She was , walking, her legs were weakening, her white mini gown was drenched with sweat and stuck to her back, her makeup was all sticky, the Brazilian extension she had on was dripping sweat and stuck to her head and face, she couldn’t run any longer, but if she wanted to be alive, she had to. She turned back to see if her pursuers were behind, she saw no one. She decided to rest and catches her breath, just then her phone rang;
Woman: “Hello”
Man (on the phone): “You can only run, but you can’t hide, this is my city and I will get you.” She began to fidget, and the phone fell out of her hand as she began to slowly go down, till she slumped on the red sand, consumed with fear. As she lay on the ground, her face in the sand, tears dropping from her eyes, mixed with phlegm, pooled on the red sand making it muddy. She thought back to how and where it all started…
==================
O n the day that Adebimpe was to go to the University, she woke up before the cock crow, she went to the bathroom outside the house, made of corrugated Zinc sheets, to bathe. After bathing she wore her Christmas gown, it was the only good clothe she had, the rest of her clothes were the ones she used for farm work and hawking firewood, from which she got money to fend for her family. She was the first child of 4 children, and the only daughter. Her younger brothers’ education laid squarely on her shoulders, her father was crippled by an accident in the steel mill he worked for, the compensation money was used to rent and stock a shop for her mother. Bimpe’s mother, Basirat was an irresponsible woman, the proceeds from her shop she used in pursuing young boys in the village, till they could no longer pay the rent for the shop. Her father, Ladejo just sat in his chair everyday unable to control his body, much less his unruly wife, so every day he died a little more. As Bimpe lathered her body, she thought of the family she would leave behind, how would they cope without her? She had left money which she had been saving up, to her mother for their upkeep. She hoped her mother would be responsible now that she was no longer there.
At six am, she bade farewell to her family, her younger brothers, Tunde, Afolayan and Dele clung to her, crying.
Dele: “Aunty Bimpe, don’t leave us” he cried
Bimpe: “I am not leaving you; I will come back most weekends. Remember what I told you, education is the key to success, if we want our life to improve, I have to go to school”
They followed her to the bus park where she boarded a bus going to Lagos, stayed with her till the bus was filled and on its way. They kept waving at her till the bus drove out of sight, then slowly they turned back to walk the distance home. On each of their young minds were the thought of seeing their elder sister again.
Bimpe couldn’t sleep on the bus, her mind was preoccupied, she was just twenty years old, but the weight on her shoulders, how would she sponsor her education and still cater for her siblings. She was no longer at home where she could sell firewood for money, so what was she going to do for money. The money on her was just enough for school fees and registrations, she thought of her feeding and upkeep.
“When there is a will, there is a way” she said within herself trying to motivate herself. Her goal was to come out with a first class, get a good job and move her family to a more comfortable life, and she was determined to get her goal, no matter the cost.
Driver: “Berger dey?” he shouted. Some passengers alighted, and Bimpe realized she was very close to Lagos. She blanked her mind out and fed her eyes. She was filled with excitement as she realized she was going to be living in this beautiful city, not that backwater town of Ilisan. Soon she alighted at Ojuelegba and found her way to school.A group of ladies, all sporting the longest Brazilian extension, with designer shoes and bags, sat in the school’s cafeteria. This cafeteria was unlike the one patronized by the students on the lower rung of the ladder, this one was fully air-conditioned, and its parking lot was always filled with the latest model of cars. Students that came here were the children of politicians, business tycoon. In this cafeteria, you won’t miss running into one of these celebrities still in school. These ladies had scanty meals in front of them, they were one of the ‘keep fit’ families, you could tell from their hour glass shapes. They were members of a sorority house, a rave club, they threw the costliest parties, people talked about their parties for weeks after the party. Every new session, they stayed on the lookout for young Jambites who they could invite into their club. So today they sat and discussed prospective students they were scouting to join them.
Nena: “I will check my department, hang around the year one classes, there must be someone that got what it takes to be our sister” she said twirling the chapman in her glass.
