~Sarima's POV~

Squelch...squelch...squelch.

Came the squishing of the two pairs of flip-flops on the bad wet road that led to Onome's house.

There were smelly black soils and dirty bins beside the drainage system from the sanitation conducted earlier today. The rain had made a mucky mess of it on the road.

The air was chill and breezy from the aftermath of the rain, and the road was void of vehicles.

I was enroute to deliver a pair of leather slides, bag and ankara sandals to Boma, who was currently at Onome's place.

Homa was tagging along, chatting away about the job she'd secured as a replacement babysitter at a daycare in one school.

She was also taking selfies on her new iPhone, which her best friend, Amira, had gifted her.

"Smile a bit nau," she frowned at my stoic face in her pictures.

I sighed and attempted to smile as she took more selfies.

"Your smile looks forced, see." She showed me the screen of her phone. "Like you missed your period or something." She ducked from my incoming swat, cracking up.

"Abeg, stop disturbing me." I frowned, shrugging her hand off my shoulder.

"Oya, just this last one." She pleaded as she clicked away, her hands raised.

My eyes landed on her unshaven armpit hair. "Look nau," she tugged at my chin.

"If you want to raise your hands like that, shave off the hairs on your armpit first."

She hissed, rolling her eyes and dropping her raised hand to cover her armpit.

"If this place can be like this, down south should have already turned into a wig."

"Ehn, leave it. I'll buy a shaving stick when I get home."

We both sighted a madman on our lane, approaching with a whip, as he pointed at objects on the wet floor and inside the smelly gutter and spoke unintelligibly to them.

We quickly crossed over to the other lane to avoid crossing paths with the psychopath.

The screeching tyres echoed loudly as the vehicle brake was put to use.

A car had nearly hit us.

The car stopped, and my heartbeat sped up, adrenaline kicking in.

Homa held my hands, standing beside me, her heart also pounding as the face of the driver came into view with the tinted glass window winding down.

"Are you guys okay?" Then, finally, his question came in.

I was expecting an outburst, not this.

We were already pulling an audience as people glanced in our direction.

"Yes, sorry...sir." I apologised, trailing off. My fast thumping heart from the near accident gradually returned to its normal pace.

He nodded, staring at me dazedly. Homa and I exchanged a look and continued our movement, her hand still entwined in mine, I guess she was still in shock.

The Venza honked a little and soon was beside us again.

"Umm, excuse me ...I, err...was wondering if you know a hotel creme de la creme. It's being renovated, I think, around here." The toned man who looked to be in his mid-thirties asked me. His words stumbled out of his mouth in a very defined manner, making me want to improve my vocabulary while addressing him.

"Err, yeah... it's just down the road. You'll have to make a right turn by the second transformer. You won't find it difficult to see the tall building." I replied in a light tone.

I can also speak queens English.

"Okay," he smiled, baring his small, nicely gapped teeth. He looked better when he smiled, and the corners of his eyes crinkled. "Thank you, I'm Ayo... what's your name, if you don't mind?" He asked.

I could see where this was heading.

I smiled, "I don't think that'll be necessary" all the while, his car was in a slow movement beside us as we walked.

"C'mon, I don't think anyone's gonna get hurt, please... just the name."

"Sarima."

I turned to glare at Homa, pinching her hand that was entwined with mine, she squeezed back harder, and I had to stop my painful wince from escaping my lips while she flashed him a tight smile.

He gave Homa a smile of gratitude.

"Sarima," he continued, turning to smile at me.

"Yeah," I nodded.

"Thanks, once again."

For?

He looked like he wanted to say more, then thought less of it.

"Alright, have a nice day and be careful on the road."

Homa chuckled.

Did he say something funny?

I smiled when his gaze landed on me, and he winked before driving off.

I grimaced.

"What's doing you sef?" Homa asked me when he'd zoomed away.

"You're just mad." I gave her the stink eye. She returned it too.

"Because you're seeing car you started to phòné"

"What about you that told him my name?"

"Asif you don't like it, you're not happy that I'm trying to fix you up with good men for marriage purposes."

"Ode." came my response.

We got to the ajar gate that guided Onome's compound when we heard a honk behind us. We turned and saw the Venza again.

Ahn, ahn?

"He came back," Homa smiled as he beckoned for us to come.

It can't be me you're talking to.

I pulled Homa into the gate. "Leave me, Ahn" she escaped my hold and met the man.

This girl is mad.

I saw them both talking and looking my way and I went into the compound, shutting the gate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What's wrong with all these people? Why are they behaving so dumb and foolish?" Homa's voice was the loudest in the sitting room as she constantly badgered us about the Zee World drama displayed on the small plasma screen.

Onome raised her head from her sleeping position on the most extended couch, her sleep-induced bloodshot eyes throwing daggers at Homa.

"Come smallie, no be person force you say make you watch am, ...na God I take beg you, no shout for my ear again."

Homa smiled, apologising with a wave of her hand.

Kome, Onome's cousin, was on a voice call with her latest catch, her half-eaten shawarma beside her.

You still need to pay me back my 7,000 naira, and you're busy enjoying shawarma.

"You don't even know how I'm suffering here", she spoke into the phone using the softest of voices I'd ever heard from her.

Suffer ke, as you dey chop shawarma so?

Boma was face timing with Kevin, her boyfriend. The one she'd just told me she would break up with just because he rarely made mention of his relationship status on social media platforms.

