Hottestgistnaija.com
‘You asked me to bring you what you are worth to me from Ghana, I saw this beautiful ring and thought you should be my wife. Can you believe that? Thank God I didn’t make that mistake.’
He hissed at me. I looked up at him. There were tears in his eyes. I felt sorry for both of us. He slammed the box closed and walked out of my room again. This time quietly. I dropped my head on my bed and hot tears ran down cheeks. It was in this position I remained till my friend Tola would find me when she returned.
I was very thirsty, very thirsty. The water people kept offering me was salty, I couldn’t drink them. Then my friend Tola appeared and gave me a cup of fresh water, I drank it happily. Suddenly the cup fell from my hand and the water in it poured on the floor and became a muddy pond. I was drowning in a muddy water, I was screaming for help no one was there. I was crying and praying for help and my boyfriend Niyi appeared. I stretched my hand towards him but he wouldn’t help me. I was begging and crying, he wouldn’t help me still. Then I began to sink. I couldn’t fight the mud anymore, I had lost my strength. Suddenly I felt someone pulling me up, trying to save me. I couldn’t see the person’s face but I started kicking and swimming with my rescuer. We got to the pond edge and the person pulled me out. I couldn’t see because mud was on my face. I started crying and my vision cleared, it was Tola.
‘Wake up! Joke wake, stop crying and kicking! Wake up. It’s a nightmare baby, wake up please.’
Those were the words that brought me back. I opened my eyes gently, I was still scared of the mud I was battling with in my bad dream. Joke was kneeling down beside me and she had tears in her eyes. I was crying too. At first nothing made sense to me, then I looked down and saw the flowers and memories came rushing back. Oh my Niyi, he was gone! I started crying again.
‘Joke please don’t cry, please. What’s wrong, kilode? Who hurt you? Soro now!’ She queried me. I just kept crying. She begged me to stop crying and tell her what the problem was. I tried but the tears wouldn’t stop flowing and the sobs wouldn’t allow me to talk. She sat down beside me, she drew me into her arms and rocked me gently. I felt comforted. After a while I stopped crying. She stood up and brought me paracetamol and water. I took it, drank it and thanked her.
‘So, what’s up? I’ve never seen you like this, kilonsele?’ She asked again. Hot tears sprang to my eyes as I was about to tell her but I was determined not to cry again. I told her what happened. I relived the scenes as I told her. When I got to the part where I told Niyi what I did, she sprang up.
‘You did what? Oh my God! Joke! Are you that naive? Ibo loti gbori pe won njewo iru e? I can’t believe this! So what did he now do?’ She asked. Frankly, thinking back, why the heck did I confess? After all the thing no dey read meter!
‘He slapped me.’ I said calmly.
‘Oh my God!’ She exclaimed and rubbed her cheeks as if she could feel the slap.
‘But that’s not the worst thing that happened and that’s not the reason I’m crying.’ I explained.
‘The idiot broke up with you abi?’ She said pouting and folded her hand on her chest.
‘Yeah, he did but it’s worse than that.’ I replied.
‘He slapped you and broke up with you, what else could be worse than that? Oh, he called you names?’ She asked.
‘Yes he called me nasty names but that’s not the reason for my tears either.’ I said.
‘Hmmm,’ she humphed. She sat down in front of me, she held my two hands. It was like she knew I needed her emotional support.
‘Are you pregnant for him?’ She asked and a bitter smile crossed my lips. Why do people believe pregnancy was the worst thing that could happen to a single lady?
‘No dear, he came with a ring, he wanted me to be is wife.’ I said gently and the tears I’ve been holding back rolled down my face. She opened her mouth like she wanted to sing, her eyes were almost out of their sockets. Then she blinked and closed her mouth, she drew me into her arms again and hugged me and started crying too. She sobbed her regrets on my shoulder.
‘What have I done? It’s all my fault! I’m so sorry baby, I’m so sorry.’ She kept on crying and saying. We rocked each other.
‘It’s ok, it’s ok, it’s well. I will be fine.’ I kept assuring her and myself. I felt cramps on my leg and disentangled myself from her. She stood up to. She turned mother hen on me.
‘Are you ok? Does yours cheeks still hurt? Should I get you ice? Anything you want baby…’ She cajoled. I smiled and replied,
Yes, I want your head!’ First she thought I was serious and she looked scared, then she saw me smile and she smiled too. She said,
‘Baby I’m sorry this happened to you but don’t worry, everything will be alright. Shogbo? And I will always be here for you.’
