Despised: Soon-To-Be-A-Billionaire's Dark Revenge

Chapter 6 EXCITED ERIC

We got to Lagos a couple of minutes after six the following morning and I stared through the window, seeing the cars trailing each other like coaches on an unending train. People moved in a hurry like ants in a disturbed colony and hawkers ran along the sides of cars and buses selling their wares. Yoruba music, loud and piercing, rose from music stores, probably to soothe the chaotic scene, but ended up enhancing the frenzy. I felt exhilaration and dismay at the same time—like a man on a plane for the first time.

The bus crawled through the traffic at a 2G internet pace. My mouth yearned to be brushed, and my stomach grumbled for food. We stopped at Ojota and some of the passengers got down. Another bunch dropped at Maryland later and eventually we reached the park in Ijora. The bus gave a loud hiss and the engine died and everyone got up to carry or drag their luggage down.

I came down with my bag clamped to my shoulder, looking around. Eric was not in sight.

I pulled my phone out, going through the call log. It began to ring before I could place a call and Eric’s name appeared on the screen. I pressed the phone to my ear.

‘Where are you?’ Eric asked. ‘I can see your bus, but where are you?’

‘I am toward the back of the bus,’ I said, ‘where are you?’

The phone went dead. I looked to my left and saw Eric walking briskly toward me. I walked toward him.

‘Man,’ he said, beaming. ‘How was your trip?’

‘Fine,’ I said, also beaming.

‘Nice to see you, man,’ he said and stretched out his hand. ‘I hope you had a pleasant journey?’

I clamped his hand and we hugged. ‘Except for the farts coming from the guy sitting next to me, the journey was fine.’

Eric laughed. ‘Did you ask him what he had for lunch?’

‘He kept that part to himself,’ I said. ‘But he shared the gaseous effects.’

Eric laughed again. ‘You are funny, man. Good to see you; good to see you,’ and he gave me another hug.

He looked thinner than I saw him last and his clothes and shoes had served him for too long. He is of average height, a little taller than 2 Face and handsome in a brash way. Most ladies like him until they realize he is not the kind of guy who sticks to one lady.

I wasn’t close to Eric until we got to our final year in the university. I had always admired and hated his sanguine nature and he had kept away from me because of my critical nature (he told me that later when we became friends). We had the same project supervisor who took us through hell in our final year and this common enemy helped in bringing us closer.

‘Good to see you too,’ I said and tapped him on the back. At last he released me and stood back to take another look at me.

‘Men, it’s been ages,’ he said, the smile widening. ‘How is Jos? I really miss the serenity of that town. It’s a jungle out here with everyone trying to cut your neck to get ahead of you. And the noise alone can get a woman pregnant.’

I smiled back at him. ‘I noticed the noise.’

He stretched out his hand to collect my bag.

‘Don’t worry,’ I said. ‘I can handle it; it’s not heavy.’

‘Are you sure?’ he asked. ‘You must be tired—sitting for those hours.’

‘I lived.’

‘Okay, let’s move,’ he said, turning away from the bus. ‘My friend is parked over there. We will take you home to freshen up and then we can talk.’ He smiled. ‘Man, I am glad to have you in Lagos. It’s like the old days in UJ. Those were better days; those were care free days.’

I walked beside him, catching his excitement and remembering the university days. Days we thought we will graduate and change Nigeria, if not the world.

The number of people in the park and on the road had grown, slowing us down, and at a point, I had to follow Eric from behind because we couldn’t walk side by side. I felt sweat dripping down my body with the ease of a waterfall.

We passed people, fat and slim, tall and short, all rushing to get the daily bread. I felt like a bee in a migrating swarm, but Eric walked with the casualness of a man walking down his street.

‘So what’s this mysterious plan of yours?’ I asked when I walked up to Eric’s side. ‘I am in Lagos now; tell me about it.’

He turned sideways to look at me. ‘Don’t worry; you will hear all about it when we get home.’

‘You won’t give me a hint? Even now that I am here?’

‘All in due time, Paul,’ He replied. ‘How is your mom? And your brothers? I am sure they are all grown up by now?’

