The sound of my ringing phone woke me up. I rolled to the side of my bed and carefully stretched out my hand to pick up my phone, pausing just before reaching it to admire Kanna, my fiancé.
“Fiancé,” the word had a pretty nice ring every time I said it out loud. I still couldn’t believe this fine-ass man was mine. If someone had told me I would run into the love in my life and be engaged to him in one year, I would have thought they were crazy. But here I was with the man of my dreams. Every time I look at him, I feel grateful to God for bringing him my way and I …
My thoughts were interrupted by the loud buzzing of my phone once again. This time, I angrily grabbed it off the desk drawer where it lay, ready to scream at whoever was calling at this hour. But when I saw the caller ID, I calmed down a little, and a smile broke out on my face. It was my best friend and soon-to-be chief bridesmaid Tolu.
“Tolulope Akinola, it is 12:00 am for Christ’s sake, haba nau! You no dey sleep? This better be good o,” I said immediately as I picked up the phone.
“Wunmi, there is fire on the mountain o,” she responded, whispering.
“Is the fire hotter than my fiancé? Eh? You’re disturbing me and my man; we’re in the middle of something, abeg abeg,” I said, laughing, trying to tease her.
When there was no response to my joke, I realised something was wrong.
“Tolu, is everything okay? What’s up?”
“Babes, that’s why I’m calling at this time. Everything is not okay.”
“Oya nau, spill.”
“Remember Pablo?” she asked, pausing before continuing, “He asked his guy to reach out to me so I could find you for them.”
When I got a grasp of where the conversation was headed, I quickly glanced at Kanna to make sure he was still sleeping. Then I tiptoed to the dining room and sat there, making sure I was out of ear’s reach. Clearly, this was a conversation I had kept from him.
“Find me ke? Ah! Omo yen ya were o, that boy is mad. What part of ‘I’m no longer interested’ did he not understand two years ago?”
“Trust me nau, I told Stanley to tell him that you clearly said you were no longer interested, but he says Pablo won’t leave you alone until you make it very clear.”
“Very clear how? What more does the stupid boy want? I said I’m done. I have a new and peaceful life with my fiancé, and I intend to keep it that way.”
“Did you tell him?”
“Tell him what?”
“About the whole Pablo thing.”
I paused for a bit, sighing as though to remember the entire situation. “Tols, I think I’m just going to keep that boy and everything related to him in the past. I have a happy life. I don’t want to speak on it; let it just die,” I responded.
“But Wunmi, I don’t think it’s a good idea to build a marriage on lies. At least tell him and let him decide how to handle it. What if the truth comes out later?”
“Lies how? I never lied to Kanna, I just didn’t tell him. There’s a difference,” I said firmly.
Tolu sighed in response like she was about to start giving one of her long lectures, and I cut her off immediately with a fake yawn. “Did Stanley say anything else? I need to go to bed before Kanna notices I’m not beside him and starts asking questions,” I asked, trying to escape her.
“Yes. He said Pablo needs you to write a letter to him, say you’re done inside it, and equally sign it,” she replied.
“What? Why? I honestly regret the day I got involved with that boy.”
“I know! This is batshit crazy, but just do it and get it over with. You can come to my side and drop it off tomorrow, then I’ll do the rest.”
After she spoke, I nodded in agreement even though she couldn’t see me, and ended the call afterwards.
The next day came, and I couldn’t help but feel like I shouldn’t have left out key details about my past to Kanna. He was very big on trust, and all the sneaking around and little lies I had to tell today were already beginning to eat me up. I pretended to be sick and called to cancel at work so that I could remain home while he left for his workplace and perfectly execute the instructions Tolu had given. I bimbled about the house until he was completely gone, then I sat down to write the said letter. Seeing as this was the last time I’d be addressing Pablo, I was determined to pour out my past frustrations in this letter.
At first, I couldn’t find the words to express my hatred toward him. Do you blame me? How do you hate someone you never even knew to begin with?
About seven years ago, when Tolu and I were in school, we were ambushed by a group of five young boys who we later found out were drug dealers. They had been following us for a while and chose that day to make their move. They harassed us and threatened to kill our family members if we didn’t cooperate.
They told us we had to work for them for the next five years; they explained that they didn’t require us to do much, but they needed us for their operations. They had scouted me in particular and believed I’d be perfect for their needs. After threatening to kill our family members, they made it clear that we had no choice. We thought they were joking, so when we got home, we plotted to go to the police the next day.
On our way to the police station, we received a picture of my mom and Tolu’s sister along with a text message that read, “If you do anyhow, you go see anyhow.” That warning was enough to make us comply.
They told us that their boss, who we later got to know by his alias, Pablo, needed a smart girl to handle their dealings. I begged them to leave Tolu out of it, but they needed more leverage, so they refused. We never saw their boss, but from how they all feared him, he was one scary man.
My role was to track shipments and make sure goods containing drugs were delivered without detection by the authorities. It wasn’t exactly the hardest thing for me to do, given that ‘imports and exports’ were the line of work my dad used to be involved in. I had to give them kudos for knowing to recruit me.
The only person we remotely spoke to or knew by their actual name was Stanley. At the end of every year, Stanley sent a cheque for the work I did, which I refused and tore up the first year, but ended up collecting the years after. I hated myself for helping them, for spending drug money, and for ever being involved in such a mess.
Written by Tehila Okagbue
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