When Dami pulled the car away from her street after dropping her off, she was still deep in thought. Talking with Gabriel had put questions in her head. She understood that progeny was such a big deal for men who already have everything they would ever need, but did he need to continue the family line that bad? Besides, the Asikas were not exactly flowing with good deeds, so why extend their evil seed in the world? The world was filled with enough evil without adding these people, and Gabriel Asika was apparently the worst of them.

It didn't matter how she reviewed it, it still gave her a tinge of concern to realize she would helping her enemy instead of bringing him down. She had requested for time to think about it but, there was actually no need. Amelia would turn in her grave if she so much as entertained the thought. Besides, what was the benefit of selling your soul, or in this case, child, to the devil himself? Gabriel was after all, the spawn of Satan.

Pushing the matter to the back of her mind, she walked towards the set of storey buildings that housed lots and lots of self-contained apartments with moderate prices. This was the norm in Ikorodu area of Lagos state as greedy landlord tried to make fast money from desperate individuals who wanted to get a taste of the 'Eko' life. Their landlord wanted fast cash, and rented it out in such manner. Once you were two months late on your rent, he evicted you, just after reporting your arse to the police station. Luckily, she and Clarissa made enough money monthly to be on his good side. As did some other girls at the club who also lived in this neighborhood.

Their apartment was on the top floor and Gina tiredly climbed up the stairs, her full belly weighing her down. It was not a good idea to be gluttonous, she decided,  once she managed to reach their door half panting. Clarissa opened the door after two knocks and she stumbled in.

"Where were you, Gina?" Demanded Clarissa instantly in her mother superior tone after assessing her and had found her wanting.

Clarissa Dike was a svelte looking lady. At 23, she was quite tall, adding three inches to Gina's height of 5ft6. She took after her father in height, weight and general strictness, perhaps that would explain why she could lord her authority over her immediate younger sibling who tried to resist it any chance she got. With high cheekbones, large round eyes which held her dark-coloured pupils and soft looking puckered full pink lips highlighted by her upturned nose all wrapped up in a heart-shaped face, it was quite easy to see where Gina got her looks from. The contrast, however, was in their skin colour and personalities. While Clarissa was a bit fair in complexion with baby soft skin and a meek disposition, Gina was ebony with lustrous skin and an incredibly strong-willed persona. She did things she wanted to do once she set her mind to it and there was no stopping her.

Letting out a tired breath, she shrugged dismissively. She couldn't raise Clarissa's suspicions, especially not when it involved the Asikas'. Hearing about that family made Clarissa paranoid, which would explain why they had no written piece of article concerning that family in their apartment despite the numerous achievements ascribed to them.

"At a clients house. He let me sleep-in," she said simply, trying to avoid mentioning the breakfast. It was unethical really to frolick with clients after a night's toss in the hay.

As expected, Clarissa found the sleep-in strange. "Why would you allow that? You know it's not how it works." She had a deep frown marring her features.

"I know. I guess I was too tired, and he didn't bother to wake me either," she concurred before moving to go sit on the only couch in the living area of their self-contained apartment.

The apartment itself was barely furnished despite the rate of income flow from their workplace. The cemented floor was covered by a carpet and the whitewashed walls were beautified by colourful wallpapers in colours of forest Green and cream. The living room contained one brown couch, a small, circular coffee brown center-table that had cracks at the edges and a grey armchair that unfortunately doubled as a hamper for washed clothes. Across the room was a small enclosure demarcated by a wide cupboard with white tiled counter tops. This area served as the kitchen with pots and food ingredients piled inside the cupboard compartments and pans and cooking spoons hanging off the shelf. The cooker was on top the counter and the sink immediately adjacent it.

The inner room which was their bedroom, however, was actually in a better state and condition. The walls were painted in a lovely pattern of pink and cream and the floors were tiled. A hanging mirror adorned the right side of the room and a vanity table with a chest of drawers that contained their feminine products, was strategically placed next just before a small door. The left side housed the wardrobe in the room which was directly opposite the large mattress covered by patterned bedsheets which occupied the left side of the room. The small door at the right led to the ensuite bathroom, or shower, and toilet. 

Clarissa eyed her suspiciously before sitting next to her on the couch, staring at her purse. "How much did you make?"

"Roughly #30. I would have gotten more expect Iyke was watching me when he paid and collected interest on the extra," she answered, emptying her purse on the dirty looking couch. With the obvious, it was actually quite hard to tell.

"That disgusting rat. I hate when he does stuff like that," Clarissa muttered in disgust, reaching over to arrange the naira notes. She was the house accountant and treasurer.

"Did he use protection?"

It was always her sisters' routine question whenever she came back from a night out with a client. Gina hated it though, even if it was for her benefit. Sometimes, it led to Clarissa asking her about the client and how good in bed he was, and she had noticed most of her clients found themselves flocking around her sister after their first outing. That was one of the reason she didn't want Clarissa to know about Gabriel. At least not yet. Subconsciously, she wasn't ready to share him. Even if he wasn't hers to begin with.

