Chapter One
I repeated my affirmations till I started believing them. That’s how I started my day always. I finally dragged myself out of bed and started getting ready for work. I was sleep deprived but I had no choice so I put my bathing water in the kettle, made up my bed and picked out my outfit for the day.
Two hours later, I was ready for work. I checked to make sure I had locked all the taps, switched off all the fans, turned off all the light switches and locked all the doors. I also checked to make sure I had taken the snacks which I had to eat before lunch and my little “tea” flask which most of the time contained rum or whiskey.
I walked towards the junction hoping to see a bike because I was running late already and sitting in a taxi only means I will arrive my jobsite late. I had no such luck; but on the bright side, once I reached the junction, I saw a taxi which was empty and the driver agreed to carry me.
Seven thirty on the dot, I walked into the Bamenda People’s Paper (BPP) and my boss Mr Ngong Cletus was already in the office. I could tell because Nadine wasn’t outside chatting with the woman who sold chips and Oscar wasn’t attempting to rap. I quietly snuck in and sat on my seat and got to work.
My work was to write articles concerning the entertainment industry and in a Country like Cameroon, that was difficult because the entertainment industry was behind. Almost all citizens were self-acclaimed celebrities and no one really cared. Write an article about the new house Cameroon’s Star International Footballer, Samuel Eto’o Fils bought and no one will read it. In fact, the paper will end up on the “suya” sellers table or in “Mami puff-puff’s” bucket.
I logged into Facebook and scrolled through but nothing interesting was there. Just the normal posts of “Itz Milky Minaj, feeling sexy with Sugar Khid and 49 others. No blogger or news page had posted anything new, so I logged into twitter. When I cleared my conscience by scrolling through social media for any news worthy stories, I downloaded the new Leonardo DiCaprio movie I had been dying to watch and a few novels before Nadine came to take me for lunch.
We went to our favourite ice-cream spot; a little shop behind the grand stand and bought donuts and frozen ice-cream. Of course we ate some there, wiped our mouths and got rid of all evidence and then took the rest to the office. Oscar was wondering why we didn’t try to get him to go to the store for the second round but we came up with excuses.
At five o’clock, when we closed from the office, I was packing my bag to go home when Nadine invited me to attend a birthday party with her.
“whose party is it Nads?”
“My sister, Sandra”
I shook my head and laughed. Sandra’s birthday had passed and we both knew it. She just wanted us to hang out and yes of course, I was down for it. A wild Friday night with Nadine was more appealing than a night at home watching a movie or reading a book while praying Clovis in the next apartment and his girlfriend don’t break the wall with their bed or block my ear drums with their screams, moans and groans.
After contemplating, analysing, debating and agreeing, we finally settled on going to Dream land snack bar at Mile Two Nkwen. Since it was closer to my place, we first went to Nadine’s house at Old Town and grabbed her stuff, then we went to my place. Nadine wore a black spaghetti strap fitted mini dress with transparent heels while I wore a Ruched puff sleeve bodycon dress with black strapped high heeled sandals. I did her make-up and she did mine and of course, we both looked flawless.
“Nads, go home with the guy at six o’clock who has the lady all over him and I owe you ten thousand Francs”
“Why don’t you give the guy sitting opposite us a lap dance and I owe you twenty?”
“good money, but I’ll pass”
“kill Joy, you never do dares”
“Really? We exchange desks at the office and by desks I mean, I get your desk and your window spot if I give him a lap dance and go home with daddy over there”
“The music is loud; I can’t hear you. What are you saying?”
“I thought as much bitch!”
We finished sipping our wine, and then we woke up from our chairs and started dancing. Nadine wasn’t a good dancer, but she sure knew how to bounce and shake her round shapely ass and to her, that was all that mattered. She said it went with all songs and watching her, I think it really did for her.
People had started smoking shisha and the population was increasing. I had a light headache and I was sweating profusely. I looked around for Nadine and she was nowhere to be found. I sent her a message saying I was not feeling too well and I wanted to go home. She replied asking if she should ditch the guy she was with and go with me, but I told her it was okay and I was fine. I told her to have fun and I went home. By the time I got home, it was still Eleven PM. Unfortunately for me, Clovis next door and his girl were not done with business, so I had to hear all the noise but thank the heavens for the miracle called head phones. I put them on and listened to my affirmations till I fell asleep.
Chapter two
Nahlela
Today, I was the first person to get to the office. I went through my articles as many times as possible to make sure I had made no mistakes. The article was about a football match I had watched during the weekend between the Young Sports academy (YSA) from Bamenda and the Petit Paris team from Douala which was played at the Ntambessi field. They were up and coming teams with a lot of talent and they had to be promoted by all means.