=====================It was Bimpe’s third day in the University of Lagos; she had been going for her classes religiously, howbeit on empty stomach. Her roommate in the school hostel however, was always going out at night and coming back in the morning, looking disheveled and smelling of alcohol. She would sleep all day and go out at night again. Bimpe often wondered why she bothered coming to school, she could have just stayed home she thought. After her third lecture, she had a long break before the next lecture, she decided to sit under a mango tree in front of the lecture auditorium and revise her notes. Her stomach churned and growled, the hunger was biting, but she paid no heed as she glanced through her notes. A tall handsome young man came to sit close to her; he had his phone out and was tapping at it anxiously. He put the phone to his ear and after a while began muttering to himself, with a worry frown creasing his brow.
Bimpe: “Are you looking for someone, maybe I can help you” The man turned and smiled at her. Her breath caught in her chest, she just gazed at him, taken in by his dazzling smile. She had never felt this way towards anybody, she usually read of such in the Mills and Boons novels she had tucked in every corner of her room in Ilisan. She usually bought it from a ramshackle bookshop in the community.
Man: “My name is Brian, I am not a student here, I am here looking for my sister, her number is switched off”
Bimpe: “Sorry, what is her name and her discipline, I could ask around”
Brian: “She is called Oyinda, but she probably bears another name in school, she is studying Economics”
Bimpe: “You are in luck, Oyinda is my roommate, she should be in the hostel now, I could go get her for you”
Brian: “Let’s go”
That day was the beginning of their friendship; they became close so much that they were spending so much time together. Brian soon realized that Bimpe was a girl of little means, so he took it upon himself to provide for her, he took her shopping, bought clothes, trendy bags and shoes, and provisions. This would have been a good development in Bimpe’s life, if it was not disturbing her education. Bimpe started going to class whenever it was convenient, or whenever Brian was out of town. Brian and Oyinda were from rich home, therefore, Brian was not at any job, he had a trust fund waiting for him, and the only condition was for him to get married. Oyinda had her own trust fund, all she had to do was complete the University with nothing less than a 2.2. So after all her partying, she was sleeping around with the lecturers for grade. The only loser therefore, was Bimpe, the girl from a poor home. As a result of dating Brian, she managed to forget about the situation at home, she did not go for weekends as she had planned because the weekends were spent in Brian’s playhouse, somewhere on the Island. Bimpe strives to be the kind of girl suited for Brian, she changed her way of dressing, bleached her skin so much that you would never know she was the same Bimpe from Ilisan.
All these while, their relationship had been without sex because, Bimpe had refused, saying they should wait a little. One day, a Saturday, after having a fixed class in the auditorium, she decided she would spend the weekend at Brian’s place, so she went to the hostel, took a few clothes and took a bus to C.M.S. While she was trying to board a bus at C.M.S to Admiralty where Brian had his playhouse, she thought of calling him, but when she tried the number, it refused to connect, severally. So, she proceeded without calling him. On getting to the house, the gateman already knew her so he let her in. She had this giddy feeling in the pit of her stomach that she was in a committed relationship with a man who was from a wealthy family.
Bimpe: “Who said education was the only way to a better life” she thought to herself and giggled as she swung the door open. The giggle died in her throat as she saw her Brian sprawled on the sofa, and a dark skinned girl with big bum was kneeling on the floor, rendering him a ‘blowjob’. She staggered and supported herself with the wall.
Bimpe:”Brian!” she exclaimed. When he turned, his eyes bulged with surprise; he quickly shoved the dark skinned girl away and hurried to stand. But Bimpe, went out of the house, and ran all the way to the gate.
Gateman: “Kai small madam, why you dey run like say pire don catch oga Brian house” he said after her, as Bimpe ran out the gate. She was crying as she walked to the bus stop, this was her first relationship, she gave all of herself except her virginity to Brian, was that the reason he cheated on her with a dark skinned girl? After he said light skinned babes were his thing. All these thoughts fought to gain preeminence in her head, as she walked slowly to board a bus. She was lost in her thoughts that she didn’t realize a car was driving slowly behind her till it honked at her. She rushed out of its way, but the car still stopped beside her. The driver wound down the window and invited her in.
Man: “I do not know why you are crying, I probably cannot solve your problems, but at the least I can give you a ride to wherever you are going”
Bimpe: “Thank you, I am going to the University of Lagos”
Man: “Oh, that’s a long way from here, but I would love to take you there. Hop in” he said and Bimpe got into the car.
