Pelumi's Memoirs - 46

Two weeks later….

Celeste wiped away her tears as she remembered her last conversation with Liyel. Her eyes were already puffy from crying so much. After days and days of being prompted to call it quits with Liyel, she had finally summoned the courage to tell him that she could no longer continue with their relationship. Liyel had sounded mad over the phone. No, mad was an understatement.

He had been furious after realizing that she was serious about quitting the relationship.

 “This is how you do me after giving you a second chance? After letting you back in my life. Celeste, you are callous!” Liyel had gone and on and on while she cried silently as she heard the words that ripped her heart apart. When the call had ended, loneliness  which she could not explain had suddenly enveloped her. 

 “If any man will follow me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” A voice on her inside prompted.

 “Oh, Lord, this is hard”. She wept. Liyel had been good to her since they came back together. She had no reason to break his heart this way. 

 “But you have not yet resisted sin to the point of shedding blood.” The voice prompted again.

"Carry me, Lord. Bear me on eagle's wings." It was 11 am on Saturday and she was still in bed. She felt no energy and no desire to do the things which had interested her in the past. 

 Her phone rang loudly. Gosh... She had forgotten to put it on silent. She was not in the mood to answer anyone's calls. 

When she saw that it was her mother, she took a deep breath and picked the call.

 “Good Morning, Mummy.” 

“Celeste Ndidiamaka, kedu?” Her mother's soft voice said over the phone. 

“Odinma.” She responded.

“Do you have a cold?” Her mother inquired.

“No, I don't.”

“Oh, so why does your voice sound weird?”

The dam in her broke then and she started sobbing again.

 Franca Braithwaite heaved and waited for her daughter to calm down. 

"Ndo, ndo. What is it? Biko, tell me.”

 Franca paid rapt attention to all her daughter was saying. “Darling, I want you to know that you made the right decision. If God had been dealing with your heart and letting you know that your relationship with Liyel had become an idol and you needed to let it go, believe me, you did the right thing. You know what the scriptures say about unequal yoking. If you have prayed for him and the direction in your spirit is to quit the relationship, then you have made the right decision. Why continue to pursue a relationship that you know won't lead you anywhere.”

“Oh, mummy! But I love Liyel.”

 “I am sure you do.” Her mother said. “But you know, sometimes, love is not enough. Hmm, let me ask you a question, dear. Do you know how many strands of hair are on your head?”

 “No,” Celeste said, quietly. 

 “Well, your heavenly father does know how many they are. See, he loves you and wants only the best for you. I know it is painful, but I am glad that you are following the Holy Spirit's prompting in your heart. Trust and obey. Do not worry, only the best is in store for you. I pray for you that the man who will love you as Christ loved the Church and gave his life for it will find you. 

I guess it is time for me to pay you a visit in Lagos after all. That is why I called you. You have been on my mind and I was feeling this nudge in my heart that I need to come and see you. I did not even know that you have been dealing with all this. See, God is watching out for you.”

 Celeste smiled a little. “I guess He is.”

“Cheer up, young lady. Call a friend, go see a movie. It is Saturday, go out and enjoy yourself.” Franca admonished. 

 “Okay, mum. I'll go out and have fun.”

“Now, that's what I'm talking about.” Her mother replied. “Okay, let me get off this phone. I'll talk to you later.” 

 “Thanks, mum. Talk to you later.”

 The sound of her doorbell ringing made her scurry out of bed and into the living room. She looked at the peephole and saw that it was Essien. She threw the door open. 

 Essien looked healthy and beautiful. 

"Chale, see how you are glowing.” Celeste laughed. 

“Come and hug me joor.” Essien reached forward and embraced her. 

 “Have you been crying?” Essien asked, scrutinizing her. “Your eyes are red.”

“Come in,” Celeste motioned and Essien stepped into her sitting room. 

 “Oya spill!” Essien said when they were both seated. She listened to Celeste as she narrated the state of things between her and Liyel.

 “I won't lie. Being a Christian can be hard. But you will be fine. God's got you." Essien gave her a small smile and stood up to hug her.

 “Don't worry, be happy.” She sang and Celeste chuckled.

“Anyway, I came to drag you away out of the house. My husband traveled to Bauchi. Political meeting brouhaha.”

 “Why didn't you go with him?” Celeste asked, smiling.

“You weren't invited?” Celeste smirked.

“I was invited but I didn't feel like going. Besides, when did we last spend time together as friends?”

 “So where are we going?” Celeste quizzed.

