by Kiru Taye
But he wasn’t sure he could last until the weekend to see her again.
“Well done, ol’ boy. I really wish you the very best with Tessa,” Paul said.
“Thank you,” Peter replied. He really hoped for the best with her too.
As soon as he disembarked from the flight, she was the first person he called her. The phone rang several times and wasn’t picked up.
He assumed she was busy with studies and sent her a text message.
***
Hey countess, I called you but didn’t get any response. You’re probably revising so I won’t disturb you. Just landed in MMA and catching the connecting flight to Enugu. Speak to you later tonight. xx
Tessa stared at the text message. She’d missed his call when she’d been curled up on the sofa crying. In her exhaustion from the tears, she’d fallen asleep on the sofa. She’d woken up to the sound of her phone beeping with a text message.
She rocked in place as she rolled her shoulders. What was she going to do about Peter? He had been so encouraging about her studies. He’d even called last night to wish her the best for today’s exam.
When she spoke to him, he would surely ask how it went and if she was prepared for tomorrow. What would she tell him?
She couldn’t lie to him. Yet she couldn’t tell him the truth. He would be disappointed and it would be another reason for him not to trust her. It would be the final straw for him to find out that she’d hidden her true identity from him. He hated any form of deception.
Anuli was right. Her world would come crumbling down. It was best for her to go now. She would have to move again and relocate to a different city, now that her identity had been blown.
She couldn’t afford for the man she was running from to find her. The police would come looking for her. She would be locked up. Imprisoned for what she’d done.
She couldn’t get Peter involved in her mess. It would mess up his business with her bad reputation. After everything he’d done for her, she couldn’t do that to him.
***
Peter arrived in Port Harcourt on Tuesday mid-morning and headed straight for a meeting with Christopher. He wasn’t scheduled to be in PHC. But after he’d been unable to reach Tessa on either her phone or the hotel phones, he’d had to send Christopher up to the penthouse to check on Tessa. The man had returned with the news that Tessa wasn’t in the suite.
He'd had a bad feeling about her and had driven down with his chauffeur as soon as he could get away from Enugu.
Now the manager confirmed Tessa hadn’t spent the night in the hotel. He headed back out. She had exams today, so he’d go to her University and pick her up after her exams.
On the campus, he asked to see the Dean of the faculty and waited briefly before being ushered into the man’s office.
He introduced himself and told the man the name of the student he’d come to see.
“Mr Oranye, I’m afraid Ms Obum is not permitted on the school premises until further notice,” the dean said.
Peter jerked back. “Why? She’s scheduled to have examinations this week.”
“That was true but she is currently under investigation for registering as a student under fraudulent means and has been suspended.”
Peter narrowed his eyes. “When did this happen?”
“Yesterday. I’ve already issued a memo to that effect. We are involving the police in the investigation.”
No wonder Tessa didn’t take his call yesterday. She had this to deal with.
“What exactly did she do?”
“She registered as a student with a false name and fake identity papers. We take such matters seriously.”
Why would Tessa do such a thing?
He remembered the conversation he’d had with her about her father. She’d run away from home. Had she changed her name afterwards because of her past? It was possible if she didn’t want to be found.
Why hadn’t she told him this before now? He hated deception of any sort.
But then how would the school find out such a thing if she’d already been studying here for the past year.
“I understand why you had to take punitive measures. Can I ask how you found out about the deception, Dean Preye?”
“One of our alumni informed me of the fraud and I took action immediately. Mr George is a prominent member of the alumni community.”
“Do you mean Telema George?” Peter asked.
“Yes. Do you know him?”
“I am acquainted with Mr George,” Peter said trying not to grit his teeth. Telema would be getting very acquainted with him when he got his hands on the man.
Peter leaned forward in his chair. “Dean Preye, I believe you are a man of distinction and integrity. It is the reason I want to tell you something very confidential and I believe you will do the right thing.”
“Yes, of course.” The man preened. “You can talk to me in confidence.”
“A few weeks ago, Mr George attempted to rape Ms Obum in my hotel. The girl was distressed and Mr George wanted to take advantage of her. I investigated the matter and would’ve gotten the police involved but only changed my mind after Mr George begged me to drop the matter. The girl indicated that the man was going to do something bad to her. But I didn’t believe it until now.”
“But that cannot be right,” the dean said. “Telema is the son of a prominent citizen of the state. His father is highly regarded.”
“And we know that sometimes the apple falls far from the tree. Did you check Ms Obum’s current academic and attendance record? Is she a bad student? Have you had any problems with her before now?”
“Yes, I checked her record.” The dean tugged his shirt collar. “Ms Obum has an excellent academic record and her attendance record is above average at ninety eight percent. We haven’t had any problems with her beforehand.”
“Compared to Mr George, would you say Ms Obum was a better student?”
He tugged his collar again as if he was getting hot and uncomfortable. “Well, I can’t compare the two of them. Mr George was a young man and they are usually more boisterous.”
