Must Read: The Rich Kids Of Lagos (16+)

7 years ago

Must Read: The Rich Kids Of Lagos (16+)

‘Yo, morning’ said Anita as she stepped out of the room
‘Hey’ responded Tessy dully, for she had never been a morning person. She had a cup of yoghurt in her hands, still dishevelled from sleep.
‘Have you seen Simi?’ asked Anita
‘Nope. I should be asking you that’ responded Tessy, referring to their sleeping arrangements
‘Well, I must have slept very deeply. I didn’t realise she had stepped out’ complained Anita
‘Then, call her’ said Tessy, who was irritated.

She just wanted to be left alone in peace
‘Duh. I’m about to do that’ responded Anita who was already dialling Simi’s number.
‘Hey Simz’ said Anita as the phone call connected ‘Was worried about you. Where are you?’ she asked
‘Your Daddy’s place? This morning? Ah I see?

Personal Business? Oh cool. See you later’ said Anita who faced Tessy. She was already wondering what this early meeting was for and she knew Tessy always had the answers.
‘Simi went to her Dad’s! I’m surprised’ said Anita
‘Why? He’s her Dad’ said an uninterested Tessy
‘Duh. She hates to go to his house cos of Sweetie Potato’ said Anita who referred to Simi’s Step mum by her nickname.

‘Yeah but they have this arrangement going on where Simi is to join the company, so, she’s being a good girl’ responded Tessy
‘Ahhh…. true’ said Anita who had really not heard any of this from Simi. She had to act smart around Tessy so that the information could flow. She needed every tit bit she could garner.
‘Surprising isn’t it?’ said Anita, dropping another lead.
‘It is o, Anita. Simi’s dad just did a turn around like that. Now, once Peter is aboard and we present him to her dad as the fiancé, Simi can get into the office and we can get some juicy contracts’ said Tessy, relieved that she could discuss it with Anita. Simi should have told her it was cool to discuss with Anita
‘Oh! Aduke’s Peter or another?’ asked Anita who seemed disinterested as she flipped through the TV channels. In trutch, every cell was waiting on Tessy’d response. What exactly had been going on behind her back?
‘Yeah, him’. responded Tessy who quickly clammed up. She didn’t want anyone to know his whereabouts. She would be able to make so much money from the situation before Peter made his grand appearance. She could imagine the sum total of all the bills she would ‘claim’ Peter needed paid while he was away on this his intended trip. Tessy was mentally congratulating herself already.

‘Good one’ said Anita who was boiling inside. How dare they? She had been pushed aside to accommodate Aduke, the new girl! She could see them in her mind’s eye, keeping secrets from her, telling each other their plans. Why had Simi done this? Did this mean that her usefulness to Simi was over? Had she been used and dumped by the spoilt brat?

Anita was livid but did a good job of hiding it from Tessy who had also joined her in watching the TV show. AS Anita’s thoughts raged, she knew she had no choice but to call Wale. It did not matter right now that she was angry with him. What mattered was that she did not make a loss from this whole arrangement.

‘Tess, excuse me please, let me quickly shower.

I need to go out’ said Anita who got up abruptly. She would normally not call Wale from this apartment but she had no choice. Wale’s initial plan – The Plan A needed to swing into action right now.

‘Yeah, me too. I need to go to the shops to get Milo for a friend’ replied Tessy
‘Milo? Really? People still take that stuff?’ asked Anita haughtily. She really didn’t give a damn about Milo right now. All she could see was an opportunity to make money slipping away from her and she needed to make that money fast.

The moment she got away into the safety of their bedroom, she ran into the bathroom and began to run the water loudly. She did this so that Tessy would not overhear her conversation with her boyfriend, Wale.
‘Hello Wale’ she said into the phone
‘We have to move fast. This Bytch here is making plans without me!’ she said urgently
‘Her Dad has agreed to bring her into the business and I’m not sure yet, but she needs to present a fiancé and she has chosen one without running it by me. We need to move fast. As fast as today, in fact, right now. Do you still have the numbers for those guys? The ones we intended to use for The Plan A?’ she asked
‘Call them! I will text you the address of her current location and her plate number. You guys already have a picture yeah? Let me send a more recent one. She has lost some weight. They need to kidnap her today, in fact, right now! Her father should pay us before he settles her. I was not put on this earth to suffer.’ said Anita firmly

*************

Tessy confidently strolled into Saint Nancy Hospital at 11.30a.m., hoping to see Peter in his room.
‘Good morning’ she greeted the receptionist, Tina who was chewing gum and swatting at flies as usual.

