Chapter 39

"Yes, I do and he doesn't really appreciate other men coming around." Violet quickly said in defense, hoping that would immediately send the men on their way but much to her dismay, they tarried.

"I see..." Colonel Anthony scratched the tip of his nose then said boldly: "I'll like to take you out for dinner tonight if you don't mind."

"I do mind because I'm busy." She stated, blatantly refusing.

"Oh well then, how about tomorrow?" He opted.

"Still busy." She said yet again.

"And the day after that?" He pushed his luck.

"Very much busy." She remained resolute.

"Are you in any way saying that-"

"Yes, I'm actually saying that I don't want to go out with you at all!" She cut him short.

"Um... I wouldn't be too quick to make such a decision, If I were you, Violet." He said in a gentle tone and a winsome smile to go with. "I also think that you shouldn't be too quick to judge me. I'm sorry if I'm coming on too fast but I can't help it. As a very amiable man who has set his eyes upon a damsel whom he couldn't get his mind off, all I ask is for you to just give me a chance to make a difference in your life and-

"Listen, Mr..." Violet started, not knowing what to call him.

"Colonel Anthony." He introduced himself, placing a hand on his chest.

"Listen Anthony..." She stated without adding any respect to his rank. "I actually don't care what you think or what you want. I believe that I've explained to this dickhead here-" she pointed a finger at Nosa whose face instantly creased with a frown. "... before he struck me at the club that I don't have any personal relationships with the patrons."

"Oh, he hit you?" Colonel Anthony asked, turning his head to shoot Nosa a wicked look. "I had no idea until now and I sincerely apologize on his behalf. Please do not blame him much, you should know that soldiers are trained to be hard-hearted and most of them have almost lost their humanity. I apologize once again... Why not go out on a date with me so that I can make it up to you. I promise you that I have a very likable personality and I assure you that I'll make the date worth your time." He smiled pleasantly.

Violet was about to reply when they heard Stephen yelling her name from inside the apartment. Soon, he stalked outside barefooted, dressed only in camouflage shorts with an angry look on his face. "I thought I told you not to touch my clothes! What's wrong with you?! Don't you ever listen?! I already told you that I dry-clean them!" He was really pissed and just then he noticed Colonel Anthony and Nosa, and despite feeling embarrassed, he quickly stood at attention and saluted.

"At ease, lieutenant!" Colonel Anthony said and Stephen hesitantly brought down his arm, wondering what the colonel was doing in his block. "You are the one whom she lives with?" Colonel Anthony asked him now with his gaze burrowing into his in an intimidating manner.

"Yes, sir." Stephen answered.

"And if you don't mind my asking, which of course I'm sure that you do not, who is she to you?" Colonel Anthony asked again making Violet frown at his prying.

"Um..." Stephen swallowed hard as he threw a sideways glance at Violet, wondering why the colonel would ask him such a question. Was Violet in trouble? Had she done something wrong? Well, if she had, lower-ranked soldiers would have come for her, not the Colonel himself. "...um...she is-" He stuttered, wanting to choose his words carefully.

Violet quickly stood by his side now and slipped her arm around his elbow. "He's my boyfriend!" She cut off Stephen and boldly answered, making Stephen turn his head to fix a confused and questioning look down at her but she secretly nudged him in the ribs with her elbow, signaling to him to play along.

"Really?" Colonel Anthony skeptically asked, glancing from one person to the other. "You two are dating?"

When Stephen hesitated, Violet pinched his arm and he flinched a bit and blurted: "Y...yes sir, yes! Erm...we are a thing...we are dating..."

"I see..." Colonel Anthony said in a displeased tone, although not convinced as he fixed his eyes on Violet. His act of philandering had made him quite accustomed to women that he could tell when they were lying or just pretending. Then he forced a smile as he said to Stephen, "Well Lieutenant, I must say that you are a very lucky man."

"Thank you, Colonel." Stephen involuntarily answered, wondering what was really going on and why Violet was clinging so tight to his arm. "Anyway..." Colonel Anthony continued after a sharp exhale. "Lieutenant, are you aware of the little party taking place in the barrack this Saturday?"

"No, sir." Stephen answered.

"All personnel of higher rank ranging from warrant officer class 2 upward are to attend."

"Is attendance mandatory, sir?" Stephen asked.

"No, but I'll like you to be there."

"I'm sorry sir, I wish I could, but-"

"No buts, lieutenant. Put aside every frivolity and endeavor to be there! It's an order!" Colonel Anthony imperatively said.

