Threading on the wrong side of the game
2153 Words
“No.” Leena said and felt so low at that moment. A part of her said she was just a player, toying with the hearts of two men. She had told Mufty that there was nothing serious between her and Dammy. Now, she told Dammy she was not in love with someone else.
Was she threading on the wrong side of the game?
Okay, she had lied to Mufty because she did not want to lose him if she told him about Dammy. He would have walked away. She did not lie because she wanted to play him.
She lied to Dammy because he looked as if he wanted to make a scene and unveiling her relationship with Mufty had to be tactical. There were too many dark sides of him which no one may understand.
She did not want him to go ballistics here. She would tell him the truth but in a more conducive manner.
“Are you sure about this?”
“I am.”
He seemed to be relieved.
“I need you guys to excuse me.” Liah said.
“Where are you going to?” Leena asked.
“I have not said hello to Mama. I will be back.”
“Okay dear.”
She left.
“What is going on? Why is all these happening?” Dammy asked.
“There is nothing going. I told you I had to save someone. He was a child who I could not leave alone.”
“Where is he?”
“Did you expect me to bring him home?”
“But you brought a child home the other time.”
“That was an infant and we got the formal permit to keep him. Gwago is taking care of him. This boy I saved is about twelve and he left with his mother.”
“Were they both captured?”
“Yes. But it was for him.”
“But I don’t get it. How did you save him? We are talking about insurgents here. The most dangerous sects in the country now. They are more virulent and feared more than Niger-Delta militants. The whole world is shouting ‘bring back our girls’ so I wonder how you saved him and his mother.”
“Did I make a mention of going back to the insurgents? I saved him from a house where he was been subjected to child labour and please stop pressing me with barrages of questions. I told you because I trusted you.”
“Don’t I have the right to question you?”
“You use the word ‘right’. I am not yet under you. I am still under my parents. Don’t call it right. Call it courtesy.”
“Hmmm…so what has the saving of the boy got to do with you not knowing if you love me again?”
“Dammy, I just came back and I have gone through a lot. I cannot engage in an argument now.”
“This is not an argument. Just seeking for answers.”
“I never said I do not love you again. I said I don’t know but I do not hate you. I like you.”
“Hmmm…Leena.”
“My name has not changed Dammy.”
“No but you have changed.”
“Really? I never knew about that.”
“Please Leena do not hurt me.”
“I swear I will never hurt you intentionally. I just want us to pray for what is best for us and only God knows this. If you are the best for me, then may we get married. If I am the best for you, same but if……..”
“What are you saying?”
“I am praying. Is there something wrong with the prayer? Do you know what lies ahead?”
“Why now? Why just a few weeks to the wedding?”
“You don’t seem to understand it. I have always prayed that I do not know who is best for me. I always pray that God should bring him to me. We are not yet married Dammy. Please let us talk about something else. We should not put all our eggs in one basket. We should not commit our whole hearts into it so we don’t get shattered hearts. We should wait until we are married before we believe it fully but you are still very special to me. You are more than a friend but a super-brother and potential husband.”
“Thank you.” He said knowing there was no point of further argument. “I want to leave. Ask Liah if she wants to leave now. If she wants to stay back, then I leave.”
“Okay.”
As she walked away, his eyes followed her behind and he felt his bile rise. He wanted her but he was no fool. She was falling out of love with him.
No. she still loved him, maybe it was just a psychological trauma. Whatever it was, he was not letting her go. He knew her parents would not let the wedding crash. No matter what she did, he would not let go.
She was going through a lot and he understood. She loved him. She also wanted him and he believed her when she said there was no one else.
Leena met Liah sipping juice.
“Are you guys through?” Liah asked.
“Yes. He wants to know if you are leaving now.”
“Hell no,” she said with a pout. “I have my TP for keke. Let him go, I need to talk to you.”
Leena smiled.
“Okay but I wish you could tell him yourself.”
“Don’t you want to go back?”
“Sure I do but courtesy….you should tell him yourself rather than sending me back.”
They went back to him.
“Dammy, thank you for the ride but I still want to hang out with this foolish girl a bit. Do not think that I miss her though.”
“You better confess, naughty girl. You missed me.”
Liah pouted.
“I have to leave then. Thank you Liah for everything.” He said, smiled and then walked out of the compound.
“You have got a lot of explanations to make.” Liah said after Dammy left. “What is going on?”
“Nothing.”
“I was there when you said there was no one else in your life. Why did I not believe you? Why do I feel there is something going on?”
