Tegan X

 

Cheers to new beginnings

Tegan: she's a goal getter

Dozie sat at the dining and thought about all his plans. The first was to move out the next year. Andy could use a flat mate and it would be nice to have a place of his own. His writing jobs were increasing and soon he might actually be able to make his blog bigger. About a month ago, his relationship with Tegan ended. It seemed like he’d have a little light at the end of his tunnel soon. He’d heard rumors of her resignation from people at the office. Shade always wailed about how she’d miss Tegan if the rumors were true. She wondered why Tegan wanted to leave a job she was not only good at, but successful in it. Dozie knew why. The rumors were confirmed, after the mini Christmas party at Fashion Today. Tegan told Lola she wouldn’t be returning the next year. Lola in turn told Shade, who told Kunle and him and every other person with ears.

Tegan hadn’t told him personally and he didn’t ask her too. He didn’t want to bother her, yet. He told his mom about her resignation and he felt the video wouldn’t hurt her again. His mom told him the video might still be incriminating even if she worked elsewhere. That was when they set their plan in motion. Now, he was sitting at the dining, patiently waiting for the plan to unfold.

“Ada m oh. Cynthia Adaeze Agu,” Mrs. Agu called her daughter. She was in the living room, while he pretended to listen to music from his phone. He had his air pods in his ears.

“Yes mommy,” Cynthia replied from upstairs and dragged her feet to the living room. “Mommy, what is it na?”

“Hian, can’t I call my daughter again?” Mrs. Agu sneered at her.

Cynthia squeezed her mouth and sat down. “Ngwanu, your daughter has answered. O gini?”

“You children of nowadays have no respect. I don’t blame you. It’s because—”

“Chineke Nna,” Cynthia laughed. “Mommy, what is it na?”

Mrs. Agu hissed before she responded, “ehen, you have a tailor friend, right? I want to try someone new. Remember that lace you gave me, I want to use it to sew one sharp dress for the estate Christmas party.”

“Oshey! Mrs. Agu. The hottest mommy on the planet.” Cynthia rained praises on her mother while the woman stood to turn around. “Yeah. I have a lot of tailor friends. I can—”

“What’s with the racket?” Dozie feigned irritation from the dining.

“Uncle, mind your business. Block your ears back.” Cynthia barked.

Dozie rolled his eyes and put the air pods back in his ears and resumed his pretense.

“Ehen, mommy, as I was saying. I can give you anyone. I know one, her name is Taylor. She’s—”

“Tailor kwa? Why’s her name Tailor? Why would her parents give her such a name? Did they foresee her as a tailor? Why are you laughing?” Mrs. Agu folded her arms and sat down.

“Mommy, you won’t kill me,” Cynthia continued laughing. Her name is Taylor. As in T-A-Y-L-O-R.” She spelt the name.

“Oh, what an interesting name. What does it mean?”

“Hmm, that’s the one I don’t know oh. I didn’t ask her. Her sister has another funny name too.”

“What’s the name of—”

“Mommy, we’re not talking about the sister. Thing is, Taylor just got married and she’s probably still enjoying marital bliss. Plus, they live in Yaba, which isn’t close by. So—”

“So why did you bring her up? Ehnn this girl. I was even thinking you’d mention… Kedu afa this girl?” Mrs. Agu pretended to think for a minute. “Ehen, Tope.”

“Wow, I’m surprised you remember Tope oh.” Cynthia said.

“Why won’t I remember her? She’s even the one I know and want. Tell her to come to the house tomorrow.”

“Just like that? Don’t you even want to see some of her work to know if you’d like it?”

“Ngwanu, gosi m oru ya. It’s on your phone, right?” 

“Yes mommy,” Cynthia picked up her phone and unlocked it. She started swiping and got to her gallery. “Here are some of her designs.” She stood and gave the phone to her mother.

