My journey in life Episode 9 & 10

MY JOURNEY IN LIFE.
EPISODE 9
 
 
The airport securities tried to cut down the crowd that followed Ogechi as she led me to a more restricted area in the airport.
‘(With much excitement) I missed you like hell. It was almost like I was going to explode if I didn’t see you soon enough. Ogechi said to me.
‘I missed you too Ogechi, but’…(Ogechi interrupts)
‘Say less my dear. There’s a whole lot of time for words. I can’t wait to hear you say those things that captured my heart. For now, we have to board a flight to Enugu. We’ll talk when the plane is in the air. By the way, how did you know I was coming in today? Don’t tell me it’s one of those your IMAGINARY REALITY stuff. I was planning to pay you a surprise visit’
‘Well, Ogechi, our meeting here is a coincidence. I’m actually on my way to the United States for a Master’s Degree program. All plans regarding that has been concluded. If not that my flight got delayed, you wouldn’t have met me here’
‘You are on your way to America? Thank God your flight got delayed! Sweetheart I c@m£ back for you. You are the reason I let go off a multi-million dollar contract with my label. I c@m£ back to be with you. How come you didn’t even bother to talk to me about it? I would have stayed back and waited for you instead’
‘How was I to know you were coming home? Besides, our communication was on the low, so there was no way we possibly could have talked about that’
‘You could have at least tried to inform me. I’m not just anyb©dy to you’
‘I contacted you a couple of times and got to speak with some guy who kept telling me he was your manager and that you were unavailable. After a couple of times, I st©pped because it was obvious I wasn’t going to get the chance to speak with you’
‘oooOOOhhhHHH!! Is there really nothing you can do to cancel this trip? I can’t stand being here without you. It’s going to affect everything I do. My music career might even coll@pse as a result of your abs£nce’ she said.
‘God forbid! I countered. How can that be when you’ve been in America without me for months and it didn’t coll@pse?
‘It was about to. I c@m£ back because I started losing concentration on everything I did. My manager noticed and talked to me about it. He told me my label owner had started complaining about my poor stage performances during the last few months of my contract with them. I was the only one aware of the problem I was having. I tried to hold on, but to no avail. There was only one way to solve the problem, and that was being with you. Seeing you every day and knowing you are close to me. Jesusboy, that misery that made me leave America will surely come upon me if you continue with this journey.
(She held my two hands and wra-pped my arms around her w@!st, wra-pped her arms around my n£¢k, held me close and k!$$£d me Pas-sIONATELY) CHOI!!!!
‘I LOVE YOU JESUSBOY’ she said in the most ro-mantic way ever. Neither Romeo nor Juliet ever professed love in such manner.
Honestly speaking, I didn’t know what to do again. Onye’s relative had spent a lot of money and time trying to get me a visa. How would she feel if I told her I wasn’t going to push throu-gh with the journey anymore? I nee-ded council but there was no time to get enough of that, because I nee-ded to be counseled before my flight was re-ady, and there was no way that was going to happen. I went de-ep in thought while Ogechi was just staring at me and hoping I would change my mind and stay back. After thinking about a whole lot, I re-leased a de-ep breath and said to her; why don’t you come right back to the United States? I have alre-ady declared publicly that I have come to stay. Secondly, my recording label had brou-ght in another singer to replace me the moment I left. If I go back there, they might not give me preferential treatment as they should. I don’t want to be ridiculed by anyone. Even you wouldn’t like that for me would you? No oo! I answered sharply.
I then explained why I couldn’t cancel the trip abroad. I told her about how Onye’s relative had been so kind to me. How she spent a lot of money on my visa and all that. After I told her, she saw reasons why I had to go, but still didn’t want me to go. While we were still arguing, Onye called me and asked; Guy! Where you dey nah? Plane don re-ady! I dey come now-now, I replied. I turned to Oge and said; I have to go now, my flight is re-ady. She cried and held onto me ti-ghtly. I could tell she was willing to hold onto me till the flight took off if she had the capability to do so. Her tears moved me. As her tears rolled down her eyes, she raised her face, looked me in the eye and asked; are you really going? I looked at her watery face, which her we-t eyes had rained tears upon, and I changed my mind. She looked beautiful, tender, soft, and adorable. I’m definitely staying.