Oscar came about twenty-five minutes after me and before he could put his butt on the chair, I gave him a copy of my article and a flask of coffee I brought for him.“This is Impressive girl. Just a few months here and you have already gotten the hang of it. Writing really is your thing”
I flashed him a smile but deep down inside, I was sad. His last statement reminded me of some past memories. Memories of my twin sister Kadmia who passed away from cancer. When we were in high school, I used to write short stories for kids and she always told me “writing really is your thing”. She always insisted on reading them first and after she read them, she will say “Nah, this is the best story I’ve ever read.” Even when I was reluctant and lazy, she always pushed me to be the best version of myself. I don’t know the cold hands of cancer had to snatch her from me and hand her over to the hungry hands of death.
Nadine’s loud cheerful voice brought me out of my thoughts. She was greeting the boss man the way she always did when she intended on leaving early or asking him for something. Once she entered the office, I gave her a copy of my article to read before she could even open her mouth to greet me. Once she said it was okay, I took it alongside the article about pregnant musicians I had been working on which she and Oscar had already cleared to the Boss Man’s office.
“Good morning sir”
“Good morning Nahlela.”
“this is the article I was assigned last week and then, this is another one I did. It’s about a match a local football team had yesterday with a football team from Douala”
He had a deep scowl on his face “there is no space for this in Todays noon paper.”
“just go over it sir, it might interest you”
He sighed and put the papers on his desk.
I wished him a nice day and turned to leave when he told me to sit down. I was confused, but I quietly obeyed. Once he finished arranging the stuff on his desk, he turned to me.
“Do you know the Cameroonian footballer named Jam Timi, who played for Chelsea FC but had an early retirement because of an Injury he sustained?”
“No sir I don’t”
“He happens to be a big deal, and he has volunteered to coach the University of Bamenda’s football team for the University Games.”
“University Games start in February, so you have three months to build your story. Attend his training sessions, try to interview him and come up with the best article ever.”
I smiled nervously at him “Yes sir I will”
“This is the article of the year, and I am entrusting it to you. Don’t make me regret it”
“I promise to do my best sir; it will be the best best ever.”
He smiled, which he rarely did. It was like we were having a moment, so I decided to try my luck
“sir, about the Salary raise I have been asking you about…”
He cut me before I could continue. “do this article well and we will see about that”
Three months was a long time to go, but at least I had hope so I left his office smiling.
Immediately as I sat down at my desk, I picked up my phone and googled the famous Jam Timi and I was blown away by the search results. I didn’t even realize that I exclaimed loudly till Nadine ceased my cell phone and shouted “fuck me yo”
“Oh boy, who the hell is this?”
“My next article; Retired footballer who has volunteered to coach the University of Bamenda’s football team for the University Games.”
“Why do you get the cool guys while I’m stuck with old Politicians?”
“Because you handle them well. No one else here will be able to get interesting Stories out of them”
I asked for my phone and continued doing my research. The internet gave me his date of birth, age when he started his career, reason for his early retirement etc. but I wasn’t paying attention. I was focusing on the pictures. I went over a hundred plus pictures of him and no bad photos; he looked stunning in all. All the pictures were taken in various football fields. I looked for personal pictures of him and family but I couldn’t find any, so I had to make do with the ones of him on the field.
I made it a habit to leave work at the office when coming back home but today, happily did work at home. I learned all there was to know about Jam Timi Nkwain. Born on 25th February 1987 to Mr Atah Collins Nkwain a native of the Kom Tribe in Cameroon and Mrs Alexa Turner a British citizen. One sibling, Aaliyah Nsang. Retired last year because of a leg Injury which included a broken left Fibula and an open dislocation on his left ankle. His career started when he was 18 and he was at its peak when he had the unfortunate accident.
I couldn’t wait to meet him in person. I had a feeling he wasn’t photogenic and the pictures didn’t do him justice at all. Damn, I hadn’t even met him and I was in over my head. I had to control myself or else I will make a big fool of myself.
I said my affirmations till I forgot every other thing, especially things concerning Jam Timi and I went to bed feeling relaxed and excited for the next day.
CHAPTER THREETimiSince I had an accident a year ago, I haven’t been to a football field. I followed my physiotherapy religiously till I was able to move well. Football is my life and not playing it is killing me slowly. When I was 8, I fell in love with football. I started kicking everything till my dad gave in and sent me to a football academy. The other guys there had talent and all, but the thing that kept me going the highest was my passion for it. I always made sure I was early for practice, I worked thrice as hard at everyone else and before I was 18 years old, many teams were looking to sign me in but I went with Chelsea FC because of this immense love I have for it. When I joined the team, the training was more, everything I thought I knew about football started looking like a joke but I kept my head down and followed the ball. At the peak of my career,
NahlelaWhen Kadmia and I were in Primary school, on the feast of all souls, after school we will come home, remove our school uniforms, eat and go to the cathedral with our parents and mom’s family for mass. We will sit by the grave side of our late grandma, decorate her graveside with flowers and candles, make our prayers and talk to her. Kadmia and I always picked special flowers for grandma from the school garden and tied them with blue and pink ribbons. She died when I was three years old, so I did not really remember her but I knew she had joined the Angels in heaven, so I always told her my secrets and prayers. In a sad way, the feast of all souls was bonding time for our family because we reminisced about our dead relatives while eating boiled corn and groundnuts with sandwiches and other snacks.
