SACRED_OATHS

Author: Samuel Frederick

Episode 20: SPILL THE TRUTH.

__________

The confidence I portrayed by walking away was to show them that I wasn’t afraid of their threats. As much as I knew how dreadful they looked, I still knew for a fact that the threats I made were just empty echoes to their ears. I had to admit that I had no solid action to back it all up, and that I was very vulnerable and fragile to them.

I realized the mess I had gotten myself into. I needed to talk to someone urgently to clear my head. Anyone.

I walked back into the school until I got to the cafeteria. Just as I’d expected, Mimi, Oluchi and the guys were already there, including Bauchi and Eagle, the gentlemen who had been kind enough to drive us back home the previous day. They were all chatting away in merriment when I joined them.

“Where’ve you been?” Oluchi asked.

“I was about to call you now.” Mimi chipped in.

I stayed silent and managed to force a smile, then I exchanged pleasantries with everyone. They all kept mute after the greetings and fixed their eyes on me.

"What is it?" I was forced to ask after it went on for some time. Their stares were almost killing me.

"We heard about your dad's condition." Simon said.

"Is that the reason you were acting strange during the exam?" Oluchi interrupted, before I could even respond.

"Yes." I nodded. "But I'm fine now!" I quickly added.

"How is he feeling now?" Boma asked from the other side of the table. Our eyes met properly for the very first time that day.

"He's getting better." I replied, almost blushing. He got the hint and smiled at me with a cool wink. I smiled back too.

Those little gestures we made seemed to have attracted our friends' attention to the both of us, because their eyes travelled to and fro between us. Bauchi was the first person that noticed.

"Nawa for una o!" He said with a perfect Igbo accent that made every one of us burst into laughter. "Wetin my eyes no go see for this life sha."

"If una wan play love together, at least make the both of una go under that fine mango tree wey dey outside na! Do like Romeo and Juliet’s type of love." Eagle added, sending another wave of laughter across the table. I could barely contain myself at that point.

"Don't mind these two love birds jare." Kingsley said amid laughter. "Silly people."

Just then, we all noticed someone walking towards us. Our moods changed instantly. Kingsley in particular, hissed at her and directed his gaze elsewhere as she neared us.

Contrary to our expectations, she wasn't alone, neither was she coming to us. She was holding the hand of a tall macho guy who followed her like a sheep herded by its shepherd, and then she hissed loudly when she passed us; then they both took a table opposite us.

Our eyes bulged in shock as we all placed our gazes upon Kingsley.

"Why una dey look am?" Bauchi asked rhetorically.

"Help me ask them o!" Kingsley piped in, not even looking concerned at all.

"Isn't that Jovita?" Mimi asked, blinking her eyes repeatedly.

"Shey your eyes dey pain you?" Eagle tried to tease her, but nobody laughed. It wasn't a joke this time around.

"As far as I'm concerned, that girl is too childish for me." Kingsley said and took the last gulp from his beer, looking very unbothered.

"I don't get it. Your girl is sitting right over there with another man and you don't care?" Mimi asked again. Kingsley laughed.

"What do you want me to do? Fight over her?"

"I didn't say that, but at least you should be worried about it. If you don't mind my asking, what really happened between you both?"

"I'll explain along the way. For now, let us leave here first," he suggested.

In agreement, we all took our last glances at Jovita's table as she chatted away with the macho guy and then we left the cafeteria. The guys offered to give me and Mimi a ride back home and spend some time with us before leaving.

Along the way, precisely in the car, we tried bugging Kingsley to tell us what happened but he urged us to remain patient till we get home.

When we finally got to my place, we were lucky to have the power active. It was a full house. The first thing Bauchi and Eagle did was to switch on my home theater and then they inserted a disk they had brought from the car into it, and then turned up the volume to the highest.

I couldn't complain or gripe about it, since they were my first time visitors.

