Written by By Irenosen Akharele
It had been three days and Eseohe was getting comfortable having Mali around. She went to pick a few clothes from the house and let her daughter know that she wasn’t alone. They hugged and she made a mental note to send Ivie flowers later.
Back at her grandmother’s place, Mali had gone a little quiet. Eseohe noticed and chalked it up to things going as intended. On her third night at grandma’s, Mali snuck into the kitchen when the house was empty and made ogbono soup with the dry meat and sea snails that they had bought together the day before.
Eseohe returned home to a hot dinner and an extra sparkly house and she knew immediately that the girl was ready for more of her stories.
— —
All of the money she had was sucked away by Juwons arrest. He had complete access to her accounts and everything was gone in the blink of an eye save for the cash she had stashed in her kolo and a few debtors here and there. Once again she had fallen for a man’s words and did not look beyond the side she was shown. But she believed in the rule of threes.
That was how Eseohe moved from her small flat in V.I. to a short let in Surulere where she would have to pay monthly. The place was mostly used by men who needed to find release from stressful work situations and the women they were accompanied by; a brothel. One of these women was Njideka, a beautiful girl she had become fast friends with during one of the parties she had attended with Juwon.
Njideka was one of the few people she could remember being genuine with. While their bond was fleeting, it was meaningful and so wonderful to see her face.
Both women canceled the rest of their plans and NJ took Eseohe to “Olaiya” her favorite amala spot. As they ate and downed beers, conversation flowed easier and Eseohe was able to tell her predicament to someone.
Quickly, NJ brought solutions. Eseohe could stay with her and work as an escort until she decided what she wanted. They were always looking for young girls, the salary was far too small and they were extremely picky.
This was the third time she was having to pick up her life in Lagos and she knew exactly which route she would go and what she was not willing to do.
Eseohe started her job as a bank teller a week after she moved in with NJ at the brothel. It wasn’t too bad, the girls were nice and shared a little too much and she did her best to avoid the men. Being as attractive as she was, it was impossible and they attempted to approach her through her friend.
“This one seems less sketchy than the others.” Njideka said one monday as she lay naked on the bed while Eseohe dressed up, small body taking up all the space.
“NJ, I don’t want to have sex with men for money. It’s been two months and I’m settling into my job. By next year I should get a place of my own and a better job.” She responded, almost bored. They had this conversation every other day.
“You can even come with me.” she offered and her friend laughed as if the thought alone was too funny to comprehend.
After Eseohe left, Njideka fingered the thick wad of hundred naira notes and thought about a proposal from one of the gentlemen. Even though he was not the only one who wanted her, he was the wealthiest.
Living together was easier than Eseohe thought it would be and Njideka had started giving her money randomly, claiming she was fucking some new guy who didnt know what to do with his money so she took it.
On the 6th month of Eseohe staying with her, Njideka got some wine and cooked a suspicious pasta dish from one of the many cookbooks silly men had gifted to her in the hopes that she would morph into a wife after nearly 5 years of being a prostitute. As if.
Eseohe returned form work pleasantly surprised. After dinner, they settled into wine and some weird movie on the box tv she brought with her when she was moving in. NJ wanted to know if she had kissed a girl. She had not. So she showed her how to and Eseohe liked it. It was softer, sweeter, a little more teasing and it made her heart thump a lot faster.
Sex with NJ was a discovery, among other things. It was nice. More than nice even. It was perfect, it had Eseohe finding out things about her body that she couldn’t have dreamt possible and she was only too happy to reciprocate.
Her favorite thing about sex with NJ was the pure honesty of it. It never ended, they just took long breaks to do things like work and sleep, but they always wanted each other.
It was why she didn’t get upset when Njideka told her that the money she had been giving her came from a gentleman named Izuchukwu who liked her and wanted to have sex with both of them. And it was why she agreed to it, but only if the gentleman would agree just to watch.
