Dunni stood up from the sofa to get to her desk when she caught sight of a gorgeous caramel skinned lady dressed in a knee-length navy blue suit. She was about 5 feet, 8 inches tall with long box braids cascading down all the way to her waist.
The fact that the lady was with Moses piqued her interest. She wondered if there something beyond work as she watched their interaction. The way Moses’s eyes lighted up and the grin across his face like he was practically eating from her hands increased her curiosity. Suddenly she remembered an idea to run by Ola.
Moses stopped holding the mystery lady by her arms as he introduced her.
“Becca Williams meet Dunni Adesida, one of the principal partners. Dunni, Becca Williams, MD La Forte Designs. She is the interior designer who handled the Lekki Horizons Estate. I met her yesterday at Akin and Anu’s function. I think it would be nice if she handled the Awoyaya Gardens Project.”
Dunni stretched out her hand to shake Becca warmly and smiled at Moses neither agreeing nor disagreeing with his proposal. She excused herself to Ola’s office, leaving Moses with his guest. There was no way Becca or whatever she was called would handle her project. She already had a reliable designer. Moses could use her for his project but not hers. She fumed still in that state when she got to Ola’s office.
Ola looked up and could not hide his smile when Dunni walked in. He had wondered how long it would take her to barge into his office complaining of the new designer Moses had just recommended.
“I did not know we were shopping for new designers. I thought we were happy with the works of Exquisite Interiors and Bubbles Interior designs.”
“You will have to ask Moses. I don’t think there is any harm in introducing one more designer considering the number of projects we have to execute. He was introduced to her and requested she bring her portfolio. Who knows we may need her soon.”
“She won’t handle any of my projects,” Dunni announced Ola to disagree.
Moses strolled in whistling the song baby, now that I’ve found you by Alison Kraus. She knew the song as it was one of the soundtracks in the list of songs in his car.
Dunni rolled her eyes, shaking her head. “Moses be serious. What have you found, a good designer for our projects or what?”
“She is the one,” Moses replied dreamily clasping his hands together.
Both Ola and Dunni turned to look at Moses like he had grown a horn or something.
“What do you mean she is the one,” Dunni tried to keep her voice regular, she could barely breathe as she waited for Moses to say something.
“I have finally found her. The one I have been looking for,” Moses answered.
Dunni busted out with a peal of forced laughter that sounded strange even to her ears. “See you when you get back from La la land.” She turned to Ola, “talk to him. I will not be there when it all falls like a pack of cards.”
Moses kept whistling with this look on his face Dunni had not seen since he dated Sophie Adams in his third year at university. That was the only serious relationship Moses had been in. She was not privy to why they broke up. His other relationships have been less intense. Moses breaking up with Sophie had led to her break up with Benji. She was spending more time with Moses knowing he was shaken from the break-up and wanted to help.
It was one of the worst moments of his life since they had become friends. Her heart ached for him in that period, and she felt she owed it as a friend to be with him. Benji, for some reason, had always seen Moses as a threat even when he knew Moses was involved with Sophie. She had to keep telling him then that Moses was only a friend and nothing more. Dunni called off the relationship when she could no longer take the badgering. Benji has trust issues, and Dunni could not deal with it. He was one of the few guys that got on with Moses and Ola, but somewhere along the line, he had let jealousy ruin what they had.
Moses and Dunni got closer during that season of their lives. She had not had any relationship after Benji, she still felt stung by his betrayal. It was barely a month after Dunni broke off with Benji he started dating another girl in her dorm. There has been no one after Benji. She just could not find anyone she connected with.
For a weird reason, she found herself comparing all the men that came to Moses. None of them measured to him. She wanted someone who understood her like Moses.
Dunni sat behind her desk, lost in thoughts. She was not sure how she got there. She worried that Moses may get hurt with this new relationship. At a time, she had to reprimand herself not to take Panadol for someone else’s headache as was commonly said. Who knows it may not work out like all his other relationships? Moses was a grown man she could not be worrying for him like she was his mother.
Searching for a drawing pen, she got busy on her project with a little frown on her face. Not sure why she was bothering her head over Moses relationship.
Dunni walked into the office mid-afternoon on Monday still tired from acting as a chauffeur to her mum and aunt over the weekend.
All hell broke loose when they found out that Kemi was in the hospital and had undergone a surgery. An emergency family meeting was called where the family decided Kemi was moving out of her matrimonial home until there was a change in her husband. Otherwise, the family was ready to support her to file a divorce.
Dunni sat through the meeting, wishing she was anywhere but there. The arguments got heated, and some elders were almost at the point of brawling. Insults were hurled from one end of the room to the other like a tennis ball across the tennis table.
Unfortunately, she was unable to accompany Moses to his party. She had to work on Saturday and Sunday night to meet up with her deadline. Her mother and aunt were still in Lagos.
Dunni dropped her mum off at her elder brother’s place on the mainland before heading to work. Her mother still found time to complain about how quiet Dunni’s house was and what a difference it would make with the presence of a husband and children.
It was on her lips to retort that at least it was better than the boxing ring of a house her married cousin had found herself.
******
Dunni was glad to be in her office. She made her way straight to the fridge at the right corner of her office.
Taking out a bottle of cold water, she turned the cap open and guzzled the water in one go in a bid to quench her thirst. The heat outside was unbearable, and the slow traffic did not help.
Dunni gazed through the glass window overlooking the prestigious offices of some of the Nigerian banks on the busy Idowu Taylor Street. She never got tired of appreciating the edifices, the structures were intricate work of art. Dunni was glad to be inside though, the scorching sun outside could make a perfect toast. Taking off her jacket as she felt the cooling effect of not only the water but the Air conditioner now blowing cold air over her face. She basked in the luxury of the cooling relief.
