Why I Want To Be Bad 17b

-17b-

AMAKA

When I was much younger I suffered a lot from bullies. I was typically one of those fat girls that the skinny girls always pushed around just for fun but amongst all the bullies there was one I dreaded the most, Tina was her name.

The strange thing about Tina was that she was literally the smallest girl in the class but was yet the most feared, even most boys did not dare cross her path… Thinking of it now, I can’t really recall why the sight of her was really so intimidating considering her size but point still remains she was a real pain in the ass.

I do not know why but Tina took the bullying thing to a whole new level when it came to me. She made me submit my fully loaded lunch box to her every single day and then went as far as dragging me by my hair round the hall every now and then all for no reason at all.

All this went on for over a year until one day I could not take it anymore and made the decision that we all have to eventually make if we want to be free from any form of captivity. I decided I had had enough.

So what did I do? I did not sleep for a whole night to map out a grand plan to take down Tina.

Firstly, I invited everyone I knew Tina bullied for a meeting which was held in the rest room during lunch break. The goal of the meeting was to canvass support for them as to join in the rebellion I intended on starting. I simply wanted us all to start fighting back every time Tina tried to bully rather than just subject ourselves to do her will and being the supposed leader of the little organization I promised to be the first to openly rebel against her.

This brought me to the second part of my plan. I came to school the next day early as a bride on her wedding day just as usual. Dad used to work at a bank so he usually dropped me off at school on his way to work and you know how early banker go to work right?

Anyway, I sat on my sit quietly and waited till the classroom was filled up and just as expected, Tina had walked up to me and grabbed my lunch box after slapping me for not submitting it to her as she had instructed. I wanted to sting her but decided to keep my cool and let my plan just play on.

We were not allowed to eat except during lunch breaks so when lunch finally came, I passed a message across to everyone who was present at the meeting to have their eyes on Tina as something interesting was about to happen.

Tina first ate her own food, she usually came to school with snacks rather than cooked food so she happened to eat it quickly and then turned to focus on my food.

The sight of the beans and plantain must have been a real delight to her as I noticed her grin widely as soon as she opened the food flask before going on to devour the whole meal.

While she ate I patiently waited for something… Anything to happen but nothing happened. Rather she ate the whole food and snapped her fingers at me to come and carry the flask. I was devastated. That was not how I had hoped the plan would go and a glance at some of the people who were also on the lookout for the “interesting thing” was enough to tell me they were all disappointed and back to square one.

It took almost forever for the closing bell to ring as all I really wanted to do was go back home to cry and perhaps think of something else I could do to fight back as I’m not one who gave up easily but the interesting thing finally happened just as the closing bell came alive and students rushed out of the classroom excitedly.

Tina packed her books into her school bag, and stood up as she made to leave the classroom but suddenly screamed, “My stomach!” As she placed her palm on it in hope to subdue the pain before she slumped and passed out.

She was rushed to the sick bay and was lucky to have survived such attack. The test results would later show that she was a victim of food poisoning as I had added rat poison to the menu earlier that morning when I got to school.

Before you judge me, just remember that I was a kid then. It’s not like I poisoned the food with the intent of killing Tina but my line of thought was that since rat poison were made to kill rats which were very small in comparison to human, it would not be effective enough to kill a human but might just cause significant damage.

To conclude this particular ‘bully’ story, when Tina finally returned to school after spending weeks at the hospital, she did not say a word to me till we both graduated for primary school and frankly I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Now, why did I tell that story? There’s a new Tina in my life and I’m fed up once again. Problem is in this case, I can’t exactly use rat poison to fight this time but I sure have a plan.

***

FUNMI

As Henry ran out of the room clearly in pursuit of this new girl in the picture, the room became strangely quiet. It was as if no one had anything to say, at least not until Maxwell finally spoke.

“So who’s your friend?” He asked.

“Just a friend,” I replied. I wasn’t quite sure on how else I could have answered the question.

“Can we talk privately?”

I thought about it for a bit and then nodded since I couldn’t think of anything that could go wrong for just talking. I suggested we went to the balcony to talk.

“So what did you want to talk about?” I asked as I shut the door of the balcony, I didn’t want Ayo eavesdropping.

