Oaths - Season 1 - Episode 8

Episode 6 years ago

Oaths - Season 1 - Episode 8

☆☆☆☆
I avoided Boma for the rest of the week and focused squarely on my studies. Even though we had frequent chats on WhatsApp, I ensured that I didn’t take his calls or give him any reason to get intimate with me.

I also avoided going to the cafeteria to meet the others as usual. I literally isolated myself from everyone.

On a certain Friday after lectures and papers, I was preparing lunch in the kitchen when Mimi suddenly barged in from nowhere.


“Have you heard?” She asked excitedly.
“Heard what?”
“You haven’t heard?”
“Mimi, if you have anything to say, say it now. I’m not in the mood.”
“Like seriously, you haven’t heard?”
“Heard what nau? Stop pestering me abeg.”
“Today is Jovita’s birthday bash,” she said.
“For real?”
“Yeah. She even gave me invitation cards specially designed for us. Here’s yours,” she handed me the envelope. I scrutinized it and saw my name boldly written on it, along with Jovita’s signature.

“What does she need all this for?” I asked with my gaze still fixed on the card.

“There’s going to be security, very tight one. Just in case anything goes wrong,” she said.

I took down the pot and dished the meal accordingly. Mimi refused to eat, saying she’d take her lunch, dinner and if possible, her breakfast also at the bash. I didn’t argue with her. I just laughed.

Later in the day after I had taken a nap, I woke up to see Mimi all dressed up already. She was applying her make-up and alternatively wearing earrings. From her dress to her bag and her shoes, everything matched.

“All this for a birthday?” I asked as she jolted in shock. She turned around and held her chest.

“You scared me!”
“Sorry.”
“How long have you been awake?”
“Just now,” I answered and stood up. In less than an hour, I was done preparing. I had a simple gown that stretched slightly below my knees, and I tilted my hair backwards with a hair band and applied light make-up.

“You look like a village woman.” Mimi taunted me playfully.

“Thank you.” I said.

We left the house by seven and took a cab to the venue. It was an astounding hotel large enough to contain any event. I personally didn’t fancy hotels or the likes of it, but merely stepping into this one, I felt glued to its majestic features.

“Are you sure it’s the same Jovita we know that hosted this bash?” I asked Mimi. She smiled and nodded.

“You don’t believe she can?”

“Not that I don’t believe. Just that I didn’t know she was this influential,” I said.

We made our way to the hall and met most friends and colleagues along the way. Three hefty bouncers stood by the entrance for clearance. We showed them our invitation cards and went in.

Almost immediately, someone screamed from nowhere and hugged me from behind. It was Oluchi! Mimi and Jovita also shared pleasantries and hugged.

“I didn’t think you’d come,” Oluchi said.

“Me neither,” Jovita added.


“Happy birthday!” I and Mimi chorused together as we clutched her in a warm embrace. She literally had to wriggle out of our grasp before we could let her go.

Moments later, the party got heated up. The DJ mixed tracks from the old school Jackson 5 tunes and other classics firstly, before gradually switching into African jam. The crowd went haywire! Everyone lost control.

Alcohol was in surplus as well as other delicacies and snacks to grub on. Mimi, Oluchi and Jovita had diverted into the crowd and left me behind. I was all alone.

Being partly oblivious of my surrounding, I was keenly engrossed to a certain game that I hadn’t noticed someone tapped me twice.
Not until the third touch did I notice someone actually stood in front of me.

“Hey pretty,” he said in a husky baritone voice that made me look up at him. What I expected wasn’t what I saw. He was short, dark and bald headed.

“You wouldn’t mind if I joined you, would you?”

In sympathy to his condition, I diligently agreed and he sat. He was the cocky type. He instantly ventured into silly, pointless and fatuous issues to tactfully subdue me to his advances, but I made it stale.

Frustration soon kicked in at a point that he had to give an excuse to ease himself and then left. I knew he wasn’t coming back, so I focused again on my game.


“Is this how lonely you usually are?” That familiar voice beckoned to me. I didn’t have to look up to know who he was. His perfume already made me figure it out.

I still had my focus glued to the game when he sat close to me, collected the phone and slid it into his pocket. I looked up to him with a frown.

“What was that for?”
“To gain your attention.”

“You have my attention now, can I have it back?”

“No,” he nodded. “Unless you heed to my option.”
“Which is?”
“Dance with me.”

It sounded funny, but I seemingly had no choice than to heed to his demand. He stood up, positioned me steadily and held my hand as we scrammed slowly to the dance floor.

I felt timid and shy at first, but with time, I felt relaxed. Boma’s countenance gave me this soothing assurance that made me calm.

He held my waist and I held his shoulders as we moved slowly to the soft blues. Our eyes were tangled and fixed. Our bodies moved to the rhythm.

All of a sudden, someone ran up to us and dragged Boma violently. He spun him around and jabbed him down with a kick. Quickly, two other guys joined in from nowhere and ganged him up