“Thank you,” Mrs. Agu took the phone from her and Cynthia hovered. “Sit down, I can use the phone.” Mrs. Agu locked eyes with Dozie briefly before putting her attention back to the phone. She glanced briefly at some of the styles before checking the WhatsApp video folder for the video her son had described for her. She didn’t play any video, scanning through, she didn’t notice anything amiss. She decided to try her other strategy.

“Ada, please get me my phone. I think I left it in my room.”

Cynthia got up grudgingly and went upstairs. Dozie sat where he was, tensed, while Mrs. Agu tried playing most of the videos in the WhatsApp folder and other folders. She didn’t see the video, which probably meant Cynthia hadn’t gotten it again from Tope or she had hidden it somewhere else.

“Ada m, bring your laptop too. Let me check for movies once we’re done with this.” She winked at Dozie. 

Cynthia came back downstairs, her laptop under her armpit. “Mommy, your phone isn’t in your room.”

“Oh, it’s even here,” Mrs. Agu brought out her phone she had hidden inside the sofa she sat on.

“Mommy, really,” Cynthia rolled her eyes. “Are you done with my phone? Do you like the designs?”

“Designs? Oh yes, yes. Please tell Tope to come and take my measurements tomorrow for the style I’ll choose. Turn on your laptop let me select movie. NEPA has refused to bring light.”

Cynthia inputted her password and went to the movie folder on her laptop. She selected a movie she felt her mother would like and turned the screen towards her.

“Enjoy your movie. I’m upstairs if you need me to select another one or if you don’t know what to press.”

“Biko, don’t insult me. I can use a computer,” Mrs. Agu said as Cynthia laughed and headed for the stairs. As soon as she disappeared from sight, Dozie went to his mother.

“Mama bear, you’re damn good. Look at how you just convinced her to bring Tope here.” He high fived her.

“I told you not to worry. Now, check this laptop if you’ll see the video because it’s not on her phone.” She handed him the laptop.

“Or maybe she hasn’t collected it again from Tope,” Dozie said, eyes on the screen, surfing through video folders.

“Let’s find out.”

They searched through the laptop for about 10 minutes, but couldn’t find the video.

“I guess we’d have to wait till tomorrow,” Dozie handed the laptop back to his mom.

“I guess so.”

“Mommy, you know, Taylor, the lady Cynthia talked about, is Tegan’s twin sister.”

“Inukwa akuko,” Mrs. Agu widened her eyes. “They have really unique names. How come one twin is friends with Cynthia and the other is the enemy?”

“You want to hear the gist?” Dozie asked.

“Yes oh. I want to hear. Let me balance well for this story.” She closed Cynthia’s laptop and kept it on the table. “You children are making me miss my husband less with all this drama.”

“He’ll soon come back from the trip—”

“Nwoke m nye m gist,” Mrs. Agu hit Dozie on his arm.

“Ouch! Mommy. Your hand is painful,” Dozie scowled, then related the rest of the story to her.

The next day, Tope arrived feeling like a super star. Her friend’s mother wanted her services. And she might get to steal a glance at Dozie, Cynthia’s handsome brother. She remembered the day she saw him kissing the lady at the fountain. Her blood went hot. She had imagined she was the one he was kissing. She just had to make a video. Cynthia had been telling her not to delete the video. According to Cynthia, the video had surprisingly vanished from her phone. She needed Tope to hold on to it so she could use it to tease Dozie soon. Tope was tired of watching the video or keeping it. She’d send it to Cynthia once she was done with her mother.

“Tope. How are you doing? Compliments of the season,” Mrs. Agu said, joining Tope in the living room. 

Tope stood to greet her, “Good afternoon, Ma. Thank you, Ma. I’m doing very well. Compliments.”

“Sit down, my dear. How are your parents?”

“They’re fine, Ma. How are you and daddy doing?”

“We’re good. I thank God. Daddy is on a trip though. Dozie, come and say hi to Tope.” Mrs. Agu signaled for Dozie who pretended to pass the living room.

He walked to them and imagined snatching Tope's phone and smashing it. Instead, he said, “hi Tope. Good to see you. It’s been a while.”