‘Ha, Sister, how you dey? responded Tina with familiarity. She reckoned that if she was nice to Tessy, she might get a little something out of it, perhaps a tip.
‘Is Peter awake?’ asked Tess, itching to go inside to see him. She did not like this dirty girl at the reception.
‘Which Peter?’ asked Tina
‘The one that I came to visit here yesterday!’ This was the most irritating receptionist she had ever encountered in her life
‘He didn’t tell you?’ she asked
‘Didn’t tell me what?’ Tessy was already imagining the worst. Had Peter died? Was the doctor supposed to have called her?
‘He discharged himself yesterday night’ said Tina. ‘Even though we tried to stop him from going o’
‘Really? Are you sure?’ asked Tessy
‘Yes, you can go and check his room sef’ said Tina. Tessy made sure she went in to confirm that the bastard had discharged himself without telling her.
As she left the hospital, she mentally cursed Peter for putting her through this type of stress. Now she had to go to Ajah! This LasGidi traffic was too much for this stress.

***********

Simi made a quick detour. She wanted to pick up some cherry tomatoes for her new diet. There was this shop near her Dad’s house that sold the freshest fruits and vegetables in LasGidi.
She was in a good mood because her Dad’s wife had been absent from the breakfast and her dad at been impressed that Simi had come home so early. Chief Owen-Browne was an early bird who believed that those who could get out of bed early had an better advantage in life.
Simi paid the cashier and left the shop. She was too engrossed in her thoughts to notice the three men across the road that lay in wait for her. On sighting her, they quickly crossed to her side, one purposely bumping into her, ensuring the car keys fell.
‘Sorry Madam’ he said as he picked up the key
‘No worries’ said Simi who still hadn’t sensed the danger ‘She stretched out her hand, hoping to collect her key from him. He moved very close to her and issued an order ‘Please get into the back seat, Madam’ He issued this order with a stern voice.
‘What?’ she asked as she looked at him closely for the first time. He had a hand under his shirt. she quickly wondered if it was a gun.
He stepped closer to her and made her feel the hard steel of the gun, pressed against her fleshy abdomen. Simi decided to comply and got in the back seat. As she did this, the other two guys also got in and sat on either side of her in the car. One quickly collected her phone from her hand and switched it off.

They drove in silence for about three minutes before the man driving spoke to her.
‘You have been kidnapped but, there is no need to panic. This is only about the money and you have to keep asking yourself if your life is worth more or less than money. Once you can answer this question, take a decision on whether or not you want to cooperate. Be rest assured that we have killed before and would have no worries in wasting you if you misbehave. Is this clear?’ he said.
‘Yes sir’ responded Simi. She couldn’t believe this was happening to her! She wondered what to do and began to observe the routes they were passing – the areas were getting really unfamiliar so she tried to look out more. It seemed they were headed in the direction of one of the beaches she and the girls had gone to for a party. Suddenly, the guys parked her car by the road and switched cars to another vehicle and she was asked to follow them.

In the smaller car, she was blind folded and the drive continued for another hour and a half.

