FRESHO

       “Your father called to remind you of the family dinner tonight. He said you must come or else he won't eat the whole week". Tunde, my manager, relays as soon as he enters my hotel living room. Tunde grins at the sudden distress in my face.

        "I'm just here to relay his message," he whimpers as I give him a sharp look . He continues," You have to go prepare for the show you have at Eko urban hotel tomorrow evening. I have got the private jet ready, we will  move immediately after the practice". He says, I nod and he leaves my office. Tunde is not just my manager, he is my best friend. He has been with me since childhood and we grew up together. He is more than a friend to me, he is more like my older brother.

       My dad is now even pestering Tunde to remind me to attend the family gathering. He is even using his health to blackmail me. I frown and I stand up to get myself ready for the journey. I look at my wrist watch and relax, it is just 4 in the evening. I still have enough time to prepare. I go to the bathroom, shower and I dress up. Before I finish practicing the time is 7pm. Tunde knocks on the door and enters when I tell him to.

        "Ready?”  He asks,

"Yes. I say and we walk together to where the private jet is parked. 30minutes later, we are in Lagos. The private jet landed in our field. As I am about to enter, I see Sade walking in towards me. "What are you doing here". I ask without greeting her .

        "Mrs. Balogun invited me. Can't you greet? “She says.

       " Oh" is all I say. Mum is taking this whole thing too far. Why would she invite her to our family dinner? She is her friend's daughter. They have been friends since they were teenagers and they got married to friends, my dad and his friend. They got pregnant almost the same time and they promised each other to get their children married if they gave birth to different genders. But unfortunately to them, they both gave birth to girls. They got pregnant again and gave birth to us, Sade and I . Sade is three weeks older than me. Sade has been my friend since childhood. We were brought up with the mentality that we will get married when we become of age. At first I didn't have anything against their decision because Sade is a sweet girl until I saw the pain my elder sister went through when she was forced to marry someone she didn't love and still going through in her marriage. Since then I have promised myself to marry for love. I have tried my best to love Sade but I couldn't.

        5years ago on my 19th birthday I told her I didn't love her and that I can't marry her. She cried her eyes out that day. She told me she would do everything in her power to make me love her but I didn't have any interest in her at all. Since then I only consider her as my friend and nothing more. I told my Mum my decision but she told me she will never accept any other girl except Sade and I told my mum that I will never marry her.

        A year later, I made my musical debut and since then I have been enjoying my life with different girls. Even though Sade knew all about what I was doing with the girls, she still insisted on waiting for me.

        When we get inside, we go straight to the dining room. They were already seated.

        "Ayo, why did you arrive together with her"? Jummy, my junior sister asks me.

        " No, we didn't. We met at the entrance". I answer her and she continues, " mum, why is she here? This is supposed to be our family only right"? She knows if I am not the one who invited her then my mum definitely did. Everybody in the family is not in support of mum's way of betrothing her children for business or personal reasons. 

       " She will be part of our family soon anyway, she can be here anytime"? Mum says, I give her a sharp look and I frown. She sees my face and she changes the conversation. I am happy to see you son. How is Ogbomosho? She waits for my response but I don't talk.

     "Let's eat". My dad says with full excitement in her voice. Dining together with us is my dad's best moment, so he always imposes it on us.

       When we are done with food, desserts are served a few minutes later and I stand up to go to my room.

       "Ayo,eat your dessert before you leave.” My dad commands.

       "Am full dad, see you tomorrow."  I say and I take my leave. When I get to my apartment, I take off my  shirt and my shoes. I take out a cigarette from my pocket, light it and  I take a drag. The smell of nicotine spread through my nose and it feels so good. I walk to the window to enjoy the view. I hear a knock on my door and I walk to the door. “ who is it?” I ask.

          “Sade.” She answers and I open the door . 

        " Why did you leave the living room like that? You didn't even touch your dessert". She says as I walk back to the window.

        " Are you asking me as a nagging wife or as my friend" ? I ask and she smiles.

          " You know the answer now, as your friend of course." She says, she sit on the couch and she brings out her phone.

         "You know how my mum could be, she has her way of upsetting me every time we are together, that's why I left. And more so, I want to rehearse and I need time alone because I have a show tomorrow". I say and she nods. I extinguish my cigarette and I trash it. I sit  beside her on the couch and my eyes go to the phone she is pressing.  She opens her WhatsApp and she reviews her uploaded status, probably to check the number of viewers.  The picture isn't hers, it is a picture of another lady. I find the pictures so attractive so I move closer to her to have better look at it. She doesn't seem to notice that I am looking at the pictures. She drops her phone after she views the status  viewers. She stands and she picks the remote from the shelf. I take his phone and I open her phone gallery while she switches ON the T.V.  Her favorite show pops out on the screen and she screams.

"I thought I had missed this episode and they are showing it again. I am so happy." She says joyfully. She seems to be talking to herself so I don't bother replying to her.

I scroll down her phone gallery and I see the pictures of the lady.  There are many  pictures of the lady  on her phone. I click on one of them and  I am looking at it in details. The picture is so attractive and captivating. The lady in the picture has big round eyes with a double eyelid. She has no makeup on which makes it so interesting to me that how can someone be this beautiful without makeup? And she still covered her whole body. Or maybe the pictures are edited.

"Who is this girl, you have too many  pictures of her in your gallery". I show her the picture of the girl or lady or whatever.

" Yes, she is my friend." She answers simply because she is occupied with the show she is watching.

"You must like her a lot to have her pictures this much in your gallery." I ask her. I want to hear what she will say about the girl.