The Rise of Damola

Chapter 3- Scandal

"Baba Mi, my friend has come because he wants to do oogun owo. He wants to be rich!!!
And not the kind of money that will finish tomorrow, the type that even his great grand children's generation will still benefit from," Ajala said.

"I have heard you my son, but this one that you are asking for comes with a great price o!," The Babalawo stated.

"Oya Babalawo how much will it cost?," Damola asked impatiently.

"My son you will have to pay a hefty price for what you are asking o!"

"Just tell me Baba mi and it shall be done!"

"Alright then! You will bring one pig with white head, 57 male peacocks, 45 tubers of yam, 40 sacks of kolanut and 12 strands of hair from a person that has royal blood. My son from 12 different people o! If you try to act smart, you will become wèrè (mad person)!

"Ahhhh!!!! Baba isn't there any other option," Damola asked scratching his head.

"Well there is, but it comes with a price!," The ritualist said with a grim expression.

"Baba forget the price just talk abeg!"

"You must bring 100 pants of girls whose kola have not been eaten yet"

"Baba if that is it, then it is as good as done!," He said before standing up hastily and running out of the hut.

"But my son the price is......," The Babalawo started but the young man was long gone by now. He was scared for the boy because he did not give him a chance to finish. That was the boy's cup of tea now!

"The sooner he seals up the ritual the better for him," The Babalawo thought.

Damola came back home and he started thinking of ways to get what the Babalawo asked for.

He thought of his female cousins first. He had six that were still teenagers, he would visit their houses tomorrow and steal from them first. Then he would turn into a houseboy so that he could gather the rest.

He already had a plan and he could not wait for tomorrow to put his plan into motion.

Early in the morning the following day, Damola left the house and started making rounds from one house to another.

He had gone to Mummy Sakinat's house and stolen two from there successfully, he then went to Daddy Eniola's house and stole three including that of the young housegirl. That was how the young man kept going from one house to the other stealing the underwears of young ladies successfully until Atinuke's incident.

Damola had gotten a job as the houseboy of the house a few weeks prior to the incident ironically all thanks to Atinuke. She had begged her father to give Damola the job because she secretly had a crush on him and desperately wanted him to know she was on his side regardless of the mentality of the others. Even though deep down she knew it could never happen, she still wanted to try.

On that faithful day, Atinuke had come back from school early and was about to enter her room when she heard noise coming from inside. She peeped through the tiny space and saw Damola searching through her underwear drawer.  She was quick to act and ran to call her father. Thankfully he was home too.

Atinuke and her father caught Damola and assumed that he was looking for money. Which he was, technically. They announced to the whole village and since then, Thief was added to Damola's myriad of colourful names.

His family was already having it hard as it was and this news brought more shame to them. It was too much for the young man to bear and so, he did the only thing he thought was best for his parents, he ran away.

Damola left his village for a nearby one; Alaho. There, he was blinded by the zeal to succeed and proceeded to complete the task that had been assigned to him. He had stolen more than fifteen . He was elated by how everything was running smoothly unbeknownst to him, his luck would quickly run out.

On one fateful day, he set out to gather the final batch. He went to a few houses and acquired some but on his way back, he noticed a boy coming out of the girl's room. He was not sure about the girl in the first place and had already mixed her own together with the previous ones.

"What have I done now," he thought to himself.

He knew it was red in colour but he could not remember the exact shade of red.  He had three red ones altogether and the probability of choosing the wrong one was high.

He decided to close his eyes and pick one. He hastily returned it before continuing with his mission.

That incident taught him a lesson and he knew he couldn't afford to make a single mistake so he switched to another profession. He got a job as a waiter in one of the hotels there.

Unfortunately for the employers, it was their biggest mistake. Damola became the reason for a lot of broken relationships and marriages thanks to his new job. He would often deceive the ladies, giving them the  impression that he was rich and wait for them to fall in love with him. It was all a game in his head and he was never going to be the looser.

One particular scandal which the press got wind of was all it took to terminate his contract with the Magnito Grand Royal.

The incident that got him fired happened during summer. It was when the cast of 'Forever Yours' came to stay in the hotel for the big Movie Premier. It was a big deal and gave the hotel the good publicity that it desperately needed. The lead actress, Vanessa Ibrahim came with her husband for the event and had not planned to fall for the handsome young waiter.

Conversely, Damola too had not planned for the scandal to happen rather, it was Vanessa that made the first move on him.

Vanessa had heard been rumors of the shy hot waiter that worked at Magnito Grand Royal and was the only reason why she encouraged everyone to have the premier at that hotel. She wanted to see for herself what the hype was about. Yes, she was married but she needed a different type of spice because her husband, Michael was too old school for her.

She had approached Damola once and he refused, telling her how unprofessional it was; as if she did not know that. If only he knew that she was someone who did not take no for an answer.

The star actress coerced and persuaded him until he finally gave in to temptation. Low and behold, her husband walked in on them. She had tried to explain to him as well as keep the whole thing under wraps but someone leaked it to the press and till this day, the culprit was never found.

Her husband had swiftly filed for a divorce and  ironically, it was boosting her acting career.

In the movie Forever Yours, she also had a scandalous affair with a hotel employee. Her husband found out which prompted him to divorce her but after a few years they met up and rekindled their lost love.

Using the plot of the movie, it was easy for her manager to tailor the whole story and make it look like she was exploring the role of the movie. A mere publicity stunt.

"It was a master plan but only dumb people would believe that," Damola thought.

It was when the gossip magazines started printing out the gist that he realized that people were in-fact dumb. His name was not mentioned in any issue but everyone that worked there knew it was him.

Vanessa had apologized for everything and gave him #500,000 on top of that, "for all the trouble she caused him."

A few days after the Premiere, the hotel manager had revealed the news of his dismissal. To be honest, he had expected it so his shocked face was all a façade. He would surely miss this one because his pay was great including his rendezvous services.

His face was plastered on every magazine so there was no way he could stay in Alaho for much longer. Once again, he packed up his belongings and was on the move.