TARASHA Episode 15 Pt 6 – Oyin Oluwatosin Emmanuel
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11am
Dayo walked back into the control room smiling. For him, learning something new was good, but learning it from a very beautiful and intelligent lady was extraordinary. He stared more at her face than the computer screen when she was explaining. Her gentle and soft way of speaking made an impact in his heart, he watched as her sexy lips moved while she explained to him and Sylvester.
‘Kimberly E. Alexander,’ he murmured to himself as he proceeded to the seat he previously occupied.
He was too lost in his thoughts to notice the gazes that were on him. Henry and the other developer had fixed their eyes on him as he entered noisily and began to bounce to his seat like someone who has just won the star prize of the Young C.c’s Readers’ contest. It was until he sat in front of the computer and looked up that he met with Henry’s gaze.
Henry gave a chuckle. ‘What’s up with you?’
‘Nothing sir,’ Dayo answered, surprised seeing the look on his colleagues faces.
‘How can you say nothing?’ Henry’s friend, Frank retorted. ‘You walked out over an hour ago and returned smiling like someone who just finished riding a hot chick.’
Dayo smiled at the nastiness of Frank. ‘I was coming from Mr Sylvester’s office’
‘Mr Sylvester’s office?’ They both asked in unison. Henry faced front and continued with his work.
‘Yes,’ he replied and tried to face the computer set.
‘Hmm…’ Frank cleared his throat and gave Henry a mischievous look. ‘Hope it’s not what I’m thinking?’ He muttered to Henry. His voice was loud enough for Dayo to hear.
‘What’s that you’re thinking?’ Dayo raised his head to ask.
‘Nothing really,’ he said and burst into laughter. ‘It’s just that I’ve not seen anyone come out of that place smiling or laughing. You’re the first I’ve seen, so I’m wondering if the man has become a comedian overnight.’
‘It wasn’t Mr Sylvester that got me smiling. I met his new staff,’ Dayo began. ‘She’s intelligent and beautiful. She’s the one behind his prolongation of the monitoring time’
‘Oh! I see.’ Frank took a quick glance at Dayo as if to look at his face for a confirmation of his words. He turned back quietly to his work.
‘Is she really that good?’ Henry asked, turning back again as he seemed to develop more interest.
‘Yes, she is crazily good.’ Dayo widened his eyes to emphasize his point.
‘Did you see her work on the system?’
‘Yes, she showed I and Mr Sylvester what she did on the system yesterday. That’s why I was there for so long.’ Dayo replied with an excited voice.
‘Okay, maybe I’ll have to see her for myself.’ Henry said and quickly punched some keys on the computer keyboard. ‘Is she’s still in Mr Sylvester’s office?’
‘I left her there.’
Everyone’s attention suddenly turned to the door as it opened. Sylvester popped in his head, his eyes searching the place. His gaze met with Henry’s. He entered and closed the door.
‘Good morning Mr Henry and Mr Frank,’ he greeted with a kind smile.
‘Good morning sir,’ they both replied at the same time.
‘Mr Henry,’ Sylvester called as he got to Henry’s front. The smile on his face was replaced with a serious look. ‘Agent Dakolo just called,’ he said almost in whispers, his voice bearing a warning tone.
Henry frowned, ‘what did he say?’
‘He’s coming here, to see you’
‘When and about what?’ Henry asked. Fear gripped his heart at the thought of facing Agent Dakolo again. Maybe the man was finally coming to arrest him for lying about the Jubril’s job, but there was no way the Agent was going to know if he was lying or not except if Sylvester had told him. He shivered at the thought of Agent Dakolo questioning him again, maybe inviting him for a lie detection test this time around. Was he going to get caught for defending Omotara, who was probably somewhere trying to play another fraud on someone else. The fear of being caught and labeled as dishonest and a person who harbors criminals terrorized his heart. He began to consider if it was really worth it to take the risk hoping that Omotara had changed for a better person or to give up and confess to the Agent with an apology. He was sure that with an explanation, the Agent who was also like a brother to him could help and cover him up.
‘I don’t have that detail, he’s coming to see you personally and he’ll be here in fifteen minutes.’ Sylvester replied.
‘Okay, thank you sir.’
+++++
Jefa returned from the market sweating heavily. Of course that was expected due to the stress experienced in the busy local markets on the market days that comes up in an interval of five days.
A tricycle had brought him and his goods from the market. He first stopped at his store to drop the goods meant for business which was eighty percent of what he bought. Now he had come home with foodstuffs and other things he bought for home use.
He sank into the weak sofa tiredly and let out a deep breath. Everywhere was silent, except for the sounds of the fan blades which were just accelerating. Jefa closed his eyes to rest a little but soon sank into a deep sleep.
~
The day was bright and sunny. The sidin singing heard from every corner of the street was enough to announce to an alien that it was Sunday and churches were having their morning services.
Jefa was seated in the passengers side of the white Range Rover, Omotara was driving. They both looked happy, dressed in matching white native attires. Jefa was moving slowly to the sound of the worship song being played, Omotara was miming along.
They got into the church compound and Omotara followed the directions of the Traffic Marshals and stopped where they instructed her to. She switched off the AC and killed the car engine. In few seconds, both of them stepped out of the car. It was Thanksgiving Sunday, they could hear the Thanksgiving hymn being led by the choir and sang by the large congregation. Omotara held with her her tablet device which contained a Bible and writing applications while Jefa preferred to go with a paper Bible, a pen and a notepad.
The ushers welcomed them warmly and handed them the Thanksgiving leaflet before directing them to the available seats. They got comfortable seats close to the centre of auditorium and dropped their Bibles and gadgets on the chair while they joined the congregation to complete the hymn being sang.
