Finding Happiness 6

Deifa was in her office  looking through the list of five of the most Eligible guys on campus which Lara had compiled. They were to be invited to the party they were organizing to partake in the charity auction. These were guys who were from really well to do backgrounds and had the money to part away with. Every name was okay to her except for her step brother’s . She looked up at the compiler of the list.

“Why is Tekena’s name here?”

Lara frowned exchanging glances with Lisa who was also seated in the office “ Duh, I guess because he fits the bill?”

“He’s PGD, not an undergraduate like the rest of us.”

“Well, he’s good looking, quite popular with the students and before I forget, loaded!. The aim of this gig is to make money remember? For Charity? We need spenders and trust me he fits the bill. I got the info from my brother himself, no hear say!” Lara explained to her friend as she was aware  of the feud between  Deifa and her step siblings.

Deifa looked at Lisa for support but knew no help was coming from that end.

“Lara’s on point, you know how I feel about the guy. He’s a perfect candidate.” Was all Lisa added.

She knew she couldn’t argue this one out.“Fine, you guys draft a letter and let him know about the charity auction.”

“But Deifa, You are supposed to be in charge of calling up the guys and confirming if they are up for it.” Lara told her.

This was the first time she was hearing this “and whose brilliant idea was this?” Deifa asked sarcastically

Lara and Lisa exchanged glances as if trying to decide who would explain it to her. Lara spoke up “it was mine! I just thought that since you are the face behind our club, it would be better if you invited the guys personally. A one on one invite will go a long way than just sending a letter.”

“Lara’s right, Didi, most of these guys have been dying to meet you anyway, it’s a great idea.”

Deifa pursed her lips as she mulled it over in her head for a moment and also had to agree that Lara had a point, that was why she was in charge of organising these parties “Okay, I’ll do it. How do we set up the meet?”

Lara sat forward “ I’ll call them up, let them know you would like to meet with them to discuss the charity auction thingy and the party with them, know when they’ll be free and then  I’ll set up the dinner dates and get back to you on it.”

“Hmmmm, Dinner?” Deifa thought about it. “They might expect dessert to go with it. Can we make it lunch instead?”

Lara laughed getting what Deia insinuated. “Right! Lunch it is then. So is it all settled then?”

“Just one more thing.” Deifa needed to add “I can’t have lunch with Tekena – Tikky- whatever his name is. I suppose you could let him know about it, he is your brother’s friend after all. Or even Lisa!” She turned to her friend “You’ve been looking for an excuse to talk to him anyway.”

They shook their heads vehemently. “Since you’re meeting with the others it’s only fair you met him too.” Lara pointed.

She rolled her eyes. Fair indeed! She didn’t bother arguing, they had their minds set on what they wanted her to do “Alright, I’ll talk to him, no Lunch, we do live in the same building afterall. I’ll find time to talk to him.” ‘although I’m not looking forward to it,’She didn’t add.

“Good!” Lara jumped off her seat like a spring had magical appeared on it. “Since all that’s sorted, I’ve got to leave now. I have a class in thirty.” She grabbed her handbag and folder and then added” Yeah! The campus radio and magazine have been notified and they promised to carry the news and to cover the event.”

“Alright then, good work.” Deia told her.

She nodded, waving hurriedly as she practically ran out of the room. Lara was a stickler to time, she never arrived late for any appointment.

Immediately she was out the door, Lisa turned on her. “Really, Didi?”

“What?” Deifa asked perturbed.

“That issue with  your step brother! What was that about?” Lisa asked her.

“Oh, please don’t act like you don’t know how I feel about that lot! Lets not get into that right now.”

“No, no, we are getting into it now now. I would have thought since you knew this was about raising money for charity you would drop your differences. What is your problem Di?”

Deifa suddenly flared up, letting loose all the pent up anger she’d been holding back for a while.

“My problem,” She started “is that their gold digging family came into my life, into my home to reap where they never sowed. That’s my problem!

Every cent he spends is as a result of my father’s sweat, the foreign degree from one of the best schools in the UK, the car he drives, everything he owns, everything his mother owns all came from my father’s sweat.

They are gold diggers, the lot of them and I can’t stand their presence in my house. Sharing a fortune that was meant to be mine, the only daughter of my father. That’s my problem, Lisa!” She ended finally taking a deep breath and relaxing back against her seat.

