TITLE: TOO PRECIOUS
WRITTEN BY: OGECHI ALABI
CHAPTER 6
Patrick made jest of Simon’s relationship with PY. He felt Simon had fallen too de-ep and had lost his pla-yboy badge. Simon didn’t care. He liked her. What thri-lled him about her was that she was naïve. He taught her all she knew about relationships and R0m-nce. He was happy hearing her voice and whenever she saw him, the excitement she exhibited was infectious.
Many of the girls he dated felt too big. They went out with him because of who he was. PY didn’t know who her father was and she never asked him. He had br@gged to her about his father and his status thinking it will bring her to her knees but it didn’t seem to bother her. He could feel the genuine likeness and he reciprocated.
He was not in a hurry to defile her as he had done in the past. She was like a flower that hadn’t reached its maturity. He was nurturing her until she was ready to bloom. He was older than her by two years and more mature. She was a delight to be with and he tried to see her as often as he could.
They had graduated from meeting at the pool to other places where they could enjoy themselves freely. He took her to the waterside, restaurants, beach, and everywhere they could be free to be together. She enjoyed their outings and was never demanding. Instead, she brou-ght some things from home for their picnics and other outings.
When she mentioned staying back in the UK to be with him, he knew it was no longer likeness. He fell in love with her and it was mutual. He was not ashamed to tell her he loved her and she reciprocated.
PY left for her vacation before him. She left on the third week of August. Simon was lonely. He called her on her cousin’s mobile line. They spoke often but it wasn’t enough.
He was to travel the second week of September to resume on the following week but he couldn’t stay. He changed his ticket and travelled the first week of September. He didn’t tell PY he was coming hoping to surprise her.
He planned with her cousin who lured her out of the house to a friend’s place. Standing outside waiting was Simon. PY couldn’t believe her eyes. She ran to him and they hu-gged. Inside the house, they were given privacy in the sitting room. They ki$$ed and spent time talking as they usually did. pa-rting was difficult like always but they had to.
Simon bought PY a UK sim card so they could communicate while there. He wanted to see her again the next day and the days that followed. Her cousin promised to help them as best as she could.
Her cousin made conversation with her when they left Simon. “You seem to like this boy”
“I do.”
“He also likes you too. He planned the whole surprise. Does your mother know about him?”
“I can’t tell her; she will tell my father and this whole relationship will be over”
“Auntie Hope isn’t like that. You should talk to her”
“She does whatever my father tells her. He wants me to marry a guy he will choose for me”
Her cousin was surprised. “Who does that in this day and age? Why are you accepting that? This guy is in love with you and I don’t see him backing down anytime soon”
“You don’t know my father. He will never accept him. I want to keep this relationship a secret as much as I can until I am ready to tell my father my true feelings.”
“If you are lucky to still be with Simon in the next two years, then he is the one for you”
“But he is here. I am scared he might meet another girl and fall in love with her”
“He will meet girls but the guy I just interacted with has eyes just for you. He might be with other girls but you are the main girl. Don’t think too much of that, concentrate on building the relationship. Talk to your mum, I know she helped me when I was your age with my parents. She made them calm down when I got pregnant and advised them to allow me to marry my husband. I am at home now because of aunt Hope; I appreciate all she has done for me. I will take you to stay with me when she goes back so you can see Simon as often as you would want”
“Thank you so much”
“You are welcome”
PY stayed in the UK until the end of September. She met with Simon every day. When his cl@$$es began, they saw only in the evening. She would have stayed longer but her father found out she was staying with her cousin and insisted she came back home.
The night before her trip back, PY spent it with Simon. That was the first time he took her to his room. It was also the first time they made out. It was pretty intense; it took a lot of self-control for Simon to stop. He didn’t want to do anything that would jeopardise their relationship. Simon talked about their future together. PY didn’t say anything; she hadn’t told him her father would choose a husband for her. He didn’t nee-d to know yet.
Life went back to normal. PY missed her dates with Simon. She stopped the swimming cl@$$ (she already knew how to swim) and preferred to spend more time at home in her room. Most evenings into very late in the night, she talked to Simon. Simon’s day was never complete without talking to PY. Even when she gained admission, they were still very close.
“Allen called me and he asked after you again. I wonder why he keeps asking after you?”
“I want to spend Christmas in the US so maybe I will see him then”
“Why would you want to see him?” PY asked.
PB shoved her question aside and asked instead, “Did you ask him why he asked after me?”
“I did and he said you are my only genuine friend who I can trust. I wonder how he came to that conclusion”
“Maybe because I am”
“Whatever. How is school?”
“We are pushing it. How is Simon?”
“He is fine. He is coming back for Christmas. My father insists we go to the village for Christmas. He doesn’t stay longer than a week with us at home, why make us travel to a place we are not too excited to go”
“True. I intend to spend Christmas with my mum in Dubai. I saved for this trip. She can afford our tickets and we would stay in an affordable hotel. I don’t want my grandfather to know. We have decided we will go on holidays together at least once a year”
“Dubai again? You must have enjoyed your last trip. For your mother to agree to go that means both of you are getting closer”
“We are. She opens up to me now. Her job is doing very well although she said she preferred grandma’s school in terms of quality of education, ambience and population. I have asked her to divorce my father and move on but she said she can only do that after I graduate from university. She wants to ensure I get everything due to me and I can fight for myself before she leaves. Grandpa has been away for a month now and grandma has had time to har@$$ us. I told my mother to ignore her. Imagine, grandma said I am studying law so I can take over my grandfather’s properties. I just laughed at her. As she gets older, she has become more delusional. My uncles and aunties fund my account at their will so I always have money. I live a good life”
“What did your grandpa say about her accusation?”