“I just wanted to apologise,” he said vaguely.

“Apologise for what?”

“Everything! The cultist thing, the accident and now this. I don’t know why I keep on doing all the wrong things and the wrong moves whereas all I really want is to see you smile,” he said.

“Oh Max, you don’t need to apologise for anything,” I replied calmly. Yes, I know I was supposed to be pissed at him but after seeing the look he had on the other night at the church I knew he was a good guy who just attracts bad situations unknowingly, besides after being through so much with him in just few days, nothing really could surprise me anymore.

“I know I’ve killed all hope I might have had to win you over, yea?”

“Maxwell, we make horrible friends. Let’s not make matters worse,” I gave a witty reply.

“I understand. But we can still be friends, right?” He asked looking all sad.

“Yea, sure. As long as you don’t try to be spontaneous. You remember how that ended last time?”

“Done! No more surprises from me,” he replied and crossed his heart. I chuckled.

“If that’s all, can we go back into the room?” I asked and he gave an affirmative response.

By the time we got back into the room, Henry was back already and he and Maxwell left shortly afterwards leave just I and Ayo all alone in the room once again.

“So what did you want to tell me?” I asked Ayo as I recall she was about to tell me something important earlier on before Maxwell and co had interrupted.

“It’s a long story,” she replied.

“Well as you can see, I have all day so start talking.”

Ayo looked uncertain. It was as if she was considering if she should tell me or not.

“Madam, you can’t appear at my door so early in the morning all the way from Ghana and tell me you are in trouble only for you not to explain what kind of trouble you are in,” I said calmly. Keeping my cool is an act I seemed to have perfected.

Ayo thought about what I had just said and then finally started her story, “well, it all started when I first met Lumusi…”

Apparently Lumusi was a rich naïve Ghanian girl who got into school and of all the people she saw, decided to make friends with Ayo. Ayo had introduced her to the life of hard drugs, boys and what have we.

Problem is although Ayo is matured enough to take care of herself and know her limit, Lumusi went on to first get infected with a deadly STD caused by the Human Papillomavirus and at the discovery of this went on to attempt suicide probably viewing the STD as a death sentence. It was at this point her family got involved and Ayo discovered that Lumusi’s father held one high office in Ghana.

The thing now is the father of the girl has ordered soldiers to investigate the matter and arrest everyone that contributed in any way to spoiling his only daughter’s life. From the person that sold the drugs to all the boys she had as little as pecked on the cheek.

Ayo was indeed in deep s.hit.

“So what’s you plan now?” I asked when she was done narrating her story to me.

“I don’t know, I guess I’ll just chill here with you till the matter dies.

Why I Want To Be Bad 3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-3-

 

FUNMI

 

The best way to kill a lion is to make it feel comfortable and just when it least suspects, you strike.

 

I was doing basically nothing when I heard a knock on my door, just laying on my bed and watching a Morgan Freeman movie. It was just Monday, a day after my arrival at Yaba-Tech and I had no intention of attending any lecture yet. Although I was a little bit anxious to know how my first lecture would be like, I just felt I ought to give myself a week break before l let school work consume all of my time.

 

I had just found the perfect spot after lots of tossing and turning all over the bed so standing up to check who was at the door didn’t sound like a good idea but after staying all day in the house all Sunday and no one visiting, I guess curiosity got the best of me as I wondered who the person at the door was.

 

I reluctantly walked to the door and without asking who it was, I opened the door and without being surprised at the very least, I found Maxwell standing at my door step. Frankly, I was already wondering why he hadn’t dropped by yet.

 

“Err… Hi,” he said, smiling a little too much for the occasion.

 

“Hello,” I replied. I know Hi is the right response for Hi but having grown up surrounded by Nigerians who regularly replied Hi with Hello, I decided to join them since I can’t obviously beat them.

 

“Okay… I’m going to go straight to the point.” Maxwell started to say, “I’m really bored right now and in need of some company. Mind if I chill here with you?” He asked, still smiling. His smile was making me feel a bit uncomfortable.

 

“Sure, no problem,” I replied after thinking about the request quickly and concluding nothing could go wrong. I moved away from the door to let him through before locking it.

