I was exhausted as I journeyed from Garki to Asokoro that Friday evening. Just as I entered the Fort IBB premises, where I lived, a blue Volvo pulled up beside me. The driver was a young man I saw on the estate every so often, although we never spoke to each other.
“Hello,” he greeted. “Can I give you a ride to your house?”
He knew my house; it was just a few houses away from his. I knew this because although we did not speak to each other, he was usually in front of his house washing his car as I walked past in the mornings on my way to work. Therefore, he was not a stranger, and I needed the ride, so I accepted.
“Thank you,” I said as I opened the door and got in.
He smiled. “It is my pleasure.”
He was silent at first, which I thought was good as I was not in the mood for conversation of any sort. However, just as he pulled up in front of my house, he turned to me and spoke.
“I know this is very short notice, but I am attending a friend’s birthday party tonight. He is one of the president’s children. Would you like to come? I know you are tired, but I thought you might like to hang out with young people like yourself. It’s at the Aso Rock Villa and I will pick you up and drop you off.”
“The Presidential Villa?” I asked, not sure if I had heard him correctly.
He nodded.
Immediately all the tiredness I felt was gone. It wasn’t every day that one got invited to a party at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa. I was not going to miss it for the world. I was tired but not that tired.
We agreed that he would return in two hours to pick me up, so I jumped out of the car and went inside to prepare. I knew exactly what I wanted to wear. A red party dress and a black pair of shoes. I had been itching for an occasion to wear them and the occasion had presented itself. I was excited. The president’s son was celebrating his birthday, and I had been invited. I was like one in a dream as I prepared for the party. When Obi showed up, I was completely transformed. I remember as I opened the door he was standing on the other side and stepped back in surprise. Gone was the tired, worn-out young woman he had dropped off two hours ago.
He raised a brow. “Wow. You look good. I have no doubt you will be the cynosure of all eyes tonight,” he complimented me.
I smiled. “Thank you.”
We walked to the car where three other girls were waiting. He introduced us to each other as he opened and held the back door for me to get in. As we drove to the villa the girls conversed with one another. I remained silent except for when Obi asked me a direct question. Inside of my heart, I was speaking to God. You see I have always loved fairy tale romance. And as I rode in Obi’s car to the birthday party of the president’s son, I fancied myself to be Cinderella going to the ball to meet her prince. I wanted to be the belle of the ball and I wanted to dance with the celebrant, and these were the things I was talking to God about, so I had no time for idle chat.
As we approached the main gate of the villa, Obi told us to each take a fake name or what he called a security name. He warned that we were not to use our real names during the party. I didn’t know why, and I didn’t ask why. I didn’t care why. All I cared about was dancing with the celebrant. I took a name in my head but didn’t share it with anyone else in the vehicle. Then I noticed that a car suddenly drove up from behind us and went ahead of us to the gate. The driver, a young man, said something to the security men at the gate and they let us through. We followed the car observing the same protocol at every gate we came to and finally we pulled up in front of a large duplex house where the party was to be held.
The young man who had led us through all the gates got out of his vehicle and began to walk towards us. He was dressed in khaki three-quarter shorts and a short-sleeved polo shirt. Obi got out to meet him and they both shook hands and said something to each other that wasn’t audible from where I was sitting, and they laughed and shook hands again. I didn’t know who he was but judging from the way he led us through all the security points at the villa with ease, I knew he had more influence at the villa than Obi did and that he must certainly be closer to the president’s son than Obi was.
They talked for a while and Obi walked to the car and asked us to come down. I was the last to alight and Obi did a quick one-way introduction. He told us his friend’s name which I gathered was Tolu, but he didn’t tell Tolu our names. All he said was, “These are my friends and guests.” Perhaps that was because he didn’t want to give away our real names or mix up our fake names. I do not know but I observed that the information was sufficient for Tolu. We were ushered into the party, and I looked for a place to sit. I noticed that a few heads turned to look at me and follow me as I took my seat. Thankfully, the room was not very full, or I would have missed my step. I sat and Tolu sat next to me and began to chat me up.
This is not good. I immediately thought to myself.
If the president’s son comes and sees us together, he may think we are an item, and I may never get that dance.
I did my best to be nasty to Tolu. Not too nasty so he would get offended but nasty enough so he would know I did not want him around me. At first, he acted like he was thick in the head but eventually, he got the message and left me alone and went to mingle with other guests. I heaved a deep sigh of relief. I was grateful to God and said as much. But I began to wonder where the celebrant was and when he would make an appearance at his own party.
