Packing her bags on a Friday evening, Maggie decided to visit Jide. #kindly visit my previous post too know how she came about this decision# At least she was smart enough to take this trip after her exams. Berta had done her part as a friend in wishing her goodluck, giving her her six year old condoms even though she begged her friend not to have a need for it and had told her to put up her number on the travel manuscript.
'Am on my way, Jide.' Maggie spoke into the phone.
'On your way to?' Jide asked.
'To see you of course. We talked about this yesterday didn't we?'
'Babe, i was only kidding. Cant wait to kiss you.' He replied with a laugh.
'Kiss who? i thought i made it clear that you wouldn't be kissing me. Not in this visit at least.'
'Loosen up girl!!! i wont kiss you ok? At least a hug?'
'See you soon anyways.' Maggie said, ignoring his tease with a bit of disgust in her voice.
After boarding a bus, she got a seat beside a man who wouldn't let her be.
She thought to herself,
'I know i am man-hunting but there are limits. Why is this old married poor man disturbing me?'
After a horrid hot six-hour trip, thanks to the man and the weather, Maggie waited at a restaurant near the park for Jide to come pick her.
She always travelled lightly and had 'vex money on her'.
She kept staring at shiny oncoming cars that seem to be slowing down towards the park, hoping to see him. But none seemed to stop. They all moved along.
Finally an old rickety 1997 Honda stopped by the park and Jide stepped out. Maggie was out of view so she was watching with interest as Jide picked up his phone obviously to call her. What struck Maggie was that he came with four of his friends. She didn't like that at all. Another factor that struck her was he was not even calling her. She kept looking at him until he caught her gaze by chance, laughed and still on the phone, entered the restaurant, then sat opposite her, smiling.
After three minutes, he finally ended the call and explained that it was his mother.
'Yeah, right!' Maggie thought to herself. 'If you call your mother my darling and as a grown man, lie to your mum about where you are, then yes, it was your mother. At least, he couldn't lie that it was a man he was on the phone with.'
Either way, she didn't care and wasn't liking her decision to come anymore. Jide was cute but something was telling her to run back to school.
'Shall we?' Jide asked.
On their way to Jide's house, the boys spoke in Yoruba. Maggie is an Igbo girl but she understood Yoruba well having lived in the western region for some years. They didn't know that and so they spoke freely.
'This your babe make sense o'
'Hope you didn't tell madam about her, she go just kill you.'....'hmmm, i was right after all.'
Maggie smiled to herself.
'Omo Jide, how tonight go be na?'
'We go join you oh. how only you go chop this one alone? na tradition sha. i no know why i dey ask.'
'Guys no worry. once am done, una go follow.'
'Hope those drugs still remain?'...and the discussion went on and on.
Maggie couldn't even believe her ears. She plastered a smile on her face and told Jide to please drop her by a bank so she could use their atm. Jide offered to escort her but she insisted she went in alone. Right now, she preferred her seatmate from the bus to this. Her limits were increasing afterall.
'Do you want to see my atm password?' she asked jokingly, but inside, she was dying.
'Ok fine we are waiting for you.' Jide said.
"Stupid boys, fools, animals, its me you want to rape abi?, you will wait till Jesus comes. It is really we r waiting for you, not I am waiting for you." She wished she could say those words out to them.
Once she was out of sight from the boys, Maggie made her move.
'Sir please is there a back gate?' Maggie asked the security man at the bank, 'my trip home will be shorter from there.'
The security man directed her to the back gate and Maggie immediately took a cab to any affordable hotel where she spent the night then returned back to school the next morning and ran tearfully to Berta's room who waited for her with open inviting friendly non-raping arms.
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