Chapter 33: Chapter 33

"What?!" Effiong yelled then noticing the stunned silence that ensued he immediately palmed his mouth. He cursed softly then pulled his palm away from his mouth; He licked his lips nervously and blew through his nostrils.

He must've heard wrong.

"I'm sorry I didn't get you-" he furrowed his brows and inclined his ears as if to align it to the direction of the sound waves that her mouth would emit. "What did you say again?" he asked for clarification.

Uyai rolled her eyes. "I said no." she said with a neutral expression.

"B-But...I don't understand. Didn't you say you liked me?" He pulled his face in a frown as he waited for her reply. This was not going the way he planned. He had a feeling he must have done or said something wrong but he had no idea how and what he did.

"I do like you." she said, then grimaced as she looked at him thoughtfully that he wondered what in the world was going through her mind.

"Then why? I would've perfectly understood if you told me you wanted to think about it, but you outrightly said no and I'm so confused right now. Did I do something wrong?" he paused. "Wait! Did I ask too soon?" He asked again exasperated.

Uyai sighed, then smirked. She leaned back on her sit and folded her arms beneath her breasts. He watched her bewildered as she roamed her gaze round the small dinning before she settled it on him. Effiong shivered at the look in her eyes. He continued watching her even as her smirk widened. He knew he was in a lot of trouble for something he was unsure of.

"Did you really think--" she paused then gave a short laugh." Did you think that I'll just surrender myself to you-?"

"What do you mean by surrender? I'm asking no such thing of you." he interjected in a protest.

Uyai cut him off with her hand. "Just a few months ago you had proclaimed your undying love to my sister and after you saw she was pregnant all of a sudden you're no more in love and now you expect me to believe you feel the same for me? And the funny thing is, you want me to reciprocate that feeling?" she laughed humorlessly

Effiong's face fell. He opened his mouth to speak but then clamped it shut. Uyai saw she left him speechless and proceeded with her speech.

"I like you, no doubt about it. But I wouldn't be stupid enough to be your girlfriend."

Effiong glared at the now empty bottle before him, affronted by her offensive choice of words.

Uyai ignored him. "Besides this is not our village, we're in the city and mind you I am not living with my parents and I doubt Mr. and Mrs. Ekpenyong would be pleased that I keep a boyfriend especially after what happened to sister." she breathed.

He looked up immediately and found that her eyes were downcast. His heart ached at the sight of Uyai looking so forlorn and he blamed his foolishness for not thinking that far.

"I'm sorry." He muttered and reached out for her hand; he felt it stiffened as he clasped it in his. Gently, he squeezed her fingers soothingly until he felt it relax. He watched as she weakly raised up her head, looked at him warily before averting her gaze to the side. "I am sorry." he repeated, subtly urging her to look at him. "I'm sorry that I'm so blinded by my feelings that I forgot to acknowledge yours, but I promise you what I felt for Affiong was due to a built up crush that only looked superficially, but what I feel for you--" he paused and timidly raised his free hand to her face. He could feel his fingers give off slight tremors as it caressed her chin to slowly bring it to face him, so he could see her eyes; It was guarded as it stared unblinkingly at him. "What I feel for you is real and I won't do anything to sabotage that. I can wait for as long as you want, you don't have to give me an answer right away." he whispered. "In fact saying you'll think about it, will do." he said as an afterthought.

Uyai curled her lips at that.

Effiong heaved a breath at that little smile he glimpsed.

Still looking at her, he felt a tug and looked at his hand still holding Uyai's chin. Reluctantly he released her chin from his hold.

Uyai cleared her throat uncomfortably and looked over Effiong's shoulder only for her eyes to widen in alarm.

Effiong saw the change and immediately voiced his concern "What is it?" he queried and when she didn't respond, he followed the direction of her gaze and looked behind him and his eyes like hers widened. "Shit!" he cursed. "This is not good." he whispered to himself.

Uyai nodded in agreement.

"Grandma look. It's Auntie Uyai and Uncle Effiong." All too soon Gift the ever annoying little brat alerted Mrs. Ekpenyong who had come in tow with a very pregnant Affiong; Yes her bump was very prominent and she looked horrible with that hideous dress on her, hanging loosely on her form meanwhile accenting her heavily protuded stomach which was what? Four--five months?

