CHAPTER THREE
With a deep unconscious sigh that not even the new trend of her life could prevent her from uttering, Adamma tried to review the tragic history of her life that lay before her. She was thinking about her parents and her dead sister, her mind dredging up the memories that were a source of unbearable pain to her, but which she resolutely clung to, afraid that she would forget about the people that formed the foundation of her existence if she didn’t consciously try to remember them.
It must have been fifteen years ago that her parents had died_ she wasn’t quite sure about it. But what she could remember with vivid clarity was the fact that her parents had been so wonderfully in love with each other, though there had seemed to be a cloud that hung over them in the time of their lives together. There had been something not quite right between them and some persons, of that Adamma was very sure. Then one day they had kissed she and her elder sister goodbye and had driven away, never to return because they’d been crushed to death by a tanker which had lost control over itself on the highway and that had been the end of their lives.
Then it had been she and her sister who had remained. Gloria had tried what she could for the both of them and had even gone to one of their father’s best friends when he was still alive, but the man had wanted something in return; he’d wanted Gloria in bed because of her beauty. Gloria had told Adamma about it and they’d sworn to keep away from the bastard and never seek for the help of an outsider with their lives. That was when Gloria had taken up street-walking because she couldn’t bear for her sister to get put into the streets. And then Gloria herself had been killed one night when she’d gone out for her twice-weekly forays into the night life of the Lagos mainland. She had been knocked down by a drunk-driver who’d fled the scene immediately, never to be seen again.
And Adamma had been left all by herself to care for her life and see to it that she stayed alive for the sake of her family. She had to be alive for the sake of herself and see to it that she lived and became something with her life.
But it had been grueling. She had nobody, had no family, no relations she knew who could have helped her get along in her life. So, against all that she and her sister had fought against, she’d gone back to the man who’d asked for her sister’s body in bed, and she’d accepted to be his mistress, though she’d given him conditions for her services.
‘I need a room where I can live, and I need books too, plus an education_’
‘You will marry me and then you shall forget everything about education,’ Alhaji Danjuma interrupted her speech. ‘A woman’s place is beside her husband in the home and to look after the children Allah has blessed them with. That is what you will do.’
Adamma had looked at him for a very long moment before she’d answered his question. She’d thought long and hard about the proposal and she knew that she’d rather die than be married to a middle-aged Hausa man with two wives so she could waste her beauty and bear his children; her name would never be heard in the world. She’d rather die and join her family than succumb to this lecherous man.
‘I will be your mistress and only your mistress,’ she’d replied coldly, her eyes boring into him relentlessly. ‘I want to have my education too.’
‘Then you can go, my child, and may Allah be with you,’ the man had replied obstinately.
‘What if I took away the education part?’ she’d bargained, her voice still cold, toneless, as if she was bargaining for a side cut of beef at the market instead for her future. ‘What if I asked you to buy me all the books I need? Would you still take care of me?’
‘You are a stubborn girl, but a very beautiful one, and one must not let such beauty suffer. Your father was my friend, and I really want to take care of you. I want you to be my wife.’
‘No.’
‘Then what do you want?’
‘Take care of me, and I will do whatever I can to please you. However, I would rather die than get married to you. I mean it.’ She’d continued glaring at him, and her face had betrayed no emotion whatsoever. What she’d counted on was the fact that she was extraordinarily beautiful, that he’d fall for that beauty if not for anything else.
And he did. She lost her virginity to him, and the time had passed. She’d educated herself because the bastard had made it impossible for her to do anything about her education since he gave her the money needed only to purchase her necessaries and nothing else. She had cultivated some intelligent friends who gave her their curriculum for each academic session, and she’d gone about educating herself. She brushed up on her literature; she read all the classics she could lay her hands on, from Shakespeare to Homer, Charles Dickens to Louisa May Alcott. She studied everything that had to do with the arts; she studied the works of Michelangelo and all the other great Renaissance artists, and then she delved into the contemporary artists of her time. She was well-versed with the works of Pablo Picasso, Van Gogh, and she studied the business market as if her life depended on it.