‘Thank you dear and stop worrying yourself, I’m very brave. It will hurt a while and then it will stop and stop blaming yourself! You didn’t force me and Kunle didn’t rape me, I can carry my cross.’ I assured her.
‘Do you have any sleeping tablet?’ I asked.
‘I think so, let me go check my room.’ She said and left my room. I went into the bathroom, took a quick shower and lay down on my bed naked. Soon Tola returned with two tablets and and a cup of pineapple juice, my favorite.
‘Soti jeun sha?’ She asked me as she gave me the drugs and juice.
‘Ounje ke? Ebi o pami jor.’ I said and drank my juice, then took my drugs. She excused herself and promised to check on me before she goes to bed.
I laid on my bed and glared at the ceilings. One thing my mother hated so much and thought us all to hate was “blame”. When you make a mistake, my mother believed you should take responsibilities for your actions, not blame others or blame yourself for that matter and most importantly, don’t let anybody blame you. She would say, “oti shele oti shele noni yen, solution ni koje kawa”. So I wasn’t blaming myself or Tola either. I evaluated my life, I reflected on what I had done and I came to these conclusions. I did not regret sleeping with Kunle, he showed me myself, I enjoyed myself and discovered myself. I really didn’t love Niyi, so that he left me wasn’t a big deal but under the condition that we parted. I really don’t like hurting people. If the truth should be told, I never knew Niyi loved me, at least not as much as he wanting me to be his wife. When I thought of the ring again, my heart broke again. But what I regretted most was telling the truth! I mean, what was I thinking of? That he will just pardon me and forgive me and say, “go and sin no more?” I was a big fool. I smacked myself on the head for being such an idiot. I looked at my bedside table, the champagne must have lost its coolness. I moved to the bottle, I opened it.
‘Puhar!’ It popped.
‘Adejoke! You sure mess this one up, you know?’ I said loudly to myself. I took the bottle to my mouth and started drinking. Gradually I became drunk. The last thing I remembered was texting, “I’m sorry” to Niyi.
I stirred in my bed, I opened my eyes gently, I tried to stand up but my head was heavy and aching. The event of the day before came to me in flashes, I covered my eyes with my hand and groaned,
‘Gggrggghmmm.’ Heartbreak and hangover was really a bad combination. I tried to get up again but this time gently and gradually. My head was pounding like hell, it was as if ten people were drumming on my head. I struggled to the bathroom, I sat down on the floor, I opened the water faucet on my head, the water rushed down to me, I embraced it. I was there for over five minutes, when I got up, I felt better. I wrapped my head in a towel and put on a short gown. I walked into the kitchen and fresh smell of coffee greeted me. It was pleasant to the nose, I badly needed a cup of it. Tola was at the stove preparing something, she turned to me as I walked into the kitchen.
‘Morning sweetheart. Sosun dada?’ She greeted me with a patronizing smile.
‘Morning ma. Can I have some coffee?’ I asked touching my aching head. I noticed none of us put “good” into our morning.
‘Well you can have some coffee but after you’ve drank a cup of water and this aspirin. With all the alcohol you consumed last night, I’m sure your head must be aching.’ I didn’t bother to argue, I took the water and the drugs, then she gave me a cup of coffee. We sipped our coffee in silence for a while the Tola said,
‘Hnmn, Joke, do you really hate me?’ I stared at her. Why would she ask me such question? Maybe she thought I blame her for what happened?
‘I don’t hate you Tola, and I don’t blame you, I take full responsibility for my action ok? Please let’s stop talking about what happened, it’s depressing enough without us talking about it.’ She came over to where I sat and hugged me,
‘You said you hate me when you were drunk last night when I entered your room… I was scared,’ she told me.
‘Oh dear, I’m so sorry, it was the alcohol talking, I love you, ok?’ I hugged her back. She went over to the stove and opened the pot. Rich smell of porridge, which was my best food filled the air, my stomach rumbled. It was obvious I would get spoilt for the next one week at least, I planed to enjoy it. We ate and discussed other issues, avoiding my break up like a diseases.