 

He walked in and went straight to the only painting I had hung on the wall. It was a nature painting of the sun setting above a stream. It wasn’t really a special painting but Maxwell seem to take much interest in it.

 

“This is beautiful,” he said as he starred intensely at it. I didn’t know what exactly to reply so I just hummed in response and went back to watching my movie.

 

He starred at the painting a little longer before he turned to speak to me. “You’ve got a really nice place here.”

 

“Thanks, I replied without looking at him in the face.” He was obviously attracted to me and I was obviously attracted to him too but I had no plans of giving him any signs or making the first move.

 

“So… What’s up?” He asked as he sat down on the bed beside me. I had a chair but he just had to sit on the bed beside me… Typical.

 

“I’m fine,” I replied, still not looking at him.

 

“You know, I can leave if you want me to.” He said with a tone of disappointment.

 

“And why would you want to do that?” I asked acting like I had no idea what I was doing.

 

“I came here hoping to chill to you and I’ve been here for over five minutes and you’ve barely said like only two words. It’s obvious I’m not welcomed.” He complained.

 

I finally agreed I had had enough fun. I paused the movie and hibernated the laptop then turned to look at him saying, “So what do you want to do?”

 

“Well, I have no idea. I was hoping you’ll suggest something.”

 

I chuckled. “Me? Suggest something? You are the one who is bored. I have no idea too but I’m down for whatever.”

 

“You know what?” Maxwell asked with a wide grin. He seemed to have found out the perfect solution.

 

“What?”

 

“Put on something. I’m taking you out right now.” He said.

 

“Out? To where?” I asked, doing a horrible job at hiding my excitement.

 

“You’ll find out when we get there,” he replied, probably trying to sound mysterious.

 

“What’s makes you think I want to go anywhere with you right now?” I asked and noticed his grin faded a little so I continued before he could provide a reply, “besides, you need to tell me where you are taking me to so I’ll know exactly what to put on.”

 

“Just put on something casual.” He said firmly.

 

I don’t know why I accepted the offer of a stranger to take me out but few minutes later I left my apartment dressed in a black jean and a blue top, I like blue a lot so I have quite a large number of blue tops.

 

Maxwell took my arm in his and led the way. I had no idea where he was taking me to.

*

 

MAXWELL

 

I wasn’t really bored, as a matter of fact I had fuel in the house, tonnes of unfinished movies and video games, tonnes of books to read and an endless list of places I could go to but I decided to go and see my newest neighbour, Funmi.

 

She had been all that was on my mind since I first met her and I just had to see her, so without really thinking of what I would say to her, I went downstairs to her flat and knocked at the door, it took her a while to open the door and then I found myself telling her how bored I was and how I needed her company. As she let me in, I caught the sight of a very beautiful painting.

 

I once dated a Creative Art and Design student who really took art and design a little too seriously and I got to love art thanks to her. What struck me the most about the painting on Funmi’s wall was the fact that I saw the signature of my ex on it which meant she was the one who painted it, what was her painting doing on Funmi’s wall? I made a mental note to ask her when next I saw her.

 

When I snapped back to reality I went to sit down beside her on the bed and tried starting a conversation but her response wasn’t encouraging so I decided to apply reverse psychology and then told her I could go if she wanted, I knew she wouldn’t want me to go but I wanted her to admit it.

 

The Reverse Psychology thing worked and she stopped watching the movie and gave me her full attention.

 

“What do you want to do?” She asked me and it was then I realized that I had made a mistake. I should have thought about what I was going to do at her flat before I did. My dumb heart had told me to see her and I had just stupidly done so with no plan.

 

“Well I have no idea, I was hoping you’ll suggest something.” I said in a low tone.

She didn’t have any suggestions neither and then two wires in my brain touched and a spark followed. I got an idea. A really good idea.

 

“Put something on, I’m taking you out.” I said and after a little expected reluctance and a few questions she started dressing up.

 

All girls like a spontaneous guy and I had a spontaneous idea in my mind, what I didn’t know

was that staying at home would have been a better idea.

 

*

 

HENRY

 

As the bike I boarded to Mary-Anne’s house came to a screeching halt at the front of her gate I quickly jumped down and settled the bills.