“Hmmm, I was thinking we should go to the beach and from there we go bowling. We can go see a movie if you are in the mood or go to the fanciest restaurant in town."

 “I'm liking this idea of yours. So which fancy restaurant do you have in mind?” 

 “It's a new restaurant in Victoria Island. It is called Cordelia's Kitchen.”

“I heard someone in my office mention it recently.  They serve mainly Calabar dishes.”

 “Yep,” Essien remarked. “I heard their jollof rice is badass! Second to none!”

“Ah, I'm in.” Celeste jumped up and ran in the direction of her room. “Help yourself. There's food in the fridge." She yelled. "I'm going to take a shower.”

 “Foodie! I trust you.”  Essien laughed and walked in the direction of the kitchen. 

 She saw a box of Godiva in the fridge and took out some chocolates in it. These days, she was always hungry. She ate everything in sight. She hoped that she was not lacking some essential vitamins in her body. She had begun to feel this way shortly after getting married. 

****

“Naetochukwu, I can't believe that you have stolen my best friend from me.” 

“Sorry, cuz.”

 “I mean, look at you two. You know, I never thought that you would take any relationship seriously.” Pelumi blurted.

 “Why not?” Naetochukwu asked.

“Because you play too much! I told Itoro to not pay you any attention initially.”

 “Ah, you did?”

“Yes, I did. I didn't want you to break my friend's heart. I can't deal with stories that touch.”

 “True confession, sins of yesteryears. True confession, what's hidden in the dark has come to light.” Naetochukwu sang.

 Pelumi threw a pillow at him. “That movie is so old school!”

“I know right! True confession! Liz Benson was a real biatch in that movie. She showed Jennifer Okere pepper. Chai, may her soul rest in peace.” 

 “Wasn't she Jennifer Ossai?” Naetochukwu asked.

“Yes, but she became Jennifer Ossai after marrying Emeka Ossai.”

 “Got it! Mehn, we are so old school.” Pelumi remarked.

Itoro shrugged. “Abeg o... Old soul Pelumi, shift.” 

They all burst into laughter. 

Naetochukwu stood. “Pelumi, we'll see you later.”

“Enjoy!” She said to them both.

Fifteen minutes later, Ivan called to let her know that he would be with her in fifteen minutes. They hadn't gone on a date in a while. Ivan had been super busy flying from Kafanchan to Ikene for various meetings and conferences. These days, Corporations paid him handsomely for public speaking. She didn’t know how he managed to do it all.

She walked into her room and looked at herself in the mirror for the umpteenth time. She styled her hair again and applied lipstick. Dressed in a halter neck bright green jumpsuit, she knew that she looked stunning. 

“Wow!” Ivan said when she opened the door some minutes later.  “Hmmm...You smell nice. What perfume are you wearing?”

 “Guess,” Pelumi said smiling.

“Versace’s Crystal Noir?” Ivan replied.

Pelumi punched him on the shoulder. “How did you figure out?”

Ivan shrugged and winked at her.

 “Nkoyo called me this morning.”

“Oh really? What's up?” Ivan questioned.

“She wants us to hang out tomorrow.”

Ivan smiled. “That's cool. I bet you ladies haven't seen each other since Tare's wedding?”

 “Yup. That's true.” Pelumi replied.

“Do you know where you'll both be going tomorrow?”

“We are going to see a movie. Think we'll grab something to eat after that.”

“Cool,” Ivan replied. “I was thinking that we all need to go somewhere fun one of these days.” 

 “Do you have somewhere in mind?” Pelumi moved around the sitting room looking for her wallet.

“Yeah, Tarkwa Bay!” 

“Omg! I haven't been there in a long time. I can't swim to save my life though!” Pelumi covered her face with her hands. 

 “You should sign up for swimming lessons one of these days. We can still go to Tarkwa Bay. You'll be fine.”

 Pelumi smiled.” I'm sure. I love this plan. We should all hang out. I'm sure it'll be fun.”

“Yeah, I’ll mention it to the others and see if they’ll be interested in coming along. I’m not sure about Liyel though.” Ivan said frowning. “I worry about him these days.”

 

****

The week passed by in a blur and after much convincing, Liyel decided to go to Tarkwa Bay with Ivan and others. There was no point in continuing to sulk and feel sorry for himself. He had been shocked when Celeste had called off the relationship between them. He had called her several times and texted her after their last conversation, but she hadn’t responded.

