“Akpan I have warned you several times to stay away from my sister,” Obinna reaffirmed.
“Why you de talk like this de disgrace yourself Obinna? Na me tell your sister make she find me come my place? No be my place I de jeje your sister waka come my place and you de here de yan rubbish self,” Apkan fought back, “Akpan, me Obinna de yan rubbish abi? Akpan you open your dirty mouth tell me say I de yan rubbish abi? Well, I no blame you, I blame my useless sister that doesn't know her class, and you know what Akpan? We shall see,” he replied and walked away angrily.


As he walked away, Akpan burst into laughter with his neighbour friend, Yomi.

“Guy, I think say you for beat am join self,” Yomi ridiculed in between laughter, “you de mind am, na so all of them Igbo boys be; them no wan see you with their sister, but them go de carry other people sister, abi those girls wey them de carry no be person sister? Selfish people!”

“O boy na true o! Him wey de shout say him see you with his sister, no be day before yesterday I been see am with one fine babe for area so? Men, if you see this babe wey I see am with eh, omo na die throw away o. The babe set die, and na one yoruba babe self weh I been de chyke before him come carry their money wahala thing collect the girl, and him de here de para say him see you with him sister, olori buru”

“No mind the boy, na yeye boy him be na, him get luck self say I never give him sister belly self,” and they burst into laughter.

“O boy, make you no give up o! That girl papa hold well well, if I be you self, I for done give her belly sharp sharp!” Yomi advised.

“Guy e no easy like that o, that babe get sense die. Na story story she de tell me everytime, e no easy to sleep with am I tell you”

“So you wan tell me say you never do am like that?”
“For where, no be only today I manage kiss her,”

“Only kiss Akpan?” “You think say to kiss that babe de easy? If you see as I take beg her self before she gree eh,” “o boy I done die o! Akpan de fuckup o, see, you go de there de do sime-sime another guy go collect her from you. You know say that girl never too open eye, as she fine so eh, make she just get admission enter school now, you no go ever see her green light again, I bet you, because na all those ajebo fine boys she go de follow o,”

“Na lie Yomi, na lie! The girl love me die, you know how many times wey her brother done warn am because of me and she still de find me?”

“O boy na lie o, she de do like that because say she never open eyes o, and because say them no de gree her comot for house like that, that's why she de do like say she like you o, no say I no tell you o Akpan,” yomi decried, holding one of his ears as a warning, but instead, Akpan fought back defensively,

“Na lie guy, no guy fit collect that babe from me I swear! You know why you de yan like this? Na because say I never tell you wetin she be tell me wey make her like me,”

“Wetin she tell you?”
“How you wan make I tell you wetin my babe tell me na, o boy see me see trouble o,” he replied in between smiles,
“Wetin she tell you na, abi your padi o, yan me na,” teased Yomi, in an effort to get the words out of Akpan's mouth.

“Okay, okay, I go tell you. She tell me say I dey funny well well, that I de make her laugh well well,”

“Na him be the big thing wey she tell you wey make your head de para like this? You think say na only you fit make her laugh, I de laugh you o guy,” and he burst out laughing again.

“You think say e easy to make fine ajebo babe like that laugh? Why you never make her laugh mumu,” he ridiculed and started laughing too.

“Make we de watch na, no be this area I de?” And his handset began to ring with a loud ringing tone.

“Chinco phone, you no go buy better phone? Make you de carry your money de give woman de suffer de drink garri,”

*subscribing*

**gnibircsbuS**

Obinna barged into the kitchen, “Ada, what did you went to that Calabar boy's house to do after I warned you to stay away from him? If you don't give me a good answer right now, I am going to beat the hell out of you right away! Now, go ahead and tell me before I start,” he ordered,

“I didn't went to his house, I only went to buy crackers biscuit and egg at Abdul's shop,” Ada explained coldly, while Obinna leaned on the kitchen cabinet staring at her with disgust,

“If that's the truth, how come I saw both of you together smiling happily like newly wed couple?”

“Nothing,” replied Ada
“What do you mean by nothing? Didn't I saw you and that *hediot* together now, and you're saying nothing?”

“His name is Akpan and not *hediot*, and...” Before she could exhaust the words on her lips, Obinna jumped in, “imagine! You're even defending him? If you don't know, know it now that he is an *hediot* okay?”

“Because you saw him with me, does that make him an *hediot*?” Challenged Ada,
“Ada if you dare argue with me again now eh, I will deal with you mercilessly without minding that you're my sister.” Obinna cautioned.

“Obinna you can go ahead and beat me up if you like. What did I do? Why do you like bullying me all the time? Is it because mummy travelled? Go ahead and beat me up,” she cried out, and before she could alter another word, tears began to drop from her eyes like rain drops, such that her eyes got moist and turned pale, Obinna ignored that and went ahead to slap her, 'tasha! tasha!', threatening to report her to their dad when he returns back from work.

