Life of Ene

Part 5

Haliru stunned me with that proposal,
Abasi mbom! I was like "what?" The bad thing was, we were in front of the people who had come to greet us at the airport. I did not want to marry Haliru because, if I did, he would feel he has conquered me, and the hold I have over him would weaken and soon, I would no longer mean much to him. At the same time, I liked Haliru, and did not want to hurt him and disgrace him in front of the world. I agreed to his marriage proposal.
"Of course, I will marry you" I said and stretched forth my fourth finger, while my mind was looking at different ways to end the engagement. The look on Haliru's face was enough to change this bad girl, but I was determined not to hang my boots just yet.  Ii told myself, there were a lot of Haliru(s) in the world, and there were some many adventures waiting for me, and so much to life than love and marriage.
My parents were pleased when they found out on the news about our engagement. They didn't care than Haliru could have passed off as my father, all they cared for, was his status. Besides, I have been sending fat packages home, so, of course they were not going to object to my desires.
While I thought of the best way to break up my engagement with Haliru, my ex bestie was plotting ways to bring me down. She leaked to a blogger that she had secrets about wife number two of Haliru, and soon the media was buzzing around her, asking for a sit-down interview. I did not know this until I saw the interview on television. Coincidentally, Haliru was in the sitting room and was watching it too. Lizzy told everyone how I came to Abuja for my NYSC and how I turned into a high-class prostitute. She left out the part she had in my becoming what I am, she however made the public think we fell out because she didn't want to follow my ways.
"Ene, badt Akwa-Ibom girl, you have surely come a long way from being a call girl into to-be wife number two of a notable man in the society, but a leopard never changes its spots, does it?" these were the exact words she used when the reporter asked her for final words to me.
I was stunned. Why would Lizzy be so cruel to me, what did I ever do to her? I cut off ties with her because I didn't want the FIRS man in my life. It was not with any malicious intent. Haliru stood up and saw me standing by the staircase. His eyes were full of hurt and disappointment, he didn't say any word, but his eyes accused me. I ran up the stairs to our bedroom and packed the few clothes I had in his house into my overnight bag and dashed downstairs.
"Where are you going?" he asked coolly.
"Somewhere far, where my stench will not touch you" I said and left the house, amidst protests from him.
Perhaps, Haliru would have forgiven me, but then that knowledge of what I was would always be with him, and the respect he always had in his eyes for me would not be there anymore. I couldn't live with that; besides, I was going to leave him anyway, better now than later, right?
I had flagged down a taxi and was on my way to my apartment when my phone rang. It was my mother, and she was crying.
"Ene, we sent you to school so you would have a better footing and not have to be on your back to make money. But you decided to put us to shame by prostituting yourself. Ene, you told us you got a job" she wailed. It was clear to me that she had seen Lizzy's interview. Her cries pierced my heart, but then I became angry when I remembered all the pressure I got from them.
"As much as I would like to console you and give you kind words, I can't. You told me about Felicia who moved her parents into a duplex but did you ask Felicia what she did to make that kind of money? No, tell me, was it a government job that was enabling me send close to a million naira to you and father every month. You want to pretend that you didn't know? Save me that. I did the best I could, given the circumstances, don't judge me, judge the system" I said and hung up.
A month after Lizzy's interview, I crawled out of my hiding, it was time to show the world I was still here. Lizzy's interview was good for business though. Many girls wanted to know how I could snag a man like Haliru. He was known to abhor women since his divorce. Because people were sending so many questions to my Facebook, I decided to run a blog called Mistress 101. Within a month it had millions of fans, and soon I as getting fat checks to run campaigns on my blog. One would have thought, having found a way of making money without sleeping with a man, I would change my lifestyle, but no I didn't.
I was itching to have a man be under my control again. I went fishing, and this time I was not ready to date anyone like I did with Haliru, I just service them and get my benefits. Again, Lizzy's interview was good for business as I was termed 'Popular Abuja big babe'. My clientele included politicians, oil magnates and even the elite northern men. I learnt the Hausa language immediately as I saw knowing how to speak the language opened doors into these men's hearts.
Sometimes, I would just greet a man sitting alone in Hausa, having seen that he is from the north, and he would let down his guard, and before long, he would be sucked into my web of seduction. I also stopped dressing provocatively, and began to dress like a northern princess to enter the inner circle of these northern men.
These Hausa men are the best lovers because they have no time for long sexual sessions, but they shower you with gifts and anything you want. Many times, I had vacations in exotic places, got customized bags and shoes from fashion houses in the United States. Girls began to flock to me, they wanted to be friends with me, so I could show them the ropes. Hmmn, I thought I was living the life, until reality slapped me hard on the face.
There was one of my clients, Nafiu, he always insisted on skin to skin, as he claimed his religion was against the use of condoms. He was my highest paying client and had even sponsored my trip to London, among other things. He had so many wives and concubine, but after a week with me, he was hooked, and sometimes we would stay cooped up in a hotel for weeks. His dick though, was long and thick, the type that could destroy a woman's womb, I could never ride him for long like I did my Haliru (oops, he is no longer mine, sad).
One day I had developed fever and I was having these reddish rashes on my face. I covered it up with my Mac powder, but it was getting worse and I was disturbed. I went to the doctor and complained of it. Ii was told to run a series of test, including HIV test. I scoffed at this, as HIV seemed like something that happened to people that were not me. However, after a few minutes of waiting in the lobby, the doctor called me into his office. His face was sombre and still I did not get disturbed. I put the rashes down to a skin infection that would clear off with a topical cream. But, no, I was given the most explosive news of my life.
The doctor started by educating me about HIV and how people can still lead a normal life even though they have the disease. He told me having HIV is not the end of the world, and I can still live to an old age because of the injections and drugs that stop the virus from multiplying.
"Doctor, this information is not for me, can you go straight to the reason I have these rashes?"
"The test we conducted confirmed you as HIV positive" he said, and it was like the whole world fell away and I was thrown into a void.

Watch out for the final episode