Then someone came in and asked everyone to be seated as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was on his way to spend some time at the party. I sucked in my breath sharply. This was the moment I was waiting for. Surely, the celebrant was going to show up now that his father was coming. There was an empty seat to my right-hand side and as everyone tried to hurriedly locate a place to sit, Tolu grabbed that chair and sat down. I couldn’t stop him but to show my displeasure, I turned my body slightly away from him.
Then the president appeared in the company of two of his sons. One looked too young to be Obi’s friend, so I had my eye fixed on the older one.
Surely, he was Obi’s friend.
Surely, he was the celebrant and the one I had been waiting to meet.
The one I had been waiting to dance with.
I kept my eyes fixed on him and did not hear any word the president said.
Until he said, “Where is the birthday boy by the way?”
What kind of question is that? He is standing next to you. You came in together did you not?
As I was having my internal dialogue in response to the president’s question, Tolu walked forward moving towards the president.
I chuckled. “Look at this foolish boy. Just because he is close to the president’s son and has some influence in the villa, he now fancies himself to be the birthday boy the president is referring to.”
“The SSS will pick you up in a minute,” I muttered under my breath.
However, nothing of the sort happened. Instead, as he approached, I saw the president open his arms wide.
“Oh! There he is!” he said, and they embraced amidst cheers from everyone. Well, everyone except me.
I felt like a complete and total idiot. How could I have been so blind? Just at that moment, they both turned towards my direction, and I was startled at the family resemblance. How could I have missed that? I thought.
“Oh, Tega. You have blown it big time,” I said to myself, and I was glad when we were all asked to take our seats again as I didn’t trust my legs to continue to carry me.
The president addressed us for a few minutes, thanking us for coming and then he looked at Tolu and said, “I am sure the birthday boy would like to open the floor. There are lots of beautiful girls here so pick one and open the floor.”
I watched with my heart racing in my chest as once again Tolu walked straight towards me.
Perhaps I still had a chance, I thought.
Perhaps I had not completely blown it with him.
I knew he liked me. I could tell he was attracted to me; he had not been able to leave my side thus far. And now he was coming towards me.
Surely, he was coming to choose me for the dance.
I was certain that he was and everyone in the room had their eyes on me as Tolu reached me. Our eyes locked for less than a second and then he turned to the girl on my left and held out a hand towards her.
As she followed him to the dance floor, I wanted the ground to open and swallow me up. I was highly embarrassed. He had done that on purpose. I saw it in his eyes. He didn’t care about her he just wanted to pay me back for how I had treated him. The party ended for me at that point. I politely turned down other requests to dance and went in search of Obi. I had become tired again. My head ached as did my heart and every part of my body. I wanted to crawl into bed and cry my eyes out. I was glad I would never have to see anyone in this crowd again.
I put the incident behind me and moved on with my life. Then three months later, Obi suddenly showed up at my workplace. I had not seen him in three months because following my humiliation at Tolu’s party, I had avoided Obi like the plague and rather than walk past the front of his house, I had taken a different route to and from work. It had worked. I hadn’t seen him. Until now.
I tried to hide my surprise and act as professionally as I could.
“Hello, Obi. How are you?” I asked. Before he could answer, I added. “This is quite a surprise. I wasn’t expecting to see you. What brings you here?”
He smiled and took a seat. At that point I mentally berated myself. I should have offered him a seat.
Professional indeed! I scoffed.
“Oh, yes. Please sit down.” I said breathlessly, as I also sat down.
Fortunately, he didn’t bring up anything about Tolu’s party or mention the fact that he hadn’t seen me in months. We talked like old friends trying to catch up and the visit ended with him inviting me to a party at Defence House. I accepted. Don’t ask me why, because now that I think of it, I do not know myself. But perhaps, the part of me that had come to like Tolu, the part that had not stopped thinking of Tolu, hoped that maybe just maybe I would see Tolu again and get a second chance.
Later that evening, I dressed carefully in black skin-tight leather pants and black halter neck top and black Pierre Cardin stiletto-heeled sandals. I wanted to look my best just in case I ran into Tolu at the party. Tolu was an officer in the Nigerian Army and deployed in Jos at the time although he spent some of his time off in Abuja. Obi had not mentioned anything about him during our conversation and I didn’t ask so I couldn’t say for sure that he would be at this party. I just hoped that he would.
Obi was on time to pick me up and we drove to a house in the Maitama district. Obi explained that because of the security at Defence House, we needed someone to take us in and we would remain here and wait for that someone. I didn’t ask who this someone was, but I had a funny sense of Deja Vu as Obi suddenly said, “Here he is now,” and started to get out of the car.
