The breakfast consisted of fried eggs, sliced bread and tea. It was something I enjoyed eating because it wasn't complicated to prepare. Unlike acamu or custard powder that needed to be stirred, frying eggs was quite simple.
In fact I remembered the many times I served Ola with fried eggs, sliced bread and tea and he would start complaining.
"Ha dis house dey no dey chop anything pass dis one?"
" And what else is there to eat for breakfast apart from this?"
"Well invent something else." He would say. What was there to invent? After all, this combination to the best of my knowledge, was one of the most served breakfast I could think of.
Sitting opposite the hotel manager gave me a sense of being with my own husband. We used to sit opposite each other on the breakfast and dinner table. Lunch time we were never at home as we were both at work.
I ate slowly when I noticed the hotel manager raising his head up and looking at me from time to time. I was used to my husband staring at me that way, so it didn't bother me too much.
Instead, what bothered me, was when he said I should consider myself lucky to be the only woman after his ex-wife to come inside his private area. While I felt honored, it didn't appear to me as too much of a complement.
I was a skeptic when I wanted to be one. And so I believed, there was something behind him bringing me into this place. I found this out after we had finished breakfast and went to sit down in the sitting room area.
"So Sunshine, how was the breakfast, did you enjoy it?" He asked, smiling at me.
"It was okay, I mean yeah, I enjoyed it." I replied.
"Good, I'm glad you did. You know, I only do this on very special occasions, and for very special people." He got up and went to get himself a glass of whisky.
He came back holding a glass in his hand, and sat down.
"Yeah, so after a good breakfast, I always use this to digest the breakfast." I laughed as he said that.
"But that is alcohol, it might cause you stomach upset."
"Oh well I'm used to taking it after breakfast so it has become a habit."
"Well if you feel okay about it then there's no problem." I said. He smiled like he was putting a mark of approval on what I had just said. He sipped his drink with a sense of pride and then looked at me.
"You know my wife," he said, " I mean my ex-wife of course, had a problem with my early morning drinking habit."
He looked at me as he took another sip again. I observed him as he sipped his drink, and felt the need to know how it all went between him and his wife.
Knowing he didn't bring me into his private area just to welcome me, I had to ask him what happened between him and his wife
"So what happened between the two of you?" I asked, not sure if he would want to talk about it. But he took a deep breath and started to talk.
"It's a long story, a very long story. In fact I don't know where to start."
"Well if you don't feel like talking about it, I can understand." I shrugged as I said that because, if there was one thing I wanted most, it was to know the reason I was brought here.
"Sunshine, like I told you, you are the only woman after my wife that has entered here. It's a long story but I will tell you briefly how it started and how we came to the point of separation."
I looked at him quietly without saying a word. Seeing my unresponsiveness, he went on to tell me a story; his version of the story.
"We came from having nothing to being the proud owners of this hotel. As you can see having this hotel meant money wasn't our problem anymore. But just after two years into the business, she started finding all sorts of reasons to take out money from the account we had opened for the business."
"Money, it has always been a great destroyer of relationships." I remarked.
"While I was busy trying to get people to patronize the business, her concern was how much money was going into the account." He took a deep breath before he continued.
"Then one day, I was called by the bank manager. He told me about the alarming rate my wife was taking money out of the account. I questioned her about it and the only thing she told me was, it was for our future."
"As far as I know, back then, we were not a couple anymore. It was like we were only business partners. We were not even sleeping together anymore. She would go out and come back late. Then one day, I received a visit from a strange looking guy."
"When he came he told me that she had sent him to pick up some money. I asked him how much and he said it was 1 million naira. I was shocked and angry at the same time. So I called her demanding an explanation.
She was arguing with me and before I knew it this guy brought out a gun and said if I didn't give him the money immediately, he would shoot me. I had to give it to him."
"Sounds terrible going through what you went through. But what was her reason for doing all this?" I asked trying to think of how all of this was connected to my coming here.
"She invented a story of infidelity which was quite a surprise." Infidelity, my mind quickly went to Nneka the receptionist.
"Is it Nneka?" I asked without thinking. He looked at me sharply, as if he could get up from where he was sitting and slap me. But then he sighed.
"Nneka was just a one-time affair. But why do you ask?"
"Remember I told you I had early competition?" He nodded.
"I was coming down the stairs when I overheard her talking over the phone with a friend.
She was telling the friend how she had more desirable physical attributes than I had, and things like that." He laughed.
"Nneka can sometimes be stupid. I've warned her not to play around you, otherwise I would tell her to stop working for me."
"Even after what you both had?" I asked surprised he would want to take such an action.
"It was only a one-time affair which shouldn't have happened but it was due to my wife neglecting me. And besides, I never promised her anything."
It was hard to believe he could go to that extent with the receptionist, without having made some bogus promises like all men do. In my mind it was now clear why she behaved the way she did towards me. That one-time affair, may have gotten into her head.
But as hard as I found it difficult to believe him, he seemed somewhat sincere, and this showed in the way he said it. It made me wonder if he also took the other women that came to the hotel, as seriously as he was taking me.
"So why did you tell her to tell me to wait until the police left."
"They are still investigating that woman. What was her name? Kemi. She was carried away by gunmen that came here. She used to come here with a guy, a very good looking guy. I think I still remember his name, Ola. Yes, I think his name is Ola or something like that."
I felt my heart beat very fast at the mention of the name Ola. I was gasping for breath. The manager saw me and rushed over to where I was sitting and placed his hands on my shoulders.
"Sunshine are you alright?" I nodded, while I used my right hand to beat my chest.
The hotel manager, quickly rushed to get me some water which I drank, and finally regained myself. There was tears in my eyes.
"Sunshine what happened?" He asked looking worried. Oh Lord I pray, I hope it is not my Ola he is talking about? I asked myself. Tears were rolling down my eyes faster than I could wipe them.
It surprised the hotel manager who stood confused and didn't know what to do. When I regained myself and wiped my tears, I looked at him.
" If you don't mind can I go back to my room?" I asked.
"Well seeing what happened to you, I think you should relax here for a while before going back to your room." I kept quiet as the shock of hearing Ola's name was too much for me to bear. Chuks sat down next to me and took my hands.
"Sunshine if there is something I ought to know, tell me now. There's a Police investigation going on."
"Why do you ask?" I asked him
"I mentioned that guy's name and this brought about the little problem you had. Do you know him?" I stiffened a bit when he asked me that question. I got up and told him I was going to my room.
He wanted to follow me but I told him not to. I left him and went upstairs to my room.
The first thing I did was to look under the bed for the bag with the money in it. It was there. Since I left the house, and lodged in the hotel, I had never taken the time to open it and check the contents.
Now I had a good reason for doing so. I brought it out from under the bed. I then went to the door and made sure it was locked. I sat down on the edge of the bed and opened the bag.