? MMESOMA’S
DILEMMA ?
Chapter 12
“Please be serious”, Ezinne said, she clearly she did not believe him.
“See, hell is already in our house in the form of our grandma who wants this marriage to happen and our annoying aunts and they can make anything we bring forward look stupid. See ehn, even if we say he has 10 children already, she would say that the kids are all illegitimate. We need something that can shut her up and give us some leverage . You get?” Dozie asked.
Yomi smiled and nodded.
“I get, I have heard about your grandma, I hear she is the brain behind this union and her word is yes-and-amen, believe me this would shut her up”, he insisted.
“Then let’s hear it”, I said, already getting excited.
“Wait first, in the movies people always pay for stuff like this, either we now owe you a favour or we pay in cash. So, what is your price?” Ezinne asked.
Smart girl, only she would think to that side.
“Don’t worry, this is a favour I owe Lanre, you can say I am repaying my debts, he asked me to help you with any information I could dig up, I had been expecting Dara’s call”, he explained.
“Good, now that we have cleared that up, what is this information that can raise hell?” she asked, her excitement mirroring mine.
“Firstly, do you know the Duru’s? Cyprian & Sopuru Duru?” he asked.
This question is funny sha because everyone knew the Duru’s, they were the King and Queen of the socialite circle and I am not just talking about Nigeria, they were everywhere and were involved in everything, from Politics to Foreign Exchange to the Fashion World. Plus, everyone just loved them and what was not to love? They were really good looking people who were wealthy and used the money and influence for good
. Plus their children were just stunning.
“Yes. What about them?” I responded.
“That means you know of their 7 children ba? Particularly their daughter, because she is very important in this matter” he asked, grinning as if he did not just ask us a weird question.
“Mr. Yomi, everyone knows they have 6 children, who by the way are all boys, they do not have a daughter”, Ezinne sounded irritated.
I need to teach her how to be calm even when she is angry o.
“Ezinne calm down.
. Yomi, see, all these questions are getting annoying, what exactly do you have for us?” Dara asked.
“You guys though, okay at least order na, aren’t you hungry?” he said with a slight laugh.
This guy simply enjoys being annoying.
“We aren’t hungry, just tell us how the Duru’s are involved in this matter”, Dozie responded.
Yomi did not say anything; he looked at each of us and grinned mischievously.
“The Duru’s have a daughter, her name is Nnenna, she is even in the country at the moment, she is as beautiful as they she is, she is very intelligent too, you guys have to just believe this”, he said.
We looked at each other. We did not know what to believe or think, the Duru’s were family friends of mine, I knew all their children, we always got invited for their annual Christmas parties, I grew up surrounded by the Duru’s and I had never seen a daughter. There was never one in the family pictures; she did not appear at any of the family events either. The
“See Yomi, no take us catch cruise, we grew up around the Duru’s and there was never a daughter. They says that it is just a rumour that people never got tired of spreading because that is the only remotely bad thing they had to say about them”, Dozie ecplained and I nodded.
Of course, it was only the older people who swore on heaven and earth that she existed, they made her sound so perfect, they would even call any beautiful and intelligent girl an ‘Nnenna Duru’ but for us the younger generation, she was a mirage, a figment of our parents imagination. She did not have any social media pages, no one knew the schools she had attended, how she looked, we were not even sure she even had friends. So, yeah, the girl does not exist for us
The boys however, my-oh-my, they were responsible for a number of broken hearts all over the world, they were just fine anyhow, they were intelligent, charismatic and could speak several languages. Do you know how se-xy Italian or Spanish sounds on an incredible hot guy?
“Well, they do have a daughter and this is her picture”, he said and handed us his phone where there was the picture of a beautiful girl. She had dark eyes and beautiful tan skin; she had this sm-irk that made you want to ask her what she was thinking and and dark hair which was braided in an all-back style.
But what struck me most was that I had seen this picture before, last Christmas when I had wandered into Mrs. Duru’s room, which we were banned from entering, to avoid one of her son’s. It was on a table and surrounded by fresh flowers, cards and other pictures, just like a small shrine for her.
“This is real”, I said to my friends.
“Well, she is pregnant for Afam and if that does raise hell, I really don’t know what will”, he said leaning into his chair, looking calm like he had not just dropped a bomb on us.
He is very right; the drama is apparently just starting.