Stepping out of her four inches Louboutin shoes, she retrieved her flats from under her table, settling for comfort rather than a luxury. The shrill noise from her phone had her scrambling to pick the call but not without hitting her head, wincing as she rubbed her head in a bid to rub the pain away. When did her ring tone change to such a miserable sound. If not the closeness of the noise, she would have no idea it was her phone. She checked the caller wondering why Emma was calling her at this time. The last time they had a conversation, something she could not place was amiss, but she had been too busy to follow up on any of Emma’s drama.
“Oh, Emma,” she sighed into the phone.
“Were you expecting someone else?” Emma queried with a giggle, Dunni could hear over the phone line.
“Not really.”
“I have not heard from you in a while and decided to give you a call.”
Dunni rolled her eyes with a weak yes. She still remembered their last conversation and how off Emma had sounded. Still, it appeared that whatever was bothering her at the time must have gone away.
“I am fine, just being busy.”
“Yeah, Moses said so. We met yesterday at Anu’s baby’s dedication. I thought he would come with you.”
“He mentioned it, but I could not go as I had other things to attend to.”
Wishing Emma to hurry and end the call. She had a busy day ahead of her and starting late was not helping matters. Another girl chit chat call during office would set her back by days if she wasn’t careful.
“Yeah,” Dunni answered drily.
Emma usually caught up with her monosyllable answers except for this time she appeared oblivious to Dunni’s reluctance in engaging in a conversation.
“It would have been so good to catch up. I have missed you.”
“I have missed you too.” Dunni smiled as she walked around to sit on the sofa’s she used for her clients.
“What about this weekend, your place or mine?” Dunni asked. She could hear the hesitance in Emma’s voice before she responded.
“Your place, I guess.”
“Geeez!” Dunni, let out a laugh. “What is up, Emma? I feel you’ve got something up your sleeve and you have to come out with it.”
“Not on the phone, see you over the weekend. Ice cream from the Chocolat Royal!”
“See you then babe, got to go back to work or this weekend may not happen.”
Dunni stared into space with a smile on her face. That’s what happens when your girlfriend knows your weakness. You can’t stay mad for long. She tapped the keys on her phone, entering the details for Friday date night to her calendar, adding a reminder to pick up Suya and Masa on her way home.
Dunni met a dark, robust ebony woman. With glasses placed over her nose reading the chart who informed her the operation was successful and the internal bleeding had stopped. She had a broken arm and some cuts. Despite all that, she was out of danger and responding well.
Dunni heaved a sigh of relief and thanked the Nurse.
“How soon can we see her,” she wanted to see her cousin.
“Not yet,” came the disappointing response. “Your sister is resting and would not be up for visitors until later this afternoon.”
Dunni refused to correct her that the lady inside was her cousin and not her sister. She wriggled her fingers together, wanting to say more. Moses could tell she was getting apprehensive and retook her hands in his as he joined her. It was becoming natural.
“Can the hospital ensure that no visitors are allowed except us? Her husband is not allowed near her,” he requested, his look and posture intimidating.
“That should not be a problem, sir,” the Nurse assured him. “I have just told your wife that she is unable to receive visitors this morning. I am afraid you would have to come back in the afternoon.”
Dunni gazed at him thankfully. Her heart melting many times over. How could someone read another person so well? She guessed it came with the terrain of working alongside each other for many years. But hey, did the Nurse just say, wife?
She was on the verge of correcting her, when Moses, increased the pressure of his hands over hers. She looked at him, and he shook his head slightly. Dunni stubbornly removed her hand. She was about to speak when Moses explained to the Nurse how worried they were that her husband may come in to finish what he started.
“While the family is yet to decide if we want our sister to go back to him or not.We want to know she is safe here,” Moses appealed to the Nurse.
“As I said earlier, you and your wife do not need to worry. I will inform the Nurse to take over from me and put the information on her chart.”
“Thank you very much. Nurse Akoh,” he appreciated using the name he read off the name tag on her chest.
“Why did you not correct her?” Dunni asked Moses after the left the Nurse.
“She sure won’t want to be taking orders from an unmarried sister about a married sister. And she is entitled to her opinion,” Moses winked at her “Relax. It felt good to be married to you for some seconds there.”
“Oh!” Dunni groaned, “can you be serious, please?”
“Okay,” Moses replied, not without a small smile tugging at his lips.
Dunni could not but help laugh at his feeble attempt.
“Dear 60 seconds husband. I think your services for the day is ended. I am ready to go home, get some food for Kemi and I’ll be back by noon.” Dunni walked out of the hospital towards the car park and Moses followed.
“I can bring you back,” Moses offered.
“No thanks, that would be me asking too much – oliver twist . I don’t want to take any more of your time. My cousin will be fine. I am sure her mum would be on her way to Lagos by now.”
“No worries. Glad to be of help.”
“Thanks for helping me. Deeply appreciated, unfortunately, I can’t repay you.”
“I know how you can. I have a party tomorrow, and I don’t want to go alone. Would you mind coming with me?”
“Anyone, I know?”
“You may not remember him, but Akin was in Agric Economics, one of my roommates in our second year.”
“Is that Akin and Anu? Those inseparable guys.”
“Yes, they got married ten years ago while in America and only had their first child this year. They are back to the country, and it’s their baby’s first year birthday.”
“Would be nice to see them both. Gosh, how do you do it?” Dunni asked. “Keep in touch with all these people? She gesticulated. “I can barely keep up with my immediate family, and here you are taking on people that can form a whole nation.”
“I don’t know, its not something I do deliberately, it just happens.” Moses shrugged. Meeting people and keeping relationships was something he did like drinking water or blinking one’s eyes. You don’t calculate you just do it.”
“It’s a gift,” and that’s one of the many things I like about you. You value people and relationships.
“We all do, we just have different ways of showing it. Are you in?”
