Two Shades of Love

In TWO minutes, I had to quickly browse through my pings and tweets. I was very busy at work but, the red light blinking on my phone needed serious attention and so I decided to give it. I figured Tolu sent me a link to his blog and I opened it. Being the very inquisitive type, I went through every story I had missed since he started blogging and lo and behold, there was the TNC competition blog. With that, I decided to give it a try and here my version goes.

Now
Aigbe smiled callously as he watched Esosa tumble backwards onto the floor. He thought to himself that she quite looked like a fish out of water – flailing about, reaching for support that would not be forthcoming. His smile, very quickly evolved into a cruel laugh as he watched the back of her head crash onto the cold, tiled floor with a sickening, wet sound. Leaping astride her semi-conscious body, he rained three solid blows onto her torso, working his way from her lower ribcage to her sternum. She yelped, shook and choked with each blow, unable to fight back.
“You are the one that will die, not me, Stupid Harlot!”
He spat into her face as the last blow landed and she choked violently, jerking with the impact of the blow and recoiling from the glob of projectile spittle that had hit her face.
“You! Are! A! Mad! Dirty! Prostitute!”
Each word was punctuated by a slap that sent waves of pain coursing through Esosa’s head. She could barely speak or shout or scream in protest, much less move. She felt herself start to slip into a numb blackness but she tried to hold on. Aigbe wrapped his hands around her neck and muttered.
“Witch! Harlot! Your plan has failed!”
Esosa closed her eyes and let the numbing darkness take her as her husband choked the remaining life from her, his wedding ring pressing against her carotid artery.

2 hours earlier
Esosa smiled to herself as she poured the brown powder into the bottle of Merlot. She re-corked it and shook it violently until the powder began to dissolve. She knew Aigbe was already on his way home…
*********
2 days ago
Esosa emptied her purse. She had been standing at the counter for over twenty minutes and the other customers were beginning to show signs of disgust. She had searched tirelessly, but it was nowhere to be found. She needed to take Onoh, her only son away from Aigbe and she was determined to withdraw all the money they had in the account. He was not going to have him… at least he didn’t encounter the nine months suffering. She looked worried. Could he have known her plans? Wasn’t she careful enough? “Please, I need to see the person in charge”, she sounded desperate. Esosa almost missed her steps as she couldn’t think of what will happen to her or Onoh, should she be rejected access to the money… her money! Immediately she was left alone with the managing director, she went on her knees and begged the woman to give her the money even though she didn’t have the signatory card. Sounding surprised, the MD explained how Aigbe had earlier in the day come to withdraw all the money in the account, showing his wife’s signatory booklet and explaining why she couldn’t make it. This time Esosa screamed, jumping around the office and almost tore the woman’s laced shirt but for the security that quickly intervened. She was ordered out of the bank and advised to settle issues with her husband.

2 months ago
The noise from the dinning room increased. Esosa tried to keep it low but Aigbe just wouldn’t hear of it. “I am the father of the house”, he screamed at the top of his voice, “I can do whatever pleases me” But of course, Esosa knew exactly where he was headed. Ever since he got the message from the doctor, all he did was think of himself alone. Esosa fought back the tears. She didn’t mean for this to happen to anyone, not even him. She had always loved him and that was why she kept it a secret. She didn’t want him to be unhappy but thanks to Esosa’s Ignorance, he was like the most unhappy man on earth. Counselling and advice from the doctor gave her hope, while it diminished all chances of hope to Aigbe. He couldn’t accept the fact that she kept so much from him. The sound of the breaking plate sent fresh waves into the air; they had started fighting again. Aigbe beat her till she had her face swollen just like two weeks before. She couldn’t handle him, she knew this right from time, and she never even tried to start a fight with him. She really cared about him but the beating was becoming consistent, and she couldn’t help it again. She was sick and tired of been bullied for this mistake, when he actually did worse. He dealt her several blows and could have done worse but for the intervention of Onoh, again…

2 years ago
Aigbe rushed into the sitting room, almost stumbling upon the flower vase, gently placed on the stool adjacent to the water dispenser. He marvelled again at the sight of whom he saw. Zolanda appeared to be really calm and happy again. He couldn’t stop thinking about her. Zolanda was his first love and even though they had thorough issues before breaking up, he was still very much in love with her. Zolanda didn’t even want to drop her card. He felt really intimidated. “This was a girl who couldn’t even live without me in the past”, he thought to himself, ego overriding him. Who could have made her this way. I should keep her as friends then, he felt motivated. She still loves you, and with a tap of your fingers, she will be at your feet again” his subconscious dryly said with evil intentions.
*********
2 minutes Later…
Esosa knew it was all over. She regretted not informing Aigbe of her HIV status when she had the chance. With her eyes closed, every memory came back to her as she was drifting towards death. How could a man she loved so much do this to her just because he found out she had kept such a secret from him? He could have divorced or something, but thanks to his temper, she was dying. She couldn’t feel any worse, except to think she had also poisoned his drink. One last breath, and it was all over for her… She was done with the world.
He was panting! He couldn’t believe what had just happend. He took the bottle of merlot from the table, and without a second thought, poured it down his throat. He thirstily gulped every bit. He was accomplished. He would just start a new life with Zolanda and Onoh, he thought. And then the pains… the twitching of his intestines… He yelped, but he had figured. She literarily wanted to kill him too. It was also the end!

