My Sugar Baby by Ngozi Lovelyn
Ebube was later employed as a Chef at Lick Fingers restaurant.
She was a good cook and Ugonna was glad he employed her.
And was so grateful to Diogor and her mother for saving situations for him.
Weeks after Dimma registered for JAMB, Diogor and Nneoma had a knowledge of it and were not happy.
“I also heard she is going with one special centre like that” Diogor said
“But when did Ugonna gave her the money for it, I thought he said he won’t give her the 30k?” Nneoma asked
“I’m sure he didn’t, the money wasn’t from him, I would have known about it if he had given her the money. This is not good at all. Then where did she get the money from?” Diogor asked
“I don’t know. But wait a minute, are you sure she wasn’t stealing from her brother?” Nneoma asked
“Yea, I think you have a point. She stole from him when she was still at the restaurant. Imagine! Stealing from her own brother. I have to tell Ugonna about it right away” Diogor said, searching for her phone.
“Come on! Don’t be too fast about it. What are you going to tell him now? That his sister stole from him without giving him any proof? He will start thinking that you simply hate his sister”
“But what are we going to do now, Mama? How are we going to stop her since we don’t have any proof? That girl is seriously getting on my nerves. If she succeeds in passing that exam, Ugonna will be very happy and start making plans of sponsoring her. Though, he might not be in good terms with her at the moment, but she is still his blood sister, he can’t simply ignore her forever. Even if he wants to, their mother won’t allow it. She will start blackmailing him emotionally to help his sister. Please Mama, do something, Ugonna has already promised to marry me this year, I don’t want him to postpone it”
“You don’t have to worry about that my daughter, I know what to do.” She said and then said in her heart.: “Yes my daughter, that is also what I want. You getting married to Ugonna will also create a good advantage for me. I will be very close to him. I mean very very close, making things more easier for me”
“Mama, please do something. Do something and stop her from writing that exam. That girl wants to ruin plans for me” Diogor interrupted her wishful thinking
“You have to stop panicking, I told you
that I have things under control. Don’t you trust your mother again?” Nneoma asked, starring at a particular direction, searching for a perfect plan.
A day before the day Dimma was to write the exam, Nneoma cooked up a plan she believed would destabilized Dimma’s examination.
The plan was made effective with Ebube’s help.
About 8:pm in the night before the exam day, when Ebube and the workers were about closing the restaurant, Nneoma stormed the place with a knife on a plan deal and made away with the money they realised that evening.
She covered her face with a mask.
Only Ebube knew who she was, but the other workers hid at a corner, praying and fearing for their lives.
The bike man her mother arranged for her stood outside, waiting for her.
“She stole it, Dimma stole it. She came here and took her brother’s money. I will call Mr Ugonna now and tell him what happened” Ebube opined, trying to call Ugonna.
“Who are you talking about?” One of the workers asked
“Dimma off course, our Oga’s sister.. It was her, I can swear it” she said looking serious
” How sure are you she was the one? She can’t steal from her brother and besides, Dimma is not the type to do something like that. She is not a thief.” Bukky said
“Is it because I haven’t told you? Listen you all, ever since I started working here, the girl has been threatening me, that I took what belongs to her. That I took her position away from her. That she will do everything within her power to make sure that Mr Ugonna sack me from the restaurant. In fact, she has been threatening to deal with me, that she will accuse me with a crime that will force her brother to throw me out from the here, that if she fails to succeed, then I will know that her name is not Dimma.” She sighed and then continued, looking pitiful
“I guess she was the one that came here and stole the money, with this, Ugonna will think that I planned it. So, I have to call him now and tell him what is happening. I am sure she was the one…….. Oh my God! She was the one…. It was Dimma, I am sure of it” Ebube high pitched suddenly, looking at a fixed direction, pretending to have found some tangible proof.
“Did you remember something?” One of the workers asked
“Yes! Her bracelet. I knew her bracelet. I knew it. Oh my God! And her voice. I am sure of it. So sure” Ebube said, pretending to be shaking in fear
“But Dimma was no longer working here before our Oga employed you, so how come you knew that she was the one? How come you knew her voice?” Bukky asked
“Seems you are deaf! What part didn’t you understand, Bukky? I said that the girl has been threatening me? So that was how I knew about her. She has stopped me in so many places and hurling insults at me, telling me that she will make me regret ever coming to her brother’s business”
“Wow! Some people can be something else. I knew she will regret her actions. Why is she getting jealous now? She was the one that left on her own, thinking that the business won’t go on without her. It’s a shame she was disappointed. I used to be angry with the way her brother treated her and employed another Cook instead, but now, I have lost all my respect for her. She is a disgrace to her family. Shame!” One of the workers taunted, as they were getting convinced at the lies Ebube was feeding them with.
After the incident, Diogor met with Ugonna at a popular cool joint. She asked for them to hangout so that Ugonna won’t go home and find Dimma there, at the time of the robbery incident.
“What? Did anybody get hurt?” He asked Ebube, holding his phone very close to his ear to hear her clearly
And she said “No”, that the robber only made away with the money.
He then turned to Dimma and told her what she just heard.
“Finally, Dimma has gotten her wish fulfilled” she said, pretending to look bewildered.
“Tell me, why did you say she has gotten her wish achieved?” Ugonna asked, looking confused.
“See Honey, we decided to keep this from you so that you don’t get into enmity with your sister”
“Tell me already, what did Dimma do?”
And Diogor cleared her throat and began accusing Dimma falsely. That she had been threatening Ebube ever since she began working for him. That the robber could be her.
“So this type of thing has been going on and nobody cared to tell me about it?” Ugonna asked, sounding unhappy.
“Baby, she is your sister, how do you expect us to tell you something like that? If you like, ask Ebube, I’m sure she will tell you that the robber was a lady. And besides, tomorrow is her JAMB exam, off course she will need money. But what’s the need of her stealing it forcefully? She should have asked, I’m sure you would have given it to her, you are her brother, but the way she went about it was very wrong. Now I understood how she got the thirty thousand naira to register with a special centre”
“Oh my God! I can’t believe that Dimma could stoop so low! She is now an armed robber? This is so painful to the hear. She never told me she was going with a special centre. So, she has been stealing from me all this while. My very own sister” Ugonna burned in anger, asking for the waiter to have his bill paid so that he can leave for his restaurant to know the situation of things there.
To be continued
My Sugar Baby by Ngozi Lovelyn
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