Previously…Femi.I dialed Kola’s number while leaving Tunde’s compound.“So he remembers me today?” Kola’s voice came through the loudspeaker.I shook my head and rolled my eyes. “I didn’t forget you Kola.”“Oh you did. Ever since your chick has been in the hospital you’ve been MIA. Like in every sense of the word.” Kola said. There he went playing the victim and blaming Ama for my absence.I shook my head again. I noticed that I always did that anytime I was talking to Kola. It was maddening.“Yeah well if you had gotten your head out of your ass long enough to realize that Ama has a terminal illness then maybe you’ll understand and .. I don’t know… actually come and see her. Anyways I just called to tell you that I need to see you, so where are you at the moment?” I asked. I couldn’t leave my statement open ended to a avoid an argument.“Wow you actually left her long enough to look for me. That’s great. I actually just got home from the office. I hope I’m safe. This your wanting t
Previously...Femi."Kola, for Ama's transplant. Remember I told you that her time had gone down to four weeks so we had two weeks to get a kidney or we were in deep trouble." I said. I tried to be calm at the fact that Kola stupidly did not remember anything about Ama's illness. I even thought her just wanted to seem like he didn't care because I didn't know him to be this void of human emotions."Oh yeah yeah I know. So what about it?" He asked and sipped his juice. He had poured out a cup for me earlier but that was the last thing on my mind at the moment."So I went to see the doctor today and he told me that he had reached a dead end. Before that, Kola also told me that he had exhausted all his contacts as well. But he suggested something to me..." I said and tried to see if he would ask me what in a way to know if he was even listening as his glasses were so tinted that I could not read his eyes."Okay, so what did he suggest?" He said. I opened my mouth to reply but his new cat
Previously…Femi.He dropped his cutlery and looked at me again. "Are you serious? It's you? Meaning you did the test and you agreed to doing the transplant?""Yes. I've made the decision. There's literally no one else and her time is running out." I explained why I had no choice even though it didn't have to be a big deal. Kola sighed "and it just has to be you? This is mental. I don't think it's worth it.""What do you mean" I frowned. I just knew Kola was going to get me pissed off again."Well I mean, it's a girl. We don't make those kinds of sacrifices for girls. These chicks are users and if you're not careful, after all this you'll just get fucked over and she won't care. I won't advice you to risk your life for her." He said quite blatantly. I knew this was going to be the excuse."First of all, she's not just any girl. She's my girlfriend and I love her. Right now she's helpless. I'm the only person who can save her right now. What kind of a devil would I be to overlook that
Previously...Femi.I picked my phone and called Ama because I felt as though I'd been out for too long."Babe?" She said when she picked up. Her voice now sounded better than before and it warmed my heart."Aren't you lively now" I said and smiled.She chuckled "don't mind me. I was in my feelings. Sorry for not talking to you before.""It's fine. I understand. If I was in your shoes only God knows how moody I'd be." I said.She laughed again. Music to my ears. It was so good to hear her laugh again. "So where are you? I haven't seen you since you told me about the transplant." She said. She sounded like she'd been worrying about where I was."I'm actually on my way to my mom's place. She asked me to come do something for her but it won't take long. I'll be with you soon." I told her.She sighed and stayed silent for some seconds "It's fine. Don't rush o, take your sweet time. You've not left this hospital since I woke up so don't rush on my account. I would kill to go outside for o
Previously…Femi.I smiled and shook my head "mommy you know that we love you. We do. I think about you guys everyday. But we've been really busy. The company has been flooded with a lot of work and our clientele has tripled. Now my girlfriend is very sick and it's just been a whole lot." I explained.She nodded as though she understood "yes I can understood you and Tunde but you see Kola. pe ọmọ mi ko ni awawi. ó ń yàgò fún àwa òbí rẹ̀. (that my son has no excuse. he is avoiding us his parents.) I know that he recently made a very useless trip to the USA for no reason. He can't even take an hour to visit his parents since he has all this time on his hands."I chuckled and sighed "mom, I can't say anything about Kola right now. Maybe when next you see him he will explain himself, how about that?" I said grinning.My mother smiled and took my hand. "It's so good to see you again ọmọ mi (my son)""You too mom." I said smiling at her."Look who the cat dragged in." My dad came out looki
Previously…Femi"Okan mi calm down" my father said. Everything was going exactly how I knew it would."No, No! I won't!" My mother faced my father and then turned back to me, leaning forward with anger all over her face. "So Femi. You mean you want to go and risk your life over some girl?""Mom, she's not some girl okay? She's my girlfriend." I yelled. I hated it when people were trying to be classist towards Ama."Femi. This is a serious issue. I don't think you have thought it through very well" my father said in a calm but stern tone."sofun. o fẹ lati ba aye rẹ jẹ fun ọmọbirin ti o ro pe o nifẹ (tell him. he wants to ruin his life for a girl he thinks he loves)" my mother said.I frowned at my mom "I don't know when you started reading minds mom. And dad, I don't understand that statement. I'm in my thirties. I'm a grown man. I should even be married by now so yes I know full well what I'm getting my self into.""Femi. How important is this girl that you want to risk everything