“Obinna you slapped me? What did I do to you Obinna? Obinna mummy has warned you to stay away from me, Obinna...” “If you call my name again, I will use this belt to design that your filthy body, ewu, atulu,” he threatened, brandishing his waist belt which he swiftly drew out of his trouser.

Ada sat on the kitchen floor, just beside the gas stove which she was about to lit to prepare some noodles for her lunch before Obinna barged in, sobbing quietly with her face dug in between her laps.

“I regret ever having you as a sister,” Obinna announced and barged out of the kitchen holding the belt.

---------
It was a great news when OAU admission pre-screening result which Ada sat for came out and she made a good score that was above the school cut-off mark.

Ada couldn't believe she made it on her first trial- sat for WAEC once, JAMB/UTME once and now she also passed the pre-screening exam at the tender age of 17, when her brother Obinna couldn't pass WAEC until their dad went and registered him at a special centre with a whooping sum of money, and even after that, he couldn't pass JAMB, so that his father had to pay another whooping sum of money again to get him admission at UNILAG, and he still dropped out due to poor performances in school.

As the only son, he received so much paternal pampering, to the extent that he got carried away by that and turned into a lazy cat. His only duty in the house is- sleep, wake up, eat, and watch satelite television channels which his dad always subscribed for his sake.

He hardly arrange his bed whenever he wakes up, and you dare not scold or condemn the lazy lifestyle of the only son of Chief Akajiaku of Umueze, because he wouldn't take it lightly with you, not even his wife, the mother of the boy dared scold the him. In fact, three different housemaids, namely- Ikaite, Bimbo and Kofi were relieved of their jobs in the past for complaining that Obinna is lazy.

Ikaite was the most unfortunate amongst the numerous maids that had been with them; she got molested by Obinna, when he was only 17, and when she reported to her madam who happened to be Obinna's mom, Lolo Ugomma, she pleaded with Ikaite to keep it secret, and the next time she complained of Obinna's lazy attitude in the house to Lolo Ugomma, she had mistakenly told Chief about, thinking that he would scold Obinna, but instead, Chief took it as an insult to his son, for an ordinary maid to call his son lazy, and that was how Ikaite lost her job with them.

As time went on, Obinna decided that he wants to become a musician, and his well-to-do father agreed to that saying talent differs, that maybe he is not meant to go to school, as he made reference to so many prominent Nigerians who made it big without passing through the walls of higher institution.

“Since that's what he likes and wants to do, why should we object, by the way, most prominent Nigerians you hear today in politics, business, music, etc never passed through university. All he needs is our support, because with money, everything is possible in this country, and I am ready to spend my last card on Obinna to make sure he succeeds as a musician,” were his exact words the very night he was discussing this issue with his wife in their bedroom, that was after Obinna made his intention to become a musician known to them.

In response to his statement, Lolo said, “but darling, even if he wants to become a musician, I still don't see any reason why he shouldn't be in school, because to my own best of knowledge, being in school wouldn't stop him from becoming a musician since that's what he wants to be, instead it would help him to sing good songs with pure english that can sell even beyond Nigerian market,”

“Woman, my decision is final, as soon as I return back from America, I will buy him all the necessary equipment he needs, and maybe we will need to convert one of those rooms at the boys quarters into a studio for his daily practice. But now, listen to yourself woman, my son wants to become the next Michael Jackson and you are here saying no to his dream, is that how to be a mother?”

As a humble woman Lolo is, she never argued or exchanged words with her husband, instead, she kindly took an excuse to go back to sleep.

Meanwhile, a month later, when Chief returned back from his usual business travel to America, he instructed one of his errand boys to get an architect and an engineer to set-up a complete studio for Obinna, where he and his friends would carry out their daily music rehearsals.

So when Ada got the admission at OAU, it was a dream come true; because she had always dreamed to a day she would finally leave the house for Obinna and his numerous gangster friends who troop into their house in the name of music rehearsal.

She had in two occasions caught Obinna having sex openly in his so-called studio with two different unknown teenagers, and that was when he began to checkmate her personal activities, including checking her phone's folder, which was how he got to know about Akpan.

Meanwhile, Obinna wasn't happy that Ada secured admission without stress. His anger came in two folds- one, for the fact that it took him three good years to get admission despite the huge amount of money his father spent.

Secondly, he's angry because he knew Ada has finally gotten her freedom to mingle with guys without his knowledge.

And in an effort to stop Ada from accepting the admission offer at OAU, he concurred stories of how cult boys rob, steal, molest and kill students, especially female students at OAU.

When he noticed that the stories weren't yielding positive result, he resorted to blackmail, saying OAU is far, that it is better for Ada to look for admission at UNILAG where their parents can be monitoring her movements and whereabouts. And Chief almost bought into this idea if not for Lolo's insistence that Ada must go ahead with the admission even if she was to re-sit for JAMB the coming year, and that was her saviour.

-----
“Ada baby, wetin de shelle na?” Obinna teased as he came into the kitchen where Ada was busy washing some plates at the sink, and Ada pretended she didn't notice anyone's presence and ignored him.

