TWISTED PART 2

Tayo couldn’t get thoughts of Yeni out of his mind, he loved all that he saw in her and the chemistry between them was inarguable but how was he going to come out with the truth? He quickly let the thought slip through as he didn’t want anything spoiling his plans.

It was a bright Friday morning. Kenny, his childhood friend was coming in from the states in a few hours and Tayo had to pick him up from the airport. He put all a call through to Yeni to check on her but she didn't pick up, he got dressed and set out to the airport to await his friend’s arrival.*this will be a groovy Friday with Kenny in town, Tayo whistled happily as he got into his car and drove off.

The airport was replete with returnees, travelers and those awaiting the arrival of their loved ones. Tayo was garbed in a white polo shirt over a pair of denim pants and black loafers; he always paid great attention to his dressing and could never go wrong. He scanned through the crowd but couldn’t locate Kenny, just when he was about pinging Yeni someone shouted his alias TEEEEEEEBOOOOZ! And he knew instantly who the caller was, Kehinde Owonikoko.

Kehinde Owonikoko,Tayo’s friend from childhood; they attended same high school and college. Both travelled to the USA for their master’s programme. After the programme, Tayo had to come back home to Nigeria to manage his father business but they remained best of pals. “mehn you aint looking bad at all Teeboz baba” Kenny complimented Tayo. “The heat in naija is bad mehn’ Kenny complained while wiping his face on the sleeve of his sweat shirt.

“You haven’t seen anything man, wait till you have settled in then you will understand this country better, the heat is on a different level, but common my guy lets’ get you some cold water” they strolled to a bar and bought 2 bottles of water and headed towards the parking lot. Tayo helped Kenny with his luggage and they drove off. On the ride back home Kenny kept asking in excitement ‘Teeboz, what is going on with you and your orobo now, I can’t wait to meet this babe o, why don’t you let all us hangout tonight? but she better come with a sister tho, yunoworamseyn*in a mock American accent. Tayo busted out in laughter ‘you haven’t changed a bit after 10 years in the states; you still want to hook up? Aren’t there babes where you are coming from brotherly?

‘Naaaaaa, you can’t compare some good old hot black mama with a cold white skinny fish no way’ Kenny chided.  Tayo smiled ‘don’t worry you will meet her soon but am not sure about the sister cos the only friend I know is on my black berry messenger and she is taken; in fact she is getting married soon. “bad business” Kenny scuffed ‘anyway lets still ask her, after all it is written that whoever seeks shall find and whoever ask’, it shall be given unto him. So ‘ask’ we shall.

Tayo couldn’t stop laughing ‘PASTOR KENNY, when it comes to women affairs you have a Ph.D. They stopped at White House to eat as Kenny kept urging Tayo to take him to some nice ‘amala’ joint claiming he needed to feel naija.

                                        

                                                       ****************

Yeni was rounding up in the office, she checked her phone and saw 7 missed calls from Tayo, she smiled and called him back.

“Hey what’s up, I saw your missed calls, I‘m sorry I had so much to do so I put my phone on silent mode to avoid distractions. Yeni apologized

“Not a problem dear, guess who is in town? Tayo inquired

‘Your bestie of cos, is he there with you? Yeni laughed cos that was all Tayo talked about ever since he learnt his friend was coming into the country.

“Sure he is, you wanna say hi? Before Yeni could respond Tayo had passed the phone to Kenny.

“Hey watsap beautiful, how are you? I have heard so much about you and I can’t wait to see you, I was hoping we could hang out tonight so I get a chance to meet you. WAIT!  Before you start with the excuses, I am not asking for your permission, I am ordering you to hang out with us tonight and you might wanna bring a sister” he purred in American accent.

Yeni was shocked at the same time amused by his tyrannical approach. But she loved the fact that he didn’t give her a chance to say no cos she wanted to meet him too. “Yes ur highness, I will definitely bring a sister” she smiled as she thought about Kemi cos only Kemi could handle a man like Kenny

“Now that’s my girl” kenny gave a short throaty laughter as Tayo grabbed the phone from him

“Don’t mind kenny, he can be naughty like that” he apologized.

No problem, I think I’m going to like him. So it’s TGIF, where are we celebrating his arrival tonight?

“There is a new lounge in Victoria Island called Monikaz’

“Monikaz? Oh I heard that lounge is da bomb

“Yes it is, should we check it out tonight?”

“Ok that’s cool.