Bimpe: “I am Adebimpe, and thanks for the ride”
Man: “I am Dominic, and you are welcome. A pretty girl like you deserves the best. Here is my card, call me anytime” Bimpe collected the card and tucked into her bag. When she got into the school, she went straight to her hostel. Her roommate, Oyinda was just about to leave for the weekend.
Oyinda: “Ha, Bimpe, why are you here, thought you would be spending the weekend with my brother?”
Bimpe: “Your brother is a cheat, I am so done with him” she replied vehemently and began to cry. She told everything she saw at Brian’s house, to Oyinda, who consoled her and told her that to keep her man, she had to give him the ‘cookie’, and also, that Brian loved her, the other girl was probably a pick up or just a side chick.
Oyinda: “You are the main chick girl, as beautiful as you are who wouldn’t want to have you, he probably masturbates every night, thinking about you” she said and they laughed over it.
Months later, Bimpe had given her virginity to Brian because she was made to believe, that the way to keep her man was through sex. So he had turned her into his sex machine, she didn’t live in the hostel again, she had relocated into Brian’s house as he had promised to marry her after her completion of University. Few days to her first semester exam, Bimpe tried to read the much she could but couldn’t. She was be-riddled with fever and vomiting, and then it occurred to her that she had not seen her monthly period for the past two months. Panicky she rushed to the pharmacy nearby to get a test kit. With sweaty palms she urinated on the test stick, and raised it to her eye level to see. Lo and behold, there were two pink lines on the stick. She was pregnant.
Bimpe staggered against the door of the bathroom, she slowly dropped to the floor.
Bimpe: “ Yeeh! Mo gbe! Mo ku oh! Mo tidaran” she wailed with her hands on her head. She brought out her phone and texted Brian’
Bimpe: “Sweety, come to the house immediately, it is urgent” she typed and sent. She decided to take her bath, after which she dressed up in a bum short and crop tee shirt. She told herself that it was not a big deal, now that she was pregnant, she would marry Brian, while still in school, people did it every day, and this was the higher institution, not secondary school. Few minutes after, Brian came in, looking anxious, his eyes were questioning, seeing that Bimpe was physically alright.
Brian: “I thought the house was on fire” he said as a way of asking.
Bimpe: “I am pregnant” she said with a smile. First Brian’s face lacked expression, it was blank, then slowly, an angry scowl formed on it.
Brian: “What do you mean by this, if this is a joke, it is in poor taste” he said sternly. Bimpe was confused by his reaction, her heart began to fret but she gave herself an explanation, he was probably shaken when she sent the text.
Bimpe: “Baby, I am not joking, why would I joke with something like this, I am pregnant. I did a urine test. What is the way forward, after my exams, we could go to see my parents together” she said.
Brian: “Ha! Why didn’t you take care of yourself, are you a child? Anyways, we don’t have to see your parents, they don’t have to know”. Bimpe looked at him quizzically. Her brain was yet to connect with what Brian was saying to her.
Bimpe: “Egbon, what are you saying to me right now?”
Brian: “I have a very good doctor who will take care of it; it will be like it never happened”
Bimpe sat down hard on the chair, her world just crumbled before her eyes.
Bimpe: “Brian, don’t do this to me na, please I beg you, I gave you my virginity, don’t do this to me”
Brian: “Come on baby, I love you and I will marry you, but it will be on my terms, I don’t want to feel like I married you because you fell pregnant” he said and tried to pull her into his arms, she shifted away from him, sadness in her eyes. She stood up without saying a word, packed a few of her things, and her books and left the house. Brian just watched her silently.
Brian: “She will come around, they all do” he said to the empty house, a coy smile on his thin lips.
Bimpe took a bus back to the main land, she would go to the hostel, hopefully she would meet her former roommate, and beg her to talk to her brother, how she, just a girl of twenty would commit abortion.She told herself that if Brian really loved her, he wouldn’t ask her to commit abortion. She wished she never gave him her virginity, she felt pressured to keep him, she should have just let him go, now she wouldn’t be in this dilemma.
Bimpe: “Too late, can’t turn back the hands of time, ahead” she said as she wiped her eyes. She remembered the man she had met at Admiralty road the day she had found a woman in Brian’s house; she began to search her handbag for the card. She found it buried under other junk in the bag.