“I have some unfinished work for one of the projects I am working on” Dunni responded hesitantly torn between working and going out to have some fun.
“I could help you with that,” Moses offered.
Dunni snorted, “you have the bulk of the work to do, remember?”
Moses suggested she could come over to his place, and they could work together before setting out for the function. Dunni was quick to ask if he would be preparing his vegetable stir rice in snail sauce. Moses replied he was more than happy, but she had to be for it.
“How much, a diamond dice?” Dunni asked with mischief written all over her face.
“Must you always go there?” Moses groaned, and Dunni broke into a giggle. I am not the one who basis all my decisions on a dice.
“If anyone heard you talk about this dice, they would think it was a human and you were jealous of her.”
“No, I am not.”
“Yes, you are,” and both went on with no – yes, no – yes like two naughty children.
“Fine! “, giving up but not without a pout on her face that was so comical that Moses started laughing and Dunni reluctantly joined in.
“Come, let’s get you home,” Moses linked his arms with Dunni, and they walked towards his jeep.
They had barely driven out of the hospital when the music Ara by Brymo which Dunni used for her ring tone came alive from her phone.
“My mum,” she groaned, showing him her phone screen.
“Hello Maami,” Dunni greeted her mother over the phone.
“I am in Lagos with Kemi’s mum. We are on our way to the house. Is Kemi with you?”
Dunni looked at Moses, not sure what to tell her. They had not told them she was in the hospital. She had sent a text that she was with Kemi, and they did not need to worry.
“Yes, Maami, you can come to my house,” Dunni replied, not answering the question about Kemi’s whereabout.
“Where are you now? Do I need to come and pick you from the park?”
“No, your brother sent his driver to bring us.”
“Oh! I will meet you at my house. I am on my way home.”
Dunni cut the phone and rolled her eyes.
“What is with the eye-rolling?” Moses chuckled as he asked knowingly.
“You know my mother; the next thing is to start reeling instructions and all the drama I am not ready to deal with right now.”
“Dunni takes it easy on her, it is a mother’s love, you know….”
“Grrrrr, spare me the preaching. You would do the same if you had my mother as yours.”
Taking his hands momentarily off the wheels, Moses gestured a mock surrender.
Dunni felt guilty. She had not intended the words to come out that way.
Moses never knew his mother. He grew up with his grandma, that was as much as he let on. He rarely talked about his parents and often deflected any conversation tailored in that direction.
She stole a look at him. If he was upset or not, Moses did not let on, and she did not want to make him feel worse if he did not allude anything to what she had said, so she kept quiet.
They settled into a quiet drive that Dunni found discomforting. When she could not help it, she blurted out.
” I’m sorry for what I just said. That was not what I meant. It came out…..”
“bad…” Moses finished the sentence for her with a sad smile.
” I sometimes wonder what it would be like to have known her. I think all you who have mothers are the luckiest ones. It would be nice to be able to whine the way you all do.”
Dunni punched his right arm playfully. “For the records, I do not whine, and you can gladly have Maami.
“Too late, you know I already do. She is my number one girl.”
“Cool. No need to be jealous. Maami shoes are too big to fill in. I can t compete.
Dunni smiled, her mum doted over Ola and Moses like they were her children. That was Mami, Iya gbogbo ero – mother to all.
Dunni woke up with a start, reluctant to leave the source of her warmth. The cleaning lady was at work at the far end of the reception, working her way towards them. The smell of antiseptics making her feel sick.
“Good morning, sleeping beauty.”
Dunni sat up, abruptly wide eyes. How did she get into Moses’ arms? The event of the night before all coming back.
She covered her face too shy to look at Moses and groaned, “Did I just turn you to my bed?”
“And Pillow but not complaining. You were as light as a featherweight. Looked like you have not added a single kilogram since we left school, and that was how many years now.”
“Go away,” she playfully slapped his arms.
“It’s not like adding weight will get me a diamond or transform into money. I am happy the way I am,” she defended.
Moses turned her face so he could see her eyes, “you are beautiful the way you are and more beautiful each day”.
Dunni could feel the sincerity of the words. Even though she was plain without makeup and waking up from sleep, she looked everywhere, but Moses, wondering why the words were having such an effect on her. This was Moses for crying at loud.
He turned her to face him again. “Never forget that.” The moment was broken, he had gone big brother on her. She always hated it when they treated her like their little sister.
“And you never forget you are one hell of a guy. Can’t wait for the girl to come and take you off me,” She laughed nervously.
“You would not be the death of me. One minute you get me thinking I am the only girl in the universe. It is bad enough you keep using me to practice. I know the girl is out there waiting for you. You do not have to prove your dice is right.”
Moses sighed. How was he ever going to convince Dunni that his feelings had nothing to do with his dice and he had always loved her? There could never be any other woman for him. It just happened that his dice that was never wrong should never have been cast that night.
Dunni kissed him on his forehead and walked over to the Nurses reception, to find out about the surgery ashamed that she had slept off.
Eyes opened wide. Moses whistled. “Should my hopes be up?”
“Silly, that’s what you get when you go big brother on me,” she stopped halfway and turned back to face Moses arms akimbo.
“What should I do to get out from the brother zone to the boyfriend zone?”
“To get out of the brother zone, stop treating me like your little sister. You know I always hate it when you and Ola did that, and I still do. I am one of the three senior partners at the firm.
And the boyfriend zone? He asked masking the hope in his voice with humour.
“Never!”
“Oh, he clutched his heart like someone who has been shot.
Dunni rolled her eyes and walked away, laughing. Muttering how incorrigible a grown man like Moses could be but secretly loving the playful side of him. While she was profoundly serious, Ola and Moses were too playful to a fault, but they could work to the bones. She loved what she had with them and would protect it fiercely. Even it if it meant never giving her heart to Moses.
