#TENDER_BEAUTY_2 (Life after the wedding)
EPISODE 13
Oyinade sat in her office. She hadn’t done anything serious and most of her time had been spent in her office, thinking of what to do. She felt stupid and foolish. She couldn’t believe she had trusted Ronke enough to get her involved in her every move. She had known that Ronke was jealous of her achievements and of her enormous b©dy but she never knew she was this bitter. Where on earth could she get five million Naira? She has little above one million in her account. Even the two million Naira she had stolen had been squandered. There is this thing about stolen money that seems to fly away the very minute it gets to your hands.
She put her f!ngersagainst her temples. She had been expecting Richa-rd to call her as a result of what she had told Belina’s sister but she hadn’t heard anything. Richa-rd c@m£ in rather late. He must have been at home taking care of his baby mama. Her jealousy spiraled as she thought about this.
An idea popped into her head. No! She shook her head vigorously. She couldn’t try it. Never. She cleared her mind, removing the evil thought from her mind. She placed her head on the table. She had never been this confused in her life. Her intercom line rang and she j£rked up with a start, her heartbeat running wild. She contemplated ignoring it but common s-en-se took over.
“Hello” she said with shaky voice.
The voice of her boss c@m£ throu-gh the speaker, ma-king her alre-ady wild heartbeat somersault. “Miss Oyinade, I want to see you in my office immediately.”
She had dropped the phone without a response but even if she had responded, it wouldn’t have been heard because Richa-rd hung up immediately he finished his statement.
She stood up on shaky legs and went to Richa-rd ‘s office, leaving her br@in blank, expecting the worst.
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I chewed the salty crackers Richa-rd had given me. Richa-rd had pampered me so much that I got tired of it, even though I kinda loved it. I woke up rather late. Is it p@rt of the signs of pregnancy to sleep too much? If it is, I do not like it. I hate waking up late, no matter how tired I was the previous day. I felt heavy and weak and I wanted to do some exercise even if it is strolling but Richa-rd would not have it. I still felt weak and sick but I explained to him that it was just a minor weakness, of course, he did not listen.
The p@rt of the pampering I really enjoyed was when he bathed me. Silly me, you would say. I am allowed to be silly; I am married for heaven’s sake. You enjoy so many ‘silly things’ when you are married, especially to a very handsome Richa-rd . The bath had graduated into something else and instead of it being a single person bath, it bec@m£ double. After the love pl@yin the bathroom and in the room afterwards, he had got me some salty crackers from the supermarket which would reduce my nausea, then tried to f0rç£ me to eat something even though I had no appetite at all.
I had to s£nd him to the hospital f0rç£fully when his pampering was becoming too much, saying that he nee-ded to take care of Kelvin. He didn’t like me mentioning his name but I had done it just to s£nd him to the hospital. When that jealous look had crossed his face, I had smiled and k!$$£d him, telling him that I love him.
Now home alone, I chewed the cracker, very happy that he had actually bought it. It was helping me, although I alre-ady missed Richa-rd . I s£nt him a message, telling him that I would love to have another bath. I smiled to myself as I saw the delivery alert.
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Prisca smiled internally as she sat opposite Richa-rd . She wanted to just blurt everything out but she wanted a little fun. She wanted the downfall of Oyin to be her way of having fun. She had arrived at BRH and had headed straight towards Richa-rd ‘s office. She would have called Belina but she did not want to stress her at all. She is an expectant mother, she thought with a smile.
She had to wait in the reception for Richa-rd because he was not on seat. Richa-rd met her there and had invited her into the office. They had discussed various issues before she carefully sli-pped into her main purpose for coming.
“Richa-rd , someone in this hospital has tried to break up my lovely family” she had said.
Richa-rd ‘s eyes had twitched as he looked at her as if dumbfounded. “What are you talking about? Is there any problem between you and Tony? Who is that person?”