“Hi back at you, fine boy. You look good.” Tope's smile touched her ears. Cynthia’s brother was so charming, she thought to herself.

“I’ll leave you girls to do your thing,” Dozie said when he saw Cynthia come out from the kitchen with a tray in her hand. A carton of juice and some glass cups rested in the tray. He caught Cynthia’s sneer and smiled to himself. She had no idea what was up.

“You go drink juice oh. Na that one I get,” Cynthia set the tray on the center table.

“No wahala,” Tope laughed and collected the glass of juice Cynthia handed to her.

Three of them talked about other things before Mrs. Agu finally spoke up. “Ok ladies, down to business. I want a very wonderful dress for my party coming up. Tope, Cynthia must have briefed you about this.”

“Yes , she has. I have some designs on my phone, if you’d like to see them?”

“Oh, that’s perfect, my darling. Very perfect. I hope you have exquisite styles.” Mrs. Agu smiled to herself.

“I have very nice styles, Ma. Your problem would be which style to choose.” Tope stood and went to sit with Mrs. Agu, who was seated on the bigger sofa. “If you want, I could design something entirely different for you.”

“Oh, wow. You would? That would be nice. Let me see what you have first.”

Tope handed her phone to Mrs. Agu. She showed her some designs and they talked a bit about them. Cynthia let them do their thing and concentrated on the movie showing on the TV. 

After some time, Mrs. Agu asked Tope to enjoy the movie while she went through the designs on her own. As soon as Tope took her eyes off the smaller screen and glued them on the big screen, Mrs. Agu moved to the video folder on Tope’s phone. Since it was a video Tope made, she decided to check the camera video folder first. She went through some videos before she found something that had Dozie on it. She reduced the volume of the phone and played the video. She had to admit, watching her son kiss a lady so passionately was awkward. She also had to admit that Tegan was a beautiful lady. She clicked on the delete icon and the video vanished. To be really sure, she went to the files app and searched for the recycle bin. She saw that a lot of things were there, she selected all clicked on ‘delete all'. Everything in the recycle bin vanished. She almost screamed jackpot. Thank God Dozie had taught her how to use a phone before.

“Mommy, this one you’re smiling like this. Have you seen the one you like?” Cynthia asked her mother.

“Yes, I believe I have. Mrs. Agu went back to the photos folder and showed them the style she actually liked.

“Nice. This is really good.” Cynthia agreed.

“Ok then, let me take your measurements, Ma.” As Tope was taking the measurements, Mrs. Agu asked her, “Why did you make that video?”

“Ma?”

“The video of my son and his girlfriend kissing. Why did you make it?” Her voice was deathly calm.

Tope's hand froze on the tape rule. She felt her heart pounding in her rib cage as her blood went hot. How did the woman know about the video? Did Cynthia tell her? What was she going to say? “Ehm, Ma. It’s not like that. I—”

“Do you have it anywhere apart from your phone?”

“Ma, I swear, I don’t. It’s only on my phone. I just made it for fun. I can delete it now sef.”

“Don’t bother, I already did. Now,” she raised her voice so that Cynthia could hear her, “why did you make the video?”

Cynthia looked over at them, her glass of juice was inches from her lips. She noticed Tope's demeanor before she locked eyes with her mother.

“What are you talking about, Mommy?”

“Ada m, you know what I’m talking about.” Mrs. Agu sat down. “How could you use that to blackmail your brother into ending his relationship, just because you don’t like the girl he’s dating?”

Cynthia laughed. She dropped the glass of juice and clapped her hands together. “I can’t believe this. So, Dozie ran to you for help. He’s such a mommy's boy. I’m not sur—”

“Will you shut up that stupid mouth of yours,” Mrs. Agu said, with a perfectly calm voice that sent shivers down Tope’s spine. She wished the ground would open and swallow her.

“But mommy, that girl is my age. She’s older than Dozie. Are you not a bit repulsed by that?”