Can you imagine if life’s major decisions could be made from the toss of a dice! I threw the dice today if to publish episode 5 or wait till the weekend and it fell on 5! Haha! I won’t try it next time. But seriously what is your life’s compass? That one thing that guides our decisions both big and small decisions. I would love to hear from you!
Dunni glanced nervously for the umpteenth time at her cousin who lay lifeless at the back seat of Moses brand new 2012 Range Rover.
She was barely breathing. Worry etched all over Dunni’s face as she kept wringing her hands, a sign that she was apprehensive.
Moses took his eyes off the road, momentarily alarmed. It was bad enough they had an almost dying woman in the back of his car, on the other hand, looking at Dunni, she did not seem to be faring well. She looked on the verge of passing out.
He searched for her hands, holding her left hand while he controlled the car with his other hand, wanting to reassure her and make sure she stayed with him. He could not imagine having to deal with two unconscious women before getting to the hospital.
“Your cousin will be fine,” he reassured with more confidence than he felt as the woman behind did not like she would make it through the night. It would be a miracle if she survived the ordeal without being maimed.
“What if we had gotten there five minutes after? She could have died.”
Dunni shivered, pulling her hands from his and wrapped her body like one trying to shield herself from harm.
The drive to the hospital was the longest Dunni had experienced. Lucky theirs was the only car on the road. She stole a look at Moses but could not read his expression. His eyes were focused on the way as he drove along yet sensing her, he momentarily gazed at her the grim look a while ago lost to a weary smile.
She felt guilty for disturbing his sleep and bringing him into her family drama. “I am sorry,” she mouthed a second time that night.
“For what?” Moses asked
“You know…. all this,” she gestured with her hands.
“Dunni, anything for you. You don’t have to apologise. I would have been more upset if you had to go through all of this on your own.”
Her heart did things to her when Moses was so kind and attentive, but she was not going to dwell on it. Moses was that way with everyone. He treated you special. Sadly, over the years, she had watched many ladies fall deeply in love with him, suffering from broken hearts without Moses even trying. She’d been looking for the day he’ll finally introduce a girlfriend or fiancée. She often wondered that if Moses treated random strangers this way, she could only imagine what would happen when the person was his object of affection. She could bet her life on it; he would literally worship the ground the girl walked upon.
Whatever she wanted to say died when Kemi at the back started struggling to breathe. Luckily, Moses arrived at the hospital. And Dunni ran out of the car to alert the nurses barely waiting for him to park.
A stretcher was brought to carry her while an oxygen mask placed over her nose. She had to go in for surgery immediately. The best news that night was the presence of a surgeon whose patient scheduled for surgery declined to be operated at the last minute and was still in the hospital.
Dunni signed all the paperwork scanning through the content briefly and went to join Moses where he sat.
“What next?” Moses asked stifling a yawn. It was 3:55am.
“I was not told how long the surgery will last. I’ll be here. You can go home. I will catch a taxi later in the morning.”
“I think I will wait for you—no need driving again this night.”
Dunni gazed into his eyes in a bid to be sure that this was okay with him. She felt guilty for disrupting his night and wondered if she would have reached out to him this way if he was married. She was not too sure what the wife will feel about it. On the other hand, a glimpse of Ola’s wife was an indication that things may not change. She accepted Dunni’s place in the firm and her husband’s life. They were always in each other’s company at social functions of their clients. She had an excellent relationship with Ola’s wife and hoped it continued when Moses got married.
Placing his arms around her shoulder, he pulled her toward himself, her head resting on his chest. She could hear the gentle rhythm of his heartbeat lulling her tired eyes to sleep as they sat on the hard chairs in the waiting room of the hospital.
Dunni had been trying to reach Emma all Saturday morning, but her line was not going through. She had left several voice messages for Emma to return her call.
After several more tries, she decided to call Greg, Emma’s husband, hoping he would be at home and not at the gym. Fortunately, he picked the phone on the third ring.
“Dunni, how are you doing?” Came his jovial voice over the phone
“Mowa pa o! And you?”
“I am doing great. Thanks to your friend, what more can I ask for?”
“She is the one I want to speak to. I can’t get her on her phone.”
While Greg was speaking to Dunni, Emma came into their bedroom with a scowl on her face.
“I better give it to your friend, she has this scowl on her face that may disappear when she speaks to you,” Greg tried a lame joke, handing his mobile over to his wife who did not look too happy.
“Why is she calling you? She has my phone,” sighed Emma, taking Greg’s phone from him.
“Dunni said your phone was off.”
Emma quickly checked her phone and confirmed it was off notwithstanding she was still not happy that Dunni had called her husband’s line.
“She should not be calling you,” Emma complained to her husband.
“Babe, please don’t get me in the middle of you and your friend’s squabble. One day you are upset that I am too distant from your friend and sister. Today I should not be receiving calls from her. I am no robot that you just press a button and say do this and tomorrow you press another button and say do that. Keep your friends to yourself and let me be. Please let me have my phone once you are done.” Greg stormed out of the room.
“Hello babe,” she greeted her friend none too enthusiastically, angry with herself for overreacting and venting her frustration on Greg.
“Hallos Emma, gosh girl I have been trying to reach you all morning. I took a blind call on Greg’s phone and was surprised he was at home?”
“Where was he supposed to be?” Emma asked sullenly.
“Silly for you to ask,” Dunni replied.” Gym, of course, that is where he spends his Saturday mornings,” she continued all in one breathe. Very typical of Dunni to try to say as much as she wanted to say. The thought put a smile on Emma’s face.
“What’s come over you? It’s like you are in one of those your sour moods.” Not waiting for her friend to answer, Dunni went on.
“I have this movie ticket I was given, and I wondered if you and Greg would want to go. I could watch the kids if you want.”
