"I wasn't happy, following my friends to the pub at all." Mr. Ray continued. Janet was now more attentive, it seemed she believes the love story would benefit her in one aspect or the other. She had shown so much interest in the story and wouldn't mind even of the story would take hours before it ends.
"Throught our journey to the pub, I was sober." He continued. "My mood wasn't good at all. Well, you know I got no choice, wether I was happy or not, no one cared.
* * *FLASHBACK
"But, why will you force me to do something when you know I'm not happy with it?" Raymond had asked his friends while they were in the car, on their way to the pub. "Can't you just let me be?"
"Will you shut up or I shut you up!" Marvellous who was sitting in the front with Israel shouted.
Raymond had no choice. According to him, he was the only protagonist in the car in the middle of the antagonist. So, in that situation, he had to caution himself so that something unexpected would not happen.
Later, they got to their destination. Raymond watched as Israel, Samad and Marvellous alighted from the car but he sat still, not moving at all. He was even not interested in coming down from the car, not to talk of entering the pub.
"Tell me why you are still sitting in the car." The annoyed Samad said.
"Because I'm not interested in entering the pub with you." Raymond said.
"Is something wrong with your head?" Marvellous shouted on him. "Why, do you think, we've brought you here? Is it for you to stay in the car and watch us as we enter? Will you just come out of the car now before I do something crazy!"
He had no choice. According to him, he had created the problem for himself. He shouldn't have accepted them in his house in the first place.
"Pub in Nigeria is not a safe place to go." He thought. "Because that's where Coc*ine, Mariju*n* and other hard drugs are commonly used. What if Policemen come, looking for a drug addict, won't they arrest everybody?"
Well, he prayed God see him through the night, after the night, he would know how to chase people out of his house. He came out of the car and entered the pub with them. Since, he was after his own privacy, he looked for a dark corner and sat there all alone.
Israel, Samad and Marvellous went to got some drinks for themselves. Remembering they've brought someone along with them, they decided to look for him and ask him about what he would like to drink. But since he was sitting in a dark corner, finding him was not an easy task.
Raymond saw his friend looking around, they even passed before him unknowingly. He knew they must have been looking for him, but he didn't come out of the dark corner as he thought they have decided to get him drunk or make him dance with a prostitute on the dance floor.
"Who are you looking for?" Jenny said as the three guys ran in to her while she was holding Racheal alongside with Abigail. Rachael looked frustrated as she was being held in the middle by Jenny and Abigail, but they wouldn't let her go as well.
"We've come here with a friend of ours." Israel replied. "But we don't know where he has gone to."
"Well, of you'd switched on your flashlight, you will know you've passed before him unknowingly while you were looking for him." Abigail said.
"He is sitting in a dark corner around there." Jenny added.
"Thanks a lot." The guys appreciated and then turned back to the direction of which they were coming from. Going to dark corner in which Jenny had pointed to and switching on their flashlight, they found him. He was even dozing at that time.
"Will you like to go back home and sleep?" Marvellous said, in other to wake Raymond up.
"Yeah, something like that." Raymond said as he opened his eyes and then realised he was still in the pub. "Omo, which kind of problem is this? You people know I'm going to work tomorrow and yet you brought me to a devil's vigil. Once I'm not able to sleep tonight, how will I be able to work properly tomorrow?"
"You will soon get used to it." Israel said.
"Which one is; you will soon get used to it? Who told you I will ever follow you here again? I'm telling you, this will be my first and the last time of coming here."
"Okay." Samad said. "If you say so."
"The girl sitting in the middle over there looks alluring." Israel said to Raymond pointing at Rachael who was sitting in the middle of Jenny and Abigail. "Won't you go and to her?"
"Have I come here to talk to ladies as well?" Raymond said in anger. Then he looked at the girl and was shocked. "This is the most beautiful girl I've ever seen in my life!" He exclaimed
"Should I help you talk to her?" Samad asked.
"No, don't." Raymond replied. "I'm not interested in being with a prostitute."
"Who told you she is a prostitute?" Marvellous asked. " Does she looks like one?"
"Isn't she a prostitute?" Raymond asked. "What is she doing in a pub if she is not a prostitute?"
"Raymond." Marvellous called. "It's not all the girls you see in a pub that are prostitutes. Some had followed their boyfriend's here. Some had actually come for a drink. Some had actually come to catch fun. And even, the funniest part is, some are looking for a date."
"Then, what do you think she has come for?" Raymond asked
"You find out by having some discussions with her." Marvellous said.
"Me?" Raymond was shocked.
"Why did you say: Me?" Samad asked. "Is there something so special about you? Go and talk to her, is that a problem?"
"No, I'm not interested in talking to her." Raymond said.
"Then, you have two options my brother." Marvellous said. "Is either I get you drunk or you talk to her."
He has been threatened again and for the very first time he hated himself. Now, he has to chose from two frustrating options but he guessed the second option was preferable.
"Okay" Raymond said. "But how am I going to talk to her when her friends are there?"
"I will talk to her friends now, and they will excuse us." Marvellous said.
BACK TO THE PREVIOUS SCENE.
"I didn't know what Marvellous said to her friends." Mr. Ray continued. "But they left the place immediately. I approached the girl reluctantly and said hello to her, but she looked frustrated. Then, I made it known to her that I was forced by my friends to talk to her, infact I was forced to the place. It was then that her anger died down. She told me she was forced to the place by her friends as well, and this will be her first time coming to a pub as well. She told me she has never been with a man. Our stories were similar and we fell in love. In a month's time, I married her."
"Bravo." Janet clapped her hands. "So, you thought mom was a prostitute in the first place."
"Trust me, I wouldn't have married her if she was. Infact if she had been with a man before, I would have left her, or even have sex with her and start avoiding her. I'm telling you about men, once they discover you live a miserable life, their love for you decreases, infact they will only start thinking of having s*x with you and run away from you afterwards. Janet, no matter how deep James's love is for you, it will vanish ince he discovers how bad you've been. That's all I got to say."
Tears covered her eyes as she heard these from her father. She wept bitterly.
"I don't want to lose James." She cried. "Dad, I will change my ways."
She wiped her tears and then discovered that she is trouble as Gbolahan and his friends would be after her. The only way to get out of the trouble is to leave the vicinity. She couldn't tell her dad about the guys but instead she gave another excuse.
"Dad, let's move out of this area to protect my image please."
Thinking about what she said, he discovered it was true. Many at times he had been passin by in the area and people start pointing at him, saying "That's the whore's father." Everyone knows him as the father of a whore. He needed to move out of the area not only to protect Janet's image but to protect his own image as well.
The next day, Mr. Ray and his family moved out of the area.