The other reason was obvious. He was the bane of their existence, and that thought had her doubting her reasons for agreeing to sleep with him last night and then even sitting through his ridiculous proposal this morning. There was no guarantee he wouldn't attempt with her what he had done with Amelia, so why even contemplate the idea?

Bam! A sharp slap on the back had her snapping back to reality in an instant. Clarissa had smacked her.

"Don't leave me hanging. Tell me the real gist. Did he use condom? Was he rough or gentle? Is he a great kisser? How good in bed was he?" She droned on about the usual stuff, but Gina had no plans to appease her.

"Yes, he used protection and no, he was not good in bed. He was gentle and real slow. I feel asleep when he was kissing me. It was terrible," she lied, making a face.

Rissa was in doubt. "And he gave you so much money?"

Mentally prepared for this, she fibbed. "I charged him extra. It was his first time and he didn't know the rates."

Seeing no further headway into her seemingly innocuous interrogation, Clarissa shrugged and stood up to go hide the money inside the mattress. It was a terrible way of saving money but they couldn't go the bank always so they adopted this method. Although they made account at the end of the week to see how much they realised, even if Clarissa's amount always almost tripled her own.

"Go freshen up or something, and get some rest. Tonight is another day and we can't afford to be lazy, Gina," Rissa yelled from the bedroom.

Gina winced at her commanding tone, and shuffled to go do as she was bid. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays were the best nights for clients. Yesterday had been okay, today would be crazy. Men would be practically clamouring for any girl they could lay their hands on. Saturday nights were nights she could at least hope to get more than one client, even if they always payed measly.

Her thoughts drifted over to her crush again as she went to change out of her clothes. It was pretty plain he had an ace up his sleeves with this surrogacy issue he had presented her with and it made her anxious to think that he may have chosen her on purpose. She dreaded to think it was because he knew who she was. She and Amelia did not share similar physical characteristics.

She shook her head vigorously to dispel the thoughts. She would like to believe he had no inkling who she was and his proposition had just been a mere coincidence.

+++++++++++++++

After a refreshing bath and sleep,  Gina strolled into the living room to find Clarissa filing her nails methodically. Bottles of nail finish, nail polishers, cotton wool, nail glue, nail filer and packets of artificial nails lay haphazardly on the center table. Clarissa had her feet propped up by the table while she concentrated on her self manicure treatment.

Gina eyed her with interest and plopped down on the couch beside her. She reached for a nail filer and Rissa smacked her hand away.

"No touching. Go and get yours."

"Please, Rissa." She pouted, still making a grab for the item.

"Gina?!"

"Rissa!"

Seeing that there was no headway to this, since Gina would insist doggedly and Rissa would still give in, she harrumphed and gave her the stink eye before returning her attention back to her nails. Gina grinned sheepishly before picking up the second filer and copying her sister.

All through the day, Gabriel's proposal had been running through her mind, causing her stress, insomnia and general restlessness. She was to give him her reply in two days but she felt unsure, even with the time gap. Why was she even considering it after all the evil deeds that man had done? Seeing him from afar meant 'no evil shall come nigh thy tent, O Israel,' but how do you put it in quote when you unnecessarily invite said evil to you tent?

Wham! A sharp smack on her arm had her barrelling quickly into the conscious state. The intensity of the pain forced her mouth to fly open in shock.

"What did I do to you nah?" She whined, as beads of tears stung her eyes. Subconsciously, her palm reached over to her arm to soothe the burning skin.

Instead of an answer, Rissa hissed contemptuously. "Where did your mind go off to now? I've told you absent-mindedness will get you in trouble one day."

She hissed, loudly too, with an eye roll to boot. "It's none of your business where my mind went to. Tell me what you wanted to tell me, joor?"

Sighing audibly at her younger sister, Rissa decided to swallow her retort. It did Gina no good in the long run, anyways.

"I wanted to let you know that I'll not be around this weekend. A client requested I join in on a weekend grooving at Quillox bar in Lekki. I'm supposed to be his escort for the two days, me and Dija."

Her sister made the statement seem like it wasn't such a big deal but it was, very much so. Escort work was a different sort of whoring around, and without Iyke's knowledge was pretty dangerous. The good thing about the strip club was that all the girls had protection; from thugs, from the police, from whoever. If anyone went missing, it was usually treated as a big case, but freelance escorts were mostly victims of whatever heinous crime the dark streets of Lagos had to offer. Gina didn't want that for her sister.

"You couldn't refuse?"

Rissa shrugged dismissively. It was very obvious that she was taking the whole matter lightly. "I'm not going to be the only girl there. Dija would be there, besides this is big money and we are obviously in need of it, lots of it," she explained, eyeing their apartment in apparent disgust.

"Dija isn't exactly trustworthy. She's infamous for duping clients of their money and not giving them anything in return. Besides,  we have enough money. We aren't starving."

"Of course we are. You probably can't see it because you think the measly amount you make every weekend is enough to pay our bills." Rissa countered adamantly.

