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Some minutes later, the doctor came to examine him.

'Lucky you,' he said. 'You've just survived poison in food. Thank your star you were brought here on time. You could have died.'

Sam nodded. His mind was troubled over one thing: why would Guba want him dead?

He was convinced beyond any doubt that the suya meats Guba gave him the previous night were spiced with poison. But why would Guba, his supposed associate and friend, want to kill him?

What could be his offence?

'You will soon be discharged,' the doctor said. 'But continue to take your drugs for the next four days. Meanwhile, be careful about what you eat or drink. Always eat and drink from reliable source.'

Sam nodded. The doctor was right. Bisi remained with him until he was given his bill and discharged. He still had his wallet and phones in his pocket, although the phones were switched off.

He upset the medical expenses and with Bisi, his new heartthrob, left the clinic. When he got home, he switched the phones on. Bisi went to the kitchen to prepare custard for him.

Even as he switched on the phone, he was unsure of what to do. He was still in this state of dilly dally when his phone rang. It was an unknown number, but he quickly picked it up.

'Hello?'

'Hello, is that you Sam?'

He instantly recognized the voice. It was Madam Dupe Kashi's own.

'Listen, Sam,’ she said quickly. ‘Don't ask any question and don't ever reveal to anybody that I called to warn you. God knows I'm doing this to satisfy my conscience. Your life is in danger; a serious danger. I will advise you to slip away. Yes, for now, just go far away from your residence and place of work. Just do as I said.'

'But I don't understand,' he said. 'Who wants to kill me? Why? What was my offence? Why ...?'

The line had already been cut off. He called the number back, but it never went through. Damn! Now, what could he make of this puzzle? Some hours ago, Guba tried to kill him by poisoning him. Just now, the wife of his boss called to warn that he should go away from his residence and his working place.

Everything pointed to the fact that his boss and employer was the one plotting to eliminate him. But why? Why would Chief Kashi want to get rid of him?

He thought he was the boss' confidant and most reliable aide. He had even been trying to father a child for him and he, Sam, had been promised something as a reward for the effort. Was this the reward? Was this the reward for helping a man to be a man?


Fear No More: https://okadabooks.com/book/about/fear_no_more_18/34302

Nice work.

kweensheba:
Nice work

Thanks.

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?

'Princess is playing pranks,' he managed to say. 'She likes to play pranks.'

'I think you're the one playing pranks,' Clara said heatedly. 'You said the Princess' real name was Bola, but it turned out that she is Sade. Why did you tell me about marriage, when you've already got a lady?'

'Oh, no, no!' he said quickly and vehemently.
'Believe me, I never promised Princess, or any other lady, anything marriage. In truth, she's not a niece, but a friend. She likes to play pranks, and she's in the act, right now.'

Clara still made a face and he had say more to disabuse her mind.

'It cannot be,' he said pointedly. 'I stand before almighty God to proclaim that the only lady I've promised to marry is you, Clara. Let no call or message from anybody give you any doubt.'

With his avowed declaration, she decided to believe him.


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

Now, after the deed had been done, he started feeling remorseful. He hoped Sam would leave the joint before the poison would have effects.

Even if he was still there, was there a way somebody would link him with him? Had he not left the place before the 'thing' happened?

To suppress his worries, he brought a dose of some drugs and took them. Within minutes, he had no worries. He even felt very excited. Let Sam go to hell and rot there.

* * *

The person that was really worried about Sam was Madam Kashi. That evening, she had a heart-to-heart talk with her husband late in the night when he returned from work.

'You're not to communicate with Sam or have anything to do with him again,' Chief Kashi said.

'You're not even to call his line. He has completed his task, and as far as I'm concerned, his usefulness is over.'

She nodded. 'But what exactly are you planning to do with him? Do you want to lay him off or what?'

He chuckled. 'You don't worry about him. He will be taken care of. We don't want any loophole, so he really must be taken care of.'

Her heart skipped a beat. Though she had no concrete evidence, she believed and knew that her husband was capable of carrying out terrible deed.

She wondered how he wanted to deal with Sam. The coition factor apart, she was beginning to like Sam. She however knew better than to show such affection. Somehow, she felt she had to protect Sam, but how? Besides, she must be careful. Her husband must not suspect that she had developed some affection for him.