Bimpe: “If Brian forces me to abort, I will never forgive him, I will leave him and this man will be my chip in the bag. I cannot go back to a life of poverty” she contemplated as she looked at the card. Reaching the hostel, she met Oyinda with one of her classmates, the latter was teaching Oyinda a course, but Oyinda was not getting it.
Oyinda: “Why am I wasting my time with this, not like I will ever work in my life. I just have to sleep with Prof and this course is in the bag” she shoved the book away just as Bimpe entered.
Bimpe: “Oyinda” she said in a lack luster way.
Oyinda: “Iyawowa, why are you wearing that face na?”
Bimpe: “Is it not your brother?” she said and looked at Oyinda’s classmate
Oyinda: “Alright girlie, we will see in the exam hall tomorrow, bye and thanks”
Classmate: “you have not paid me for the lessons” she said
Oyinda: “Extortionist, what did I learn, that I have to pay you” she sighed and brought out two crispy one thousand naira notes. They watched as the classmate grabbed it and left. Bimpe thought that perhaps she could have taken up a job of home tutor by the side to make money, instead of being lured into this life. Too late, she told herself.
Bimpe: “I am pregnant for your brother” she dropped the bombshell. Oyinda stood up in surprise.
Oyinda: “Haba why didn’t you take care of yourself, are you a child?”
Bimpe: “If I hear that one more time, I will break someone’s head”
Oyinda: “Come on ore mi, it has not got to that”
Bimpe: “If I am your friend, help me talk to your brother, I don’t want an abortion”
Oyinda: “I will, look, there is a trust fund worth billions of naira, he can only access this when he gets married. I guess it is just initial gragra, he will marry you, if not for anything, for the billions involved”
Bimpe: “Thank you my friend” she said a bit relieved.
Things took a turn for the worst when Bimpe came back from her exams and met Brian and Oyinda, the latter looked at her pensively and shrugged. Bimpe’s heart fell when she saw the look on Brian’s face, before he opened his mouth, she knew he didn’t want the child, but she never knew it was worse than that.
Brian: “Bimpe, I am sorry that things have come to this. I wish I could follow you home to see your parents, but I can’t. When I saw you that day, I liked you, but I didn’t tell you that I had a girlfriend, who is my fiancée, she was in the United States, but now she is back, and she has picked a date. My parents are behind her, I dare not say otherwise. Please forgive me, we cannot keep this baby” he said and made to touch her.
Bimpe: “Don’t touch me”! She screamed
Oyinda: “Bimpe, take it easy”
Bimpe: “Thank you very much, Brian, please tell me a time that will be suitable, I want to come and pack my things”
Brian: “Don’t worry, I already brought them, they are in the car outside”Bimpe fought the pain, Brian really wanted her out of his life, after taking her pride, the tears won the fight, and streamed down her cheeks like rain. She moved like a robot out of the room, she saw Brian’s silver BMW, and walked to it, the boot of the car open, she turned and saw Brian behind her, she pulled out her luggage and went inside the room. She had got material things from Brian, but was it worth the pain she felt and the dilemma she was now in? When she got into the room, Oyinda could not meet her eyes, she shook her head sadly, she just lost her lover and her friend on same day. She quickly changed into a denim playsuit and grabbed her Gucci bag, off she went. On her way out of campus, a car pulled over close to her, it had a tinted window. The window rolled down on the driver side, and Bimpe saw a beautiful lady, who looked like a half caste, she beckoned to Bimpe to hop into the car.
Woman: “I am Nena, a sister of the Sigma Delta Tau, our house is the white and gold mansion beside the Vice Chancellor’ administrative block. I want to invite you to our party, it is for new students who are interested in joining us. I have been looking for someone who deserves to be our sister, but have not seen, till I saw you” she said. Bimpe promised that she would come to the party that night. Immediately she alighted from the car, she brought out the card Dominic had given her, she dialed the number with the iphone Brian had bought for her the first time they had sex.