PASTNahlelaThe semester had just begun and Kadmia was admitted in the hospital. She had been experiencing dizziness, weight loss and fatigue. After attending all my lecture, I went to the hall where she had lectures for the day and collected notes from her classmate and photocopied, then went to the hospital to see her.When I reached the hospital, everyone looked sad. Mom was clearly trying not to cry and Dad looked like someone had died. Kadmia gave me a sad smile and it just confirmed that something was not right. I asked Mom what the matter was and she burst into tears. I turned to Dad and the look he had on his face was not inviting. Before I could ask Kadmia what was wrong, she said “I’m dying, I have leukaemia”.I felt as if life had been knocked out of me. What did they mean by Leukaemia? Ka
NahlelaToday is the first day I was meeting up with Mr “sex on heels” so I have to dress to make a statement. I was going to a football field so I definitely had to dress in a sporty outfit and going to the office and then passing home to change would be a waste of time. I thought of putting on the Chelsea Jersey I used as my sports attire when I was in the university, but it was too obvious. I thought of putting on my pink tied together sweatpants with its matching no sweat crop top but decided against it. After trying different outfits, I settled for my puma classics black and pink tracksuit with black and white vans. Nadine tried taking permission from the boss man so that she could leave early and join me in going to see Jam Timi but unfortunately for her, and fortunately for me he refused to let her leave early. Not that I didn’t want Nadine to come along but It was my first meetin
TimiIn my entire life, I had never met a girl like Nahlela. Most at times, people ignored the bullshit I said and tried to kiss my ass but I must agree, she put me in my place. I intentionally called her Nadia instead of Nahlela to make her feel irrelevant, like a fly on the wall but instead, she told me off. I must confess that she was bold and daring and of course, very outspoken. I always tried to avoid the press as much as possible, but I found myself wanting to do the interview. Not because I was interested in the article she planned on writing, but rather because I wanted to spend time with her. I wanted to know what made her tick. When I first saw Nahlela at the football field, I was immediately drawn to her. She had this glossy dark skin which looked like it was dripping with melanin. she had slender eyebrows with long lashes which looked too long to be natural. Her eyes were li
NahlelaI had just settled down in the office when Nadine rushed into the office and started whispering “He is here; he is here”. I asked her who she was talking about and when she said Jam Timi, my face fell immediately.“Are you not supposed to be happy girl?” she asked.“I think he is coming to report me to the boss. I kind of insulted him.”“what do you mean by that? It is either you insulted him or not”“When I approached him, before I could offer one word, he told me he is not interested. He thought I was propositioning him and when I finally introduced myself and said I am a journalist who wants to write an article about him, he implied that I am trying to use my looks in getting him to do an interview so I told him off and walked away.”“Wow girl, so he said you were sexy?”
NahlelaLast night, I forgot to set my alarm and by the time I woke up, it was already six o’clock. If I didn’t hurry up, I was going to be late. As I was coming out from the bathroom, my phone was ringing and it was my boss. Early morning calls from my boss usually meant more work. I picked up and he told me that Jam called him and informed him of the meeting we had today and he told me not to bother coming in. I was about to tell him that we had no meeting when he dropped the call. I checked my WhatsApp messages and I saw a message from Mr arrogant. It was the location he was talking about last night so I sent him a reply “I will need a better description. There’s no way I am showing a bike rider or Taxi driver this; I will look stupid.”I didn’t expect him to reply immediately, but he did two seconds later
Timi I was just from dropping Amanda off at her place when I met I met Nahlela. When she saw me, she quickly put on her sun shades and bent her head. I knew calling her last night was a bad idea but I still did. I was with Amanda when I called and I noticed that Amanda’s mood changed and she started frowning but I didn’t care. From the start, I had told her that I wasn’t looking for a relationship. What we shared was just sex. We were compatible in bed and that was all that mattered. I didn’t tell her personal stuff and she didn’t tell me anything too. When we hung out, we had sex, talked about nothing serious and then more sex. No personal information was exchanged. We didn’t even do the “how was your day” shit. We didn’t go on dates because dates meant opening up and we had decided against that. I always insisted on giving her money but she told me that she had money of her own and she wasn’t sleeping with me for money; so I settled on