Stephen gave a subtle sigh and reluctantly nodded. "Yes sir."

"Good." Colonel Anthony smiled then shifted his gaze to Violet. "And make sure that you bring her along."

Stephen threw a puzzled look down at Violet who was still clinging onto his arm like her life depended on it. Did she have to be so convincing that they were dating? He tried to shrug her off but much to his frustration, she only held on tighter. "But sir, is that necessary? She's not even one of us."

"Officers are allowed to bring company, and only a man who doesn't know the worth of his woman would appear alone, so I insist that you come along with her." Colonel Anthony stated. "I'll be expecting you both this Saturday at the officers' Mess at 8p.m."

"Alright, sir." Stephen said, hiding his displeasure to avoid being queried.

Colonel Anthony slipped on his dark eyeglasses, acknowledged Violet with a nod, turned and walked away while Nosa shot Violet a scornful look, turned and followed his boss. After they had walked out of sight towards the side of the block where they had packed the car, Colonel Anthony suddenly turned without warning and sucker-punched Nosa hard in the stomach. Nosa who had been unprepared for such let out a painful groan as he immediately doubled over.

"Let's get this clear now, Nosa..." Colonel Anthony bent down and whispered against Nosa's ear. "When I send you to fetch me a girl, you have no right whatsoever to lay your hands on her, ever! Because you're my right-hand man doesn't give you the right to go ruining my good chances with prominent beauties with your ugly attitude! Even if she spits in your face, you are to remain as sweet and polite as you can be, is that clear?"

"Yes sir..." Nosa managed to say in a hoarse voice, the veins on his forehead visible and his teary eyes almost red from the pain in his stomach.

"Good!" Colonel Anthony straightened up now. "I'm glad we understand each other better now." He patted the back of Nosa's head then got into the car. Nosa managed to straighten up a bit too after a few seconds of sucking air through his mouth to ease the pain, then he got into the car, started it and drove off without a word.

"What was that about?" Stephen asked now, turning to look at Violet as he pointed a finger towards the direction the men had taken.

"Well, I don't know." Violet who had finally let him go after the men had left, answered with a pout.

"What do you mean by you don't know? Those men came to see you!"

Violet simply turned her back to Stephen resumed hanging the washed clothes. "I don't know how they found me." She simply said.

"You know them then! You have barely spent a week in this barrack and you're already meeting up with different men! Is this what you do while I'm away at work?" He pointedly asked.

"Please do not start with the accusations, Stephen! I didn't invite them here! If you are jealous, just say it instead of going all cranky on me!"

"Jealous?" Stephen scoffed. "I'm not jealous! Why the hell would I even be?! I just want you to know that I'm a very responsible man who has built a good reputation here and the last thing I want is you bringing men over to my place! If you have decided to go screwing around, at least don't do it in my apartment, Violet, don't!... And that nonsense about claiming that I'm your boyfriend had better not repeat itself again or you'll have yourself to blame!" He warned, then glanced at the line which was filled with his clothes then he added: "And don't you ever touch my clothes again! Let this be the first and the last!" He stated coldly, turned and returned into the apartment.

Shortly after he was gone, Esther snuck out of her apartment and warily fixed her eyes on Stephen's front door as if worried that he might pop out again at any moment. She approached Violet now and said: "Violet Ina wuni. (Good afternoon)."

Violet turned to look at Esther as she began to peg the clothes. "Good afternoon." She replied in an indifferent tone, wanting to be left alone.

"This one that your face is strong like this, is all well?" Esther asked.

"Yes, Esther, all is well." Violet stated dismissively.

"Are you sure?" Esther persisted. "You don't look too happy."

"Yes, I'm sure...and that's because I want to be left alone." Violet firmly said, eager to get rid of the nosy woman.

"Ehen..." Esther skeptically murmured as she scratched the back of her head, ignoring Violet's words. "Anyway, I heard Oga Stephen shouting at you and I decided to come sympathize with you. Are you two fighting?"

Violet turned to give Esther a disgruntled look. "Were you peeping and eavesdropping on us all this time?"

"No ooooo!" Esther quickly answered, raising her open palms. "I was just about to make some pap for my children so that they can take it with the beans I'm preparing, when I saw you two talking." When Violet said nothing, Esther continued: "Please, do not be mad at oga Stephen, I've never seen him raise his voice at anyone before. In fact, Susan was almost the man of the relationship. He did anything she wanted, so I was surprised when I saw him yelling at you simply because you washed his clothes.

