CHAPTER THIRTY
Living the life
“Bewaji” Marcus called out for me as I hurriedly made my way of Joy’s house because I was trying to avoid him but I guess I failed. Of course, I know I can’t avoid him forever now that I am the new soloist but I hoped I could today especially since Alice is waiting for me in the car.
I could still act like I didn’t hear him and just continue on my way but then he would know that I am trying to avoid him. So, I waited for him to walk up to me
“Hey” I greeted him
“I am so glad you decided to show up” he said with a soft smile on his face
“I am too, I am happy to here too”
“So, wanna go to Madam Black’s restaurant, on me. You can get the pepper soup you love so much and tell me more about your village’s crazy festival” he suggested
“I can’t today, I have to go home early” I turned him down politely
“Another day then, tomorrow maybe”
“I won’t be available too”
“Then when?”
“How about never?” I replied harshly
“Excuse me?”
I am probably going to regret what I am doing right now but I have cut my ties with this man for my marriage. Kylian won’t be happy with me if he finds out that I fraternizes wth his enemy
“I gat to go” I tried to escaped
“No, no, no” he ranted as he cuts me off blocking my escape route “What is going on with you? What is the problem?”
“You are my problem”
“What?” he exclaimed looking so confusion
“For a stranger, you are awfully good to me, you are nice to me, what is your motive?”
“Oh god! Are we back this again” Marcus groaned
“Oh yes, we are. When I am sad, you make me happy, buy food for me to cheer me up, take me to a church so I don’t feel alone and now, you even set me up with a band. You have shown me the love and care that I have never received from my own husband and that is suspicious”
“I am just tryin….” He tried to explain himself
“Is it because you think I hate Kylian” I cut in sharply
“What?” The young footballer looked more confused than he was earlier
“Maybe you think both of us can fraternize over our hatred for Kylian but news flash, I don’t hate Kylian, I have a mad crush and even though I am married, I won’t mind fucking him”
“Oh my god!” he grunted as he finally decipher meaning of my words, then he burst into laughter. I could see the deep hurt in his eyes. Guilt courses through my vein as I see the pain of betrayal in the eyes of the only man who has shown me love and care since I got into this awful country
“I can’t believe this happening to me” he said in between his laughter. Then turned to leave, I couldn’t even move because I felt so morbid
“So you know…” he said, then I turned my gaze back to him “I don’t hate Kylian Mbappe and I definitely don’t think of that arrogant selfish prick outside of football. I approached you because you were lonely just like I was when I just got to France and I wanted to help you the way Joy and the others helped me but I guess I crossed my boundary. It’s all good” he muttered and left
I felt so ashamed of myself, I accused a man of something he was not. It was necessary though, I can’t be seen with another man if I want to stay married to Kylian or maybe I am just a bad person who needs a reason to justify the ungrateful things I said to Marcus.
I walked out of Joy’s house and saw Marcus talking to Joy and others. They looked at me and I could tell that he told them what I said. I can’t believe I lost good friends because of Kylian
I walk towards the car and notice Alice talking on the phone. As I got closer, I hear her barking some words angrily in French and cut the call. My French is still basic but I understood what she said
“That was not the deal, back the fuck off, Frances”
What is her deal with Frances? Why is she always telling me to stay away?
