CHAPTER 14

SUSAN

A distress call isn't Susan's specialty, everyone

close to her knows she is very clumsy, and her

mother remains her go-to person. Susan had

panicked immediately Tade reached out to her

about Chichi, she asked Tade if it was advisable to go alone to a deserted road at that time of the

night when they had no idea what exactly went wrong or who Chichi is with, and what situation she was in so they would know the help they need to call for before getting to the location. Tade buys this idea and told her not to worry about their safety that she has a D.P.O on speed dial and he would meet up with them at Mediz road. Susan is relaxed a bit, she informs her mom about the distress call and rushes out to join Tade.

Susan and Tade met Chichi in an extremely bad

shape; they wondered what could have gone wrong for her to drive this long distance away from her house. They embraced her gently, Chichi shivered, Tade pulled off her robe immediately and wrapped her up while they took her to the backseat of her car. Tade drops her car key with the D.P.O, thanks him for coming through on short notice, and at an odd hour, she begs him to drive her car home for her while she rides in Chichi's car with Susan.

They arrived at Tade's house in few minutes, Susan made hot cocoa for Chichi to calm her down while they both took turns watching over her like a mother hen. Chichi's phone rings giving every one of them a scare, it's Nora calling to confirm her state and if the girls are all safely back, Tade collects the phone from Chichi "Hi babes, we are safe. At least we are all in my house and every door is locked"

"Okay great, how about Chichi? She said she wants to talk about what happened, is she ready to talk or she needs us to give her more time?" Nora asks in a concerned voice as Tade puts the phone on speaker, Chichi blows her nose and replies softly "I never told you girls what brought me to Lagos ever since we met. I was running away from my past, a guy I dated years ago, who tortured and raped me, came to my home today, and it gave me the shock of my life" Susan and Tade expressed shock on their faces in one word like it was rehearsed "what?" while Nora went numb on the phone. They have been so close but had never bothered to ask one another about their deepest secret; they went quiet as Chichi tells them the story of her life and how she found herself here far away from home. The girls could hear Nora blow her running nose which was caused by the emotions while Tade gives Chichi a big hug admiring her strength and courage for letting them in, and also acknowledging her honesty. This encouraged Tade to share her story and the girls were surprised, they never expected Tade who never cared about love to have experienced heartbreak, she narrates how she had fallen in love and stayed faithful to her

spouse, and had even gotten married but was

betrayed. Tade informed them of how her wedding was one in town, the huge money her family spent on the wedding. She narrates how she put down all her remaining savings after the wedding to add up to the amount her spouse had saved up for his traveling process, while he insisted on traveling first, so he could start a life and build a home for them both while he processes hers from there so she can join him. He traveled a month later but never called her and never came back since then. His family also denied ever knowing their son's intention about what was happening then. She narrated how broken and depressed she was for a year and some months, how most of her friends gossiped about her, and the other admirers she had turned down mocked her. Well, she gathered her strength and picked herself up deciding to start afresh, this time with her heart in her hands. The girls were stunned, Nora couldn't believe her ears, she sighed times without number on the phone while Susan looked all guilty as she prays silently and wishes her third friend, Nora, doesn't share her life story as well which would definitely put her in a tight corner as she already is in a state of confusion on either to open up and tell the girls the truth about the whole Henry saga or just cook up an emotional story for them. Suddenly there is a loud knock on the door which breached the silence, the girls were startled. They all turned to Tade with fear written all over their face.