Repulsed? Top thought. Thank God she didn’t bother chasing Dozie. Cynthia would have killed her.

“Just look at you. We both know that’s not the reason you decided to do what you did. Cynthia, I trained you better than this. You let yourself be guided by jealousy and malice. To the extent of blackmail. To the extent of wanting to ruin another person’s life. I’m highly disappointed in you.”

Cynthia wanted to speak, but her mother held up her hand. “I’m not finished.” She turned to Tope who was still standing beside her, “and you. It’s all because of gossip. You wanted to give your friend gist. I hope your thirst for gossip doesn’t land you into trouble some day. As for you, Cynthia. The video is gone. I deleted it from Tope’s phone. You will no longer terrorize your brother or Tegan with it. If by God, you have a conscience, you’ll apologize to your brother and Tegan. If not, just leave them both alone. Tope, I hope you’re done with the measurements. I’m not sure I can continue today. If you’re not, call me tomorrow.” Mrs. Agu stood and went upstairs.

“Cynthia, you said I should keep the video so you’ll use it to tease Dozie. How could you use it for blackmail?” Tope asked her when they were finally alone.

“Abeg, abeg. Don’t act all holy. You were the one that made the video in the first place. And I know you like my brother too. I see the way you look at him.”

“For fun,” Tope raised her voice, “and jokes. And yes, I liked your brother. Thank God I didn’t go after him, you probably would have killed me. If I had known—”

“That’s enough. Your presence is no longer needed here. You couldn’t even back up the video anywhere apart from your phone. Now my mother has outsmarted us.”

“Ahh, Cynthia. I’m sorry for you.” Tope folded her tape rule and put it inside her hand bag. She put her jotter and pen too inside. “I’ give it your mom, she’s smart. I hope bitterness doesn’t eat you up. I’m going to my father’s house.” 

“Leave oh. Go away,” Cynthia yelled at Tope’s back. “Don’t come here again. Rubbish!” she hissed as the door slammed. She got up and started pacing. The video was gone. She had no other leverage on Dozie. The whole point of not getting the video from Tope earlier was because she was sure Dozie would find a way to delete it from her phone. Now, her own mother had thwarted her plans. She was still pacing when Dozie walked down to the base of the stairs. She eyed him as he smiled at her.

“Came to gloat?” she sneered.

“Not exactly,” Dozie folded his arms.

“You had to use mommy to fight your battle. Are you not ashamed?”

“I’m not ashamed that my mom helped me. I hope you find a little bit of happiness one day.”

“You and Tegan won’t work, with or without my interference. And you know why.” Cynthia smiled maliciously.

“Why do you want to see Tegan and I suffer so much, Cynthia? Anyway, I don’t want an answer. But I’ll tell you one thing, come close to Tegan or hurt her in anyway and you will deal with me.”

“Are you threatening me?” Cynthia pointed her finger at him, then at herself.

“Call it whatever you want, but stay away from both of us.” He turned around and went back upstairs.

Cynthia scoffed and took in deep breaths. Her mother was disappointed in her. Her brother was threatening her. Her friend was sorry for her and probably hated her. Everyone was deserting her, and for what, for a grudge she was holding. Because of Tegan. She ran her hands through her short hair and sat down on the chair, thinking. She looked at the glass of juice she had abandoned. No, she needed something stronger than juice. She got up and went to the kitchen. She opened the fridge and brought out the bottle of wine she saw. She didn’t bother taking a glass. She picked the wine opener and went up to her room.

                                                                                                   ***

It was that time of the year for the festivities. Some would travel to their home towns to spend the holidays with family. Some others would travel to places they hadn’t been to, to experience something new. Some others didn’t care about the festivities. They would stay in their homes and not celebrate at all. Some couldn’t travel, even if they wanted to because of their jobs. But at least, their bosses could cook up something to make their stay worth it. End of the year parties here and there. Schools held theirs, estates held theirs, associations held theirs and finally, offices held theirs. 

