It was Christmas Eve and Weruche did not know what to do with herself. Her two older brothers had gone out, they were probably in a seedy joint by now, smoking weed and doing whatever guys who lived in their slum did on the twenty fourth.
She glanced at her phone screen, the time was 6:20, it was already getting dark. Most young women her age would be preparing to go out by now-- to a friend or boyfriend's place and later to one of the many house parties and concerts that always took place at the end of the year. Most young women, just not her.
She wasn't done with her chores yet, there was still some fresh fish she needed to cook, they didn't have a freezer and if she didn't cook it in time, it was going to get spoilt, yet she couldnt bring herself to get up.
Every now and then, some good Samaritan sent some fresh fishes to everyone in the village, and she had always been grateful for the extra food. At the moment, it felt like extra work.
She sighed as she gave in to her laziness and picked up an old copy of 'HER' an Aunty had left behind after visiting three years ago. The front cover showed a beautiful light skinned girl, slim yet with mature curves. She had beautiful eyes, a pointed nose, full lips and the biggest afro Weruche had ever seen. 'How to be bold, beautiful and totally afro' the article said and intrigued, Weruche opened up.
Even though the magazine had been in the house for three years, Weruche had never opened it. She had always been busy during the day, studying, doing house chores and doing odd jobs to support her mother's petty trading. Coupled with the fact that they had not been able to afford electricity bills for close to ten years since the death of her father and so they all had to make do with sunlight and stop most activities when the sun came down.
She read through the article, trying to get into the world of the writer. A world of bus catching, traffic, work ambition and friday night partying. A world of the social media, besties and boyfriends. It was the ultimate city life. She dreamed of it, hoped to one day live that dream but deep down in her heart was the fear that she would live and die in the slums of Woodville, sometimes passing through the rich neighborhoods and wondering if she would grow old and die, a shriveled up rose that never had the kiss of the sun on it's petals or the admiration of someone who knew it's worth. She tugged at her own long soft hair that had never been relaxed as the daylight faded away and it became impossible to continue reading.
Her phone rang, snatching her out of her reverie and she looked at the screen. It was her best friend Brenda. Even though Brenda lived only two blocks away, she always flashed Weruche before she came over.
She got up and tried to put things in order in the one room apartment she lived in with her mother and two older brothers. The room always looked untidy no matter how much she tried to make it look good, a curtain partitioned it into two, separating the section used as sitting room and kitchen from the part used as bedroom by Weruche and her mother and giving them a little bit of privacy. They all used a common bathroom and toilet, shared with three other families.
"Hi girl." Brenda said from the door way. She was wearing skinny jeans that was ripped at the knee with a very small lacy, black crop top. Looking pretty and ready to party, she stood for a while at the door, reveling in her friends surprise and admiration.
"Well, come in." Weruche said at last. Why are you looking so....."
"So what?" Brenda asked, sitting down.
"So..." She shrugged. "You know like all the people we see on TV."
Brenda sucked up the compliment. "Because today is the twenty fourth! C'mon girl, we're going to party."
"What party?" Weruche asked, her brows drawn up in a slight frown. She wasn't about to attend any of the parties going on in the neighborhood and neither she not Brenda had the connections to get into any party on the other side of town. The events and shows going on around woodville usually had a gate fee of about five thousand naira for regular seats. She didn't have that kind of money and neither did Brenda, and most of the guys who were willing to pay for them expected a return of the favour in kind.
"Wouldn't you at least look a little excited?" Brenda asked.
"Brenda, I'm not going to any of those things you guys call parties where they can drug you and rape you and no one would even care."
"It's not. Okay!" Brenda smiled. "It's at the West coast."
"The West coast!" Weruche repeated, stunned. A slow smile spread over her face and she could feel her heart start racing. Fighting to keep her excitement at Bay, she asked. "How did you..... What kind of party is it?"
Brenda raised her hands palm up in a peace sign.
"Calm down.... Well you know the Onyeomas?"
"The ones your mother cleans for?"
"Yes. Well today, my mother was a little busy and so she sent me instead..... You know Mrs. Onyeoma has two grown daughters, maybe older than us..."
"I don't understand, they invited you to a party? But they don't live at the West coast." Weruche was getting confused. The Onyeoma girls as she liked to call them were two uppity girls that lived in the cleaner part of their neighborhood. There was no way they were in the position to dish out invites to a West coast party.
"No actually...." Brenda was starting to fidget.
"Spit it out Brenda!"
"Okay so I saw an invitation to Karis party and I picked it up. C'mon girl, we deserve to have fun, even if it's just for today. This year has been so stressful and..... "
Weruche held up her hand. "Karis? Did you just say Karis?"
"Yeah! And I know the girls are going to be furious if they ever find out. Look if you want me to, I'll return it."
" Wait!" Weruche said, a bit dazed. "You want us to attend a party thrown by the one and only billionaire's son and heir, Karis Ilobi with stolen invites?"
Brenda nodded.
A slow smile curved her lips and mischief danced in her eyes. "Let's do it."