Gift waved her hands widely in their direction and Uyai reluctantly waved back making apparent her location.

Effiong had stiffened where he sat when he saw Uyai waved and the pit patter of footsteps behind him alerted him of the company that had arrived. Feigning a relaxed composure he waited till they were right in his field of vision before he let out a smile.

"Uyai, Effiong what a surprise." Mrs. Ekpenyong exclaimed with Affiong by her left whose eyes kept moving to and fro from Uyai to Affiong as if she couldn't believe they were out together.

"Auntie." Uyai arose out of respect and greeted her. Effiong followed suit slightly bowing his head in reflex.

"Grandma, Grandma..." Gift tugged at her dress looking up with beseeching eyes.

Mrs. Ekpenyong pulled her eyes away from the two and turned to her granddaughter "what is it?"

"Can we seat here?" she asked blinking rapidly to further enhance her cuteness.

Uyai released a quiet groan.

"Gift dear is that you?" Effiong asked as if just noticing her presence.

"Yes Uncle Effiong. Grandma let's sit here." she demanded with an additional tug on her burgundy dress.

"We'd gone earlier to Arit's but we were told you'd gone home, I didn't know you were close by." Mrs. Ekpenyong ignored Gift and turned to Uyai instead as she spoke, her eyes drifting to Effiong once in a while making it obvious that what she indeed wanted to say was "You're with Effiong, alone."

Uyai shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Yes we just dropped by to eat since we were hungry." Uyai stuttered

"Hmmm." she hummed, and not so discreetly looking pointedly at Effiong and Uyai could guess that the hmmm stood for "you dropped by with Effiong, how come?"

Uyai nodded wordlessly.

"So what did you guys order, we might order the same." Mrs. Ekpenyong glanced at the table which had atop it two bottles of drinks and two glass cups. No sign of anything edible.

"Err...nothing much, just drinks." Effiong immediately answered when he saw Uyai appeared disconcerted.

"Oh..." she trailed off thoughtfully, then sparing them both a glance she asked "Do you mind if we join you?" It was rhetorical because she didn't wait for a reply Instead, she pulled out a chair; one for herself and another for Gift who happily sat and mischievously placing her hands beneath her chin while smiling wryly at them.

Cunning brat! Uyai thought with a grimace.

Affiong was left standing and looking lost. Her hand was unconsciously caressing her protruded stomach

"Erh, won't you seat?" It was more like a command and Affiong took few seconds to respond and when she sat her bump collided painfully with the edge of the table as she shoved her chair hurriedly close to the table. Of course that brought out a gasp accompanied with a moan.

Her sister did look pitiful.

"So auntie Uyai and Uncle Effiong, are you two dating?" Gift suddenly asked.

If Uyai and Effiong had drinks in their mouth, they would've spewed it by now but they did choke. They choked on their spit.

"Gift!" Mrs. Ekpenyong turned to her granddaughter with a frown.

"Grandma." Gift responded with wide innocent eyes.

Effiong choked a cough looking at anywhere but them; his eyes took that time to admire the fading table cloth that adorned their table, the now empty bottles which was grazed with crusts of dust. How come he failed to notice that when he was very keen on hygiene?

Meanwhile Uyai squirmed where she sat causing the chair to produce a squeaky sound that was quite disturbing. While she squirmed, her eyes sought Gift's and when they locked. Uyai glared heatedly scaring the poor girl that she flinched and immediately pulled her eyes away.

Uyai smirked satisfied. The brat got the message.

"So Uyai, how's preparation for the contest going?" Mrs. Ekpenyong asked to diffuse the uncomfortable silence

"It's fine, Mrs. Chance decided to take two girls." Uyai informed her glad for the change of topic.

"Really? Does that mean you won't be participating?" she asked hopefully.

"No." Uyai refuted immediately dimming the ounce of hope that lit Mrs. Ekpenyong's eyes "We are battling it out." Uyai said.

That arrested their attention, and they all cocked their heads to the sides awaiting an explanation.

"What does that mean?" Mrs. Ekpenyong quirked an unamused eyebrow.

