Merry Christmas 🎄

Go and watch "Omo Ghetto in the cinema today!

"What do you want?" Ada shrugged with a frown etching on her face. She wondered why Aderonke couldn't say a single sentence without insulting or teasing her in a harsh manner.

Ada watched as Aderonke sighed and folded her arms.

"W-Why did it have to be my husband?" Aderonke asked Ada.

"Madam...I never said your husband killed her. He was just at the club." Ada replied.

"Have you ever...fallen in love?" Aderonke shot a glare at her.

Before Ada could speak, Aderonke chipped in again.

"You don't look like the type that has ever fallen in love. Maybe you have fallen into a gutter."

"I have, Madam and I don't.. want to speak about it." Ada said.

"Of course, I don't even want to hear about your failed relationship. " Aderonke sniggered.

"Failed? M-My relationship isn't failed. It's just...rocky. " Ada retorted and folded her arms across her bosom.

"But it's failed and you...know it. " Aderonke declared.

Ada had no choice than to nod affirmatively at her words. After all, it was true.

"So did you come all the way here to talk about me? " Ada asked.

"No and yes." Aderonke replied, "Tell me about yourself. "

Ada dropped her pen on her desk with a slightly loud thud, "I can't because it's unprofessional and why do you want to know about me? After all I am incompetent. "

"Just tell me, I'm intrigued by you and I'm glad that you finally admit that you are incompetent. " Aderonke gesticulated with her outstretched arms.

Ada sighed heavily, "I am Ada George, I am 27 years old and single. I'm a detective and what else? I'm light skinned. "

Ada shot a sarcastic smile at Aderonke.

"Tell me something that nobody knows. " Aderonke pressed further.

"And why on earth should I tell you that?" Ada questioned. She was beginning to get irritated by the woman's questions.

Or was she planning on using her for rituals?

"D-Do you know what I feel presently? Do you know that is flowing through my veins? " Aderonke's voice grew softer.

Ada shook her head.

"It's anger...and sadness mixed with confusion. I don't even know what to believe anymore. I feel...like I don't know my husband and I know it's the most stupid thing to say, but please help me. Help me forget just for a moment that my daughter is dead. Help me forget just...for a damn second that I don't know... what's going on anymore. I don't..." Aderonke started as tears streamed down her cheeks and as he spoke, her body trembled with pain.

Ada felt a pang of sadness in her heart. She had never seen Aderonke this way. She had never seen her in her lowest point before and it nearly brought tears into her eyes.

"I-If you don't want to talk... about it. It's fine. I'll just go home. " Aderonke spoke hurriedly, rose up on her feet and began to walk towards the door.

Ada placed her right hand on her face, her heart jamming furiously against her ribcage. How was she going to say it?

Immediately Aderonke planted her fingers and curled it around the door knob, Ada whispered the words she has been hiding for many years.

"M-My father raped me. "

Aderonke implusively turned her head. Her face drained and shocked at what she had heard.

Ada took the initiative to continue as Aderonke took slow steps back to her seat.

"It...started a year after my mother died. My father raped me when he was drunk...I thought that...it was because he was drunk but he kept doing it..I told one of the neighbors when I couldn't hold it in any longer and do you know what she told me? " Ada's eyes turned glossy.

Aderonke shook her head sadly.

"She said that no...matter what, he's my father and he wants and is doing the b-best for me and that I should endure it till I was out of the house. I endured it...like a fool for five years. When I got to the university, I never went back home. He threatened to stop paying for my fees. I didn't care anymore. I just... wanted to leave. I just wanted to be free...from him. " Ada dabbed the sides of her eyes with the back of her hand.

"I am...so sorry to hear that. " Aderonke spoke with honesty. "I understand..."

Ada cut her off with rage burning in her heart, "Y-You don't understand...and you will never understand. Do you know how it feels to come back from school in the afternoon, tired from classes, sweaty from staying in class and hungry? Do you...know how it feels for your father to walk into your room and rape you in your... school uniform? Do you know how it feels...to hate your father and pretend to love him? No, you don't understand, madam. Your life is a bed of roses."

"Bed of roses you say?" Aderonke laughed humourlessly.

"Yes." Ada nodded.

"Look here, incompetent detective. You don't know anything about me. " Aderonke retorted angrily.

"I know that you are close to running mad right now. " Ada declared.

"You think I don't understand you? I do, I do...a lot. " Aderonke shrugged.

"You clearly do not and will never understand." Ada bit her bottom lip while opening a bottle of cold water lying on her desk.

Aderonke's next words baffled Ada who nearly choked from the abrupt shock.

"My mother sold me into prostitution."

****

"I'm sorry...I mean I didn't know. I mean...I don't..." Ada rambled on and on, finding hard to get the words out of her lips.

"Keep quiet. It's my turn to talk, incompetent detective." Aderonke teased.

Ada nodded and urged Aderonke to speak.

"My father used to be the breadwinner of the family and he died of stroke when I was 14. My mother was a housewife and she had two children to cater for. One morning, she told me that I was going to be doing a...part time job in the afternoon and that it won't affect my studies. I thought maybe I was going to work in a restaurant...I didn't know until my mother locked me in her room with a man old enough to be my father."

Ada cringed as her well manicured fingers dug into the desk.

"I begged him, told him that I was underaged. He told me I was ripe because I was endowed in the right places. He raped me severally for hours. He was at it from afternoon till midnight. I...was broken, shattered and disappointed. All for what? My mother collected four thousand naira from him and jubilated like someone who had won a lottery. She... wasn't bothered by the blood dripping down my thighs or the fact that I lost my virginity. She glared at me...and told me to clean myself up and that other customers were coming."

Ada almost couldn't take it anymore as fresh tears rolled down her cheeks. She hung her head low, trying to hide her dismay.

"I continued with it, endured it as well. My mother was making money. We were feeding well. We weren't struggling anymore until one fateful day, my younger brother fell dreadfully sick. He was rushed to the hospital that day. The hospital asked us to pay before treating my brother. My mother blantly refused to. I tried to persuade her, telling her to use the money that she made off my body and she nearly slapped me. I began to beg her, plead because I knew she had the money. She just wanted to negotiate the fees. As we kept arguing back and forth,my b-brother died. He died. I blamed my mother for it and she told me to blame God. She said that having only me is enough, That my younger brother was just an extra load and that she was grateful that God took the load off her."

"I couldn't believe what my mother was saying. I shook my head and walked out of the hospital. I never came back home, life was difficult since I had to fend for myself and the only... option was what my mother taught me. Selling my body to men." Aderonke added, "I did it for 7 years, making profit but I never went back to school. All the men I slept with were business men and some were married with kids. They all wanted one thing. Fresh meat." Aderonke said,"It all ended when I came across a man who was interested in my emotions, in what I felt. He refused to sleep with me. That was the day...I met my saviour." Aderonke's voice was now shaky and her face was clouded with tears.

Ada asked, "Who was he? I...mean who saved you?"

Tears poured down Aderonke's cheeks as she spoke with difficulty.

"My husband!"

Vote.Enjoy.Comment.

Second update coming in the evening

I wrote this chapter with tears running down my cheeks.

The Aderonke we thought we knew, who was iron lady was someone else entirely ❤️

Don't judge a book by it's cover.

Merry Christmas darlings!