CHAPTER ONE
Everyone in Iwaraja knew Ewa was the most beautiful maiden in the village; it was an agreed fact, evident not only to the young men who relentlessly pursued her—some more gifted sang of her beauty but also to the oldies. Though Ewa was a vision of grace and beauty — with cascading curls the colour of midnight and eyes that sparkled like the stars above, her beautiful heart rather than face drew all to her. Unknown to this beauty, she will become an object of someone’s attention — a dark obsession.
***
“You know you should let her know.” Korede whirled around, coming face to face with his very displeased mother, Abike. “A man should be bold, not cowering in the shadows.”
Korede flushed hotly. He was aghast at being caught spying on his sister’s friend Ewa—by his mother, of all people. She was right that he wasn’t bold regarding his feelings for Ewa. But that embarrassing truth was not something he intended to admit to: “I was not cowering. You’re losing it already, old woman.”
She looked gravely offended. His mother, Abike Sule, was not a woman known for frailty — not in words or deeds. She hated everything soft. Unsurprisingly, she had barely abided his father when he was alive because he — just like him, in her words was “soft”. “You will watch that vile tongue of yours. This bravery of yours is what you should put up before Ewa – Act like the man you are.”
“I do not need to put anything before anyone,” Korede said, glancing around the colonial-influenced sitting room and stopping at the black-and-white picture of his father hanging on the clayed wall. I am a man.”
“Prove it. Approach Ewa and request to court her.”
Korede scowled at his mother’s constant attempt to control him.“This has nothing to do with Ewa, and you know it. You only want to assure yourself that I’m not like him.”
“I just want what’s best for you. ” She said, shamed face, frowning as her gaze slid to the picture of his father.
“I know what’s best for me.”
“Do you? Does this best include you pathetically sneaking around? Stealing glances at a woman you have what it takes to make yours” Her eyebrows raised incredulously
It was his turn to look away. “I was not stealing glances at Ewa, I was only… checking…”
At her chuckle, he knew he was promptly snared. His eyes unconsciously sieved through the net on the window to rest on a young maiden, inexplicably drawn to her like a palm to its source of life. From the moment he laid eyes on her, he had admired her — wanted her. She was a revelation —bright, kind, and breathtakingly beautiful.
He didn’t know how or when it had happened, but what started as a simple admiration—unsatisfied—seemed to blossom darkly within him. With every meeting, he had begun to covet her. His heart didn’t seem to yield despite knowing of her relationship with Ojo, a sojourner in their land.
Fortunately, until now, nobody except his best friend Soji had caught him watching her. It was a hopeless pursuit because even he couldn’t decide what he hoped to achieve, stalking her as he did. Ewa would no sooner marry him than she would the drunk Idowu. After all, she only had to declare herself available, and princes from near and far would come beckoning.
“Forget you saw me here” He glared.”I do not want you involving yourself in this”
He knew his mother well enough to know that she would approach Ewa on his behalf if he didn’t stop her. He didn’t want her interfering and halting her pleasurable visit to their house. Ewa was kind but he knew even she would take offence at the awkward and mousy-looking Korede Sule wanting to court her.
She glared back at him. “You know, at times, I wonder if you came out of me.”
For the first time, Korede didn’t care enough to be hurt.”I also wonder the same.” He walked away, closing his senses to her angry retort.
CHAPTER TWO
Solace and refuge were what Ojo and his mother, Alero, had sought when they fled from their home town — and all they knew and loved to Iwaraja.
Their village, Orun, had always been war-ridden — at least since Ojo was old enough to fear and understand the constant horrors that befell them. The worst and breaking point of this war was when they lost his father and two sisters to the senselessness of the boundary clash between their village and the neighbouring. Grieving and tired, he and his mother had journeyed to this village that had turned out to be a blessing and healing they needed — for him especially.
“Do you have to go?” he said, holding on to Ewa as they stood at the bamboo exit of their little hut.
