Hmmmm, we got
to the bathroom oo, and what happened there is better left unsaid. The
summary of the whole matter is that I was bathed by those two witches
who used hard brushes to scrub my body as though I was infected with the
deadliest skin disease they didn’t want me to transfer to Mr. Chang. I
felt so bad because I couldn’t even get give them a slap. They were just
so good at dodging them. All I could do was frown and get angry with
everyone especially Cynthia for allowing me to go through that. Must I
meet Mr. Chang?
After 30
minutes I was out of there looking as shy as a bush man who just
encountered humans for the first time. Cynthia came to my room to take
me to Mr. Chang. I couldn’t look her in the eye due to what just
happened, and she made fun of it. ‘It must feel pretty cool being bathed
by ladies’ Cynthia said. I didn’t say anything in response. ‘Hey, are
you angry with me? You know it wasn’t intentional. It’s just a norm
here. Come on, snap out of that mood. We need to go see Chang. How I
wish I can have that done to me by some cute Chinese guys’. ‘You can if
you want’ I retorted. ‘They are a couple of them who’ll be more than
willing to help you out’. ‘I prefer you to them’ she said carelessly.
‘I’ll be back in a little bit. Get dressed’ she said and left the room. A
short while later she came back and we left to see Chang.
Chang
welcomed me like I was a distant relation who just got back after so
many years away and I wondered why. I wasn’t even introduced to him
anymore. It seemed like he already knew all there was to know about me.
Even Cynthia was surprised at that. Chang dismissed Cynthia and those
who were with him, leaving just both of us. ‘How are you doing young
man’ Change asked. ‘I’m doing good’ I replied. ‘Enjoying the party?’ he
asked again. ‘Pretty much’, I replied. ‘You have an edifice here. I
almost mistook it for a hotel’. Chang laughed and we kept exchanging
pleasantry for some munites before he started letting me in on his
success stories. It was almost like mine, but not exactly. He fell in
love with a girl from the same background as his back then. The girl
took advantage of the free education scheme that popped up then and
performed excellently. She was later awarded a scholarship due to her
excellent performance. Chang said he was struggling to keep his family
going as he was the breadwinner of the family. He hoped that things will
turn around soon enough so that he could pursue his dreams of owning a
martial arts academy as he was a master of martial arts. But things
changed when the girl he fell in love with came back and told him she
was pregnant. He was happy about the news, but the girl wasn’t. She
suggested an abortion but Chang objected. Problems began and they later
agreed to give birth to the child and let Chang have her while she went
ahead to marry a Chinese billionaire who promised her heaven and earth.
According to Chang, the man she ended up marrying took excellent care of
her to a point where he, Chang began to wonder if he would have taken
that much care of her.
Lin was the
product of their union and Chang had not remarried after then because he
lost fate in women and resorted to what Nigerians refer to as flexing.
The truth remained that he didn’t want his daughter to have any of such
experiences, so he called on me to help him out. How was I supposed to
help him? This man doesn’t even know me. What even made him think I
could help him? So many questions popped in my head and I got really
confused. Chang said to me; ‘I knew you before now’. I asked how and he
told me that Cynthia is a really good friend to Lin. He said they had
been discussing about me on phone and Cynthia mentioned that I was a
respectable man. ‘She told Lin you weren’t like a lot of the other guys
she had come across’ Chang said. She also said you’re not forward and
can barely express yourself before women. She said you’re not a flirt,
and all that. She even said that judging from your actions around her
she dared to believe you’re a virgin’. Chai!! Cynthia don finish me!
After saying all these things he laughed. I was already feeling
embarrassed because of those things he said Cynthia told Lin. I couldn’t
wait to leave that place to see Cynthia and unleash hell upon her. I
controlled myself and pretended like I wasn’t bothered by any of those
details. But then I asked him why he laughed, and he said;
‘I heard your name is Jesusboy’
‘That’s correct Mr. Chang. Does it sound funny?’
‘Not exactly.
Just the boy part of the name. It goes a long way to confirm all
Cynthia told Lin about you. Never mind, I’m okay with that. I love boys.
I just wish every man would add boy to their names if that would make
them be of good behavior’.
I couldn’t take it anymore being seen as an innocent naïve boy, so I spoke out.
‘You see, Mr.
Chang, Cynthia doesn’t know me that much. All she told your daughter
are just what she thinks I am. I’m not saying I’m a bad person, but I’m
not exactly all she said I was. Especially the part she said I can’t
express myself before women. Those are just speculations not facts. So
please make no judgments based on what she said’. If you think of me as
the best of councilors due to those things you heard, you might be
mistaken. Nevertheless I’ll help you in the best way I can’
‘Definitely you will’ he said confidently.
‘What do you want me to do for you, Mr. Chang?’
‘With much
hard work I have acquired a lot of wealth which I will have to leave
behind for my daughter when I’m gone. I don’t trust these guys that keep
hanging around her. They’re all gold diggers. I don’t want my daughter
to end up with any of them. Boy, I want you to marry my daughter. That
way I’ll die knowing my daughter and wealth are in safe hands’
‘What?’ I replied almost screaming.
‘Come on boy,
quit the drama. You might be a nice guy, but you need money and a good
girl for a wife. All these I offer you today and it will be my pleasure
if you take them’
I was short
of words, and my entire mind was greatly troubled. I didn’t know what to
say to him. I kept rolling my eyes round and round until Chang’s priest
came in and told him it was time to pray to Buddha. He told me he was
going to converse with me again soon. I said okay and thanked him, and
he left. Obviously, I had a lot to meditate on.
I went out
and joined the party. The two girls I was with before Cynthia came to
take away rushed to me the very moment they saw me back at the party
scene. But I dismissed them because I wasn’t in the right frame of mind
to engage them in the conversation they required. I sat at a dark corner
viewing all that was going on. Cynthia was dancing with virtually
everyone who was on the dance floor. She really loved dancing, as much
as she knew how to. All the while I sat there analyzing Lin over and
over again to see if she matched my kind of girl. Even if I agreed to
marry Lin, I would be assassinated before long. There were lineup of
guys plotting their way to that girl’s fortune, and I would just come in
from Africa and shut them out? No nah, they definitely wouldn’t take it
lightly with me. But that was sure not to happen, or was it?
It got pretty
late and I started feeling sleepy. Cynthia obviously wasn’t going to
retire anytime soon, so I didn’t bother saying a word to her before I
went to my room to sleep. My soul had almost transported itself to
another realm when Cynthia called it back as she burst into my room with
an orange transparent night gown which was designed to reveal whatever
hid beneath it. She shut the door behind her, leaned on it and stood
there staring at me with a dangerous grin. And then she started moving
towards me in the same way and manner the Indian ladies do when trying
to impress their husbands on their wedding night. It was clear to me
that all was not well because she wasn’t an Indian girl, and that
definitely wasn’t a wedding night, let alone being ours. Unlike me, I
was unable to figure out what to do to avert the situation before it got
out of hand. I just lay on my bed watching Cynthia perform to no music.
Her moves were so captivating that I lost the power and will to do
anything more than lay still and take what was coming. She drew nearer
and nearer stylishly until she got to the edge of the bed I lay on,
knelt on it, and GBAM!
To be continued.