Previously....Femi."Dad!" I almost screamed.My dad shrugged and looked at me. Probably waiting for an answer to his question."Okay..." I stopped laughing."I met Amarachi a few months ago when she was still Shawn Ikechi's assistant." I said and my dad raised his eyebrows."Shawn? He's my good friend na. a ti ṣe iṣowo tẹlẹ (we've done business before.)." My dad said.That came as a shock to me. Shawn never mentioned my dad but it was not surprising because my father and I didn't share last names."Wow. The world is very small," I said,"Lagos is smaller. I have tons of businesses. I know almost everybody who's anybody in Lagos and Abuja. So she was Shawn's assistant? I think I've seen her once before. She's average height, very fair skinned, slim with nice hair?" My dad described.My jaw dropped on the floor. He described Ama perfectly. "Femi?" My dad said.I shook my head to get myself out of the trance "yeah um, that's her. Wow, Lagos is very very small." "Yes so tell me. What
Previously...Femi."Femi. Why do you want to bring sorrow to you mother? Ehn omo mi? (My child)" my mom said in utter sadness. I could hear it in her voice. It triggered something in me. I was still not going to back out but it just told me to take a different approach to the situation.I had to stop acting like she wasn't supposed to feel that way because she was. Her feelings were valid as she was my mother. The woman who raised me and loved me so dearly. I was her favorite child. I had to take her paranoia into consideration while making my case.I sighed as I finished collecting my thoughts. "Mummy, I know you're upset and honestly you should be very upset. I can't imagine the scenarios you have going through your head right now. I need you to understand me though. It really wouldn't have come to this if we had other options. You know I have the money to pay for a kidney but we just didn't find one. She's O negative. Same as me. Her roommate was also O negative but she failed the
Ama.The day had ended. I felt giddy to go home and tell Femi all that happened today. My dream was being fulfilled before my very eyes. I was living in it. I really appreciated Femi's dad for giving me this opportunity. I was very grateful.Femi texted me, telling me he was downstairs and I ran into the elevator without knowing, meeting Tola there. "Ha, hey bestie... why are you running like that?" He said with an amused look on his face."Running ke, me? Never" I said, feigning ignorance of what I just unknowingly did."It's only man that will make you that excited. Femi is here isn't he?" He said.I folded "Yes he is." I rolled my eyes "I'm just happy to finally see him that's all. He's been MIA throughout today." I said."Ahn ahn why?" Tola asked."Well he's been in a meeting and I get it you know. Today is his first day at work since the transplant so I understand. They were probably doing an organizational meeting of some sorts." I said."Okay I get it. Anyways how are you enjo
Femi.I felt so bad for not answering my fiancée. I looked and saw a text from her. “Hey, I know you’re probably busy. You wouldn’t believe what just happened. I’m so happy. Gahhhh call me when you can. Ly x” the text said.I didn’t want to dampen her own mood in any way. She seemed very happy about what was going on around her. I was still sad and emotionally downcast and I knew if I spoke to her in this mood she was going to leave everything she was doing and appear in my office. I would really appreciate her presence now but I also didn’t want to spoil her happiness. I decided to text her saying that I was going to be in a long meeting and I would come pick her up when she’s ready to go. She texted back for acknowledgement. I dropped my phone and sighed, placing my head in my hand. I seemed to be doing that a lot.In my mind, I was trying to picture how this woman could even be remotely related to me. I had to keep telling myself “my parents are dead”. Whoever this woman was, she
Femi.Today was a good day. I was very giddy while entering the office and it wasn't even about anything that I did or was going to do. I was just very glad that Ama was finally getting her flowers. It was vivid in my mind how she would always talk my ears full on how many ideas she has for the Lays project even when it was not set in stone that she was going to handle it with Kechi industries. She had so much passion for this that i knew she was going to do very well with it.As i walked into the office i was greeted by the front desk representative and before i could leave the lobby she said "There's someone here to see you sir. She said she is your mother." She said.I frowned. My mother never came here before. It was strange that she was here. "Okay where is she?" I asked. I hoped for her sake that she didn't send my 'mother' to my office."The conference room" she said. I sighed and walked in to my office first to drop my laptop and gadgets before going downstairs back to the con