"I know it isn't enough but I try, Rissa. I'm not exactly useless, you know?" She replied, feeling useless all of a sudden. She knew she wasn't good in this business but she needed to bring in more returns if they ever had any hope of quitting this job in recent time.

"I know you try too, Gina, but at this rate without extra from outside work like this one that I've  accepted, we'd be stuck doing this job all our lives, and I know you can't wait to leave it behind. I see it in your eyes very clearly and I want you to have your freedom." Flashing her an amiable smile, a chuckle threatened to leave her lips but she bit it down.

Seeing she wouldn't give in easily, Rissa dropped her filer and reached instantly for her, tickling her at the sides furiously. She struggled in futility to get away and ended up bursting into full blown belly laughs before landing face flat on the floor. Then Rissa let her be so she could catch her breath.

"Ode, I thought you had suddenly became stone-faced," her sister said in between chortles. 

Recovering from her laughter session, Gina pouted before settling quietly beside her sister on the couch. But her mind her caught unto her sister's words and she saw a breakthrough to their situation instantly. The only problem would be convincing Rissa that being Gabriel's baby mama was nothing like selling your soul to the devil. At least she hoped it wasn't.

"I think I may have found a way for us to get more money without actually running the risk of getting in trouble being an escort."

Her sister barely spared her glance, her attention locked on coating her toe nails with polish. It wouldn't be far from Gina to try to convince her to join a sewing class or a fashion class which will fetch her millions in a few years if she developed on those skills, as if those classes were free from the start. She nearly hissed at the thought.

Not one to be dettered by lack of support, she countined. "Clarissa, what would be your answer if supposedly, a client were to offer you say, five million so you'll give him a child?"

The amount had her attention peaking. "Isn't that called 'surrogacy'? This popular trend going on between slay mamas and desperate girls of nowadays? After, they'll open that their big mouths and call us strippers, the desperate ones." She hissed, trying to return her attention back to her nails.

"Can you please focus?" Gina rolled her eyes at her sister, wondering why she'd always choose to compare her line of work with other girls even if the process was the same thing, generally. Rissa can act stupidly sometimes. "Will you do it?"

She paused in her action of coating her big toe with acrylic polish to review the question. "Although the money is mouth-watering, I won't do it. Being a baby mama is not easy."

"Being a baby mama is better and obviously pays more than being an escort," Gina retorted indignantly.

"What?!"

She shrugged non comittally, while she rephrased her words for fear of getting smacked again. Rissa was still older than her. "I don't think it's that bad since the commission will be high. Do you know you can get more than five million if you agree to surrogacy?"

Rissa eyed her squarely, suspicion evident in her gaze. She didn't know that agreement paid that kind of money but she was pretty marvelled that for a hypothetical situation, Gina sounded serious.

"Who is this man that you agreed to be his baby mama? Do I know him?"

"No, you don't know him." There was no denying the fact that she had been propositioned from her sister but at no cost was she to reveal who. All hell would break loose. "The client from last night mentioned something like that when he was on a call with someone. Then he kept complaining afterwards that the girl he wanted didn't seem interested anymore. I thought I might take up the opportunity."

Rissa shook her head in disagreement, her eyes unwavering. "No, Gina, don't take up the offer. Surrogacy is a one year thing and requires lots of planning, money influx and care. If a client wants a child, they would go to all these high ranking establishments to get it done, but if they come down to the level of nameless, faceless girls lining up the streets of Lagos, you have to be wary of such ones. They can have you killed once you put to bed just so they won't have to pay you, or so that you won't blab to anyone about the origins of their child.

"Most importantly, what do you know about this client? What do you know about their intentions towards the child? It could be for rituals, money-making rituals, and your child is ultimately a part of you in the long run."

Gina wanted to protest that Rissa was wrong, that Gabriel was too rich to be involved in money rituals. Yes, he may have mentioned something about providing his father with an heir but since that family was too crafty, anything was possible with them. All of what he told her could have been a well constructed lie. She chose to believe otherwise since Gabriel seemed genuine to her.

"What if their intentions are clear? I won't get hurt and we'll make so much money," she protested desperately. She didn't even know why she wanted to do this work.

Rissa stood up from the couch to glare at her younger sibling since Gina's naivety was suffocating her.

"Gina, don't be stubborn. You know feelings is not part of our job description. Getting pregnant and giving birth will give you that. I don't even want to imagine how you'll feel when that child is taken away from you. I've seen it before and I can tell you that it isn't pleasant."

As if on cue, her sister's eyes met her own, both of them mirroring each others in thoughts.

"Gabriel Asika took away Amelia's child from her and it killed her. I won't lose another sister that same horrible way again. No, I won't do it!"

Then she turned and marched off towards their bedroom, leaving Gina feeling completely distraught and confused.

~~~~~~~~~

Welp! There goes Gabriel's plans to have a child. How do you think he'd react when he she tells him she declined his offer?

Remember to leave your votes and comments.

Thank you 😊😛