The chronicles of a high profile gigolo

So why did I leave Georgina so uneventfully? I had to; there was no other way it could have gone, I am too much of a man, always have been and that comes with pride. I have also never been hungry enough to do things that go against my grain or deplete me as a man.

Georgina and I had a good thing going, agreed; you probably couldn’t call it a relationship and while she would shoot her sharp mouth at me occasionally, it never really got to me. I was after all learning and making loads of money while at it. It was barely two years since I had been with her and I’d already bought myself a car. A beautiful Ford Mustang, a black demon that packed a kick under its hood. It was powered by a 210 horse power cast iron block, 4.0 litre, SOHC V6 engine. I was ecstatic, till dad saw it that is.

We had been having issues; he had at some point in the recent past called me a “Yahoo boy”, I was really offended, I was way above that and I was determined to prove it to him. I stormed into my room, picked up my arch lever file and walked back into the living room to show him LPOs that I had worked on, and told him if he wasn’t on, always on a frolic with one girl or the other, he wouldn’t just be finding out what I did for a living. He raised his hand and almost slapped me. I tensed up, clenching my jaw as I stared dead on into his eyes, refusing to move my cheek, daring him to land the blow. He didn’t slap me and I was surprised, I had his stubbornness, his pride too.

“As long as you live in my house and I do not see you go to an office every morning, doing an honest day’s job, you do not do anything for a living.”
“But I do dad” I gestured at the documents spread between us, my voice was calm, there was no way I was joining that audit firm, I was surprised he still tried to get me to. “You do not have any prior experience performing these contracts and yet they give you jobs to do? Who is on the board of…” he peered at the letter head on one of the documents lying on the table “…Sphinx Nig. Ltd? This is the problem with your generation, you just want to get it easy, fraudulently, fast.”

“Dad,” I interjected “There is no fraud here, we execute all contracts we get.”
“We?”
“Yes dad, Aunty Georgina and I.”
“Georgina” I could see him mentally grasping, trying to recall who Georgina was.
“Aunty Hauwa’s friend” I offered
“Wow! What else do you do for her?”
“Just overseeing supplies, construction sites too.” He gave me a dirty look as he stood up. I didn’t care, if he cottoned on so quickly, then he most likely did what I was doing while coming up in life. The day I drove the mustang home was the day I began moving out.

The sound of that powerful engine, I think dad must have been somewhat jealous, I was young and refused to follow the norm, yet I could get myself things I wanted without having to ask him or toe his lines.
He sat in his favourite chair in the big living room, a pair of glasses firmly in place on his face, he was reading the current edition of Forbes Magazine and I remember thinking cheekily that his name still wasn’t in there.
“Hi dad.” 
“Faruk” he acknowledged.
“Good day?”
“Yes thanks.” And before I could continue with the banter, he asked “That’s your car?”
“Yes it is dad, I just bought it.”
“Well I guess if you can afford that, you can afford your own place, you need to move out.”

I wasn’t expecting this, but my head was still held high when I told him I would be out in a week. In my room, reality set in, I had made a boast I couldn’t afford. I had spent everything I had on that car and now I had to find and pay for a place within a week. That saying “save for a rainy day” had never been truer and I have never since then been without enough money to make crazy boasts and make good of them, well until that moment a couple of hours ago, the moment I got shot at and run off the road; until all my money and even money that isn’t mine got moved.

I took a quick shower, threw on a t-shirt and a pair of jeans and drove to Georgina’s place. If I was expecting some respite, I had come to the wrong place, “what was that crazy noise?” she asked irritably as I walked in.
“My car.”
“Your dad got you that?”
“Nope, I bought it myself” I stated proudly.
“And the silencer is bad already?”
“Nope, it’s a Ford Mustang, that’s how they sound” I was beaming.

“That should be expensive right?”
“Yep!” and then I told her the price.
“Are you fucking stupid? You intend to stick with me all your life? You should be thinking of what to do with what money you have raised so far, to provide you a steady stream of income, you think Patrick is going to be there forever?” Patrick Johnson was the permanent secretary, I had never seen him but I knew his name.
“You men are all the same, stupid, stupid, stupid. You make some money and you throw it all on some fucking toy! What’s your bank balance right now?” I stuttered, I couldn’t tell her, I had actually come to her place to ask for a loan to get myself an apartment but this was no longer tenable.
“Faruk, I do not have time for this right now, you have to leave now, I am expecting a guest.”

I frowned, puzzled; she rarely had guests and she had never asked me to leave before. I stood there for a moment, unsure of my next move and then there was knock on the door. Georgina threw me a dirty look as she quickly straightened out her immediate surroundings. Her phone ring and she quickly picked it up, her tone was flustered, “I am home, opening up now.” She walked to the door and quickly pulled it open.
“Good evening.” She gushed as a middle aged man breezed into the living room totally oblivious of my presence as he caught her in his arms and gave her a bear hug, kissing her full on the lips and as she wriggled free and spun around to lead him further into the living room, he gave her bum a flirtatious smack which made it jiggle as she yelped.

