₦airaland Forum

SolaRaphael:
She was not surprised to hear this from him. Actually, she saw it coming. In the last few days, he had told her a lot about his previous marriage and how things had not worked out. Helen, his first wife, had sought and got divorce on the ground that their differences were irreconcilable.

He had three children aged nineteen, seventeen and fourteen respectively. At forty-nine, he was a handsome, well-to-do guy with things at his beck and call. What had been a source of concern for her was why did he choose her.

Yes, among all the ladies out there, why would he choose a twenty-years old girl he met dancing naked at the club? Why should he think that a lady like her was a wife material?

Now, the situation had gone beyond wondering? If Nelson Ovie thought she was good enough to be a wife material, then so be it. He was
asking her if she would marry him, did he expect a negative answer?

'Yes,' she answered. 'Yes, I will marry you.'

'Oh, that's my darling young Princess.' He put the ring on her left third finger. There was a bear hug and a kiss.

'You've made my day,' he said. 'From now on, I'm going to show that despite the numbers of years between us, I've got so much love to offer
you.'

She smiled at his sweet words and hoped he really meant every word he had spoken.



* * *

The lady popularly called ‘Princess’ was one of the ladies that did 'runs' at one of the night hang outs frequented by Manu. She was actually a
favorite of Manu and had enjoyed some intimacy with him. For the past two weeks, Princess, whose real name was Sade, had not been involved
in any 'runs'. She had been very sick and had only managed to come out of the sickness in one piece. On the third day of her illness, she had a
dream in which she was warned against doing the 'runs' business again. In the dream, she was shown that she would be a highly successful
person, but it would never be through commercial sex trading.

When she recovered from the illness, she had vowed never to go back to doing 'runs' again. At twenty-four, she still had a whole long life ahead
of her. Truly, she had only 'ordinary' level certificate, but she was once a hairdresser, and she might as well go back to doing the hair-dressing
job, or even working for somebody in a saloon.

As bad as Sade might be, she believed she was special and had a special gift. Her dreams were always very significant and she had learnt to
always take them seriously. Last night, she had another significant dream. In the dream, Manu was revealed to her as her husband!

Manu? Was that not the carefree, jolly man that patronized her when she was in the sex-trade business? How many such equally care-free and
lecherous ladies had he bedded? Of all reasonable and responsible men in the world, why would Manu be her husband? But Sade knew it was
better she did not question the authenticity of the claims made by the dream. As difficult and as far-fetched the situation appeared to be, if
Manu had been designed by providence to be her husband, she believed no force on earth could alter it.

She still had the number of the man on her line and she wondered if she should call him. What would be the purpose of calling him? Would it
be to inform him that she would be his wife? Don't be ridiculous, she told herself. If you don't want to be laughed at and be ridiculed, you
better don't say anything like that to him.

But another voice asked her why not. If indeed she believed in her dreams, why couldn't she give him at least a hint? It was not as if she would
propose to him, but perhaps there was nothing wrong in subtly letting him know.

She had been a bad girl, but she must drop that toga; and in the last few days, she had. Her father was late, and her nonchalant mother had not
noticed the changes in her. All the older woman could see was that Sade was sick but was recuperating. She was the only child. Her mother had
refused to marry when she lost her husband about five years ago. But she knew there were many men in her life, a line Sade was towing, until
now.

Alone at home, Sade decided that she would look for a saloon around by tomorrow morning to see where she could eke out a living. On
impulse, she brought out her phone and scrolled through the numbers saved on it. When she got to where Manu's number was, she stopped.
She didn't even know much about him apart from the fact that he used to be her 'regular customer'. She had however been to his residence on

two occasions when he invited her over to the place.

Still acting on impulse, she dialed his number.

'Hello.' It was a female voice that picked the call.

'Hello. Can I be on to Manu?' Sade asked.

'He's in the toilet. What d'you want?'

'Tell him Princess called.'

She cut the line. Who was the person that picked his call? A sister? A relative? A girlfriend? Sade wondered. She knew that for a person like him,
a girlfriend would not be far away.

She decided to do something: she would send him a text message.

A moment later, Manu came out of the toilet back to the sitting-room when Clara confronted him.

'Who is Princess?' she asked. He had stored the name of the caller as Princess and Clara had wondered who Princess was.

'Huh?'

'A lady just called your number now, and you stored her number as Princess. Who is she?'

Manu managed a wan smile. To start with, he did not like the action of Clara picking up his call. She shouldn't have done that. Then, the way she asked was more like a demand. He however bottled his annoyance.

'Princess? Oh, that should be one of my nieces.'

'Really?' The way Clara made her face showed that she did not believe him.

'Come on, Princess is the nickname I gave to Bola, a niece of mine.'

Just then, the phone beeped to announce the coming of a text message. In the same audacious spirit, Clara picked up his phone to read the message.

'This message can't be from a niece,' she said in acrimony. 'The message from your Princess reads: 'I've just called to say hello. From Sade
(Princess), your future wife.' Now, how can this so-called Princess be your niece?'

Manu was dumb-founded. What kind of silly joke was Princess playing? How could she write such a message and call herself his future wife?




Lust City: https://okadabooks.com/book/about/lust-city-18/27928