JAGUNLABI✔

CHAPTER FOUR

"Teniola, I think something is watching us." 

A shiver of apprehension crawled up my spine as I lay in bed. I propped myself up on my elbows and stared at Niyi. "What do you mean something? You mean someone."

Niyi turned over to get a better look at my face, and looked into my eyes. "Babe, I know what I am saying."

Despite the circumstances, my heart fluttered momentarily. I loved to hear him call me babe. Truth be told, I went to his house because I was feeling increasingly uneasy in mine.

"Since when?" I asked.

He got up and took a sip from a glass of water. "For sometime now," he frowned as he gave it some thought. "Around a month. I just did not want to alarm you."

I rolled over and smiled without mirth. "Well, the good news is that whatever it is, is watching us. Solidarity forever."

He snatched the small dish of dodo, fried plantain, on his bedside table from my reach before I could eat any more.

"Hey!" I shouted. "That is my—"

Niyi silenced me by looking into my eyes and feeding me a few pieces. His eyes shifted to my lips, and I giggled. "Yum Yum." I held his finger between my teeth and smirked.

He pulled his finger out slowly, threw a pillow at me and shook his head. "Elere pa. Enu re da bi enu kiniun. Playful girl. Your mouth is like a lion's mouth."

I chuckled as I threw the pillow back at him and got a perfect shot at his head. "It is a goal!" I shouted. 

All the playfulness was merely me sweeping the fear of the unknown under the carpet. It was a toxic coping mechanism. The idea that Niyi and I were being watched terrified me. I wrongly assumed that the best way to manage anxiety was to laugh. Sadly, I was not alone. If not, why were there so many depressed comedians?

It was a month after Kennedy Olajide made his demands. I did not want to be a tool in his obsessive greed for power. I bluntly refused to do what he asked and he was livid. He had already demonstrated his ability to steal, kill and destroy. It was likely that he was monitoring us.

I cleared my throat, "Niyi, there is something I need to tell you."

He put one hand on my waist and the other lazily played with my hair. He looked into my eyes, "Do not get carried away by my good looks. Tell me what is on your mind," he said calmly.

"Seriously? How do you keep a straight face when you are being ridiculous?" I asked.

"Elementary, my dear Teniola. I am a lawyer."

"Come on, Niyi. I am not kidding," I groaned.

"Okay babe. Kilo n sele? What's happening?"

I sighed and told him everything. Right from the time that Kennedy Olajide came to my office, to the point where my editor-in-chief told me to 'take the money and destroy the Orisajanas because they would do the same if they were in my shoes.' Niyi nodded thoughtfully and hugged me closer as I narrated the story. I felt like a huge boulder had been lifted off my chest.

"Do not do it, Teniola. Kennedy Olajide and Rotimi Orisajana are two very powerful men in the political arena," he said. "Kennedy o gbadun rara, Rotimi naa o sun won. Kennedy is not okay at all, Rotimi is also a bad man."

I closed my eyes and fiddled with my ponytail. "I am not going to lie, I have been giving what my editor-in-chief said some thought."

Niyi gasped. "Are you kidding me?"