“Whoa!” was all Alissa could utter “Whoa girl, you’ve got some serious deep issues buried within.  You can’t carry this feelings like this Di, you’ve got to let them go, it’s not healthy.”

“oh please Lisa, do you think letting go is easy? When I see them everyday in my house?”

“It might not be easy but that’s what you have got to do. The deed has already been done, your father knew why he chose their mother. He alone knew why he brought them into your life. They are here to stay, Didi, there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“ Doesn’t mean I have to like them.”

“Didi….come on, you have to give someone a chance before you know if he or she’s worthy of your friendship. You might be seeing this the wrong way.”

“You’re not wearing the shoes Lisa, you don’t  know where it hurts.”

Lisa sighed, she doubted anything she said could get through to Deifa but then she had to try.

“Your Step brother manages a little IT firm with Lara’s brother, don’t they?”

“yeah? So?”

“As you can see, Dare is well off, is he not?”
Deifa crossed her arms “What’s your point?”

“ They are partners, if Dare’s doing well, I’m sure Tikky is also doing well, getting a steady income apart from the trust fund money you dad set up for him. He’s not dependent on that money obviously!”

“Oh please! My dad helped start up that company, even gave them the first job they did. The project they did for one of my dad’s business associates was what had gotten them started. I think Tekena had been in his third year in the University at the time. He also got some more of his other associates to patronise their company. My dad  practically set him up.”

“Okay so he started it up for them but they took it to the next level and are still managing it till date. Tekena is a hard worker and you know it. The guy is involved in so much, I’m surprised how he gets through it all.”

“Okay, let’s leave him aside since you obviously have a bias towards him.” Deifa said and Lisa’s eyes widened like what was she talking about. “How about his mother, and sister, that annoying little rat, both of them conniving and gold digging. The woman married my dad for what she could gain and she’s taught her daughter well. She’s latched on to Dare, I wonder what how the guy has been with her for two years now. Baffles me.”

“ Well I guess he sees something he likes. You yourself can be annoying, you know?”

“Me?” Deifa asked incredulously.

“Yes, you! You claimed your step mom is a step monster but how bout you? Don’t you think you could also be the step daughter from hell? You disrespect her every chance you get.”

“She has always been mean to me!” Deifa defended.

“Maybe that’s because you’ve always been mean to her?” Lisa countered.

“Whose side are you on here sef? Because you always seem to take their side!”

“I’m on no one’s side! I’m just looking at it from a different perspective.”

“Whatever, I like my perspective better and can we just drop it? I’m done talking about all that anyway, can we move on to value adding discussions?”

“Like?” Lisa wasn’t the least bit surprised, always like Deifa to run off whenever an issue became pressing.

Deifa’s phone rang and as she glanced at the caller Id her face immediately fell.

“What is it?” Lisa asked.

She raised her eyes to meet hers and Lisa instantly knew. “Osaze?”

Deifa nodded. “ The guy doesn’t leave me alone.”

“Well tell him he has absolutely no hope of getting together with you anymore. Maybe he still hasn’t gotten the full picture yet and doesn’t think you’re serious. Maybe he thinks you’re fronting or something?”

“Oh it’s very over between us, can you imagine he came to my house sometime last week and when I refused to give in to his rubbish, he became rough? Saying things like I own you and it’s not over till he says so, he even slapped me.”

“He did what?” Alissa screamed. It wasn’t the first time but she thought it had been a one time thing that other time “how did you get away from him.”

“Hmmm, it was Tekena’s intervention.” Deifa recalled vividly how he’d expertly manhandled Osas out of the compound. She didn’t doubt that Osas would have beaten her some more had Tekena not intervened. She’d been so ashamed that he’d seen and possibly heard all that had gone on, he had seen that her boyfriend treated her like trash and had not a single ounce of respect for her.

“They fought?” Lisa sat up on her seat.

Deifa smiled wanly, in remembrance, “Not exactly, they didn’t need to, Tekena …Osas was no match for him, didn’t stand a chance. Tekena just took hold of him and threw him out of the gates.”

“Phew, that was a close one!”

“Tell me about it. Now he’s been sending me threatening messages and giving me ultimatums to get back together with him. I’ve been ignoring his calls. He can’t do anything, I just want him to leave me alone. All these years Lisa, all these years Lisa, what did I see in him? I don’t get it, was I under some kind of spell?”