Alhaji Danjuma was really proud of her. The man was absolutely obsessed with her, and he kept on pestering her to become his wife. She bluntly refused, though she gave him whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted it, and wherever he wanted it. She knew that the man loved her, and that he wanted to have her. She gave him herself, but the inner core of her soul was what she kept and reserved for herself.
One day she broached the topic of her schooling to him once again. ‘Send me to school,’ she told him as she lay in bed with him, her body warm against him, her perfectly formed breasts pressing against his chest. ‘If you don’t, then I intend to leave you and find my way with another man. I mean it.’
He’d looked at her for a very long moment, and she’d stared back at him impassively. She meant it, and she knew that he knew that she meant it. She was not given to idle threats. ‘I will think about it,’ he said, and she knew that she was going to school. She had won.
He never did. The following day he was mugged late at night by some hoodlums who made away with his car and some other expensive items he had on him while leaving him with a bullet stuck in his chest. He bled to death.
When Adamma heard about the mugging, she had sat down cross-legged in a yoga stance and thought about her future. Not for a moment did she have any remorse over what had happened to her lover; to her he’d been nothing other than a man who she’d paid for taking care of her with her body. She’d even lost her virginity to him. Now, he was dead, and her chances of ever going to school were slim to none. What could she do?
She practiced exotic dancing for a week, while living off the food and the little cash she still had on her as she planned her next move in the chess game of life. When her tutelage of herself was over, she hit the clubs. She was a young girl, but she’d really blossomed into a stunning beauty that turned heads whenever she walked into a room. She was on the lookout for a powerful man, who would take good care of her, and she had great talent; she could sing like an angel, wiggle like a snake, and she had the killer looks to go with it. She was on the hunt for her destiny.
And that was how she found her way into the clubs as an exotic dancer and a singer and a small-time whore. And then she’d met Obinna Obiekwe who had changed her life forever by knocking her up, and then she’d met Dan who had helped her to fulfill her destiny.
‘YOU AND I ARE GOING TO get married.’
The words were still ringing in her ears, and she just sat there like a zombie staring off into space. She had Obinna Obiekwe in her view, and she wondered what it would feel like if she just picked up the steak knife on the table and knifed him with it. Then that arrogant expression would be wiped off from his face, no doubt. But still, in a way, she had to confess to her cold, dead soul that she liked his arrogance; it made him look impossibly handsome, larger-than-life, and that was the trait she always admired in men. However, he was stupid, but she had to say nothing to him about it.
She hated the fact that the bastard had dared to infringe on her privacy once again as she’d sat in her office at the back of the front hall, working on the lyrics to a new song when the moron just drove by. He’d tried to make small talk, though she’d frozen him out by maintaining radio silence and working some complicated mathematical calculations in her head while she’d fixed him with a cold, frozen look that would have frosted over a glass of hot water. She’d sensed his increasing frustration, and she’d enjoyed it, then his lips had curved in a small smile she knew nothing about. She smiled too; now they would really engage in a battle. That was when the moron had dropped the bombshell.
God, he was dumber than she’d originally thought he was. They_ the two of them_ getting married to each other was a serious joke because of the fact that the means of communication between them was zero.
First, he had dared to show up to her house without any form of invitation from her with a bunch of stupid smelly roses she was going to toss straight into the trashcan as soon as he left her house, and now he was disturbing her peace of mind by making stupid allusions to the fact that they had to go and get married just to satisfy his overblown ego.
‘We will get married,’ she echoed. ‘You are crazy and incredibly stupid. Tell me just one reason why you and I will get married.’ She pointed at him as she said this.
Obinna laughed, and she smiled, wondering what there was for him to laugh about when she was getting ready to send his head over to the chopping block. ‘Our children will get to be with both of their parents and not have to stay with only their mother.’