The nerve of her! After hurting him by aborting their child, he had not only forgiven her but had allowed her back in his life, and now this?  Who did she think she was? Judgmental hypocrite! So now, he was the sinner with two horns? Why would God ask her to treat him in the way that she had done? He was done with women and their wishy-washy ways! From now on, he would live according to his terms. No woman would ever treat him like trash again.

Pelumi and Nkoyo sat at the back in Ivan’s Audi Q7 SUV.  Ineye, Tare, and some of their friends would be joining them at Tarkwa Bay. Ivan’s car boot was filled with different baskets of food.

Charlie Puth’s One call away was playing in Ivan’s car and Pelumi swung her head, enjoying the song.

Nkoyo observed Liyel’s silence and hoped that he would bounce back soon. While she understood why Celeste had done what she did, it still pained her to know that her brother was hurting. She tried to have some banter with him. He answered in monosyllables and Ivan told her to not bug him anymore.

 An hour later, thanks to the traffic jam, they finally arrived in Tarkwa Bay. Tare had called to let them know that she, Ineye, and their family friends, the Ojoras had arrived and would be waiting for them around the parking lot area.

Ivan parked the car and they all alighted. “I see Tare over there.” Nkoyo pointed to Tare and her crew, chuckling. “Hey, Sis!” She waved at them.

Tare screamed and ran forward to hug her brothers. “Hi, Pelumi.” She waved.

“Hi, Tare.” Pelumi walked briskly and hugged her. Everyone exchanged pleasantries and they all walked to the ticketing area where they paid for their boat trip.

“Ineye, my man! How is married life treating you? How was your trip to Israel?” Ivan quizzed.

 Tare studied Liyel while Ivan and Ineye were discussing. She had heard about his breakup with Celeste. She felt sorry for him and felt anger towards Celeste for the way that she hurt Liyel time and time again. It seemed that she knew how to toy with her brother’s heart.

 She was growing in her faith as a Christian and Ineye had tried to offer his perspective on the matter. Even though she could see some truth to what Ineye was saying, it had not done much to stop her from being mad at Celeste all the same. In the end, she had decided to call Celeste and hear her out.

 “Tare, I love Liyel.” She had told her. “But I can’t love him much more than I love God. It took me a lot to decide to leave Liyel and I am surrendering everything to God. I know Liyel probably hates me by now and may not want to have anything to do with me. I understand how he feels, and I’ll be praying for him.”

If not that she was a Christian too and understood what Celeste was saying, she would have rolled her eyes and called her a hypocrite.

****

Ada Opara had just woken up from a bad dream. Pelumi was being chased around by a grotesque looking figure. While running, she had fallen into a river and was gasping, calling for help in the process.

She gazed at her husband who was sleeping soundly. She picked her Bible under her pillow where she usually kept it and walked into the sitting room. It was some minutes past 3 am.

The song, 'this is how I fight my battles' filtered into her spirit and she sang quietly, careful not to wake anyone up. This was the third time that she was having this dream in a matter of days.

She opened her Bible and the words from Psalm 27 were the first thing that she saw.

“The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?”

She got on her knees and began to pray for Pelumi. She prayed feverishly for the next thirty minutes.  At some point, she heard footsteps and she opened her eyes to see her husband walking towards her.

Emeka had a questioning look in his eyes. “Is everything okay? Why didn’t you wake me?”

“I didn’t want to bother you. I have been having these weird dreams about Pelumi.”

“Hmmm. Let us go to the bedroom. I’d like to pray with you. You know what the Bible says about one chasing a thousand and two chasing tens of thousands.”

 Ada rose and picked her Bible on the sofa. “I know.” She smiled at her husband. She loved this version of her husband. She had noticed the subtle changes in him recently. He was more attentive to her needs and the children’s.

 In the bedroom, she narrated her dreams to Emeka, and he joined her in praying for the next thirty minutes. “I believe all will be well.” He said to Ada, holding her hands and squeezing it.

 “I like this version of you. Why do I feel like I am falling in love with you day by day?”

Emeka smiled. “I have been having some candid conversations with God. I realize I could have been a better husband to you and a better father to Pelumi.”

“It’s okay, Emeka. That is all in the past now. You have been good to us these few years. I thought that I was imagining things at first.” Ada chuckled.

 “Ada, I want to make up for all the lost years. I can’t change the past, but I can change things going forward.”

“There is no time like the present,” Ada said reassuringly.

“True.” Emeka smiled and smoothed her hair with his hand. Minutes later, they fell asleep.

****

Pelumi was in a good mood when she walked into the Ferguson & Fletcher building on Tuesday morning. People greeted her and she smiled at them while waiting for the elevator to her floor in the building. She and Ivan had finally chosen their wedding date. She was grateful for all the blessings that surrounded her. She was thriving in her career and her future looked bright.