Onye, found us. When he saw us he screamed; Guy we-tin dey worry you nah? People don dey enter plane finish. Abi you want disappoint my cousin? As soon as I heard the word ‘disappoint’ I c@m£ back to my s-en-ses. I embr@ced Ogechi and then let go off her. I promised her I was going to call her every day till I returned. I also promised to return more regularly than I had planned to. All those promises didn’t appeal to Ogechi’s emotions. She kept weeping and following after me closely as I and Onye headed for the plane. When we got close to the door I st©pped and looked back at her. She was weeping more bitterly. I couldn’t take it anymore. Everyone had gotten on board the flight except I and Onye. Onye held my hand and was pu-lling me gently towards the door as I looked at Ogechi. I shook Onye’s hand off me and stood firm. What do you think you’re doing? Onye asked. I turned and looked at Onye, turned again towards Ogechi. Her mood changed automatically when she noticed my actions. I turned again to look at Onye, and he said; come on guy, let’s go. There’s no more time for all these. Then I turned towards Ogechi again…..,,,
 
 
MY JOURNEY IN LIFE.
EPISODE 10
Then I turned again towards Ogechi for the last time and said; I LOVE YOU TOO, but I have to go. I hurried back into the plane. The doors were closed and the flight took off. I could see her weeping throu-gh the window. The girls she flew in with tried to calm her down but she was still weeping till the flight was far in the sky and she was out of sight. I sat back in the plane thinking of the many other things I could have done. I wasn’t sure if I had made the right choice yet. Onye was so surprise at me that he couldn’t say anything. After a while he tapped me and asked;
‘Guy, what was that all about? What kind of drama did you just act with that singer out there? Do you know her or something?
‘Mehn, that girl out there is my girl.
(Amazed) ‘What? Oge, your girl? You’ve got to be kidding me. How can she be your girl when she has been abroad all the while? And you never even mentioned it to me? Mehn, say something else.
I started narrating to Onye how I met Ogechi and everything that went on between us until she traveled for abroad. I hadn’t said a word about Ogechi to Onye before now. It was quite a tou-ching story to him. I asked what he would have done if he were in my position. He told me not to ask him such questions since he wasn’t the one in my position. Hours later we landed at the United States airport. Onye’s cousin was alre-ady there waiting to receive us. She identified us and led us to her black land cruiser jeep with alloy wheels. We hopped in and she drove us straight home. Her house was like the WHITE HOUSE I had seen in Hollywood movies. She showed us round the house and introduced us to her cooks and cleaners. I was so happy to have finally travelled to the United States. My room was like heaven. Everything in it was white, and I feared I wasn’t going to maintain it that way while I stayed. And that could cause some sort of problems between I and Onye’s cousin. Then I remembered she had cleaners there. I was relieved. I jumped on the broad be-d with my shoes on and l@ythere thanking God for the turnout of things. Shortly after, Ogechi crossed my mind. I called her, but she didn’t pick up my calls. That continued for days, and at a point I was upset with her. I never did that to her, even when she left for the US. I simply un-derstood it was something she had to do. Why wouldn’t she also un-derstand that I nee-ded to do what I did? I even promised to visit more often because of her, yet she refused to pick up my calls. After a while of contacting her without response, I st©pped.
Onye’s cousin, whose name was Cynthia, was overly nice to me. I wanted to begin my Masters’ Degree program at once so that I could be throu-gh soon enough and return to Ogechi full time before one smart guy made away with her heart. But instead of helping speed up the process, Cynthia bec@m£ reluctant about the whole thing. She didn’t see the nee-d to do it in a hurry. Whenever I insisted on getting started with the program, she would ask if I wasn’t comfortable in her house. In order to make me discard the idea of beginning my program immediately, she made everything available for me. Before I knew it, she bought me a car and provided me with the kind of life I had dreamed of living right from my days in school. She started taking me to various wonderful places around the United States as though I had gone there to stay permanently. She did a lot of things that baffled me and I was somehow scared because of the reasons I suspected could be responsible for her kindness. I just hoped I was wrong. I spent nearly two months in the Cynthia’s house without beginning the process of the purpose I went to America for. I almost let go of the idea of furthering my second degree program there due to the kind of life I was living.
Cynthia had introduced me to a couple of big sh0ts who eventually fell in love with my poetry. One connection led to another, and I got to meet with a music producer who agreed to make me a p@rt of his recording label with time. They say ‘del@yis dangerous’ but in my cases, del@ywas nothing to be feared because whatever I wanted done was done whenever I wanted it done. Thanks to Cynthia’s powers and connections. I wondered how she gained that much ground there. Even some citizens of the United States couldn’t call the kind of sh0ts Cynthia was calling. She had a lot white people who were loyal to her. I wondered again, why is she not married till now? She was in her early thirties and didn’t seem desperate for a husband. Well, I didn’t bother myself with all that since I was having a really good time there. I must confess I almost forgot that I promised to visit Ogechi often. But then I used her refusal to pick up my calls to strengthen my unwillingness to go back to Nigeria anytime soon or even contact her. I was simply overwhelmed by the treatment I was getting abroad that I didn’t want to put an end to it yet for any reason.