I remained inside and did not turn to look but suddenly someone was opening my door and so I had to turn and once again after three months I found myself staring into those eyes that had haunted me every single moment of every day the last three months.
I stepped out of the car and Obi was the first to speak. “Tega, I am sure that you remember my friend Tolu.”
Remember? I asked the question in my head. How could I forget?
I smiled and reached out a hand. “Yes, I do. Hello Tolu.”
His eyes never left mine and I suddenly became very self-conscious. “It is lovely to meet you again Tega.”
I do not know for how long we remained like that but then Obi spoke once again dragging us back to the present.
“I think we need to leave now. Perhaps Tega should ride with you in your car, and I will follow behind.”
“Good idea,” Tolu said giving Obi a thumbs up.
It all happened very first and before I could make any sense of what they were saying let alone agree or protest, I was being ushered to Tolu’s Peugeot 504 salon car. He shut the door behind me, spoke to Obi for less than a minute and then he was behind the wheel, and we were driving off. Where to? I had no idea. I turned my head to look behind for any sign of Obi.
“Don’t worry. He is coming,” Tolu assured me, and we both lapsed into silence.
Less than half an hour later, we were in the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, pulling up in front of a house which I presumed was the party venue although I was a little surprised because Obi had given me the impression that the party was at Defence House. He never said anything about the party being at the villa. Why were we at the villa? Where was Obi? I turned around to look again and this time my eyes met with Tolu’s. I could see some guilt, but I wasn’t sure what to make of it.
He dropped his head into his hands and sighed.
“He is not coming; he has gone home.”
I didn’t have to ask what he was talking about. I knew what he was talking about.
He looked up at me.
“There is no party, anywhere. It was just a set-up. I wanted to see you again.”
I held my breath. I wasn’t sure if I should be flattered or angry.
I released my breath very slowly and looked at him.
“If you wanted to see me again, you could have said so.”
“Really?” He asked like he wasn’t convinced that method would have worked. “Would you have wanted to see me, after how I treated you?”
Then it all came back to me. That moment when I had been humiliated in front of all the guests at the party. I felt my anger brewing. I think he felt it too, because he leaned forward and cupped my face in his hands so he could look into my eyes.
“I shouldn’t have done that. I am sorry. I like you a lot. I think you know that already. I don’t know why but you were very cold to me, and I wanted to see how you’d react if I danced with another girl. I wanted to know if you liked me. Then when I saw your reaction, I felt like an idiot. I haven’t stopped thinking of you. I returned to Abuja the following month to see you and apologise but Obi said you had gone home to your family for the Christmas holidays and that you wouldn’t be back until January. This is the second time off I have had and when Obi said you were in town, I did everything including scheme to make sure I had an audience with you. I am sorry.”
I eyed him suspiciously.
“Sorry about what exactly?” I wanted to know. “Sorry that you humiliated me in front of your guests or sorry that you have connived with Obi to lie to me and deceive me?” I tried to fix him with one of my stern looks but it didn’t work out as I planned. I ended up looking like a clown at a circus.
He opened his mouth to speak and then burst out laughing. I had to join despite myself.
“Both,” he said and then he stopped laughing and cupped my face in his hands once again. “I am sorry for humiliating you. I am sorry for lying to you and deceiving you. I like you a lot Tega. I haven’t stopped thinking about you and I want to start afresh. What can I do to make it up to you?” he asked.
“You want to know?” I asked, starting to feel a tiny bit mischievous.
“Yes,” he answered but not before eyeing me warily.
Then I told him. He had ruined my chance to be the belle of the ball and dance with the prince and if we were going to start afresh, he would have to make it up. He was happy to do this, but he also demanded that I change my earlier responses to his advances. We agreed to go back to that very instance when Obi introduced all four ladies to him, and he singled me out for a chat. As we got out of the car relived the moment, I was amazed at how much he remembered. It had been three months, but he remembered every single word he had spoken to me that night.
Unlike that night, my responses were different. Now I knew he was my prince, the one I had come to meet with and dance with. I did not give him answers that pushed him away but I drew him close with every word. Then just as the clock struck midnight, he leaned into the car and put a tape in the car stereo and suddenly, the song, “I want it that way” by Backstreet Boys filled the air.
He turned towards me his eyes never leaving mine and smiled as he drew me into his arms and sang along with the band,
“You are my fire. The one desire. Believe when I say, I want it that way….”
This time there were no guests to watch us as we danced, my prince and me. Just the peacocks and of course, the stars.
-The End-
© Eturuvie Erebor. All Rights Reserved.
