Chapter 4

When I got there the guy was walking away. I let him go. I didn’t know how it happened. Maybe Gold was distracted and collided with him. How come you’re this handsome but have that shallow voice and impatient attitude? I thought looking at the guy back. I picked the phone from the ground and passed it to her.

“It’s okay. Life happens sometimes,” I smiled.

She’s much more beautiful outside the camera. She was short, but with more eye-catching backside, I believe Nini wouldn’t be able to compete. For a second I wonder how she will feel when she suddenly know that her rival got more structural shape than her. But the gods are wise, Nini is generally appealing, since she got a more fairer body. I grinned like a baby and pretended I haven’t see her confusion. She was looking at me, trying to process what the exact thing was going on. I decided to help her out.

“Stop looking at me that way,” I said. “I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t worried about you. I thought something more dangerous happened.”

“It can’t be true right?” she said, surprised. But not much. All of a sudden she started blushing.

I stuffed the phone in her hand.

“Dumb head,” I said. “You’re blushing instead of collecting your phone from me.”

She said nothing. Just standing there. I waved my hand in her face like saying, Hey! Are you there? You’re seeing my rigid hand right?

She smiled.

“I can see you,” she said. “But so fast? I don’t really believe in superstition, I always thought Nollywood are lying.”

I said nothing to that. She removed the sim cards out of the phone and placed it in her backpack. She kept the phone too. When she was done she didn’t know how to react anymore. I started smiling.

“At least stop smiling. As a coach a situation like this you’re supposed to guide me,” she said, twisting the logic. But she said it with a clean beautiful face.

“You know the road and you’re telling me to guide you?” I said. “No wonder you collided with that guy.”

She laughed. “Was it not you that caused it? Since our training started I’ve hurt myself more than eight times.”

I wasn’t sure if she was just saying that for fun. But she turned and showed me some bruises.

“I fell down two times,” she said. “The remaining times I will hit someone head-on or someone hit me. I bumped into a cab once.”

“Maybe training and smartphones are not compatible,” I said. “I will round up your training before going back, to avoid more trouble. Now let’s leave small talk. You will lead the road? Or you’re still busy talking about Nollywood?

We started jogging together. She knew the terrain. She said she relocated some years ago, that initially Lagos was her base, but although her family are in IBD and OSGB. I listened to her as we go. When she got tired we would walk, I told her no rest until we’re done.

“Are you leaving immediately?” she said after giving her phone to the smart engineer she said he’s the best. Maybe and maybe not, but the guy look competent. He was still sleeping when we disturbed him. I could guess the guy likes her, but he’s the type that wasn’t bold enough to say what he’s feeling.

I nodded. “I should. I still have some other things to do at home.”

She went sullen. Dropping her emotion to ground zero. She nodded her head but wasn’t saying anything. We walked on.

But where are we going? We’re not jogging anymore, are we?

“Gold, …”

“Don’t say Gold,” she glared at me and cut me off. “Not that I was begging you to stay with me. But going back all of a sudden is unfair. I hate you.”

What? I wanted to scold her and demand for respect. But boom! She started running. At first I wasn’t thinking much of it. But suddenly I had a bad feeling. I kickstart and ran after her.

She could run fast. More than average compare to most people. But she couldn’t run faster than me.

“You think going around with that two short legs make you invisible?” I caught up with her and said.

“I don’t want to talk to you, you can go back since that is what you want to do,” she said not looking at me.

“Alright then,” I said and vanished into thin air.

I got back home and changed. Nini already left for work and prepared some silly food for me. I ate it. After making sure the room is in order I closed the door and went to Victoria shop.

“The Man,” Victoria said when she saw me. It was her way of taunting me. Within a week we knew each other she counted five different women, in which I told her none of which is my girlfriend. The next day it was a new title she brought for me, The Man. And since then I’ve got used to it. I even felt it’s cool. In the end I assumed it’s because we are higher animal, since that is what biology called us. Or was it science or in agricultural? I wasn’t paying much attention back in secondary school.

“The Woman,” I said back. It had never sit well with her. She glared back.

“Don’t call me the woman,” she blew her cheeky face at me. “Get married but you said no. I don’t even know if those girls are just like you, wasting time for nothing. And they’re dumb, chasing a man like you. What the heck?”

“You can’t see what they see, doesn’t matter if you’re using microscope.” I said and got serious.

“What about the Eagle FM?” I asked.

She got serious too.

“I think we should go there personally, today maybe,” she said. “Their boss was making it seem like a big deal. It is just placing advert and he was talking big.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “Those big radio always assumed they’re some big-shot head in the clay soil son of bitches. Let’s pay him a visit this afternoon.”

Victoria glared at me and pouted. “You think you’re more better than them? You’re taking women and dumping them, what make you think you’re different?”

“Have you gotten your salary?” I asked.

She was smiling and kissing my ass the next moment. She even said there’s this one girl coming to her shop lately to buy medicine. She said she knew I will like her. I told her to fuck off and sat down on my plastic chair, I bought it and put it in her shop, I always it while thinking and sipping Fearless energy drink.

By now Gold emotional state will be upsidedown, I thought. Dumb head. Taunting a man you already know can disappear and reappear at any fucking time he feels like, huh? Good for you. And now there’s no phone she can use to call me. Maybe I shouldn’t have left that way. Whatever, was she not the one making an ass out of it? I shrugged.

I didn’t know Victoria was watching me.

“The Man, The Man!” she said, mocking me. “The Isaiah Lasisi of our time. Are you thinking about another girl?”

“Your mother,” I cursed.

“Mo sin yin je,” she said and ran off.

I smiled.

She meant I said the same thing as you. It mean copy and paste in computer. I repeat what you said and say it back to you. I watched her go. I liked her. But she already had a kid.

To helped her back then I signed her as my personal assistant, doing absolutely nothing. Well, maybe doing something. At least I felt happy seeing her around. And she’s always happy too, when I’m with her. I guess that is what a life well lived is all about? In the journey it is the simple things that usually end up being matters, like getting glared at and hearing Mo sin yin je from the women you cared about?

My phone beeped. I checked it. It was Nini. Her message read: Come to our shop after you left Sis Victoria shop. I clicked my phone and put it to sleep.

I didn’t text her back. Because I wasn’t sure if I will be able to go.