Strings Attached
IT’S BEEN FIVE YEARS since James left the country to study abroad. His relationship with Kimberley had ended on a rough patch. They didn’t really just go their separate ways as most couples do. One party had waited for the other in vain and then moved on to marry who was ready.
When James and Kimberly were dating in school, their love life in campus became something of a reference point for other couples.
James and Kimberly weren’t the only couples in the Engineering department, there were many others who were pretty much into each other. Couples who wouldn’t allow the singles in the department to breathe. What made James and Kimberly stand out was the circumstances surrounding their relationship.
“Look at us, we love each other but why aren’t our relationship like that of KimJames?” Modupe had once asked Kolawole, her boyfriend. Kolawole was one of the smartest student in the department of Engineering, a shy fellow who tries to stay in the shadows. But his brilliance could not be ignored, even by his lecturers. And people liked gossip and celebrity’s gist, so those whose life generates these kind of content are spotlighted, he is only consulted when his expertise is needed. It was even better for him.
The name “KimJames” is a nickname James and Kimberly were given. A genius who would have used his talents in creating something magnificent in the engineering department had combined the first three letters of her name and all his to give what sounded like “King James”. Though this was no 1611, it stuck.
Kolawole had responded to Modupe that day “Yes, what they have going on is beautiful just like ours…”
“It is very different from ours, babe. Everyone talks about them.” she interrupted him.
But he continued calmly “ ours is not the kind of public relationship where everyone gushes with a fake ‘awwwnnn’.”
She responded “at least the fake accolades would make other ladies jealous of us. I’d take the fake accolades over none any day o.”
He answered again “look, we are only known as a couple, we aren’t as popular as they are.”
“Why aren’t we as popular, who doesn’t know you in this school with all your brilliance?” She added.
“Well, if you want to be that popular, you should go and chill with the big boys. Besides what you see is the surface, you don’t know what happens between them behind closed doors.” he replied her as though putting an end to the conversation.
“You mean apart from constant knacking?” She responded sarcastically. “A department you are very good in, my love” she added laughing.
“Oh, you know I’m good in that and you’re still looking for popularity, shey you no go make video wey go trend like this?” He said with sarcasm, now getting interested in the conversation and laughed too. But she didn’t find it funny.
“That didn’t come out well, babe. I wasn’t asking us to be in that industry. I just wanted to be on every girl’s lips.” She rejoined with a sad countenance.
“You are always on my lips, my love.” Kolawole moved closer giving her a kiss on her soft lips. “And you’d always be enough for me. Other girls don’t matter in our relationship, we don’t need their jealousy. What we have is greater than what ever anyone wants to say about us. We don’t need the validation of strangers for our relationship.” He whispered softly into her ears.
That evening she had come to study with him in his house as they usually do. But it turned to be an evening of cuddling, kisses, intense romance and passionate sex. They’ve never had it like that since the beginning of their relationship. Kolawole added another score on Modupe’s scoreboard. How ironic that their best yet came from an argument on how to live someone else’s relationship life. Contentment they say is great gain, these love birds gained a lot that night; a life lesson, a renewal of their love, an orgasm and an understanding of what they purposed to study that night. “KolaMod” are the MVPs. They’ve found a way to balance their relationship with their studies. Everyone envied them. Even the big guys.
In his first year, James was the rich kid who came to the university to spend his father’s money and show off wealth. He became good at it, he wore designers clothes and shoes, ate at the most expensive eateries, attended the elite parties and made a splash on campus. Even the big boys he met in the school who thought that he would come and join them, were the ones who went and joined him. Game they say, recognises game. The new rich kid became popular within his first three weeks on campus and his popularity grew and spread across departments. Every pretty girl wanted to be his and every guy wanted to be associated with the rich kid. He became a hot cake. James enjoyed every ounce of his popularity while it lasted. Not only was he popular, he became influential, and he made pretty good use of it; he helped other students by taking their complaints and grievances to the school authorities. His potentials as a leader was clear to everyone, he nonetheless rejected any official positions but acted in his capacity. Everyone wanted to be around him. In order not to be drained, he found a way to escape all of that and find time and space to recharge, be himself and have a quiet time. He hung out with the big boys, gave an ear to the other guys, attended dope parties as a VIP and still had time for school.
Things began to take a little twist in his second year in school. He was still popular, still influential, still the rich kid and all that, but he wasn’t happy. What he had around him was people who just wanted to rob off from his popularity and eat from his father’s money. They didn’t really cared about him, they only cheered him in public and talked bad about him behind closed doors. He didn’t know who to trust, he wished he hadn’t hit the ground running at least he could have gotten some friends before being popular. Almost everyone who approached him wanted to benefit from his wealth and influence. Even his quiet time wasn’t enough these days as his anxiety grew. He tried intermediate rest away from everyone else, yet he wasn’t getting the desired results. His influence and popularity began to dwindle, he seldom attend parties, and turned down invites to shows not caring who the celebrity was. He was becoming a shadow of himself.