She gestured to the darkening sky. “Ife mi, you know I’ll love nothing more, but it’s getting late”. He loved it when she called him “her love.”
Moments such as this pushed him, making him relentless in all he laid his hands on because he couldn’t wait until she was his for life. It had been love at first sight for them. He remembered those many moons when he’d just been a labourer on her father’s farm, and she had glided in—in that languorous fashion of hers—that he loved, to deliver food to her father and the other labourers.
Looking intensely into her eyes, “Marry me.”
She chuckled, her eyes widening. “How did we get here?”
He was about to supply an answer when his mother interrupted. “What are you love birds doing out here?”
“Mama, you’re back early ”, He stammered. Abike rushed to his mother’s side and took the empty basket and bag from her. “Good evening, mama.”
Ojo’s mother patted her approvingly. “ Good evening, my daughter. Omo dada,” she praised Abike. “Unlike some people who do not know the value of a greeting,” she said.
Ojo, now recovered, chuckled at his mother’s jab. “Good evening, Iyawo Ojo”, He teases, wrapping one hand on her shoulder. “I can see the gods blessed your trade today with your basket gladly emptied of its wears.”
Abike smiled at the older woman’s attempt to keep up with her sore countenance despite the gossiping blush on her fair skin… “Indeed they did,” she sat on the bench the lovers had just vacated. A young man suddenly showed up and bought all the cassava I had.”
“The gods bless him,” Ojo and Abike laughed, pinching each other as they said the words together.
His mother shook her ear as she watched the exchange between them.“I don’t even want to understand what that was. Abike, It’s late already. Your parents will be worried.”
“No, mama, they are not around”, Abike responded.
“Even at that, It is not good to stay out late —“ She turned to him “—Son, see her off. Ensure she enters her father’s compound before you return.”
As if hearing the best news of their lives, they stood up gingerly, getting ready to leave. “Also, come back quickly,” she warned, rising from the sodden bench.
“Okay maami”
Holding hands, they walked out of the compound.
“So what’s your reply?“ Ojo asked when they were alone.
Abike frowned in confusion. “What reply?” He was about to remind her of his surprise proposal when he saw the twinkle of mischief in coffee bean eyes.
“Stay right there”, she warned, backing away as though she could see his intention to tickle her.
“Just be a good girl and accept your punishment, me”, he approached her gamingly.
“That’s if you catch me first” She ran before she finished the words.
***
Unknown to the loverss, their delight was closely monitored in the dark.
CHAPTER THREE
As the days turned into weeks, Korede’s obsession intensified, his mind consumed by fantasies of a life with Abike. He became so drunk in these fantasies that he began to believe them to be their reality that they were meant to be together — that destiny had brought them together for a reason.
“Don’t you think your friend and I shall make a good couple?” He asked his sister, Ronke one morning as they worked on the farm.
His sister frowned “ And where is that coming from?”
“Just answer the question”, Korede commanded, irritated by her reaction.
Bold as their mother, she looked him in the eyes. “No. I don’t think so. Her heart belongs to someone else,” she said, returning to tilling the soil.
“Is that ‘someone’ more worthy than I? That son of a pauper,” he spat, swore. His mother and sister didn’t seem to have any faith in him.
She drops the hole and fires back, “Worthy or not, Pauper or Royal. He has her heart, not you. ”
He glared at her. “Are you not meant to support me? I am your brother, not —”
“You are my brother, not him; that’s why I’m advising you to let it go.” Placing her hand on his lean shoulders, her voice softened. “Find someone who can return your love.”
Her words would have gotten to him if he didn’t want this one thing more than he had ever wanted anything for the first time in his life. “She’s the one I want,” he shrugged her hands away, bending down so their eyes were levelled. “Abike or nothing else. Mark my words, I am going to make her mine. Mine alone.” He resumed tilling the soil with great grit.
***
Driven by his delusions and desire, Korede began devising a plan to win Abike’s affection
and prove himself worthy of her love.
He began by showering her with gifts and tokens of affection, leaving them anonymously on her doorstep in the dead of night, a silent declaration of his undying devotion.
