C14 THE HATRED OF HIS CRONIES 1

Emiola's comment almost made his wife to choke on the water she is drinking, when she finished she said,

"Thank you for your flattering "

'Mummy it is not a flatter, you are really good in story telling' Jiire supported his dad

"Really?"

"Yes mummy you are good" Itunu too added

"It is okay, thank you, let us continue. Ewanimi and Rotimi formed what I earlier called merger of the bullies against Olamide, but unfortunately for them, few days later their merger began to experience a crack, because of the hatred of Rotimi's cronies against Ewanimi."

The parasitic crowd around Rotimi felt she was standing in their ways by stopping Rotimi from attending or hosting parties where he spends lavishly money on them before she came into his life.

And actually they were right because Ewanimi truly used to advice Rotimi against squandering money on indecent parties. At first, every time she advised him against unreasonable wastage of money, Rotimi used to tell her he did not consider the money he spent on his friends as waste; rather he considered it as help and reward for their faithfulness to him.

Ewanimi was very happy when he called the money he lavished on his friends a reward, she knew she could convince him to stop squandering money if she could prove to him that the people around him were doing nothing for him that showed they were faithful, rather they were feeding him with lies, fueling his ego and through this they were milking him.

She even used to wonder about the naivety of Rotimi himself, she formed an opinion based on her observations of him; that been academically brilliant is a world apart from been wise, and that a person can have a great IQ and a very low EQ

She believed that the likes of Rotimi were those who inherited great wealth but won't be able to manage or multiply it, rather in no time will slip into bankruptcy and penury; because they won't treat wealth as a treasure that they must jealously guard.

To her, Rotimi was a foolish spendriffth who waste money on worth nots and she was sure he knew not how to make money. So she made up her mind to open his eyes to the proper way of handling money; that was the major reason she herself has been refusing to collect money from him.

It was not just because her dad was rich or because her mother taught her not give herself to free things, but she believed if she began to take money from him he won't take correction from her; rather he will see her as a selfish person who wants to chase others away in order to hoard his money for herself.

All these thoughts propelled Ewanimi to keep her eyes on the guys around him, with the aim to catch them in compromising state, which she can use to bring Rotimi to the realization that most of the people around him were bunch of unfaithful parasites!

In no time she succeeded because when a person wholeheartedly set out to look for a thing, some mysterious forces will force the person and the thing he is looking for to come across each other.

So it happened one day, she was in a park one particular evening, she usually visit this park when she is saturated with reading and she could no longer assimilate, she comes here to relax her brain; in here she would just sit and watch people all around doing whatever pleases them

The park was in the center of their campus, it was very wide and beautiful; with many big trees that produced shade for people to sit under. The entire park was covered with soft lush grasses and we'll scented flowers

Students flocked to this park in the evening for many reasons, some like Ewanimi do come just to relax their over stretched brains, while some come with their lovers to take pictures and openly showcase their love. Other come in groups and pitched their camp in the remote parts of the park

So Ewanimi too this day sat under the cool foliage of a large tree, while she was there two of Rotimi cronies too walked into the park and coincidentally came to sit on the other side of the same big tree Ewanimi sat under without seeing her. They were so engrossed in what they were discussing that they did not notice that Ewanimi was the one sitting close to them.

Though their discussion was barely louder than whispers, but been so close to Ewanimi she could hear them clearly. When she discovered they were scheming on how to get money out of Rotimi's hand she did two things quickly.

First, she covered her head with her pullover, so that they would not accidentally discover her. Secondly, she brought out her phone, hide it under the pullover and began to video them

One of the two guys called Akira asked the first one called Tolu,

"Do you think Rotimi will give you that kind of money to spend on a girl?"

"With your help he will" Tolu replied

"How will I help you to make him give you such amount to fund a girl's birthday? I think you should leave this girl alone; she does not love you, if she loves you she won't ask you for what she knows you don't have and ask you to get it from Rotimi"

"Look Tolu, I don't care whether she loves me or not, I just want to prove to her that I am Rotimi right hand man, so that she can give her soul to me"

"But many other girls are ready to give their body and souls to you, why are you chasing this one that is playing hard to get like that bitch Ewanimi is doing to Rotimi?"

Tolu replied,

"She is testing me, don't you know her father is very rich and she is the only child of her parents, if I can rap her soul around my hand she will be a better meal ticket to me than this Rotimi who always don't want to give a person. cash, he only buy drinks and foods "

"Hhmm, you are a devil!"

"I know so! Will you help me?"

"Look if I have to collaborate with you on this you must add my own fifty thousand naira to the one hundred thousand naira you want to ask for, so you better make your lie so big that it can draw one hundred and fifty thousand out of Mr money squanderer. Apart from this, when you succeed with this Franca of a girl you must be nice to me.