Things got worse. One Sunday night, one of those ladies that flocked around him accused him of rape. This was an allegation that wasn’t taken with a pinch of salt. The bad news spread all across campus, everyone was talking about it.
“Men are scum!” Cynthia had said when she heard the news. James had tried not to have anything to do with Cynthia because he felt her makeup was unnecessarily too heavy, she had resented him ever since he turned her down.
“He had the money and influence, he could get any girl in campus, why resort to forcing himself on a lady?” Abigail had said, reacting to the news.
Though he was popular on campus, different people had different opinions about him and everyone was freely expressing their opinions, as if there was an offering basket circulating requesting them to drop something.
At first, James wanted to ignore the whole thing and shrug it off, but the whole school was becoming agitated, feminists and other students came out in protest, it was as if the crowd wanted his head on a platter, they wanted justice served. Rape is a heinous crime and it doesn’t matter how popular or influential the person that commits it is. But no one have tried to find out his own side of the story. It became worse because the girl in question was also popular, so many people were agitated. The school authorities had to step in before a riot would break out. People who were ready to stand by James no matter what he did stood fiercely against those who wanted justice not caring to know if he did what he was accused of. James was arrested that Tuesday morning and this brought some relief on the side of protesters. But there arose a new wave of protesters, those seeking for justice for James, asking the school to investigate the matter. Everyone in school instantaneously became an expert in law; rape, human right abuse and it’s like became the trend.
It was really hard on James, he was trying to get his life together and here he was in a police cell for a crime he never committed. Indeed, he was a wealthy student, the popular party guy and had all sort of girls to himself, but forcing himself on a girl wasn’t something he would do, even in a drunken state.
James narrated his side of the story to the police: Anita, the lady in question was one of those ladies who wouldn’t stop coming to his house, at first it was cool having her around as she was really good with cooking and housekeeping in spite of her being so popular and posh. She has also been showing him green light and he had told her specifically that, though he is living the moment, he doesn’t want to get himself entangled in a relationship right now. She wasn’t dissuaded and kept coming, cooking and keeping his place neat and clean. But she was also taking his stuffs such as his clothes, shoes and even some of his fancy bags. He complained and requested that she return them. She did so for a few but she keeps taking a new one. That Sunday night, he had returned home after a walk only to meet her in his house eating. Then he discovered that it was her that took the spare key he was looking for. “You take my stuffs and whenever I ask you to return them, you’d take a new one in their place. I’ve told you that we are not dating, but you keep coming back here every time and living in as though you are in your boyfriend’s. Now you’ve taken my keys too? You wanna now move in completely or chase me out of my house?” He asked her angrily.
“I cook and clean your house for Godsake, you ungrateful soul. None of your many girlfriends do any of that for you, you moron. And you don’t even pay me for it.” She told him mockingly.
Still angry, he replied “but I never hired you in the first place. You keep coming, eating, cleaning and taking my stuffs. I never hired you, and I’m not complaining about what you eat here, and I appreciate your cleaning even though I never requested it, but you taking my stuffs without asking me, would no longer be tolerated.” “You know what, just get the hell out of my house, you can take the pot of food you prepared, you cooked it, it’s yours, but just go, I don’t want you in my house again.” He added this time visibly enraged. Walking towards her handbag he said, “and just drop every thing of mine you’ve loaded inside that bag of yours, including my keys.”
“You dare not open a lady’s hand.” She said furiously and dashed towards him. This was when the struggle began and the bag was the price. As they dragged the bag here and there, some of the stuffs fell out, a new female wristwatch, the new necklace he bought and some rings. He was going to give this to his mother.
“Oh my God!” James exclaimed “I should arrest you, this is now robbery.” he added. But she was shouting on top of her voice, things he didn’t even pay attention to. He got the upper hand and tore open the bag revealing other stuffs of his she had taken. He was now wondering if she actually came to rob him softly and not the usual girlfriend-taking-boyfriend-things.
The two of them had rough handled each other in the course of the struggle. She had torn his clothes after he pulled the handbag out of her hands. She left that day cursing and shouting on top of her voice. And that was the last time he saw her, only to begin to hear rumours of rape the next day. He wondered if dragging a handbag with a lady is tantamount to rape.
The Divisional Police Officer read James statement carefully and said “I’ve read your own side of the story but I must tell you that this is a very serious case, and she has evidence against you concerning her rape claims. So sit tight, you’ll be here for a while until the court proceedings.”
“But sir, I didn’t do anything wrong, I’ve just told you that. You all know me. I can’t do stuffs like that, knowing that it would hurt my reputation.”
“I don’t know you, it is your school people that know you. You may be a celeb in school, but this is my station, and I’m the celeb here. I call the shots here.” The DPO said to him in disdain.
James realised that this was just no ordinary case. “I need to speak to my lawyer,” he requested.
It was in the most difficult time of his life that James met Kimberly. She literally helped him to regain his badly damaged image in school and put him back on the spotlight. But look at them now, they’ve gone beyond everyone’s expectations. She’s now in the arms of another man, a man who knows nothing about the experience of the struggle they had or the love they shared.
