Must Read: The Player

6 years ago

Must Read: The Player

I was in a position where i rather not be. In so short a time, Dad had killed himself, Oge had started fvcking someone else and i had failed my WAEC examinations.

The economy was getting shittier; I couldn’t get menial jobs anymore. Ugo and Tope were preparing to go to proceed with their lives, I was at a standstill. I had promised myself that nothing would come between Hana and me, but it was getting bleak. I loved her so much that I didn’t want her to leave my side, but I was being selfish. She needed to be in a private boarding school where her status as an SS patient was known by relevant authorities.
Having made up my mind, I walked to her room, defeated.

“Mama, I have something to tell you”, I said lying close to her.

“What is it bro?” she said, holding a novel with weird drawings on its front cover.

“You will have to go to a boarding school where you will be catered for”.

“Are you tired of me already? If there is anything I did, I am very sorry bro”

I assured her that I was doing it for her own good and the school would be close to the Estate.

“Who would take care of you when I am not around?” she asked.

“I am a big boy, I would take care of myself”.

“How would you afford the fees? We are barely breaking even with the school I am in presently. Boarding school is quite expensive.”

I wondered if she was ready for the other news, but I gave her anyways.

“We would be renting out your room and Dads; I will move all your belongings to mine.
Don’t worry, I won’t mess with your stuff, most times, I will be in the parlour”

“So, you and I will be like roommates?”

“Yes. Whenever you are on holidays, we would be roommates”

She stood and I was suddenly scared. If she rejected my preposition, I wouldn’t be able to force it on her.

“Bro?”
“Yes?”
“Thanks for the sacrifice; I know you rather have us maintain this arrangement”. She came and gave me a hug.

“Can I sleep with auntie Oge tonight? She told me to ask for your permission.

“Yes, no problem smallie”
I wished it was that easy for me to ‘sleep’ with with Oge too.

Ugo and Tope were waiting for me at the car park. Tope had a girl he wanted to ‘toast’, he wanted us to be close to him when he made the move, though her name was Bose, he called her ‘Cleopatra’, said she was the most beautiful girl in the world. She was that beautiful to me, but we all had to agree that she was Cleopatra.

On sighting me, they both walked to meet me.

“Fifi, tonight is the night, that girl must succumb to my charm. I am her Caeser”

It wouldn’t have been fair to tell him about a certain individual called Mark Anthony, so I accepted he was Caeser.

Ugo was less talkative. He had a lot in his plate. His father might be dismissed from the force and he wasn’t excited about Police college.
As we walked to Bose’s mother’s shop at Zone C, I told them about my decision to rent out the rooms in my apartment, I also told them about sending Hanatu to a Boarding school. They agreed that it was a good arrangement.

Bose was alone in the shop when we got there. She started smiling as we approached her, Tope was giggling too. I wondered why he even had to woo her, she was already crazy over him as he was of her.

Ugo and I took free Gala and Lacasera from her stand and left the two of them.

After walking some few distance away, Ugo turned to me. He was still looking depressed.

“Fifi, Oge has messed up big time, I don’t know what to do”
“How, what happened?”
“She is pregnant for Bros Emma”.
“Are you serious?”
“Yes, and the painful thing is that she is not ashamed about it. She says he has promised to marry her”.

I started suffocating.