The Externals Reloaded -Chapter Five

 Payback Time

Quinn began the journey to obtain his visa at the Nigerian Embassy with an indifferent feeling. Ignoring Segun's warning, he refused to leave home early and was later alarmed at the number of people he saw queuing before him. Determined not to be an object of scorn for his childhood friend, he joined the queue hoping things will get better soon but he was wrong. Even the first consulate officer he encountered threatened to ensure his visa isn't approved because he had a white mom. Apparently, nowhere was safe for him. "Bastards don't belong in our beloved country", she smirked.

Shortly after her threat, the woman had to leave because she got a call that her child got injured while playing football. Luck was on Quinn's side. The second consulate office he encountered was a dark-skinned Nigerian who migrated to the United States Of America in search of a greener pasture like many other Nigerian immigrants residing in the country. After hearing his story, she felt sympathetic towards him so she hosted him well even though he refused her coffee treat and assured him his visa would be approved on time. It didn't matter that Quinn only told her his story out of spite. He didn't also give comments on the exciting stories she told about living in Nigeria.

"How did it go, man?" Mart asked Quinn from a distance as out of the lady's office.

"Easier than I wanted", Quin said hesitantly as they walked towards the exit of the consulate. He didn't care about the jealous stares he got from those who had been parading the skyscraper for weeks.

"Woo ho!" Mart screamed, making this sane set of people feel more disgusted for them. "I knew it was gonna be easy man!"

"Yeah. It's always easy for one to make the biggest mistake in life", Quinn lamented. They were now approaching his Chevrolet in the parking lot

"You'll be fine, trust me", Mart patted his shoulder.

"So, what's next?" Quinn asked after Mart had settled and fastened his belt in the passenger's seat.

"You're going to love this, trust me", Mart winked at him and fired up the car's engine.

After Quinn got his visa two days later and made other necessary preparations for his flight, all he wanted to do was sleep and have terrible nightmares about living in Nigeria so he'd have a reason not to go there anymore. However, his troublemaker of a friend already planned a send-off party for him. Despite how frustrated he felt, he had to honor his guests. Thankfully, Beth wasn't one of them even though he still felt the need to see her one more time. Still, his mom was invited, and Sean came along with her.

Displaying the traits of a well-brought-up boy this time, Quinn didn't make a scene. He didn't punch Sean in the gut or threaten to kill him if he doesn't stay away from his mom. He didn't call his mom a slut for choosing a man over him or push her away when she wanted to hug him. He smiled at Sean like a gentleman when he gave him a congratulatory message and accepted the wrapped gift he brought though he wasn't a bit interested in it. He also didn't refuse his mom when she asked to talk privately.

"I'll no longer be a part of your life, Mom. Will that make you happy?" Quinn said to hurt his mom as soon as they entered Mart's private living room and it worked.

"You chose this path, Quinn. Don't turn this on me!" Miss Claire chose not to surrender even though her eyes were slowly beginning to water.

"Yeah. I know. I should have never been born! My existence has always been a smear on your reputation. You are so eager to get rid of me", Quinn said bitterly.

"Why not? Seeing you only remind me of your dad! Why do you think it was hard to move on after all these years? I don't want to have anything to do with you or him ever again", Miss Claire rushed to the nearest bathroom to cry her eyes out.

Bimbo Adesina, the consular officer in charge of Quinn's visa was also present at his send-off party. Since Quinn made him aware of the role she played in securing his visa, Mart invited her. Quinn was laughing at a lame joke one of his guests made about his dad's country wallowing in defeat despite being the giant of Africa when she walked in confidently and removed her jacket, which revealed the burgundy strapless drop shoulder lace gown she was putting on. Her outfit got the eyes of many except Quinn so she had to whisper in his ears, "Congratulations champ" to get his attention.

Quinn didn't expect to see her and wouldn't have even invited her if he had the chance so he wasn't so excited about her visit yet told her, "Hey, Bimbo" and "What will you like to drink?"

"V-O-D-K-A to the world!" Bimbo replied. They were already walking to the empty kitchen. As they entered, she caught a whiff of smoked chicken.

"I thought Nigerian women are not allowed to be drunks", Quinn said purposely to get on her nerves while reaching for a bottle of Vodka in the fridge.

"Nothing you say is making me leave so come off it", Bimbo patted his shoulder. "Let's go to the rooftop. It's my first time in a penthouse so I have to make the most of it".

