obviously uneasy.
I guess Chang was too high in spirit to
observe that. I was walking with Chang all along, forming Rambo to convince him all the more that I was really willing to do all I
told him. Even Cynthia did not understand
me. I followed Chang to his room and he
was kind of marveled at that action of mine.
‘You might want to go to your room, boy’ he
said. No! I replied sternly. I really believed
that what transpired in my dream was going
to work for me like it worked for the poor
kid. So I kept following hard after Chang. ‘I
want to know all there is to know about the
PRADAS. I don’t want to go in there too
naïve’ I said. Tell me everything about the
PRADA. ‘Are you sure of this?’ Chang asked.
‘I think you’re going so fast’. ‘Are you
telling me or not, old man?’ I asked sternly.
I believe that at that point, Chang was a bit
confused and may have been angry that I
called him old man, but he didn’t show such
emotions. I was supposed to be afraid, but I
was more than eager to become a PRADA.
Something is not right. But what? Chang
couldn’t figure that out, so he told me he
was weak and needed to rest. ‘I’ll tell you
all you need to know about PRADA
tomorrow’ he said, and I left without saying
goodnight. I borrowed that attitude from the
PRADAS. They never say a word of greeting
and never act familiar. I wonder what must
have been running through Chang’s mind.
I wasn’t convinced that all that display
before Chang was enough to get him to act
in accordance with my plan, so I decided to
try something rugged. At least, if my
previous display wasn’t enough to get
Chang to change his mind about me, this
one will. Having convinced myself of the
rapid result this very plan of mine was
going to yield, I excitedly proceeded with
my next move.
In the middle of the night I went to Lin’s
room and asked for a piece of her. She
objected. ‘If you must be my wife, you
must let me have a piece of you whenever I
ask for it, pending when we’ll get married.
I’m not ready to wait eternally for our
wedding night’. ‘But you said you’re
engaged to Cynthia’, Lin asked. ‘Things
have changed’ I said. ‘Ask you aged father
and he’ll explain it all to you. We are
getting married soon. But I can’t wait until
then to have you. I need you now. I mean
now!
Left for Lin, she wouldn’t resist. But for the
fear of her father she objected. I knew all
that. I just wanted to give Chang a reason
to disqualify and send me away. I began to
threaten Lin that I was going to get
physical if she continued resisting me and
she threatened to scream if I did so.
‘That’s exactly what I need nah’ I said in
my heart. I proceeded towards her, bundled
her and threw her down from the bed,
unbuttoned my shirt and lose my belt.
Guess what? The girl didn’t even sigh, not
to talk of scream. Between her and me, she
wanted it to look like I forced myself on
her, but no one would hear of it. When it
was clear to me that Lin was a wrong
chemical, I made my way out of her room
and she asked; What? Did I do something
wrong?
I couldn’t sleep that night. By 5am I went
Chang’s library and got a number of books
about jets, estates, and mansions. I opened
up all of them and kept on Chang’s reading
table. When morning fully came, I heard
Chang ask about me and no one seemed to
know where I was. I knew he was going to
look for me when morning came since he
and I had almost become fellow PRADAS.
After searching a while for me, one of the
servants came to the library to find me
lying on the books on the table like one who
fell asleep while reading. I was just acting.
Chang was called in by the servant who
found me. He woke me up and asked if I
was drunk. I laughed mischievously and told
him that I just found a reason to live. He
asked what I had found and I showed him
the books. ‘How do books about jets,
estates and mansions give you a reason to
live? ‘Guess Chang, guess’ I said smiling.
I’m not guessing anything. Tell me if you
want to or let’s go and have breakfast so
that I can tell you about PRADA afterwards
as you requested. ‘Excellent!’ I screamed.
But before then you’ll have to answer some
questions. ‘I don’t have time for all these,
boy’ Chang yelled. ‘Please Chang, please. It
will only take a while’ I said. Chang sat
down and I asked;
What’s the price of the most expensive jet
you know?
‘24 Billion Dollars’
‘What about the price of largest estate you
know?’
‘About 50 billion dollars’
‘Okay. The largest mansion?
‘What’s all these about?’
‘Mr. Chang, just answer the question’
‘400 million dollars’
‘Thank you Mr. Chang. If you add all that
money together, you’ll get 74 billion 400
million dollars.’
‘That’s right’, Chang concurred. Now what
was that for?
