"Ama, 9 years" Deji began, "9 years of marriage and you want to throw that away because of your desire to relocate to the UK?" he asked, still dumbfounded.
"It's much more than that Deji and you know it. I've never liked living in this country, I've always told you that this country is not for me" Ama responded, "then why did you get married to me? you knew from the start that this was my home" Deji responded, "Yes I did but I didn't think we would have to live in your home, I was hoping you would get a job in Ghana instead" Ama replied.
"Really?!" Deji said, looking at Ama in disbelief. "Really" Ama responded "I have tried my best to cope with the daily dose of madness that comes with living in Lagos but I think I'm done trying" Ama responded.
Almost immediately, the power went out and there was an awkward silence. "This is exactly what I'm talking about," Ama yelled, "we can't even have a stable power supply for 2 seconds."
"But babe, we live in a serviced estate, the power will be back in less than 5 minutes" Deji countered, "why should it even go at all? Why do I have to put up with an epileptic power supply?" Ama ranted on, "The other day in traffic my bag was snatched at gunpoint along with my phone, I still haven't been able to retrieve some of my contacts till today and you're here telling me stories" she added.
"So because of that you're asking for a divorce?" Deji asked again, "yes and I'm serious. Our marriage can't thrive in this toxic environment. If you're not ready to leave with me, then we will have to go our separate ways" Ama insisted.
"Fine then, suit yourself" Deji said, taking his Apron off and throwing it on the kitchen counter before storming out to the bedroom.
Later that night he ended up going alone to visit his friend Charles in his guest house as he and Ama were not on talking terms. After much pleasantries and catching up on old times, Charles finally asked about Ama, "but wait o, weren't you supposed to be coming with your wife?" Charles asked, "how come she's not here with you?"
"It's a long story" Deji responded as he began to narrate what had happened earlier that day to his friend.
"But guy, I've been telling you to come to England for the longest time, why are you so bent on staying back here? Dem swear for you?" He asked playfully punching Deji on his shoulder, "Guy, na you dey talk like dis?" Deji began, "Do you want me to live a job that pays me close to 1million naira to go to wash dead bodies in the UK?" Deji asked, "who tell you say na wetin we dey do for there?" Charles replied, "Besides, this your 1M wey you they shout, how much is 1M naira in pounds? It's chicken change mehn!" Charles responded, "that's less than £2000 bruv, it can't even pay my rent" Charles boasted, "that one is your headache" Deji responded, "It is paying my rent on the island plus bills and I still have money to travel to your almighty UK on vacation and come back up to 3 times a year if I want. Baba rest!" He concluded.
"So you're really going to sit back and watch your wife leave?" Charles asked, "you want to throw away 9 years of marriage with your beautiful wife and kids because of your stupid job and ego" he added, "please let's talk about something else, don't spoil my mood" Deji added, "think am well o" Charles said, "how much is £2000 wey you no go let us rest?" He hissed.
***
Meanwhile, somewhere on the island, Chinedu was at a barbecue party with his friend Michael. They had been enjoying the delicious food and music, sitting on Acapulco chairs and smoking cigarettes while admiring different ladies. Chinedu was the perfect definition of a very good bad guy, he was very handsome, tall and was good with words. He had many women chasing after him and most times he was generous enough to let himself go round everyone. He was not the richest guy but he was comfortable, he had a nice car and a decent apartment which served as his slaughterhouse for all the ladies that fell for his charm. He easily got bored of the ladies he was involved with and would drop them like a hot potato once he had sucked the life out of them.
Chinedu had been nursing the idea of relocating abroad and recently, his focus was on Canada, he had vowed that he would do everything possible to get to Canada even if it meant he had to marry a man and relocate with him as his spouse, he was that desperate. He had tried getting a work permit to Canada but was duped to the sum of 5million naira by fraudsters and given a fake work permit, he was lucky his friend discovered that the document was fake before he attempted to submit his application, if not, he would probably be facing a 5 year visa ban imposed by Canadian immigration for presenting fraudulent documents in a visa application.
As he sat smoking and chatting with Michael, a group of three ladies arrived in skimpy outfits looking like models, they made such an entrance that people around couldn't help but stare at them as they approached.
Of course Chinedu's eagle eyes had immediately spotted them, he was checking out two of them and whispering something about them to Michael. The ladies had spotted vacant seats at a table not too far away from them and were settling in their seats when the third one suddenly stood up and began walking in their direction, they both looked at each other, wondering why she could be coming towards them,
" do you know her?" Michael whispered looking suspiciously at Chinedu, "she doesn't look familiar" Chinedu shrugged, "Are you sure she's not one of your numerous one night stands?" Michael asked, "Let me know so I know whether to start running" he continued " because I can't deal with another one of your crazy girls tonight" he added. "What do you mean?" Chinedu replied, "how are we so sure, she's not coming for you?" he hissed as he turned to see the lady stop right in front of him.
Confused, Chinedu began racking his brain thinking of why she had chosen to pick on him and wondering where he had met her before then. The last time he found himself in a similar situation was at a club with a random girl he had slept with who turned out to be a cousin to his then girlfriend. She had randomly bumped into him at a restaurant and was threatening to stab him with a bottle because she found out later that Chinedu was dating her cousin.
Now he was in a similar situation and just like during the last incident, there was a bottle of beer sitting majestically on the table right beside him. Once again, he was trapped, there was nowhere to run or hide and worse still he didn't have the slightest idea who this mystery lady was.