It had been a busy week for Grace. She had worked tirelessly in order to complete the project given by her boss. It wouldn't have been very tasking if she had some assistance but her colleagues were indisposed, so she did the work alone.
On Friday, she left her place of work an hour late. She walked to the bus stop and found a cab heading to her place of residence. She negotiated her price with the driver before boarding the cab to begin her trip home. But then, as the vehicle began moving, the cab driver played her a score that she didn't find funny at all.
“Madam, I'll pick up more passengers on the way. I hope you don't mind” the cab driver said to her with a hint of Yoruba-ic accent.
Looking perplexed by what he said, Grace asked him “What do you mean by picking up other passengers?”
“Is this not supposed to be a chartered ride which I'm paying for?”
“Madam, that was before. As of this morning, the price of fuel has gone up. We drivers no longer charge that amount but being that there was no prior notice, we decided to carry multiple passengers instead of a single passenger” he replied.
Grace was gobsmacked but being that she needed to get home for some much needed rest, she didn't argue any further with the driver.
Taking her silence for acceptance, the cab driver made multiple stops at several bus stops, in order to get more passengers heading the same route. He was lucky after his third stop as a woman carrying an empty woven basket and a man dressed in a black suit carrying a small black bag entered his vehicle
Grace became cautious immediately they entered the vehicle. The woman sat next to the driver while the man in a black suit sat next to Grace at the back and the journey continued.
Grace was feeling somewhat uncomfortable even as she tried to liven up her mood by checking out her social media pages for anything juicy. She felt a pair of eyes staring intently at her. She knew who it was without even thinking but what bothered her was why?
”Why was he, a total stranger, staring at her so intently?” She thought to herself.
She kept contemplating if she should warn him off or bear with it. But he made the decision by speaking to her first.
“Excuse me Miss. I'm sorry to bother you but can I have a bit of your time?”
Grace paused her scrolling. She heaved a sigh and nodded in the affirmative.
“Thank you. I couldn't help but notice your uncanny resemblance to someone very dear to me. I can't shake off that feeling of nostalgia as I saw you seated inside this cab when it parked. To be honest, I boarded this cab so as to quell my doubts” he said to Grace.
“May I please know your name?” He asked her.
Grace wasn't comfortable with whatever he was saying to her. Her intuition and gut feeling were on high alert and frankly, she felt ill at ease with this stranger.
She wanted to rebuff him but something in her wanted to see how far his charade would last and so she replied “My name is Grace Makinwa. What is your name?”
“My name is Raymond Bamidele. Nice to meet you Grace?”
“Permit me asking, but are you married?” Raymond asked.
“No, I'm not married. Why did you ask me that question?”
Smiling like someone who just won a lottery, he replied, “Because I love you. You remind me of my first love back in my Secondary School days. Seeing your familiar face brought back pleasant memories. I want to date you”.
Grace was now certain that this stranger sitting beside her was either high on cheap drugs or he was a low profile scammer. She wanted to realign the contours of his face with a tight slap but she restrained herself.
Taking in two deep breaths, she took a good look at him. He was handsome with a clean shaven face, pointed nose and chiseled jaw. His skin was hazelnut brown and he had dark curly hair. He appeared decent yet something in her was telling her to be wary of him.
“It is not your fault” she finally found something to say that wasn't harsh.
“Pardon me. What do you mean by that?” He asked.
“You look decent, like someone who is responsible but your words just now are proving otherwise to me.”
“Who sees a stranger in a cab and declares their love for them?”
*Who does that?” She asked in an almost high pitched tone.
“You should thank your stars that I had a busy day at work and my energy is drained. If not, I know how to deal with people like you”.
“If you think that I'm one of those love depraved girls out there, then I'm sorry but you missed your target with me”.
And with that, Grace went back to her phone, scrolling through her feeds for anything juicy to distract her.
Raymond was surprised at her reaction but he hid it well with a lopsided smile. He thought he could scam her into giving him some cash. He was hungry and tired from having to walk up and down in search of a job. Now he had been caught in his ruse.
Feeling sorry, he apologized to Grace.
“I'm sorry for the things I said earlier. Pardon my bluntness. I actually need help with some cash to survive the week. I had to use this method to see if you were gullible. Please forgive me”.
Grace looked at him and her heart moved with a compassion she never knew she was capable of. She dipped her hand into her bag and brought out some cash and handed it to him.
“You don't need to deceive gullible women in order to survive. Here is five thousand naira. Make good use of it and while you're at it, find something better to do. Stop embarrassing innocent people and yourself”.
“Thank you ma. I'm grateful for your kindness. I will do as you said. God bless you ma” he responded.
Grace nodded once more. A hint that it was okay and he could stop with his rain of gratitude.
She smiled at herself. Something about what she did gave her so much joy. She relaxed and enjoyed the rest of her ride home.
Thank you all for reading.
Images were imagined with Meta Ai.