NOT MY USUAL WORLD Novel Chapter 6

NOT MY USUAL WORLD
EPISODE 6
Ronke did not sleep that night.
The humiliation at the dining table still echoed in her head.
The way they laughed at him.
The way he stood there… trying to remain dignified.
By evening the next day, she could not take it anymore.
She made quiet enquiries and traced his address herself.
When he opened the gate and saw her standing there, surprise washed over his face.
Ronke?
I never gave you my address.
She gave him a look.
You think I can’t find you?
He stepped aside slowly.
His house was nothing like hers.
The boys’ quarters stood behind a large gated building whose real owner lived abroad.
It was modest room-and-parlor. Small. Neat. Simple.
She looked around quietly.
Where’s your uncle?
He’ll be discharged tomorrow.
She nodded.
You didn’t go to the lounge.
No.
Silence.
She turned to him fully.
Why didn’t you tell me things were this hard for you?
He shrugged lightly.
What would that change?
Everything.
Her voice trembled slightly.
Yesterday… the way they spoke to you… I hated myself for bringing you into that house.
You didn’t bring me. Your father did.
Still.
He tried to shrug it off.
It’s fine.
No. It’s not.
She stepped closer.
This is the first time I’m saying this to anyone.
He looked at her carefully.
I love you, Tobe.
The words came steady.
Not out of rebellion. Not out of pity.
I love you.
His breath caught.
You don’t have to say that because of yesterday.
I’m not saying it because of yesterday.
When I’m with you, I feel like I belong to myself.
She reached for him.
I choose you.
That was the moment something shifted.
She kissed him.
He hesitated at first, then held her.
It wasn’t confusion.
It wasn’t an impulse.
She held onto him like someone who had been caged her whole life and had just found a door.
When he tried to slow down, she whispered softly,
Please, don’t push me away.
And that night, she gave herself to him.
Completely.
For the first time in her life, she made a choice no one dictated.
What she didn’t know…
Someone had followed her car.
And pictures were taken discreetly from outside.
Chief Adebayo received them before midnight.
The first image made his hand shake.
The second made his jaw clench.
By the third, the glass in his hand shattered against the wall.
His daughter.
In a mechanic’s bed.
He stood up slowly.
So this is how she wants to play.
Chief’s voice was calm. Too calm.
He wants to touch my daughter?
Then let him see what touching her costs.
The next morning, things began to move.
Quietly.
Efficiently.
A call was made to the property owner abroad.
Another to the property manager.
By afternoon, Tobe and his uncle were summoned.
You have till the end of the month to vacate.
What? His uncle blinked.
We received instructions. The property will no longer house staff.
Before they could recover from that shock, another blow landed.
The rented mechanic space they worked from?
Terminated.
Within days, landlords who had previously smiled at them suddenly refused to rent.
Sorry, space is no longer available.
Someone else just paid.
We can’t take you.
Even when they offered more money.
Doors closed.
Phones went unanswered.
It didn’t stop there.
Spare parts suppliers stopped selling to them.
Even food vendors began avoiding them.
We don’t have change.
Come back tomorrow.
Tomorrow never came.
They were being suffocated.
Slowly.
Deliberately, they were being quietly pushed out.
Through it all, Tobe smiled whenever Ronke called.
He told her nothing.
He did not want her to worry.
He did not want her to fight her father because of him.
But at night, he sat outside staring at nothing.
His uncle watched him quietly.
One evening, his uncle finally spoke.
You have to leave that girl.
Tobe’s jaw tightened.
Uncle…
Listen to me. One has to be alive to fight for love.
They are not fighting you with fists. They are fighting you with power.
We cannot breathe here anymore.
We will go back to Anambra.
Start small again.
But alive.
The word alive echoed.
Tobe closed his eyes.
He knew his uncle was right.
But how do you leave the only person who ever chose you?
The words settled heavily in his chest.
He couldn’t break up with her face to face.
If he saw her, he wouldn’t leave.
So he wrote a letter.
He told her about the eviction.
About the workshop.
About the threats closing in.
He told her he loved her.
And that leaving was survival, not rejection.
He sent the letter through the gateman.
That same night, they packed quietly.
Before dawn, they left Lagos.
At the motor park, in the rush of boarding and loading luggage, Tobe placed his phone briefly on the bus seat while helping his uncle.
When he turned back for it, it was gone.
He searched everywhere.
Nothing.
The bus had already started moving.
He sat down slowly.
No way to call her.
No way to explain more.
Back in Lagos, Ronke read the letter.
Her hands trembled.
No.
She drove straight to his house.
Empty.
She asked around.
They said they packed.
She rushed to the mechanic shed.
Locked.
She kept calling his number.
Switched off.
Again.
Switched off.
She had no idea they had travelled home.
She assumed maybe they relocated somewhere else.
Maybe he needed space.
Days passed.
No call.
No message.
Just silence.
And for the first time since she chose him…
She didn’t know where he was.
To be continued.