If anything, he should be grateful! I'm sure that he has no idea just how lucky he is to have you, especially when you have so many qualities that aunty Susan lacks. One, you cook very delicious food... Don't ask me how I know that your food is delicious, it is because my husband can hardly contain himself anytime the aroma of your food comes sailing into our apartment. I have even made up my mind to come and beg you to teach me how you prepare your delicacies..." 

She began to count her fingers on her left hand by separating them with the index finger on her right hand. "...two, you sweep and clean the house daily, and now, it's obvious that you just finished washing his clothes. Aunty Susan never does any of these things o. In fact, she is either always going to Mami to buy peppersoup or she's ordering him to take them out to an eatery or restaurant to eat. All she does is listen to very loud music, dance, drink a lot of alcohol and fix artificial fingernails that are long enough to remove one's eyes... 

She's lucky that she left when she did o because most of these barrack women were already planning to deal with her for always dressing indecently within the barrack. She was just dressing anyhow, tempting and confusing people's husbands upandan. But not my husband o, I thank God that He gave me a very reasonable man who doesn't look at another woman, if not, I'd have entered the same trousers with Susan a long time ago." She clicked her fingers several times in the air to indicate how long ago.

"So, Esther, if I may ask, why are you telling me all this now? What am I supposed to do with this information? Of what use is it to me? Do you think I'm here to compete with Susan? Listen, I don't have time for such. I'm only doing all these things because I enjoy working and not to impress Stephen." Violet said, frustrated with the woman's act of gossiping too much.

"Okay o... but I just wanted you to know all the same since you are my friend...by the way..." She threw a wary glance around and drew closer now to quietly ask. "...I saw Colonel Anthony talking with you, how come you know that man?"

"I don't really know him; he just came here." Violet answered, squeezing water out of one of Stephen's washed boxers.

"For that man to come look for a woman is always bad news o. Everybody knows that he's a chronic womanizer. He has slept with almost all the women in this barrack, minus me sha. Me, I'm a very good Christian and it's only my husband that has seen my pant. The problem is, once that man, Oga Tony, sets his eyes on a woman, he won't let her go until he has slept with her, and from the way he was staring at you, it means that you are the next in line. I can even bet that he was already imagining you naked in his head. The goat!"

"Is he not married?" Violet asked.

"Married ke? He was once though, but that was four years ago."

"What happened? Is his wife late?"

"No, she's very much alive. I heard that she has relocated to Imo state now. After a few years of marriage, she had to divorce him. I heard that she was aware of her husband's dirty attitude of sleeping around. She had talked to him several times about it and had even cried her eyes out, but he had refused to change. I heard that he even infected her with STD four times and the last straw that finally broke the camel's back was when she caught him fucking a Corp member on their matrimonial bed after she had told her husband that she was traveling out of the state to see her parents. She had almost reached the park when she remembered that she had forgotten to take her ATM card, so she came back and there he was hammering that small girl like his life depended on it."

"And she divorced him?"

"Yes o, she moved out immediately. Although, most of these barrack women tried convincing her to stay back by telling her that it rained everywhere, but her mind was already made up. She packed her things and never looked back... But the news going around the barrack now is that Colonel Anthony really wants to settle down again and he has been seriously searching for the one to marry."

"Why can't he select from the harem of women he goes around sleeping with?" Violet asked.

"Well, I wouldn't know that, but I heard that he really likes slim girls...so you might just be what he's looking for...you might end up being his wife."

"God forbid!" Violet spat, swinging her arm over her head and clicking her fingers at the ground.

"I rebuke it for you too o, my dear." Esther quickly added. "See, I would have told you to just quickly get pregnant for Oga Stephen like I did for my husband so that Oga Tony would stop coming after you...but-"

"But I won't do that, Esther." Violet interrupted her. "I'm not going to get pregnant because I want to repel a man. I'll simply be assertive by standing my ground. My no is no and I am not going to fold under his persistence! And if things get too uncomfortable for me then I'll simply leave the barrack for him."

"Toh!" Esther said with a shrug and just then her eldest daughter who was seven years appeared in the doorway.

"Mama, the beans is burning." The girl said.

"Kai!" Esther exclaimed. "I'll talk to you later, Violet. My food oooo!" She said and quickly rushed into the apartment, leaving Violet who had slipped into a deep thought. After briefly thinking about what Esther had told her about Colonel Anthony, Violet was even more certain that she wanted nothing to do with the man. 

After squeezing out the water and hanging the last boxer on the line, she picked up her empty bucket and walked into the apartment to give Stephen a piece of her mind concerning how he had rudely spoken to her in public, that even Esther had noticed.