* * *

It was the voice of Bisi that woke Sam up the following morning. She was talking to a nurse when he was aroused from sleep.

'Good morning, dear, how're you?' Bisi had been using endearments for him since Jenni eased out of his life. Of course, Bisi was glad about the whole development.

Sam looked at her and smiled wanly. 'Good morning,' he replied. 'Thanks for everything.'
Indeed, he had reason to thank her.

'How're you this morning,' the nurse greeted.

'Fine.'

Some minutes later, the doctor came to examine him.

'Lucky you,' he said. 'You've just survived poison in food. Thank your star you were brought here on time. You could have died.'



Fear No More: https://okadabooks.com/book/about/fear_no_more_18/34302

Agatha nodded but did not say a word. Minutes later, she decided to start the weekend by visiting Nelson in his office. Thereafter, she would go to Ogba-Ijaiye to spend Friday night and the weekend with dad and the rest of the family. She was still thinking of which dress to wear, when Nelson's call came through.

'Hello, love,' she said.

'Good afternoon, darling. Are you through with your lectures for today?'

She smiled. 'Yes. I was just thinking of starting the weekend by coming to your place.'

He laughed shortly. 'Don't worry about coming. I'm already in the vicinity of your school. Are you in the hostel?'

'Yes.'

'Alright. I'll soon be there.'

Anfani was staring at her. 'Is that your rich boyfriend?'

Agatha chuckled. Must Anfani use that adjective?

'Yes.'

'Did he promise to take you to Europe for summer?'

Agatha laughed shortly. 'No, he said he was on his way to see me.'

'It must be to finalize something very important.'

Agatha tried to play everything down. A couple of minutes later, a porter came to inform her that a Chief Nelson Ovie was waiting for her at the front of the hall.

Agatha picked her valise.

'Bring something good for me,' Anfani said, smiling.

Agatha smiled and nodded. 'Have a nice weekend.' She walked briskly out of the room, out of the hall and went to the car park. Nelson came in his Prado jeep. Like a gentleman, he opened the side door of the car for her.

'Hello, baby,' he greeted.

'Hello, dear.'

She gave him a peck. She could see that he was the one behind the steering wheel.

'The driver did not come?' she asked him.
He smiled at her benignly. 'Yes. On a special day like this, I think it's better I drive.'

'Special day? What makes it special?'

Again, he smiled expansively. 'You will soon understand.'

He drove out of the campus. From Yaba, he drove to Adekunle where he could connect to the Third Mainland Bridge. Halfway on the bridge, he slowed down and stopped the car.

'I've got something for you,' he said, still smiling.
Her heart was thumping. 'What is that?'

From the back seat, he removed the jacket he had put there. From inside one of the pockets of the jacket, he removed a small box. He opened it to bring a diamond-studded engagement ring.

'Agatha, darling, will you marry me?' he asked.

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.


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

He left the place, went to the nearest bus stop and took a bus going to Ikorodu. It was when they were close to Ogolonto that the first pang of stomach ache came. By the time he got down in his area, the ache had become severe. He moved with difficulty to his flat and was searching for the door key when Bisi came.

'Good evening, love.'

He turned slowly around. 'Good evening.'

Her countenance instantly changed. 'What happened?'

'I have stomach ache,' he said, wincing in pain.

'My God, you look terrible.'

'I think it's something I ate,' he said. His mind screamed at him that it was the suya. He still had the remaining ones wrapped in nylon. Damn!

'Is that so? Wait, one minute.' She dashed inside her apartment and soon re-emerged with a small bottle of palm oil. She opened the lid,
scooped some in the lid and put it to his mouth. Thrice, her hand made the trip to his mouth while he sucked the oil.

'Give me a moment.' She quickly went inside her apartment again, emerged with her purse and locked the door.

'I know of a good hospital around here. Let's go.'

She had to support him as they walked to the hospital, for the ache had become unbearable. He was quickly admitted and was lucky the doctor
was around. The prompt intervention of Bisi prevented what would have been a premeditated murder.

* * *

When Guba left Sam, he became very restive. Of course, he had lied about having a cause to celebrate and making big profit from selling a car.
It was true he had made two hundred thousand naira, but it had nothing to do with sale of a car.

