Glimmer Part 6

Titi
Bode was really weird last night. First he was so insensitive about Mummy Teni’s sister’s passing, and then he stormed off just because I said I was on my period. What sort of childish behavior was that?  Men! They just expect you to give in to them all the time. I mean, can’t a woman say no? But then, Bode has never acted like that. Whatever, I don’t have time for this; I have a business to run.

Blessing was washing the dishes and thinking about last night. It was brief but she certainly got his attention. She saw that he was temporarily at a loss of words, staring at her breasts. She had quickly undone the first three buttons of her blouse when she heard his car come in to the compound and put on the shorts after Titi left the house. Of course she had become modestly dressed by the time Titi returned, suspecting nothing. She had decided that this slow teasing will work more swiftly than an outright seduction. Her phone rang, it was her mother.
“Hello, Mummy”
“Hello, Misturat”
“How are you ma?”
“Misturat, if you decide not to help me I know help will come from elsewhere”
“Mummy…”
“Don’t interrupt me! I know my help will come from elsewhere. You just want to disgrace me! How long does it take you to get me eighty thousand? Now that you’re enjoying your life you have forgotten me and your younger ones abi? Afeez is sick and Mariam has been at home now for the past two weeks because I can’t pay her fees. Mama Deola’s daughter came home last week and gave her fifty thousand naira! She is just a shop attendant! My own daughter that is earning fifteen thousand naira and living among rich people has not sent me one kobo. God will judge between me and you.”
“Mummy…”
Her mother hung up.
She sighed. Her mother was just impatient. She already had thirty thousand which she had saved from her salary and she intended to get some from Dr Famakinwa but the man had been stalling. Her mother had drawn the battle line with that call. She now had to consider her last resort. Mummy Teni’s husband, their next door neighbour had been making passes at her and had outrightly asked her for an affair but she had refused. She thought he would complicate her plans and she didn’t find him remotely attractive. Now she thought if she played her cards well, she would be able to manage him well. Her mother didn’t even wish her a happy birthday, she turned eighteen yesterday.
She finished her chores and called Daddy Teni. He had written his number on a two hundred naira recharge card he gave her when she had gone to his house to give him the monthly estate association due from her boss. He was on leave and home alone. She walked to his house with her speech rehearsed; she had to convince him that her mother was in the hospital and in dire need of financial help.
Thirty minutes later she walked into the Coker’s trying to contain her tears. The man had used her and laughed in her face when she asked him for the money he had promised her. She couldn’t even compare to the prostitutes he had encountered; she was a mere village girl he declared. She felt so foolish and hurt. She had offered herself to him for nothing! She hated her life. She could do nothing now but cry.

Mr Dike the gardener was still in shock. All the while he had thought Blessing was a responsible girl. But the girl she had seen with Daddy Teni in his bedroom was no responsible girl. Maybe he should talk to her; perhaps she was just being childish. Daddy Teni must have deceived her.