Suddenly, she felt the car stop. Simi’s heart was in her mouth. Were they going to kill her? Who had she offended? Why was this being done to her? As these thoughts raged through her mind, she began to cry. She was very scared as she was led into a room in a bungalow and made to seat in a chair with her hands tied to the back.
‘Madam, don’t cry. You need to answer our questions.’ said the kidnapper without passion
‘Who will miss you first? I mean, who will notice your absence first? This operation needs to be very fast’ he said
‘I don’t know’ responded Simi for she was aware that she had a bad habit of hardly ever disclosing her whereabouts to those she lived with. It had started as a private joke and then had developed into a habit. It reminded her that she is the boss in the apartment and no one could question her.
‘Ok, we will call your Daddy and tell him the great news, let’s see how much he loves you’ taunted the kidnapper.
Simi suspected there might be troubles with that for her father never picked up unknown numbers. In addition to this, she knew he might not believe she had been kidnapped. He could feel this was an avenue for her to extort more money from him.
‘Okay sir’. She responded. The kidnappers loosened one hand and handed her phone over to her. She breathed a sigh of relief. At least they had used her phone!
‘Daddy!’ said Simi who burst into tears as soon as she heard her father’s voice.

‘Simisola, what is wrong?’ asked the Chief who was alarmed. Simi was not really the crying type and she sounded really distressed. It had not been long since she had left the house. What could the matter be?
‘I have been kidnapped!’ she informed
‘Who, how, where’ asked the confused Chief. This would be very bad for his image. How could he have been so careless with the security of his daughter?
Suddenly, another voice came on the phone. He could still hear Simisola crying in the background. The gruff voice said ‘Chief your daughter is with us. Please do not make any useless moves, we will contact you from a private number much later today ‘ with that, the line was cut off. The old man paused briefly to consider if this was some kind of a sick joke or not.

****************

Tessy was tired of knocking. Peter had to be dead for him not to have heard her knocking. A thought had begun to form in her mind. Had Peter fled from her? Had he travelled to his village? Why hadn’t he told her before he left?
‘Madam, stop knocking that door please. My child is sleeping. Oga Peter has travelled’ said a neighbour who came out of the opposite flat, obviously irritated at the cause of the noise.
‘Sorry. He is supposed to have arrived yesterday. Do you know if he is in?’ asked Tessy
‘Well, he is not back yet. You can ask the gateman to confirm for you though’ said the lady as she went back into her flat.

Tessy made her way back to the Gate and was lucky to see the Mallam coming out of his little apartment by the gate just as she approached the place.
‘Aboki, good morning’ said Tessy
‘Madam good morning’ responded the Mallam
‘Abeg did Oga Peter return last night?’ Tess asked
‘No madam. He comot since a long time ma’ said the Mallam
‘You sure say he nor dey inside?’ asked Tessy, trying to reconfirm from him
‘Walahi. Na here I dey always stay Madam, he never come’ said the Mallam
‘Okay thank you said Tessy who gave the Maiguard a N200 tip as she left.

She was upset and angry. This fool called Peter had wasted her whole day. Worse still, she had to walk to his dusty junction to get another taxi. The foolish driver that had brought her here had refused to wait for her to conclude her business.

As she began to walk to the junction, she heard her phone ringing and wondered if it was Peter.

She looked at the display on her phone and realised that the number was unknown. I could be the silly idiot.
‘Hallo’ said Tessy, ready for battle
‘How are you Theresa?’ asked the strange voice
‘I’m fine.’ She answered slowly, wondering who it was. This did not sound like Peter.
“This is Ade Owen Browne, Simisola’s Daddy’ said the voice
‘Wow. Good afternoon Sir’ she greeted him respectfully, surprised that he had called
‘Have you heard from Simi?’ he asked
‘No Sir. I only know she left this morning to visit you. Hasn’t she gotten to you sir? Asked Tessy, confused.

‘She was here, but, I wanted to know if you have seen her since then’ he said
‘Oh, I’m not at home sir. I’m out’ she said
‘Theresa, the info I’m about to give you is very private. I do not want this anywhere and I’m only telling you because you are my daughter’s friend’ he warned gravely
‘Simi just called to say she has been kidnapped’ he said
‘What?!!! How could that have happened?’ exclaimed Tessy.

‘Do you know anyone she might have been in conflict with? He asked. He intended to get to the bottom of this speedily
‘No sir’ responded Tessy
‘Do you know anyone who could have done this?’ he asked
Tessy looked around and added one and one to make eleven. She then took a deep breath and spoke into her phone.

‘I have a suspect sir. I will meet you in your house right now’ she said.