Few minutes later, they were seated and other segments of the service began. Several Thanksgiving verses were read from the Bible and different categories of people are called out to dance round the church and give their Thanksgiving offerings. Omotara and Jefa stood up and joined the group when the coordinator called out those who surrendered their lives to Christ in that year. They had their Thanksgiving envelopes in their hands as they danced to the front of the altar with the other people in their category.
The dancing paused when they got to the front of the pulpit and very few people with outstanding testimonies were called out to share with the rest of the congregation. They dropped their offerings and began to dance back to their seats, Jefa noticed that Omotara was distracted. She had seen something and slowed her dance steps. She was flashing her teeth happily at someone. Jefa glanced at the choir stand and saw Henry seated in front of the keyboard, flashing his teeth back at them happily. He took a hand off the keyboard and waved at them. Omotara and Jefa waved back and faced front.
Just before they passed the front row, they saw another familiar face seated on the second row. He was a government official who had once done them evil, he was shaking his legs to the beat of the song being played. Omotara smiled on seeing him but Jefa was indifferent. Reason being that Omotara had forgiven him and other offenders since she repented but Jefa was still trying to completely forgive them. He silently prayed and confessed words of love under his breath.
The government official looked up and met with their gazes. His smile diminished, in fact, he was visibly shaken. Omotara and Jefa ignored him and kept dancing back to their seats.
The church service ended two hours later and some church members began to depart to their homes immediately while most began to greet themselves and break into groups. Omotara politely excused herself from Jefa and made her way to the choir stand to meet Henry. She met him about standing up from the keyboard. There were three people arranging chairs in front of him, they were those who wanted to learn how to play the keyboard.
‘Hi,’ Henry greeted with a smile on seeing her. He excused himself from the learners and proceeded towards Omotara.
‘Hello,’ Omotara replied his greetings, with a smile too.
‘I was just planning to come and greet you and your brother before you leave.’ Henry gestured for them to walk to the back.
‘No, don’t bother.’ She refused politely. ‘Don’t keep your students waiting, I’ll extend your greetings to my brother’
‘Hehe’ Henry chuckled. He was staring at something behind her. She glanced back to see.
Jefa was walking towards them, making funny faces. She gave way as he moved closer and had a handshake with Henry.
‘Good morning sir,’ Henry bowed in respect.
‘Good morning Henry,’ Jefa replied. He placed his hands behind him and took glances at the faces of both of them. The way he was looking at them made Henry bow his head in shyness. ‘When are you guys getting married?’ He threw a surprising question.
Omotara stared at her brother with her mouth agape. ‘Married? Who told you we are planning to get married?’ She asked.
‘I don’t need an Angel to tell me that, I can perceive it in my spirit.’ Jefa replied with a smile. He turned to Henry whose face was still bowed. ‘You’re the man, talk to me.’ He said and gave Henry a playful jab on his arm.
‘Brother, come on leave him and let’s go.’ Omotara said playfully and grabbed her brother’s arm. ‘You bring a wife to the altar first, then you can now talk about me.’
She held Jefa’s hand and turned to look at Henry’s face. ‘We’ll be leaving now, I’ll call you when we get home’
‘Let me see you…’ Henry tried to offer.
‘No need,’ Tarasha cut in. ‘Go back to your students.’ She gestured with her eyebrows for him to look back. He glanced back to meet the eyes of his waiting students all fixed on him.
‘Alright then, we’ll talk later.’ He said and waved them bye. Jefa offered him another handshake before turning back to leave.
Henry stood on the same spot and watched them walk out of the auditorium holding hands together. The smile on his face was that of a proud man. He was proud he had being able to help the two of them become better persons. Now they looked happier than they used to be.
In ten minutes time, Omotara was already driving out of the church compound with her brother. The plan was to visit the nearest Mr Biggs outlet and take a meal there since they couldn’t wait to eat before coming to church in the morning.
They spotted the closest one and stopped by to take the meal. In another thirty five minutes, they were on their way home. It was after fifteen minutes of driving that Omotara began to notice a black Lexus 2031 model Jeep following them from behind. She kept mute and said nothing to her brother, wanting to verify first in order not to make a false alarm to the unsuspecting man.
‘Where’s this you’re going?’ He asked when she took a route which doesn’t lead to their home. She didn’t reply him, but he could see that her eyes were fixed on the side mirror. He looked back to check what it was. ‘Are they following us?’
‘Definitely, they are.’ She replied.
‘What? Who could that be and why…’ He paused while counting the number of men in the Jeep, two men were seated in front while one was at the back. ‘Three of them, why are they following us?’ He asked no one in particular, he was sure that Omotara was quite as confused as he was.
The roads was in that estate was not too busy with cars that day as it was Sunday. So there was no car obstructing the Jeep from them. Omotara increased the speed of their car. The trailers increased theirs too.
Soon, they began to hear gunshots from behind. Omotara did all she could to hasten their escape but it was futile. The two tyres at the back of the car were deflated wth bullets by the men.
Omotara’s driving skills helped her bring their car to a stop, else it would have resulted to an accident, but maybe an accident would have been better.
The Jeep caught up with them and two men came out. One of them remained in the car, it was the same government official they had seen in the church.
The two scary looking men came out with their guns in their hands. They pulled Jefa and Omotara out of the car. The government official soon came to join his boys. Other motorists and pedestrians on the road has turned back and fled on seeing what was happening.
‘ki*ll the man and bring me the girl.’ He commanded in an evil tone and turned back to the Jeep.
One of the men cocked his gun and pointed it straight at Jefa’s forehead. Jefa could hear Omotara screaming and begging for pity as the bullet was released.
