THOSE ONES by Joy oyelola

THOSE ONES
#fiction
©Joy oyelola.

When mother was alive, we used to fry puff puff at the road side, adjacent a very prestigious hotel in Zaria, only rich people went there, even when there was an event, it was mainly an event of the rich fellows, you see beautiful and fancy cars lined up in the parking loots, sometimes, they pass in front of us in convoys.

Mother was mostly fascinated about the business seminars at the hotel conference centre, she would hold me by the hand and took me into the hotel to see their cars’ Isabel, you see ‘those ones’, those are the kind of people I pray you meet with and dine with someday’.

She’d say it repeatedly whenever she saw their cars passing, especially if it were a woman driving it, ‘those ones, Isabel,those ones’ she would say persistently.

I asked her one day how I was going to be like ‘those one’ when all I do is fry and hawk puff puff. She sat me down while helping me to dress my hair she said’ be focused, never settle for less,by the time you get into the university,you’ll be wiser then, so you will know and understand all you need to do become like ‘those ones’ ‘.

Those lines sticked to my brains like I glued it there.

Mom died before I gained admission into school, I was left to cater for my two younger brothers and an irresponsible drunkard father.

When I entered the university, I stayed in the hostel but I didn’t notice anyone that looked like ‘those ones’
I had asked my room mate how I could meet rich and powerful people on campus and she told me to go to the student estates, only rich big girls and boys stayed there.

so I started my quest to search for the big girls on campus that would lead me to where I would meet ‘ those ones ‘.

Luckily, I saw one driving into her compound, so I went up to her and told her I wanted to be like her, she smiled and asked me to follow her in. She checked me out severally and said I was fit.

She explained everything to me,she ended her explanations saying ‘ if u’re lucky, you would get someone who might want to keep you for himself, if not, be ready to sleep with all sorts of men to make money’ .

The following Friday she took me to club, guess luck was on my side because chief Onotade Stephen took interest in me, he took me to his hotel room, he noticed I was a novice in the game, so, he made me promise to stick with only him which in return he would cater for all my needs. I gladly agreed, I never really have the mind of prostituting anyways.

Soon enough, I had my own car, nice furnished apartment, I follow him on every business seminar he went across Nigeria, I started to meet and dine with ‘those ones’ I was now able to send my sibling to good schools,and they moved from the old wrecked house we lived in before to a nicer one.

On one my trips with chief, I met Maxwell, a young business man, he liked me the moment he saw me, ‘who wouldn’t?’ I’m a dark skinned deltian beauty with hot straight legs and nice curves.

He promised to care for me better than what chief was doing.

Like every other human, I got selfish and greedy, coupled with the fact that chief’s wife had come to my apartment to threaten me to leave her husband, so, that alone was a perfect excuse to dump chief. And I dumped him.

He came back begging me, but I refused him, chief loved me to much, but,too bad, with him I didn’t see myself going far, I was tired of dining with ‘ those ones’ I wanted to be like ‘those ones’ .

Maxwell took me on all his international trips, by this time, I wasn’t only dining with ‘those ones’ I was already part of ‘those ones’. I wished mother was alive to see her dreams come through in me.

Like a vampire tasty for more blood, I wanted more wealth, so, while with Maxwell, I was still doing other runs underground. I slept wit pot bellied politicians,I acquired landed properties in Abuja through their influence.

Didn’t they say “the older we get, the wiser we become”,that saying was actually right, I got tired of that kind of life,Yea, got tired of gracing pot bellied men bed just to acquire wealth, besides, I already had more than enough, I wasn’t getting younger, Maxwell had stated clearly that he wasn’t ready for marriage, and I wanted to settle for real, I have everything I wanted in life, many of my friends envied me.

So, I ended it with Max, and also quit that kind of life, I opened a fashion business in Lagos, I actually didn’t know anything about it so I got myself a coach.

When my PA Suzan first introduced Samuel to me, I was blown away by his looks, ‘the guy is hot’ I said quietly, I didn’t let him notice though, he was really good at his work, he helped me build my business on social media platforms and writing of captivating brand stories that placed my business on high rates on social media bringing lots of customers for me.

It didn’t take long, he professed his love for me, I immediately accepted the request to be his lady.

On my 35th birthday, he asked me out for dinner, while we were eating he went on his knees and proposed marriage to me, it was the most romantic thing that had ever happened to me, I couldn’t bring myself to control the tears that dropped from my eyes.

The next week, we went to see his mother, it was necessary I met her anyways.

Upon seeing her, I remained speechless, it was like the ground should open and eat me up, you know that saying where they said’ karma is a bitch that would always come around’, yes, karma came for me, Samuels mother turned out to be chief’s wife.

You can guess the rest of the story from there.

Samuel did not only dumped me after the incidence, he dumped my business as well.

Like they say, ‘life must go on’, I picked up my miserable life and forged ahead.

Didn’t take long, I and chucks met and fell madly in love with each other, after six straight months of courtship he proposed marriage,I made sure to do family background check to make sure I hadn’t had anything to do with any member of his family and thank God, he was clear.

But, karma had refuse to spare me, just like good, do good it comes back in fold, so is bad, do bad, get multiple karma.

I and chucks had gone to Dubai to shop for our wedding when me suddenly ran into Maxwell, unfortunately for me, he and chucks were friends from secondary school.

Max sold me out apparently because days after we ran into, chucks woke me up in the middle of the night and told me that he couldn’t deal wit what he heard, therefore, he’s backing out.
I lost another relationship, I am so pained that I doubt I would ever go into any relationship again. Maybe that’s the price I have to pay for my sins.

The human in me blame my mother now for making me aspire to be like’ those ones’, or it’s just me wanting to put the blame on someone, maybe I was the one who didn’t get her explanation well on how to become like ‘those ones’.

There’s no short cut in life, if you wanna be like ‘those ones’ work hard, hustle your way to success, if you take the easy way out, karma is never gonna spare you.

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