Room 201

Chuks checked in by 10am then exactly thirty minutes later, his friend arrived in the hotel and made it to his room, shortly after she got into the room, the bar man was called on the intercom to send a bottle of red wine to them then he also ordered some food but as a waiter got to the hallway with his order, he saw a fella standing right at the door. He felt that the fella was a guest of the occupants of the room because he stood like one waiting for the person inside to open the door.

Chuks opened the door and saw the waiter and this strange man standing right at his door, the man pushed him right inside and forced himself into the room while the waiter stood perplexed but sensing that there was fire on the mountain because of the outburst of the man and the scream of the woman inside, he dashed out and ran downstairs to notify the management about the fuck up in room 201. The manager called my attention and we all rushed to the room to avoid a collateral damage.

Ben as we learned was his name had trailed his wife Jessica to the hotel after reading series of text messages she was exchanging with Chuks so sensing that she was having an affair outside their marriage, he decided to play the fool so to catch her red handed and Jessica exposed herself to the fullest so he knew exactly the date and place she arranged to have a share of her unfaithfulness for the day. Glad we arrived on time and luckily got Chuk's neck off Ben's hard hands if not, he would have strangled him.

Personally, i wanted to make sure that things don't escalate but the fact that Ben had company changed everything because he insisted that Chuks should follow him and his company but Chuks knowing very well that it would be his end refused and i didn't want to create a scene but i needed to protect a customer so i threatened to call the cops but just as i got the hotel security guys involve to control Ben and his two man company, another thing that would change the situation came up

I must admit that when I got into the room, I almost mistook the so called Ben for Jerome but the fact that I was with Jerome few minutes before I was informed about the situation in room 201 overruled my instincts but having both of them stood next to each other left each and every one of us inside that room stirring at each other. Honestly, I saw the striking resemblance between them the very minute Jerome entered the room.

Jerome was an ex-Police Inspector who was discharged from duty for accidentally shooting a civilian, although he was charged for man slaughter instead of murder yet he was discharged from the Force and the stigma of that incident made life hard for him but being a hardworking Man; he resorted to private security to make both ends meet and he is the senior security guy in the hotel. He also saw the resemblance between him and Ben so as we got the situation under control, he stood and stared at Jessica then called her Evelyn.

She recognized him too. They lived together for twelve years, he had known her from when she was born until the last day he saw her. She couldn’t believe it and every one of us in the room including Chris became highly confused and wanted to know exactly what was going on as Jessica (now Evelyn) hugged Jerome and began to cry while Ben stood watching the current episode.

You see, Jerome has a little brother who was kidnapped when he was just four years old and his name was Desmond. All effort to find him then was to no avail then their parents died in a motor accident that almost crippled his eight years old sister Evelyn but after her recovery and the funeral of their parents, both Jerome and Evelyn were taken in by an Uncle. They both lived with their Uncle for about four years and bared all the ill treatment and sometimes days without food under their Uncle’s roof then one day, his twelve years younger sister Evelyn left home and never came back. She ran away from home.

The name Desmond reminded Ben of a place he once called home, it reminded him of the tall gigantic man he once called Daddy and the beautiful Calabar woman he once called Mummy, he remembered the day a Woman tricked him into a car and that was the last day he saw his Daddy, Mummy, big brother and Younger sister, He remembered his younger sister’s name Evelyn and also the big brother that always played soccer with him, and always gave him snacks, he remembered Jerome his brother.

We didn’t need any other thing to put the dots together because it was obvious that Jerome has found his two younger siblings and Ben (or rather Desmond) confirmed that Jessica (Evelyn) once told him about the car accident that took the lives of her parents but never mentioned about having a brother or any relative but she told him that she used to live in Duala with her parents but found her way to Nigeria after their death. He was only four years when he was kidnapped so he never knew that he was taken from Cameroon to Nigeria but Jerome lived all his life in Duala but relocated to Nigeria after his dismissal from the Police force. Well, to cut a long confusing situation short, these three siblings reconnected, thanks to Jessica’s unfaithfulness to her husband who turned out to be her biological brother.

Ben (let me call him his true name because Ben was the name given to him by his kidnappers) Desmond looked at Chuks then walked up to him and apologized for almost strangling him then thanked him for being in Evelyn’s life and for dragging him down to room 201 because without him, he would never have reconnected with his siblings and would have ended up having children with his own blood. Jessica also couldn’t hide her emotions as she feel on her brother’s knees and begged him to forgive her for all the stress she must put him through in the course of their marriage. Do you want to know about Jerome, who kept thanking God for his dismissal from the force because he would have still be in Cameroon instead of in room 201.

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“Sometimes, the mistake we make is to discover our true essence.”- Rossi Mobis