ahem," She cleared her throat. Tade let go of Bukunmi, and while Bukunmi tried to regain her self control, and wait for the laugh to wear off, his attention diverted to Mrs Brown, who had cleared her throat, in a manner that suggested that she had something to say. 'Sir, we're yet to agree on how the presentation should go about, and it's almost time for our presentation," She said, fully aware that his attention was now on her. 'Such a fun-killer," Fred muttered under his breath. Luckily, only Shelly had heard him, and she agreed with him, under her breath, 'I know, right?" 'Well, I already decided how the presentation should go about. My personal assistant here, will start the presentation, and I've ruled out the former idea of she just having to introduce you all. Instead, she'll be giving her own speech, since it's something she worked on. Now, when she's done, she can then introduce you all to the audience," He said. 'That's not a bad idea. However, I don't think they gave us enough time for that," Mrs Brown reasoned. 'Well, don't worry about that. I already pulled some strings, you'll be given more than enough time," He said. Since there was nothing to object further, Mrs Brown simply nodded her head, in agreement with what her boss had said. 'You all should go inside now, so, you can be seated and relaxed when you're called upon," Tade said, with a hand gesture. Bukunmi was amazed at how Tade could easily switch from being all cheerful to being really serious about things. She admired that about him; the ability to differentiate between work and fun. When they had all gone inside after thanking him for his suggestion, he turned back to Bukunmi, wearing a smile on his face. 'Thanks for giving me the opportunity to present all I've worked on to the public," She said, smiling broadly. He shrugged. 'There's no problem with that. Just don't make me regret giving you this opportunity," He said. 'Yes sir," She said, giving him a mock salute. 'Go on in now," He said to her, patting her back playfully. 'Sure," She said, and began walking into the hall, then turned around swiftly. 'Any problem?" He asked, wondering what had made her turn around. She shook her head. 'No. You look good, and I thought you should know. That's all," She said. He chuckled. 'I already do know. Anyway, you look good as well. Thanks for the compliment," He said, and he wasn't lying at all about her looking good. She wore a smile. 'I know I look good, too. Anyway, thanks for the compliment," She said, and without bothering to wait for a reply, skipped into the hall, like a little girl. He watched her go, and fifteen minutes later, while her presentation was still ongoing, he received a call from one of his father's thugs. Apparently, two of his father's thugs, that had ran off and were blackmailing them into giving them millions of naira in exchange for keeping mute about what truly went on, had finally been caught. His father wanted him to have a wrestling match with them, and prove that he was truly his son. Considering the fact that his father had nearly died the day before, he decided to do what he wanted. Every now and then, there was always a show to see if Tade had strength, which he was tired of, but did anyway. He was beating up criminals after all, and not innocent people, he reasoned. Bukunmi's presentation was going well, and achieved several rounds of applause and cheers, even though it wasn't over and done with yet. He stood up, and her eyes met with his. She smiled at him, and he returned her smile, then gave her a thumbs-up, nodding his head in approval of the presentation she was giving on behalf of Welling Fam Heights, then turned around to exit the hall. As he left for his hotel room to get his car keys and exit the building, a sad realisation fell upon him. Leaving the hall and going to attend to his father's bidding instead, only answered the question that had tugged on his mind the day before. If there ever came an opportunity to choose who to protect, he may as well choose his father, even though his father deserved the worst punishment that could ever be meted on a man. It also meant that someday, if Bukunmi ever found out about what he had done, and had evidence to back up her findings, she may ignore everything good he had done for her, and still try to get justice for her late father, because he was her father.