Behind the wheel of a blue Toyota Corolla hatchback, Victoria
Ige sat rigid and waited. She had vowed to see through her mission that day –
what-ever it’d cost and however long she had to wait. She looked at her mobile
phone and saw the time was 6:14pm.
It was summer in September.
Victoria,
in this course of action, had lost all sense of civility and every modest
conscience she ever had. She was determined to do what she knew was fatal, but
justified. Barely a month after the crushing heartbreak she went through with
her fiancé, he, whom she had given everything to, was set to wed another woman
in a week. Breaking up with her in so devastatingly unprecedented a manner was
one crime she was not willing to forgive easily, but going ahead to print a
wedding card a week after that, and throwing it around town in her face was
another crime she needed to respond immediately.
Victoria
had been in a relationship with Bayo for six years. She had set her mind on
marriage and never saw what was coming. She had been with him when he was trying
to be rich through to when he bought his Range Rover Sports car. Then it all
happened.
He started by giving gauche
excuses each time he refused to return her calls. And then he would be out of
town without informing her of it. It was after taking her for a surprise
shopping that he told her it was over. What a hell of a break-up. Just when she
thought he was going to propose. She had waited for him and had been lugged all
along and left on a crag. She felt used, betrayed, and abandoned. He used her
susceptibility against her. Her life had collapsed like a pack of cards. She
became a mocking example for backstabbers who knew both of them well.
Now this evening, she wanted
to turn the table around. She wanted him to become an example to all men in the
world who would hear of their story.
Parking
under a shade, she would look through the rear-view mirror, occasionally,
hoping to see his car pull up just in time. She had waited for over 2hours. It
was Friday and he never stayed at work that long. She looked at the small-sized
bottle on the passenger’s seat, and examining the content once more, felt no
pity for her lost love.
What
it contained was her weapon.
Just
as she was about to drop her head on the headrest, she saw a black Range Rover
pull up outside Bayo’s apartment. Victoria sighed a relief of near
accomplishment. On the driver’s seat was her ex-fiancé and now her target. She
slipped her hands into a pair of black gloves, took the bottle in the car and
stepped out. She looked murderous in the black overcoat she had on.
With
a bottle of acid cupped in her hand, she crossed the high street and went
through a landscape of flowers to the front door of her ex-boyfriend’s
apartment.
Without
a second thought, she knocked.
Bayo was totally occupied with anything but Victoria.
In fact, this moment was a world she was not living in. While at the office, he
had made arrangement for a date at a city park club with his woman – the one he
was to marry. The moment had presented a very unfortunate coincidence. On his
way, he had talked with her and she had told him she would soon be with him.
She had a knack for appearing unannounced.
As
he entered his apartment, he removed his jacket and then opened the refrigerator
for a glass of Andréa Wine. He poured a half-full and
paused.
It
was then that he heard the knock.
He
gulped the wine and waited. Motionless. The knock came again. He smiled.
Without
thinking, Bayo crossed over to open the door.