chapter 32

As sudden as a snap, Lanre awakened to the sound of the doorbell. In a fusion of fear and bewilderment, he glanced at Nnenne, who was sound asleep. He wondered who it could be at that hour and even worse, what would they would think if they saw her.

The doorbell rang out more impatiently, he threw off the blanket and shut the bedroom door after him as he reached to open the main door. He was relieved when he saw it was Adaeze.

She walked in, uninvited, her eyes scanned the place as she asked: 
"Where is Nnenne?" 
"She's asleep in the bedroom" he answered as he turned around.

"Okay thank God" she said, relieved, she continued 
"Your friend, Michael, filled me in on the headline" 
"So, I came here to see if you got to the club in time" 
"So, what happened when you got there?" she asked.

Lanre narrated everything, exactly as it happened like his mind was set to replay.

"I can't believe she could be so irresponsible" Adaeze said, shaking her head in disbelief. 
"I mean as the secretary, she has a reputation to uphold, how could she do something so berating?" 
"She couldn't even take a second to think of you or the humiliation you'd go through if she was videoed" 
"I wonder what would have happened if you hadn't gotten there in time" 
Adaeze continued to speak, her eyes filled with hatred and disgust.

Lanre remained quiet, but impatience boiled deep in his system as hot as larva. He wondered why she spoke ill of Nnenne all of a sudden but he couldn't stand her words either, they irked him, like the buzz of a housefly in someone's ear. He was irritated.

"SHUT UP ADA! JUST SHUT UP!!" He snapped, annoyed. 
"Why are you shutting me up? Is the truth so bitter?" She asked, her brows knitted in annoyance. 

"What type of friend are you?!" Lanre asked, angrily, not wanting an answer, he went on, shouting. 
"How can you judge her so quickly without hearing her side of the story?! You've known Nnenne longer than I have and you know that she's too innocent to even think of such things, talk less of doing it, but yet, you dress her down as if you don't know her at all!"

Adaeze attempted to continue. 
"—Just as I expected, you're defe—" 
"Be quiet!" Lanre yelled, pointing his index finger to her face and giving her a dead stare. 
"I let you speak before, now it's my turn!" he pointed out. 
"So, you listen!" He growled, then he proceeded 
"You call yourself a friend and yet, you can't even defend her in her absence!"

Adaeze still tried to justify her actions, but Lanre wasn't having it.

"You're so blinded by her innocence that you refuse to see—" 
"—I said that's enough!" He retorted, throwing his hands in a gesture of infuriation. 
"I can't believe you Ada! Since Nnenne got appointed as secretary you've become something else!"

"If You're berating Nnenne to make me feel she's not competent enough as my secretary! Then just know you're wasting your time!" he said, his face squeezed in a mixture of realization and disgust.

"I know Nnenne would never do a thing like this in her right mind. And I'm going to find out the main story behind this event" 
"Now, if your done with all your drama, you know the way out!" he reminded and retired back to the bedroom, peeved. Leaving Adaeze, chagrined and staring blackly at him before she stormed off.

🇳🇬**🇳🇬

It was 12 o'clock in the afternoon, Nnenne's eyes opened to the dimly lit room. Though it was daytime, the thick brown drapes were still closed.

She squinted, her mouth dry and sticky with thick saliva. she sat up, mumbling as she rubbed her forehead in pain: 
"What happened? my head is on fire." 
Lanre walked into the room with a cup of tea 
"Here, take this, it might help with the headache" he said, extending the cup to her.

She sipped the tea as her eyes scanned the room, trying to recollect on what happened the previous night. Finding herself in a strange environment, she asked 
"Where am I?" 
"You're in my place" Lanre answered, assuring. 
She squinted her eyes as she stared at him, perplexed.

He sat by her on the bed and narrated what happened.

"That's my version of the story, now I want you to tell me yours" he concluded, his ears yearning for an explanation. 
"It's all so fuzzy" she said, her eyes wondering around as if she was running through the events in her mind like a slideshow, then she continued.

"All I remember is, Adaeze suggested we go out to celebrate my secretary appointment. We went to the salon, and the mall, then she suggested we go to the club. I refused at first, but she insisted with the condition that we wouldn't stay longer than an hour." 
"When we got there, I met some of our students who congratulated me concerning the appointment. The night was going well, we chatted, danced and had a lot to drink"

"Alcohol?" Lanre asked, with eyebrows raised 
"No, I just had a glass of orange juice" she pointed out 
"And that's where everything went vague." her face squeezing as she tried to remember more.

Lanre looked away, his face was curled up in confusion as his mind tried to piece the story together like a puzzle. His mind flashed back to Adaeze's behavior earlier as he thought to himself, why is it when she went to the club with Adaeze that this happened, and even more why did Adaeze behave like that earlier. A fruit juice can't get someone drunk he wobbled his head and went on, something here doesn't quite fit in and I have to find out what it is.

Nnenne studied his expression. Worried, she placed her hand on his shoulder and asked calmly: 
"Lanre, what's wrong? do you know something?" 
"No, it's nothing" he said, looking at her. 
"Com'on, go take a shower so I can take you back to the hostel. 
"I got you a tooth brush, an underwear and a dress you can change into" he said, pointing in the direction of the paper bag that sat on the couch with a name written across it.

Nnenne smiled at him with real warmth, she had never experienced such pure care and affection from anyone except her mother. She admired him as he reached for the door.

"Lanre!" She called out 
"Yeah?" He answered as he turned his neck 
"Thank you" she said, her eyes beaming tenderly. 
The corner of his mouth quirked up in a soft smile and he walked away.

Nnenne gazed at the door, thoughtful as she smiled to herself before she headed for the bathroom.

🇳🇬**🇳🇬

Lanre dropped Nnenne off at her hostel. He was about leaving, when he spotted Adaeze speaking on the phone as she entered a taxi. Suspicious, he followed stealthily behind. She arrived at the club that Nnenne had been the previous night. Lanre stopped his car a few meters away as he watched, wondering what she was doing there.

She went in and he followed. Adaeze approached the bar tender, over the counter 
"Here's your money" she said, as she threw two packets of #100 Naira notes. A sum of twenty thousand naira. The man grinned mischievously as he ogled the money packets. 
"Thank you very much miss. If you ever need my help in drugging anyone again, you know where to find me" he reminded.

Lanre lurked in a corner, his expression twisted in a mixture of surprise and disgust as he listened in on their conversation. Ready to leave, Adaeze turned around, her eyes bulged and her mouth left slightly open in a mixture of shock and shame as she saw an angered Lanre standing before her.