Due to the fact that we had only one chair in the room, we had to make ourselves comfortable on the beds while Simon took the chair with Oluchi on his laps, even though there was enough space left for them on the beds.

"You ladies have a nice place here."  Kingsley complimented, looking around the room. "I likey!"

"I've told her before you even did." Boma added, winking at me.

"Thank you. I appreciate your kind words, dear gentlemen." I said politely, smirking.

"So like you said, we have finally arrived now. What was it you wanted to say?" Mimi questioned, referring to Kingsley.

"Oh, that's right. Where was I?"

"You said she's too childish for you." Mimi reminded him.

"Exactly." He exclaimed, nodding his head. "And that is the only word that qualifies her behavior. She's just too childish for a grown lady her age."

"But how?" Mimi asked. "I'm curious to know what happened. Come on, tell us!"

"Okay. So it was one particular Sunday like that when I got a call from her. She informed me that she would be coming over to my place that day. I didn't know she was already on her way and I had my guys with me in the room, and each and every one of them are my colleagues from school. We were all wasted due to the heavy liquor we took the previous night, and the room was a big mess too. Even the babes my guys brought to spend the night were all wasted." He sighed, and continued: "So after some time, Jovita finally arrived. I was wearing only boxers when she entered and met my guys and their girlfriends preparing to leave. She acted cool with it and said nothing negative. That one went well. Where the whole trouble started was when she opened my drawer in search of a peg and found a black lingerie and a red thong inside of it." He stopped.

Bauchi and Eagle burst into laughter. Boma couldn't help it either. It wasn't funny at all, at least to me.

"I don't even know what's funny to you people." Oluchi hissed. "What's the laughter for?"

"Leave them o!" Mimi hissed too, eyeing the guys.

"Like seriously, this guy is a disgrace to manhood!" Bauchi said, still laughing aloud. "You're not a man at all!"

"I'm telling you, my brother!" Eagle concurred amid laugher as well. “He's a sissy!”

Perhaps to avoid further mockery from his friends, Kingsley stood up and excused himself from us. From the look on his face, and with the way he slammed my door on his way out, one could easily tell that he wasn't in a good mood.

"You see what you guys have caused?" Mimi scoffed, annoyed.

"You don't joke with everything you hear; not all the time." Oluchi reprimanded them.

It suddenly dawned on Bauchi and Eagle that they were both at fault for Kingsley's mood swing.

"Let us meet him outside." Bauchi said, referring to Eagle. "Come on."

"I'll come with you." Mimi said, leaping off the bed.

When they left, Boma snuggled closer to me and placed his left arm over my shoulders. Oluchi and Simon retained their exact position, doing whatever they were doing.

"You didn't call me last night." He whispered softly into my right ear. His whisper sounded smooth. I could literally feel chills running down my spine.

"Neither did you." I muttered softly.

"I wanted to but, after what happened, I… I just…" He stuttered.

"You what?"

"Let's say I just lost my confidence." He chuckled like a baby. I laughed.

"So under that tough shell, you are just a normal weak man?"

"I won't call it weakness. I'd rather call it shyness," he said, blushing sheepishly.

"Boma, do you know you're acting like a woman?" I chuckled, looking into his eyes. "I'm supposed to be the shy one here, not you."

"I know but I can't help it. It's like…" He was about to explain when Oluchi interrupted with:

"Fifi, please can you help me with a needle?"

"I don't think I have that, but I have a pack of pins. Would you manage a pin?"

"Yep. All I need is something sharp!"

"But I have something sharp here, babe." Simon licked his lips, pointing at his crotch. "You want it?"

"Eww!" Oluchi and I chorused as I leaped from the bed and walked to my wardrobe where the pack of pins was kept.

As I stretched my hand to the top of my wardrobe to pick the pack, I mistakenly hit the polythene bag containing the envelope full of cash, the clothes and the iPhone and it fell off and spilled all of its contents on the floor.