Fashion Today threw two parties. The first one was held the week before Christmas. The second was held on New year’s Eve. The latter was usually more grand and exciting. Tegan was excited about that night. The New year’s Eve party. It was her last day at Fashion Today. She had loved working there. She had learnt a lot and improved. She thought about the popular saying, 'a blessing in disguise.’ If Cynthia hadn’t blackmailed her, indirectly, she probably would never had thought she needed a change, another stepping stone in her career. The little stunt had given her the push she needed to aim higher.

 Now, she had gotten a job in Glamour, as a proof reader, not just an editor. She chose a pair of gold earrings and wore them. She wore a sexy red gown, with an asymmetric neckline. It was like a wrap around dress, which exposed her right leg and a bit of the lap. The material was satin and it was designed by her sister. She  chose a pair of black heels, then stood in front of her mirror. Her hair was a blonde, Bob wig. Her lips were red too. She missed having Taylor around. Her sister would have fussed over her makeup. She did fuss over the dress a few  days ago.

 The plan was to enjoy herself. Last day of the year. It was indeed a year. She wore her perfume, picked up her black clutch bag and walked out of her room. Making sure all the windows were shut, she stepped out of her apartment and locked the door.

As she drove to the venue of the party, she remembered the day Cynthia had come to the office. It was such a moment. She had been sitting in her office, when Cynthia barged in. At first, she had thought it was Lola, until Lola raced behind Cynthia.

“You can’t just barge in here, ma’am,” Lola said, panting.

Tegan finally raised her head from her computer and locked her eyes with Cynthia who was fuming.

“Lola, do you have any idea where Dozie is?” Tegan asked, drumming her fingers on her desk, not taking her eyes off Cynthia.

“Err, he’s somewhere. I don’t know.” Lola was a bit surprised at the question.

“Ok, find him. Tell him his sister is around.”

“Ok.” She looked from Tegan to Cynthia, sensing the energy passing from the gazes of the two women. She excused herself and went to find Dozie.

As soon as the door closed, Tegan spoke up with a still voice, “hi, Cynthia. I was hoping you’d drop by.”

“You were what?” Cynthia eyed her.

“You heard me. Would you like to sit?”

“Just stop it. Stop trying to be nice or whatever it is you’re doing. I know you hate me.”

“On the contrary, Cynthia, I don’t hate you. I think that you hate me. And I wonder why.”

“You took Isaac from me—”

“For the love of God, not this again. I never dated Isaac. Isaac just didn’t like you. Get over it.”

“He liked you instead. Are you more pretty than I am or what?”

Tegan asked God for patience before she spoke again. “He liked me for whatever reasons he had. I didn’t care cos I wasn’t attracted to him. Now, you held on to your jealousy and decided you’d ruin my career. I’m a bit surprised you haven’t done it already.”

Cynthia scoffed. “I could go to Mrs. Awoshika and tell her a lot of terrible things about you. She trusts me and takes my word as gold.”

“By all means, go to her. Tell her what you want to say. Show her the video you have. I'll come for you. Not just me. Taylor, my brother and my friend, Kyrian. We’ll come for you and we’ll ruin you. Trust me, Taylor is more deadly when you mess with me. Tony could go physical. Kyrian can do anything with the snap of his fingers. I can write anything about you and the public would gobble it up like ice cream. Try anything and you will regret it.”

Cynthia looked stunned, but she didn’t let Tegan intimidate her. “You don’t scare me, cougar.”

Tegan laughed. She walked over to face Cynthia. “I wonder how you and Dozie are siblings. If Dozie and I will be, we will be and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“How could you go after my brother? How could you keep throwing sand into my eyes?” Cynthia almost choked on her words.

Tegan looked at her and felt sorry for her. A tiny bit of compassion also sprung. She needed help. She needed something. She definitely had low self-esteem issues. “Cynthia, I did nothing to you. Dozie liked me just as much as I liked him. Unfortunately, he is your brother. You gotta let this go. Maybe love yourself more instead of blaming others for whatever it is you’re going through. Love yourself, maybe you’ll find love too some day.”