“Is it not you that I'm playing with Ada?” Inquired Obinna in a subtle voice that made Ada to turn towards him,

“I am sorry, but as you can see, I am very busy, I have to finish washing these plates as soon as possible to enable me do the laundry before noon,” explained Ada,

“Is that enough reason to ignore me?”
“But I just explained why I did that, isn't that enough reason?”
“Ada, remember I am your only brother, or are we not brother and sister again?”

“Oh! Since when?”
“Since the day we both were born into this house, come on Ada, you're my only sister and I can never deny that, so stop all these childsplay jor,” he teased in between smiles

“Hmm, anyway, I have heard you, so tell me, what's with this sudden change in attitude and friendliness, because I'm shocked o,” observed Ada,

“Ah Ada! Stop this na, so you're indirectly saying that I am not friendly to you before now?”

“Not that, you know how you used to bully me and shout on me like a trash, so I am surprised...,” and before she completed her statement, Obinna cut her short saying, “okay, I am sorry for those times, forgiven?”

“Of course I always forgive you because you are my blood brother of course, so I have no option than to forgive you, but wait, what's it you want- a favour? Or you want to send me on an errand, why not say it,”

“In fact, you got it all wrong because it has nothing to do with any of the things you mentioned,”

“So what's it then? Be fast, I have to get back to the sink to finish what I was doing,”

“Just take it easy Ada, my omalicha sister,” he teased, “be fast Obinna,”

“Ada, I want you to meet one of my best friends, in fact...”
“What for?”

“Ada calm down na, I just want you to meet him first, believe me you will like this guy,”
“Why?”

“Because he is such a nice guy, calm, handsome, intelligent like you, from a first class family background,”
“Only him?”

“Come on Ada, don't be a snub, this guy is good, just guess what?”

“What?”
“He is an upcoming superstar, the guy got multi-talent, in fact he is every girl's dream guy I swear,”

“If he's truly all these, why then is he still single and searching?”
“Ada he's not searching and that's why I want you to be close to him,”

“But I thought you wanted me to be a nun? Or were you not the one that's always warning me to stay away from guys, that guys are bad, this and that? So why the sudden change? Tell me?”

“Yes I want you to stay away from guys, especially those poverty-ridden gheto boys without future,”
“Why makes you think they have no future? Because they happened to be born into a poor family? Did they chose to be born by poor parents?”

“That's their business, they should stay away from my sister and go focus on building their future,” he ridiculed,




“I don't like the way you talk down on your fellow guys just because they weren't fortunate to be born into a good family like you, refrain from that attitude,”

“Ada poverty is bad, don't associate with poor people if you don't want them to ruin your life,”
“And you think all the people that are poor today will be poor forever?”

“And do you think that all the poor people you see today will become rich tomorrow?” He fought back jokingly,

“Are you their God?”
“Ada let's leave all these argument for now and focus on the koko,”

“And what's the koko?”
“Let's go to the sitting room, my friend is already there waiting to meet with you, so you better put up a good smile,” he instructed jokingly and started heading towards the exit door that led to the dinning section, while Ada followed behind.

I'm in..

------
The dinning led to the general sitting room; well furnished and spacious like a disco hall, with the floor beautifully tiled with marble stone of Italian make, and the wall looked so exorbitant with different notable artworks hung at strategic places on the costly looking wall.

The chairs are made from natural mahogany wood and covered with pure Italian leather, biege in colour.

Chief Akajiaka has taste, and this was clearly reflected on his mansion, located in the heart of a popular Lagos gheto.

All his wealthy friends have moved to notorious places like- Banana Island, Osborne Fourshore, Lekki Phase 1, VGC and Queens street, but he refused to leave the Gheto where he started life, as he always pointed out that he can never use a billion naira to buy a plot of land, and maybe another billion to erect a building on it, when he can use half of that amount to acquire a hectare of land somewhere on the mainland and then develop an estate, which is exactly what he did some years back, and it had been paying him dearly.

“Meet my very good friend, Joe, a.k.a Klink, Joe, that's my pretty little sister I had been telling you about, Ada by name,” introduced Obinna, smiling as Joe stood up from where he had been sitting uneasily until Ada and Obinna arrived.

“Wow! What else shall I say? Its my pleasure to meet you, pretty,” he commended, stretching out his hand to shake Ada's, “thank you,” replied Ada, nervous.

“Hey guys, I have to leave you guys for now, will join you back shortly, in case you guys need my attention, I am at the studio,”

“Oh, no problem Obinna, your sister is in safe hands, so worry not,” Ada rolled her eyes in discomfort, and unfortunately, Joe caught her doing that,

“Is anything the matter?” He enquired softly,
“Nothing,”

“Ok. Once again, I am Joe, but popularly, I am known as klink,” he smiled,
“I heard that earlier, and you already know my name as Ada,”

“What a pretty name for a pretty girl, Ada, what's the meaning please?”

“Let's leave that for another time,”