Many times, whenever she came around his house, he made sure she was served well. He instructed his younger ones to help present gifts to her whenever she was leaving. When she confronted him about the gifts, he teased that it was just a harmless gift from her friend’s elder brother. Abike, however, not being materialistic, was pleased that he stopped. So he did, focusing on his anonymous gifts.
The anonymous gifts kept coming in continuously. However, Abike remained unmoved by his gestures, her heart still with Ojo. Unknown to Korede, Abike would have trashed his gifts, but for her mother, who thought the gifts were from Ojo, had become more receptive towards him.
However, with every new gift, Abike became filled with unease.
“I feel like I’m being watched. That someone is lurking in the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.” She told Ojo about it during one of their regular walks.
“Why do you feel that way, my love? “ Ojo stopped mid-step and came to stand in front of her.
Abike looked away. Begging the guilt —she felt at keeping the gifts from Ojo — away. She didn’t want him worrying or feeling sad for nothing. “Tired”, she grabbed onto the first thing that came to her mind” “Yes, I’m just tired, don’t mind me” She finished with an artful yawn.
Ojo inspected her silently. “You’re sure.”
“Of course I am” She giggled, Playfully poking his rib. “ You know how weird I get when I’m tired.”
Her acting must have convinced him because he visibly relaxed. “Should we go back then?”
She wrapped her hands around his. around “Not if I have anything to say about it.” She rested her head on his hand and began moving ahead.
CHAPTER FOUR
The evening would have been like any other regular one if Abike had found Ojo waiting for her at the river. But this evening seemed different as Abike arrived at the river bank before Ojo for the first time. She waited thinking he was running late but when the darkening sky made it clear that he wasn’t coming she decided to return home.
On the path out of the river, she heard footsteps behind her, but every time she turned, she saw no one. Scared and alert, she increased her speed, only relaxing when she heard the chatter of some villagers ahead.
Abike almost concluded she heard wrongly when a crouching figure sprang out of the bushes, blocking her path.
“Help me”
“Ojo!” She screamed, realising that the crouching figure was Ojo. He seemed to be in pain, holding his head. “What happened to you?” She closed the distance between them, holding him up.
“Thank the gods you’re safe.” Ojo cried in relief.
Abike put her hand around him, supporting him. “What do you mean?”
“Someone I couldn’t see attacked me on my way to see.”
Abike gasped. “Why would someone do that?”
“He said I should stay away from you.”
At those words, Abike felt pins of chill pierce through her. Her instinct hadn’t been wrong. Someone was watching her. “I have something to tell you, but first, let’s get you home.”
***
After Abike told Ojo about the anonymous gifts and her suspicion, they decided to be careful and limit their meetings to the light of day. Moments when the evening meant them, Ojo ensured that he saw her to her father’s compound before he returned.
The gifts stopped coming after the attack on Ojo’s life was made, thwarting their attempt to lay ambush on the anonymous gifter, who they both believed was behind hisThe lovers slowly became less vigilant withack. With the gifts no more forthcoming and no at vigilant.
One fateful night – after a while – as Abike walked home alone from a late-night cultural dance session at the village, she suddenly felt a dreadful chill run down her spine. She couldn’t explain it, but she felt afraid. She quickened her pace, her heart pounding in her chest, as she cast furtive glances over her shoulder, searching for any sign of her unseen pursuer. But nothing was out of place.
In the darkness of the village path, He emerged from the shadows, face masked, his eyes burning with a manic intensity. Abike tried to run back, but he easily caught her. Without uttering a word, he pinned her to the cold brick wall. As he reached to touch her, her lungs suddenly felt passed with power, and Abike screamed with all her might, not caring if she provoked him into slitting her throat.
By the time her attacker was able to gag her, it was too late. Ojo appeared — as if summoned like a spirit to chants, and he fought off her attacker with a brute force that had her in love over again and her attacker running like a coward at the sign of battle.