“What deal did you made with Frances?” I voiced out and she jumped up in fright
“Be..Be…Bewa” She stuttered
“I am sorry, I didn’t mean to startled you”
“I didn’t see you here” she laughed anxiously
“I want to know the truth about Frances, why are you telling me to stay away from her? What are you not telling me?” I asked calmly
“She can be cunning at times, I just don’t want you to be hurt”
“I want the truth, Alice” I yelled
Maybe I am blowing this out of proportion but I am in a shitting mood already and I can’t have people keeping secrets from me
“I kn…I know….” Alice struggled to find words to say then her gaze shifted and her nervousness disappeared to be replaced by a frown. I looked behind myself and saw Marcus getting into his car
“Is that Marcus?” she asked angrily “You came here to see him”
With a smug, I replied
“If you won’t tell me your deal with Frances, don’t ask me anything about Marcus”
I walked passed her and went into the car
I watched a tall, slim man in his thirties with beautifully trimmed black beard dragging his luggage on the mausoleum floor of the international airport in Paris. When we made eye contact, he smiled at me and I hurriedly walk to him to hug him
“It is so good to see you again, Mr. K” I said into his chest
“And you too” He responded then pull back and looked at me from up to down in amusement “What is your husband feeding you?” he asked me in Yoruba language
“Everything” I whispered with a widen eyebrow subtleing hinting at another hidden message and when I mean hidden messages, I was talking about sexual stuff
“I can see” he nodded with a bright smile, getting the message I passed across. This was something we always do when I was still a masters’ student at my Alma Mata. I looked behind myself when I heard footsteps and I saw Alice walk up to us with Jude
“Mr. K, this is Alice Beauchamp, my PA and that is Jude Clouder, my driver” I introduced my French family
His eyebrow widen in surprise as Alice and Jude greeted
“PA and a driver… You are really living the life, ohh, Bewaji?” He complimented
“What can I say, Ibi ori gbe mi de nie (This is where destiny brought me)”
“Okay”
“Come on, let go… we have a lot to do” I said
After a brief tour of Paris, Mr K and I spent the next few days going over the business plan. He mapped out two possible fish pond location and Jude got men to dig out the top soil. Mr K and I both agreed that we should see how the business will do with the two ponds before we make more ponds. The next few weeks was spent preparing the new pond to be habited by the first brood of hatchings cultivated by Mr K. Working with Mr, K got me stop thinking about my loveless and childless marriage
Alice got me two new male staffs, Elliot and Miguel purposely for the fish farm and Mr K. taught them everything they needed to know about the farm business ranging from egg hatching, to liming of pond to organic fertilizer application to the pond and feed treatment. He helped me in searching for customers which was bit of a hiccup because they are all loyal to their suppliers even Madam Black. So Mr K suggested that I process the fish into dry stock catfish and sell to supermarkets when the hatchings are matured enough to be harvested while I take my time to build a customer base.
During all of this, Kylian never came to visit me and with the subtle suspicious look I get from Mr K in the few times we weren’t talking about business, I am pretty sure he noticed this but could not just bring himself to ask me. Every other time, I was always the one opening my mouth and telling him about my problem first, so I think he was waiting for me to tell him about it myself.
And if I am been honest with myself, I want to tell him about my miserable marriage to Kylian but I couldn’t bring myself to because I was ashamed of myself. How could I tell a man that is almost like my mentor that I married a man I didn’t know on a whim just because I was in love with him?
It was stupid of me to do that after seeing some marriages break up even though the couples date each other for more than five years. It was okay for me to bore someone else I don’t know with the story of my life but not someone who holds me in high regard and definitely expects something better from me
On his last day in France after we finished sorting the juvenile from the fingerlings and placed into different ponds to prevent cannibalism, we were seated eating ice cream with chicken in front an ice-cream truck on the street of Eureux, he finally voiced out when he couldn’t take my silence anymore. He cleared his voice and said
“No one knows about your marriage to Kylian?”
“Few of our family members knows” I feigned ignorance
“I am not talking about your family but the public…. The public does not know” he stated “Is your husband ashamed of you” he asked with an intense concern
Ashamed of me? That actually comes to me as a surprise
“No, he is not” I muttered “I just want to know him more and get the lay of the land before we announce our marriage to the world” I tear into the chicken lap in frustration hoping he would let the issue go
“I would say that is smart if I haven’t slept in your house but there is no trace of your husband anywhere in that big mansion of yours” he mentioned calling out my bullshit
“You didn’t enter my room, Mr. K, so you won’t….”
“Are you okay?” he cut in sharply cutting off my flimsy excuses
“I am fine Mr. K” I stab into the ice cream, finally giving up my attempts at lying
“You know you can talk to me right?”
“I know, Mr K”
“It might not be an exact solution to what you need but it is always close enough”
“I have everything under control, Mr. K”
He stared at me for a long time then continued his food
“Okay then” he let go
“Also, I know you want to meet him, I am sorry you didn’t get to”
“It is fine, moreover, I can see him the next time I am around for harvesting”
I nodded and smiled.
TO BE CONTINUED NEXT SATURDAY 9.00 PM WAT
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