 

While I walked to her flat, I had a mental battle trying to deduct what she meant by “I want to see you, we need to talk”.

 

She may want me to sleep with her again, I had first thought, but I concluded that I won’t if she offers. The first time was a mistake… A huge mistake. Maxwell and I never really got involved in each other’s relationship let alone sleeping with each other’s girlfriends. I and Mary-Anne just had a little too much to drink.

 

My mind wandered for a few minutes in search of an explanation but I couldn’t think of any reason why she had called me over I decided to stop disturbing myself and just face whatever came my way.

 

Just like clockwork, her door swung open just as I got to her door. She didn’t even allow me to knock. I tried to catch a glimpse of her face before walking into her apartment but she seemed to have found something really interesting on the ground as she starred intensely downwards.

 

She bolted the door as soon as I entered and then started pacing around. I stared at her in silence from the really comfortable couch I sat on. She lived in a self-contain apartment with a roommate I barely saw. The room contained a couch, a bed, a Plasma TV set, a home theatre, a shoe rack and a bed-side freezer, how all of that entered the small room was purely some sort of powerful sorcery.

 

“Are you going to talk to me or pacing around is a better idea?” I finally asked as I got the hint that she wasn’t going to talk anytime soon. She didn’t reply and paced faster.

 

“Mary! Would you sit your ass down?” I instructed with a rather loud tone as I started to get irritated by her steady pacing.

 

This time she paused for a while then sat at the edge of the bed, the one farthest from me. She kept quiet.

 

“So what’s up? Why did you call me here?” I asked. She replied me with an unwelcomed silence.

 

“You realize I don’t have all day right?” I continued and once again she kept quiet. It was obvious she was avoiding looking at me. I became rather nervous, “TALK TO ME!” I said very loudly.

 

It took her a while but she finally turned to look at me in the eyeballs and said, “I haven’t seen my period.”

 

I paused for a while… No, the whole world paused for a while and then I did what no rational human would do. I stood up and made to leave her house.

I could feel her eyes shooting arrows at me as I worked the bolt on the door and once it was unlocked, I walked out slamming the door behind me.

 

To Be Continued

#ShortStory: Beauty Salon.

BEAUTY SALON

It was a nice monday morning. Unlike other mondays when I don’t want to even stand up from my bed after a long weekend of flexing and more flexing, I was feeling particularly happy about this monday in question, the reason was simple, Latifah, my long term girlfriend had just left to stay at her friend’s place for a few days. So I was a free man, free to go after all those UNILAG girls that come to my shop to make their hair.

Latifah and I had a way we did our things. Whenever I offended her, she could bring down all hell on that spot but she always forgives me afterwards and for reasons I’m yet to know, she goes to stay with a friend for a few days before things get back to normal between us.

You see, Latifah is a really jealous lady and I’m not particularly the most faithful boyfriend, so you can only imagine how often we used to fight.

I can vividly recall our last quarrel that almost broke the camel’s back. It was a normal sunday night and in an attempt to be a good boyfriend, I had taken Latifah out to the club. At the beginning we were dancing happily until I got tired of her arse and decided to try out other asses, or isn’t that what people do in club nowadays?

I spotted this lonely chick dancing all by herself and without asking any questions, I slipped behind her and held her on her waist, she was probably too drunk to even complain, she started giving me what Latifah couldn’t.

Latifah watched us for a while and when she couldn’t take it anymore, she walked towards me and dragged me away holding me on my belt like a food seller who had just been told “I don’t have money to pay” by a customer.

Well, I felt so embarrassed but I some how kept my cool until she said, “why are all men dogs? You guys are never satisfied with what they have!”.

I’ve heard and read jokes where the girls say that and the guys reply, “what breed is your father?”. In most of those jokes, they never really tell us what happens next, and I’m the inquisitive type, so I decided to try it.

“If am a dog, what breed is your father?” I blurted, trying to hide my grin.

“What did you just say?” She asked, tightening the grip on my belt, I didn’t know she was just giving me a chance to save myself so I repeated myself. The summary of the story is the club scattered that day and for the first time ever, she threatened me.