CHAPTER FIVE
By the time the villagers and the vigilantes arrived to investigate the cause of the scream, the mysterious attacker had escaped. The surprising part was that none of them had encountered the attacker on their way. It seemed like he hadn’t been real, but she knew he was.
She would never forget that darkness and madness she saw when their eyes had met. This was a dark obsession. This person she had just encountered had to be stopped.
“Thank the gods he didn’t have his way,” A young maiden said.
Abike shivered, understanding what she meant. In their custom, whether whether raped or willing, a deflowered maiden was a ruined maiden.“ Thank you” Her eyes welled up in gratitude. The full impact of her attack weighed on her. “He would have… if you had not —“ She gave up the fight, throwing her arms around him.
“Don’t cry, my love. I’m sorry he got as close as he did today,” Ojo cooed. I should have insisted on following you home..”
She didn’t know how word got to her mother, but her mother suddenly showed up, wailing and screaming. The moment she got close to where she and Ojo were, her mother threw herself on the ground.
“Woman, get up. You’re creating a scene.” Her father tried to lift her, but she refused.
“Leave. Let me mourn that monster has deflowered my daughter” We are ruined, she wailed, rolling on the floor.
There was a confused silence before one of the villagers said, “Save your tears, Iya Abike. Your daughter was not raped. Ojo arrived on time and saved her.”
“Is that true?” she asked sceptically.
“It’s true, Maami”, Abike responded.
Hearing this, she jumped up and dusted the sand that had clung to her wrapper while she sat on the ground, “Eledumare eseun o. Thank you, my son.”
***
As Abike stood with Ojo in the vigilante’s hangout, she wondered why he had suddenly requested to see them. It had been two days since the incident, but it still felt fresh in her mind.
News of what had happened spread so fast that the king had heard of it by the next day. He wanted to involve the police, but the vigilante leader was persuasive and requested a week to try his hand at apprehending the culprit.
Ojo took the leader’s stocky hands in a greeting style used by men in the same age group. Orobo, as the leader was called, was a man who had used his body weight well. He made the word fatty, which was the meaning of his name, Orobo, powerful.
“Please s.it” He gestured to a bench that looked like it had seen more days than it ought to have. The creak it gave as they sat on it was all the confirmation she needed.
“I think we have the culprit,” the leader said
They exchanged shocked looks and then asked in unison, “Who is it?”
Ewa gasped in shock at his response, “Korede.”
“How?” she stuttered. She had wished—at least for her friendship with his sister— that Korede wasn’t the culprit.
“After you told us about Korede’s gift to you, the mysterious gift, and the attack on Ojo, We dug further and found Korede possessing a mask just like you described. After that, it was easy for him to confess. He confessed to stalking Ewa and also attacking you, Ojo.”
“I knew he was the one,” Ojo angrily said as he stood from the bench. “By the gods, if I get hold of —”
“Wait —” Ewa held Ojo’s hand — To the captain. “What about the anonymous gifts?? Was he also the one?”
Orobo nodded.
She asked, “Can… I…can I please see him?”
She didn’t know who was more shocked by her request between Ojo and Orobo, but she knew the room was dead silent for a minute.
CHAPTER SIX
“You will do no such thing?” Ewa’ther threatened.
It had been a — fortnight now since Korede had been apprehended. A fortnia locked in her father’s house like she was some prisoner.“But Mama, Mama, she has been coming here every day consistently since he was arrested. Let me at least hear her out.”
“You want to hear who out? Over my dead body, will you hear or see that vile woman who called her son stalking you an act of love??” Her mother planted herself on the door. Hands arched on her waist as she did whenever she wanted to show that she meant business. “I will not let you be brainwashed.”
“Baba,” Ewa said, looking at her father for help, but even he seemed to be on her mother’s side because he refused to look her way.
Suddenly overcome with a wave of childishness, she stomped her feet and went back to her room. On getting to her room, she flung herself onto her bed. Covering her mouth, she realised a scream.
