Mrs Adamu, a fifty year old widow had two sons Amin and Salim. Amin was twenty one while Salim was seventeen; she was eighteen when she met her late husband Adamu Mohammed Adamu in Kano, the biggest city in northern Nigeria. He had just enrolled in the military and she was waiting for her WAEC results, it was love at first sight but they didn’t get married until she was done with the University which was four years later. Adamu was killed two days after Salim was born; one of the worst periods of Mrs Adamu’s life.
It was a troubling time for Mrs. Adamu and her children; and to make it worse Adamu’s brother Sani and the rest of his family threw her out of the home she shared with Adamu. They left her with nothing but her kids. Mrs Adamu left Kano to Lagos with Amin and Salim
“I came to this very beach and sat on the same bench I saw you sitting that morning” she shook her head smiling at the past while telling Biola her story.
“The sea was all that kept me that day, I held my kids so tight to my heart and wished that I could live by the ocean then the owner of this house a ninety year old widow gave me a room here with my children”. Mrs Adamu would never forget that old woman
Biola’s eyes were filled with admiration for Mrs Adamu for staying strong and thriving through difficult times. It was a Saturday morning and they were in the kitchen baking cupcakes when Biola noticed darkness closing in on her; before she could hold on to anything she crashed to the ground unconscious.
Mrs Adamu was very afraid, she immediately cried out for Amin and Salim who helped her carry Biola to the hospital. They were still in the hospital when Biola finally opened her eyes; Mrs. Adamu sat beside her
“What happened?” Biola asked her chest full of anxiety, she knew something was wrong because she hadn’t been feeling well for the past week but she didn’t say or do anything about it. Mrs Adamu smiled awkwardly before breaking the news
“Biola, nothing is wrong with you… I mean… you are not sick but… you are pregnant”
Biola sat up abruptly “I am?!” she was relieved that it was not something else but sad at the same time that Chief’s actions had led to a child in her womb.
“Biola, is it for that man? Seyi?” Mrs Adamu was very gentle and kept a smile on her face to make Biola comfortable but Biola was far from being comfortable.
“It’s not for him… ma, it is not” tears welled up in her eyes.
Mrs. Adamu did not want to pry further so she leaned back on her seat but Biola continued.
“It’s the reason I was on the beach that day” Biola looked at her with a broken heart and Mrs Adamu understood what she meant
“My daughter, somebody raped you?” Biola nodded and she held Biola’s hand as the tears flowed freely from her eyes. Biola was eternally grateful for this woman, now that she was in another state hundreds of miles away from Sis. Aloysius there was no way she could see her as often as she wanted but then came Mrs. Adamu helping her out in a difficult time like this.
“Biola, MD is calling you” Aisha delivered the message in person, Ijeoma and Diana were curious because the MD had made it a habit to summon Biola to his office every evening. He had already poured drinks when she entered the office. She locked the door and sat down without greeting him, before he said anything she swallowed the whiskey in one gulp and asked for more, he gave her the entire bottle and started with what Biola usually thought was conversational garbage
“Is it 6:00?” Biola looked at her watch and rushed to the window, it was a very huge window. The office was on the 15th floor so the view was Victoria Island and some parts of Ikoyi. It was apparent that Biola was not herself that evening, how could she be when she aborted her son two hours ago in the office bathroom and sent him off to Chief.
Biola the bewitching beauty that she is was able to charm a sales assistant in a pharmacy to sell her the appropriate abortion medicine without the right authority and she took it that morning before going to work knowing that the baby was going to come out while she was at work.
When it did a great fever fell upon her and she immediately knew that her child was dead then she ran to the bathroom with a plastic box. Biola gave birth to her child in the box, packed it like a beautiful present and called one of the office mail men to help her deliver it privately.
“Don’t deliver it until it is 6pm” accompanying her instruction with a huge tips.
The MD, Mr Alkali ignored Biola’s bizarre behaviour and continued trying to woo her but she did not have the patience to listen this time. She jumped on his lap like a small cat and pressed his cheeks with her fingers then whispered to him
“What is wrong with you? You really want me yeah? Do you want me?!” she shouted, Alkali nodded enjoying her dominance “then divorce your wife. Leave your wife then you can do with me as you please” she pushed his head and stormed out of the office not without taking the bottle of whiskey with her.
Biola found a small empty room and locked herself inside, she drank and cried like a baby; looking at a text message on her phone that read “IT’S DONE” she knew that the package had been delivered and the Omorighe mansion was on fire.
She cried not because her plans for revenge against chief had taken off but because her unborn son was burning alone in a building, unsaved, uncared for and unwanted; he would be set ablaze burning to ashes, alone in his father’s house. “I’m sorry” she said softly hoping he would forgive her in another lifetime.
Biola was too upset to work in the coming week so she took a sick leave and slept all through the coming days; Mrs. Adamu tried to comfort her and make her eat but she was unsuccessful.
On the last day of her leave, she was home alone sleeping in like previous days when a knock on the door woke her up; she ignored it hoping that the visitor would leave but the knock continued until she lost her sleep. She opened the door to five policemen.
“Biola?” the first man asked “yes?” “you are under arrest for arson and the attempted murder of Chief Ogene Omorighe, you have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law”
Biola neither afraid nor resisted arrested as she was handcuffed, put in one of the five police cars and driven off. The battle between Biola and Chief had begun, the winner remained unseen but Biola was ready… ready to win at all cost even if it was going to cost her life. It was impossible for her to see herself living in a world where chief did not pay completely for his actions and chief had no idea that what he had experienced was only the tip of the iceberg Biola was building for him.