“So you’re saying his academic record wasn’t impeccable yet you took his words over that over an above average student with an impeccable record. That is quite a biased approach, don’t you think. Since Ms Obum is my fiancée I will be advising my lawyers to take immediate action against you and this university.”
Peter was hoping that he wasn’t a dean that wanted to drag his faculty and reputation into the mud of a law suit.
Mr Preye spluttered.”Erm. Hold on a minute. There’s no need for that. Anyway, I took the information on good faith.”
“And I’m telling you in good faith. Ms Obum is an upstanding citizen. You can go and check out my credentials. I can vouch for the young lady.”
“Of course, if you will vouch for her then I will take your word for it.”
“Then reinstate her immediately and see to it that she takes any exams that she’s already missed out on.”
“Yes, I will do that right away.”
“Good. I’ll wait for the reinstatement letter. In the meantime, excuse me while I make a call.”
Peter stepped outside the dean’s office and called Tessa’s number for what seemed like the hundredth time today, hoping she would pick it this time.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Tears rolled down Tessa’s face as the packed the last of her things into a suitcase. She didn’t have too many things and had only acquired a lot of clothes in the past few weeks on the two shopping trips instigated by Peter.
Just when she thought something good was happening in her life, everything had gone wrong.
She’d lost her best friend whom she hadn’t seen for a few days now and she was running away again which was effectively ending her relationship with Peter.
She was going to have to leave the two most important people in her life and walk the road alone. At least when she’d run away from home the last time, she’d had Anuli.
Now she would have to do it on her own.
The alternative was unthinkable. Getting arrested and going to jail. And dragging Peter down in the process.
No. She couldn’t do it.
Ideally Anuli should get out of here too. But since she hadn’t seen her friend, she’d written a note for her telling her what happened in the Dean’s office. Anuli had always been able to take care of herself and Tessa knew she’d be alright without Tessa.
Tessa zipped up the suitcase and stood it upright beside the door. She’d only taken her personal things. She’d left the items that she shared with Anuli like the cooking utensils, plates and so on. She would buy new ones when she arrived wherever she was going.
She didn’t even have a final destination in mind. Just anywhere she wasn’t likely to bump into anyone from her past. She’d thought about heading to Calabar and perhaps acquiring a passport so she could travel to Cameroon. She had been studying French and could read and write it. If she’d taken the exams today and passed she was hoping to get a place to study Languages with French as a major.
She looked around the room one last time. The last time she’d run away, she’d left home with just a back pack and had left a room full of luxury items and bad memories. This time she stared at a room filled with basic items but good memories.
No matter what had happened between her and Anuli in recent days, she would always be grateful to Anuli for being her anchor for so long.
In the past few weeks, Peter had become her anchor. Her solid rock. She was going to miss him. She slumped on the chair, put her head and arms on the desk and sobbed again.
“Tessa! Tessa!”
She lifted her head at the sound of someone calling her name and swiped her face with her hands.
Anuli barged into the room. “Tessa...”
The other girl stopped as soon as she saw Tessa. “What’s going on?”
Tessa shrugged, unable to work words into her dry mouth.
“I came out of my exams only for one of the girls to tell me that you had been suspended. I didn’t believe her. I went around the whole school looking for you.”
Tessa turned around as she inhaled deeply. “Yes. The dean suspended me. Telema George found out about the fake ID and reported me to the dean. I’m not allowed on the school premises. Anyway, it doesn’t matter I’m leaving Port Harcourt anyway.”
“What? You’re running away?” Anuli looked flabbergasted.
“Yes, what else can I do? Telema knows about our IDs. How long before the investigation digs up more and what we did gets exposed? You know what will happen once the police get involved.”
“Shit. I know. I know.” Anuli scrubbed a hand over her head. “Why didn’t you tell me all this?”
“Because you’re not taking my calls. Anyway, I thought you might be able to get away with it. Telema wasn’t after you. He was after me. So you can still finish your exams and get your results. At least this whole year wouldn’t be wasted for you like it has been for me.”
“I swear if I get my hands on that Telema, I’ll—”
“No. Anuli. No more. We’re in enough trouble as it is. Let’s not add to it. You stay in Port Harcourt. I will send you a message when I get to where I’m going so you know I’m okay.”
“Tessa, you don’t have to go—”
“No, I do.” Tessa choked. “I can’t bear to drag Peter into my shit. He’s such a good man. He doesn’t deserve the mess that is my life.”
Anuli gripped her shoulders. “Tessa, listen to me. You don’t have to go. You’re right. Peter is a great man.”
“What are you talking about?” Tessa’s mouth dropped open.
“Just hold on.” Anuli pulled a brown envelope out of her bag and held it out. “Go on. Open it.”
Tessa took the item from Anuli. It had her name on it. Tentatively she ripped it open and pulled out the sheet of paper inside. A letter from the dean reinstating her in school and apologising for the misunderstanding. She was also invited to sit the paper she had missed today on a different date.
She couldn’t believe it. She rubbed her eyes and read it again.