“Great, I will pick you up at home by 7pm

Yeni shut down her computer, bid her colleagues a happy weekend and left.

Yeni got home and met Kemi helping herself to a bowl of blue bunny chocolate ice-cream. “Kemolala, na you biko, so you got back from work and decided to be a plus size diva  like me. Ride on gurl, you will fill this room with your ass soon” she teased

Kemi gave a shrug”What can a sister do? I don’t have a boyfriend that is complaining, so let me enjoy now before the dude shows up and I can no longer eat all the junk I love cos I must keep looking like a diva” she replied still scooping mounds of ice cream into her mouth. Yeni looked at her and smiled “my dear all that is about to change. If you remember, I mentioned Tayo’s best friend was coming in to the country today? Kemi nodded as her mouth was filled with ice-cream. Yeni continued ”yes, so he is in town and he has asked me to bring a sister when coming cos I am supposed to hang out with them tonight. Seeing that I don’t have a sister I have decided to invite you. Kemi looked on at Yeni uninterested. “Ah ah, why are you looking at me like that, aren’t you happy? I am giving you an Americana on a platter of Gold and you are still there forming gurumaraji, you better come now and lets start looking for what to wear cos we have to intimidate Kenny, he sounds like a crazy guy” at the mention of Crazy, kemi dropped her bowl of ice cream and gave Yeni a cynical look “I see you love me so much, so of all the men to hook me up with, na craze man wey go bite my yansh you see abi? You do well. Yeni laughed so hard she fell on the couch ‘you are not serious Kemi, please help me pick a dress to wear’. They combed through Yeni’s wardrobe and settled for a mustard yellow sleeveless top, a pair of white skinny pants and a black 6inch stiletto sandal. Kemi settled for a pink bodicon dress that accentuated her figure and also pronounced the size of her bum as she was massively endowed on the backside. Immediately kemi stepped out of her room, Yeni gawked at her in awe “yepaaaa! kemi wetin you pack like this? You wan go kill Kenny ni? We need him alive for the wedding at least. Haaa my dear, that is some bulldozer shit you got there mehn.” Kemi was enjoying all the comments from Yeni cos she knew she had such effect on people whenever they saw a petite lady like her with such a massive backside. She would always bask in the joy of such reaction. “sebi you said we should intimidate him? I figured I better use my weapon of massive destruction na” she joked.

Both girls were seated on the bed applying their makeup and styling their hair.The music 'Woju' by kiss Daniel playing on sound city station got kemi up on her feet and she started doing the ‘shoki’ dance. ‘haaa kenny abi wetin be em name go take today, I will finish him with my moves cos nobody dances shoki like moi,na this my yansh I go take throway am commot for stage, awon da, won toh beh, emi kemochilala’. She kept swinging her hips and rolling her waist. Yeni just looked on smiling at her friend who was so full of life and always kept her fully entertained.

 It was 10.00PM and there was no sign of Tayo, just when she was about calling him for the 20^th time to cancel, her phone rang.”HELLO she shouted angrily into the mouth piece “for petesake Tayo, why have you stood us up?,this is so annoying, you know how much I hate having to wait up, this is 10pm and you promised to come pick us up  by 7pm. we have been dressed and ready since 6:30pm. what is keeping you oga? She ranted on the phone. All the while kemi was tired of dancing and had taken off her shoes. She mouthed her disappointment quietly "abeg free these guys jare make we go sleep; they said 7pm, at 10pm they are not even at the door. If they aren’t coming anymore no need to form story, abeg Yeni cut that call and pass me my night wear jare, mo kuku hate disappointment laye mi” she said in Yoruba. Tayo begged Yeni to be patient with him as they had to fix a flat tire and where on their way to pick them already. Yeni  hissed, ended the call and collapsed on the bed in tiredness. Kemi raised an eye brow “let them sha come fast before this my dress will be rumpled. Yeni was too tired to talk she just lay on the bed watching entertainment news on E’.

An hour later, there was a loud horn outside Yeni’s apartment. Yeni heard it but ignored. “Why the hell is that guy trying to wake the neighbours? Kemi dashed to the room to take a last look in the mirror before dragging Yeni with her to the door “let us go before your lover wakes the whole neighborhood with his loud honk. They stepped out looking all glam and posh. Tayo and Kenny dressed in similar white attires, couldn't help but compliment the ladies. Yeni who was furious all the while started smiling and blushing at the same time. She introduced herself and later went on to introduce Kemi ‘a sister’. Kenny gave a mock laughter and shook hands with the ladies “I’m Kehinde Owonikoko but everyone calls me Kenny. Tayo came round and hugged Yeni from behind ‘’my angel you look smashing, he complimented her once again then tried to kiss her fully on the lips, Yeni quickly stopped him “now you want to smear my lipstick all over our faces after keeping us waiting for hours? she gave him the side eyes,everyone laughed and got into the car.

