The Picnic - Episode 7

 

Happy new month to you all!!!

Soon Rukky's lip were buried inside Duro's mouth as he tentatively sucked on her lip as though sucking on lolipop. Rukky could hear a voice telling her it's way too early, but she was sucked in to say no.
 "I have no idea what came over me" Rukky complained covering her face with her palm.
 "I'm so ashame of my actions, I don't kiss on first date" she chipped in and Duro moved close to her, they kissed once more. His fingers ran up and down her spine as their lips crushed together. 
"Good night" she quickly chipped in and Duro  sucked on her lower lip then he watched her walk out of the car till he couldn't see her anymore. 
Rukky entered the house meeting her mom by the door . "Mummy good evening" she greeted clearing her throat.
"Shebi you say na one man like that?" Her mom asked referring to her reply in the morning. She has been watching with Omo from the window. 
"Na the.." Rukky stalled and then her mother left with an indifferent expression on her face. "Sorry" Omo apologized, "she caught me staring"
"It's okay, I'll talk to her later"
"I thought you don't kiss on first date" Omo teased, "I don't, I just couldn't help it"
"Could It be that you're already in love with him"
"I don't love him" Rukky brushed my shoulder against Omo's shoulder walking into the room. "Look at you! You're already glowing

All episodes of this story can be found here >> https://www.ebonystory.com/story/the-picnic

. Abeg you're in love jhoor"

On Monday, the first thing Victor did on getting to work was to submit the log book in Duro's office. Duro glared at him and Victor wondered why he had the tough look on. 
 "Sir, I hope no problem"
"What is it by the time?" Duro asked and Victor glanced at his watch that had stopped working. "I said what time is it?"
"Sir, the watch is for fancy. It doesn't work"
"9:55, you're supposed to report earlier"
"Sir.... The log book"
"Don't blame the log book Victor" Duro snapped then showed him a picture of him surrounded by girls in a club.
"You were drunk"
"It was my birthday yesterday, I and some friends celebrated it at club exclusive. I didn't wake up early cause I was nursing a hangover. I'm sorry I woke up late"
Duro gazed closely at him then shifted focus to the log books. "Does this contain all the name of persons present at the gathering"
"Yes sir, including the workers"
"Get the team together" he ordered and Victor nodded leaving then he turned back at him. "I'm sorry for the lie"
"Get the team Victor" he cut in and Victor left. During gave a soft chuckle afterwards.

Maimuna walked towards Kazeem's flat. She could hear indistinct chattering and laughter. She pressed the door knob then walked in to see him with a lady in NYSC uniform. Muna's countenance changed. She knew the lady from her secondary school days.
"There's something called knocking" Kazeem teased, "Good morning to you too" she replied and Kazeem shook his head at how adamant his cousin could be. 
"Good morning Muna" Fatima greeted, "Abeg save your greetings Fatima" Muna snapped and Kazeem frowned. "So you're still with this thing" Muna chipped in and Fatima pulled her bag closer.
"I'll take my leave" Fatima announced and Kazeem held her back. "No one is going anywhere"
"I have to get those gifts I told about" she lied faking a smile. "Bye Kazeem" she added then walked towards the door. 
"I'll call you" he promised as he watched her leave.
"I thought she left, why are you still with her?"
"She left for service in Borno" "I expected Boko Haram to have killed her or for her to die in one riot like that. Why does she have to be so lucky" "I don't understand why you hate that girl so much, she's the sweetest thing ever"
"She's not even  a virgin, she losed her virginity in secondary school."
"I know and I know she regrets her  action. She's not the  same person again. We're preparing a wedding and she doesn't want s*x. She has been celibate for five years"
"Can we not talk about that slut?"
"Don't call her names" Kazeem argued. "She's a slut and will forever be a slut"
Kazeem opened the door for Muna to leave, "Because of her?" She asked and Kazeem looked away.

The door bell rang, Ugo opened the door to see Omo dressed in a pink gown, holding a customer bag up. "I made breakfast"
"That's very thoughtful of you. Come in" Ugo said and she did. Ugo collected the nylon keeping it on a shelf.
"What are you doing here? If my room mate comes, she might start to cause wahala"
"How's she?"
"Abeg, I no feel like say make I yarn her talk now, I have to be at the police station"
"Why?" Omo asked, "Bola case na, I've been called for questioning"
After a brief silence, Omo proposed, "There's another vigil tonight" "No way dear. I still haven't recovered from the last. What's it with all this vigil-vigil  things?"
"That night" Omo paused looking down at the black and white tiles, "That night, I missed a vigil to go to that stupid party and God punished me"
"Shh" Ugo knelt down close to her holding her hands. "God didn't punish you"
"If I had gone for that vigil, I wouldn't have gotten raped" she blurted and Ugo sighed. He didn't know what to do or say.
 "Babe, it doesn't mean that you have to punish yourself going to all vigils cause Babe, rather than going for this vigil, give me night shift any day"

Muna held a glass full of beer looking deeply at it as though she was searching to see if the solution to her problems were in it. Suddenly she had a flashback to her secondary days. She was fifteen and the smartest in her class.
After school activities ended for the day, Muna went into the dormitory where she found Fatima looking into the mirror on the wall.
"Hey Muna" She greeted and I waved at her. "How was your day?"
"Same old, people keep on picking on me cause I look small and Mr. Fagbemi ruled out my assignment because three guys copied from me."
"Ehya! All these mumu that don't copy with sense." She sympathise now coming down from her bunk down to Muna's. "So I saw you staring at Felix today"
"Which Felix?" Muna feigned as though she didn't know who Fatima was referring to. "Oh please don't give me that! It's the same Felix na. I know you like him and you're in luck cause he also likes you"
Muna grew interested since she has been crushing on him for years. "He's ready to start up something if you're ready"
Muna snapped out of her thought gulping the beer. "Easy Muna" A bartender whispered in hausa, "Who made my life your business?" She retorted back in hausa.
 "It's part of my job to check on customer's excesses"
"Which one be your own Malik? You're not even my brother"
"But I know your cousin, come on Muna, you were never like this" "If you're not willing to face your business, pay for the drink then" She added then walked out of the bar.

