35

FOR a split second Jasira was in a daze, she just couldn’t comprehend this Tarmah girl right now, jeez! She was ‘badder’ than she had thought.
Finally, she came back from her land of thoughts to the reality, she sighed so deeply. Then she splayed her left hand on her face.
“Are you there Jasira?”, Tarmah was forced to ask, the silence was lingering longer than she expected.
“Ahhhh! Tarmah, I am here”, she replied, removing her hand from her face.
“Oh! You just been silence for a while”, Tarmah said.
“Tarmah?”, Jasira called.
“Yeah sis”.
“Can I ask you a question?”, she asked.
“Yeah, sure”.
“Hmph. Why the hell are you doing this Tarmah?”, Jasira asked.
She heard Tarmah snort.
“What? Doing what? Please clear the air”, she said.
“Why are you painstakingly trying so hard to link me up with Jeremy? I need to know, why you doing this?”, she asked, her voice was now low, like in a whisper.
Tarmah stiffened a laugh.
“Ma’am, I’m afraid I’m not”, she tried denying.
“Oh please don’t give me that crap! I’m no dunce Tarmah, do not forget that”, she said.
“Alright, alright, I own up”, she said, giving in.
“So, why?”, came the question.
“Oh my gee! Can’t you see it? Can’t you see you guys are good together? Make a better couple?”, she asked and Jasira snorted. Indeed.
Jasira rolled her eyes.
“Well as a matter of fact, I see nothing. I only see madness being portrayed by you”, she stated.
“Huh!”, Tarmah exclaimed, her mouth fell open in shock, “Sis?”, she stressed, pouting.
“Ugh ugh”, Jasira said, tilting her head, then stretched out her legs on the bed.
“That is too harsh Jasira”, she said and Jasira rolled her eyes.
“As a matter of fact Tarmah, you need to stop this, and stop it real quick and good”, she said.
“Ahhhhhh!”, Tarmah muttered lowly leaving her mouth ajar, she was gobsmacked.
Jeez! Who the hell wouldn’t want this? Does she know how many girls are out there wishing someone link them up with Jeremy?
“Madam, you are just proving difficult, you need a man, you need Jeremy”, she stated flatly.
Jasira smirked, then shook her head.
“I need no man miss”, she said, almost interrupting her.
She laughed.
“I know you do. Just relax okay? You would do nothing, just leave the work for me to do, I only need your cooperation”, she pleaded.
She snorted.
“I can see you are serious about this Jasira”.
“Damn serious”, she nodded, like she (Jasira) could see her.
Jasira sighed deeply, then folded her free arm, tucking her left palm under her right elbow, across her chest.
“But you so well know that this is what we plainly call backstabbing, and betrayal”, she said.
Tarmah rolled her eyes, she knew exactly where she was heading to.
“Okay? So? When there is no love there, then it isn’t”, she replied, shrugging her shoulders.
Jasira laughed.
“You say? No love? But I think they are working towards it”, she said and Tarmah wondered if it was a question or a statement.
“They are working towards nothing sis, forget it, forget my sister, Jeremy isn’t for her, someone else is”, she said, making a face.
Jasira was stunned at her reply. What the hell was wrong with her? Choosing a total stranger, over her own sister?
She shook her head in disbelief.
“This is uncalled for Tarmah, totally uncalled for. You shouldn’t be the masterminder of this, you shouldn’t even be a party to this girl, you shouldn’t, it’s backstabbing”.
“Well I don’t care. I love you Jasira, and I want this for you. Jeremy loves you, not my sister, she is only trying to force love”, she stated, matter of fact.
Jasira growled lowly, running her fingers through her hair. She was totally dumbfounded and speechless, didn’t even know what to say or do.
“Gee! I’m lost”, she said.
Tarmah smiled.
“You shouldn’t sis. Just give me…”.
“You are choosing a total stranger, over your sister, do you realize that?”, Jasira suddenly asked, cutting her short.
