CAPTIVE

An oil-soaked frying pan was tossed into the sink, clattering against a pot and dislodging some grains of rice stuck to its sides. The hand that had thrown it was small, with soft palms and green acrylics jutting out from its nail beds. The acrylics were rapped against the marble counter.

‘Why couldn’t you say no? We just got back from our honeymoon and you’re travelling already.’

‘I couldn’t turn it down, this is the opportunity I’ve been waiting for. If I waited another day somebody else would have bought the land.’

‘You asked me to cancel all my plans for this month, you said you wanted it to be all about us, you took this without even consulting me first. Is this how things are going to be now?’

‘You’re overreacting, it’s just a week. I’ll get things in order and come back, if you miss me too much just facetime me.’

‘Was that meant to be funny? You’re acting like this now but when the roles are reversed you’ll start going crazy. Just because you’re the kingpin out there doesn’t mean you run this house.’

The hand reaches across the counter and picks up a half-smoked joint from the ashtray.

‘You need to calm down, smoke this and I think you’ll see things from my point of view.’

‘Fuck off.’

The joint is smacked out of her hand and it falls to the floor. In a fraction of a second, she swings her hand like the claws of an attacking tiger and scratches her target across the cheek.

‘I told you not to talk to me like that.’ she snarled.

The room was quiet for a few seconds, the man stood, frozen. His jaw was clenched and his hands were balled up in a fist. He had four scratches on his face, one hidden by his beard, all drawing blood. He turned to look at her.

‘Really Jumoke, really!’

‘Duro, you can’t blame me for this, you brought it on yourself.’

She folded her arms and leaned against the counter, his breathing got heavier and his glare more intense. Jumoke stared at him, waiting for the rebuttal but instead, he turned and walked towards the door.

‘Where are you going Duro? Wait, let’s talk it out.’ she said as she rushed after him.

He picked his car keys from the bowl and slammed the door behind him.

Jumoke sighed and went to the bedroom, her flight was for nine tomorrow morning and she’d have to leave early to beat the traffic to the local airport. She hopped straight into their king-size bed and sunk into the mattress, the lights stayed on, she hated darkness. Her dressing table glimmered under the dull yellow lights, hung on three black stands was an assortment of chains and rings. She had names for them all, tomorrow she would wear Amina and Caesar, it was a day of expansion.

Her alarm blared like a siren at four in the morning, she resisted the urge to punch a hole in the phone and groggily rolled out of bed. She looked to the other side of the bed and it was still untouched. A week would be enough time to get over it, she was certain. She freshened up, put Amina around her neck and Caesar on her finger, and then stepped out.

‘Timothy! Oya, let’s go.’ she called out.

From the shadows, a large dark-skinned man emerged. His skin bald head gleamed even in darkness with only a wispy moustache as facial hair. On the left side of his neck, he had a large scar, two lines forming the letter ‘X’.

‘Good morning ma.’ he growled in his guttural voice

‘Morning. Ah, you still have these whiskers on your face? How many times have I told you to cut that rubbish?’

‘Sorry ma.’

‘I don’t need your sorry, just go and shave it off quickly, use a razor blade, anything really. No way you’re driving me looking like that.’

Timothy rushed to the back and two minutes later came back clean-shaven.

‘That’s better, I can’t believe your wife didn’t tell you this already.’

They got in the car and made their way to the airport. They arrived at seven-thirty, Jumoke checked in and sat down to wait. She brought out her phone and called Duro, it rang three times before the call was declined. She called again, this time he only let it ring once. Her grip on her phone tightened slightly as she closed her eyes, everything would be fine.

Her phone buzzed, shaking her out of her brooding state, it was her mother.

‘Hey mum.’

‘Good morning darling, are you at the airport?’

‘Yes I am.’

‘What’s wrong? You sound upset?’

‘Everything’s ok, I’m just tired.’

‘Alright. How’s Durotimi doing?’

‘He’s fine.’

‘Why aren’t you taking him with you?’

‘He didn’t want to come.’

‘Hmmm…alright. When you get back both of you should come and see us. Your father’s really missing you.’

