Then the day came that totally changed everything for me. It was my dad’s 65th birthday, and we celebrated it on a grand scale. We had upwards of a hundred guests that day. I was the host of the occasion, and was involved with so many things that day. Trust my lazy farts of brothers, they rather just hung out with their friends and left me to do everything. I had to delegate two of my cousins to make sure things ran smoothly. I didn’t want to let my anger at my brothers ruin anything for the old man; this was something I was going to iron out later.
I had invited Yewande to the party and she came along with Aijay and Susan. I was so busy moving around, so I had to assign someone to take care of them. Every now and then, I made sure to check up on them, and at one point I met my brother at the table where they sat. Susan and Aijay were nowhere to be found. I could tell she was laughing at something he was saying. His eyes met mine from across the hall and he quickly averted them. I casually walked over and when Yewande saw me, she quickly stood up and gave me a hug. I asked her if she was okay and where her friends were. She told me Susan left as she had to be home to prepare her family’s evening meal. Aijay had gone home as well. I told her I was sorry that I abandoned her as I was just running around making sure everything was going on well, and she told me not to worry. She understood I was busy, and was happy I invited her. I promised her that I would come over and check her again soon. I glared at my brother, who took a step back and disappeared before I left.
That “soon” did not arrive until much later. By then it was going to eight in the evening and guests had already started leaving. I got some time to check up on Yewande again but she was not at her seat. I asked one of the other ladies who was still at the table if she had seen her. She told me she had followed my brother but did not know which direction they headed. I tried calling her but she did not pick up her phone. I tried her again with the same result. I ran into one of my cousins who was helping me out and he told me he saw them heading towards the lakeside cabana, which was quite secluded from the rest of the party.
I quietly walked down the dark path towards the structure. Approaching it, I could hear the unmistakable laughter of Yewande and voice of my brother coming from within. I heard her laughter again and what sounded like a moan. I peered around the corner. There, in a dark corner, sat both of them. Yewande was sitting astride in my brother’s laps. His hands were all over her body and they were literally devouring each other’s mouths. I stood watching them for a few moments before I stepped back and sat on a nearby rock. Both of them were unaware of my presence. They were in there for close to another ten minutes before I heard another word from any of them.
“Let’s go, your brother will be wondering where I am,” I heard Yewande say.
“Don’t worry about him, I’m sure he wouldn’t even notice you left.”
I chuckled where I sat throwing rocks across the surface of the pond.
“Oh,” I heard her exclaim and hiss, “he has even called me!”
“Relax, you will tell him you went to the restroom.”
They both walked out of the cabana. Yewande was trying to button up her top. They both froze in shock when they saw me sitting there.
“Shit!” I heard my brother swear under his breath.
I ignored him and turned to Yewande. She didn’t seem scared or anything. She only buttoned her top up and straightened it out properly. I did not even have the energy to yell at either of them.
“Just tell me the truth,” I asked her, “do you want to be with me or him?”
She did not need words to convey her response. Her arm instinctively wrapped around his and she rested her head on his shoulder. I nodded.
“I just wanted to be sure. I hope he makes you happy.” I turned and headed up the dark path back to the party. I heard my brother call my name, and then Yewande say something about letting me go. Each word felt like a dagger to my back.
About ten weeks later, the school sent out an email stating our call-up letters were ready. I went to get mine about four days before camp was to open. The only person who knew I had come was my roommate. School was in full swing then, so that night, I took a final walk around campus, reminiscing about all the years I spent there. I took one last peek at the hall I read at night; it was mostly packed with students at that time of the semester. My thoughts travelled back to the day I met Yewande, and I quickly pushed them out of my head. I don’t know why, but deep in my heart I hoped I would run into her that night. I had made up my mind that it was best I let go and move on. She had stabbed me in the back twice, and that was more than enough pain. I also felt it was not worth confronting my brother about it. He hadn’t said anything to me about the incident, and the last time I saw him, I believed I detected a smirk of triumph in his eyes. Well, I consoled myself, there’s no point in me fighting with him over a woman. I would rather let her go and face my lane. The major thing I learnt from the experience was to NEVER let him near him to any girl I was interested in. I bade the school a final goodbye before heading back to my room.
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The three weeks orientation camp passed quickly, and I found myself posted to one secondary school for my primary assignment. I wasn’t able to get a room in the lodge that was provided by the school for fresh corpers like me, so I ended up getting a place about ten minutes okada-ride(commercial bike-ride) away. The landlady lived in the large mansion and she rented the boys’ quarters of the large building to me. I found out she was a very wealthy businesswoman as she owned several large stores in the central market where she sold foodstuff, clothes, beauty products and other things, so she was out most of the day to attend to them.
When she learnt I taught mathematics and economics in the secondary school nearby, she asked me to tutor her only daughter who had finished her high school exams over a year ago but was stuck at the JAMB hurdle. Her daughter had just returned from her father’s house in Lagos and from what I saw when I met her, Amaka didn’t look her young age at all. Tall, voluptuous, and flirty were the words that came to my mind the first time her mother introduced her to me. She had an affinity to wear tight-fitting clothes that showed off her generous curves and was always at one party or birthday. Her father had tried encourage her to take her life more serious and be more attentive to her studies to no avail. This was going to be her third time attempting the tertiary entry exams, and her mother literally went on her knees and begged me to do all I could to make her pass. She didn’t want a high school drop out as a daughter. I promised her I would do my best, but it was up to her daughter as well.
Over the next several months I prepared her as best as I could. Every Saturday morning before the English Premiership matches started, I gave her some lessons for about three hours. At first, she wasn’t serious and was more interested in asking about my love life and seeing the final answers to the problems than with how I got said answers, but with further encouragement, prodding, and sometimes anger, she began to listen. When she finally took the exam and her results came out, she scored quite high, which was more than good enough to get her admitted into the university for her course of study. When I returned from school that evening, she literally jumped into my arms and planted kisses all over my face and mouth and hugged me fiercely as she squealed in glee. Her mother was so happy and thanked me profusely, almost weeping over the phone in the process. She told me I did not know how much this meant to her; I had covered her shame. Her daughter had finally passed her exams and was going to the university, something her other older children refused to do. They preferred to go into business but that is another story entirely.
Afterwards, Amaka became unusually “friendly” towards me. She would coyly flirt with me on occasions, licking her wet lips in a seductive manner while staring at me with her glazed eyes. She once “brushed” off an imaginary speck of dust on my shirt one morning I was going to school. She stood so close to me, my nostrils inhaled the sweet fragrance of her perfume. The brush was more of a caress, and the way she traced her delicate finger down my chest as she soothed me with her low, sexy voice conveyed more meaning than I wanted to admit…
…until that fateful day a couple of weeks later. Tuesdays were usually my community development service days. That morning, I left early as I knew we mostly just hung out doing nothing but gist to while away the time. I flirted with the thought of going to school to grade the economics test I had given one of the SS2 classes the day before, but decided to go home and catch a nap instead.
I got home around one o’clock in the afternoon. I changed out of my corper gear and just as I was about to lay down on my bed I heard a soft knock on my door. I was mildly surprised to see Amaka walk in. She hadn’t been in my room since she took her exams and I asked her why she came since I no longer had to teach her anything. She said she saw me coming in and decided to come over to hang out with me as she was bored since everyone had gone out and she was the only one at home. I offered her a can of Schweppes and we settled down to watch a movie on Africa Magic.