HOOK, LINE AND SINKER (Episode 3)

06 March 2017
8.45am
Echoes Newspaper House

A depressed Bisola had walked into the office on Monday with her mind made up on how to reach Kaina yet again. She had save the number that Saturday and rushed to Whatsapp to see if it would reveal a profile. She was rather disappointed that the number was not on Whatsapp. She hid her number and redialed with expectation that he would pick and Truecaller would identify the number but he ignored the call and the name that popped up was not anything close to all middle and pet names of Marcus. A part of her told her not to bother; Marcus had disappeared into thin air forever, there was no point trying to find him after four years. The other part told her to continue the search.

“Good morning Sunshine” Akin’s loud voice cut through Bisola’s thoughts.

“Morning Moonshine” She responded rather coldly.

“What’s the matter?” Akin asked with concern in his eyes as he walked to Bisola’s table.

Bisola told him she had a long weekend and was just tired.

“Long weekend, huh? I see…” Akin let out a mischievous smile.

“Get out, you naughty being” Bisola laughed and began hitting him with a newspaper.

“Your mind is just messed up… But just so you know, he didn’t pitch.” She continued.

“What?! What type of guy misses a date with a damsel? I’m heartbroken” Akin placed his hand on his chest in solidarity. He soon joined Bisola in laughing as he listened to her story.

“Sorry dear. Daddy’s here now. Okay?”

“Okay, you play too much and I have a lot of work to do.” Bisola pushed him away from her table and promised to have lunch with him after much plea.

Once he was gone, she rushed to her first assignment for the day. She switched on her hibernated computer and began working on pending articles for different columns of Echoes newspaper, and for the first time in almost 48 hours, she had her life back. She was halfway through her work when her phone began to vibrate. She ignored the phone that was placed face-down on her table to concentrate on work. At the third round of vibration, Bisola picked the phone to check who the caller was. It was an unknown number. She watched the phone ring till the call ended. The first call was from Sharon, her friend from NYSC, the only other person that knew about her pregnancy troubles and stood by her. She found it strange that Sharon would call her on a Monday morning. It was then she realized how fast the day had gone. It was no longer morning. She jumped out of her seat and rushed to Akin’s table.

“It’s lunch time, we should go.” She said in a hurry.

“O..kay…” Akin looked at her in bewilderment.

“Why are you suddenly excited about having lunch with me?” Akin was confused at the way Bisola rushed to help switch off his laptop and drag him off his seat.

“Well, I found this new place….” Bisola walked briskly out of the office and Akin increased his pace to catch up with her.

“Hey, calm down. You’re walking so fast, what’s up?” Akin stopped her by holding her hands firmly.

“Okay… okay…” She breathed in and out a few times and then turned to face Akin.

“I need your help with something; let’s call it an unfolding story that can be published, you know? Juicy details and all that stuff you guys at the celebrity gossips corner do.”

“Okay… why do you sound so scared then?” Akin stopped for a minute to understand what Bisola was driving at.

They walked into the nearby restaurant that most staff members came to for lunch and Bisola dished out all the details she had, while painting the scenario to sound like someone else was involved.

“This Sharon girl is desperate; she’s been calling my phone everyday since she last saw the guy at the mall…” Bisola continued. It was easy to pin the entire story on Sharon as her calls kept coming in. She showed Akin the number of missed calls from Sharon in a bid to convince him to help trace Marcus.

“Okay, I’ll see what I can do…” Akin said dryly.

“Please Akin, help my friend out here.” Bisola pleaded, as she gave Akin a mobile number and some other details she thought might help with the ‘investigation’.

She paid for lunch and they talked about Akin’s dead love life till they got back to the office.

***

She let out a big sigh as she sat back in her chair to get on with the rest of the day. She was hopeful that Akin would help solve the puzzle; he was smart and could find out almost anything. Her phone began to ring again and this time, Bisola had no choice than to pick Sharon’s call.

“Hey…” She tried to sound as excited as possible. She knew Sharon would almost have her head for not picking her calls and she was right.

Sharon yelled over the phone, ranting about how proud Bisola had gotten and how she had abandoned their friendship to live the ultimate ‘big girl’ dream all by herself, while she suffered in some elderly man’s house in the name of an arranged marriage orchestrated by her parents.

It was not the first or second time Sharon would call just to rant about how miserable her life was, and how she had lost her freedom and youthfulness, hence, the reason for ignoring the calls.

“Sorry dear. Everything will be just fine, you just have to keep…”

“Enduring? Is that what you want to say?” Sharon cut in.

“No o; I was going to say you should look on the bright side. After all, money is no longer a problem…” Bisola tried to cheer her friend up.

“Anyway, that’s not why I called. I saw your aunt around my area over the weekend.” Sharon began.

“Which of them?” Bisola paused for a moment.

“Which other one? Do you have two aunts living in Port Harcourt?” Sharon replied nonchalantly.

“Hello… hello…” Sharon dropped the call after waiting for a few seconds without any response from Bisola.

Bisola dropped the phone on her table as she stared into nothingness.

***

HOOK, LINE AND SINKER by Faith Olatunbosun