WHO WILL BE HER MATES?

Chapter 4

All still wasn't going well with Desmond. Ever since that Amy's incident, he has never been himself, things have even gone from bad to worse for him. He locked himself and did not speak to anyone. He only goes out when necessary and when he does, he is seen unkempt and disheveled. His room was a reflection of his untidiness. Prior to everything that has happened, he was always joyous. He never skips a day without playing any instrument or trying to make music. But weeks have passed and his musical instruments were all dusty, he has not touched them since Amy's incident. His motivation was all gone, Amy was not going to his. The thought of this further saddened him.He was visibly depressed, he blamed himself for everything that was going on. He recounted how closer he was to becoming Amy's boyfriend than anyone else. He also recalled how they would discuss into the late nights how several guys tried to woo her but she would not fall for any of them. No single day would pass without any guy making any form of approach to her. They would buy gifts and give her money, she wasn't bent on accepting any of their proposals.

There was one guy, Ayo. Ayo's parents were rich, so rich that they could feed an entire community and still have enough for their family. Ayo was one of Amy's numerous admirers. But Ayo was different, he didn't go through Amy directly. He sought to get to her through Desmond.

Ayo would buy her flowers and so many gifts. He would give Desmond the gifts to deliver to Amy.

Amy was neither interested in Ayo nor his exorbitant gifts, and so all came straight to Desmond. It was as if Amy was a gift sent from heaven because he never would have been able to purchase such expensive gifts.

Of Course! All of this was in the past. "I just need to bury them and move forward" he said to himself. " All will be well" he said." All will be well" he repeated as if trying to reassure himself.

It was then that he thought to call Amy. He blamed himself for not being the friend that she needed, especially since her family moved away to another state. It was not easy trying to keep up with the usual communications. Social media would have been the perfect medium to keep up the conversations but he has since sold his android phone to add up with some money to buy new recording instruments. He decided to recharge his phone and call her.

He dialed several times but it was not connecting through. "Perhaps, it was some network problem" he said. "All this network providers that is unstable like the government. Nawa oooo" he said. "I will make sure to call her later, probably it will be stable by then" he further stated.

It wasn't the network that was not stable. It was because David had seized her phone and cut her off from communicating with everybody. He further increased the security to the house. Amy was treated like a slave in the house that she was supposed to be married into.

It was the almost a week to her wedding. Amy was still not permitted to step out of the house or even permitted to handle any form of communication devices. Her situation could be compared to the total lockdown caused by the novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) or the Sit-at-home order enforced by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IBOP) in the southeastern region of Nigeria. It was just catastrophic and she was not going to accept any of it anymore. "Perhaps like Queen Moremi Ajasoro of the Yoruba land or like Queen Amina of Zaria in the 12th and 16th century respectively who stood against different forms of adversities and rose to power. I was not going to sit helpless, I must do something" Amy said to herself as she got up feeling motivated.

She paced outside her room and into David's room as if trying to wage a war. But she was stopped by the guards as she tried to enter his room. She tried to force her way into the room, but the guards would not just let her in.

From inside his room, David could hear a little commotion. "What's going on out there?" He barked. "It is madam that wants to see you but she does not want to tell me why she is seeing you" a guard answered.

The rules of the house had changed. No one was permitted to see or talk to him without prior notice. Everyone in the house was treated like some employee. But Amy wasn't going to let some rules demotivate her, she was set for a quest and she must accomplish it. "Let her in" he answered. Amy was led into his room by two guards, strong and built.

They stood there like rocks and were not going to move. She didn't want them in while they discussed whatever she had to say. "Please permit them to go outside, whatever I have to say is for your hearing alone" she asked with a rather low tune. She was already exhausted from the little hassle that took place outside his room.

"Okay! Guards leave" he ordered. And immediately they left. After they left the room was quiet, she didn't know exactly where to start from. "Speak up! They are already gone" he spoke as he broke the silence. " You know we are getting married in about a week's time" she started rather casually. She knew it was not a good line to start with, it wasn't longer news that next week was their wedding. Everybody knows and preparations have been made towards it. "Yes?" She answered, pondering where she was going with the conversation. "What is a wedding without a wedding gown? Please do me the honor of allowing me to pick the wedding gown myself" she pleaded. "I don't trust you as such so I won't let you go by yourself. If you Insist on picking the wedding gown yourself then you will do so in the company of my men" he said. " When do you intend to go?" He asked." Tomorrow sir" she answered. "Then tomorrow it will be, get prepared before noon my men will be ready waiting for you" he instructed.

Soon, the next day soon came. She prepared as quickly as possible, before they left, she wrote a note with the inscription boldly written 'HELP ME, CALL THE POLICE!' which she took along in her bag. They drove around several expensive boutiques but she had her plans and wouldn't settle for any of those. "But madam, we have driven past the most expensive boutiques in this place, where exactly are we heading to?" The guard who drove asked. " I know where exactly we are heading to, just continue driving. When we get there, you will know" she answered.

We drove for almost an hour until they got to a rather simple boutique. It wasn't anything like the other boutiques they drove past but it was a boutique. 'MAMA J'S BOUTIQ' was the inscription boldly written on the banner. It was not an old boutique per se but on seeing it one would assume it existed before Nigeria's Independence. It was barely 10 years old, it only suffered from poor management. Even the letters 'u' and "e" in the boutique's name knew the boutique was also suffering as it was wiped off and could be barely seen and so they suffered with it. "But madam, this boutique is not fashionable. Are you sure they will have what you seek?" One guard asked. " What do you mean by it is not fashionable?. "When will you learn to stop judging a book by its cover? '' Amy asked. Somehow they were right, this book could be judged by its cover. Enough of all the questions, I call the shots. Now let's go and get what we came here for, besides you all know what will happen to all of us when we arrive a minute late" Amy stressed and rightly so. David was ruthless to everybody, including his servants. He pays them a lot of money and so he feels they were indebted to him.

They immediately went to the boutique. She led the way while the guards followed closely behind her. When she entered the boutique, she proceeded straight to the receptionist whom she greeted, then she dipped her hands into her bag as if to bring out money. She brought out the panic note she had earlier written. She folded it into her hands and then she spoke to her saying "that is the specification of the wedding gown I'd like to purchase, hope you have it in stock?" The receptionist was shocked but she managed to control her emotions. She looked at the note and looked back at Amy. "Yes we do, take the turn by your left and then walk down straight. You will see just what you're looking for" the receptionist answered.

When they had left she immediately alerted the police station which was some 10 minutes away from the boutique. Before the police arrived Amy was already done selecting the wedding gown she came for. Having noticed that the policemen weren't still here, she went straight to the changing room as if trying to check out the clothes if they would fit. She just sat in there praying and hoping the police would arrive faster. After about fifteen minutes and Amy was still not done, one of the guards decided to check up on her. "Madam! Are you not still done?

We are running behind schedule and we need to return home immediately" the guard said from outside." I'm almost done, please give me two more minutes. I'm sure your boss would understand" she answered." Madam we don't have two minutes to lose. I'm coming in right away" the guard further queried." Oh! I see you want to see my nakedness. You want to eat from the same plate your boss is eating from" she further replied." Look! I don't care. I'm coming in right away" he said. Just as he tried to barge into the changing room, the police came. They were all caught. Some of them tried to escape but they were shot on the leg. They were all taken straight to the police station. Before she left for the police station, Amy thanked the receptionist for buying into her plans. "You don't know the extent of what you have done to me. Thank you once more" Amy said.