Recognizing The Fake | COMPLETED✔️

Chapter 3

The Lagos trip was a long one, but Nnenne passed time—buried in a novel. When the bus arrived Lagos, she took out her phone and dialled:

"Hello, Mama!"

"Hello" her mum answered

"Mama, I just arrived Ojuelegba" she said.

"Thank God for journey mercies" her mum praised, waving her hands in the air.

"Let me find my way to school, I'd call you when I get there"

"Okay, ledo onwe gị anya—take care of yourself" her mum said and Nnenne hung up.

Mayorkun's Mama thumped from a loudspeaker by a CD stall. Nnenne fed her eyes with the scenery. Several taxis were parked with drivers searching for passengers.
"Pure water! Pure water!!" a little girl cried out, carrying a bowl filled with sacks of water on her head.
A bus loudspeaker advertised natural fertility herbs.
"E dey kill cockroach, e dey kill rat, e dey kill mosquito well well" a man sang out as he pushed his wheelbarrow filled with chemicals.

"Madam, where you dey go?" a driver asked, with a Yoruba accent.
"Unilag" she answered
"No wahala—problem, come make we dey go" He said, pointing in the direction of his car.
"How much?" she asked
"4000"
"Say wetin happen? Na heaven I dey go?" Nnenne opposed with raised eyebrows
"Oya, how much you won give me?"
"No be 700" Nnenne suggested
"Which kain nonsense be that? na you buy me motor? You for kukuma price am 50 naira. I no blame you" He responded, rudely.

"Ah, Oga no be fight na. I dey price whetn I get. Okay, no vex make I add 200 make e be 900 naira" she pleaded
"Last na 1200" he said, nonchalantly, waving his hand
"Wetin I get na 1000. If you no gree, no vex make I go find another person"
"Oya madam come, you don waste person time finish. Make I just help you" He grumbled.

Nnenne got to school, completed her clearance and was directed to Madam Tinubu hall—her hostel.

🇳🇬••🇳🇬

Adaeze was seated on her bed. She was a caramel-skinned Igbo girl whom they called hour glass, because she was very thick and the way her body looked, it was as if all the weight she gained went only to her breast, butt and hips.

She was beautiful, her large liquid brown eyes were seductive, that it was impossible for someone not to be held prisoner by them. Her cheekbones weren't especially high and her nose was a little too long to be perfect, but there was undeniable symmetry to her features. She wore her Afro black hair in a bun each day.

She was trying on a dress. Nnenne watching from where she sat on her own bed. The dark red sheets of the silk dress slipped easily onto her body, spicing her soft skin with carnal smooches. Like a temptress, it enticed perception and delivered with maximum flair the craft of satisfaction.

Unlike others, who came to school with few items which they used on daily basis, Adaeze had things she rarely used: a long attachment wig, a Louis Vuitton branded bag, a pair of puma slides that Nnenne had never seen her wear, and a purple colored suede pumps strappy-buckle stiletto high heel.

Sometimes, Nnenne saw her packing the items into a bag and leaving with them. But aside from those times, Adaeze's belongings remained in her side of the room. It was evening, just after lectures.
"I like your dress," Nnenne said.
"Can I see?"
She handed it over "sure, you can see but be careful. It's a special dress"
"What makes it special?" Nnenne asked as she examined the dress. It was smooth and soft.
"Special means it's for certain occasions" Adaeze replied.

"What do you mean?" She asked, staring questioningly at her.
"It's too short, so it can't be for school" Nnenne pointed out.
Adaeze giggled.
"Ah Ah! You can't tell me you don't know"
Nnenne shook her head.
Adaeze spoke in pidgin now.
"I forget say you be JJC!—Jolly Just Come"

Adaeze always referred to her in that manner from the first day in the queue at the clearance center when she had teased Nnenne, a stranger, about moping around cluelessly, they became fast friends and ended up roommates.

Adaeze continued "But you suppose know this kain things now. Dripping chocolate like you, you never go club before to end up with special person for just one night?"

Nnenne couldn't help herself: she stared at Adaeze, dumbfounded. She shook her head and told Adaeze that she had never been to a club neither had she ever met or had a man for one night. She was always occupied with her mum and school after all.

Adaeze looked at her with a mixture of surprise and pity.
"chelugodu—wait a minute, you won tell me say you neverrrr." she said, eyeing her searchingly. Nnenne turned her head to the side to avert Adaeze's gaze, but the sudden rosiness of her cheeks gave her away.
"ezi okwu!—talk true!" Adaeze exclaimed, wide eyed.
"I no know say Virgin Marys still dey for this our time" she teased, laughing.
Nnenne held her chin close to her body.
"This na Lagos oh, to live here, your eye gats tear reaches back"
"Thank God say you get me. I go cover your innocence, make you no go fall into wrong hands as first timer." She concluded as she folded the dress and put it back in her box.

Adaeze belonged to a rich family, her parents all her life, didn't give her much attention—because they were always occupied with work. So, she drowned her emotions in bottles, drugs, clubs and men. She was addicted not just to sex but to male attention—She believed that boys and men could give her life meaning.