? MMESOMA’S
DILEMMA ?
Chapter 13
“So he got Cyprian Duru’s daughter pregnant and he just wants to run off and marry someone else?” Dara asked, clearly in shock.
“The guy get liver sha, he is not even afraid that her brothers will mess him up or that her father can destroy his family. He is just made up his mind and wants to marry someone else”, Dozie said grinning, clearly amazed by Afam’s actions.
“There are different valid reasons for his action you know”, Yomi said and we looked at him expectantly.
“Sorry but what can validate this, he left his the girl who is pregnant with his child to marry my sister who hates him, if the reason you are providing is not that he is suffering from madness or chronic stupidity then I don’t think the reason is valid enough”, Ezinne said and we all chuckled.
Only Ezinne could make us laugh in such a sad and weird situation.
“Ezinne, calm down, these reason are very valid you know . The first one is that several people don’t know she really exists and believe me, but if he says he is dating Nnenna Duru, it would look like he is just trying to avoid the marriage and that would affect him negatively, way more than it is affecting you. So, he is most likely hoping you would end this engagement yourself which would save him a lot of drama and which means he can carry his own life in peace.
. Lastly and most importantly, he has absolutely no idea that the girl is pregnant for him”, he explained.
“So, if he does not know she is pregnant for him and I am guessing a lot of people don’t know either, how do you now know about it?”Ezinne asked again.
The girl was asking all the right questions, I thank God she is not as mute as the rest of us.
“I know because someone close to them told me. My informant or you can call her my client, wanted me to make really good use of the information to solve erm, a particular problem of hers”, he explained, faltering slightly as if looking for the right words. 4 of us looked at each other and then at him, his embarra-ssment was funny.
“So, your informant wanted you to use this little tidbit of drama to solve a problem of hers”, Dara repeated and he nodded, while grinning.
“Okay, I really just have more questions o. Firstly, how would you use this information to solve any problem? What kind of problem does your client expect you to solve? How is she close to Afam and Nnnenna? In face who is she? Speak up na”, Ezinne’s impatience was beginning to frustrate me.
“Ezinne, he cannot speak up if you don’t stop asking questions, keep quiet and listen, interrogating him will honestly not get anything done”, I scolded her and she frowned looking away.
“See, apart from my ability to get information, I also know how to use the information to get certain things done for people who are willing to pay the right amount”, he explained with a sigh.
“What exactly are you trying to tell us?” I asked, hoping that I was only over imagining his words.
“I think he is trying to say he uses the information he has to get things done for certain people”, Dozie said slowly, as if he was just processing the words that were coming out of his own mouth.
“Jesus! Ah! Where you commissioned to kill us? Is that how we would have died if not for Lanre?” Dara had found her voice and it was a miracle she was not yelling already.
Good to know I am not the only one thinking this.
“What?! Just shut up! I am not an a-ssa-ssin, what I do is blackmail people; she wanted me to use it against Afam and Nnenna. Teach them to never double-cross her or hurt her feelings. She said they must suffer as much as she did. I think she found the about the pregnancy by chance because I was supposed to send them subtle messages only them would get”, he explained and we heaved a collective sigh of relief.
Today was not the day we died, thank God!
While the rest of us were thanking God he was not an a-ssa-ssin, Ezinne was busy connecting dots, surprisingly she had not even ordered anything.
“Wait first o, so an unknown girl comes to you to use Nnenna’s pregnancy against Afam and Nnenna and I am guessing that right now he is still unaware of the pregnancy because she did not tell him she was pregnant and Nnenna does not know another party is privy to her pregnancy. Wow, this is beginning to sound like a Telenovela, I just how they double crossed her and more importantly who is she?” she asked and we all looked from her to him.
Good question boo.
“Well, you would all know her soon. She and Afam have been in a solid relationship for many years now and she really expected to become his wife, I know that she did a lot of dumb things to keep him. Well fast forward to the last 2 years and he falls in love with Nnenna, then to make things worse, this year his mother has informed everyone that Mmesoma Eze is his fiancée”, he explained and we all groa-ned, Mrs. Chibueze and her loud mouth.
“Well, if you want to use the pregnancy as leverage, you will face Irene Rotimi-James because except she dies she won’t let Nnenna marry Afam”, he said and we knew he was not joking.
Kill me then.