Emma’s mood lightened. “You kidding me! What’s the movie title?” That was why she loved her friend but remembered Clara’s warning. She cursed Clara for putting doubt in her mind. She had to decline the offer.
“Be careful of your friend, Dunni. You know she is not married. The way she comes in and out of your house with ease, she may soon start doing the same to your bedroom with the same ease. A word is enough for the wise. Guard your home.”
“The last flight!” Shouted Dunni over the phone. She knew Emma was dying to watch the premiere of the movie and was so excited when she got a ticket for two.
“I will let that pass. Greg and I have decided to do something together this evening,” She lied. Not without a tinge of disappointment
“You sure you are okay?” Dunni prodded. “You sound off.”
“Tired and the hormones.” Emma forced a peal of laughter.
“Talk to you later. I have to run hubby things.”
Emma dropped the phone and turned to leave the room as she bumped into her husband.
“What was that about?”
“Nothing,” she shrugged.
“You refused the ticket to see a film you and I have been dying to see?”
Greg and Emma could be different as day and night on a lot of issues but were they agreed together on most time were films. They loved the same film genres, actors, directors and film producers.
“I have a mind to ring Dunni back and take my ticket if you don’t want to go. I could go with her.”
A knot loosed in Emma’s head.
“You would do no such thing, Greg,” she winced shocked at her own outburst. She was letting Clara’s words take seed in her mind, which was also affecting her actions.
“Why are you spoiling for a fight? If you have an issue, rather than go about in circles, let us sit down and talk about it.”
“I am sorry,” Emma apologised. She knew she had stepped out of her boundaries with Greg and was wise enough to realise she needed to retract her steps before the situation got out of hand.
She wondered how she could explain to Greg her fears. It was not something you could voice to a spouse. She’ rather keep it to herself and not talk about it.
“I think it’s just the hormones and I am a little tired,” she explained, glad he did not pursue further.
Dunni dropped the phone bewildered at Emma’s coldness on the phone. She did not believe it had anything to do with hormones or tiredness. Dunni hoped Emma was not having problems with Greg. Earlier in their marriage, it had been a war zone, especially when they started having children.
Emma focused all her attention on the children and neglected Greg, who in turn felt she did not care if he existed or not. Dunni was always the sounding board for Emma to voice all her frustrations. However, they came to a full circle after attending a counselling session, and things were more than good between them both, almost perfect.
She stifled a yawn, a signal she was tired, and sleep had come calling. It took all her will power to check the door was locked and all windows closed. Switching off her phone and lights, she climbed the stairs and fell into her bed fast asleep before her head touched the bed.
The shrill ring from the landline woke Dunni up. She wondered who was calling at this ungodly hour. Trudging down the stairs grumpily, she picked the phone not too happy her sleep was disturbed.
“Dunni!” shouted her mother through the phone line.
“Mami, are you alright?” Dunni asked, confused, half asleep and half awake.
“I have been calling your mobile. I just remembered you had a landline.”
Dunni always switched off her mobile phone when going to bed. She hated interruptions in her sleep as she most often was unable to sleep back.
She rubbed her eyes, squinting with one eye open to read the time on the large grandfather clock across the room. It was 2.00am
“I want you to go to Kemi’s house now. Ahmed ti fe pa o! Her mother just called me. You need to go and save her,” commanded Mrs Adesida.
Kemi was Dunni’s first cousin on her maternal side. Although she lived two streets away, they never visited. She was much younger than Dunni, and they really had nothing in common while growing up. She only got to know Kemi lived close by when Mami mentioned it in one of her visits and Kemi came to greet her.
Not sure what Mami meant by saving her but Dunni knew if she wanted peace of mind, she had better do as she had been told.
She quickly changed into a pair of black jeans and slapped a wrinkled pink t-shirt, removing her hairnet as she switched on her mobile phone and called Moses, who picked the call on the second ring.
“Hi Dunni, you are okay?” he asked with a tinge of alarm in his voice.
She did not blame him, who would not be when you receive a call in the middle of the night from your partner. On the contrary, she was not surprised; he picked the call. He was most likely working on one of their projects.
“Hate to bother you, please can you meet me at my house as soon as possible? My cousin, who lives two streets away, is being beaten by her husband, and mother wants me to go and rescue her. Really don’t know what she expects from me. I am neither Jackie Chan nor Bruce Lee. So before the husband beats both my cousin and me, I need a guy to intimidate him.”
Moses groaned, “I thought you have finally seen the light that I was your one and only just like my dice predicted.”
“You and your dice can jump into the Mediterranean. I am not leaving such an important decision to your dice. Shouldn’t we know by now if anything should happen between us? I have known you all my life, in between all the girls who frolicked around you and the ones you chased yourself, there seems not to be any heart left for the unlucky woman, you will end up with.”
Moses laughed over the phone. He loved to rile Dunni with the issue of his dice and their marital status, she had never taken seriously. He hated to admit it, he wished she did.
“I am parked in front of your gate.”
Dunni squealed with delight. “You know why I love you?”
“Yes, for my money and my looks,” Moses replied drily.
Dunni was out in a second. Knocking on the glass of his car window as Moses unlocked the car for her to come in.
“Thank you” she mouthed as she directed him to the address.
Nothing prepared Moses and Dunni for what they met when they got to Kemi’s residence. The house was in disarray, sofa and chairs tumbled over, TV and all the pictures on the wall smashed to the ground. The scene looked like one an earthquake had raged through leaving everything broken in its wake. Dunni gasped and ran towards the woman on the floor who looked nothing like the sophisticated Lagos banker she knew.
Swollen eyes closed shut with her left arm twisted at an odd angle, blood pouring out of her nose and mouth, breathing laboriously.
“Kemi,” she gently tapped her, willing her to answer. A sign that she was still conscious. The broken woman on the floor groaned, but it sounded musical to Dunni’s ears.