"Yay!" Brenda threw her arms around her friend in excitement. "So let's get you what to wear." She was already heading to Weruche's clothing bag on the floor. Zipping it open, Brenda searched through it a bit then flung a little white dress at her. "You're wearing this tonight." "No way!" Weruche said as soon as she saw what her friend wanted her to wear. "It's too revealing Brenda. I don't even know why I bought that dress in the first place." "Well you bought it for a time like this." Brenda insisted. Silencing her with a stern look. "You're wearing this tonight girl." Weruche conceeded wordlessly. There was no arguing with Brenda once she got bossy. She touched her hair. "I don't even know what to do with my hair, I didn't get it done and I don't have any wigs." She glanced at Brenda, trying not to fell insecure but her friend had used attachments to braid her hair in two s
Karis watched his best friend, Charles snort cocaine. He never understood what got people so hooked up on drugs. He had tried it a few times but there was something so souless about escaping loneliness in drugs, he preferred instead to bury it in the soft flesh of a willing woman. Yes he was lonely. He had more money than he could spend in a hundred life times but that was it. The women who flocked him didn't really care about him and neither did the multitude of fans who liked to pretend they were friends nor his Father who only cared that he lived long enough to inherit and bare future heirs. His mother had cared but that was a long time ago, she was dead now. He felt soft hands come around him and lips press on his ear. Whoever it was was whispering meaningless nothings into his ear and Karis felt like swiping at her. Weren't the rooms supposed to be out of bounds? Noticing that Charles had finished snorting, he shrugged off the girls arms
Weruche didn't hear anything about Karis again after that night neither did she attend any parties again or any gathering at all apart from church gatherings and the days flew by until it was January again and she was back at the state university where she studied Law. She sat at the front of the class and tried to concentrate while the man droned on and on, all the while shooting lascivious glances at her. At the end of his lectures, the lecturer asked Weruche to see him in his office and she was filled with dread. She had heard stories of lecturers preying on their female students and victimizing those who refused to have sex with them but she was yet to experience such. She hoped this was not going to be her first encounter with such a lecturer. "You know, you should buy a ring and then tell him you're married." Weruche turned to see her friend and classmate - Chioma. "
Weruche's eyes scanned the car. It was a Lexus, far from the latest model but still in good shape. She went over to the passenger side front seat and the man leaned over to push open the door for her. "Thanks." She murmured as she got in and strapped up, noticing the man himself didn't have his seat belts on. "So what's the name?" He asked, casting her a side long glance, his hand back on the wheel. "Weruche." "Nice name..... What does it mean?" It means -- aren't you Igbo?" She tried to clean her tear stained face with her palms, wondering how much of a mess she looked. She didn't have her make up on and so didn't have to worry about her mascara or anything bleeding but crying always made her eyes puffy, it wasn't a pretty sight. "No, I'm not Igbo." He answered.He reached into the glove compartment, brought out a clean hankey and handed it to her. "Joseph Yakubu at your service." "
Karis sat in his office in his office in Woodville. The inactivity was killing him. He wondered why his father had insisted he work at the office branch in Woodville for a whole year before he was allowed to take over the running of the company. It was probably Adam Chukwu that put him up to it. Karis wondered how Adam had started off as his father's legal advicer, became his father's best friend and now was practically dictating what his father did. Thinking about Adam made Karis remember Weruche. He smiled. Beautiful but reluctant Weruche. She was going to have to make up her mind soon because he had already made up his. He got up from his chair, stretched and went to stand by the window. The view was great, his office overlooked the beautiful lake Woodville was known for but at this time of the year, there were no beautiful women flashing amazing bodies in bikinis, each trying to out do her neighbor in beauty and class. Instead, fishermen were all over the beach, hawking thei
The moment Weruche got to her street, she knew her suspicions were not wrong. She could see her house clearly from ten feet away, and people were trooping in and out, wearing long faces. They looked like people in mourning. You did not mourn the sick, you mourned the dead. She broke into a run, her back pack that contained most of her possessions wearing her down, and stealing the little strength she had, yet she did not stop. ''Justin, where is Mama? She's not dead, is she?'' She asked grabbing her brother immediately she got into the house. ''Relax Weruche.'' He said in a flash of irritation. ''She's not dead, I told you she was sick now, or did I say she's dead. She's in the room, go and see her. She probably won't be alive for long.'' Weruche let go of her brothers arm as his words stung. Relieved as she was that her mother was still alive, she hated how unconcerned about their mother's health Justin sounded, he also mentioned that she wouldn't be alive for long. He
Lola was being inquisitive again. Karis hated it when she got like that. He was going to have to break things up with her - this time for good. They had both enjoyed an open relationship for sometime now, but things were changing, she had started getting more jealous, more annoying. ''You want to launch a charity you say, but you have no idea what particular charity -'' She said. She was sitting on his laps and snorting coke from a pen, and he had the sudden urge to push her off. He shrugged. '' The girl child education, or anything that sounds as stupid and as good as that. I don't really care. All this is a game, a game between my father, Adam chukwu and I.'' ''And what about his daughter?'' Lola asked getting up suddenly from his lap, and dropping the pen on a table. ''What about whose daughter?'' Karis asked to stall for time. ''Oh don't play dumb with me Karis.'' Lola snapped. ''Adam's daughter - the beautiful Weruche.'' She raised a palm. ''And before you accuse m
''Why Weruche Chukwu! If it isn't a pleasant surprise.'' Karis said from where he was sitted, and Weruche could feel her heart skip several beats. She shouldn't have run off to his house without second thoughts, she should have come up with a plan, but she had been naive enough to think they would continue off from where they had stopped the previous year.... she was even lucky they had let her in. ''I... I... Can I come in?'' Karis merely lifted a brow. She was already in. She had worn the flimsy dress Brenda gave her that put way too much of her creamy skin on display, and her flat ironed her was beginning to kink up again, curling into something mysterious and totally sexy. She was looking good... beautiful, if the reactions of the men she had passed on the road was anything to go by, why wasn't Karis affected by her now as he had been in the past. She smiled and tried to step up her acting game. ''I came because..'' because I couldn't stop thinking about you... that