"Only three girls are required from an agency to partake in the contest. Already one of us has forfeited willingly so we're left with four; Precious, Catherine, Isabelle including myself. So Mrs. Chance wants us to compete--"

"What kind of competition." Affiong asked speaking for the first time.

"I don't know." Uyai replied to no one in particular as she too held a thoughtful look.

***

When Uyai said she had no idea what the competition was all about, she wasn't just mincing words but she could perceive a change in the studio, especially the strange vibe the other models seemed to be emitting. She felt like she was a target for disaster as glares were aimed at her from different directions from different shades, size and intensity of eyes. She knew she was the chosen one.

Chosen to be eliminated.

What they didn't know was, Uyai was a fighter. She didn't heave two pots of water to and fro from the stream for nothing and she definitely didn't trap her feet in strapped heels for hours while cat walking for no reason. It proved that she was a fighter and fight she would!

It was the time of reckoning and the models were summoned to Mrs. Chance office once again. Like before, Miss. Fiona had accompanied them whether for support or as PA to Mrs. Chance, it remained unclear.

They walked in a line, with Uyai behind; her palms were clammy, damp with sweat. She was nervous and what's more the corridor that led to Mrs. Chance office was dark adding to the foreboding atmosphere . She didn't know whether the light was switched off on purpose or the light bulb just decided to cease function.

It made her feel like she was walking to an impending doom.

A door creaked open permitting light to fill the corridor, and one by one they all strode in into the office that felt like the room of judgement.

Uyai was the last to get in and with a grunt the door was shut.

"Seat." A voice said and they all looked up at once to see a man; light in complexion, quite handsome but elderly sitting beside Mrs. Chance. His name was Mr. Ken. He had been introduced to them as a fashion designer with a brand name Barbie as odd as it sounds. Also adding to his profession he'd been a judge in countless beauty contest including Miss Nigeria and known for his harsh words which from research had been trending on Twitter and Instagram. In the modeling world, he was a force to be reckoned with.

"You heard him, seat!" Mrs. Chance spoke. Her eyes devoid of emotion and her demeanor stoic.

Immediately they obliged.

Tension filled the air, swirling round them in a threatening fashion. Even Miss Fiona who was an observer felt it and it wasn't even the main contest yet.

"You all know why you're here correct?" Mr. Ken asked. His hands were folded neatly on the table while Mrs. Chance held a file containing documents containing their profiles.

They responded with a nod.

"Words." He said calmly. However how calm his words were, they demanded respect, and so without hesitation they all murmured a corresponding "Yes."

"Good." he hummed. Mrs. Chance remained quiet.

"So..." he began with a trail." It has been established that you know why you're here and since we're not here for chitchats, I'll go straight to the point."

They waited with bated breath.

"So far, I and Mrs. Chance had been monitoring your performance, yes all round performance, carefully criticising every minute detail, and making sure to input all your flaws and improvement and it has been decided." He paused and turned to Mrs. Chance who swiftly handed him the file in her hand. He proceeded by taking out its contents and placing it in his front with a startling thud.

They flinched.

"Few of you performed fairly and one of you did exceptionally well which I must say is applauding." He continued without a change of expression, quickly glancing at the pile of documents then looking at them pointedly. "I am sorry one of you has to go. That doesn't mean you can't partake in any other contest, but not this one. Out of the four of you, you performed poorly." he said and Uyai saw him glance in her direction.

Her heart skipped a beat and immediately she knew her fate had been decided. Her expression fell and she could feel her eyes well up with tears, she could also feel a pitying glance and smug looks. Yes, she had definitely been eliminated.

"Precious I am afraid you won't be partaking in the competition." they suddenly heard. Uyai's breath ceased and her eyes widened as a gasp tore from her throat.

Their reactions mirrored hers for they were utterly surprised, shock was probably the word.

The model in question gulped loudly, her eyes also wide and glinting with saline liquid.

"You may all leave." Mr. Ken said emotionlessly.

"Better luck next time Precious. I was actually expecting more, I'm really disappointed." Mrs. Chance gave her verdict and Presh broke down, the tears had escaped her eyes staining her cheeks rudely.

All at once two eyes turned to Uyai with a feverish glare and Uyai knew she had scored two enemies.