“The next time you do anything like this, I’ll cut your dick,” were the words she used. Latifah never joked with her threats.

As usual, she left to stay with her friend for a few days once again.

Well, enough about Latifah, back to my wonderful monday.

I stood up from my bed grinning sheepishly, and thirty minutes later, I was already on my way to work. Just so you know, I’m the owner of that new small beauty salon at the back of Moremi hall in UNILAG, and yes! I’m a hair dresser, weird job indeed for a guy, but I love it anyway.

I was already standing at the front of my shop exactly one hour after I woke up. I unlocked the door and walked in.

When I say “my shop,” don’t go and picture a fancy big and luxurious building made of brick, tiles and glass because “my shop” is actually everything but fancy, big and luxurious. Its just an average size red container I bought from a retired ibo man and managed to pimp it up a little, thanks to Baba Friday who is the carpenter that lives in the same “face me I face you” compound as I.

I swept the shop and was already brushing a wig I intended to put on sale when my first customer for the day walked in.

“Hello,” she said to get my attention because I was fully concentrated at the highly tangled wig, before now, I didn’t think it was possible for a wig to as tangled as this.

I slowly looked up at her standing at the door post and behold, I saw the most curvy and beautiful female I’ve ever seen in all my twenty four years on this planet. For a moment, I thought she wasn’t human and even when I later found out she was a human, I still didn’t think she could do such an irritating thing as use a toilet. Yes! Judging from her looks, I would have sworn she had never stepped into the four walls of a toilet, or is it three wall, since one of the supposed wall is usually the door? Okay, this is irrelevant to my story.

Back to my story.

“He.. Hello,” I stuttered in response.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to bother you but are you the one in charge here?” She asked with authority.

I was already getting back composure so I replied boldly, “Yes, I am. Do you want to make your hair?” I grinned.

“Wow,” she exclaimed looking surprised. I really don’t know what really made her surprised, maybe the fact that a male ran the shop or because of my cute looks *wink*.

“Surprised or you don’t think I can make your hair?” I asked, still shining my thirty one teeth, the dentist removed one some months ago because of a hole I had.

“Errr.. Yes… No.. I mean yes,” she stuttered. “The story about how good your are is all over campus and seen a couple of your works. I just didn’t expect you to be this…” She paused as if she was having a rethink on her choice of words, “this good looking,” she finally voiced out.

My cheeks instantly went pepper red, I wasn’t quite sure of the exact reason I was blushing. The fact that she just said everyone on campus was talking about me made me blush and the “good looking” comment only ended up make me blush harder, I could literally feel my head swell.

“Hmmm, please have a sit,” I replied, trying to change the topic before she noticed that my head had suddenly grown bigger.

She walked into the shop and sat on the chair which was placed directly at the front of a gigantic mirror.

I stood behind her for a while and admired her looks. She could easily pass for a model with her really short bump shorts and “show me your belle” top.

“Are you going to stand there all day?” She snapped me back to reality.

“Oh! Am sorry,” as a sharp guy, I seized the opportunity and dropped my first “punchline”, “I was just wondering why God was so unfair when he created you,” I added.

The line worked exactly as I had hoped it would as she stared at my reflection on the mirror looking confused, “what do you mean by that?” She asked.

“Oh! I mean its not fair that you are this hot and other girls are not half your heat,” I said and winked at her. In my years of female study, I’ve learnt that the words: hot, beautiful and cute applies to different kind of girls, pending on the dress code and attitude of the girl in question. Bad girls are hot, good girls are beautiful and girls who are somewhere in between good and bad are cute, I never mix it up.

She smiled while she thought of a reply.

“So what exactly do you want me to do to your hair,” I asked before she could think of a reply.

“Errr… I dunno really, just make me look good,” she replied and just as I had expected, she finally returned my wink.

“You already look good,” I replied, but got no reply. So I walked over to the table at her front and picked up a comb, I started combing her hair into shape so as to know what exactly to do.

While I did this, I decided it would be best I push my luck, “so.. Am Stanley by the way,” I said.

She nodded in approval and kept quiet to my greatest disappointment. Wasn’t this the girl who winked at me a few moments ago, I thought.

“You know, this is usually the part you tell me your name,” I added.