I stood there taking all this in with a stupid look on my face. 
“Oh this is Faruk.” She said and then “Faruk this is Oga Patrick” The Perm. Sec.
“Oh this is the boy who works for you?” he boomed. I hated it, as much as I hated his beer breath when he stepped close to grip my hand in his sweaty palm. How could Georgina let this greasy looking man slap her bum like that? What was wrong with her? And then just as I reasoned that it was probably what she had to do to keep the contracts flowing, he spoke again. “’Rouk boy, you can leave for the day, you madam has a busy night ahead.” His leery wink almost made me throw up, so did the stupid smile on Georgina’s face when she said, “Just shut the door behind you, I’ll come lock it.”
I spent the night at Aisha’s but I kept thinking about Georgina, about how she and “Oga Patrick” were spending the night. It drove me crazy and it must have shown in the way I was with Aisha that night. She soon slept off, completely worn; I on the other hand did not sleep one wink and when morning came, it came with a nasty head ache.

Within a week, I sold my car; greatly discounted of course but I hated it now having seen how much fuel it guzzled and also having seen the folly of such a purchase. From the proceeds, I paid rent on my first apartment, furnished it to taste and still had some money left over. I went to mum’s place and took one of her cars; a Honda Accord. She asked about my “Noise maker”; dad had called her to rant about it, her smile was indulgent but I could tell she was worried, I sat her down, walked her through my work with Georgina, of course I didn’t mention sex and if dad had mentioned his suspicions she didn’t say a word about it.
“Just don’t do anything to make your father say I was too soft on you Faruk.”
“I promise mum.”
Georgina called me two days later; “Hey Faruk” she sounded upbeat and it didn’t match my mood at all.

“Georgina.”
“I have this LPO we need to work on, meet me at my place after work, say seven.”
“Can I just meet you at your office?”
“Faruk, meet me at home by seven.” She hung up. I was riled that she didn’t even try to cajole, it was an order, she thought she owned me, I would show her no one owned Faruk, I would not show up at her place. Well I was there at seven, I was prompt, I don’t know why but there was something that drew me to Georgina, some power she wielded over me.

She was still dressed in her work clothes when I got there, she looked really tired. “Hectic day?” I offered, “Yes it was” , she gave me a weak smile as she walked to her mini bar, poured herself a stiff drink and came to sit in one of the twin love seats directly opposite her big screen TV which was tuned to a local news station but put on mute. I stood, staring at the TV till she invited me to take the second seat. She downed the drink in one gulp before she spoke again.
“Faruk,” A wistful smile played on her lips “there’s a lot you need to learn about this life, sometimes; in fact always, you have to do what you have to do to get to where you want to be.” I remained mute as she continued.
“Patrick took me under his wings immediately I joined the ministry, he wasn’t even a Perm. Sec. at the time, he was still a director. He mentored me, showed me the ropes and never asked for anything. But when my position became threatened, when this younger girl joined our office and they began getting too close, I offered Patrick more than just a mentor-protégée relationship.” “Sex.” I said it very quietly under my breath but she heard. “Yes Faruk, sex!” she snapped.

“But he is married.” My tone annoyed me, I was whining.
“So? What’s your point?”
“That this relationship is not leading anywhere.” It sounded stupid even if I said it, but I was beginning to realise the encounter with Patrick shook me even more than I first thought.
“And what we are doing is leading where? You think one day you’ll marry me?” she laughed, a short sharp derisive bark that made me hang my head. “So what are you doing with me? Look you’re a man, but you need to grow up, I could have a million other young guys who would do more for what you are gaining from me, just like Patrick could have a million other women willing to do more.” She paused, getting up to refill her glass and she continued speaking, removing her jacket before once more taking her seat.

“I do not have any delusions about these things and as a man you shouldn’t either. You should never let silly things like emotions get you derailed or stop you from getting where you should be. Take what you can get, plan with what you have, achieve all you can Faruk. Do and be…” she trailed off and because she had a quizzing look, I nodded mutely.
“Do and be what Faruk?” she looked irritated now and I thought it was better to remain mute than say something that would irritate her even further.
“Do what you have to do, be all that you can. That’s the only way to amount to anything in this world Faruk. Now come let’s look at those documents.” It was very professional how she went about giving me instructions on the supply job that night and when I said good night, she called my bluff and walked me to the door, quietly shutting it behind her.

I went to the only place I could that night; Aisha’s place. My relationship with Georgina became at best cordial, and remained so over the next few weeks. Then one evening after we were done working on some contract papers and had made plans for a trip to Abuja the following day for a meeting with some stakeholders on the contract, she walked me to the door and I was about stepping out of the door way, she called my name softly, “Faruk” I turned to face her and she took my face in her hands and kissed me, I spent the night at her place and my steps took on a new spring as we walked through the departure gates of the airport.

Unlike previous trips, we got separate hotel rooms but this didn’t bother me and when Georgina told me she needed to get some sleep, I simply went to catch a movie. I would return a couple of hours later to knock on her door and when there was no response, I pushed it gently, it wasn’t properly shut. I walked in on Georgina and a fat swarthy man in the throes of passion.

I spent the night starring at the ceiling. I attended the meeting the following day with her and saw the fat swarthy man, he was introduced as the head of one of the federal parastatals but I wasn’t interested, the flight back to Lagos was a very quiet one, both of us staring ahead behind our shades for the one hour flight.
“Are you coming with me to the house?”
“I’ll catch up with you later.”

I called Senator Mary Udoh that night. I had gone into my relationship with Georgina un-guardedly, and with undefined motives. I couldn’t reign in my feelings when it came to her so I cut it short and moved on with the lessons learned in tow.

Continues next week Friday. Stay tuned for Episode 5. Please like and leave a comment below.

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