OBSESSION (PART 4))

The whole thing came as a shock to me. I'd always known Halima to be a troublemaker who would go to any length to get what she wanted. This one, however, caught me off-guard. First, she made her way into my house without anybody’s knowledge - how she pulled this off still remains a mystery to me - and then she raped me, took nude pictures of me and wants to blackmail me with it.

“What have I gotten myself into?” I murmured to myself as I reclined my seat and buried myself in it. This is someone I loved, we dated, and despite the circumstances surrounding our break-up, I was considering getting back together with her. Here she was, trying to blackmail me. I went over the pictures again, and honestly, even if I intended denying anything, the birthmark on my neck would give me away.

Nigeria - or even Africa in general, isn't one of those places where nude pictures boost your social status, rather, you get berated and looked-down upon by whoever comes across them. Gloomy-faced, without the slightest notion on how to handle the issue, I decided to give her a call.

She didn't seem happy at all, as all she did was yell at me. I was already getting angry about it, but managed to hold on a bit. When she was done ranting, I apologized for everything she accused me of, which I think took her by surprise. She became calm and we continued talking. After going back and forth on it, we came to a consensus - she would come over to my house to spend the night so we could talk things out, after which she would destroy all the incriminating pictures she had in her possession.

She agreed, with a tone of excitement in her voice. I raced to the Restaurant as fast as I could, and on getting there, I felt some relief when I looked around and realized that Funmi was yet to arrive. I got a table for us and then ordered a glass of a Vodka-mix Cocktail to sip on, while waiting for her. She came in about ten minutes later and after exchanging pleasantries, we settled down. We talked about pretty much everything - except the past - which she refused to delve into, and I reasoned with her.

I managed to compose myself all through the evening, giving that I had a more tasking issue to deal with at night. The eagerness with which I looked forward to the date was the same as the one with which I hoped for it to end. It wasn't long before this became reality, and we were walking hand-in-hand out of the restaurant. I walked her to her car, and after a warm hug, we said our goodbyes.

Halima was already in my house - she had sent me a text message while I was with Funmi. As I drove home, I called Adamu to confirm, which he replied in the affirmative. It was a long drive home and I was very nervous about coming face-to-face with Halima, but “I'll take each stride as it comes”, I said to myself. I got home to a sumptuous-looking delicacy of Pounded Yam and Egusi soup, and despite my skepticism about eating it, I felt it looked too sweet to be poisoned. Adamu had already eaten and he didn't seem to have any complications, so I helped myself to some, and when I had fed well, I retired to the bedroom with Halima. We continued from where we stopped in our conversation earlier in the day to set things right. After all had been said, we had make-up sex (at least, this time it was voluntary).

She slept off almost immediately, and this gave me enough time to satisfy my curiosity. I picked her bag and took her phone to go through it, to make sure she did as expected. I noticed the pictures weren't in her Picture Library, but something else caught my attention. She had numerous pictures of a particular guy, wow! Curiously, I checked her BBM to see if she had him as a contact, and it wasn't long before a message came in, with his picture displayed. The message read: “I love you too baby”. I was stunned, to say the least. “What did I just see?”, I asked myself. I couldn't believe it. If she's in a romantic relationship with another guy, what then does she want from me?