"You know me now, you are my guy I will take care of you"

Before Akira will respond his phone beeped in his pocket and he brought it out, Tolu said,

"I am sure that is Rotimi, that guy is a pest!"

"It is him"

"I am sure he will order you to grow wings and fly to where he is now, I am really tired of walking with him, if I can really succeed with this Franca project I will stop following this overbearing rotten guy about like a puppet"

Akira picked his call and Rotimi asked,

"Where are you Akira?"

"I am on my way to your bunk"

"Be quick then, I need you in the next five minutes to help me to prepare one thing for Ewanimi"

When Akira cut his call Tolu who perched on him to hear Rotimi's conversation with him said,

"Do you see now, he is going to ask you to run errands for that useless peacock who now controls his head. Anyway let us go together, the best time to use needle of lies to draw his blood dry is when the thought of that vermin fills his head, I will tell you our plan on the way"

PLEASE IGNORE THE CHAPTER BENEATH THIS AND MOVE ON TO THE NEXT CHAPTER

What did he do to stir her up into that unreasonable frenzy? He dared to sit beside her with his unwashed smelling body!

He rushed late into the class that particular day, coming straight from his labour because he had not enough time to go home and changed into fresh cloth. When he came into the class all the double sitting chairs in the class were occupied and he could only see two empty spaces; one at the back in the midst of noisy and unruly students of their class.

Those students seldom pay attention to the lecturers, they are always whispering obscenities among themselves and by it disturbing any serious students who sits around them.

A serious student who sits around them when lectures are ongoing will either pick a fight in other to keep them quiet or hear less of what the lecturer is saying

So Olamide was caught between two potential troubles, it is either he sit with Ewanimi who loath him or go to the back and sit with those spoilt empty headed bunch from rotten rich home who are bullies and won't let him hear the lecturer clearly.

Somehow he chose to sit beside Ewanimi because the seat was in the very front, though he knew they both would be uncomfortable all through, due to her hatred for him; but he believed she would be reasonably calm all through.

So politely he said, "May I sit with you please?" Hearing him, she looked at him as a dirt, silently hissed and shifted to the extreme end of the seat! Olamide said, "thanks" and he sat down.

Just when he was setting his books on the table, Ewanimi jumped up and covered her nose with her handkerchief. Her sudden action drew the attention of the whole class to them. When she was sure all eyes were on them she shouted,

"Why are you smelling like this, I don't think you have taken your bathe in weeks!"

She spat in the the handkerchief in her hand, hissed and added still with a loud voice,

"He smells like he goat!"

With her outburst and words of derision, the class was thrown into pandemonium, some were laughing at Olamide, while others were lashing at Ewanimi in his defence. Ewanimi at first regretted her unthoughtful outburst because more of their mates stood for Olamide against her; but been who she was; she steeled herself and faced those attacking her

She knew she must be brave while their attacks last, otherwise she would be swallowed in shame instead of Olamide that she wanted to shame. So as they lashed at her, she squared her shoulders and boldly answered her attackers.

While war of words between her and the defenders of Olamide was threatening to drown the class, the rancorous laughter of the neutral party who were still throwing her words at Olamide's face thrilled Ewanimi's soul. Olamide just sat there too embarrassed to say a word untill their lecturer who was called M S Olude stepped into the class.

She was a very young lady of a strong character who was respected and feared by all of them. She was a daughter of well known powerful business tycoon and seasoned politician in the country.

She could be in business, running her father's huge business empire as the only child when she returned from a top tier American university where she obtained her double PhD at a very young age, but she chose to be a lecturer for a reason she discussed with her father.

She was bold and fearless, non of the students can dare to be rude to her, though she was in their age bracket. When she stepped into the class and it looked like theater of war, in disappointment she shouted,

"What is this in my class?"

The whole class instantly became very quiet, all other people saw her early as she was coming into the class and they scrambled to their seats, but Ewanimi who had her back turned to the door was caught hurling insults at her attackers. So she remained standing under the questioning eyes of M. S. Olude

Knowing that she was caught and she must give explanation for the uproar M. S. Olude met in the class. Immediately, she covered her nose with her handkerchief and said,

"Sorry ma, it is this guy, I don't know whether he does not take his bathe, he smells horribly!"

On hearing the heart wrenching jibe she threw on Olamide and she saw how embarrassed Olamide was, M. S. Olude was momentarily speechless! Seeing how embarrassed Olamide was she instantly decided to avenge him. She knew he came straight to class from where he used to work, so she smiled and said,

"You are exaggerating the obvious young girl" She purposely called her young girl instead of a lady, to put her plan to humiliate Ewanimi and avenge Olamide into action and she added,

"I know he is a very decent guy who takes good care of his body; the smell you perceived must be a faint smell of sweat which comes from him working in the sun. Even you will smell like that if you do a little work under the sun before you step into the class; is that not the reason most of us used perfume?"