Adamma looked at him as if he was deranged. ‘And what about my freedom?’ she asked sarcastically. ‘What makes you think I’ll be ready to give up the joys and the pleasures of being a single lady to just tie myself to you?’ She was fairly bristling with fury as she glared at him, though she firmly kept her temper clamped down and under control.
‘On the contrary, my dear girl, I’ll be offering you a home, wealth, security, and most importantly, my children will have a proper home where they can flourish and be able to harness their natural abilities.’
Adamma laughed, but there was not a hint of humor in it. ‘You idiot,’ she snapped. ‘I have a home; I have wealth with which I take excellent care of my children with. This house_’ and she waved expansively around the room, ‘_ can serve as the home my little babies will ever need, so please take your offer and go and shove it far up your ass. You disgust me!’
‘It can’t be otherwise, and I’ll advise you to bethink before taking such a harsh measure which you’ll definitely regret.’ Obinna’s eyes became cold as he fixed them upon her so she could be able to grasp the full implication of his words.
Adamma barely managed to hold her temper with a superhuman effort. Oh, the cheek and the pompous arrogance of the obnoxious man! The strange feelings she’d been nursing since Obinna made his intrusion back into her life now threatened to explode in violent fits of anger as this latest ingredient of insult was dropped into her laps. God! Who did the stupid fellow think he was? First, he’d audaciously thrust himself back into her life without any invitation from her, and also into the lives of her children with such devastating force that had left her gasping in open-mouthed horror, and now, when she thought that the man had definitely overstayed his welcome and should go back to the pits of hell where he’d come from, he was now ordering her to marry him and become chained down to his side.
To marry him! It was absurd and ridiculous!
Eyes narrowing to slits at her, Obinna snapped, his firmly clamped down temper now threatening to erupt, ‘I can see that you’re hell bent on opposing everything I say, you silly girl. You intend to remain a single girl instead of accepting the generous I made to you, and that makes me wonder how many men you spread your hot legs for in order to be able to attain your famed position as one of the most successful musicians in the whole of Africa. How many men did you sleep with so you were able to become a renowned singer, huh?’
Inwardly flinching at the insulting words, Adamma held herself with proud dignity, refusing to quail under his intense gaze of contempt. She felt sick. The shameless man was using her past to pour ridicule on her and shame her. But her proud mind could not, and would not accept that he could just think that he could relegate her ranks to that of some inconsequential fellow and then think that he could get away with it. She had been a whore and a kept woman, but she had risen through the ranks, and it was her sheer hard work and the luck of the gods that had gotten her where she now was, not by spreading her legs for some darn fellow to insert his stupid thing into.
Then she smiled; let the games begin. ‘I do prostitution Mondays through Wednesday, and then I do poll dancing for the governor every Thursday and Friday; on Saturdays I do hardcore porn for Raging Studios in South Africa and then Sundays are my days off work.’ Her expression was dead pan. ‘Occasionally I engage in some lesbian sex with some political heavyweights who finance my albums, and then there is the S&M sex I do with some bodybuilders in the Recreation Center where they train. I love my job. Oh, and lest I forget, it’s a quarter of a million NGN a night.’
‘You can’t be serious,’ Obinna snapped, and the shock that was etched all over his stupid, handsome face was an expression she’d relish for a very long time after he’d gone from her house.
She flashed him a cold smile. ‘What do you think? You wanted to know and I told you. Now be a good boy and shut up before I have you thrown out of here by the police. I will do it.’
Obinna smiled, and this time the glint of amusement in his eyes was only too evident for her to see. He waved towards her touch-screen Android phone. ‘Please, darling, be my guest. And while you’re at it, I do not need to remind you that the kids are right now with my mother who will be so happy to see them.’
Adamma’s eyes flashed in anger. ‘First you barge into my life without invitation and now you’ve kidnapped my children from their school. That’s lovely, because now I have to have you sent over to prison. My problems are solved.’ She clapped her hands with false glee.
‘You are mentally unhinged.’
She laughed, and this time, the enjoyment in her voice was very evident. ‘Of course I am. Who said I wasn’t? Now, let’s get back to that marriage issue we’d talked about. I am not interested in marrying you, not for all the gold in China.’
