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He let out a chuckle. “Yes. That…that's the question. Is Agu who he says he is?”

He could feel Lillian's gaze boring into his back. She'd dressed for the occasion. All righteous elegance. Ready to give a speech on how shocking her husband could commit those crimes.

“He's more than a godfather,” Timi said. “A lover of Africa's progress. And now, has become the pacesetter of African entertainment. Everyone, give it up for Agu!”

Heart pounding, Timi watched the monitor stay on for a minute, then it went blue, and a heavy sigh of relief escaped him. The show was his to start and end as he willed.

The light came on, and his eyes sought Alex. They stared at each other for a long moment, then Alex nodded. A full, unmistakable acknowledgement .

You did well , he mouthed.

He didn't resist when the MIB clowns came for him outside the hall. Alex tried to stop them, but Timi held him back.

“We talked about this,” he said, barely holding himself from drawing him into his arms. He allowed a little touch on his chin though. “I'll be fine, and I'll see you soon.

They led him to Agu's Lexus and pushed him in. Within, Agu sat in his white agbada, the interior reeking of his Cuban. And just as in the hall, he appeared eerily composed for someone who had just lost a huge chunk of his investment and his pride.

“Nice T-shirt,” he said, as soon as Timi settled in beside him.

Timi looked at Uncle Jude's giant head peeking from his stomach. “Thanks.”

Agu's finger tapped Oku's golden head. “Genuinely curious. How did you do the contract? I read both the soft and hard copies. Didn't detect anything.”

“That's why rereading is important.”

“I read them thrice.”

“Four is the magic number.”

“Ah. My bad, then. Was it from my end?”

The loud screech as he and Alex drove away in their taxi resounded in his head.

Triple T and the boys crashing into Johnson's Wrangler.

And while Triple T drew the lawyer away from his jeep, concentrating his insults on Johnson's self-loathed 5,2 height, Lapo had replaced the original contract copies with the ones Timi’s lawyer had drawn up.

Timi exhaled. “You should get a level-headed lawyer who wouldn't get into street brawls. Preferably a tall one. ”

“Right,” Agu said. “That's why you insisted on signing hard copies. Then, chose my club day and deliberately came late. Because you knew I would be too distracted to read thoroughly one more time.”

Timi kept quiet.

“Forgiveness is strange, isn't it?”

“Is it?” Timi said.

“It's easier forgiving your enemies than your friends. But you know the hardest of all? Forgiving the people you love. Fred Rogers. You know him?”

Timi shifted in his seat. “He's your inspiration. You wanted to be like him.”

“He's the me I would have been if I could be me. This…” He pointed Oku at Oba Hall. “...was the closest I could ever be to that person.”

Timi swallowed.

“Why take it away from me?” Agu asked.

Timi moistened his lips. “I took only a pound of what you took from me, Agu. Your studio still stands. People will forget. You'll execute many projects far better than Red Tinsel. You'll make your mark. I can't say the same for my father.”

“You owe me, son,” Agu murmured. “More than you can ever repay.”

“I—”

“And your little minion soldiers. Biting far more than they can chew.”

Cold sweat rolled down Timi's back. “Leave them alone.”

“I give it to you all though. I admit I didn't see this coming.”

“You might have, if you'd stopped playing God for a minute.”

Agu smiled faintly. “Playing God. How strange. Gods do not need humans’ help, but you gave this god the ammunition, didn't you?

Timi frowned. “How?”

Agu glanced at him. “If you aren't gay, why claim you were?”

His heart stopped. “What—?”

“Want to deny? I wasn't sure, but seeing your face now? You were running away so you needed to test the waters. See if what happened to you at fifteen could happen again at thirty.”

Timi was having a hard time breathing. How could Agu possibly know these things.

His disappearance. His moment of weakness a night before his birthday.

When he'd briefly become fifteen. Laid on a mat under that tree, and facing a beautiful boy.

Darkness protecting them. The boy's hand cradling his face and telling him how much he liked him.

Stricken by a longing so acute and too tipsy to care about propriety, he'd created a fake account and sent a message to Gistcarrier with a snapshot of his international passport as proof that the sender knew him intimately. Then, deleted the account.

He'd woken up to clarity, and convinced himself no sane person would believe the crap. But Gistcarrier had believed, and soon he realised he may have changed but the world had remained static.

“You brought this on your father, son,” Agu said. “But why blame yourself when you could blame the rest of the world?”

Timi shook his head, dispelling his words and the familiar acidic weight of guilt gripping him. “No, no. You're wrong. You did this. You could have let me go. Considering I served you faithfully for seven years. But you chose to use my father against me.”

“The only crime I committed was seize an opportunity already presented. Why should I pay for that?”

The mixed cherry-tobacco air was slowly constricting Timi's lungs. He needed to get out and breathe. “It's over, Agu. I'm done with you and Red Tinsel.”

Agu picked up his phone. “It is over when I say it is over, Lawson.”

Timi pulled out the memory card from his pocket and placed it in the cup-holder separating them.

Agu brought down the phone he'd raised to his ear, staring at the card. “What's that?”

“The last card I'm playing. It should have been aired today. But my aim was never to destroy you, only to humiliate you. The same shame and pain you brought upon my father and his loved ones.”

Agu picked up the card, flipping it between pudgy fingers.

“True, its content made me barf,” Timi said. “But when the law catches up with you, which it eventually will, I would like to visit you in prison, not as a traitor but as someone who had witnessed and enjoyed the human side of you.”

When Agu remained silent, Timi touched Oku’s head, pulled open the door and got down.

He faced Agu, whose eyes stayed glued to the card.

“Leave my friends alone, Agu. Leave me alone. And leave my father alone. Check file 105 if you’re ever tempted to come after any of us.

I don't know what to say about the woman you brought to me, but the only family I know are the ones around me today.

I appreciate you looking out for me, but you shouldn't have wasted your time and resources.”

Agu raised an empty gaze. “You should go see your mother, son.” Then, he shook his head ruefully. “You would have made a wonderful Zik.”

Timi replied to what he could. “You can get another Zik.”

“I can, can't I?”

”Yes. Yes, you can.”

A couple of hours later, a mysterious fire broke out at the production unit of Agu's studio. Every film shot for Red Tinsel burnt to crisps. And the stored files, corrupted. And just like that, the production of Red Tinsel came to its final stop.

D'Yoyo had taken his own pound.