Cynthia glared at her, but didn’t say anything. Just then, Dozie opened the door and walked in. He looked briefly at Tegan, who was walking back to her seat. He walked to Cynthia.

“What are you doing here, Cynthia?” 

“Having a conversation with someone.” 

“More like a confrontation. I told you to stop this. It’s over. You need to leave.”

Tegan wondered what was over, but didn’t say anything. She watched both of them talk in hushed tones now.

“I guess you won, Tegan. You turned my brother against me. I hope you’re happy.” Cynthia walked out of the office and made sure she banged the door.

Dozie turned to look at her, “I’m really sorry about that. I warned her not to bother you again.”

She smiled briefly, “it’s ok. I handled her well. Hopefully, she won’t feel threatened and still send the video to the bosses. It wouldn’t really matter here, but I don’t want them to say nasty things about me to my new employer.”

“Right, you’re leaving.” He put his hands in his pocket, a gesture she loved seeing.

“Yes, I am. At the end of the year.”

“Would it make any difference if I told you I had taken care of the video? Not me though, my mom helped—”

“Wait, what? Your mom did what?”

He chuckled, “long story. Bottom line is the video doesn’t exist anymore.”

Tegan rested her back against her chair and exhaled a sigh of relief. “Wow.”

“Yeah, wow.”

“This explains why she came here. She didn’t have anything anymore. She wanted to bark, like a wounded dog.” She looked at him, then quickly added, “I’m sorry. She’s your sister. I shouldn’t compare her to a dog.”

“I understand. She does deserve it. She hurt you. And I’m really sorry.”

“It’s fine. At least something good came out of it. I got a better job.”

“I’ll be leaving too. Maybe not immediately, but I can’t stay here if you’re not here.”

“Dozie—”

“Tegan, you don’t have to say anything. I enjoyed working with you. The good times and bad times, even the funny times. It’s just time to move forward.”

“That I’d agree with you on.”

“I guess I’ll see you at the party.”

“I guess you will,” she smiled at him. He turned around and left her alone in the office.

Her phone jerked her mind away from that day and brought her to the present. She had also arrived at the hotel, which was the party's venue. She found a parking spot for her car, before she took out her phone from her bag. The call had long ended. It was Taylor. She smiled to herself as she dialed her sister’s number.

“I have to beg you to pick up your phone again, okwaya?” Taylor’s voice beamed from the phone.

Tegan laughed, “I was driving, Mrs. Udezue.”

“Since when is that an excuse? You normally connect your phone to the car’s Bluetooth.”

“I was too distracted to do that. Now, what do you want? I have a party to attend.”

Taylor giggled over the phone. “Which is why I’m calling. I hope the dress I made is making you look sexy and sharp. You know, let them know they won’t be seeing all that hotness again.”

“Taylor!”

“What is it? Am I lying?”

“Kachi must be suffering from this your mouth.”

“You know you miss me. Anyway,” Taylor cleared her throat, “the main agenda is to get Dozie back.”

“Who said I wanted Dozie back?”

“Oh please, after all you told me about Cynthia’s visit and Dozie destroying the video and so on, you think I couldn’t hear the excitement in your voice.”

“Well—"

“Well nothing. Go in there and get your man back. Stay out late. I give you permission to be wild tonight. Get your man back.”

Tegan laughed hard. “Yes mommy, thank you for the permission. May I hang up now?”

“Of course you can. I have to prepare for church anyway. Get out of my phone.” Taylor hung up.

Tegan kept laughing as she stepped out of her car and locked it. She looked at the building of the hotel and exhaled. She took in a deep breath and started for the building.

Translations

Ada m- my Ada

Ngwanu- alright

Chineke Nna- God the Father

O gini- what is it

Gosi m oru ya- show me her work

Inukwa akuko- tales

Nwoke m nye m gist- my man, give me gist