From the floor where she knelt beside her cousin, she lifted her head, looking around for Moses, who was at the door with Kemi’s husband trying to calm the man. His eyes were all bloodshot and wild. He was panting and raving. He also had a gash on his head with blood that was turning dark a sign it was drying up.
Where they on a suicide mission? Both determined to kill each other before daybreak?
“Moses, please help me, we need to get her to the hospital,” Dunni’s voice shook with emotion.
“He also needs to go,” Moses pointed out.
“He is not our problem,” a small frown spreading across her pretty face.
“I will be fine, take her out of here,” Ahmed shouted gruffly.
Moses looked helplessly at the man who also needed help but left to join Dunni as they carried Kemi as gently as they could into his car parked outside.
Oladele Peters, Moses Akale and Dunni Adesida were all classmates at the prestigious Federal University of Technology, Minna, where they studied Architecture. They met as pre-degree students, Ola and Moses were 18 years at the time while Dunni was 16, all fresh from college but with one thing in common; a passion for designing houses.
Ola was the only one who knew from day one that he wanted to study Architecture, Dunni was more of Interior design, but since they did not have the course at the university, she felt the closest to it was Architecture. Moses had no clue.
They had met during their first year on campus and bonded fast although from different parts of the country but from the same western region.
On this fateful day, while they were filling their forms for their course of study after the pre-degree program, Moses brought out a dice from his pocket – one for Estate Management, three for Quantity Survey, and five for Architecture. Those were some of the courses in the School of Environmental Studies. Two, four and six will point me to the School of Science, two for Computer Science, four for Geology and six for he was scratching his head and Ola shouted, “back to your village!”
“Nah,” Dunni joined in cheekily. “We’ll send him to biochemistry or microbiology. He could help with research in the cure for cancer. His gambling dice could help him there.” Dunni brought out a coin and started tossing it up and trying to catch while laughing hysterically.
Dunni and Ola never thought Moses was that serious, until the dice fell on five, and he settled to fill his form. They both were looking at him like he had grown horns out of his ears. “You serious about this dice thing man?” Ola asked shielding his eyes from the hot scorching sun while trying to look at Moses with disbelief. “I have used it for every major decision, and it is yet to fail me,” He explained shrugging his shoulders.
“For my senior school leaving certificate, I asked how many A’s. I threw the dice and gave me five. I got five when the result came out.”
“It gave you five for architecture now, maybe the dice just falls on five every time and you know it that’s why you put architecture on five,” Dunni argued.
She challenged him to change the numbers and throw again. He put architecture on one this time, and the dice fell on one.
“Unbelievable!” Exclaimed Ola. “We should be using this dice more often,” Dunni joked. “Who would you marry? How many children will you have,” Dunni chanted one of the folklore songs she used to sing as a child while pretending to skip with an imaginary rope.
“Wouldn’t life be so easy if all decisions I made were from the toss of a dice?” “Should I eat or not?” Dunni laughed so hard she failed to see the look of anger on Moses’ face. “That’s enough Dunni,” Ola called out nodding at Moses. “I am out of here,” Moses hissed. You know where to find me when you are all done making fun.” Dunni ran off to pull him back which did nothing to his 6.2 inches lanky frame. “I am sorry,” she apologised, stifling the laughter threatening to erupt out of her as she replaced it with a smile that inflicted pains to her cheek muscles. “You can use your dice for all you want just ignore us when we joke about it,” Ola nodded at him when he came back. A nod that said it all. Dunni looked at them both and shook her head. “I wonder why I am still hanging out with you guys when you start all this your secret code languages.” “You are better off with us that all the other hungry sharks out there wishing to devour you. We are here to protect you,” Moses boasted, a little smile tugging at his mouth with crinkles around his eyes.
“Let’s fill these forms and get on with our registration,” commanded Dunni. She hated it when they went big brother on her. She had had enough of being babied at home. She was a big girl away from home in the university and on her own, making all the decisions and able to protect herself. No one will boss her out here.
Thirteen years after, they have remained not only close friends but Partners in Architex Designs. A company they formed and ran together. It was a scary venture for them but after working in other Architecture firms and kept feeling there was something more they could offer. They decided to put money together and set up the firm.
In the early days, they face rejection after rejection that they contemplated shutting down the company. Suddenly, things turned around for them after they designed a house for one of the city’s top Bank Managing Director in Victoria Garden City.
They had only gotten the job because Moses uncle decided to take a chance on them. He gave them the job after much pestering from Moses. He got more than he bargained for as his house became a cynosure on the Island. His friends wanted him to connect them to his Architects.
He was so pleased with their work that he asked them to design the Commercial Bank’s new head office in Victoria Island. From that moment, they have received more contracts than they could handle having to expand from a team of three Architects to twenty, all in the space of two years.
Five years after they started the business, running a small architectural firm raking in billions of dollars across the country and continent. They recently got a bid to be the exclusive architect for a project in London handled by one of the world’s top construction company with head office in Beijing.
Moses despised dice back at college was still being used by him much to their chagrin. However, they had come to accept the place of the dice as the fourth partner in the company but not without Dunni and Ola’s objection.
Dunni smiled out of her reverie as she was tugged at by one of her young charges. It was hilarious to see her mum struggling with trying so hard not to mention the issue of marriage. Mrs Adesida had received a call from one of their distant cousins to inform her he was getting married and would be bringing his fiancée to see her. As soon as she dropped the phone, she sighed. “That was Moji’s son he is twenty-six and is getting married.” Dunni scowled ready to put up as much resistance she could muster should her mother go into her usual “marriage talk” again. However, she shrugged noncommittally. “Good for him.”
