INSTANT BILLIONAIRE

 Sarah was buried two weeks later. It was an event that I would never forget; it rained that day, and the crowd was more than we expected. The school gave me a three-week break. I stayed in the house all by myself. Mom wanted to move to the house or for Jasper to come and stay with me, but I refused all of these suggestions.

Steve also offered to stay with me or that I should move to his house. I also politely refused this. I think they were all worried I might kill myself or do something that might be injurious to me, probably mentally.

I stayed in the house for a week, not mourning, but thinking of what to do with Dr. Agaba. I thought about nothing else but how to harm him, and how to harm badly. 

He wasn't at the burial, and I think that was rather wise of him, because I didn't know what would have happened if I had seen him there. With my emotions out of line, I was sure I would have attacked him, not caring if a burial was going on or not.

On the fifth day after the burial, I heard a knock on the door, and I reluctantly and grudgingly went to get it.

It was Jasper.

"Good morning," he said, and walked into the house.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"Mom said to check on you. And she asked me to bring some food."

"She should stop doing that," I said. "I am not a kid. I can take care of myself."

"We all know that," Jasper said. "We know that. It's just that we have to be around you in times like this. You need people to be around you and to help you heal."

I went back to the settee and laid down. "You can keep the food in the refrigerator. I will check it when I get up."

He walked toward the refrigerator. "What happened to your phone? I sent you messages on WhatsApp, but you have not read them."

"The phone is fine. I just didn't put it on. I don't want people calling me when I should be sleeping."

Jasper came back to the sitting room. "So, you haven't heard?"

"Heard what?"

"So, you haven't heard?"

I stared at him with my eyebrows raised. 

"Talatu's wedding has been postponed. Her father had a stroke last night and he had to be taken to the hospital. He also broke his hip bone. They have postponed the wedding for a month."

I was silent. My mind was busy; this was the right thing to happen…they have started paying for what they had done to me. Nemesis is catching up with them and there is no way they can escape the horrible things they had done to me.

I felt a warm tingling in my heart.

"You are smiling," Jasper said. 

I looked at him and withdrew the smile. We looked at each other for a while and then I lowered my eyes. He has known what I am thinking about, and I did not feel proud that my younger brother should read what I am thinking about on my face.

Especially if the thoughts aren't what can be revealed to the public.

"That's not all," Jasper said. "Talatu also came to our house yesterday to talk to me."

"What does she want with you?" I asked, my voice harsh and loud. 

"She wanted to tell you how sorry she was about what happened to Sarah. She personally told me to apologize to you."

"I don't need her apologies; she should keep them to herself."

Jasper nodded. "You never told me her fiancée was the person who knocked Sarah. Was there a reason for that?"

"There was no reason; I just didn't want it spreading around."

There was a long silence, and I knew that Jasper didn't believe me, nor liked what I said. He was my brother; I could and should trust him with such information. I am sure that's what he would be thinking.

"Anyway," he said at last. "She said I should ask you if you would see her. She wants you two to meet. I think she will feel better if she apologizes in person."

I was shaking my head even before he finished. "No;" I said. "I don't want to see her. She should stay out of my way. I don't want to see her. She and her husband-to-be have done what they have done, and now it's time for them to pay back?"

"Pay back?" Jasper asked, and I could hear the surprise in his voice. "What do you intend to do? You have to let go of the past—"

I sat up on the settee. "There is nothing to let go; Talatu and her husband- to-be ruined my life and now they want to get away with it and they think everything would be alright? That's not possible. Her father's stroke is just the beginning of what's coming to them. They must experience the kind of pain and heartache I experienced before everything would be alright."

Jasper stared at me with his mouth open. "You are not thinking of harming them, are you?"

I laid back on the settee and stared at the ceiling.

"Paul, you are not thinking of doing anything evil, are you?" Jasper asked. "That's not the way to live. Let God be the One to avenge whatever wrong they have done to you. You shouldn't take the laws into your hand!"

I kept staring at the ceiling. Jasper stood looking at me, and for a long time, none of us spoke. 

"Where is your phone?" Jasper asked at last. "I sent all these things I am telling you to your WhatsApp page." 