This was not what Ewanimi wanted to hear at the moment, but she was not surprised because all their lecturers loved and respected Olamide. That was another reason she hated him intensely, she wanted the admirations of their lecturers to be solely poured on her

However, she was glad that at least she grinded his nose brutally in the mud and in great embarrassment. Now seeing their lecturer defending him, she wanted to walk away from him as a way to pour the last disgrace on him, so she picked her books and turned to go and sit on the empty seat at the back.

This gave M. S. Olude the opportunity to do what she really wanted to do when she heard her insulted Olamide, which she could not do before if she must avoid all the students believing she loved Olamide above the rest.

So with annoyance she asked,

"Hey young girl, where do you think you are? Do you want to walk about while I am in the class, have I not warned all of you that you must all be on your seat before I step into class? The time you ought to use to change seat you spent fighting baseless fight, now you want to walk about while I am here; you must be joking"

If you take one more more step away from that seat I will send you out, not only that, I will make sure you stay banished from my class for a month for causing that kind of uproar I met in my class; which is taking the precious time I ought to use to teach all these good guys.

Just like that the table turned against Ewanimi, she almost fainted with embarrassment, her face became white like that of a ghost for shame and she did not hear anything in the lecture of the day"

When Jiire and Itunu heard the story to this point they in chorus shouted,

"That is good for her!" Itunu said

"So good! She was served what she served to another person "Jiire said and Grace smiled when she heard them and continued,

That was just the beginning of the insult M. S. Olude heaped upon her, because she was very reluctant to sit with Olamide, Olude asked her to remain standing and she walked to the place where Ewanimi stood.

Though Ewanimi was a tall sylph- like beauty, but Olude was equally tall and beautiful like her or even more beautiful. So she came and stood in her front so that this comparison could be seen and to intimidate her, she stood domineringly before her; looked at her from head to toe as if she was a piece of trash and said,

"I know your type, they mostly behave as if they don't visit the toilet because they feel they are more beautiful than the whole world; but they are not! You are only inflated with cancerous self awareness, a disease that usually ruin pretty empty ladies!

At the end of the day, people like you always miss dating the best guys meant for them through arrogance that comes from ugly minds, and eventually after they missed the best guys who loved them; they will be forced to marry a man as ugly as a toad and vicious as a devil, who will slap them around every day!

You see a very handsome, brilliant and hardworking guy Olamide here, a person you should sashay before so that he can consider you for courtship..."

When Olude said this, the whole class clapped cheerfully in support of her words, even those who formerly backed Ewanimi supported her statement.

It was as if they have been looking for a person who will cut and trim Ewanimi's arrogant wings. So Olude mockingly added,

"I pity and pray that you will not end up marrying a demon who will humiliate you publicly the same way you've humiliated this gentle guy today!"

Ewanimi at this time had swollen up with bottled fury and acidic bitterness, but she dare not spit it out to Olude's intimidating face; she felt like the ground she stood upon should open her mouth and let her hide in it!

To put an icing on the insult pushed down her unwilling throat by Olude, she turned to the class and said,

"If she won't say amen to my prayer for her good life, those of you who love her why don't you say amen on her behalf"

The whole knowing Olude just wanted to mess her up shouted a thunderous 'aaameeen!' To add their own slaps to Ewanimi's over slapped face.

At this point, even Olamide who Olude was defending pitied her because he was softhearted towards her. He looked at her eyes and saw that she was fighting with her last strength not to cry before the whole class.

When Olamide looked at her face, she also coincidentally looked at Olamide with eyes lidded with shame and caught Olamide looking at her; but she did not see a gloat on his face which she expected to see, rather she caught him looking at her with tender affection!

She almost could not believe that this guy could look at her so tenderly and she felt like crying. This strange stolen glances between the two escaped the whole class because these two were sitting Infront of the class, but it did not escape Olude who stood facing them ; and because of what she saw and felt that Olamide have affection for her she decided to stop the humiliation and she softly asked,

"Do you still want to move out of my class or you want to sit?"

Ewanimi knew she dare not walk out of that class, so she wobbly sat and slouched dejectedly on the seat. All through the lecture she did not hear a thing in all that Olude taught the class, because she was insanely mad and was thinking of how she could some day punish Olamide for this humiliation.

Jiire said,

"She definitely heard a heart of stone, she was still thinking of how to fight that innocent guy; did she find away?"

His mom said, " Yes, but get me a drink first, I am too thirsty to continue"