Despite annoying the shit out of him, Quinn followed Bimbo to the rooftop with glass cups and a bottle of Vodka in each of his hands. However, he wasn't completely mad at her. He had mixed feelings about her just like he did with his dad. He was slightly worried he still wouldn't give a damn about him after all the years they'd spent apart and losing his mom scared him. He was worried about not having anyone to turn to at the end of the day, ending up in a boarding school, becoming a rebel, and spending the rest of his days in misery.

Bimbo knew he wasn't physically present anymore and tried talking him out of it. "Why not stop worrying and focus on the present?" she said while spreading her hands and closing her eyes to feel the impact of their new atmosphere.

"Even the present sulks", Quinn sat on a wicker lounge chair and took a sip of the drink he brought directly from its bottle. "A glimpse of what's awaiting me..."

"What if you're wrong", Bimbo posed and spoke like a seer, "I see a pretty Nigerian girl and blonde juveniles in your future young man".

"She must be my future maid", Quinn replied with mocking laughter.

"You're so mean, damn!" Bimbo rolled her eyes and took a sip of her drink. "How about you go have a rough life in Nigeria!"

"Ah ah", Quinn exclaimed. "That's more like it!"

The party wasn't a total waste. To free his mind of worries, he agreed to play a Nigerian game which Bode, a Miller high student who only migrated to the United States a few years ago for his secondary education suggested to prepare him ahead of his social life in Nigeria. The game involved people circling chairs while a song is being played and sitting on one once it stops. Of course, anyone who didn't get a chair to sit on was disqualified since the number of chairs wasn't equal to the number of people dancing. Surprisingly, Quinn found the childish game exciting and won rounds upon rounds.

That night, Quinn slept blissfully after exhausting his energy on ridiculous Nigerian games and moves. Miss Claire on the other hand had a hard time sleeping because she knew the implication of what she said to Quinn and being alone didn't help matters. At some point, she had to grab some of their old family pictures he thought she had deleted from the innermost of her closet to find succor. She was glad she didn't destroy them after all but also worried that Sean might find them intolerable after the wedding and he wouldn't be wrong for doing so. She needed to move on fully.

Mart's Dad was part of the guests at Quinn's party. Having been away from his son for too long, he decided to stay for the night to spend some time with him. Before passing out completely, Quinn saw them watching a wrestling contest the night before. In the morning, they also got up before him to cook bagels, lox, and schmear for breakfast. That made him miss his dad as much as he hated to admit. He remembered helping his dad make the same meal when he was little so he could serve his mom breakfast in bed for their seventh wedding anniversary. Even though they both ended up making a disaster of a meal, Miss Claire didn't stop talking about it for a while. She loved it.

"Man, you're okay?" Mart wondered what was making him lose interest in one of his favorite meals in the dining room.

"Yeah", Quinn took a sip of coffee from his mug, then made an effort to take a bite but he just couldn't do that. He had never once tried that combo since his dad left. "Sorry, I have to go now".

"Where are you going?" Mart watched him quizzically.

"Did you fall in love with a girl last night knowing fully well that you'll be traveling in no time?" He teased.

"Wish I did so I'd have a reason to stay back but I didn't. I'm only going out because a traveler surely needs new clothes", He returned the upholstered dining chair he was sitting on to its initial position under the glass dining table.

"Are you seriously going shopping?" Mart beamed with excitement. "You gotta be kidding me!"

"Yes", Quinn didn't like the way he was making a big deal over his decision to go shopping but there was nothing he could do about it.

"That's it, man", They hit their knuckles. "I'll be right back", Mart stood up to change his pajamas in his bedroom so they could go together.

"You don't have to, buddy", Quinn wanted him to spend more time with his dad.

"Nah, it's fine", Mart understood what he was trying to do.

"Come on, I'm not a child you have to babysit all the time!" Quinn left the dining room angrily. It was all part of the plan.

Quinn drove Mart's Massaratti out of the penthouse and in no time, he got to the biggest clothing store in Rochester, Since they weren't able to talk physically, Mart later called to advise him on the type of clothing materials to look out for because he knew his best friend was a diehard fan of fur sweaters and Nigeria was too hot for that. That made Quinn chuckle and wonder how he was going to survive without him. Sometimes, he acted more like his mom.