‘They are fine,’ I replied. ‘But don’t change the subject.’

Eric looked at me again with a wide smile on his face. ‘That’s why I like you; you are as smart as Jay Z. Do you still play chess competitions?’

I gave up. Nothing will make him tell me until he was ready; it was on his face. But he smiled again, acknowledging I was right. So, I changed the subject.

‘Do you have a lot of Northerners here?’ I asked.

‘A couple,’ he said. ‘But there are more in Mile Twelve; that’s where the vegetables market is. I hope you know Lagos gets most of its vegetables from the North?’

I nodded.

‘Mile Twelve is where you find a lot of Northerners coming into and leaving Lagos,’ he added.

We got into another park and he pointed at the army green Peugeot 406 parked beside a Coca-Cola truck.

‘That’s the car,’ he said. ‘Take the back seat.’

We spread around the car. I moved to the back while he went to the passenger’s side door and we got into the car at the same time. Wizkid was singing OJuelegba from the car’s stereo and I saw the form of a man seating behind the steering wheel.

‘Tolu, meet my friend Paul,’ Eric said, sliding on his seat. ‘Paul, Tolu.’

I sat down and stretched my right hand forward. Tolu turned around and we shook hands. He looked tall even in a seating position and his complexion was slightly darker than both of us. He was handsome in a gentle way and I liked him instantly.

‘Pleased to meet you,’ I said.

‘Same here,’ he replied. ‘I hope you had a pleasant trip?’

‘Yeah, not bad,’ I said and closed the door. ‘How is Lagos?’

‘Lagos is good; getting better. The governor is working.’ 

He started the car and wound up the windows and the air condition drifted cool air toward me in seconds. He moved the car out of the car park and we moved toward the expressway with Wizkid jamming like Michael Jackson.

‘I heard a lot about you from Eric,’ Tolu said above the music.

‘Good things, I hope,’ I said. ‘Eric exaggerates everything.’

Eric laughed. ‘Of course, it’s good things.’ He turned to Tolu. ‘Paul, his mom and his two brothers took care of me during the lecturer’s strike back in the university days. I would have died on the streets of Jos if they hadn’t taken me in; I had nowhere to go.’

‘You exaggerate,’ I said. ‘We gave you what we had and we shared my bed. It was nothing spectacular.’

‘Nothing spectacular?’ Eric asked. ‘Do you know how much it would have cost me to stay in a hotel for a month? Add the cost of feeding and you will understand how spectacular what you did was.’

‘Knowing your appetite,’ Tolu said, ‘that would probably add up to the price of buying a Honda Civic.’

‘I am sure it would,’ Eric said, laughing. ‘They saved my life.’

‘They sure did,’ Tolu said. ‘One time I was stranded in Ghana. It wasn’t a funny at all. A family I didn’t know from Adam took me and catered for me. They saved my life.’

‘I am in the midst of birds of like feathers,’ I said. ‘Eric has infected you with his exaggerations.’

Eric shook his head. ‘Tolu knows what I am talking about. You guys had little but you shared it with me. I promised myself to repay your family’s kindness the day I left your house, and by God that day is coming.’

‘It was nothing,’ I protested. ‘You were my classmate for crying out loud. What did you expect me to do? Leave you to sleep on the street?’

‘That’s the point,’ Eric said, turning to look at me. ‘We had other course mates living in Jos who knew my predicament but none of them offered to take me to their houses. You were the only one who did even though we weren’t that close. Most empathized with me and but did nothing.’

I made no reply to his statement and Tolu ploughed the Peugeot through the clogged streets with the expertise of a formula one driver. I looked at Eric’s back. One thing was sure; he had changed. He sounded more intense; more convinced—as if he had found a theorem no one else could dispute.

I leaned on the seat and was surprised to discover I hadn’t thought about Talatu since I came into Lagos. Maybe it was the effect of the city or the excitement of meeting Eric. Lagos is known to have a mesmerizing effect on people the way the skyscrapers of New York spellbind first timers to the city. Whatever it was, I was glad that I was able to forget Talatu for the moment. It eased my pain.