“I didn’t tell him. When I can discuss better things with him that will fetch me knowledge and money, do you expect me to spend that time talking about someone who has been defeated?”
True to her words, PB had grown a very thick skin. Her grandmother’s words no longer affected her. She was like her mother now. Once she starts, they enter their room and ignore her.
Grandma badged into her room one day in anger and PB warned her never to try again. She told her she respected her and her space and she deserves to get the same respect.
“If you want respect, you can have it in your house. Tell your mother to leave my house with you and then you will have what you deserve, you ungrateful child”
“Fine, I will tell my mother and we will move out of here since you make living here unbearable”
PB never brou-ght it up with her mother or grandfather until there was a family pa-rty to celebr@te her grandmother’s birthday. It was just immediate family members.
PB informed her mother what her grandmother said and put her in the plan. During the planning of the birthday celebr@tion, they didn’t pa-rtake.
When the pa-rty was in full swing, they brou-ght down their luggage. They kept moving their things outside. They didn’t heed anyone’s call. They were out to create a scene and they were noticed.
When asked by grandpa what was happening, PB replied, “Happy birthday grandma. This is your birthday gift from my mother and me, we are moving out. This was what you wanted and I promised it will happen. Thanks for accommodating us for this long”
Grandpa was furious. He asked in a very angry tone, “What’s going on here? Someone explain to me what exactly is happening here? Titi, did you ask them to leave my house? On whose authority did you ask them to leave?”
Titi was speechless. It was well pla-yed. Seun had taught her daughter well. Precious, to Titi, was more conniving than her mother. She was shamed on her birthday. She would never forget this in her life.
Of course, everyone begged PB and her mother to stay back. They were told no one had any right to se-nd them away and importantly, no one could badge into their rooms without permission. PB won. Her grandmother hated her even more.
That night, PB kept a beautiful gift by the door for her grandmother. When she saw it, she opened it inside her room. The birthday card said ‘from Gbenga, Seun and Precious’. Inside the box was a beautiful ne-cklace that had the name Gbenga written on it. Titi cried when she saw the ne-cklace. She knew Gbenga wouldn’t have given her this gift so it would have come from Seun and Precious.
She told them the next morning while wearing the ne-cklace, “I forgive you for what you did yesterday. You have used this to redeem yourself. I want to say thank you for this thoughtful gift. It doesn’t change how I feel about you but, it is appreciated.”
She was off their back for a while. It was blissful in the house for a couple of months.
PB
PB joined an organization that helped people with addiction. She joined them because of her father; she wanted to learn more about her father’s addiction and how she could help him.
She came to Lagos once every month for the outreach as a volunteer. They had been able to se-nd people to rehabilitation homes to recover. Some of them did while others went back to drugs.
Nob©dyknew why she was so p@$$ionate about this. She wanted to help as many people as she could throu-ghthis outreach. She believed so much in them that she asked her grandmother where her father could be located. She wanted them to help him. Her grandmother told her she didn’t know where he was as he wonders off.
She was so excited when she went for outreach un-der the Festac link bridge and saw her father. He didn’t recognize her because he was very high on drugs. He had emaciated; he was just a pack of bones. She cried when she saw him. She begged her fellow volunteer to help pick him up. She told them she knew him and they had been looking for him.
With their help, he was taken to the psychiatric hospital. She called her grandfather and begged him to se-nd her money to admit him to the hospital.
“He is a lost cause; why do you want to get involved? He will go back to those drugs as soon as he recovers”
“I just want to try grandpa. Let me give it another shot. From the hospital, he will be taken to a rehabilitation centre where he will remain for two months and then gradually released to the society”
“I have done this. Even locked him away at a centre for six months, what happened? I will allow you to try. It is small money. Maybe he will look at his child and decide to change”
“Thank you, grandpa”
True to her grandpa’s words, he stayed in the hospital for three months, left for the rehabilitation centre for another three months. This was the best time of PB’s life. At his release, he came back home. PB observed her mother had re-moved every valuable item from her room. She didn’t think anything of it. Her mother still came to her room and re-moved valuable jewellery from there. She asked PB to remove her laptop which she felt her mother was being paranoid about.
They lived as a family. Her mother sle-pt in PB’s room every night refusing to sleep with Gbenga. Titi raised issues about it and Seun told her she wasn’t ready to contract any disease from anyone. If Titi loved him that much, she should sleep with him.
“What did you say? You are cursed! I should sleep with my son? What are you his wife for? When you were opening your legs for him then, it wasn’t a problem. Now, you are afraid. You have to allow him to impregnate you so you will have another child. He has recovered now and he is ready to be responsible”
“I cannot have s-x with him until he runs complete STD tests. I can’t afford to make that mistake of slee-ping with him and getting infected. He can’t for-ce me, I know better”
“He is your husband and he can for-ce you. He wants more children.”
“After twenty years? I am not doing that. I have one child and I am grateful to have her”
“You are starving your husband and then on Sunday you will dress up and attend the very first service. You are not a good wife.”
“We both know he hasn’t recovered. I am allowing Precious to deceive herself. If you claim he has recovered why then do you have an extra lock on your door? Why did Chief barricade his living area? We are still afraid of Gbenga; it will be short-lived. I am protecting myself”
“Is that so? You have declared he will never recover? Now I know you are behind his problem. What did Gbenga do to you?”
“We both know Gbenga has been an addict since I was a small girl. How old was I when he was in the university? Did I know him then? Iya Gbenga, your son will never cross these lap-s. You will hear our fights but until he is certified disease-free, nothing for him”
Tbc