Yeni observed that Kenny seemed quiet on the drive to Monikaz for a guy that sounded so lively and bubbly over the phone but she let it pass as the night was very young and so much fun lay ahead, she anticipated the groove ahead.

The drive down to Monikaz was quiet except for the music blasting on cool.fm, Kemi was itching to talk but giving the atmosphere she resorted to pinging since the sitting position changed with Kenny sitting right beside her:
**Kemochilala: babe how far?

%%yeye yeni : what is it?

**Kemochilala: Where are you guys taking me too o, this one these guys are garbed in all white attire hnmnnn, hope you all aren’t planning on becoming billionaires on my blood? Anyway my head is very strong and I bet you it won’t produce cowries talk more of naira notes and dollars.

%%yeye yeni : lol, we are going to Monikaz. Bush girl *tongueout emoticon*

**Kemochilala: *surprise emoticon* Monikaz? yaaaaaaay *Dancing emoticon* let me update my  status right away..#TGIF#Groovefriday#Monikaz loading……….

Yeni saw Kemi’s update two minutes later and shook her head; Kemi was too dramatic for her own good

********************                    *********************               ************************

Mr. White looked up and saw his wife staring down at him, eyes wide open in shock. Norbert! She screamed his first name, ‘what on earth happened here, what have you done? Norbert stammered cos she was the last person he expected to see and he knew he was in a hell of trouble.

Norbert and Stella have been married for 29 years. In the beginning of their 29 years journey, their marriage was blissful until the babies refused to come, 4 years and counting the babies still didn’t come. There was never a time she missed a period, they went to all facility centers recommended by friends and family but all efforts proved futile.

She turned to God this time; she fasted and prayed like never before. When nothing was forth coming, Stella went into depression because Norbert wasn’t making life any better. It seemed she was the only one on the battle field. Norbert kept late nights, forgot their wedding anniversaries on many occasions and blamed it on the demanding nature of his job. All the time Stella forgave him even though he never tried to make it up to her. She couldn’t say their marriage had taken a downward spiral but it was definitely getting there. Norbert loved having women around him and for this reason she was scared for her marriage. What if one of those eagle eyed ladies preyed on him and he never found his way back to her? What if he strayed and someone got pregnant for him? Stella allowed her mind run wild for days unending. Then her mother-in-law started to taunt her .It started with Norbert’s mum’s regular visits to the house. She would come visiting unannounced, Ms White as she prefers to be called; would hurl insults at Stella and her family; calling her names from barren, abortee, cursed, to witch and Mr man(implying that she is a man). Stella would cry her eyes out and once Norbet got back from work and she tells him how his mother has been a thorn in her flesh, he would simply shrug and say she cries too much. That always left her even more heart broken. She resolved to bearing all the ill treatment from Norbert and his family after all she took an oath for better, for worse.

Coming back from the mall on a bright Tuesday afternoon, Stella was frazzled, she couldn't wait to get into the shower. As she took the turning to her house she saw Ms. White’s Honda Pilot parked in front of their home. Ms White parked her car right in front of the gate thereby obstructing entry into the house. Stella sighed, she didn't bother to horn for the gate man, she knew this was another attempt by Ms. White to start with the insults and name calling. She put off her ignition and went inside carrying her bag of groceries. She was only halfway down the terrace when she heard loud voices. She could make out the voices; Ms. White, Norbert and their maid, Melevi. 
Stella was eager to know what was going on,'could Ms.white be giving the maid any trouble?she thought to herself. Melevi has always been there for her in hard times,she consoled her anytime her mother-in-law came around and caused so much trouble. Stella planned on going into that living room to defend Melevi. She wasn't going to allow Melevi go through what she has been through in the hands of her mother-in-law; after all she married her son not Melevi. 

Stella increased her pace but was caught dead in her tracks when she heard Norbert scream “Never mum, she can’t have the baby, how do I tell Stella Melevi is pregnant for me? No way mum, let her have an abortion ASAP” that was all she heard and she fainted with all the content in the bag from the grocery store spilling out and filling the interlocking tiled floor of the home of Mr Norbert White.