The days went by slowly, but I filled it with lots of work. It was a miserable week for me. It didn’t occur to me that Niyi dominated my life. I felt so empty. I couldn’t ping him, I couldn’t call. My hand was itching. I would have started calling him then I would loose confidence and cut the call, on three occasions I hid my number and called him. He picked and said “hello” but I didn’t talk. It felt good and sad to hear his voice. I longed for his arms around me, for his sweet words to soothe me. For his wonderful kisses. I wanted to share my new found sexuality with him, but I could not. He was gone. Though I filled my days with work, I was moody at work, I was short tempered which was unlike me, I had zero tolerance for any mistake made by anyone around me. Everyone knew something was wrong with me, I only cheered up at home for Tola’s sake so that she wouldn’t feel bad. She tried to pull me into life again, trying to take me out and all do all those women stuff I should to do when I break up with my boyfriends, but I wouldn’t get drawn. I didn’t have the, strength, energy and interest. I even lost my just found sexual experience. I was not horny, and when I get horny I don’t have the energy to rub myself. I relied heavily on drugs and alcohol to sleep. I really don’t know why I missed him that much, I thought I didn’t love him but with the rate of which I was missing him, I was confused but I convinced myself that I was missing from habits. Days turned into weeks gradually and I began to regain myself. I would smile at little things. I don’t get jealous or angry when I see lovers on the street anymore. I decided to move on. I spoilt myself a bit. Went to a body shop and had a full body massage from a sexy guy. I hand manicure and pedicure. I did my facials. I went shopping. In short I became “chicky” again, the only thing missing was my sex drive. To complete my healing process, I decided to spend the weekend with my mum. I called her Thursday evening and told her I was coming over. She was delighted and promised to make my best soup, okro.
I was lying on the couch watching MTV BASE when Tola walked in.
‘Iya how far, ore mi mehn, traffic Eko yi ti poju’ she said as she dropped into the nearest sofa.
‘I dey, welcome, you look tired.’ I observed.
‘My dear, I’m not only tired, I’m so hungry! Food dey house abeg?’ She asked already heading for the kitchen.
‘Pele, noddles wa ni kitchen.’ I informed her. She went to the kitchen and brought out food. She finished eating and went into her room to freshen up. After a while she joined me and we watched TV together, commenting on songs as the were being played.
‘Baby, since you are out of you mourning period, would you like to join me and Emeka tomorrow? We are going clubbing.’ She stated.
Ever since my break up with Niyi, Tola has been scared away from introducing me to men and trying to hook me up but I guess she was back on my neck now. I would really like to go but I already promised mum I was coming.
‘I can’t come dear, I wish I could but I already promised mum I will spend the weekend with her. Lets plan an outing against next weekend.’ I told her. She pouted at me before saying,
‘Are you sure you are going to mummy’s side and you are not just “boboing” me?’ I blinked my eyes at her and told her I was saying the truth. After some minutes of watching TV, we said our good nights.
It was four P.M and I was rushing to get home and avoid the traffic so I could pack some clothes and make it to my mum’s house on time. I was saying my goodbyes to my co-workers when my phone rang, I searched my bag for it for like six seconds before I came up with it. I checked the caller ID, it was my mum. I smiled before picking it, she must be so eager to see me. I was certain she wanted to know when I would be coming over.
‘Hello mummy,’ I said into the phone.
‘Hello my dear, wo oko mi, I’ve forgotten today is cross over night at the camp, I’m on my way there right now. Se waa ma lole toba dola maa de?’ It was like I was served a big blow! I felt so disappointed that I wouldn’t be seeing my mum after all my anticipation.
‘Ok mum, maa ri yin Lola. E gbadura fun mi oo,’ I requested.
‘Moti gbo oko, odabo,’ she said.
‘Odabo ma,’ I replied and cut off the call.
I dialed my friend’s number to see if I could still meet up with clubbing but her number wasn’t going through. I really didn’t feel like being alone tonight, I’ve done enough of staying alone. I pinged her but it didn’t deliver. Damn! Let me rush home and see if I could still catch up with her. I rushed to the bus stop and hailed a taxi. The traffic was building and I was happy I left the office earlier, Friday traffic could be horrible at times. We got into hold ups’ here and there but I got home at exactly six-thirty P.M. I saw Emeka’s car in the compound and I was relieved I caught up with them. The music coming from our apartment was so loud as I walked towards my apartment door, I turned the knob but the door was locked. I wanted to knock but I doubted I would be heard over the noise. I inserted my key into the keyhole and opened the door.
The noise was deafening and the light was off and the room was poorly lighted by the TV screen light. I wanted to off the music and put on the light when a movement flashed across my sight. I dropped my bag softly on the couch and tiptoed towards Tola’s room. The door was slightly opened. I peeped into the room and waited for my eyes to adjust to the dimness. Her hands grabbed the headboard, her head dropped on the pillow, her buttocks was raised up and Emeka’s head was under her, in short, she was sitting on his face, her vagina was in his face, his hands held her buttocks up. He was sucking her! Oh my gosh, I just walked in on my friend having sex and I would definitely watch!