“ Is that all you are going to say?” Mrs Adesida asked with a huge disappointment evident on her face. “Mother what do you want me to say?” Dunni asked exasperatedly. Mrs Adesida sighed again, heaved and broke into a song and dance as she gave Dunni a hug. “Your visit means a lot to me. I won’t overshadow our time with a quarrel. However, do know that not talking about it does not make it go away.”
Another tug and this time she could hear from a far away distance “Auntie Dunni Auntie Dunni, see my drawing” the young child announced proudly.
Dunni gathered her thoughts together and chided herself was woolgathering while working.
Dunni Adesida volunteered with a young achiever club in the city where she took the ages 7-10 drawing lessons for one hour every Wednesday. The time with the children was one of the things she looked forward to every week. They were all a delight to work. She never seemed to be more amazed at the kind of work they turned it. Raw talents that need direction and guidance and the world would not know what hit them when the next Michelangelo or Leonardo da Vinci resurfaces.
Once all the kids had left, Dunni spent the few minutes she had to arrange the room used and out away all the pencils, paintbrushes used .she was so engrossed that she did not hear when her colleague came behind her. She squealed in fright. ” I did not hear you come in.” “Sorry I scared you,” Amanda apologised and went on in one breath. “I came by to let you know that Tooni lost her mum to cancer .” Tooni was a seven-year-old girl in her class. “Aww, that is so sad,” said Dunni trying to imagine what her life would have been should she had lost her mother. But she had lost her father at a tender age. She remembered the heaviness and loss that hung around the family like a cloak. She could not wish a loss of a loved one on her enemies, but this was one of the harsh realities of life that even children could not be shielded.
“I never noticed. Tooni has carried on with the same demeanour as she always has. Very excited and enthusiastic about her drawings and the class. She is so friendly with all the other children,” Dunni shared her observation with her colleague.
However, Amanda had a different reason for sharing the loss of the girl’s mother.
“what I am trying to say to you is that you might need to speak a few words of condolence to her dad.”
“ Why?” asked Dunni puzzled. “I rarely see the parents when they come to pick children. You should inform them at the reception.”
“I was thinking it would be a good avenue for you to meet the man. He is a widower, and this might be an opportunity.” Dunni’s eyes went round as this bizarre scene playing before her. She closed her eyes and shook her head from side to side. Trying to calm the seething anger welling inside of her.
“How callous can you be. Should I be dumb enough to go with your advice, would it to a man who is mourning the loss of his dear wife? Or do I look like someone on a manhunt, husband hunt or whatever hunt you all think I should embark?”
“No Dunni, you do not look like it, but your life oozes it even if you think you hide it well.”
Tooni did not think she heard Amanda well.
“Amanda, what you have said is not only mean, but it shows that you have never been and cannot be my friend. I am on no manhunt, that I am not married is not a design of mine, that I hope to be married someday might be my mothers wish, but mine is to live my life and enjoy it married or not. So if you think my life oozes manhunt. You have better check again as you sure are receiving wrong signals which might be a reflection of what you are feeling. I thought you were my friend. But now I know better”
“I am your friend Dunni, which is the reason I am concerned. I might be approaching it in a wrong manner and that I apologise”
“I have not asked for your help and please stay away from me,” Dunni responed angrily.
“I am sorry,” Amanda raised her hand in mock defence as Dunni walked away from her without a backward glance.
***** The birds were chirping away a lovely soprano on a beautiful sunny Saturday morning. Dunni sat out in the garden enjoying the morning sunshine just lazing with a book. How to meet date and marry a guy in 21 days. She bought the book out of curiosity and found the book not only hilarious but crazy.
She still would not accept she was on a manhunt, but sometimes she could not deny the thought of what her life would be like if she were married and had a family.
“I was not going to push any buttons like go look for any man, but there might be some information that could be helpful in this book,” she reasoned.
“Good morning Madam,” Sule the security man cum gardener called out.
Sule has been with Dunni ever since she moved into the area. He joined her as a single man, got married and went on to have five children that often left Dunni in wonder how he coped with living expenses on his meager salary.
Good morning Sule,” Dunni responded, curious about the smile on his face. “Sule you look so happy today, what can I do for you?”
“Ha Madam, I been happy wai! I get Amarya coming to me. He responded in his poor English mixed with his local Hausa language. ‘Amarya,” Dunni called out, with a questioning look and a frown on her brows and eyes mirroring her confusion. “Yes Oga Madam, Amarya. My second wife.” The book Toke was holding felt from her hands as she gazed at the man in bewilderment. “Sule, you are getting married again?” she croaked in disbelief.
“Yes, Oga madam. My Amarya is a beautiful young girl and from my village. She would come and help Uwargida with all the housework and children.”
“But Sule, you have five children, and you are barely coping financially. Another wife means more children. How do you intend to take care of them?”
Sule smiled so stupidly, Dunni felt like slapping the smile off his face. What illiteracy could do to a man transcends beyond his generation? He was building a village without any means of giving those children a means to prepare for the future
“Allah will take care of the children. Oga madam. Do not worry.”
Too dumbfounded for words, Dunni went back to reading her book but the sanctity of the moment had been broken. She found herself on the same page for ten minutes as her mind kept processing what Sule had told her.
She was shocked when she looked up, and he was still there.
“Sule?”
“Oga Madam I’d been wan tell you that our neighbour,” he paused pointing to the walled house on her right.
Dunni recalled the walls were not always this high when she first moved in ten years ago. You could literally have a conversation with your number over the fence but as the years when by, the walls got taller and taller. You had neighbours, you had no clue what they looked like even if you met in the shopping mall. Lowering his voice as if he was aware of someone one on the other side was listening to their conversation. “His wife have died.“ “His wife died,” Dunni corrected wondering why she bothered. “His wife died,” he repeated proudly.