She knew her parents were only doing what they thought was right. But she couldn’t help feeling bad for Korede.
When Orobo had taken her to see him, he had been a shadow of himself. Rather than the fear she had expected to feel when she saw Korede, she felt pity. Korede had been void of his wit. He openly professed his love for her with reckless abandon. How had she missed his affection for her?
Everything points to the fact that he was guilty. Just as everyone argued, There’s been no attack since Korede was arrested. That alone showed he was the right culprit. But still, she couldn’t bring herself to –
“Ewa” She looked up to see Ojo coming in. He and her mother seeme to have become close, although at her expense. The mother-in-law and son-in-law were united in their plan to keep her away from Korede and his family.
“I need your help” She jumped out of bed.
“Hope it has nothing to do with —”
“If you love me, you will listen to me and do me this one favour,” she pleaded, desperately clutching his hands.
He was silent for a moment as though in a deep struggle with himself, and then he sighed and yielded. “I’m listening.”
“I want you to ask Orobo why he said he thought he had the culprit, not that he had the culprit.”
No matter how hard she thought of everything, something wasn’t right. She could feel it in her guts.
***
“We found this at your door post”, Ewa’s mother said, entering her room some days later.
Ewa’s heart sank as her mother opened a basket. In it was all the attire a bride needed to adorn herself for a wedding.
“I think it’s from Ojo”, Her mother whispered as though they were in mixed company rather than her room. Excitedly, she skirted through the iro, buba, coral beads and cowries in the basket.
It took everything in Ewa to remain calm despite the fear and anger that seared through her. The fear was because she knew the gift wasn’t from Ojo. Given their plan with Orobo, he wouldn’t drop any anonymous gift. Her anger, however, was directed at her mother for her lackadaisical attitude—or should she say greed? A crazy man was on the loose, and they didn’t know who he was or what he planned to do next.
“I’ll keep it then,” Ewa said. Taking the basket from her. The vigilante leader and Ojo might need it. Beyond a doubt, this proved that they were right.
Korede was innocent.
Ewa instantly came awake the moment she heard the scratching of the door.
Someone was in the room.
Everything in her felt it. It was challenging, but she managed to lie down as though she was fast asleep. Thankfully, she wasn’t facing the door, so whoever it was wouldn’t notice as she reached for the little dagger Orobo had given her. She had hoped she didn’t have to put her skills with the little metal to use —
As whoever it was got on the bed, she turned and thrusted blindly with all her might, cutting him in the face. He groaned and ripped the mask off his face —
“Ade?” She gasped, recognising the face of Korede’s best friend.
The shock of the slash on his cheek seemed more than the cut or pain because a smile quivered on one corner of Ade’s mouth. “Yes, my love, it’s Ade, your true love”, He replied, his voice changed from its usual tone, feverish and excited now, pleased with himself. “I did all this to show you I’m worthy of your love, not that worthless foreigner or that fool Korede.”
“Korede is your friend,” she accused him, trying to distract him from noticing that the dagger had been laid on the bed.
“I have no friends even if I did not that fool Korede.”He smirked, “ I only kept him around because he was a good coverage for me.” He smirked. “You know I was going to have Korede kill Ojo so I can get them both out of the way, but that fool couldn’t even get the job done.”
Her heart wept for Korede as she looked at the one whom he called friend. This man had a dark and wicked soul. It was a pity they all underestimated him because of his calm demeanour.
“So the attack,the mysterious gifts, and the mask found in Korede’s room—that was all you?” she asked.
“Yes, it was. Now, enough talk. Let’s get out of here.” He froze as he saw her point the dagger at him.
“You’re wicked and evil. I could never love a fool like you.”
His eyes darkened unreasonably “Ungrateful. I can see you want things the hard way.”
“You are about to be hit hard” A male voice spoke out of the darkness.
Startled, he glanced over to the left as Ojo stepped out of the shadows — a machete in hand. And Orobo came through the door with a pistol levelled at him.
Realisation hit Ade that he had fallen into a trap.