******
“Irene is one hell of a crazy bitc-h, remember that time she made such a scene because she was not giving the treatment she believed she
deserved at that function some years back?” Dozie asked and we all groa-ned. Of course we remembered the event, she nearly ruined it for everyone else because the hosts had wanted to kick is out.
We were now alone, Yomi had left to deal with something urgent while we had to figure out a way to solve our problems. We did so with food though, we ordered one box of pizza with sausage and mushroom toppings and different ice cream flavors.
“Well we have already established that she is the ice queen herself, the big question now is, how do we deal with her? You heard him, except she dies, there is literally no way she would allow Nnenna marry Afam and I was hoping we would use that to end this whole nightmare”, Ezinne lamented.
“See ehn, no matter what happens we can still use this entire thing to our advantage . Irene, Nnenna and Afam would figure out their problems on their own, our own is to use their problems to solve ours”, Dara said and we all looked at her questionably.
“Dara, we would step on the wrong toes you know? It would end one problem and start several others. Plus Irene is really scary and the Duru’s would not stand to see Nnenna be humiliated and Afam too, the poor boy would not know what to do with his life”, I explained.
. Dara ceased her eating to glare at me, even Dozie and Ezinne stopped eating to a-ssess me well.
“Meso, which one is all this sentimentality? You think they care about us? They all just want to win and we would make it easier for them by informing all of them of the issue at hand”, Ezinne said.
“True, let us call up Afam and let him know Nnenna is pregnant, my mom could help us get the news to Mrs. Duru, she knows how to handle the gra-pe vine and Meso you would have to tell your grandma about Nnenna’s pregnancy, but don’t involve her family name, let us see how she reacts. Believe me, before the end of this week, the engagement would be broken”, Dara explained and my siblings nodded, they totally approved and I actually saw a lot of sense in her words but it still did not feel right. Or was I just scared of Irene?
“Dara is so right, we can still use this whole pregnancy affair and even their love triangle drama to our advantage sef. And Meso you really should stop worrying about what happens next amongst them, they should sort out their drama themselves, what is our own business and please Afam is not a poor boy, shebi he knew what he was doing when he was getting all loved up everywhere. Biko, their wahala is theirs to solve”, Ezinne said and I just had to agree.
“Meso, I get what you are saying but we need to get grandma off our back, we cannot afford to be all chill and un-derstanding of their issues at a time like this else you would become Mrs. Adam Chibueze and Irene will still kill you anyway. We just have to get grandma to approve the end of the engagement”, Dozie explained and I agreed.
They all did have such valid points anyway.
“Okay then, who are we informing first?” I asked resigning myself to this rather dramatic fate.
“Well, Afam Chibueze still does not know he is about to become a father”, Dara said with a sm-irk.
“Well, who is going to make the call?” I asked taking a scoop of ice-cream.
“Well, aren’t you his betrothed?” Dara asked.
Blood of Jesus! Is this brain freeze feel or is my best friend trying to put me in an awkward situation?
“Dara, I don’t want to tell him his babe is pregnant for him! Why don’t you do it, it was your idea after all”, I argued and she sighed, rolling her eyes for effect.
“Meso, don’t be such a baby, you telling them gives it the desired effect, even if they don’t believe you, they may even see it as another stunt to avoid the weeding but when it starts to go round then they would know what’s up. However, if I tell them it would only look like I am fishing for attention and even if everything comes to the limelight, which it will, then they would say I did it and I am just a jealous enemy of progress”, she explained.
“Meso, she’s right, you are in the best position to do this, this is literally your call to make”, Dozier said and Ezinne nodded in agreement as she continued eating throu-ghthe pizza slices, clearly not intending to remain for anyone.
This would be really weird.
“Okay then, give me the phone, what could possibly go wrong”, she handed me my phone where an unknown number had already being dialed in.
“You are sure this is Afam’s number?” I asked.
“Yes it is, I got this number from Tobe”, Dara explained.
“Interesting. So what did you tell him to make him give you the number?” I asked, surprised she had been able to pull that off.
“I told him that we needed it to sabotage the wedding plans, he was only too happy to give me the number”, she explained.
Why am I not surprised?
“Okay o, here hoes nothing”, I said as I made the call.
He didn’t pick at first and I was about to give up when he picked.
Jesus, this is so weird.