“How did this happen? Why did the dean change his mind? Did you do this?” The questions hurtled from her lips as her body trembled with shock.
“It wasn’t me.” Anuli shook her head. “The person who did it for you is standing the other side of the door. And it is clear to me that he loves you as much as I love you. Perhaps more than I love you. So if you’re going to run away, I suggest you run to him, babe.”
There was only one person Tessa could think about. “Peter?”
Anuli nodded with a smile.
“He’s here?”
“Yes, babe. I went to the dean’s office to find out for sure and found him there with this letter in his hand. He’d already spoken to the dean and got it all sorted.”
Tears filled Tessa’s eyes and dropped down her face. “But how did he know? He’s supposed to be in Enugu.”
“Babe, you’re going to have to speak to him and find out. I’m going next door to give you guys some space to talk. After what he’s just done for you, you have my permission to tell him the truth about everything.”
Anuli leaned in and brushed her lips on Tessa’s cheek before opening the door and stepping out.
Two seconds later Peter filled the door frame with his powerful presence. He was looking at her with a deep sadness in his eyes.
Her heart raced and she licked her lip unable to speak. She hadn’t seen him in about a week and he seemed larger than life.
“Were you really planning on running away?” he asked in a sober tone.
She lowered her gaze suddenly fascinated with the bare cement floor. “Yes.”
“And you weren’t going to tell me.” He said it as a statement as he took a step into the now cramped room.
She nodded as a tear rolled down. “I’m sorry.”
He pulled in a deep breath. “It seems it’s the curse of my life. To fall in love and to have the woman leave me. Naaza by death and you by running away.”
She tilted her head back sharply, her eyes wide. Did she hear him correct? Did he just say he was in love with her? He couldn’t love her. Who was she? A call girl with a dodgy past. She was so unsuitable for him, even if she loved him in return.
“So where are you running to?” He glanced around the room as he stepped further in and shut the door.
She felt rooted to the spot. “I was going to Calabar and perhaps Cameroon eventually.” She couldn’t lie to him about the things she’d thought about.
He nodded. “Calabar is very nice. You’ll enjoy living there. Douala in Cameroon is one of our flight destinations. We’re planning to expand our routes to Yaoundé also. So good choices.”
“Peter...” she trailed off not knowing what to say.
He was being very civil, not shouting at her like she expected. But Peter wasn’t like other men. He always surprised her with his actions.
“Tell me one thing though. I mean, I can understand the reason you ran away from home. I can even understand you changing your identity so that you wouldn’t be found in case your father and his friends were looking for you. But you’re an adult now. They can’t do anything to you now. And the university already did its worst by suspending you. They couldn’t do much else. So why run away again. Why leave your friend who had been with you for years? Never mind me.”
Tessa slumped into the chair, all her energy drained. When he put it like that it looked simple but it wasn’t.
“I was running away because I didn’t want to have the police involved. I didn’t want to drag you into the mess that would follow.”
He lowered his body onto the mattress, sitting to face her, his elbows on his knees. “I’m a big boy. I can handle the police and I wouldn’t let them touch you anyway.”
She turned her face away. “You wouldn’t be able to save me from this.”
He reached across and dragged her up. “Sit beside me a
nd tell me what’s eating you up inside, Tessa. Tell me the reason you were willing to break my heart. I’ve been trying to contact you since yesterday. I left my business and everything else I should be doing to come to Port Harcourt today to find out what was going on. I dealt with the issue of your fake ID and solved the problem with the school. The least you can do is to tell me the goddamn truth.”
Oh God. She covered her face with her hands as more tears rushed out. “The truth is that when we left Okigwe, Anuli and I didn’t just run away. We killed my father.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Seven years ago
“Hurry up!”
The sound of urgency in her friend’s voice only made Tessa’s hands shake violently as she stuffed clothes and other items into a small back pack.
Anuli, the only person she could refer to as friend these days, stood by the door keeping watch and listening out.
Clothes littered the room, bed and floor. Usually Tessa would never allow her personal space to be in such disarray but she didn’t have the time to tidy up right now. It was more important that she packed up and got out of this house as soon as possible.
Her gaze swept over the walls and furniture quickly as she tried to make sure she’d taken the things that were really important to her. She had many beautiful things, clothes, gifts, ornaments, more than a normal girl of fourteen would own in a country like Nigeria.
But she wasn’t normal. And the gifts had been from her father.
“Am I really doing the right thing?” Tessa asked, her tight grip on the rucksack handle making it cut into her palm.
“Of course you are," Anuli replied with a quick glance over her left shoulder. "We discussed this, didn’t we? You can’t go to the police. You tried that already.”
Tessa bit the inside of her lower lip. Yes, she'd gone to the police and no one had believed her claim. Her stomach tightened and she struggled not to be sick as she sat on the edge of the bed. “I know we did. But running away to Port Harcourt?”
She lived in the small town of Okigwe. It was nothing more than a dusty motorway town that happened to have a university on its periphery. It wasn’t the most exciting place in the world but it was all that she knew.