Following Mart's advice, Quinn bought clothes with soft materials,s especially vintage shirts. His eyes couldn't ignore fur coats completely so he got three of them too. He also got new shoes, socks, mufflers, Rolex wristwatches for Mart, a nice grey suit for Tom, and Chanel No. 5 for his mom, all as a farewell gift for each of them. Things were going smoothly for him until Beth decided to spoil his show by being the customer before him at the counter.

"Hi, Beth", He waved to her still with a smile.

"Can't you see I'm busy here? I don't have time to exchange pleasantries with unnecessary persons like you", Beth rolled her eyes.

"How can you be so cruel to such a gentleman?" The attendant who had been eyeing Quinn since he walked in chastised her.

"You had better mind your business, else, you won't have a job to feed your lousy mouth anymore", Beth warned her.

"Instead of being worried sick if I'll able to feed my lousy mouth or not, why not use that extra time to monitor your finances?" The attendant advised.

"What did you do to my card?" Beth stopped picking on Mart when the attendant made her realize her card was declined due to insufficient funds. "You gotta be shitting me!"

"It's okay, you can use mine", Quinn brought out his card and gave the attendant.

"Awwwn. Aren't you the sweetest!" The attendant blew him a kiss.

"Sure you won't go bankrupt after this?" Beth still made fun of him, causing everyone around who saw what had been going on to give her a nasty look.

It was only after that she felt ashamed and walked out of the store briefly.

Despite what happened, Quinn got home safely. To his utmost satisfaction, Mart had ordered a pepperoni pizza and coke for dinner so they didn't have to argue over what to eat. As they sat down on the rug at the center of the living room to eat the hot cheesy dish with several meat chunks, Mart reminisced how they used to do that on Sunday evenings as kids. Then, both their moms used to team up to make the meal tolerable for them even if it wasn't perfect. Talking about moms, Mart remembered Miss Claire brought some of his stuff in a box and mentioned it to him.

Quinn wasn't so excited that his mom brought his stuff because he chose to believe it meant she was ready to get rid of him and couldn't help complaining to Mart who tried comforting him. He would have teased him about being such a baby but didn't want anything to make him cancel his trip so he avoided saying anything that would piss him off. Mart even agreed to him getting revenge even though Miss Claire was his ally. Nevertheless, he made sure it was nothing suicidal.

Miss Claire got home from work the following day with a migraine yet instead of going to her bedroom for a nap, she went into the garden to check her flowers because she forgot to do that in the morning as she was hurrying to beat NY's morning traffic. The more reason she missed Quinn was because he showed great concern for them on her behalf.

However, Miss Claire got the biggest shock of her life when she entered the garden and saw everything in there was gone. She thought an intruder broke into her home until she saw a small note in a flower pot with Quinn's initials. It said, "Here's what getting rid of me feels like". As angry as she was about what happened, she did nothing to get back at her rebel of a son for her peace of mind.

On Quinn's departure day, he woke up pretty late and properly wouldn't have done that at all if Mart didn't return earlier from his night shift. After opening his weary eyes that were suffering from the aftermath of staring at his laptop screen for too long, he dashed into the bathroom for a quick bath and brought out his outfit from the wardrobe. It was a combo of a blue denim jacket with a dark leather jacket, jeans, a hat, and sneakers. As he examined the quilted jacket with stylish zippers, wool sleeves, and pockets, wondering if he made the right choice, Mart walked in hurriedly.

"What are you doing man?" Mart's face was contorted with rage. He didn't expect Quinn to be in that position.

"I'm just...trying to see if I chose the right outfit", He stuttered while speaking due to Mart's facial expression yet looks into his wardrobe in search of a better outfit.

"Do you realize you're going to be late for your flight?" Mart frustratingly ruffled his brown hair.

"If you miss that flight, you're going to live the rest of your life in regret!" Mart added, walked out of his bedroom, and slammed the door. It was then Quinn realized the gravity of his action. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE
Thanks for reading😁😍Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I particularly love the part where Quinn and the consulate officer were discussing on the rooftop. Which part do you like the most?

Please don't forget to drop your comments. Ghost readers, please oo. Dropping comments is part of the evidence that shows you truly enjoyed it and will also guide me in making corrections.

With comments, will also be able to appreciate you personally for your support.

Yours Sincerely,
Oluwamuyiwa Eniola