She smiled once again but there was something different about this smile that I just couldn’t pinpoint, “am Amaka,” she replied.

“Hmmm, Amaka, nice name,” I complemented. In reality, I know over a thousand girls named Amaka so there really isn’t anything special about the name, but she didn’t need to know that, did she? *wink*

“Thanks, I hear that a lot ” she replied and dipped her hands into her pocket, she brought out a Tecno Phantom A1 and after tapping the screen for a few seconds she opened her BBM and started pinging while I made her hair. The thought of tecno phones now pinging made me frown. I bought my first london used BB tour for twenty eight thousand naira and now people with eleven thousand naira can now ping? Can you imagine?! That’s just an insult to me.

I quickly wiped the thought from my head as I wasn’t going to let the personal grudge I had with Tecno android phones get in the way of nailing Amaka.

“So you a student here, right?” I asked, trying to create a conversation.

“Yea,” she replied coldly.

I wasn’t going to let her cold reply shake me, “what are you studying?”

“Law,” she replied, still consistent with the coldness in her tone.

“What level?” I asked. I didn’t care if she was a diploma student or post graduate, just asked so that we could keep on talking.

“300 level,” she replied.

I don’t know what came over me, but her responses suddenly got to me and I really didn’t know when I said, “why are you forming for me? You like me and I like you too, so what’s with all this cold replies?”

She suddenly stopped pressing her phone and turned to look at me. She stared for a few seconds and asked, “what did you say?”

The question brought me back to my senses and even though I really wanted to repeat myself again, I replied, “nothing really, just said you have a nice hair colour.”

“Better!” She exclaimed and went back to pressing her phone… Her cheap thirty K chinco tecno trash.

For the rest of her stay, I made her hair in silence and mentally raining curses on the evil spirit that sent her to my shop to spoil my day. I considered spoiling her hair but she looked like someone who could cause wahala, and I didn’t need drama at such early hour in the morning.

Finally, after thirty minutes of sharp silence, she finally left my shop and once again, I was all alone.

I sat on the chair she sat on and for some strange reasons I started thinking about her, for hours, I wondered if I made a wrong move by letting her go without taking her number or even pin.

My thoughts were interrupted by the presence of my second customer of the day.

“Good afternoon, pilease, I wantu plait my hair,” the customer said with an annoying ibo accent.

The new customer was an exact opposite of Amaka as she wore a skirt that touched her ankles, a rather over sized MTN customed T-shirt with one of those green “Lord Chosen” apron like jacket, and a scarf with flower designs all over it, even though I was a professional hairdresser and had seen all types of hair, I wasn’t so sure I wanted this particular customer to remove her scarf.

“I said, goodu afternoon, I wantu plait my hair,” she repeated herself as she saw I didn’t reply or acted like I had seen her.

“Errr.. Come and sit,” I finally replied and waved to the chair. “What style do you want?” I added as she sat.

“All back,” she replied with a grin. As an experienced and seasoned hairdresser, I could tell from the contours on her head that she had never really weaved her hair, perhaps all she did was tie it with those black ropes that are used for tying hair.

Just to make sure she can afford my fee before I started, I said, “your money na #400 oh.”

“#400 gini? For wetin? You go use gold design the hair?” She fired.

I became furious, “see, I no get time to waste, if you no gree, comot my shop!” I yelled at her.

She noticed that I wasn’t moved my her first reaction so she tried a cooler one, “anhan, na why you dey do like this bros? Oya no vex, I no get #400, make I pay you #300,” she pleaded.

I weighted my options and when recalled I didn’t even take money from Amaka out of sheer stupidity, I accepted her offer.

I picked up a comb and immediately went down to work. The time was already 2:00PM.

By 2:35PM, I had gone half way and we had both not said a single word. I had no intention of talking to her, I just wanted to make her hair and pray I never see her again.

Just when I was thought my day couldn’t get any worse, she opened her mouth to speak. “Are you a Christian?” She asked.

“Oh my gosh!” I exclaimed. What has that got to do with the hair am plaiting? I thought.

“Eh? What did you say?” She asked.

“Err.. Nothing,” I replied. “Yes, am a Christian,” I added.