Little December journey

Monday morning… public hols… 90’s music playing from iTunes library… terrible network, as such no tweeting or pinging… word press activated… *pause*

Dapo… the guy I supposedly met under the rain *insert fantasy here*:D… Not directly under the rain though, cos he was cruising in his car while it poured heavily on me is this kinda cute guy (seriously, didn’t take note of that though, until the first outing) with superman IQ you know, acting all nice to save me from getting drenched by the rain, and also like the prince charming that saved the dying princess ;). I was extremely happy when I figured a car had stopped for me, and without further approval of my instincts, I stopped right there and went, “please, are you going my way?” Really?! Where was “my way”? Who still says that in this century?” Well, that didn’t matter much as I couldn’t wait to hop in. And yeah, back to the basics …

Falolu is the street of my colleague who takes me to work daily (being an intern that receives just a stipend, I had to cut corners regularly). On this fateful day, I had hoped my colleague wouldn’t go to work ‘cos of the heavy rainfall so I’d be motivated to stay at home too, but on the contrary, just when I called, she scolded me and had me dressing in a hurry. I talked her into waiting, and decided to rush in the rain and then luckily, Dapo came to my rescue.

After three days of talking on phone (surprisingly, he didn’t collect my pin…dunno and didn’t care if he had a bb…) we decided to hang out. And just what I needed at that moment, ‘Chocolate Royale’ it was, for ice creams and muffins. We set out for the short date from surulere to the Island and we surprisingly got acquainted easily. We talked about many things considering the fact that there was slight traffic, even though it was a Sunday, and he immediately planned my week for me, not forgetting to include himself in every bit of it. He appeared to be a really nice guy. He kept cracking me up like a comedian and teasing me like a player. I was used to many like him; only, I wasn’t sure where this one was headed YET. Wherever it was though, I always seemed “ready”. And then the bombshell….
“wow, I love the taste of this muffin too; we should get it for your birthday”.
(Ha-ha, I hadn’t met this type in a long time… which made it cooler. I was really enjoying myself). And then, he continued,
“So, what month were you born?
“January”, I said….with pride…January 24th.
I always felt this level of pride whenever anyone asked me of my birth month. Always having in mind, the fact that we were really special people….especially Aquarians, {you can’t beat that ;)}. He gave me the ‘cool’ look, and went,
“little wonder your name’s special… bla bla bla”.
He further went on to tell me how he was also a “special child” et al, because he was born in December, which he claimed to be the month of very special people. Having said that, I begin my story… HOW SPECIAL ARE DECEMBER PEEPS???

I know a very special woman; I’ve known her all my life and trust me when I say she’s one of the very best on earth. When compared to all the virtues Dapo listed, she’s definitely 10/10. Funny thing is, during my survey of how very special December peeps could be, this woman (Mrs. X) had so many people who gave her up as very good examples of what/who they were talking about and then, even the ones that didn’t necessarily “like her” gave personal reasons why, all of which didn’t fall short of the fact that that she is too good to be real. Dapo gave me the qualities of December people as “generous” “amiable” “honest” “trustworthy” “down to earth” “truthful” “pious” “kind” “willing to help” etc, amongst others all of which Mrs. X definitely portrayed and most of which, at that moment weren’t far-fetched in Dapo himself. On the contrary, I knew another Mrs. Y, who had not even the slightest of these attributes yet she was born in the same month, December. Yeah, yeah…. I don’t have to be reminded of how not everyone is perfect, and so, I decided to throw the big question;
“HOW SPECIAL ARE THE DECEMBER PEEPS YOU KNOW?”
This question which went round twitter, facebook and BBM for days contributed greatly to this to prevent any form of bias. On the long run, I came to a mindful conclusion that, though, December peeps could be the best at what they do, and have the best of qualities; they were limited to particular ‘zodiac signs’. Signs, I definitely wouldn’t cause a façade by differentiating. As such, I justify myself by saying; no matter how terrible Mrs. Y has proved to be, or how great Mrs. X is; comparing two person’s signs is like trying to compare two books by their covers. There is usually more than meets the eyes! How cool are your december peeps by the way?
Please, feel free to POST YOUR COMMENTS as your opinions do count a lot.

Till we meet again, I remain Osomo B.O; much love always.