‘Those are the things I’m going to buy after
I marry your daughter’
Chang laughed and laughed and asked;
‘where are you going to get the money to
buy all that, boy? If I remember correctly,
you still an aspiring actor and singer. So
how the hell are you going to achieve that?’
After he said that, he kept laughing. I
waited for him to be through. When he was,
I looked at him and said; WITH LIN’S
MONEY.
Chang paused and looked at me firmly. I
bet he wasn’t seeing me in the light he had
seen all the while anymore. I went ahead to
tell him how I hated martial arts and would
sell off his martial arts academy when Lin
inherited it. I made Chang believe that I
had become greedy for Lin’s fortune and he
suspended the idea of my marriage to his
daughter. But no, he didn’t suspend the idea
of making me a PRADA.
Cynthia couldn’t stay any longer in China.
She just couldn’t take it anymore. She
didn’t understand Chang, she didn’t
understand Lin, and worst of all, she didn’t
understand me. She asked me to secretly
leave Chang’s house with her but I
objected. I told her I had everything under
control. She didn’t understand at all but I
told her to trust me, and she did. As a
matter of fact, I had grown to become the
only one Cynthia trusts.
I told her to make her intentions of leaving
known to Chang. Chang wouldn’t stop her
from leaving. He had no business with her
anymore. So she did, and Chang bade her
farewell. She asked for me to escort her to
the airport. I refused. She begged but I still
refused. She put up a fight with me for
refusing to escort her to the airport and
that called to the attention of everyone in
the mansion including Chang. He asked to
know what the problem was and Cynthia
told him how heartless I was for refusing to
escort her to the airport. Chang thought I
was really ready to turn bad and was
already acting like it even before turning
bad. He pleaded with me to escort her to
the airport and I yielded. I and Cynthia got
to the airport, boarded a flight to America,
and off we went. Whoow! That was entirely
my plan, and it worked.
I wouldn’t know what happened when Chang
and Lin discovered we were gone. I left
China without packing any of my stuff
except the cloth I wore. Thank God! We
arrived at America and were so relieved.
Lin called in later that day to find out where
we were and Cynthia gave her the nag of
her life. I don’t know if Lin got to say any
more than hello, because Cynthia never
paused while on the phone with her and it
seemed as if she was rapping Twister’s
music. No be small thing oo. I and Cynthia
started a recap on our experience in China.
She made fun of me and I made fun of her.
Seemed like our experience in China brought
us closer than we were before, and she was
so comfortable with it.
I had been sleeping all day one of those
days and couldn’t sleep early enough at
night. I jumped out of my bed and made my
way to the sitting room. There I found
Cynthia watching TV. ‘You’re still up this
late?’ I asked. ‘Yeah. I couldn’t sleep. What
about you? You’re afraid to sleep alone in
your room? She asked. ‘Maybe I should
come join you’. I just smiled and waved
that away, then I joined her to watch TV as
we discussed. Cynthia then began to
apologize for the slap she gave me in
China. She was so tender with words that I
began to admire her in a way I hadn’t
before. She drew close to me and laid her
head on my chest, telling me how willing
she was to make it up to me, not minding
how I wanted her to. She gave me a blank
check, and my mind became as blank as
the check. The fragrance of her hair was to
die for. She was putting on that same gown
she wore the night she paid an unusual
visit to my room in China. The light in the
sitting room was off, and the overwhelming
darkness lacked the power to reveal much
to my eyes, so my mind wasn’t troubled
much. But then, she slept off on my chest
since it took me too long to decide what to
fill into the check she gave me.
I tried to wake her up unsuccessfully. After
several tries, I decided to carry her all the
way up to her room. On reaching there I
dropped her on the bed gently, drew back
and watched her stretch herself and
wiggling like a worm on the bed while
turning to a comfortable sleeping position.
Unfortunately me, the light in her room was
on, and it shone so bright that it didn’t
even look like night. I could see all her
gown revealed, and leaving the room
became an issue. I longed for a strange
voice like that which played in my mind in
Ogechi’s case to play again so that I would
have an excuse to misbehave and blame it
on the devil. Haha, devil don suffer! But
fortunately for me, it didn’t. Na wao. Abi
devil dey sleep? When it was clear the
voice wasn’t going to speak, I considered
improvising. (WRONG MOVE)
To be continued.
