VILE

Chapter 17: The Present

Tomike was tired and jetlagged. Her head was banging as though a brigade band was matching inside. She couldn't wait to step out of the airport so she could light a smoke.

She had forgotten how much she hated flying because she hadn't done it in a while, and spending seventeen hours flying from Boston had disoriented her.

As soon as she got past customs and got her luggage she was home free. The Murtala Mohmmed airport sure knew how to make things harder than they actually were.

"They like unnecessary wahala" she muttered to herself.

She dragged her luggages as she headed to the exit. She'd take a taxi home. Bose's driver was supposed to come get her but unfortunately Iya Bose had relapsed and he needed to run urgent errands for the family.

Tomike's heart sank at the thought of Iya Bose's relapse. She had seen the WhatsApp message from Temilade when they had made a stop at the Heathrow airport in London. She said a silent prayer. The last thing she wanted was for Iya Bose to die before she got home. The last thing she wanted was for Iya Bose to die.

As soon as she stepped out of the airport, she need not be told she was back in Nigeria. The heat hit her. She could feel it from the crown of her head, to the very sole of her feet. She was in Nigeria, Lagos to be precise. She didn't want to imagine how hot it would be during the day when the sun was out.

Finding a taxi wasn't hard. There was a lot of them outside the airport, looking for customers. The one thing Tomike was interested in was finding one with a good air conditioner, and that wasn't hard to find either.

Febuary was not really a good time to come back to Nigeria. It was usually very hot at that time of the year, and the heat waves were no joke. For someone who had just survived winter, the coldest weather she had ever experienced, adjusting to such a hot climate was not going to go smoothly.

"Hope you don't mind?" Tomike asked the driver as she lifted up her cigarette box. She was now seated in a taxi.

"No ma, but I'll have to put off the AC"

Tomike gave it a thought and quickly resolved that her sanity was far more important to her than smoking at that moment.

"Don't worry. The weather is too hot for it anyways."

He nodded in response.

It was quick, but Tomike saw the judging look on the man's face through the rare view mirror when she had raised her cigarette box.

Whatever.

She couldn't give a damn. She had had enough of people giving their two cents about her smoking all the time, and as long as he didn't voice his thoughts and was able to swallow whatever problems he had with it, they'd be just fine.

"Lagos and traffic. Nothing seems to have changed" Tomike said to herself. It'd been almost an hour since they'd left the airport and they were still on the road, nowhere close to their destination.

"Na so oo my sister. But today own come bad too much sha. Maybe there was an accident or something. I don't just know"

Who is your sister?

"Oh, I see" she replied, as she looked up from her phone.

Everyone had called her by now. And by everyone, literally 'everyone'. Bose, Temilade and even Babajide, Iya Bose's son who was to arrive the next day from London had called.

Bose apologised several times about her driver being unable to pick Tomike. If only that would make the traffic situation any better.

Tomike really didn't care who was driving the car. All she wanted was to get home, have a bath, go off to sleep and then off to the hospital to see Iya Bose. But it seemed more and more to her with each passing moment that none of that was bound to happen anytime soon.

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11:09

Since Tomike stepped out of the airport at around 8pm, it had been three hours already. She couldn't believe it, she had spent close to three hours on the road and wasn't even home yet.

What exactly is wrong with Lagos?

But thankfully she was already in Agege. She was trying to direct the driver to the exact location of her drop off. But with the change of four years the whole place had undergone and at that time of night, it was almost impossible.

The driver was parked in front of a popular eatery as they waited for Bose's driver to come. That was the only solution to her getting home on time and safe.

At the arrival of the driver, Tomike heaved a sigh of relief.

Finally!

Bose had sent her a picture of the driver as well as a description of the car he'd be driving so she wouldn't get into wrong hands.

Tomike settled into the 2016 Ford Explorer. It felt so comfortable and the AC brought her back to life. Not that her taxi driver's camery didn't do the job, but this was just much better.

By the time she was home, Tomike had fallen asleep. It was Bose who woke her up.

"Tomi baby, our American lady" she beamed.

For a moment Tomike thought she was dreaming until she realised she wasn't.

"Aunty Bose!" She tried hard to snap out of her sleepy state.

"You look tired. So sorry dear. I heard a tanker fell along the route you passed"

"Yeah, yeah"

Bose embraced her in a hug as soon as she stepped out of the car, although Tomike had made an attempt to kneel.

"No need for that. You have obviously been stressed today. They have prepared everything for you. Just go up and relax."

Tomike had no problem with that, she just wanted to take a bath and hit the bed.

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Val💕