“Okay, which church do you attend?”

Like seriously? Can’t she just keep her pipe shot! I thought. “Am an anglican,” I responded irritably.

“Oh! Good. So.. Can I ask you a personal question?” She asked. I was already wondering where the ibo accent she had had gone to? Her english was almost flawless now. Her looks still remained the same though.

“No,” I replied coldly, the fact that she was talking to me was enough. I couldn’t bear a personal question too.

She chuckled. “What’s making this one chuckle now?” Was the question I asked myself.

“I’ll ask you anyway,” she replied. “Are you a born again?” She asked.

“Pardon?” Was all I could say. I wasn’t really surprised, she looked like “the type”.

“I said: Stanley, are you a born again Christian?”

I was shocked, I busy hands froze on her hair as I wondered how the hell she knew my name?

She saw my shocked look, “why do you look surprised” she asked.

“How did you know my name?” I asked with a straight face. Had it been Amaka who already knew my name, I probably wouldn’t have reacted this way o.

“Oh! That? I spotted it on that book over there, when I entered your shop,” she replied and pointed at my hard cover records book which was on a stool close to the door. I was surprised and impressed at how observant she was.

“Wow! You a student here?,” I asked out of curiosity. She had to be a scholar to be that observant, but she just didn’t have the look of a UNILAG girl, so I was pretty confused.

“Yes, I am. I’m studying Bio-Chem,” she replied. I wondered who asked her what she was studying.

“Okay oh. Cool,” I replied and went back to making her hair in silence until she spoke again.

“You still haven’t answered my question,” she blurted.

“Which question?”

“Are you a born again Christian?” She repeated herself.

Truth be told, I wasn’t and probably still isn’t, but I knew telling her that would lead to a full length lecture on repentance and I wasn’t really in the mood for that, all I needed was peace and silence.

Please don’t get me wrong, I’m a Christian and was brought up in a good Christian family but I just don’t know what happened.

“Yes, I am,” I finally replied.

“Hmmm… Okay, good for you,” she said. “Maybe when you are done with my hair, we could talk about the gospel, what do you think?” She asked politely.

I cracked my brain for a suitable excuse but I got non, “am packed up for the day, maybe tomorrow,” I finally replied. That seemed like the best excuse at that time.

“Hmmm, okay, I’ll come tomorrow,” she replied and kept quiet until I was done with her hair.

When I was done, she paid and walked out, “don’t forget oh, I’ll come tomorrow around this time,” she added. I promised myself not to be available by that time.

The rest of the day went relatively fast as no interesting customers came and I did the few hair who came in silence.

By 8:00PM, I was done for the day and decided to lock up so I could go home. I picked up my bag which contained my Laptop, and switched off the lights.

“What a day,” I sighed as I walked out of the shop and just when I was about to lock the gate, I heard someone call my name from behind.

I slowly turned around to see the least person I had expected to see after all her shakara.

“Amaka!” I exclaimed.

“Yes, errr.. You already going?”. She asked.

“Yes, I am… Any problem?” I asked, not sure either I should be excited or angry.

“I forgot something in your shop,” she replied seductively.

“What’s that?” I asked.

She didn’t reply me directly but walked closer to me and to my greatest surprise, she stretched and kissed me, “that’s what I forgot to do,” she replied.

I smiled, “girls sha! Them too dey form”, I thought.

“Do you want to come in?” I asked and winked at her.

“Errr… Maybe,” she said.

I turned and walked back into the shop excited about what was about to happen, my monday couldn’t have gotten any better, or so I thought.

She walked in and sat at an extreme end of the shop. I switched on the fan, locked the windows and closed the door, I couldn’t bolt it from inside so I just hoped no one would barge in.

Then turned back to Amaka and well… You know what we wanted to do.

I had barely gone for five minutes when someone suddenly barged in and switched on the light.

I immediately turned to rain curses at the imbecile for not knocking at least… But as I saw the person, I had a re-think and temporary lost my ability of speech.

I looked around for a means for me to escape but I had locked the windows that was she was standing at the door.

I conjured the best smile I could. “Latifah, are you back from you friend’s place?” I stuttered.

Her threat still rang in my ear.

THE END.