THE WEEKEND
By Sokes Naths Allamogu
EPISODE FOUR
THURSDAY 8:10 PM
“Shouldn’t you be having dinner with Chidera?” Victor asked Max as they shook hands.
“She’s still at the office, waiting to see her director.”
“By this time? For what?”
Victor shrugged his shoulders. “I didn’t ask; I’m sure it’s work-related.” He sipped his beer.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine, just a bit tired.” He sighed and set down his drink.
“Hmm, the weekend is close; you’ll get all the rest you need. I called Isaac, but he’s not picking up.” Victor changed the subject to ease Max’s pressure about proposing.
“He’s in church.”
“Doing what?”
“He went for mid-week service.”
Victor burst into loud laughter. “Since when did he start going to church?”
“Isaac goes to church every Sunday. But any time Rose appears in his life, he becomes more committed and stops frequenting the bar.”
“Hmm, for real? But Rose is a married woman; Isaac should leave this woman alone.”
“She’s a divorcee now, so we might hardly see Isaac here.”
“Come on, not Isaac too. I feel like our circle of friend is breaking up. Have you spoken to Adewale recently?”
“Yeah, he’s planning a family trip this weekend, but he promised to be here next week. He’s sticking to his new routine of every other day and every other weekend.”
“That’s fair enough. I miss him, though.”
Max gave him a curious look and laughed. “You know, if Adewale were here, he would have run you out of this place with fiery words.”
“Yes, but seriously, I miss him.”
“Maxwell! Maxwell!!”
Both Max and Victor turned to see a lovely, curvy dark lady shouting Max’s name and walking towards their table. Suddenly, Max recognized her. “Funke Oke!”
“Yes, in flesh and blood.” She was laughed and couldn’t take her eyes off Max as she sat down.
“Wow!” was all Max could say; his eyes were lost in her shining dark skin and beautiful body. ‘Oh boy! She has become curvier,’ he thought to himself.
Victor tried to get their attention, especially the beautiful lady. He cleared his voice loudly. “Hey! I’m Victor, Max’s friend.”
“I’m Funke. Nice to meet you.” She turned her gaze back to Max, and she liked the way he looked at her. “I was told you were in Abuja, and I never thought I would bump into you.”
“Never imagined that I would see you again.” He found himself smiling uncontrollably.
“And also, I was told you work at Apex Oil.” She could smell money all over him, and that made her interested.
“Yeah! So, what are you doing in Abuja?”
“I’m here for a friend’s wedding.” She heard her name being called by her friends, and everybody turned around. “That’s my friends; I have to go.” She smiled. “Your phone.” She stretched out her hand to collect it and typed in her mobile number. “Call me, let’s hang out this weekend. I leave Sunday morning.” She returned his phone to him and stood up. “Allow me to make up for the past years.” She winked at him and walked away.
The guys stared at her as she walked away towards her friends. “Oh boy! Her backside is something else, Max!” Victor couldn’t hold himself. “Where did you guys meet?”
“University, I chased this babe from my 200 level till my final year, and every time she kept telling me I don’t have what it takes to take care of her.” Max turned again to have one last look.
Victor laughed. “And now that you work in an oil company, she is suddenly interested in making it up to you.” He laughed out loud. “I think this is the time to reject her too.”
“No, this is the time to eat this golden fish.” He joined Victor in laughing.
“You are proposing this weekend, remember?”
“That can wait.”
“Bad guy!” They both laughed out loud, shaking hands. “The issue now is how to get Chidera out of the way in the meantime.”
“Official trip. That solves it.”
“No, I still plan to propose to Chidera this weekend, I will do it Sunday night. The issue is that we always spend the weekend together.”
“Temporary breakup, I call it a weekend breakup. Breakup on Friday and makeup on Monday.” Victor was giggling.
“Chidera is a sweet girl. What will be the cause for the breakup?”
“I can help you make the breakup happen, but you have to…”
“Victor, no!”
“Hold on and hear me out.” He paused and smiled. “I just want you to invest in ODL. Wait, Max.” He tried to smooth it out. “It’s to your benefit, and you will cash out this Saturday. If you can make it up to 5 million, you get double your money. Trust me, I’ve cashed out twice, and if anything happens, you take my car.”
“If anything happens, Victor!!”
“Relax, guy. I’m just saying, should in case. At least my car is worth more than 5 million.”
“Talking about your car, I didn’t see it when I arrived.”
“A friend of mine borrowed it. So, this weekend, you will eat the golden fish, propose, and cash out a cool extra 5 million.”
“Okay, let’s hear your plan.”
Victor looked at his friend and had this mischievous smile. He drained his beer and laid out his plan for the weekend breakup.
Thanks, to be continued…
Jumie Naths
