BUKOLA

"If you have nothing to say, kindly get out of here." Bukola says and I glare at her.

"I want out." She shifts the position of her glasses from the position it sat above her nose, to her forehead. Her eyes continue to pierce mine. It's been two and a half weeks since I opened up to Aminu. The fact that I had not been completely honest with him ate me up.

"You want out, Bukunmi?" She asks me.

"Yes." She just stares at me, claps her hands repeatedly before bursting out in a fit of laughter. This babe can be psycho some times. It's sad that we're mirror images of each other.

"You know, you never fail to amuse me, girl." Her hands tap my back and I forcefully shrug them off. She laughs again, a subtle one this time.

"You've been too roped into this to want out, Bukunmi. The only way you get out is death. So dear twin, pick one. It's either you die or you keep being a part of this. I know you're smart enough to make the right choice. Don't forget that your loved ones still get to die after. The decision is yours to make, baby girl." She winks and honestly, fear grips me instantly.

Here I am, in their territory, speaking about wanting out when they could just end my life right now. With the option she gave, any sane person will be freaked out. It's just that my sister and her partner are not sane people.

"Alright. I'll get across more information by the end of the week." I state.

"Good girl." His voice sounds from behind me, and I try my best to show how unaffected I am by maintaining a neutral expression. Inside, I'm freaking out.

"How is that husband of yours faring?" He asks me.

"I don't think I need to answer that. You both communicate often." I scoff.
He glares at my response before walking to his girlfriend.

Bukola does not know Aminu on a personal level. So hers is really not betrayal. However, this man here, his is. To think he is the least expected to do this. Sometimes, I wonder why.

"I need to go back to the office. My lunch break is almost over." She's ontop of him, kissing him repeatedly. Several times, I have suffered having to endure their displays of affection. It's quite irritating to watch. I am dismissed by a wave of his hand. When I turn to leave the room and out of the place, I never allow my gaze wander to behind me.

"Where have you been?" Lolu, sweaty and exhausted, asks me when I am seated.

"Lunch break." I state, monotonous.

"You don't strike me as someone who had any lunch during the lunch break." He ends the starement with air quotes at the lunch break.

"Look, Lolu. I don't see how that should be of concern to you, for one. Secondly, it's not written on the forehead whether or not I ate lunch. Thirdly, you are creepy." He just chuckles and shrugs.

"I got this for you. Don't thank me. Bye." He winks and leaves me to myself. The aroma from the food pack on the table makes my stomach growl, more indication of how badly my lunch break was utilised. Thankful that Lolu did this, I pick up the pack and hurriedly walk to lunch room.

There, Tania and Hailey are seated, no doubt exchanging office gossip.

"Bukky! You're just eating?" They ask. And how is this their business?

"Yeah. Had so much on my plate during lunch." They exchange looks between themselves. Tania was the one to speak after.

"We checked on you but you weren't at your seat."

"Yeah. It was not office related."

"Alright." The food is still hot so I don't bother heating it up before I start to gobble up the food.

Once the pack is disposed and where I ate cleaned up, I leave the now empty lunch room.

Sammy was celebrating his 31st birthday today. So, he invited everyone from here and also his company. It's part of the things those gossips were discussing just while I was eating, before they left.

Truthfully, I don't want to attend. I am tired and not in the mood to be there.

"What's up?" Aminu plops down on the side of the couch beside me before giving me a kiss on my forehead.

"Just tired. How far." I ask, giving him a sideways glance.

"The usual exhaustion from work. You've not started preparations. Aren't you honoring Sammy's invite?" As a staff of Sambo Holdings, I would decline. However, doubling as his cousin's wife makes it difficult to.

"I'm not in the mood to go any where, Aminu." I shrug.

"This is Sammy, wifey. He's been the best family I have had." He tries to point out.

"Yeah, I know." He gives me a once over before pulling me in his arms.

"What happened to my welcome from work kiss?" He asks and I roll my eyes playfully.

"I'm tired of you, Aminu." I state while chuckling.

"Whatever. My kiss." He moves his index finger on his pouted lips. I lean in to leave a peck on them.

"Not so fast." He groans, holding me in place before leaning in to kiss me senseless.

"Now, what is the matter?" He asks with a serious face, staring down at me.

"I want to tell Jide the truth." He nods and urges me to go on.

"Also, I don't feel like going out." I add.

"Let's have an agreement. So Sammy does not take offense, we honor his invite and leave after an hour. Will that be okay with you?" He asks and I nod.

"Onto more important matters. Jide. How do you intend to tell him?"

"He's in school, that's the problem. I don't want it to affect his academics." Plus, whike driving home today, Bukola had sent a message, threatening to kill dad and also let Jide in on the truth if I don't bring in the last bit of information by the end of the month, which is next week.

"You just pointed out valid information." He says and I nod.

"Only thing is, I need to do that urgently."

"Why?" He asks me. This is the perfect chance for me to tell him the truth but I still lie like the idiot that I am.

"It's eating me up." I state in a low voice.

"Alright, then. Call him." He suggests.

"Hello, Big sis." Jide says once he picks the call. It's on speaker and Aminu squeezes my palm to comfort me when I am called that one name I hate the most.

"Jide, how are you?" I ask him.

"Fine, ma." He answers.

"How is school? I need to have a word with you." I state.

"Okay, ma."

"I'll send you transport." I finish.

"Alright."

"Take care."

"You too, big sis. Bye." I exchange looks with Aminu who smiles at me.

"Good first step, wifey." He says.

•••••

"Omoh. You both need to tell me what you think about this." She shoves her phone's screen in our faces.

"What is it again, Farida?" Tee asks, rolling her eyes. You see, Farida has been perusing social media since morning and has been disturbing us with one gist or the other.

"Popular Nollywood Actress, Sapphire and Husband, Eli set to divorce." I read out.

"You guys have not even read the juicy details." Farida grins before swiping to the next picture.

"Turns out they were married via a contract." She adds.

"Contract ke? Only foolish people do that." Tee says. How am I to even open up to this one when she is of this opinion?

"And they were such an admirable couple." Farida shrugs. Silence engulfs the room as we begin reading the details in the write up. Well, they were both reading while I pretended to do the same as them.

"People need to understand that there is a huge disparity between movies and actual life. What was she thinking? That they will eventually fall in love? Come in! Let's be realistic here."

"Why does the woman have to be blamed for this? The marriage was between two people, yet she's getting bashed in the comment section. Is it because the man is Oyinbo?" Humans can be so full of double standards some times.

"Calm down, Bukky. The way you're glaring at me like I'm those people in the comment section." Tee tries to defend.

"Why won't I? You're talking exactly like them." My tone goes a tad-bit higher than I want it.

"What's your problem? Na wa o. When it's not as if you are Sapphire." When she makes that comment, I glare at her hard.

"Enough, abeg. What is wrong with the both of you?" How do I explain to her that my outburst is because I feel attacked?

"See, Farida. She was just being unreasonable."

"You are entitled to your opinion, same way I'm entitled to mine." Tee's response makes me roll my eyes.

"Wow." People excuse their excesses with this line and it annoys me. Well, maybe I'm like this because that was how I got here in the first place.

"Look, I brought the gist and I take full responsibility for the outcome. Can we just move pass it, please?" Farida says, grabbing her phone from my palms. We both glare at each other before nodding in agreement to what she said.

Well, telling them would be more difficult than I thought. I guess, I'll just keeo this information to myself, then. Aminu and I are not getting divorced. There is no cause for alarm. Yet.