One morning I woke up to meet Cynthia and Onye in the parlor discussing. Onye was telling her that he’ll be heading back to Nigeria to start the car selling business he had planned to start beforehand. Onye’s reason for wanting to leave was that unlike me, he wasn’t fitting into the opportunities Cynthia had made available for us, as he wasn’t much of an arts person. He was business oriented, just like the last Igbo business man friend I had. IGBO KWENU! So he resorted to going back home to sell cars s£nt to him by Cynthia. They un-derstood their terms and agreement. That didn’t bother me. What bothered me was how I was going to live with Cynthia without the person who linked us together. I tried to convince Onye to stay but he wouldn’t yield. Cynthia, on the other hand was doing everything possible to s£nd Onye home before he had a change of mind. She promised to s£nd him five cars to start with, demanding for just 30% of the money discovered from the sales. It was obvious she wasn’t doing it for the profit therein. I had my fears if I chose to stay back with Cynthia, but I wasn’t going to let such fears drive me away from heaven on earth, so I stayed back.
We continued our normal outings till it began to seem as though I was the man in Cynthia’s life, and that called to the attention of quite a number of American girls. This Cynthia of a girl may have been in her early thirties, but she glowed as though she was ten years younger. So I was proud to go out with her, just that there was nothing going between us. ‘So I thought’.
Sometime after Onye left, one of Cynthia’s Asian girlfriends by name Lin, celebr@ted her birthday at far away China. Cynthia was invited and I went with her. Of course Cynthia wouldn’t go anywhere without me. There were a couple of things about me which Cynthia normally boasted of to her pals whenever we were out together. I on the other hand was using her to form James Bond for Oyibo based on say I from Naija come dey control babe wey dem dey loyal for. No be small thing oo. I thought we were going to lodge in a h0tel when we arrived at China, but we didn’t. Instead we stayed and Lin’s place which was more like a h0tel. The house belonged to her father Chang. But she was Chang’s only daughter and next of kin. Chang was advanced in age and likely to die anytime soon. I thought those things only happened in Nigeria but na lie oo. Can you imagine that some Chinese guy-men like that started forming h0t mad love for Lin? There was no end to their verbal expressions of love towards Lin. Lin bec@m£ very confused and indecisive. Her girlfriends were her solace, as they were the only ones she could trust not to want to take advantage of her.
Well, the celebr@tion went very well. Cynthia never failed to introduce me to any big sh0t whenever there was one around, and Lin’s father was one of them. As I was sitting in the middle of two amazing Chinese girls who were telling me about China and the happenings there, Cynthia showed up with two other Chinese girls who didn’t look like the others I had seen.
‘I believe you’re having a good time’ she said.
‘You can’t imagine how much’ I replied.
‘There’ll be time enough for that. For now you have to meet Mr. Chang’
‘ooOOhh ladies, I’m sorry I have to go. We’ll meet again’ I said to the girls I was with.
‘Alright then, let’s roll’ I said to Cynthia.
‘Not just yet’ she replied quic-kly. ‘You have to go with these two ladies and get cleaned up’
‘What do you mean by GET CLEANED UP?’
‘You nee-d to take a shower, and these ladies will make sure that is done’
‘Cynthia, what kind of embarras-sment is this? Are you implying that I can’t give myself a good bath?’
‘Not at all. You see, it’s like a tradition here. Before any stranger meets Mr. Chang, he or she must get cleaned up, and by two Chinese maidens who have been specifically trained to do so. Let’s not waste any more time. Go with them’
Before I could utter another word, the two Chinese girls gr@bb£d me at once and off they took me. I got really pissed and tried to shake them off me to st©p them from taking me to the bathroom but to no avail. I tried to overpower them and what happened marveled me. These girls were just doing those things Jackie Chan does in Chinese movies. They would bend and rise before I even got to know that they bent. They did a lot of those martial arts stuff but didn’t hurt me in anyway. All they did was to defend themselves and make sure they took me to that bathroom to give me a bath. And I wondered; ‘if they use this kind of martial arts to get me to a bathroom, what kind will they use to take my clothes off me when the time for that comes because I wasn’t going to let that happen. Over my dead b©dy!’ The time for that quic-kly c@m£. Omor! No be small Kung Fu oo!
WATCHOUT FOR EPISODE 11