MIDNIGHT

CHAPTER TWO: Larshe

She left.

Diara left me.

Diara walked out of my life.

She hadn't looked back and she hadn't contacted me since then.

Everything felt strange without her.
I couldn't even remember how life had been without her.

I felt empty.

I was empty.

Three weeks without hearing her voice was torture. Pure unadulterated torture.

I'd done all that I felt I could do and right now I was at an impasse which was why I was at Seyi's place, the idiot who got me into this mess to begin with, though I knew I could have refused.

When Seyi had told me about the lady, Danica George, I'd been disgusted, unable to imagine taking another woman to bed as ever since I met Diara, even before she agreed to be mine, I hadn't looked at another woman lustfully.

The love I felt for Diara was all consuming, it was the kind that transcended time and space, and left no doubt who I belonged to and this made me totally oblivious to every other woman, the fact that she was a beautiful, sweet, loving, considerate and selfless woman didn't help. I considered myself the luckiest man on earth and planned to spend the rest of our lives showing her how much I loved and valued her. I knew without a doubt that I didn't deserve her but then we got married, I lost my job and became even more undeserving of her. I trusted her but I couldn't stop negative thoughts from messing with my head.

Diara was everyman's dream and more, I feared one day she'd come to the realisation that she could do better, that she deserved better and so when our second anniversary was fast approaching and I still had nothing to give to her, Seyi kept pestering me about this lady, I took the time to really think about it. Apparently she was a friend of Seyi's aunt who was visiting the country and needed a male escort for an event. She'd seen my picture on his phone and was instantly attracted to me. It was supposed to be a one day thing and I was supposed to get half a million from it, quite enough to spoil Dee on our anniversary but then Seyi came with another proposal. Danica George was going to be in town for two weeks and she wanted more than just an escort, she needed someone to warm her bed for the two weeks she was going to be in the country.

I'd refused, immediately.

Being an escort was one thing but being a gigolo was something else entirely. I was a married man, moreover, where on earth was I supposed to tell Dee I was gonna be for two weeks. We'd never been apart for more than a few days at a time and I wasn't sure I could go without seeing her for so long but then Dee had come home from work that evening, so excited about our second anniversary coming up in few weeks, she'd asked me what dish I wanted her to prepare and talked nonstop.

I got scared, I never wanted a time to come when her light would be dimmed, I forever wanted to see that light in her eyes, I never wanted it dimmed, I wanted to continue being the reason she smiled, the reason she was happy but I feared my lack of provision would make her more open to other men's advances and take her away from me.

So I figured I could make the sacrifice, especially when Seyi told me to name how much I wanted to be paid. I told him 10 million but he just looked at me like I was mad.
"Larshe, this woman get money o. no go dey dull yourself. And shebi you know say na two weeks you dey stay with am. That 500k suppose be for just escort without anything but this one na 14 full days with your body." He'd explained.

"How much them dey collect for this kind thing?" I'd asked him.

"It depends on how rich your client be and this lady wey you dey do am with dey filthy rich, she no get wetin she dey use money do and she come say na you gan gan she want, so anything wey you charge she go pay"