Vagrants

Chapter 53

The protests continued but it was lesser in places like Epe where Folake and Tayo lived.

I was grateful to them and I enjoyed staying in their beautiful home without going out or to the school.

After the supervisor scored me that day, I felt no need to go to the school. My program would soon be over and I had a high score. That wasn't the reason, I just didn't want to stress myself by going from Epe to Lekki everyday in my condition.

I had thought of the students and how they'd be fairing without me but the thought of Damba had crossed my mind and how desperate I was to find him. Besides, these students had mocked my condition so there was no point trying to compromise anything for them.

Seyi has been busy all through and he didn't know I was out of the residence. I had seen him on the news trying his best to strengthen the "END SARS" protests by giving resources from his company to the protesters and working hand in hand with some high officials mostly abroad, to disband the unit.

From that, I could tell how busy he was that he probably must have forgotten to check up on me. He had left me in good condition so he knew I'd be fine.

I started getting acquainted with Twitter. Getting news even before it was broadcasted on television. I was busy with Twitter in Folake's living room when she slumped on the couch beside me.

She peered into my phone. "You and this your Twitter sha."

"You should try it. It's very nice." I said without looking up at her.

"Hmm." She sighed. "See the way you're just scrolling and liking tweets. Your hands are fast oh."

"Don't tease me jare." I said. "Do you know what happened?"

"What?"

"There's this man on Twitter. They said his name is Aproko doctor. He has been doing so much for the people."

"Ehnehn?" Folake's eyes showed interest. "Which People?"

"The protesters now." I smiled. "He even organized donations for a girl to get a prosthetic leg."

"Which girl?"

"I don't know her name but she was there during the protest and he decided to help her."

"That's very good. Why didn't they show it on T.V?" Folake asked.

"Uh." I scoffed. "Their news are fabricated. They just show us what they want us to see instead of what we should know."

"You sha want me to join this your Twitter sha."

"Yes now."

"Okay." Folake tapped her temple. "You can find anybody there?"

"Not everybody but a lot of..."

"Celebrities are there?" Folake asked.

"I know People like Adekunle gold, Falz and..."

"I'm talking about business men and renowned people jare." Folake hissed.

"Femi Otedola and Dangote are..."

"Damba is a businessman!" Folake's words increased my heartbeat so much that I could actually hear it.

"Oh. Y-Yes." I had actually filled them in about my findings on Damba.

"Are you still naïve ni?"

I wasn't being naïve. I was playing dumb. As much as I wanted to find Damba, I tried very hard to push thoughts of him away from my mind.

I shook my head. "So you will join Twitter only if he is there?"

"I'm asking you to check if you'd see him there." Folake sighed. "Search for- what's that his real name again?"

"Femi Lawal."

"Yes! Femi Lawal. Search for him."

"Okay." I nodded.

"Come to think of it." Folake sighed. "Your Damba's name is Femi."

"So?"

"I've heard that all Femis are players."

I rolled my eyes. "Not all. People just make assumptions."

"Not all. But definitely this one." Folake hissed. "Why did you go and fall for a Femi?"

"How was I suppose to know? And besides, we fall in love with personalities not names or looks."

"Whatever. Just look for him."

*

I found Damba on Twitter as Femi Lawal. His account was verified which made it even harder for me to get in touch with him. I followed him and turned on his post notifications, I wanted to know everything he did and where he went.

Folake joined Twitter too and she helped me keep tabs on him. I returned to Instagram and unblocked him. This account got verified too. I saw his pictures everywhere and on most occasions he took pictures with few girls.

I didn't think too much about them and concluded that they were his colleagues but I got shocked by what I saw one day. He posted himself with a girl with ringed finger and captioned it. "Guess who is getting married soon? My love."

Damba had broken my heart before and I had hope, longing to find him and telling him the damage he'd caused but this broke my heart all over again. Damba has really forgotten me. It's like I never existed in his life.

I checked the account of the girl and seeing her pictures all over Instagram made me realize who it was. It was the girl from the hotel room. The cleaner. The one Damba was staring at. My nightmare finally came true. Damba left me for a hotel cleaner.

"Wow!" Tayo exclaimed. "That guy really did something there."

"Did you know he was rich?" Folake asked.

"He bought expensive things for me but I didn't think..."

"That guy is damn rich!" Tayo smiled. "You're lucky you have a child to pin on him."

"That's not what this is about. I love him and I want to know why..."

"You still love him after everything?" Folake spoke pidgin. "You get mind oh."

I didn't say anything to them and they didn't either. They just kept themselves busy from trying to wrap their heads around what happened between Damba and I and between Damba and that cleaner.