This was the time to tell her best friend but what was she going to tell her? That she fell in love with someone she met in Kabari Forest? The guy who abducted her? Was there any best friend that would understand with her? This was Dammy, a nice guy who they knew his background and ready to marry her.
“Dammy is just being paranoid. I still love him and we are good.” She said. This was not the time to reveal her secret. She knew Liah would tell her the truth and the truth was breaking up with Moore and getting married to Dammy.
Dammy sat in his car when he saw Liah come out of her house. He wondered who are tailor was. The way he made her clothes for her made him wondered if he was trained just to sew for her.
She produced a smile.
“Dammy.”
“Hanny. You look sweet.”
“Thank you.”
“Please come in.”
She hesitated.
“I thought you were coming out.”
“It is sunny and hot.”
She reluctantly moved and opened the passenger’s side door and got in. He was right. It was hot and the AC blew a cool air that made her felt so nice.
He brought out two containers of ice-cream and passed one to her.
“It is hot. It is a stracciatella ice-cream.”
“Dammy, you know I won’t say no to this.” She collected it. She loved stracciatella which was a variety of gelato. She loved chocolate so the irregular shavings of chocolate and milk-base made it mouth-watering.
“I know right.” He smiled.
“Where is Liah?” She asked after a scoop.
“Who?”
“Oh my God! I meant Leena.”
“Damn! This ice-cream is brutal. You just gave your name to someone else.”
They laughed.
“I was with her a few minutes ago.”
“And you look happier today.”
“I am happy.”
“So, things are working out well, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“I told you. Leena was just going through some things.”
“Yeah. I know she would never hurt me on purpose. I got to understand her.”
“I am glad.”
“Thank you. Liah….”
“Yep.” She replied while the coldness and sweetness of the ice-cream scintillated her.
“I just want you to know that mean a lot to me. When I feel down, you come to my mind. I feel so comfortable telling you my travails and you heal me.”
“Does that make me a good wife’s best friend?”
“Do I have a wife?”
“You have an almost-wife.”
He chuckled. He took a full spoon of ice-cream.
“I can never share ice-cream with you. Did you see the scoop you just took? If we were sharing one, then it would have been ratio 3:1. You take one spoon, wait, and I take three.”
“Who knows if we are going to share?”
She heard him say that and felt something knock her head. That did not sound so nice.
“Nah, we can’t share one. You would share with Leena and not me. But I don’t think you can cheat her. She could be naughty too. When we were in secondary school, there was this woman who used to sell doughnuts. We would go when she was just making them and get them hot. Leena would have two before I get one….”
“The Hausa man says a person’ wife is his grave. You don’t know where you will be buried for certain.”
“I have heard that but I don’t know where it fits in besides, you did not laugh to my story.”
“Ohhhh,” he said and forced a fake laugh.
“That is not fair. It was not funny. Okay, Dammy…..”
“I think I am in love with you.”
Liah felt her mouth go dry even though it was filled with ice-cream. What did he just say? Was this guy crazy? Did he think the ice-cream would intoxicate her or he was intoxicated himself?
“That is a strong word, Dammy.”
“I know. It is a strong word for a strong feeling. I want to marry you Liah.”
She was speechless. She dropped the bowl of ice-cream. Went out the car and slammed the door.
Dammy had lost it, she thought.
Mufty sat at a table with his face resting on his chin in the living-room of his new two-room apartment. It has a kitchenette and toilet.
It was poorly furnished. The bedroom had just a big mattress on the carpet, while the living-room had just carpet laid on the floor and two plastic chairs.
Jahl was alive and had come out as planned. Mufty was supposed the man behind him. He was lucky they did not start making the videos before he left.
Something else worried him. Captain Kamal reported saving a man who was nearly killed. The man was Alarama Saheed.
Mufty frowed.
Alarama Saheed!
That was the reciter of the slain Sheikh. Now he could see the picture more vividly. Alaramma Saheed was always with the sheikh anytime he was preaching.
The day he was supposed to kill the sheikh. Alaramma Saheed was there.
It added up. He had seen that face before. That face had been to the camp once even though Jahl tried to hide him.
There was doubt it was him that killed the Sheikh. He was working with the insurgents.
The attempted murder was a charade. Now the ATOF see him as a victim.
Mufty clenched his fist. Jahl has come into the open and that means the grand plan was in place. The insurgents were infiltrating everywhere.
Alaramma Saheed!
- Writer