‘Ok mum.’

‘Don’t just say ‘ok’, what day will you come?’

‘On Saturday.’

‘Ok, perfect. Have a safe flight dear.’

‘Thanks mum.’

Jumoke cut the call and checked the time. Fifteen more minutes until boarding, she closed her eyes and tried to block out the cacophony.

A week passed and she arrived back in Lagos on Friday afternoon. Durotimi still hadn’t answered any calls, he wasn’t even responding to her texts. She had woken up this morning with tears in her eyes, eyes reddened from a lack of sleep, a week had passed and he hadn’t gotten over it. She got back to the house and rushed upstairs, maybe seeing her face would soften him.

‘Duro, I’m home.’

Silence

‘Duro?’

She checked around the house but he was nowhere to be found. She picked up her phone and texted him:

Please come back, let’s talk about this.

I already said I was sorry, it won’t happen again.

What else do you want me to say to convince you?

Where are you?

All the texts were read but there was no response. She waited for an hour, two hours, still nothing. ‘Fuck this’ she thought to herself, she was going to sleep. Before she lay down she sent him one last text:

My mum wants us to come over tomorrow.

Instantly he replied:

I’ll be there.

Jumoke stared at her phone and scowled, what was wrong with this guy.

Saturday came and Jumoke woke up bright and early, she stretched and yawned as she walked into the kitchen to pour herself a cup of coffee. She stopped suddenly, sitting at the table, eating a bowl of cereal, was Durotimi. She stared at him for a few seconds but he did not even look up, his laptop was in front of him and he was watching a youtube video. Jumoke went over to the instant coffee maker, made herself a cup and sat at the counter, scrolling through her phone. She finished her coffee and went back to her room to get ready, she did not want to argue before they saw her parents. On the car ride to her parent's house, the silence continued, they had not even made eye contact yet. The marks from her scratch were still etched into his cheek. They pulled up in front of a tall black gate with barbed wires laying like a crown on the silver spikes. A gateman in an all-green uniform came out and once he saw the car he saluted before scurrying to open the gate. They got down and she rang the bell, immediately the door creaked open Durotimi’s arm was slung around her shoulder. She tried pushing it away but he maintained his grip and gave his best smile.

‘Good morning sir.’ he said, extending his hand

Her father looked at it and shook his head.

‘My daughter has finally come to see me.’ he said, shoving Durotimi’s arm off her and hugging her tightly.

He led her inside and Durotimi followed, his head hanging down.

‘Babe, they’re here.’ he called up the stairs.

Footsteps were not heard coming down the stairs but her mother appeared at the foot of them, beaming at them in her joggers and dashiki.

‘Good morning ma.’ Durotimi said as he prostrated.

Jumoke walked over and embraced her, breathing in the smell of tangerines that always emanated from her mother.

‘I’m sure you guys are hungry, Dare could you tell the cook to bring out the food.’

‘Yes madam.’ he said sarcastically.

‘Oh Durotimi, what happened to your face?’

Jumoke looked over at him but he seemed unperturbed.

‘I was trying playing with a friend’s cat, but it obviously wasn’t trying to play with me.’ he said with a chuckle

‘Oh dear, that doesn’t look good, let me get some aloe vera, we always have some in the house. I’ll give you some to take with you.’

‘Thank you ma.’

She went back up the stairs and her husband returned.

‘The food is almost ready, let’s catch up while we’re waiting.’ he motioned to the couches and they all took a seat.

Her father sat in one of the single chairs, whilst they sat next to each other.

‘So Ju, how was the honeymoon? Should I be expecting news of grandchildren soon?’

Jumoke coughed and looked at him incredulously.

‘Dad could you not ask questions like that. The honeymoon was fine.’

‘Ah, I can’t ask about grandchildren? Ok oh.’

‘Just talk about something else please.’

‘Alright, alright. How has work been going? I heard you went to Delta for the week.’

‘Work’s been going well and after this expansion, I think we’re going to see a massive boom in revenue.’

‘That’s fantastic, what about for you boy? Any news?’

‘I-it’s been going well sir, we’re on an upward trajectory.’