Lisa shrugged, “one can never understand the heart sometimes. You should take his threats seriously though, a wounded animal can get really vicious, you know?”

“What do you want me to do? Report to the police? Everyone will laugh.”

“ Why not talk to Tekena about it? He could handle it guy to guy. If Osaze sees you have a guy’s backing he might just back off. He’s a bully and bullies are cowards.”

Deifa looked at her “Are you crazy? I’d rather be laughed at than beg him.”

“Here we go again!” Lisa said throwing her hands in exasperation.

“Drop it. I’m not going there right now.” She got up and took her handbag. “I have a photoshoot by 3PM.”

“MIA telecoms job?”

“Yeah and I want to look good so please don’t get me pissed.”

Lisa got up and picked her bag too and followed Deifa out,deciding to leave things the way they were. “ I got a job from Citadel Trust Bank, it’s for television though.”

“Wow! That’s great news. How’s the pay?”

“Cool although not as cool as yours. I wish I had a steady contract like you do with MIA.”

“Yeah but don’t worry better things are coming. This is just tempora…….” Deifa’s words trailed as she looked at her beautiful black Ford escape SUV that had been vandalised with the words “BIATCH” sprayed across it in hot pink.

“What the …..?” She exclaimed, her tires had been slashed too. She didn’t need a brain surgeon to tell her who had done it. She exchanged looks with Lisa.

She looked at her phone vibrating in her hand and picked it.

“Are you happy now, Osaze? Have you had your pound of flesh?” She yelled at him.

His laughed, his voice taunting her, “What are you talking about babe? I’m just getting started. There’s more where that came from! I’m sure you loved the paint job, my masterpiece yet!”

“What more do you want, ehn? If you ever had an ounce of love for me you’ll stop all this childishness!”

He laughed “Oh my goodness, did you say love? All I ever wanted to do was have my wicked way with you but you were not ready.” He said mockingly, “and I had to be patient, a virtue you taught me. Well, I paid my dues. You owe me! Meet me at my apartment tomorrow evening, 7pm.” Lisa had pressed her ear to the back of the phone listening in.

“How do I know it will stop if I meet with you?” Deifa asked not that she planned on meeting him.

“You don’t.” He laughed.

“You are a sick son of a- “

“Sweetheart come on, you can’t blame me, you’ve tantalised me all these years and I have been patient with you, come on, a guys got to enjoy something.” He joked laughing some more before his voice turned serious. “And I’m not joking babe! The next time I won’t take it out on your car. Till tomorrow, love.”

Deifa didn’t know what to think, she was confused. What sort of psycho had she been dating for years?

“Hey! Hey!” Lisa placed her hands on her shoulders,“Hey, just calm down. He’s trying to get in your head but you won’t let him. I’ll take care of it and I promise you, that idiot will never bother you again, I promise you.”

Deifa looked at her, “Are you sure? What will you do?”

Lisa smiled “I’ve got my guns and boys.” She joked but Deifa couldn’t take a joke at the moment. Her eyes widened.

“You are going to kill him?”

“Hell no! Though I wish I could, I will settle for warning him. Trust me, he won’t bother you anymore.”

“You sure?”

“Perfectly.” She handed her keys to her car. “Now you just forget what happened here, get to your photo shoot and dazzle them, okay?”

“Okay” Deifa managed a watery smile “Thanks a lot, what would I do without you?”

Lisa shrugged “Not much, I’m afraid.” That got laughter out of her. “Okay now run along.”

“Okay, I’ll give my mechanic a call; he’ll come pick the car. Thanks again.” Deifa said opening the door of the car.

Lisa waved her off bringing her phone out of her bag. Deifa might feel too proud to ask for Tekena’s help but she didn’t.  She knew the kind of guy Tekena was, he wouldn’t hesitate to help Deifa. As she dialled Lara’s number , she thought about Deifa’s sicko ex-boyfriend, Osaze had definitely gone far enough this time, he thought he would bully her and get away with it, he had just picked a fight with the wrong person.

“Hey girl, has your class started yet……no? Okay, please text me Tekena’s number….yeah, I need his help with someone…Okay thanks girl.” She hung up. That idiot Osas wouldn’t know what hit him.

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