Tarmah winced, obviously angry at her outburst.
“You aren’t a stranger, you are not”, she said, almost shouting over the phone.
“Well… well”, she rolled her eyes, waving her head.
“Just let me do this Boss J”, came the request and Jasira closed her eyes, and silence stretched for a while.
“Alright, fine, fine”, she finally said, opening her eyes.
“Yeee!”, she squealed.
“But…”, and the squeal died down, “… count me out…”.
“Huh?”, she interrupted.
“You can go ahead and do whatever you want to do but just know, that I never pushed you into doing it…”.
“Sure, sure I know that”, she replied, cutting her short.
“I didn’t push you into doing this Tarmah, and just know you are wasting your precious time doing this, because I will never fall”, she said confidently, shaking her head sideways.
Tarmah frowned.
“Whatever, as long as you have given me a go ahead”, she said.
“I have, but it won’t gonna work”, she insisted.
“Okay, I need to take a first step now, I would be heading for his house”, she said and got up from where she sat.
“Huh, you have literally been taking steps girl, without my knowledge, this isn’t the first”, Jasira said and she bursted into laughter.
“Okay, fine. My first official step, that you have knowledge of”.
“But I aren’t a party to that”, she said firmly.
“Alright ma’am, taken, you aren’t, jeez!”, she exclaimed.
“Whatever, now get off my phone”, she said.
“Sure will boss”, she said laughing, and then hung up.
“Mmmmmm”, Jasira sighed deeply as she closed her eyes, slowly removing the phone from her ear.
“What kind of a maniac is this?”, she muttered lowly to herself, “why the hell is she bent on bringing us together? Different class, different status, different way of life, everything totally different between us. Why is Tarmah doing this huh?”, she rhetorically asked and dragged one of the pillows on the bed to her side, on her laps, and then rested her head on it.
***
Quickly and without ado, Tarmah scrambled out of the couch where she sat speaking with Jasira on the phone.
Then she walked up to her closet and took out some casuals, dressed up and headed for Jeremy’s.
She already knew he wouldn’t make it to work that day, as a result of the party the previous night, she knew, it was his pattern of life, and so she had decided to make it a quickie and see him at once.
It was mid afternoon when she got to his mansion. She had driven all the way from home by an Uber, who had dropped her at the front of the gate, so she had walked into the compound on foot.
Now on getting to the entrance of the edifice, she subconsciously glanced at the garage, and saw a car that wasn’t his, parked at the outer space.
She halted in her tracks and began looking at the car, wondering who the owner was.
Tarmah knew all his cars, and would even probably know if he got a new one, this really wasn’t his. Whose was it then?
She was still standing and looking when two maids walked pass her.
“Good afternoon ma’am”, they genuflected, greeting in unison.
She glanced at them and muttered a reply then turned her gaze back to the car.
“Is he hosting a visitor?”, she rhetorically asked herself, “but he hardly does, he has no friends and host even business meetings either at the office, or at a restaurant or something”, she said, then shrugged and continued walking into the house.
The guards by the door bowed and one of them opened the door for her and she entered.
As soon as she entered, a female’s chattering voice echoed in the living room, cackling and laughing.
“Hmmm”, Tarmah halted at once, staring at the direction of the voice and frowning deeply.
What the hell? Was Jeremy cheating or something? As far as she was concerned, he was cheating.
Seconds after standing and frowning, she changed her facial expression, making it calm, and then she took in a deep breath, and exhaled.
Then she followed the direction where the laughing voice was coming from and it led her to the dining.
Slowly, she got to the door of the dining and then slowly and quietly, she entered and saw her, the owner of the voice.
“Huh!”, she mouthed and her eyes widened, the lady wasn’t only laughing and chatting away with Jeremy, she was also in his clothes, yeah, she was wearing his clothes, she knew it.
And then she studied her well, it was Carrie, his assistant.