Bimpe: “Hello Dominic, this is Bimpe, we met on Admiralty”
Dominic: “Oh cool, was thinking you were never going to call”
Bimpe: “Sorry dear, I have been busy with Exam preparations”
Dominic: “Are you free now, let me come pick you up”
Bimpe: “Sure”
Dominic drove to the hostel in his big Prado SUV, he took Bimpe and they drove to Sweet Sensations to eat. There they talked and got to know each other. There and then, Bimpe accepted his proposal to date her, she told him it was because, her ex broke her heart, but she didn’t tell him of the pregnancy. Their relationship was enviable by all, even Oyinda envied them. After her semester exams, Bimpe visited a clinic to carry out a D and C. That day she cried, every pain she felt from the procedure she cursed Brian. The next day after the procedure, she decided to spend her holidays with her family. Dominic bought things like Ankara materials, dry lace and shoes for her family. Bimpe still bought provisions for her father and clothes for her siblings. Dominic was really good to her, but she knew Brian did much more and yet still betrayed her, so she was not ready to be a fool the second time.
In the bus, on her way to her community, she kept thinking of her parents, she wondered if they would notice changes in her, would they know she was no longer a virgin. Close to the house, gone was the Bimpe of UniLag, she was back to being a simple girl from Ilisan, she didn’t have her Brazillian wig on, in its place was a Sade braid. Her face was scrubbed clean of makeup, but even at that, you could tell she had undergone changes, her once dark dry skin, was supple and fair. From the bus park, she hopped on a commercial motorcycle which took her to her father’s compound. Dele was the first to see Bimpe, he ran out to embrace her.
Dele: “Egbon mi ti de oh” he shouted on the top of his voice.
Bimpe: “Dele, you have grown oh” while she was still talking, Kunle and Tunde rushed out, they jumped on her body. After which they carried her luggage inside, she rushed and knelt down in front of her father, who was still stuck to his chair.
Ladejo: “Omo mi, kabo” he said and put his hand on her head.
Bimpe: “Ba mi, forgive me that I did not come back since, school was so hectic”
Ladejo: “I am not angry my daughter, I understand, I was there once” he began to pray for her in their dialect, raining blessings on her. Her mother came out, looking at them with disinterest.
Bimpe: “Ma mi, I have come back from school oh” she knelt down before her.
Basirat: “kabo” she said and walked away with her nose up in the air.
One day, Bimpe was in the kitchen, a small construction outside the main building, cooking efokore when her mother walked up to her.
Basirat: “A mother knows her daughter very well, and I know that you are not the same Bimpe that left Ilisan months ago. How did you come about all those things you brought back?” she asked, with her hands on her waist.
Bimpe: “Ha Ma mi, Lagos is not like Ilisan oh, work is plenty there”
Basirat: “What kind of work, Uncle Ladoja, your father’s brother that is in the city, what does he bring to the village?”
Bimpe: “Ma mi, I sell in a big shopping mall, and …” she didn’t complete what she was saying as a scream tore out of her mouth. She fell on the ground and began to roll.
===
Basirat: “Ha! Bimpe, Kilo de, somebody help me” her mother screamed as she tried to turn Bimpe around, but stepped back abruptly when she saw the pool of blood under her. By this time, the neighbors have gathered, Bimpe’s siblings were crying, while her father sat in his chair, unable to move his legs, shouting on the top of his voice. The men, against their reservations carried Bimpe on their shoulders, like pall bearers, with the blood dripping uncontrollably. They took her to the general hospital, which was poorly equipped.
Nurse: “Ha this one don go do abortion, abeg move am go theatre” she said angrily. She really loved collecting her monthly salary without much work, and always grumbled when tedious work was required on a patient, more also; she had no patience for young girls who committed abortions. They carried Bimpe on a gurney to the theatre, while the doctor and his scrub nurses prepared to carry out an evacuation on her. After some hours, the doctor came out, looking exhausted, and beads of sweat kissed his brows.
Doctor: “She is going to be fine; she had complications due to an incomplete abortion. We will have to watch her from now until tomorrow”. The neighbors, who had assisted in bringing Bimpe, looked at her mother in disgust.
Woman 1: “A fruit really does not fall far from its tree. Like mother, like daughter”
Woman 2: “It is a pity, that girl had prospect, why she decided to tow the line of her mother, is what I cannot tell” They gossiped among themselves, to Basirat’s hearing, so much that she began to sob. “After all her pretense, she finally displayed her true colors. Stupid ashaewo, omo ale” her face scrunched up with anger. A nurse came out to tell her she could go in and see her daughter. Bimpe had been taken from the theatre to a recovery ward; it was to this place Basirat was taken. Bimpe opened her eyes when her mother entered. Her eyes were filled with fear of uncertainty; she didn’t know what her mother had found out when she was unconscious.
