#TENDER_BEAUTY
EPISODE 6
Richa-rd smiled from the bo-ttomof his heart for the first time in a long while. He looked at Deji who looked confused with a comforting smile. He looked weak and was fighting sleep as he continually opened his eyes. Richa-rd encouraged him to sleep and he later gave in. Richa-rd stood there for more than ten minutes just staring at him and later went back to his office.
He got to his office and knelt down beside his table and started thanking God. He had been praying for the past two days and God had just answered his prayers. He placed his head on his table after the prayer, greatly relieved.
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As I entered the car, I coll@psed on the back seat for some minutes, my eyes closed without uttering a word. I opened my eyes and saw Prisca staring at me. I knew I must look ragged and dirty but I didn’t even give a damn about how I look. I later opened my mouth and said, “Thanks a lot; I would probably be out of this country by dawn if you guys hadn’t come for me”.
“What happened Lina? How did you get there?” Prisca asked.
“Calm down darling, let her rest, she has been throu-gh a lot”, Tony said
I smiled faintly and simply said, “I would tell you all about it later but what I know is that they were s£nt by Tunji and I would wager that my dad has a hand in it too”.
“What? How can a father do that? No, I don’t think he has a hand in it”, Tony said. I laughed slightly,
“Well, you don’t know my father”, I said.
Prisca placed her hand on my leg comfortingly as I l@yon the chair and there was no other discussion until we got to Prisca’s place. I was so weak and I wondered if I would be able to stand not to mention walk with my so-re feet, but I did. I walked slowly to the gate and waited for Prisca who was busy talking with tony. I looked back just in time for me to see Tony k!ssPrisca good night and I quic-kly took my face away. Prisca walked up to me some minutes after and I thanked Tony again before he sped off.
We walked inside on silent feet and we got to Prisca’s be-droom uneventful and even though all I wanted to do was sleep, I re-moved my clothes and had a warm bath in her bathroom. She also did the same thing and after I had worn a night go-wn which actually belongs to her, I climbe-d the be-d. All the questions she tried to ask me fell on deaf ears as sleep overtook me.
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Sparrow and spanner had been sitting on the road for more than fifteen minutes and they finally decided to stand up. They just could not believe that Belina had been right beside them and they had not seen her. They headed back to their base thinking of the best way to pres£nt the case to Tolu and Tunji.
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Mr. badmus woke up really early and started packing his things to his car. He loaded the trunk with his things and when he saw that he still had enough time, he decided to pick few for Belina.
He got to her room and saw that her clothes were inside her boxes but her shi-ts were on the hanger. Always neat Belina, he thought. He wanted to select but he didn’t have the patience to do so because he was hungry so he just carried one box and left. He dropped it in the trunk of his car and went back inside to make himself breakfast.
It had been a while since he made breakfast by himself cos Belina always took care of that but he had no option today. He took out the remaining sliced bre-ad in the fridge and started frying the eggs he had bought yesterday night.
When he finished frying, he served himself and when he tasted the egg, it was too salty. He hissed angrily, pushed the egg away and ate his bre-ad ordinarily with a little jui-ce.
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Tunji stirred in his sleep as the 6:00 alarm started ringing, he reached for his phone and turn it off. He was usually a late sleeper and most times, he woke up 8 o’clock or 9 o’clock. He had set the alarm yesterday when he was about to sleep because of the level of importance today possed. His phone started ringing shortly after and he ignored it at first, when it rang again, he picked up the phone to check who it was and it was his father. He stared at the phone then finally pressed the green botton.
“Morning dad”, he said.
“Morning Tunji, how are you?” his father asked
“I am sleepy”, Tunji said grumpily.
“Hmmm, I nee-d to see you son, we nee-d to talk”
“I am busy dad, you cant see me till next month. I am travelling out today”, Tunji said.
“What? Where are you going?” his father asked
“it is none of your business dad, I am not a kid anymore”, Tunji said drily.
“what does that mean? I am beginning to suspect your movements, if you get into trouble, don’t come to me o”
“Don’t worry, I can take care of myself”, he said and dropped the phone.
Tunji hissed and stood up from the be-d. He realized how good a decision it was to move out of his father’s mansion. He had extorted enough money to last him a long while and he had been given one of his father’s companies to manage so money was not the problem. He had appointed someone to run the company because he didn’t want to waste time in the company when he could be out having fun. He hadn’t been free in his father’s mansion; his mother never monito-red what he did but whenever his father was not in one meeting or the other, he had to behave. He had various girl friends and who-res but they all looked expired to him immediately he set his eyes on Belina.