Earlier in the day, Chief Kashi had summoned him to his Ketu office that he had a big task for him. When he had met the chief, he had given him two hundred thousand naira and a powder like substance.

'Lure Sam to a place or invite him somewhere. Lace his food or drinks with the substance,' the chief had said.

'Sam? The same Sam?' Guba could not believe his ears.

'Yes, Sam. The same Sam. He has committed a very grievous offence and he had to be eliminated. That is your task. You must execute it well
without hitches.'

That was the task Chief Kashi had given him. Guba shrugged and collected the money and the substance. No one needed to tell him that it was
poison.

'The substance will not work immediately,' the chief had said further. 'But within thirty minutes to one hour, the effects will manifest.'

Sam was his good pally, but in a matter like this, friendship would play a minor role. He had a task to carry out. He had been paid for the task,
and it must be done.

Now, after the deed had been done, he started feeling remorseful. He hoped Sam would leave the joint before the poison would have effects.
Even if he was still there, was there a way somebody would link him with him? Had he not left the place before the 'thing' happened?

To suppress his worries, he brought a dose of some drugs and took them. Within minutes, he had no worries. He even felt very excited. Let Sam
go to hell and rot there.


Fear No More: https://okadabooks.com/book/about/fear_no_more_18/34302

.....

Right

Interesting

Sam whistled to himself as he cut the line. Guba must indeed be in a celebration for him to offer to pay for his drinks.

For all the times they had been to the joint together, he - Sam - was the one paying for drinks and pepper soup. Well, it was good that something different was about to happen.

Darkness was fast approaching by the time Sam got to the joint.

'Over here!' Guba called as soon as Sam stepped inside the bar hall. Sam grinned and moved over to him.

'You're welcome. Sit down and join me in the jolly-jolly,' Guba said.

Sam shook hands with him. Apart from a big bottle of stout, Guba also had a plate containing pieces of suya meat in his front. He appeared to be chewing some meats in his mouth.

'I can see that you're enjoying yourself very well,' Sam said.

'Yes o. I'm happy. In fact, you can have the whole suya to yourself.' He pushed the plate containing the suya meats to Sam's side of the table. 'Eat to your fill. I'll order for more.'

'Guba Guba. Tell me, what are you celebrating?'
Guba smiled expansively. 'My brother, I'm celebrating the fact that a customer asked me to sell a car for him. The deal was a success and I made over two hundred thousand naira from it. Just one deal!'

'Amazing.' Sam took a good chunk from the suya and ate it. 'The suya has excellent taste.'

'Of course. I always go for the best. O ya, order for the beer you want.'

Sam gave the order. The two friends drank, ate and chatted for several minutes. After about twenty minutes, Guba suddenly looked anxious.

'Oh God, I'm sorry, I have to leave. It's like I forget the nylon bag I kept my money inside the boot of the Honda car I was working on in my workshop. I have to go to the workshop to retrieve it.'

'You forgot money in the boot of a car?' Sam asked incredibly.

'Yes. Silly me.' He stood up and beckoned at the sales girl. 'Here, take this.' He handed some money to her. 'Give my friend more drinks. That money should take care of all expenses.'

He smiled at Sam. 'Let me hurry back to the workshop before anything happens to the money. Don't worry; tomorrow we'll continue the celebration.'

'Guba, the Guba!' Sam hailed. They shook hands again and Guba left. Sam settled down with his drinks.

On an impulse, he decided to wrap the suya and take it home. Why was it that he was having a feeling that something was not right? First, he was having that feeling when he was with Madam Kashi. As Guba departed, he was having that feeling again.

He finished his first bottle and decided he would take no more. The sales girl approached with a tray of another bottle, but he shook his head.

'I've had enough for today. That will be some other time.'

'But he had paid for your drinks,' the girl said.
'Yes, I know. Keep the change.'

He left the place, went to the nearest bus stop and took a bus going to Ikorodu. It was when they were close to Ogolonto that the first pang of stomach ache came.
By the time he got down in his area, the ache had become severe. He moved with difficulty to his flat and was searching for the door key when Bisi came.



Fear No More https://okadabooks.com/book/about/fear_no_more_18/34302