He ignored her and gestured at Alhaji's calm face. "You have a bad habit of visiting unannounced."
Alhaji shrugged. "What can I say? You are an interesting fellow."
"And a bad host," Mrs Yasmin added. "Since we're still standing out here."
"He's busy," Soliat said, informing him of her presence.
Internally, he grinned, let's see how Efe would react. He opened the gate with a feigned indifference, aware of Mrs Yasmin's piercing glances. The last he had seen her was three months ago and she looked the same, wore her expensive looking hijab and her quality wrapper, and smelled of tangerine. Every time he saw her, he was reminded of her unique scent and it itched his nose, a good itching because he longed to bury his nose in the crook of her neck and inhale her scent. Instinctively, he stepped back when she came in and she narrowed her eyes at him.
When Efe saw them, he groaned softly, was this neighborly outreach or gossip hunting? He got up and brought seats for him, eyeing Soliat from the corner of his eyes.
"The heat is too much," Edegbe was saying. "It would be better to stay outside."
"So, you're telling me that there's no AC in his house of yours?" Mrs Yasmin asked.
"There is, but I want to stay outside and you're my guests, you can't go inside when I'm outside."
"Bad host."
He ignored her and turned to Alhaji. "There's nothing to offer except alcohol, if you're okay with that."
"No," he waved. "We'll pass."
"Why are you here then?" He asked them.
"We heard about your farm, such an unfortunate event. I can imagine how terrible you feel and how you must have come to hate the things around here."
Edegbe was shaking his head. "The people here have to be another specie of human, let's say Homo Ignomo."
"You're funny," Alhaji laughed.
"He is?" Mrs Yasmin asked. "He's insulting you and the people you grew up with and you say he's funny."
"He's a peace maker for a reason," Soliat whispered.
"The other day we drove by a wedding ceremony and my interest was piqued, so I told my driver to pack. When I got down, guess what I saw? A nine year old marrying a grandfather. Guess what else I saw? His four wives, matured women, sitting by his side and watching their husband marry somebody their last child could be older than. What would you call that?" He remembered that day like the first time he made his millions. People had gathered, especially women, and he could see in their eyes the striking jealousy of a mother over another whose children they were proud of. And the girls by their side looked sullen, sad that they were not the one to make their mothers proud.
The bride was adorned with colorful beads, her cultural attire resembling rafia, the tops hanging from her flat chest and stopping above her midriff, and the beads around her waist danced as she moved to the beats of the drums. Her skirt, of the same material with her top, was short and her straight thin thigh did not quiver as she matched. She was holding a calabash, dancing to the man with Dracula brown teeth and as Edegbe pictured the both of them in bed, he nearly choked on his own saliva.
"It was an alarming display of madness," he said. "Has a girl of nine even started seeing her period? Even if she has, can she carry a child at that age? No wonder during population census the northern states always comes out most populated. What is he even going to enjoy with a small girl like that?"
"Some men has this natural fetish for girls who has just started growing breasts." Mrs Yasmin shrugged.
"And so it's right? My driver tells me prepubescent affairs like that are normal here." He remembered the time when a woman approached him and asked if he was interested in her daughter. He had glanced at the girl, a little older than twelve, and he had to fight the urge to strangle the woman, and he concluded that he hated the North.
"But there must be something you like from around here," Alhaji said.
He thought for a while. "The food, maybe?"
"What about your bouncer?" Mrs Yasmin asked, looking at Efe who stood by the side.
Soliat looked at him, curious too.
"He's my friend," Edegbe corrected, why was the woman intent on calling him his bouncer?
"He acts like he's your bouncer. See him standing by your side, a friend would have brought a chair and sat by you, smiling and adding to the conversation but he's just standing."
"You seem very interested in him."
"I did say he's a handsome man." She crooked her head to the side. "So, Mr Bouncer, is there anything you like in the north?"
"The women are beautiful and curvy and very submissive in bed," Efe replied, his eyes locking with Soliat for a while.
"So the two men from south like two different kind of food in the north. And about your farm and how you reacted," she shook her head. "With the way you're going, you're going to make more enemies than progress."
"How do you even know about the farm?"
"That's not the point, you should let your bouncer do the work if you tend to run your tongue when you're angry."
Edegbe was beginning to get angry. "Mrs Yasmin, do you have a problem with me?"
"This is the first time you're saying my name."
"What?"
"You said my name, Yasmin. It means fragrant jasmine flower, what does Edegbe mean?"
It did not make any sense that everything about the woman made Edegbe asked why. Why her hair appeared curly, why her skin looked fairer than normal, why she wore long hijabs, why she wore wrappers, and why she wanted to know the meaning of his name. It made him curious. "Why?"
"You called me stupid, I called you insensible, I told you the meaning of my name, you should tell me yours." She looked at him waiting for a reply, he looked at her unsure of what to say.