He stood up and went to the bathroom to take a shower. He had booked a morning flight so he showered, dressed and stepped out of his room. He got to the sitting room and noticed that he did not put off the Tv yesternight. He put it off and went off to pick his soon-to-be bride.
#TENDER_BEAUTY
EPISODE 7
I woke up few minutes to 7 and I was glad that I was not feeling much pain. I knew was up alre-ady and it would be awkward if I walked in on her and her parents so I just waited for her. I knelt down by the be-d and thanked God so much for everything he did for me. I thought about my kidnap, and I could not believe I was actually here.
After the lengthy prayer, I went to the bathroom to take my bath. Thank God that I had struggled to wash my go-wn yesterday despite my aching b©dy cos I didn’t like putting on other people’s clothes no matter the clos£ness. I had worn Prisca’s nightie yesterday but that was different. As I showered, I noticed that my feet were still so-re but I paid them no heed.
I c@m£ out of the bathroom and sp©tted prisca’s cream. Since I didn’t have any permanent cream, I used hers without worry and put on my blue go-wn, thanks to the light material it was, it was alre-ady dry. I took my bag and started going throu-gh its contents for the first time since I carried it. I was surprised when I saw the envelope that I was given in the concert first. I opened it and when I counted the money, it summed up to 20, 000 Naira. I was happy that at least, I would have money for some clothes. I can’t resume work on Monday with my go-wn, I thought with a smile. I searched the bag and met everything intact, including my purse, ATM card and others.
Prisca c@m£ in and was surprised to find me awake. “woow, I thought you would still be asleep, I would if I had gone throu-gh what you did”, she said with a smile.
I smiled and leaned on the be-d dramatically, “I could go back to sleep if you want, I don’t mind being pampered”, I said feigning tiredness although I felt a little bit weak.
She laughed, “who would pamper you? Abeg stand up joor, lets go and eat”.
“What of mumcy?” I asked
“Dad and mum are both waiting for you at the dining. I explained everything to them and if I hadn’t insisted otherwise, mum would be here now, although, they were not happy that I sneaked out of the house”, she said wi-nking at me.
I smiled and got up from the be-d, held her by the w@!st and pla-yfully pushed her towards the door, “well, lets go then, I could eat an elephant”.
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Richa-rd was surprised to find out that he had actually fallen asleep yesterday. He had gone back to Deji’s room and found him slee-ping soundly and the sleep seemed to be contagious that he went back to his office and sle-pt like a baby.
His office was a very big one which included a toilet and bathroom so he went in, had his bath and wore another cloth which he had brou-ght from home. He wore his suit and made for Tony’s office to give him the goodnews and find out the outcome of his outing yesterday. As he was going he saw Adewale coming towards him and was happy.
“Good morning doctor Richa-rd ”, Adewale said.
“Good morning Adewale, it is good to see you looking fresh”, Richa-rd said stretching forth his hand for a handshake.
“Deji’s parents just left this place so I decided to see you to know how he is faring”, he said.
Richa-rd smiled at Adewale and said, “you can relax now, he is out of coma”.
Adewale jumped on Richa-rd and he almost fell down. “I am sorry” he said leaving the doctor alone. “thank Yo Lord” he said and faced Richa-rd , “Thank you doctor, i… I am so greatful”.
Richa-rd laughed, “Thank God not me, I only did my job, God heals”, he said placing his hands on Dewale’s shoulders. “I would go and inform the parents”, he said and before Richa-rd could st©p him, he was out of the hospital. Richa-rd smiled and went into Tony’s office
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Tunji arrived at Boruwa lane and looked around happily ma-king sure that he was not being followed. He got to the footpath and st©pped his car. He locked his car and went throu-gh the footpath on foot. When he was about getting to the building, he looked back to be totally sure he was not being followed before he entered the building. When he entered the building, it was totally quiet and he thought they might be upstairs since it was a one story building. After checking all the rooms downstairs, he climbe-d the stairs and upon arrival, he still did not see anyone. He was not finding it funny so he took out his phone and called Tolu.
“Oga mi, good morning, I am alre-ady on my way to-“ tolu started saying.
“shut up now”, he ordered, “I am at the location now and I cant find anyone. Are you pla-ying games with me?” he said yelling. Tolu was taken aback,
“NO… I dare not…. Pls let me call the guys maybe they had to change location for some reasons”, he said.