Obinna chuckled, and she was furious to note that the amusement was back into those eyes and the anger he’d etched all over his face was evaporating. ‘You will,’ he said with such confidence that she felt seriously annoyed. ‘You and I have something to go on, and that something is our kids. If you wish you won’t marry me, then you’ll have to encounter me in the courts. It’ll be such a huge scandal you’ll hate yourself.’
She wasn’t even listening to the boring, monotonous drone of his silky, masculine voice. She had to find a way to get rid of the fool before he bored her to death with his crap, and then she made a mental inventory of the arsenal she had available in her surroundings. There was the street watchmen; click. Ah, yes: sexual assault. How lovely. She looked at him and smiled, knowing that the moron was absolutely right; she had to marry him. She was no fool; she knew it would crop up sooner or later, and the silly man was the kind of man she‘d want to ultimately settle down with. However, he was too arrogant, and she had to teach him a lesson or two in manners.
‘I’m considering your proposal, and it seems to be sounding better and better with each passing minute,’ she told him, and she could see his jaws drop. Ah, yes, smile, you fool. That’s the reaction I was waiting for. ‘If you and I get to marry each other, then the twins will live with both parents, but what about me?’
‘What about you?’ Obinna asked, bewildered.
‘Honey, I have a career and fan bases that will make the army of Darius seem like child’s play. If I were to get married to you, then it may affect my career, so I need some sort of financial leverage that will keep me in good stead. You’ll have to be furnishing me with a monthly salary that will be used for shopping and other miscellaneous expenses. However, it will be huge. But before we say more, why don’t we seal this with a kiss?’
She stood up and moved to Obinna, and before he could react to what she’d said, her mouth clamped down on his. She felt his body go rigid in shock as she tasted him, and then the shock dissolved and she felt his hands encircle her waist. She stroked his hair as she kissed him, and then her fingers went to his buttons and began to work on them slowly, her touch light as the touch of a lone feather. She was also aware that he was unfastening her blouse, and she almost smiled with satisfaction; their kiss prevented her from doing so.
She could feel the desire that knifed through him as a shudder rippled through his long frame, and she thought: good dog. But the surprise came when she felt the rush of heat that swept through her in a wave, and she was angry at the blatant betrayal of her by her body which she should be controlling. However, it worked to let her be aware of the fact that the fireworks that existed between the two of them were something she had no control over herself. With this man she may well be the wanton sex freak, with no inhibitions.
They held each other in the long kiss for an almost indeterminate period of time, and then Adamma pulled away. She pulled her top open almost entirely, ripping the fabric, and then she lifted one perfectly arched brow as Obinna gave her a quizzical look.
‘You just tore my dress while you were trying to force yourself on me,’ she told him. ‘Now I’ll have to go and report you to the security men of this street so they can teach you one or two lessons.’
Without giving the shocked Adonis before her the time to react to her shocking accusation, she turned around and fled from the room. She sped towards the front entrance, and then she had the front door open so she could go to her freedom. Suddenly, she stopped short, her brows furrowed in annoyance, for, standing on the front porch, his eyes fixed on the screen of his phone as he typed out an email at lightning speed, was Daniel, the man who had saved her from the seedy life of the clubs.
He wore the perfectly tailored all-white suit with a fashionable flair. His smile was disarming, and he slowly lifted his full eyebrows at Adamma’s haste and disheveled appearance. When he saw the top curves of her breast through the torn material of her shirt, his pupils dilated for just a fraction of a second before it was replaced by a frown. She loved him very much, this man who was like a brother to her, and she didn’t want to do anything that would hurt his feelings.
‘There’s nothing wrong with me,’ she told him breathlessly. But in her mind she knew that the punishment she’d intended to dish out to Obinna had to be postponed for some other time because there was no way she could get past Dan in her hurry to the gate.
‘Are you busy?’ the handsome man asked suspiciously. ‘And what’s up with your shirt?’