Bimpe: “Ma mi, what is going on with me” she asked when her mother kept staring at her without saying a word.
Basirat: “I should be asking you. What are you doing in Lagos, it is certainly not pursuing education” she said glaring hard at her daughter.
Bimpe: “I have been pursuing education and nothing else”
Basirat: “No you have not, you think I don’t know about the abortion, in fact all of Ilisan knows about it now. You wretched child, bastard! I regret having you, all you have ever done is cause me shame and reproach”
Bimpe: “Mother! How can you call me a bastard when I have a father at home, I am your only daughter and you treat me this way because of one mistake?” she began to weep, her mother, unmoved, turned to leave. Bimpe held her hand and begged her to stay, but she pushed the hand away and left the ward, without looking back.
After Bimpe was discharged, she went home but her mother kept her distance. The news of her abortion spread like wildfire throughout the community. Mothers advised their daughters not to be like her, her age mates who were once envious of her admission into the university began to ridicule her whenever they saw her. “Ashaewo” and “Bastard” were flung at her at the slightest provocation.
Bimpe: “How have the mighty fallen. Once a golden child, now the scum of the community. What have I done to deserve such treatment, even from my own mother? What is really going on?” She soliloquized as she sat outside her house. She got up abruptly and went inside to where her father was ridden to a chair. She knelt down at his feet and wept. Through all the mess, her father was the only one who still smiled and talked to her, he knew about the abortion, but never asked her about it, or judged her.
Bimpe: “Ba mi, tell me what I need to know, why am I called a bastard when I have you as my father?”
Ladejo: “First, tell me what went wrong. You were and still is my hope, what happened to you in Lagos?” Her heart broke when she heard the sadness in her father’s voice and saw the disappointment on his face. She could not speak as emotion choked her throat.
Bimpe: “Ba mi, I am sorry, can you ever forgive me? I fell in love, I thought we were going to be married, but he rejected me when I fell pregnant, I had no other choice. Father, forgive me”
Ladejo: “Get up my daughter, I have forgiven you, we are all mortals, we are prone to err, only the Almighty is perfect, and only Him has the right to judge” he wiped her eyes with his palm. Then he went ahead and told her the reason she was called a bastard.
Ladejo’s Recall
Back when they were all young, Ladejo loved Basirat so much; she was also loved by a host of other young chaps in Ilisan. She was the most beautiful girl in the community and she knew it. She was always flirting with the guys, making them run errands for her; they even brought freshly killed bush meat to her house every morning. She agreed to date Ladejo in public, but in private, unknown to everybody, she was dating other men including the local government chairman.
When Ladejo went away to Ibadan to start his University education, she began to date Dapo, Ladejo’s friend. She fell pregnant and told her family that Dapo was responsible. The family met with Dapo’s family and asked that their son do the right thing by marrying their daughter since he had plucked the flower without permission. But Dapo rejected the responsibility, telling everybody that Basirat was also seeing the local government chairman and other men, it was impossible for him to be the owner of her pregnancy.Basirat’s family tried to force him to own the pregnancy, but his parents through the help of an uncle sent him abroad, to the United States.
Basirat was left alone with the pregnancy; she gave birth to a baby girl and became the laughing stock of the community. She was made to cater for the baby alone, as her parents refused supporting her. She did all sorts of odd jobs; Until Ladejo came back from the university. He was now a civil servant for the government, and Bimpe was already four years old. He heard of Basirat’s plight, and even though he had dated women in the University, she was still his first love. He decided to marry her and adopt Bimpe as his own; he took mother and child to Ibadan where he worked. Dapo, obviously doing well for himself in the States, moved his family out of Ilisan and nothing was heard of them again.
========================
Ladejo: “So you see, you are still my daughter in everything but the DNA, and we may never know who your biological father is” Bimpe remained motionless and speechless when her father was done. She could not bring herself to say a word, her mind was in a tumult, the father she had known all her life was indeed an adopted father, she had no one to call a biological father, she was indeed a bastard.