 “Pelumi, you are very cheerful this morning. You must have had a swell weekend!”

“Erm. Fola... Well, that’s true. I had a superb weekend. I also think that I woke up on the right side of my bed this morning.”

 “Wonderful! We need you to continue waking up on the right side of your bed.” Zainab remarked. “It’ll be great to always see you in a pleasant mood like this.”

 “Ha! So you mean to say that I am usually grumpy?”

“I wouldn’t call it grumpy! I think you can get a little too serious sometimes.” Fola said.

“Guys, but this is the workplace. I’m supposed to be serious. No?”

“Oh well,” Zainab waved her off. “You are Pelumi Jacobs, our serious-minded coworker. Financial analyst par excellence.”

 Pelumi giggled. “I would miss you both if I was ever moved away from this department or if one of you got transferred somewhere else."

“Good to know that we are valued in your life,” Fola stated.

“Abi o!” Zainab said, smiling.

 Hours later, Pelumi gazed at her wristwatch. It was some minutes past 3 pm. “Wow!” She muttered.

Her phone rang in that instant and she picked it up. “This is Ferguson and Fletcher, Pelumi Jacobs speaking…”

“Miss Jacobs, could you swing by to the fifth floor? My name is Deborah Onoja.”

Pelumi frowned. The fifth floor was where the compliance and audit team sat. “I’ll be right back.” She said to her colleagues. Smoothing down her skirt, she proceeded to the elevators and headed for the fifth floor.

 When she walked past the glass doors on the fifth floor, she saw a lady in the hallway. “Hi, I’m Deborah Onoja.”

“Pelumi Jacobs.” She replied, grasping her hand to shake her.

“Let’s walk this way.”

She was led into a room where she saw three other people sitting. She tried to maintain cool composure. She had no clue what this was about.

 “Ms. Jacobs, in the past three months, we have noticed unusual activity in some of our company accounts.”

Pelumi nodded her head urging them to continue.

“A sum of twenty million Naira is missing from our accounts.”

Pelumi squinted at the people on the panel. How exactly did this concern her?

 “We did our investigation and realized that the money was transferred in small amounts to a Company account with the name Ada Opara & Co.” One of the men explained.

 “On further investigation, we realized that one of the signatories to the account was a Pelumi Jacobs with your exact details.”

“Sorry. Come again?” Pelumi stuttered. She could feel her palms starting to perspire. She was not a thief. She had never stolen anything that she could remember. Well, except for the one time when she was five years old and had gone to spend the weekend at her grandmother’s. Her older cousin had asked her to take some coins on her grandmother’s table and bring them to her. She had been instructed not to allow her grandmother see her taking the money. Foolishly, she had gone ahead with the plan and had been caught by her grandma who beat the living daylight out of her. That had been the last time that she had attempted to steal money. Why would she steal company money for crying out loud?

“I don’t understand what’s going on. I’m sure there’s been a mix up somewhere.”

“You may take your leave now. Please keep in mind that we will be calling you for further questioning.” One of the women on the panel said to her. She stood up and suddenly felt faint. What balderdash had she just listened to? She walked out and took the elevator to the executive floor. She needed to speak to Ivan.

“Hi, Tito. She greeted Ivan’s secretary. I would like to see Ivan. Is anyone with him in the office?”  Her heart was beating fast as she anticipated Tito’s response.

“No, you can go in,” Tito responded.

 “Ivan… Ivan, something just came up. I do not understand. I just left the Compliance and Audit department.” Her voice broke and she tried to prevent herself from crying.

Ivan remained glued to his desk watching her. “They said that money is missing from some accounts…”

“I heard,” Ivan replied, cutting her off.

 Anxiety overtook her and she paced inside Ivan’s office. “I don’t understand what is going on. I would never steal from the company. I have never been accused of theft in all my life. Ehhh. Jesus, save me!” Pelumi said, hysterically.

 Ivan rose and stood in front of her. “I believe you but theft in this company is something serious. Unfortunately, I cannot interfere with the investigation. As CEO, I am accountable to the Executive Board of Directors.”

 “Eh God o!” Pelumi threw her hands up. She suddenly felt sick to her stomach. She would let her manager know that she wasn’t feeling well and would like to head home. By now, he had probably heard about the accusation leveled against her.

 “We will get this sorted out somehow,” Ivan said to her.

She looked in his eyes and could not read the bland expression on his face. Did he believe that she would do such a thing?