I'd rolled my eyes so hard that it nearly gave me a migraine.

I then briefly took up the role of her relationship counsellor, as usual.

She was always coming to me for advice from her childish wiles that caused issues in the relationship. And I was a novice that didn't even know what it felt like to be in a serious relationship like hers.

I have never been in a relationship. I'd tried thrice and given it a rest after the third one, and I have family issues which didn't make dating convenient for me.

Maybe I'm wrong.

It could be the kind of guys I meet.

Or I'm the problem. But unfortunately, I lost interest in finding out what could be the problem after my first and second years in uni.

The first time was with this charming guy. He was tall, had chocolate skin, an adorable face and an athlete's body, just like Kene.

He was in his final year then and had shown interest until a naive, stupid me had accepted.

It was like a dream come true for me cause other bigger girls had their eyes on him.

It made me feel special that he chose me.

He gave me my first kiss, not that I was expecting fireworks and all. It just felt weird that I didn't feel a single thing. I was primarily conscious of checking if he had bad breath, which Femi could not have. He was a good kisser, too, which wasn't a surprise because Femi was very experienced.

It got to the point when he began making ribald remarks about my body. Not only that, he'd grope my ass in public when he thought no one was looking or put his hands under my skirt or gown to start rubbing on my thighs.

I didn't feel comfortable with this development, and I made it known to him, but he ignored me, teasing me about being shy, maybe because my voice hadn't been firm enough when I'd told him to stop it.

Well, it'd all ended when I spent a night at his apartment in a lodge outside the campus, and he'd wanted to have sex. We'd gotten involved in a heavy petting session, and I'd not been ready for sex. I couldn't completely give in.

He'd insisted on trying to make me agree, and I revealed to him that I was a virgin. It'd put him off a bit.

I guess he'd not done a virgin before, or he didn't have deals with virgins, but baba had been bent on doing it with me that night. Maybe he'd been very horny. I'd finally threatened him that I would scream, and he eventually let me be.

After that night, I avoided him, and he found another girl to replace me after a few days.

The second guy was also very eye-catching, just like Femi. His name was Victor, and a terrible kisser he was, we kissed once, and I'd sworn never to do so again with him.

That was even far from the reason the situationship hadn't worked out. Victor was slow in reasoning.

He didn't know how to spell words correctly, and he wasn't one to accept his mistakes either.

When chatting, he didn't know the right kind of Emojis for an emotion.

He also didn't understand sarcasm which made things hard cause I could be very sarcastic at times.

I'd say something witty or funny, and instead of him catching on and laughing, I'd have to explain the meaning to him before he caught on, and by then, the moment would be gone.

I got fed up with all of these and stopped seeing him.

Then the last one, Buchi, wasn't attractive to me.

Maybe he was, in his way, but not to me.

I was taller than him.

I got fed up with attractive guys and wanted to try something different.

This one even ended faster than the first two, he was always acting depressed, and I was slowly turning into a motivational speaker and life coach.

I couldn't deal anymore, and I'd end things with him ignoring all of the suicidal threats he made if I left him.

After these three, I'd dust off relationships from my list and drowned myself in other matters.

My mind soon began trailing over to the call I'd received from my uncle earlier today. Mama had probably told him to wire some money to my sisters and me to help us with school issues cause the strike would go off soon.

He'd called to give me excuses as usual, and I felt annoyed that he'd even bothered calling to tell me those things.

Uncle Duncan was a wealthy politician who'd stolen so much money in power but was very stingy. He only cared for himself, his mother, my late grandfather's second wife, and his nuclear family.

Who am I to tell a man how to spend his money?

All his children were abroad studying, his first Daughter, who had graduated recently, was doing her NYSC here in Lagos, and he'd rented an apartment for her that cost 15 million for just her one-year stay here.

He wasn't my problem. I'd never asked him for money or help, and my sisters didn't either. One thing we didn't want to be was an unwanted burden, so the call was irrelevant to me.

As for my mother, she'd yet to call ever since Homa left her house. But, of course, I didn't care about that either.

"SARIMA!" Kome slapped my exposed thigh.

"Ouch!" I rubbed the burning spot glaring at her in annoyance.

"What?" I asked loudly, and Onome woke up from her sleep, her red eyes shooting daggers at me.

I ignored her as she stood up from the couch and entered the room.

"I've been calling you since," Boma defended.

"Ehen, What happened?" My words were harsh cause the pain was still stinging my thigh, and I was frustrated by everything in my life.

I scrutinised the spot that was turning light pink.

"I was asking you a question", Kome was the one who spoke this time.

What question? If it doesn't involve my money, don't ask me!

"What question?" I asked instead.

"Nevermind abeg," she looked away like she was annoyed.

I hissed out long and loud.

Who dey look this abaya face? Better pay back my money.

Boma stared at me.

"Are you okay?"

I nodded, still frowning.

My eyes went to my phone, charging on an outlet on a stool.

Was it bigger from the angle I was looking at, or just my eyes?

I took a closer look at it.

Still unsatisfied, I went over to check on it. There was a phone under it.

I raised my phone and saw my cord plugged into Homa's power bank charging port.

That evil devil!

She'd placed my phone on top of her power bank so it'll seem like it was my phone charging. Meanwhile, hers was taking up the power from underneath.

I quietly plugged my cord into my charging port and left her power bank still under mine but no longer charging.

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