‘Oh, Dan, my darling, I actually wasn’t expecting you to be here!’ Adamma gushed with a false effusiveness. ‘And, you do look great and fabulous. How are you?’
Dan frowned at her and then demanded, slightly offended and flustered at her manner, ‘Am I such an unwelcome visitor to you that you’re trying to get rid of me even before I’ve had the opportunity to come in and exchanged a word or two with you? Or are you very busy right now? And what were you doing? You look flushed.’
That’s because I’ve been busy kissing the father of my children who happens to be a very handsome devil that deserves to be thoroughly punished by me, she thought, but before she could summon a baked-up reply to the question, Obinna breezed out towards them with a radiant smile that was totally charming lighting up his handsome face. He gave Adamma a winning smile. Adamma watched, horrified as his left hand circled her waist and he leaned his face into her hair. And then she was able to realize what a picture they must make to the amused man who was watching them with a bemused expression: Obinna without his jacket, and she with the buttons on her dress undone, and also with her shirt half torn off from her body; and she was looking flushed. She was terribly appalled. We look like lovers who were caught in the act.
Dan’s eyes widened dramatically with understanding. ‘My darling, you should have told me that you were busy, with such a handsome man with you. And I must have really interrupted something, dear, yes?’
‘You interrupted nothing!’ she denied hotly, feeling heat rushing to her cheeks. She flung off Obinna’s hand. ‘I was doing absolutely nothing. Come in, my dear Dan.’ She waved him in with a fake flourish, but she was inwardly seething at Obi. God, she’d sooo deal with the fool!
Dan fell into a gale of laughter. ‘Me, come in? Certainly not, because I know that your friend will feel that I’m intruding on the privacy you need to continue with what you were doing with each other. He won’t be happy, no?’
Obinna’s face broke into a smile. ‘You guessed right, Dan. And please do not let us keep you from leaving. Also, remind me to buy you a bottle of beer for our upcoming engagement.’
Dan’s smile never faltered for once, but Adamma felt a shift in his friendliness. He was now wary and unhappy, with the look of shock appearing in his eyes which were directed at her. Her heart sank with at his plight. Now rigid with shock at Obinna’s audacious manipulation of her once again, her gaze flicked from the face of one man to the other in astonishment. Dan was supposed to be raving mad and filled with jealousy_ she wanted him to be. He, who had severally professed his undying love for her for the better part of a decade, was still smiling when he received news of her engagement. It was unfair. And they were laughing at her misery.
‘But, you’ve got it all wrong!’ she cried out, her face nearly downcast with shame, her voice trembling with indignation and fury.
‘Oh yes, as wrong as the buttons on your shirt,’ Dan said laughingly, blithely unconcerned about Adamma’s pallid face as she glanced down at her dress to find the top curves of her breasts revealed. With a squeal, she hastily buttoned up as Dan made his exit, laughing uncontrollably at her obvious discomfiture.
Chuckling wickedly, Obi laid a hand on her shoulder but she screamed and sprang away from his touch as if she had been touched with a burning brand. Eyes burning with fury, she clenched her fists with frustration and glared at him, narrowly missing hitting his arrogant face with her clenched fists. And if she dared to do so, who knew what further threats he’d inflict upon her? What further agony? What about the question pertaining to her kids?
Plastering a fake smile on her stunning face she was miles away from feeling, she addressed him icily. ‘Obi, I will go with you to wherever the fuck you kept my children. And please be aware that the man you just told off is in fact the very man who saved my life. I owe that man everything.’
‘Are the both of you an item?’
She snorted, and the look she fixed upon him would have wilted flowers. ‘It’s none of your business, but since you wish to know, I love that man with all my heart.’
Obinna opened his mouth to say something, thought better of it, and then he closed his mouth. She added his furious, stricken expression to the gallery of what she’d enjoy when she had the time to do so. Ah, how she’d enjoy pissing him off. It was worth it. She loved Dan very much, but as a brother or a close friend, but it wouldn’t hurt to keep that information hidden from Obi, no?