"I don't know where it is; check the room."

Jasper came back with the phone. "It's dead," he said.

"I know. I just don't want to read any of those pitying messages that everyone sent and that leaves one worse than one feels before reading them."

"You have so many messages," Jasper said. "You even have a friend request from one Mr. Potter on WhatsApp."

I sat up. "Mr. Potter? Are you serious?"

"Yeah; do you know him?"

I collected the phone from Jasper's hand. My hand was shaking.

The message read, "Hello, Paul. I am Mr. Potter, your friend from the UK."

"Do you know him," Jasper asked again.

"Yes; I met in Lagos."

"He is from the UK?"

"Yes," I said.

"Well, I hope he would send some Pound Sterling to you."

I stared at the phone, wondering if I was to block him or accept his message. 

"I have to go back," Jasper said. "Mom would be worried sick if I don't return with favorable feedback about how you are doing. And leave your phone on; she wants to keep checking on you."

"Tell her I am fine," I said.

"Okay, see you later. Make sure you eat something." 

He opened the door and walked out of the house.

I turned to my phone, giving it my full attention. 

I accepted his request and then I wrote, Hello, and sent it. 

It took close to fifteen minutes, but I got a response.

Hello dear. Do you know who this is?

Yes? I wrote back.

Who?

Mr. Potter.

Where was the first place we met?

At the Airport in Lagos, I replied.

Yes! Paul how are you?

Fine. Is this really you Mr. Potter?

"Yes, it is! What's the name of the woman that was with us?

Maria, I wrote back.

Yes! It's really you. Now ask me a question to prove that I am really Mr. Potter.

Why were you always sleeping?

Because of the pills I was taking.

Yeah, you are Mr. Potter. How is your health? Are you better now?

Yes, sort of. I am stable now though…I take my drugs every day. Can I call you?

Yes.

My phone began to ring about a minute later.

"Hello, Paul. How do you do?" It was Mr. Potter's voice, alright.

"I am fine, Mr. Potter," I said.

That's good to know. I have been trying to get in touch with you to thank you for saving me and also for helping me. I am now fully back to my senses, and I understood what happened to me."

"That's good to know. You are still taking your medication, right?"

"Yes, yes. That has stabilized me. Although I still sleep a lot, but at least when I am awake, I behave myself."

"I am happy for you," I said, and wondered why he really called.

"Paul, I am dying. The doctors gave me two months from today. They said my sickness is in my stomach and it is terminal."

"I am sorry to hear that," I said.

"Don't be. We are all going to die someday, aren't we?" He paused. "And that's why I am calling."

I waited for him.

"Do you have a domiciliary account?"

"What's a domiciliary account?"

"It's an account that receives foreign currencies?"

"No," I said.

Sarah had, but I didn't have. And Sarah never called it a domiciliary account.

"Okay," Mr. Potter said. "Go to bank tomorrow and open one. I want to send a trust fund to you. You can use it for whatever you want. It would be your money to do whatever you want with it."

"You don't have to do that, Mr. Potter. After all the evil we had done to you, you don't have to do that."

"Get the account opened tomorrow and send a message to me with the details of the account."

"Okay," I said, and hating the fact that I would be forced to go outside the house tomorrow.

And the thing is that I didn't care about money anymore. I would give all the money in the world, if I had it, to have Sarah come back. But I knew that wasn't going to be possible.

"Send a message to me as soon as you get the account," he said. "It's urgent."

"Okay," I said.

"Cheers," he said and rang off. 

I sat and thought about what had happened and wondered if Mr. Potter had money to spare.

I got the account the next day and sent it to him. It wasn't up to twenty minutes before I heard a text message beeping on my phone. 

I check the text messages and saw the credit transaction in my account. It was from Mr. Potter, and the sum was two million dollars!

I stared at it for a long time, wondering if my eyes were seeing right, or if I was going crazy. 

I know the antifraud police department would come checking for me to see if I got the money through a fraud dealing. That's what they do to most young people who make money through the internet.

I was officially a billionaire in the Nigerian currency. 

I thought about Talatu and her boyfriend and then I smiled.

Now, I thought, life is going to be interesting.

It was also the right time for revenge.