Ruth Vicissitudes - Episode 7

 

“Cynthia, why the glooming face?” asked Charles who went on a visit to her small apartment after closure from work. Cynthia had just finished eating a meal prepared by her cousin Esther who was on a holiday at her place. She definitely was in one of her good moods even when seeing his fiancé, she kept a pale face. Something deeper bothered her, something that had been in her mind and wasn’t happy about, the sad note on her face;
“It’s my dad o honey, I think you still need to talk to him . he is still insisting that my mother cant be at our wedding, imagine” she opened up.
“I thought that issue was long sorted out”, he said dropping his bag and somethings that he bought along on the floor, sitting close to Cynthia on the leather upholstery. Cynthia’s parents always had this age-long quarrel and differences even after so many years, the situation had gone from bad to worse and all efforts to resolve the never ending differences proved furtive, they couldn’t even sit on the same table. Detailed reason for their quarrel unknown to Charles but Cynthia claimed it had to deal with the issue of infidelity. Her father hated his ex-wife so much that he couldn’t bear the mention of her name.
“I believed the issue was sorted out especially after my uncle had spoken to him but it still remains the same unchanged fate. Few minutes ago, I spoke with my father on the phone and he said he would no longer come to the wedding as he did not want to sit on the same table with ‘that harlot’ as he calls my mother” she said, a deep frown marrying her smooth face