Ladejo: “Your mother probably despises you because, you remind her of the past. I was not her first choice even though we dated, she was a jewel in those days before she got pregnant, but when she became pregnant of you, people shunned her, her value dropped, no mother wanted her as a daughter-in-law despite her beauty. But deep down somewhere, she loves you as only a mother can love”
Bimpe: “Thank you father, for everything, for giving me a surname, love and a family. I will never forget your kindness” she said as she got up slowly, the weight of the revelation hanging on her shoulders like shoulder pads.
She went about the house like a ghost after that day, avoiding her mother at all cost, doing the things she was supposed to do, without communicating much with anyone. Then, one day, she began to gather her belongings into a box.
Dele: “Aunty mi, are you leaving us?” he asked as he entered the room with his other two siblings. They carried solemn faces, they knew things have not been well in the house since their elder sister was rushed to the hospital, but no one was telling them anything.
Kunle: “Please, don’t leave us”
Bimpe: “I am not leaving you, I am only going back to school, I will send both money and other items on a monthly basis. I want you three, to take your studies serious, be diligent and become great men so you can take father and mother away from this community” she embraced each one of them.
Tunde: “Aunty mi, why do you sound like you will not be here to see us grow.” He said looking up at his sister with his small doe eyes. Bimpe wept silently and embraced. It was sad that that was the last time she would see them, she had to pursue her future without the clinging of family, they weren’t really her family, she was a bastard with no roots, she thought to herself.
She grabbed her luggage and made for the park, where she boarded a bus going to Lagos. In the bus, she kept thinking of the story her father had told her, the disgust in her mother’s eyes whenever she looked at her, she also thought back to Brian and his betrayal.
Bimpe: “Did I come into this world to suffer? Did I ask to be born illegitimately? Why am I being punished? But, I will never wear this dress that I have been given, money will remove shame and money I shall acquire, by whatever means. I am ready to face this life squarely” she said within herself, her face passive and betraying nothing of the pain she felt inside.
Male passenger: “Hello pretty girl, can I talk to you for a minute” Bimpe turned to look at the man sitting beside her. She glanced at his faded polo shirt and denim trousers, with the worn out moccasins on his feet, and sighed loudly.
Bimpe: “Even shoes have sizes, find your size” she murmured to his hearing and turned her face away to the window.
==
Bimpe had been going out with Dominic for months, he had moved her from the hostel into a new apartment in Festac, and furnished it for her. Bimpe could see he loved her, but she was not ready to be anybody’s fool the second time. She had thought Brian loved her because of all the gifts he was showering on her, but look what he did to her. So even though she gave Dominic sex as much as he wanted, her heart was far away from him, and she was on the lookout for greener pastures. Her luck shined the night Dominic took her as his plus one to his company’s dinner meeting. Bimpe went all out in her bejeweled gown which had her back bare to her tail bone, with a plunging neckline that revealed plump breasts.
Dominic: “Is this appropriate for a business dinner?” he asked, worried of the impression she would make on his bosses.
Bimpe: “Trust me Dom, this is very appropriate” she said, not caring much for his opinion. She was intent on selling herself, and sex sells.
At the dinner, they were seated at a long table, most of the investors, the rich, and old men came with their female escorts, it was the employees like Dominic who came with their wives and fiancées. Dominic felt uncomfortable that Bimpe was looking more like one of the female escorts than his girl friend. Nevertheless, all eyes were on her, her female counterparts looked at her with jealousy, while the males looked at her lustfully. Bimpe however enjoyed all the attention, good or bad.
Bimpe: “Baby, I am going out for a bit of fresh air” she said and walked out, taking a flute of wine from the waiter. The dinner was being held at the banquet hall of the Oriental hotel, she walked to the garden, taking slow languid steps like a cat. She knew one of the old, rich men would follow her, so she was sashaying for them. By the time she reached the fountain, she heard footsteps behind her. She turned and saw Alhaji Dambazzau, the CEO of the Cytron Informatics, where Dominic worked. She watched him with dim smoky eyes as he approached her.
Alhaji: “Beautiful damsel, you are a salve to sore eyes. What is the beautiful name?”
Bimpe: “You flatter me Alhaji, my name is Adebimpe”
Alhaji: “What lovely name, I want you to myself”
Bimpe: “Haba Alhaji, I am with Dominic”
Alhaji: “Come on, you is no meat for a small man”
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