Advantage episode 10
Finale
I got home and met Mrs. Chinedu and my
mum in the parlour, I greeted them and
headed to my room. I c@m£ out some
minutes later and she was gone. Mom told
me Chinedu’s mom and her children will be
moving to Abuja very soon to stay closer to
their father. ‘’Great!’’ what was the word my
mouth could form. I didn’t know when I
asked, ‘’will Udenme be going with them?’’
Mom stared with an Are-you-okay? kind of
stare and responded, ‘’no, she will be
moving in with us. Start ma-king your room
available for two.’’
‘’Mom,’’ I chuckled. ‘‘Go and get your food
in the kitchen and st©p asking silly
questions. She was right, that question was
indeed silly.
My phone beeped as I was about to lie on
my be-d. I picked it up and it was a text
from none other than Princess.
‘’ I trusted you so much. I gave my all to
you. Just few hours after giving my most
precious as-set to you, you were alre-ady
ma-king out with someb©dy else in public. Is
that how heartless you are? I don’t want to
ever see your face again. I hate you!’’
I called her phone several times that night
but she didn’t pick up. Why would she? I
was trying to protect the relationsh!p, but I
guess I didn’t do enough.
Mom went to see Mrs Williams on Saturday
as agreed. She told me I nee-ded to go see
her too. They must have discussed several
things but she told me when I got home
that day that I nee-ded to go see her too.
Well, if there was somewhere I wanted to go
then, it was Mrs William’s house. I nee-ded
to see not only her, but her daughter too.
For the first time since I have been going
there, Chief Williams was around that
Sunday evening. He shared a brief story of
how he struggled when he was my age.
Well, his ha-rd work paid off eventually. He
also made it known to me he was in
support of his wife as-sistance towards me.
He soon stood to his feet and said, ‘’you’re
free to come her anytime’’. ‘’Thank you,
Sir’’ I replied.
He turned to his wife and said, ‘’I’m going
for the meeting now. I’ll be back before 8’’.
‘’Alright’’ she replied and win-ked at the old
man as he flounced from the room.
‘’I have discussed with you mother…..’’ Mrs
Williams explained and continued, ‘’…but
the important thing here is you should enrol
at a tutorial clas-s in preparation for your
exam. Working at that kind of environment
doesn’t make re-ading easy. You of all
people should know that.’’ I nodded in
affirmation.
‘’I hope you know this in ess£nce means
that you’ll st©p working at the factory. You
don’t have to worry about the money.
You’ll give me your account number before
you leave, I will be paying
some……..incentives in there’’. She said
with a smile. I was dumfounded. I
immediately prostrated in front of her and
thanked her. She asked me to sit back up
and i did.
‘’Do you know Success Tutors?’’ she asked.
‘’Yes ma’’. ‘’I’ll suggest you enrol there’’.
Where else if not the same tutorial clas-s
Princess was attending? ‘’ok ma’’ I
answered.
It was about a month since I started the
tutorial, but all attempts to try to get
Princess to hear me out proved ab-ortive.
Udenme on the other hand wouldn’t say a
word to me, even when we almost collided
at the pas-sage leading to my flat.
I was at home one fateful morning when I
noticed a long van just outside the
building. Mr Chinedu and family were
moving out. p@rt of me was happy. The
other p@rt was not. I guessed the p@rt that
was more concerned about my mom
missing her best friend in the
neighbourhood. What about my little sister?
She was going to miss her best friend too,
Grace. Well, a Yoru-ba proverb said, ‘’twenty
kids can’t pl@yfor twenty years’’.
I as-sisted in the packing of things to the
van. I got a chance, perhaps the last one to
speak with Udenme.
‘’It’s a good thing I won’t be seeing your
wicked face again.’’ She said poking me on
the che-st. We both chuckled.
‘’I know, and I’m sorry.’’ I apologized
‘’It’s okay. I’ll will miss you regardless’’
‘’Same here’’. I concluded.
We embr@ced and continued with the
packing.
I was sure the people around us would’ve
wondered what that was for, as we ba-rely
speak in public. They left later that day.
I got a call the next day which was a
Sunday evening from Princess. Wow! The
last time she was on my Incoming Calls
History was thirty days ago.
‘’Can i see you? I’m at Chinenye ‘s house?’’
she asked softly. ‘’okay’’. I responded
without showing how agog I was hearing
her sweet voice.
We met at our usual sp©t.
Princess: ’I thought you moved too
Me: move to where?
Princess: To wherever your Calabar
girlfriend moved to
Me: no I didn’t move, and she is not my
girlfriend’’
Princess: I know
Me: You do?
Princess: Yeah. I just couldn’t help being
with you while she was just five feet away
from your flat.
Me: Does that mean we’re good, now that
she is a thousand feet away?
Princess: I guess.
I grinned. I drew her closer and we k!$$£d
like we were never going to see each other
again.
We wrote our exams and we were both
admitted in the same institution. Our love
story continued.
As for Udenme, I just took home advantage
of her. I regretted that.
THE END
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