At the Daffodils hotel kitchen, after pulling strings to be  allowed into the kitchen, Duro stood by the door watching Rukky slice an onion. She had a hairnet on.
Rukky finally caught him staring. "What are you doing here?" She asked in shock, "How did you know I was here?" She added.
"I had to pull some strings using my name" he moved closer wrapping his hands around her waist. "Whoa" Rukky muttered. "This is not acceptable" she warned and he pulled back chuckling. 
He had an infectious smile. The cutest Rukky has ever seen, well apart from Bola's smile. Bola's smile was a killer because he had dimples. 
Duro picked up an onion eating it. "Your mouth will stink" she complained and he laughed. 
"Duro I have work, what are you doing here before I get reported."
 "I'm going to be really busy. I have a very busy day and my relationship doesn't work because I priotise work over it but I want us to work out"
"Okay" Rukky said, "So you came to tell me that?" "Yes," he answered kissing her on the lip. "Bye dear" he chipped in about to leave when he heard his sister's voice. "Rukerwe Johnson" Dunni called out and Rukky's heart pounded in fear.
"In my office now!"

Rukky stepped into Dunni's office with her hands clasped together. "I'm so so sorry about what you just saw. It's all Duro's fault"
"Duro is incapable of love I hope you know"
"Huh?" Rukky asked, she didn't understand what Dunni meant by her statement. "Are you two together?" She asked, "Yes but if you don't want it"
"What kind of person would that make me? I've never seen Duro last in a relationship before, I'm just worried. I don't want you getting hurt like other girls"
Durodola walked in, "Please don't fire her" he begged, "I'm not, I just have to punish her so others can learn from it." "This is a bad way to begin a relationship" He uttered staring at Rukky who was obviously angry.
 "Let me make it up to you another date tonight"
"I have a date with one of my sponsors"
"Male or female?" Duro asked in a jealous tone, and Rukky laughed. "Male" she answered leaving.
"Wait.... Did she do that to make me jealous?" He asked Dunni who had a serious look on her face. "What's your deal with Rukky?" She asked, "I like her, she has that feature every man needs"
"Boobs, ass" Dunni mentioned and he shook his head. "I love her spirit"
"Duro if you dare hurt Rukerwe, I swear to God I will not forgive you"

Duro gazed steadily at the names on the log book. There were some name he was familiar with. Twenty six names and he had to call all for interrogation. He knew it wasn't going to be an easy task. "That Maimuna chick is around o" Victor announced. "Mehn she's hot" 

Duro walked into the interrogating room followed by Dare and Victor then he walked towards her, sitting on a chair opposite her. "Hello hottie" she muttered, "You were at Bolaji's remembrance service. Now I remember you, You're Bola's brother" she paused chuckling.
"He would always talk about you, show me pictures"
"That's a lie"
"I don't lie,that's one thing I can never do, you can ask around"
"Well I don't believe you"
"Fine"
"What's your relationship with Bola"
"You have to be specific"
"Answer the damn question. You're drunk and it reeks off you"
"Is that like a crime now? I'm not totally drunk; at least I drove myself down here"
"Answer the question"
"I'm a lot of things to Bolaji.

Read " Palm lines " by the same author ( Essien Eno )

. You can call me a b*tch, I was his b*tch, I was his side chick and his friend too. When he needed someone to talk to, we talk and then we have s*x or we talk while having s*x" Muna giggled and Dare hissed.
"Were you two together when he was dating Caroline"
"We've been together for a long time and yes we were together. We would have s*x everywhere. In the kitchen, in the sitting room. We always have so much fun then he picked her over me" Muna cried out.
"Sounds like enough reason to want him dead" Duro concluded and Muna scoffed.
 "You think I killed Bola"
"It's logical"
"I didn't kill him, if I wanted to, I would have killed him slowly so he would feel my pains"
"Did you see Bola before he died?" 
"Yes I did"
"Did you shoot him?"
"I don't even own a gun"
"You own a car, it shouldn't be difficult to get a gun"
"I live on my father's wealth"
"So you two had a pretty hot argument before he died"
"It wasn't" she paused angrily tightening her fist.  "Yes or no"
"We did"
"What was it about?" Duro asked, "It was about" she paused, "Okay, I wanted to know why he was bent on getting married to Caroline and not me. I was jealous and I did what any crazed individual would do"
"Shoot Bolaji with a gun" Duro guessed,
"You're beginning to annoy me officer, I didn't kill Bola even though I wanted to"
"Did you see Bola before his death"
"I did like thirty minutes or twenty before the shooting"
"What did you talk about? I mean you were angry with him shea?" 
"I was but we weren't arguing on the contrary we were kissing and having s*x in a shack. While I was giving him a blow job we got interrupted" Muna explained. "He went out and the next thing we knew there were sounds of shooting here and there so I hid elsewhere"
"Who were you with?"
"Ugo, my flat mate"
"That's convenient, Ugochukwu James" he scoffed, and Duro wondered where he knew Ugo from "Another suspect" he added. "Ugo would never harm anyone" Muna snapped. "Leave Ugo out of this"
"That'll be all for now Muna, you're not allowed to travel. We'll call you for further interrogation"