She shook her head. The man never ceases to amaze her. Somedays, he would speak impeccable English, and some other days she would cringe as he mixed both present and past tenses interjecting the wrong verbs or adjectives. “I been say you suppose to greet him. As his wife died, if he wants to marry, he go marry you.”
She cursed on her breath with the little Hausa words she had been able to garner from her security “shege danbanza dan buro uba,”
“Oga Madam,” Dunni was shocked he still dared to stand there like he had dementia. If it was in the office, the man was as good as fired. She fumed under her breath. “Sule, Please leave now before I do what both of us would regret,” she gritted her teeth as she picked her glass cup of orange juice, book and walked back to the house leaving behind a shattered serenity. Her world is being thrown into a topsy-turvy.
The one moment her mother was struggling to stop the pressure, her friends and gardener took over the baton. She did not know which was worse but that of the gardener sucked more.
The blue sky so vibrant did not mask the feeling of dread that engulfed Dunni as she meandered the drive into her Mother’s residence. There was no admiration for the beautiful cut flowers that surrounded the house or the magnificent trees that walled both sides of the drive. She had designed the house while her mother with her green thumb had done wonders to the driveway and the gardens. In an area mainly covered with cement and concrete, theirs stood out with every kind of trees, shrubs, flowers in different shades of colours that heralded a beauty so pure calling the inner you to a feeling of peace and calm the world no longer experienced freely.
Coming home was one of Dunni’s favourite things to do, but recently she was getting weighed down by her mother’s constant barging on her single state. She has the words from their last conversation in her head for days till she thought she was going crazy. Suddenly it felt the whole world around her was conspiring to push her over the edge to the marriage cliff with little or no regard how she got there. It seemed she could marry a dog for all they care. Just bring a Mr something to change your status and complete who you are.
“Dunni, you are not growing any younger. At your age I was married and had Gbile your brother was 15, Bukky 14, Taiye and Kehinde were already 12, Bola was 11, and you were 7.” “Mami, your time was different from ours o!” Dunni emphasised. “Did you not tell me your parents were the ones that arranged your marriage with Baami?”
“Not really, your father was a family friend, he proposed, I liked him, and my parents were happy for us to get married.
“If you want me to arrange one for you. I can.”
“Ah, mami koto be,” Dunni was quick to reply in their local language meaning, “It has not come to that. My time will come,” she went on to reassure her mother.
“My time will come, is what you have been telling me for over ten years. Do you want me to go to the grave without cuddling my grandchildren?”
“Mami you have almost twenty-one grandchildren with Bola’s fourth child on the way,” Dunni argued.
“It’s your grandchildren I want. Grandchildren can never be enough.”
Mami folded her hands across her bosom and pushed her chin forward challenging her youngest daughter.
Mami, as her children fondly called her, was the matriarch of the Adesida family. She lost her husband in her early forties and was left to take care of the children alone. A teacher then at the government local primary school in the nineties, there was not much income the profession could bring, but she traded alongside to ensure her children got the best education.
There were nights of endless tears and hunger, but she encouraged her children to be the best they could be, strive to ace their studies and dream big. The season would pass quickly. And true to her words, looking back, the years passed quickly, although it did not seem so while going through the hardship.
Toni had barely gotten to the driveway when her mum ran out of the house retying her wrapper that was threatening to fall. Dressed in navy blue leaf pattened Ankara Buba and Iro attire. She looked warm and elegant. Dunni smiled as she watched the excitement on her mother’s face forgetting every apprehension she felt as she drove into the gates.
Mrs Adesida always welcomed her children home with this same warmth and excitement. She never failed to make homecoming a big affair for her children. Whenever they arrived back from school in their younger days, her welcome always put to shame the welcome ceremony for the visit of Queen of England to Nigeria in 1956.
Mami treated her children and everyone around her with love, dignity and value. She has always been an epitome of kindness and hospitality. She was rarely seen to be offended, and you could not stay angry at her for too long. Dunni, felt the lift in her spirit as she got out of the car and fell into her mother’s warm embrace. All worries of Mami’s nagging vanished into thin air.
“My beautiful mum. The best mum in the whole world” she eulogised.
Mami, are you growing younger? You are looking more beautiful than the last time I saw you.”
She slapped her daughter gently on the shoulder, “Dunni, you had better start talking, with all your patronising, there seems to be something you want from me,” Mami joked with a twinkle in her eyes. Should it had been possible, you would have seen her blushing through her dark skin.
Mami was a beauty queen in her younger days, not the ones ran by the National beauty pageants but the one acclaimed by her village. There had been many requests for her hand in marriage from the eligible young men at that time. However, she settled for, a friend to her cousin she met at one of the village festivals, during his visit for the holidays from the university much to the chagrin of the young men in the village.
The years had not been kind to Mami with the death of her husband and the curve balls thrown her way, but she had aged with grace and beauty.
“No, Mami, I don’t need anything. It is a fact you are beautiful, inside out.”
“Let’s go inside, I have prepared pounded yam with egusi soup, stockfish and bushmeat for you.”
“Mami, my size six figure is on the verge of extinction with all that food,” Dunni protested.
“Who? You? Dunni, should you eat a whale you would remain the size you are,” Mami refuted her youngest daughter affectionately.
Dunni might not be married the way she wanted, but the girl was a bundle of accomplishment, beauty, grace and humility.
Mami wiped the tears threatening to fall. Losing her husband almost killed her but looking at the five children they had, she knew she had to be alive and healthy for them. The children had been her motivation to move on in the face of adversity, poverty and lack.
Her labour paid off as they were all doing well in their respective fields and home. Mami could not be happier with their achievement. God had wiped away her misery.
Mami resolved not to engage in any husband talk this visit. She would enjoy their time together. Dunni’s patronising was surely working. She chuckled to herself as she linked her hands in her daughters and they walked into her home.
21stcenturybelle 