Ama."So, the Lays project was actually suggested by me for business continuity. We were brainstorming for strategies to have more leverage in the manufacturing market and I came up with this. We already have a deal with Pepsi who are the primary owners of the Lays brand. It is such a big brand in the US. Now we have to latch on to the brand more to be able to keep our relationship. We already have the Quaker Oats deal because we asked them for it and that is why Quaker Oats is no longer an imported brand. Now is the time to take Lays. This will mean that Lays would be cheaper here in Nigeria and would make more sales, generating revenue for the company. We need to design the product and pitch it to Pepsi for approval and rights." I said. Once I was done with my speech, there was a roaring thunderous ovation for me. Even the HR manager who looked scornfully at me before was ecstatic. I felt good indeed."Any questions?" I said once I was done with my presentation. I had shown them a c
Ama.“So, the Lays project was actually suggested by me for business continuity. We were brainstorming for strategies to have more leverage in the manufacturing market and I came up with this. We already have a deal with Pepsi who are the primary owners of the Lays brand. It is such a big brand in the US. Now we have to latch on to the brand more to be able to keep our relationship. We already have the Quaker Oats deal because we asked them for it and that is why Quaker Oats is no longer an imported brand. Now is the time to take Lays. This will mean that Lays would be cheaper here in Nigeria and would make more sales, generating revenue for the company. We need to design the product and pitch it to Pepsi for approval and rights.” I said. Once I was done with my speech, there was a roaring thunderous ovation for me. Even the HR manager who looked scornfully at me before was ecstatic. I felt good indeed.
Ama.The meeting went from project to project until it finally got to my turn. The Lays Project. Shawn smiled when he saw it. He had texted me before today that I had to come and defend the project in front of the board. They had approved it but wanted to know if I knew what I was doing. They are very unserious because I was the one who came up with this idea so what more did they want? I however, tried to study what had already been rendered and made slides to display what I was about to say.I stood up and walked over to the front of the conference room and started my presentation. I was looking around at the faces before I started and my eyes landed on Shawn. He gave me a small smile and a nod. I felt more confident as I was feeling nervous before.
Previously...Femi."Wait I actually told the doctor to still do the test with the fetus they removed. I know it's dark sided but I don't want to be beriddled with grief that's not mine to bear. Because I think it's my fault. If I wasn't shagging some girl and actually answered the phone on time maybe they could have saved the baby you know." Tunde said."There was no way that you could have known," I said."How long till the test comes out?" Kola asked."By tomorrow." Tunde said."So calm the fuck down. If the baby is really yours then you can now cry as much as you want but I am sure that the baby isn't yours. That girl is a slimy snake." Kola said.. "As for you, I will call Dad's therapist. You need to get yourself straight after the damn drug use." Kola said."Okay. I don't want dad to know though" Tunde said."He won't know don't worry. Therapists don't snitch on their clients. Even if Dad will definitely know you're seeing the therapist, he won't know why and think it's for your
Femi.Tunde just stood there staring at us but we didn’t waver. We had to intervene. Tunde did not look good in any capacity at all.“Tunde you need to speak.” I said after a while of silence.“Why? Why do you guys think that something is wrong with me?” Tunde said while twitching, even though I doubted it before now I was sure that he was using.“God! Tunde where did you get the drugs from!” Kola yelled, he was not having it. Tunde was getting irritated now.I held Kola’s shoulder. “If you come at him like that he won’t say anything,” I said to him.I looked at Tunde, “The reason why we think you have a problem is this,” I pointed at his appearance,“You’re really insecure about your hairline but your hair is growing out, you never let that happen for anything. You didn’t even wear a cap to cover it. You’re dressed like a homeless person. Shirt not tucked in, tie loose, clothes rumpled. No suit on a Monday morning that’s very unlike you.” I said.“And let’s not forget the uncontrolla
Previously…Femi."Well after all this it seems like I have to get an executive assistant because the work is plenty. I need someone to keep track. This just means that our company is growing day by day and I am proud of everyone and the work they have put into this while I was away. Thank you so much. Speaking of our company growing, it may seem as though we have made enough money for us to raise salaries. You all have done a wonderful job. I will liaise with HR. Expect those emails." I said. Everyone cheered and I liked to see smiles on their faces. They would only be happy to work for us when they are happy with the benefits they get.Once the meeting ended we cornered Tunde in the conference room, just the three of us and I used my phone to shut off the surveillance cameras so that we could effectively speak to our nit wit brother.———-Femi.“Oya what is going on with you, quickly.” Kola said.“I don’t understand why you guys are attacking me like this” Tunde replied. I noticed h