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. Charles drew closer to her and comforted her.
“Don’t worry about it sweetheart, I’m sure he will change his mind. I will try to talk to him”, he stated assuringly.
“Hmmm, he had better o or does he want me to go and rent a father somewhere else? Who will walk me down the aisle?” she grumbled. Esther who was sitting on an armchair laughed hysterically at her statement.
“You find it funny right? Wait till it gets to your turn and your dad threatens to boycott your wedding and you will see how amusing it is” Cynthia burst out angrily at her.
“Aha Cynthia, cant I laugh at something that is funny again?”
“Don’t lash it out on her honey, it’s okay. Let’s forget about all that now. Guess what? My mum said I should inform you about some shopping she will be doing in the UK with you. Your wedding gown will be designed there”
“Wow, that’s so amazing of your mum. You know she want to put up a great show stopping wedding”
“I guess so. She is spending so heavily on this you know”
“Sweetheart, it’s a one- time event, that’s all. After all, what matters the most is that we are going to wed. she moved forward and planted a kiss on his lips. Charles excused himself as he headed home to avoid the traffic.
Ericks found one event or the other every time, sometimes manufacturing one just to get to see Ruth accompany him often. Ruth on the other hand who was always timid had suddenly turned to a party freak because of Ericks, she never said no to any of his invites. It became a usual thing and after another night out with her that ended blissfully, Ericks was beginning to get head over heels for her, his previous relationships that ended abysmally was gradually becoming a scar in his life but he wasn’t thankful enough for the new breeze of love that had been blown towards him. there was no way he was going to lose his happiness to anyone, even as negative opinion of losing her sprang up at every juncture in his head.
“Ericks” she bellowed his name again, knowing fully well he wasn’t listening to everything she had been saying. His sudden call of his name jerked him back to reality.
“Yes dear”, he finally answered.
“Where the hell did your mind travel to? I have been lavishing my saliva ever since, talking to myself”
“Nothing of so much importance my love, just thinking about us”
“And what about us if I may ask?”
He let out a deep breath, adjusting his position sideways, facing Ruth one on one and staring into her eyes. He decided not to reveal his thoughts to her, instead engaged her in a deep kiss near the tree they stood. It was the first time they shared a kiss so deeply and romantic. Ericks pulled out slowly from her, his hands still entangled in hers.
“I had a great day with you Ruth. I love you to the depth of my heart”
“Me too dear, I love you too” she pulled right back in and kissed him again for as long as she desired. She didn’t want to let go till she noticed it was getting darker. They mustered some words to each other and went separate ways, bidding each other good night.
The pictures of them making out surfaced at Dolapo’s table in the gazebo of his friend’s duplex. He glance at and flipped the twelve pictures with Lambert and George in furiousness and sets aside anyone that they had seen, a dark complexioned ,man stood in proximity to Dolapo and was sipping his beer.
“Is this everything?” Dolapo asked the man.
“Yes, this is all that I gathered”
“Good, you did a nice job” he handed over an envelope to him. The man counted the notes inside, he nodded at the counting of the final note and turned to Dolapo.
“Its complete sir”
“Keep your monitoring, I want to know everything about the bastard. I will get back to you in two days time” he dismissed him.
“Just take a look at the bastard, smooching and c*ressing my woman” he took a gulp of his brandy that made a croaking sound down his throat and paced about angrily. He lighted a cigarette tucked in between his lips and puffed a big smoke from his nostrils.
“Who is this dude who doesn’t know who he is messing with? Can you imagine his insolent attitude?”
“Shit man, this is a dint to your personality. He is not going away with this”
“I have always suspected something big was fishy for the past one month or so. Damn you Ruth” he cursed under his breath, jamming his fists against the glass table.
“Hey Dollar boy, take it easy man. What we should be thinking is how to deal with the pig and gold digger. Am sure your babe didn’t mean to do what she did”
“George, I don’t think so, she had a choice and she chose to go with this swine. I think she should be dealt with also”
“No, that’s not the way to go George, cut off the neck and the head will fall. We just rejuvenate the way we do it back in Brooklyn and deal with”
“Come on Dollar boy, take this dope man, it will ease off your temper. This is a new product”
George handed over some wrapped paper to him. Dolapo wasn’t a rookie when it comes to sniffing some hard drugs but he had not taken it for a while since his coming back from rehab. He opened them and sniffed for the first time, he did it again and again and he felt really good.
“Yes, that’s the feeling. I feel I am in seventh heaven” he commented
“You should man. I told you there is nothing like taking this, it’s the best thing that could happen to anybody”
Dolapo was thinking straight after sniffing for the umpteenth time, it reminded him of when he took his first, then he was in his first year. His experience was sordid at first as that was the norm of a first timer but subsequent times, he became a pro but it ended badly for him as it catapulted him to a three year rehabilitation after two years of graduation, escaping on the second year. That’s the main reason for his coming back to Nigeria, his parents felt he was badly influenced over there and ordered for his coming home after discovering he was in the eighteenth month of his rehab, a fact Mr. Jude and his family was ignorant of. Dolapo himself never spoke to Ruth about his time in rehab. He suddenly thought of a plan on how to deal with Ericks, a plan he disclosed to his friends who thought it was the right plan. He took more wraps and continued sniffing.
Cynthia, on reaching the office noticed a rather unusual sight in the morning. The number of cars in the park was in contrast to the number of people present in the building. The numbers didn’t tally, the building looked somewhat scanty, and there was only one person in the corridor, that was the secretary who wasn’t perturbed by the event. Cynthia was beginning to imagine that day was a public holiday but she remembered listening to the news before coming and her boss would have alerted her if there was one, she opted to return home but then a thought came to her to ask the secretary, if there was truly a public holiday stipulated by the company, the secretary wouldn’t be at work. Every incident wasn’t prerogative to her suspicion. She proceeded to ask the female secretary to quench her inquisitiveness. 
“Good morning ma”, she greeted.
“Good morning Joana, do you know if we are observing a sort of a holiday? This place seems so scanty”
“Huh, I don’t know myself. I have been here for a while now too and haven’t seen anyone” answered the secretary. After her response, a group chorused behind the door of an office singing a happy birthday song, a big cake with an inscription of ‘Happy birthday Cynthia’ was rolled to the center of the reception. Four gentlemen and five ladies surrounded the cake with flying balloons.
“Happy birthday ma” they all chorused again. The secretary smiled at Cynthia and presented a small gift to her.
“You knew this was going to happen huh? Thank you for this” she appreciated. Cynthia totally forgot it was her birthday, her mouth was left agape at the sight of everything.
“We want to say a very big thank you for the undying efforts and hard work you have put into this company. You are an invaluable asset to this company” one of them appraised her qualities. Claps aroused afterwards and tears of joy dropped from Cynthia’s big eyeballs. This was the first time she had been celebrated in the office since her starting there as a worker.
“I don’t know what to say but thank you all for this masterpiece. Am grateful and happy working with you all and will never let you all down” she stated.
After the speech and cutting of the cake, everyone took his own piece and returned back to work, Sandra, a very close friend of Cynthia accompanied her to her office after dragging her along.
“Sandra, who did all these ? Nobody in this office knows my birthday except you. Unless, you leaked it”
“Chill girl, it’s the boss that organized this, he said he wouldn’t be around today, so he is leaving you in charge for the main time. He also sent his apologies for not being present for your birthday”
A frown appeared on Cynthia’s face at the mention of the boss. Sandra easily identified this;
“What’s the big deal if your boss is organizing a birthday party for one of his workers? That’s shows he values your input in this company”
“I don’t want any of that. I mean people could begin to spread rumour in the air, you know what I mean”
“Its nothing jare. He is holding an all executive party next weekend and he is extending the invite to you”
“I won’t be coming, I will be in the UK for my wedding shopping. Have you forgotten?”
“It’s on Friday night. Just make an appearance and then go” Cynthia agreed and left for work. In as much as she didn’t want to be in that kind of gathering, she had no choice. Ever since her boss became the CEO, she had been favoured in one way or the other. The recent was the promotion she had from a marketer to her present position , his assistant, even when he declined the advice of the board to promote a more qualified person. At first, no one liked her promotion but on the long run, they loved the way she worked with them she treated them like equals and she was loved by all. She felt she didn’t deserve all the favours he had been showering on her because she knew someday, he would ask for some sort of favour back. That’s why she hated favours, not all of them come with good intentions. 
Amidst some tight security around campus following the recent cultist activities and violence and a bomb scare, Ericks got a call from home about an emergency in the evening, he decided to travel that evening and got escorted by his friend Josh to the gate. It took him more time than normal because of the police who made sure every student was properly investigated before exit. After clarification, he boarded a free cab and entered.
“No 18, kuki street” he said to the driver who was putting on black coat. An unknown guy at the black seat dialed a number;
“Boss, we have him in our custody, heading to the slaughter ground”, he ended the call. Ericks who over- heard the conversation suddenly turned backwards to identify the passenger after initially thinking it was the driver. He gave a wicked laughter , so as the driver.
“Who are you please? Don’t hurt me. Am just going to see my parents”
“No, we are your parents. We made the call, just cooperate with us and you will be a free man”.
“What?” Ericks then realized that he had just being kidnapped.

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