Soliat shifted on her seat and whispered to Alhaji. "What is happening?"
He whispered back. "Something interesting none of us should interrupt."
"When was the last time she looked at somebody like that?"
"I don't even think she's ever looked at anybody like that."
Soliat giggled.
Efe watched them. As Edegbe had said, they were too close for comfort. His eyes went back to Mrs Yasmin when she stood up.
"If you're not going to tell me what your name means, then you'll let me see your house. The interior." She started walking to the front door.
Edegbe raced after her. "Aren't you supposed to ask for my permission first?"
"I just did. You can give me the tour if you want." She opened the door and he followed her and when he shut the door behind them, he grabbed her wrist and dragged her back to the door. Then he slammed his hand behind her, trapping her between him and the door.
"Why does it feel like you like to rile me up?"
"Do you know that you blink with just one eyes sometimes?" She touched his left eye and kept her hand there. "Especially when your upset."
Edegbe was aware of her finger on his eye, not because it blurred his sight, but because it was warm against his skin and he imagined her finger, all of it, on his hand, around his shoulder, on his chest. He back away from her, leaving enough space between them. "Is that why you are always getting me upset?" He managed to say.
She moved away from the door with an ease that had him surprise, did she not feel the same way he… "So this is what your house looks like." She trailed a finger on the furniture. "I like your kitchen and dining, I like how they are fused together. You cook?"
"Yes."
"I thought he is your assistant?" She pointed a crooked thumb towards the door where Efe stood outside.
"I cook," he firmed. He didn't want to tell her about Efe.
She pulled out a chair and sat down, looking around. "Can I have that shot of alcohol?"
He looked at her, askance but opened up the cupboard and brought out a bottle of his favorite. He uncorked the cap and poured two half filled glasses. He pushed hers to her side and raised his to his mouth but stopped when he saw that she held hers in the air towards him waiting for a toss. He clinked his glass to hers.
"You did it again," she said.
"What?"
"The one eye blink."
She was crazy, he had decided, who blinked with one eye? "How did you hear about my farm?"
"I sold the land to you, of course I heard."
"So you keep tabs on every property you've sold?"
"Only yours so far. Show me around."
He acquiesced with a nod, if he didn't, she would show herself anyway. There was not much to show, still he indulged her. In his office, the glass door slid automatically and Edegbe remembered Victor's repeated movement so that he could watch the door open and close
"So this is where Mr South thinks to make the little money he has." She eyed the documents on his desk but didn't open it. "So what surprised you the most in the north?"
He did not have to think. "The people, the rich people. In Benin, you'd always see northerners as cobblers, wheelbarrow pushers, trucker pushers, scavengers, herdsmen, those jobs that demand you look dirty and poor. The women do not do much except bear children. You rarely see an Hausa woman without a child to her back or in her hand. So when I came here, I was surprised."
"That we have wealth and class, and that we did not have jobs that demanded we look dirty, and that the women do not always have a child to her back."
"You know, you have a way of twisting words."
"Are you also surprised that we have intelligent people, you man from south?"
"I have a name, you know?"
"So I can call you by your name?" She finished her drink and placed the glass on the desk.
"Isn't that what everybody calls me?"
She gave him a serious look. "I meant by your name," she paused. "No honorific, no Mr, just Edegbe, can I?"
There was no thoughts in his head, as well as no words in his mouth. Why couldn't he be as bold as she was and say yes? But did they not need to be close for that kind of familiarity? Why did she even want to call him by his name?
"You don't want to tell me what your name means, you don't want me to call you by your name, I should leave." She walked out of the study and he watched her, feeling stupefied. When she was out of his sight, he exhaled heavily and gulped down the remaining of his drink, letting the hotness burn his throat, then muttering a few curses, he ran after her.
She had already opened the door when he got to it and he closed it with a bang. He was sure the people outside would be surprised but that, now, was his least worry. "I'm no longer attracted to Soliat," he said.
"What?" She asked although she had heard, but if chased after her, she wanted him bold, she wanted her man to have audacity and not the type that was palpable when he was angry over a little girl being molested, and subtle when he hovered around her. Her man?
He repeated louder, more confidently. "I'm no longer attracted to Soliat."
"Okay." She grabbed the door.
He yanked her hand off it. "Jesus, wait!" He groaned. He couldn't believe what he was about to ask, but he knew he would not sleep that night, like other nights when he started to think of her, if he did not get this closure. Finally, he asked, looking into her eyes. "Are you still attracted to my bouncer?" Then he waited, and if he was not so expectant, he would have sworn he saw her lips pull up in a small smile.
"Actually, I was never attracted to him."
Nothing would have stopped what he said next. "You can call me Edegbe."
"Call me Yasmin."