................................
'No way'...i said to myself
'Make we enter now,come see my room you go like the inside'.....Obi broke into my thoughts..
As soon as i stepped my foot into the building,the saying that 'never judge a book by the cover' slammed me in the face.
It was as if i was crossing the Niger bridge from Onitsha with all the violence to Asaba cool serenity.
Obi was right!......I liked the spacious room,well plastered and painted,it had a ceiling fan already and all i had to d was move in.Obi saw that i was impressed,
'I tell u say ,you go like am,oya come see my own room'......he said as he started to open the opposite door.
Stepping into Obi's room erased all my doubts,the way it was painted off white, his reading tables ,his bed,everything was apt.We discussed the rent and went to see the wife of the owner where we finalised it.
Back in school ,a friend of mine who was looking for accommodation suggested we share the room and split the bills.Sounded like a good idea to me so i agreed.
The following week was a busy one academically but eventually we found time to move into the apartment after paying the rent to Alhaji's wife.
The weeks went by and we were busy moving into the new room,at that time the bungalow had four rooms,obi and i had a room each while the other wing was occupied by a police man and his family.
After some weeks i began to notice some funny attitude towards us in the environment,one,i could not get any young boy in the area to help me out with my laundry or other chores,all of them kept on lying to me and they never turn up.If i go to buy food stuffs and maybe i need to give the woman some additional money,she would refuse to allow her son to follow me home to collect the change, anyway there was this chick that was living on my street that i really fancied,she was a student also at the mini campus and her parents were living on the same street,they had been living there for a while before i moved in.I finally had a chance to talk to her and she responded very well but any time i tried inviting her to my house she always seems to blow me off,at first i thought she was just taking her time.A particular day got us talking and i brought up the subject
'Lola,i need to ask you a question and i want you to be honest with me'......i asked her
'Ok'.....
'is it that you don't like me enough or why don't you want to come to my house'..
'Of course i like you,i like you a lot,its just that'.........she paused
'Just that what?'.....i pressed on
'That your house has some kind of history and am afraid to enter'...
'Ehn,what kind of history,please tell me'.........by now i was really at full attention
'You know we have been in this area long before you?....
'I know ,i know'.....i was getting impatient.
'Go and ask Obi now,i have to go before my parents come back'..........and she stood up and started leaving
I tried to persuade her but she didn't wait.
My head was boiling,what happened in this house that Obi did not tell us? no wonder i kept asking him where the Landlord was living because i could not imagine the owner of this big bungalow letting out all the rooms without staying,he would waive the questions .I couldn't wait to get to the house,i was more like jogging than walking.I went straight to his room.
'Obi,we need to yan o'.........
'As per wetin?.......
Obi was not willing to open up to me but i would not leave the room and kept on barging him with questions,eventually i worn him out and when he started talking ,my mouth was left agape.The house was owned by Alhaji for sure and according to stories ,he was a very dubious person up to armed robbery.
'Jojo ,you be dagbo man now,you suppose understand this kain thing'.........Obi said
'Omo! bone that o,oya where is Alhaji now.
'Na wa o'......
'Obi,answer me ,where is Alhaji!!!?........by now i was really really angry
Obi knew i was really mad at him,he looked at me and swallowed some spit.He probably reasoned that it was better he told me the truth.
'Jojo,Alhaji dey for Prison'
'Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'...................i screamed
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