Chapter 1

“Tiara! What are you doing here?” Chichi asked incredulously when she opened her front door and saw that her friend was the visitor who’d been knocking frantically on her door a few seconds ago.

“Please Chichi, let me in. I’ll explain everything to you, please,” Tiara panted. Her eyes darted around fearfully as if she was expecting someone to jump out of the walls and grab her.

Chichi opened the door wider to let her friend in. She couldn’t help but wonder who or what Tiara was running away from at this ungodly hour. It was a few minutes past 1 a.m. and Chichi had been watching a sci-fi movie on Netflix before she was interrupted by the loud knocks on her door. She noticed that Tiara looked disheveled in her rumpled oversized T-shirt, stained denim shorts, and dirty sneakers. Even her curly wig was askew and messy. The only accessory she had on was her knockoff Chanel fanny pack.

She stumbled over to the couch and sat down heavily on it before taking off her wig to reveal her neatly done cornrows.

“Do you want some water to drink?” Chichi asked.

“Yes, please,” Tiara replied almost breathlessly.

After she’d taken a generous drink of water from the glass, she heaved a sigh of relief.

“So, you want to tell me what all of this is about?” Chichi inquired.

Tiara’s lower lip quivered when she tried to speak. “I had to run away, Chichi. I had to run away from it all.”

“Run away from what?”

“From the madness that is my life. I can’t do it anymore, Chichi. The debts keep piling up and I don’t have any means to pay up. Now I must be on the run like a criminal to avoid being caught by my creditors. I just want to be a normal girl, go to school, graduate, and move on with my life. Is that too much to ask for?”

“No, it’s not,” Chichi replied. “Who do you owe?”

“Everyone—a bunch of women at the hostel that I borrowed money from, my cousin, and even the school. I still haven’t paid my departmental fees for this semester, and we’ll be starting exams soon. You have to help me, Chichi. I don’t know where else to go. I need help!”

“What about your parents?”

“Dad has been out of work for months now and the little money my mom makes from her small business goes into the upkeep of the home and taking care of the younger ones. I can’t go to them for money right now because they don’t have any to spare. I can’t continue like this. One of my creditors sent some thugs to come and beat me up at the hostel. Luckily for me, they went to the wrong room, but I found out that they were looking for me, so I ran down here. I know I can’t hide here for long, so I need you to help me out.”

Chichi sighed. The lack of adequate security at the off-campus hostels was disturbing but the university management didn’t seem to care. “What do you want me to do then? I don’t have money to lend you because I know there’s no guarantee that I’ll get it back any time soon,” she said bluntly. “You know I’m putting myself through school, so every single dime in my bank account is very precious to me. Plus, there’s also my family to consider. They depend on me for their upkeep too.”

Chichi’s mom was a widowed civil servant who could barely take care of her three children on her meager salary. Thankfully, Chichi had been able to help her family stay afloat with the regular cash she sent to them monthly.

“I know,” Tiara acknowledged. “And I’m not here to ask you for money either.”

Chichi was surprised. “You’re not? What do you want me to do for you then?”

Tiara looked at her friend dead in the eyes and said, “I want you to show me how you make your money. I want to be financially independent like you. I want to be able to afford a nice apartment like yours. I want to make enough money to take care of myself and help my family too. Please, Chichi. Don’t say no. I desperately need your help.”

“If I remember correctly, you once said that you could never sell your body to make money,” Chichi said.

“Yes, I did. But what has that got to do with this?”

Chichi smiled. “What do you think I do to make money?”

Tiara was a bit confused. “You said you were into customer service, right?”

“Right, but do you know the kind of customers that I service?”

“I don’t know,” Tiara replied sincerely.

“And did you ever ask me?”

“Stop with the suspense, Chichi. What are you getting at? Who are your customers?”

“Men. My customers are men,” Chichi answered matter-of-factly.

“Men? I don’t understand.”

“My dear Tiara, I sleep with men for a living. I am an escort.”

Tiara gasped. “A what?”

“You heard me, Tiara. The customers I service are men, and they pay me very well for what I do.”

Tiara was shocked into silence. She couldn’t believe that her soft-spoken, well-mannered, decent friend was a hooker. The same Chichi that couldn’t stand it when people swore around her, went to church regularly, and was even an active member of the youth fellowship on campus. The same Chichi that was always so properly dressed that you could barely see a peek of her creamy light skin underneath her clothing. It was so unbelievable!

“I can almost see the wheels in your head turning and I understand your surprise, but you wanted to know how I make money and I needed to tell you the truth from the get-go, so you don’t have any false hopes.”

“To be honest, I’m shocked,” Tiara admitted. “You don’t look like a prostitute.”

“Escort,” Chichi corrected.

“What’s the difference?”

“Prostitutes are those raggedy dressed urchins that stand by the roadside at night waiting to be picked up by random men. An escort is a lady who has a list of high-end clients that she meets with on an appointment-only basis. An escort can even travel abroad to meet with a client if needed. Does that sound like the same thing those girls on the streets do?”

Tiara shook her head slowly. She was mystified by this straightforward explanation that Chichi had given her. When explained like this, the whole escort thing didn’t sound so bad. If she was honest with herself, she had to admit that she’d always admired Chichi’s composure—the way she spoke eloquently and carried herself with so much dignity. Her school fees, house rent, and other bills were always paid on time. Her house was always stocked with food, she had the choicest pick in clothes, shoes, and handbags—some of which were even original designer pieces. Tiara had naively assumed that her friend was able to afford all that luxury from her generous salary as a customer service rep at whichever company she worked at.

“So?” Chichi asked. “Are you interested, or do you still think sleeping with men to make cool cash is disgusting?”