Diogor and Ugonna got home with sadness gluing on their faces.
When Ngozi saw them entering the compound looking unhappy, she immediately knew that something was wrong. She tried asking but remembered her son’s stiff warning, to stay within her limits. So she carefully ignored them. They walked passed her and headed straight to their room.
Throughout that night, Ugonna was thinking on what next to do with his life, he also lost his appetite.
“I don’t have enough money to hire another cook and the business is no longer favoring me, what am I going to do now? And Diogor doesn’t know how to cook either, even if she knows how to, she won’t accept to become a chef” he kept talking within himself
He began reminiscing about his restaurant, when Dimma was still managing it, how customers couldn’t get enough of their food, how blooming it was then, he then sighed and continuer recalling how everything started, how he slapped and also got Dimma arrested..
“Was I so harsh to her then?” He asked himself
“No, I don’t think so, Dimma was too stubborn and doesn’t have any respect. She expected me to worship her as in what? Anyway, the only mistake I made was opening that business depending on her cooking. I thought it will be a family business that will last forever, but I was mistaken. It’s now time to find my own destiny. But what is that thing I’m good at? I really haven’t discovered my talent yet.?” He kept asking himself.
He was so lost in thought that he didn’t knew when Diogor came and sat beside him, asking him to have his dinner.
“You are done?’ He asked
” Yes, its ready”
“What’s that, what did you prepared?”
“I didn’t prepare any new food, it’s the soup I made yesterday, so I warmed it”
And he frowned..
“See, you can go ahead and eat, I’m not in the mood. Infact, I don’t have any appetite”
“What do you mean you don’t have any appetite, do you want me to waste the food? You know I can’t finish it alone”
“There she go again! I simply can’t eat that! Yesterday that it was freshly prepared, I found it difficult to get it down my throat, and who knows how the taste will be today. Please my dear, I said that I don’t have any appetite. Is that too difficult to understand?”
And Diogor got aggravated
“Wait a minute! Are you suggesting that I should waste the food? Just answer me. That I should pour it away?”
“I didn’t say so, you can as well eat it, are you not the one that prepared it?
Please please and please, I’m begging you, I have had enough for the today, don’t add more to my already aching head”
“So you are now insulting me abi? Insulting my food? If you say you don’t want to eat, then stay hungry, you think I care? It’s none of my business”
Ugonna kept looking at her as she was ranting, he began shaking his head.
“Why are you behaving this way now? Is it because I said that I don’t have any appetite? You are now treating me as if I’m no longer your husband, is it because things are now bad for me?” He calmly asked, looking pained
But Diogor loudly hissed and took the food away, ignoring the question.
Ngozi was in the kitchen getting her food ready, she was cooking her son’s favorite.
Tears dropped down from her eyes when she remembered how Ugonna used to request for more.
“Now, my son won’t have to be enjoying this food again all because of that woman he married. Not only that he married her, she also barred me from getting close to them. What wickedness is this? I won’t cook together with my daughter in-law? Dear Lord. I must have done some bad deeds in my past for you to be punishing me like this”
Ugonna was in his room and the aroma from the food his mother was cooking scratched his nostrils and his appetite awakened.
He then stood up to request for it but remembered how he gave the rule for his mother and wife to have a separate kitchen.
He stopped them from cooking together under Diogor’s demand.
And he then felt weak and sat back.
“When did my life turned like this?”
But his mind didn’t let go of the food, he began looking for a way to have a steal.
When he heard his mother entering her room, he quickly dashed out straight to the kitchen, and found the small pot of the soup where she kept it on the floor beside the stove.
His mother normally placed the dishes to be washed on the floor. So, when Ugonna found it, he thought that it was a waste and won’t be used again, but he never knew that his mother intentionally left it there, she knew that he will be coming for it. She saw him peeping through the window, and knew that her son won’t simply resist his favorite.
And as she speculated, Ugonna finished the soup and quietly sneaked back to his room.
When Diogor saw him picking his teeth, she thought that he finally ate the food.
“I thought you said you are not hungry? You think that I will beg you to come and eat? Let me make it clear to you, you can’t punish me by rejecting my food. I can’t be that kind of women, you hear me?”
Ugonna ignored her, he was still feeling happy about the food he ate.
But Diogor was surprised when she saw that the plate of the soup she kept for him was still there, just that the fufu was no longer there.
“Wait a minute! He swallowed the fufu like that or what? The plate is empty, while the soup is still untouched, what happened? Whatever… What do I care..”
When his mother saw that Ugonna ate the food he kept for him, she laughed, and pitied him.
“My son, I will never stop praying for God to deliver you from this situation you put yourself in”
So the next day, Ugonna declared his intention of not returning to the restaurant business again, that he will look for another one.
“Better, because I’m not even set for cooking any restaurant food.”
After he left, Diogor called her mother and told her about Ugonna’s intention of looking for another business to venture into
“My daughter, if I had known that Ugonna will turn out to be a complete failure, I wouldn’t have allowed you marry him.”
“Don’t talk like that Mother, he is looking for another business now, he will bounce back again”
“Is it in this village that he will bounce back? Does he has that kind of money to start a good business now? I don’t think so…. He is now a total loser. I’m sorry my daughter, you married a poor man”
“No mama, don’t scare me pls. Ugonna will soon bounce back, I trust him”
“Stop dreaming, better start making plans, otherwise you will end up looking dirty, wearing worn out cloths and smelling like a pig just like the rest of the villagers do. You won’t see any money to change your creams, no good soap, no deodorant and perfumes, and you will start wearing one weave for 3 months”
“God forbid Mama, don’t talk like that now, please. It won’t come to that, I trust Ugonna that was why I married him”
“No need talking to you, you will see things yourself.. By the way, how is your mother in-law?”
“That old stinking woman is there, I don’t like her crossing my path.’
“OK… Ngozi and I had a history in the past. You know I haven’t told you about it”
“And what’s the past all about?”
“Hmm, it’s a long story, not something I can share now.”
After Diogor and her mother ended their chat over the phone, Nneoma appreciated her idea of not going for Ugonna again.
“He is a failure, a loser, I would have regretted it if I had gone for him”
When Ugonna returned home, Diogor faced him with money for food.
“Is that the way to greet your husband?”
“How else do you expect me to greet you? You left here in the morning without keeping any money for me. You didn’t care if I will starve or not”
“But I thought we still have food stuffs in the house, what do you you still need money for?”
“You mean I should eat white rice like that, without any ingredients to cook it?”
“Then you use red oil and salt”
“Ugonna, wh….”
“Diogor, enough! Enough please. I just had a hectic day, I need to rest please or can’t I rest in my own house again?” he harshly asked, entering inside
“What! Like seriously? He shouting at me now?”
Weeks later, Ugonna was still unable to find anything, the remaining money he saved from his restaurant business was dwindling on daily bases.
And Diogor was getting fed up.
Things continued turning bad until he met his old time friend, Nduka who just returned from Malaysia.
“Oh my God! Nduka, is that you?”
“Ugo, what’s up? I headed straight to your restaurant, but found another people there, I was told that you have relocated, so I decided to come to your house to see your mother and also ask her about you”
“Yes o my friend, it’s a very long story.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes o my brother. So what’s up? You forgot your guy immediately you left the village, nawao for you oo”
“Ugo, you won’t understand. I lost my phone the day I was leaving the country. So I lost my contacts, that was why I didn’t call”
And they continued exchanging pleasantries, sharing their experiences.
My Sugar Baby by Ngozi Lovelyn…
To be continued….if you noticed, the episode is long….
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