Mrs Coker lay on her side watching Babatunde get dressed. He knew she loved watching him like this, chest bare, with the sun lighting up his fair, smooth skin.
Unease settled on him like dew as thoughts of Mawon, his girlfriend of six months, came to his mind. She had no idea he sometimes made money from pleasing Mrs Coker. He knew she would be disappointed, just as his father would be. Thinking of his father, he pulled on his shirt, grabbed his phone and faced her. “I’m off.”
“When will I see you again?”
“When next will your husband travel?”
After her husband had almost caught them once, Babatunde had decided not to visit her if the man was in town.
“I’ve told you he doesn’t matter. He’s busying lobbying for some design contracts now. He doesn’t have time for me.” “Well, I hope so because I don’t want to get shot.”
Mrs Coker laughed and tapped her phone for several minutes. “Just sent you some money.”
He nodded at the ₦500,000 she had just sent. It would take care of several tests for his father’s treatment.
“Don’t come to me again with this morose attitude.”
“Yeah, I’ll tell my father not to have a heart attack.”
Mawon would leave him if she found out about Mrs Coker, but his father would likely deteriorate if he didn’t take her money. He drove out of Mrs Coker’s compound, feeling as if he was being watched. Mr Kosoko was awake and able to move his left arm slightly when Babatunde arrived at the hospital. His eyes hardened when the young man walked to his side. “
The doctors said you’re getting better. We’ve paid for some of the tests. When you get better, we’ll take you for some more tests.” Babatunde was not looking at his father; his eyes were on a spot on the bed. He had a guilty look on his face, and Mr Kosoko wondered if it had to do with the money his son had brought to take care of the bills.
He chose not to ask about it. “Do you need anything?” Babatunde asked. “I’ve told the nurse to bring food here in the morning, afternoon and night.” Mr Kosoko grunted in disgust and opened his mouth to say something, but the words stuck to the roof of his mouth. So he looked away and stared at the ceiling.
All he ever wanted was to be a responsible father and raise good men, but it seemed he had failed. His sons were far from the man he had been at their ages, and now they would inherit his debt if he couldn’t get up from this bed and turn things around. He wondered what he could have done differently. After his wife was no longer in the picture, he had continued his businesses, refusing to remarry.
Starting new businesses and growing his wealth soothed the pain of his wife’s absence and made him happier than he had been married to her. He provided all his sons needed and allowed himself the comfort of a woman or two every few years. All had seemed well for years until his sons became teenagers and couldn’t account for anything. ‘At first, it had been the money he gave them to run errands, then it was the countless fees he paid for bogus school materials.
Bolu failed miserably at school and dropped out after the first semester at a private university. Babatunde abandoned his economics degree and decided to be a movie producer (after narrowly escaping prison when his ex-girlfriend died from a botched abortion). Although it seemed Babatunde had changed in the last few months,
Mr Kosoko expected little from his first son. The irresponsibility of his children shook Mr Kosoko to the core. He would glance at them and feel much regret at their very existence. He blamed himself for how they had turned out and wished he could go back to change things.
It was in this state of despair that he had met Suleiman, a young, soft-spoken man who walked into his office one afternoon with an impressive business proposal and a confident demeanour. Mr Kosoko took one look at him and saw everything his sons were not. He felt he could mentor this young man, teach him what his hard-headed sons would not learn. It had been his undoing.
Babatunde cleared his throat and asked again, “Dad, is there anything else you need?”
See Also: The Money Wheel Episode 4