THE 3RD SIDE OF A COIN

 CAP 1: THE SUNCITY OF ABUJA
                       Episode 2

I first met Flora seven years ago at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. Then,

she was tall, thin and looked a lot younger than her eighteen years of age. Like a

beautiful girl would attract a willing young man, she did interest me. But she was

too serious to accept my offer.

She said I was a nice guy and would just like to be a platonic friend.

“No Flora,” I did told her, “I hate being good friends with my crushes,”

I wasn’t too naïve to not know where she was driving my passion to and I hated ‘friend zone’. I persuaded the much I could; she did not shift ground. That was seven years ago. So when I heard she had relocated to Abuja, I welcomed it as a second chance to re-confess my love.

Believing I might be lucky, I did the necessary and paid her a visit in Sun City Estate, Abuja. The estate was a fine neighborhood with beautiful landscaping

built for the rich.
Waiting in front of a beautiful cream colored house; in a long peach gown and holding two mobile phones in her left hand, her face broke into a smile when

she saw me.

“Welcome, Obie,” she said as I walked into the compound.

“This place is beautiful,” I complimented.

“Thank you.”

“And Flo,” I added, “you are looking more beautiful.”

She giggled.

The apartment, where Flora was squatting, provided shelter for her and her two

friends and there was another inmate I met - a dwarf white dog whose only duty was to wag its tail. The details in the living room showed that the girls lived

in abundance. I have met girls like that in the past. They lived everywhere in the

city of Abuja. The real magicians, I’d call them, who could not afford a bottle of

beer but drank only champagne.

Sitting on a brown couch was one of her friends. She was fair and appeared tall.

She could be of Flora’s age. Her yellow bum-shorts could not completely cover

her laps, and that created a distraction for my lustful eyes. A green singlet

covered her tempting body and there was a snake tattoo on her neck.

Throughout my stay, her eyes were glued to the television and I found it

difficult to understand how Flora, who I knew as an extrovert, ended up in their

company.

“Flo, this is a wrong crew.” I couldn’t keep it to myself on my way out. “How

do they afford this lifestyle?”

Flora gave me a weak response. I rested my case.

Because my protest would not give her shelter and I knew I could not separate

her from her company, I said the much I could and let her be. Flora, I could tell,

became an accident bound to happen. It was not hard to discern that soon the

chicken would one day become a cock, and do what cocks did. It was only a

matter of time.

A few days later, at after eleven o’clock in the night, the exact time I laid on my

bed, a call came into my cell phone. I wanted to ignore the call but realizing it

was from Flora, I picked up the phone.

“Please, can you come and pick me?” she said in a tense and weary voice. She

sounded like one who had been assaulted.

“Flora, where are you?” I reluctantly asked.

“I am at the Wine Shop in Wuse 2, near Amigo.” she replied.

“Wine shop by this time? What on earth are you doing in Sodom and Gomorrah

at this God-forsaken period?’

“Please, I will explain” She mumbled. “Just come and pick me from here.”

To be Contd..                                                     .......Story By: Ozii Anieto