Prisca’s expression had been one of pain. “It is Oyinade. I saw her yesterday. She is trying to destroy a family filled with love. She even has the guts to admit it to my face. I wanted to tell you yesterday but I could not. You were alre-ady on your way home.”
Richa-rd had remembered that she was about to say something but had kept quiet. He did not question her again but had called Oyinade immediately. Prisca tried ha-rd to keep in place her facial remorse as she waited patiently for Oyinade to arrive.
Not long after, a call c@m£ in throu-gh the intercom and Richa-rd said into the mouth-piece, ‘tell her to come in’. She smiled internally.
Oyinade entered and upon sighting Prisca, she shivered. Richa-rd noticed this, he had actually thought that there must have been a mistake but seeing Oyinade’s reactions, he knew that something was fishy. This lady is alre-ady having the habit of causing confusion in homes. “Would you explain exactly what I am hearing Miss Adeyanju?” Richa-rd said sternly, having a calm look on his face; an expression that Oyinade had come to term as dangerous.
Oyinade shifted uncomfortably on her feet. “I… don’t un-derstand sir” she breathed very quietly that Richa-rd almost did not hear her.
“You better un-derstand before I lose my cool. Tell me what you did before my sister-in-law repeats herself, leading you into even bigger trouble” Richa-rd dropped, piercing her with his eyes even though she avoided meeting his.
She trembled. “I am sorry sir, I was misled. I was over-ambitious and dying with love that I had to do everything within my power to have you” she said, tears dropping from her eyes.
Richa-rd was now confused; very confused. “What are you talking about?” he asked, looking from a distraught Oyinade to an indifferent Prisca and back.
“I admit everything Mrs. Williams told you but sir, I did everything out of love for you sir. Ever since I saw you on TV, I hadn’t st©pped fantasizing about being with you and having you to myself.” She sniffed. Richa-rd just stared wi-de eyed. “I was the one that s£nt you the picture of your wife and her ex”
“What?” Richa-rd said before he could st©p himself. His anger was now coercing to the surface.
She cried ha-rder. “I only wanted you to love me sir. That is why I wore that skimpy dress to work, so that you would notice me.” She swallowed. “I am so sorry sir… I would never do it again” she said, kneeling down.
Richa-rd just stared at her, not knowing what to do or say. He had expected something like this but not about him and Belina. Prisca had said it in a way that made him think it had to do with she and Tony.
Prisca took out her phone, pressed a few bu-ttons and the conversation between she and Oyin filled the room. When the recording ended, Richa-rd placed his head on his desk. His head was filled with nothing and everything. He could not believe he had such a person in his hospital. He lifted his eyes.
“I would take pity on you because I am not re-ady for any legal case right now but you know that if I decide to put you behind bars, you would be there for some time. I have the power; but I would not do that. Stand up now and go to your office. You have one hour to pack all your possessions. You are fired.”
Oyin’s head sh0t up instantly. “No. plea-se sir, I am sorry. I did what I did out of ignorance. plea-se” she pleaded.
Richa-rd ‘s piercing gaze almost blocked air from entering her nostrils. “re-move that tag and hand it over”, he ordered. Oyinade was still for a couple of seconds. She re-moved the BRH tag bearing her name and placed it on the table. “Now, get out now” the words were a little above a whisper but it was like a scream due to the way he said it. Oyinade stood up, wiped her eyes and left deflated.
Richa-rd picked up his intercom and barked. “Prepare a letter of termination of contract for Miss Adeyanju immediately. She is no longer a staff in BRH”
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Oyin made for her office like a robot. Her br@in was blank. No thought c@m£. She picked up the few things she had in her office – her ph0to frame, her Ipad, her bag and some other minute things and moved out of the hospital. Curious stares greeted her as she left but she did not pay them any heed. The only thing that c@m£ to her head was, ‘where am I going to get five million Naira?”
WATCH OUT FOR EPISODE 14