The Exchange Episode 5
It was at the restaurant that the would-be best man started to talk to me. He told me his name…Babatunde, but said everyone called him Baba T. He seemed like a nice guy but I could sense some form of arrogance in him. He said we needed to be friends to make the wedding beautiful; he was funny and made us laugh a lot. I got to know, as we talked, that Baba T’s parents were even richer than Laide’s parents-in-law. The amount of money they (Bola and Baba T) were discussing scared me…they talked about how they wanted to take their parents’ business to the next level and make it even bigger. They had both studied in the United Kingdom and returned to work in the family business.
After lunch, it was time to go back to where I came from. Bola was going to drop me off at the motor park but his cousin volunteered to…he said it was on his way and he also wanted to get to know me. He didn’t say much on our way; he was just being funny and explained what I needed to do at the wedding because there was a surprise for the couple that we had to take care of, without creating any suspicion. He gave me some money at the park and said he was sorry he couldn’t take me to Abeokuta. I told him he didn’t have to; he insisted, so I took it, thanked him and got in the bus. It was after he left that I realized how much he gave me. I had forgotten I was in the bus as I screamed…I apologized to the people beside me and kept my cool for the rest of the trip. I had never been given that much money by anyone in my life…I wanted to tell Tunji but was afraid he could be intimidated or feel like something was going on and I didn’t want to start something where there’s nothing.
I told my mum everything that happened in Lagos and showed her the money…she paused for a while and later told me to be careful. Let me just say that the money was enough to buy an adjustable salon hair dryer I had been saving toward. I had to tell Tunji that my cousin gave me some money and I added to what I had saved to get the dryer. I completely forgot about the ‘rich princes of Lagos’ and continued with my life until it was time to travel for the wedding. Tunji had planned to attend but had another engagement so he passed. I got to Lagos about 4 days before the wedding…my mum and brother came three days later to attend the traditional engagement ceremony. I stayed with Laide in a hotel room. Her father-in-law said he wanted her to stay there because of all the visitors that would be frequenting the house. The groom and Baba T also stayed in another hotel, not too far from where we were. It was on the night of my arrival, at a dinner held at the groom’s house, that the best man told me everything about the surprise that the groom’s parents had for couple. They had built the couple a house, to be presented to them as a wedding gift and wanted us to secretly move their stuff to that house (I later figured that was the reason for having them stay at the hotel rooms). It was an assignment to be executed by the best man and I, without ruining the surprise. During the dinner I couldn’t keep my eyes off how beautiful and tastefully furnished the house was…the cars in the compound, they even had cooks and maids. I was happy for my cousin and a little bit jealous of her at the same time. I thought to myself “Ó ti rí ibi ire sọ ęru ę k’alę sí” meaning she found a good place to settle in and live her life. I met Baba T’s parents as well and greeted them. Laide introduced me as her cousin…they all said I was respectful and well trained and Baba-T’s mum said jokingly that she wouldn’t mind ‘plucking’ another girl from our family (referring to me). I smiled, although embarrassed and walked away.I was with Baba T all through Thursday as we supervised the moving of the couple’s things to their new home and got things set up. He was fun and really nice to me…he also took me out for lunch. I seized that opportunity to thank him for the money he gave me the first time we met. His response was “Don’t mention, beauty has no price tag”
I wasn’t sure of what he meant by that, but I smiled and thanked him again. He asked me a lot of questions that day; like he wanted to really know me. He said I had confidence and spoke very good English but I could tell he was concerned that I didn’t have post-secondary education. He said I should have still gotten it regardless of my entrepreneurial spirit as it would help me handle my business better. I told him he was beginning to sound like my late father and he said he was sorry but wasn’t done talking about it and would get back to it later. I figured I had just 3 more days to spend in Lagos and that would be it…so I indulged him. Besides, it felt good to have these conversations as I had not really done this before.
