Glimmer Part 9

Blessing was on cloud nine. It had been a month since Brother Deji (as she called him) came to live with them and that initial mutual attraction had blossomed as the days went by. She had made a video that was on repeat in her mind; clips of Deji talking with her in the kitchen as she cooked, the subtle intimate moments they had when they watched romantic movies together, the way he laughed, the way he looked when he fell asleep on the couch. She couldn’t believe her luck; she had finally found her prince charming. She hadn’t even been with Dr Famakinwa in all this time, his wife was around and she was grateful for the absence of his attention. She was at peace. Even her mother had not called to give her any grief. She had been able to save up forty thousand and sent it to her mother explaining that things were hard. Her mother had been furious of course but the money had at least thawed the ice between them. She had even gotten new clothes and shoes; Aunty had recently returned from a trip to the UK. Life was good. She was going to church too; Brother Deji went to church on Sundays.
Deji was fascinated by Blessing. She had told him of her unfortunate past and he had reminded himself never to marry more than one wife. She was so beautiful and he admired everything about her; she was a good cook, kept the house well and was emotionally mature for her age. He was almost tempted to take their relationship to the next level but always reminded himself that she was the help. It would be difficult to explain it to anyone especially his mother who was already trying to matchmake him with her friend’s daughter. Blessing had been through too much and he had no intention of making things worse for her. It was becoming hard to resist the temptation to be intimate with her though, her body was perfect and he was notorious for sowing his wild oats.
Anyday now. Blessing expected that he would ask her out soon. It never occurred to her that she was the help, she was in love. Her phone rang. It was her mother.
“Hello Mummy”
“Misturat. How are you?”
“I’m fine ma, hope there’s no problem? You sound strange”
“Misturat it is your grandmother. She is in the hospital, she had a stroke. Her left side is paralysed. We have to pay one hundred and fifty thousand naira for the hospital bill and we need more money for the woman who will help her regain use of her limbs. Please my daughter, this is the time when you need to do whatever you can”
“Alright ma”
“Thank you my daughter.”
Blessing sighed. The struggle just had to continue. Where would she get the money from? Deji would have it, yes he would. He was after all from a rich family. Just as she was thinking of this, Deji walked into the kitchen and saw Blessing’s pensive face.
“What is it?”
“Brother Deji!” Blessing said startled. “I didn’t hear you coming”
“That’s because you were deep in thought. What’s going on?” he asked again
“My grandmother is in the hospital. She had a stroke and now she’s paralysed. My mother needs money to pay all the medical bills”
“How much?” he asked
“At least one hundred and fifty thousand naira”
“Wow! That’s a lot! Where will you get such an amount from?” he asked
“I…err… I was hoping you would help me”
“Help you?” he laughed and then stopped, seeing the hurt look on Blessing’s face
“Sorry… it was just funny to me that you were asking me for that amount. I don’t have it”
“Couldn’t you help me to get it?”
“From where?…” his phone rang “Hello…yeah… who is this?…Funke? This is a surprise I never thought…” he signaled to Blessing that he needed to be excused. Funke was his ex.
Blessing was disappointed and hurt. She had expected better from the guy.
Dr Famakinwa was uneasy. He had been in a foul mood all day and had carried it out on the nurses and a few exasperating patients. Toke was trying his patience, it had been a week now since they had last had sex and she had the audacity to tell him two nights ago that she was travelling again. He actually loved his wife and thought that his infidelities were a way of making his marriage work. It was better that he relieved her of the stress of sex, she needed to concentrate on her research. But lately it seemed this had backfired as she no longer even bothered whether they had sex or not. Every other thing was more important than their sex life, in fact she had acted surprised the last time he had made advances towards her and was totally unparticipatory throughout. As soon as they were done, she got up, cleaned herself and returned to the study. Was she having an affair? He doubted it. Toke would never do that.
To make matters worse, Blessing had acted cold when he called her last night. He had called her several times before she even took his call. She seemed uninterested. What was wrong with the women in his life? Perhaps she was becoming full of herself now that she was wearing nice clothes and living a life she would never have dreamed of. She had told him not to come to the house. Why he had asked? She said she was busy.
He drove to the house now, determined to put Blessing in her place and get a release from all the tension that his wife was putting him through. Blessing would respond very well.  He knocked on the gate just as Emmanuel was stepping out. Emmanuel didn’t dare to ask him any questions this time around; he greeted him and moved on. He knocked on the door and Blessing opened it surprise written all over her face. She couldn’t believe the man had come here. Brother Deji was around, how would she explain his presence?
“Good afternoon sir” she greeted
“Blessing, are you ok? It is me”
“Yes sir…”
“Aren’t you going to let me in?”
“I’m…” Dr Famakinwa pushed his way in, eager to get down to business
“I’ve missed you” he said moving closer to her and rubbing her arms
“Please go sir there is…”
“Is it because I haven’t called you all this while? You know my wife was around now” he said now with both his arms firmly around her waist
“Please leave me alone sir!” Blessing said trying to pull away from him
“I said I’ve missed you” he said between ragged breaths “Are you trying to tease me? It’s working!” he said with his mouth on her neck
“Please…” she begged now fearful. A door slammed and Dr Famakinwa quickly pulled away.
“Who is that”
“Brother Deji”
“Foolish girl why didn’t you…”
“Doctor! Good afternoon sir, it’s good to see you”
“Ah Deji… the corper…how are you now? It’s good to see you too. I was just leaving. I thought the kids were on their mid-term break, I was going to do their routine check-up for them but Blessing here just told me they are not on holiday yet.”
“Yes…but my brother must really be paying you well for you to do home services for them” Deji commented slightly suspicious about the story
“You know your brother and I go way back and his kids are my kids. It’s not a big deal. Well I have to leave now, duty calls!”
“Alright sir let me walk you out”
By the time Deji was back in the house, the kids were with him, they had been dropped off by the school bus just as Dr Famakinwa was driving away. He couldn’t talk to Blessing about the Dr Famkinwa or the call.