‘That was a very empty statement. So I take it nothing is happening. Have you at least been able to become self-sufficient or does Ju still have to keep you afloat?’

Durotimi kept quiet and averted his gaze.

‘Honey there’s no need to pressure him, it’s only been a few years, you know how tough it is to even get to the point of breaking even.’

Her mother materialized at the foot of the stairs again, aloe vera in hand. She walked over to her father and placed her hand on his shoulder. He flinched. She then walked over to Durotimi, bent down and started applying the aloe vera on his wounds.

‘Did you put anything on this before? It would have been pretty irresponsible not to.’

‘Yes ma, I put honey on it.’

‘Oh ok good. That cat really hit you with some force, it will take a while to heal.’

‘I was pretty shocked as well but I’d been told it had a history of doing that.’

Jumoke glared at him from the corner of her eye. The cook poked his head through the door,

‘Food is ready ma.’

‘Ok Chuks, we’re coming.’

They made their way to the dining room and the spread in front of them was majestic. Layed across the green table cloth were bowls filled with Jollof and fried rice, plantain and kelewele, chicken and steak, and crab legs. The aromas filled the room, intertwining in perfect harmony, melting into each other to become one. They sat down and dug into their feast, her father was particularly enthusiastic, he loaded his plate four times and did not leave a speck of evidence. After the bowls had been emptied and their stomachs had been filled, Jumoke’s mother turned to her and motioned toward the balcony. Her father got up and went to the living room, Durotimi followed. She and her mother leaned against the railing.

‘How much land have you started using?’

‘We’re at quarter capacity right now, everything’s going smoothly.’

‘I told you to stop saying ‘we’re’, you aren’t collaborating with anyone, they’re working for you. Do you understand?’

‘I understand.’

‘Good. Have you found any runners in Delta?’

‘I have five right now, those guys will bring me more.’

‘Better vet them properly before they go and steal your money.’

‘They wouldn’t dare, I made sure they caught glimpses of the guns.’

‘I trained you well. You’ll be giving me monthly reports.’

‘Yes mum.’

‘Also take Duro with you next time, even if he just stays in the hotel bring him.’

‘No, I don’t want him to get too involved.’

‘He already knows enough as it is.’

‘But…’

‘No buts, you’re married now, you need to let him know he’s trusted.’

Jumoke looked into the distance, pursing her lips.

‘That was an impressive scratch, so you have power like that?’

‘I reacted too suddenly, I shouldn’t have done that.’

Her mother looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

‘Why is that, didn’t he do something wrong?’

‘Not really, he just told me to fuck off, but we were arguing, it was heat of the moment stuff. Either way, I shouldn’t have hit him.’

‘You’re still saying stuff like that. It’s a necessary evil, he needs to know there’s a hierarchy. Nobody should ever feel comfortable enough to talk to you like that.’

‘I see you and dad, I don’t want the person I love to flinch every time I raise my hand.’

‘For you to trust him he needs to respect you and I’m telling you now the best way to get that is through fear. That fear is already there, why do you think he didn’t hit back?’

‘Because he loves me and doesn’t want to hurt me.’

‘No! Because he knows that with one phone call he’s dead. Toggle that fear with affection and he’ll love you more than you can imagine .’

‘You’re basically framing me as a captor, he has the right to leave.’

‘You exchanged your vows, ‘till death do us part’ right?’

Silence. Jumoke looked down and shook her head.

‘Darling, trust me, it’s what’s best for business.’ her mother said, placing a hand on her back.

In the living room, Jumoke’s father sat watching TV. Durotimi sat on the side, his index finger twitching, his left leg shaking. Would she tell her? Would she let her mum know that he did not speak to her for a week? If she did then he’d get another barrage of threats, like when he had tried to break up with her after their first eight months of dating. He had no family to turn to for help, and no friends with the resources to save him. Jumoke’s father glanced over at him and grimaced.

‘Just breathe, you’ll be fine. As long as you’re loyal you’re safe.’

Durotimi stared at him.

‘Sir, what do you mean?’

He went back to watching TV and Durotimi continued staring at him. Was he a captive too?