“hurry up, I am losing my patience”, he said and hung up.
Tunji walked from one end of the building to the other, matching furiously. Just when everything seemed to be working, those idiots had blun-dered it. He looked at the time, it was almost time for his flight to take off and he was still here waiting for the fools that that Tolu of a boy s£nt to get Belina. After calling Tolu, he had searched the entire vicinity again but hadn’t seen anyone or anything except a nylon of beverages and things like that. Did i tell them that i want to drink tea? he wondered.
He left the building because the bushy area was beginning to scare him so he headed towards his car. He met Tolu, Spanner and Sparrow coming midway coming towards him and his anger multi-plied when he did not see Belina with them.
He charged forward and tried to calm his nerves because those guys may be dangerous and it would be one against three. “Where is Belina”, he asked throu-gh clenched teeth.
Spanner opened his mouth, “i… she… ehm…”, he st©pped as Tunji moved towards him, sizing him up like he was an ant. He was short so he had to look up to Tunji but that was a mistake because as soon as he looked up, Tunji s£nt him crashing into a nearby bush.
Tunji moved to Sparrow and asked him the same question, “Where is Belina” Sparrow looked very strong and rugged so Tunji knew that he had to be careful with him no matter the answer.
“Oga, we do we-tin we ask you to do o, but that girl be winch, we no even know as she leave our front and the next thing we see be say, we dey pursue her and before we open our eyes, close am, she don enter motor”, he said and then pointed at his leg, “see, see my leg… the motor almost killed me” he said.
Tunji wished he had a gun to shoot him dead instantly, but instead, he faced Tolu. “What is the meaning of this now? what kind of ru-bbish is this? i should be at the airport now, ehn…”
“i am sorry, Tunji, i didn’t know that these idiots would spoil things this way”, Tolu said Tunji glared at him. i want to see Belina today, did you hear me? Today. If you don’t have belina with you, make sure you have my money” he said and pushed Sparrow into the bush as he made for his car..
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Mr Badmus got to the airport much earlier than he ought to and he sat down in his car waiting for Tunji. he put on the radio in his car and for the first time in a long while, he danced to the music which was being pla-yed in the radio.
After he had waited for one hour and hadn’t seen Tunji and Belina, he called Tunji’s line. He did not pick the first time so he called the second time, alre-ady getting worried.
Tunji picked the phone and he heard “Hello…”
“Hello, Tunji. I have been at the airport for over an hour now and i have not seen you, what is up?” he asked hoping that nothing had gone wrong.
“Oh pls, spare me all that. That miserable daughter of yours is nowhere to be found”, he replied.
Shocked, he screamed, “WHAT?”
“Pls, don’t deceive me, are you telling me that you know nothing about this”, Tunji asked shouting angrily.
“Ahn, Tunji…”
“Don’t ahn tunji me. if you don’t produce your daughter today, be re-ady to return all the money i have been giving you since this matter started. I have been recording it and I have given you nothing less than 180, 000 Naira. Don’t joke with me o, failure to produce any of the two, i would get you arrested. You should know, without me telling you that i mean what i just said and i have enough power to back me up”, Tunji said and before Mr Badmus could say anything, he hung up.
Mr Badmus opened his mouth in shock, looking frightened.
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I entered the dining room along side prisca and immediately Mrs Jeg@s, Prisca’s mother, saw me, she jumped from her seat and c@m£ to hold me tenderly. She had been almost like a second mother to me ever since she knew me as her daughter’s friend. Her husband was also in the same vein although he covered his own; men’s characteristics. She was also so emotional so i was not surprised when i saw her face swimming with tears. The little displ@yof affection made me feel sick cos it made me remember what it had been like with my mother. My mother was not one who was perfect, infact, she was one of the most imperfect people on earth but i loved her all the same.
I quic-kly cleared some air by saying, “mum, it is not a big deal… or maybe it is but i am fine”.
“No you look tired baby, come and sit down”, she said and moved me to a seat and quic-kly stuffed my plate with food. Mr Jeg@s, prisca’s father who could not hide his anger later said as we ate,
“How can a man do this to his own daughter? He must be dealt with” He looked at me and said, “You can stay here for as long as you want and anything you nee-d, you can count on us”.
I muttered my sincere appreciation and went to hvg them lovingly. I sat down on my sit and i looked at Prisca who was smiling at me. I sighed internally and i thanked God for giving me a place i could call ‘home’.
WATCH OUT FOR EPISODE 8