Always Yours (Lagos Romance Series)

by Somi Ekhasomhi

  “Busy” he shrugged. “She said she wouldn’t be able to make it”

  “Ah!” Strange relationship, I thought silently. I wondered if I had been a speedy replacement date. But then it wasn’t like anyone needed a date to go to their parents’ house.

  “Do you want to see my old room?’ he asked suddenly.

  “No funny business?” I asked with a smirk.

  He looked hurt. ‘Of course not” then he grinned. “Unless of course, that’s what you want”

  I laughed. “Dream on.” I said nonchalantly.

  He led me through the house, up the wide stairway to the first floor. There was another living room, an open door into a library and some other closed doors. He opened one of the doors into another smaller living room.

  ‘I and Cecilia’s parlour” He explained. “When we were growing up she used to bring all her friends in here. I practically had to climb over them to get to my room.”

  I laughed. “You can’t have minded having so many girls in close proximity” I said.

  “God, I hated them.” He groaned. “They could never stop giggling.”

  He opened the door to his room. “Voila!” He said. It was a big room, surprisingly well kept even though he no longer stayed there, but then I thought of my own room at my parents’ house which my mother kept in good shape too and I understood.

  The room was filled with knickknacks from his growing up years, as well as some things I remembered from his room back in school.

  “Nice room” I said, looking around. “So this is where little you morphed into big you”

  He laughed. “Crazy girl.” He closed the door and leaned on it.

  I suddenly realized that I was alone with him, in this room, with a bed and everything. I tried to stop the awareness that rushed into my head at that moment. I moved towards an old bookshelf, with books, CDs, an old DVD player and some framed pictures. I studied the pictures intently, aware that he was still leaning on the closed door. They were mainly family pictures, pictures from secondary school days and university. I recognized a picture of me with him standing behind me making a face.

  “Hey! That’s us!” I exclaimed.

  He came over to look and smiled “I have many pictures from those days” He said. “There are some at my flat. But the bulk of them should be around here somewhere”

  He was about to start looking for the pictures when his phone rang. He took it out of his pocket and took one look at the screen, and from the expression on his face, I knew it was Folake.

  He gave me a ‘gimme a minute’ sign and answered the call. I pretended to myself that I didn’t want to know what they were talking about and continued looking at the pictures on the shelf. He was still on the phone when the door opened and Cecilia came in.

  “Sophie! You’re here! Thank God.” She exclaimed, patting her stomach. “My mother sent me to find you.”

  I shot Michael a look of alarm. Cecilia’s voice hadn’t been that loud but what if Folake had heard my name? How would she react to the fact that I was here with Michael in his parents’ house.

  Michael was still on the phone, but his expression had hardened, with a voice like granite, I heard him say “Yes, she is here”

  I hurriedly turned to Cecilia who seemed oblivious to what she had done “I’ll come with you” I said eager to escape.

  Downstairs, most of the guests had left. It remained Cecilia and her husband and just one couple who seemed to be having a very interesting conversation with Chief Ade-Cole.

  Michael’s mother was sitting on a couch with a huge photo album on her lap. When she saw me her face broke into a charming smile. She patted the seat beside her. “Come and sit” She said. “I promised to show these to you”

  I went to sit with her, my smile disguising the trepidation I was feeling inside as we looked at Michaels cute baby pictures. In Folake’s shoes, I wondered silently, how would I feel about the fact that my fiancé had taken another girl to dinner at his parents? Friend or no friend? But then their relationship was so strange. I sighed.

  “Are you all right dear” Mrs Ade-Cole asked.

  I nodded. ‘He looks so cute” I said. Pointing to a picture of a serious, four year old Michael, his mouth around the ears of a furry blue rabbit”

  Her eyes twinkled as she laughed “Yes he does, doesn’t he? He loved that little rabbit, or wabbit, as he called the poor thing, I think he finally chewed it to death.” She patted my hand.

  At that moment Michael walked in, he looked really pissed. At himself or at Folake, I didn’t know. I suddenly had a serious urge to go home. He walked towards his mother.

  “Everybody gone home?” He asked.

  “Yes.” she replied with a slight frown. “What is the matter?”

  “Folake just called.” He said, his face impassive. “She’s coming over”

  My heart hammered. Not again! I thought. Was I going to be in the middle of a lovers quarrel again?

  Mrs Ade-Cole sighed. “Why?” She asked. “The party is long over”

  Michael looked at me, and his eyes softened. He turned back to his mother, giving her a look which she returned, mirroring all his stubbornness. After a while he looked away and went towards the reception, no doubt to wait for his fiancée.

  After a few moments his mother excused herself and got up too, she went over to her daughter and after a few words, they left the parlour together.

  I glanced down at the photo album now on my lap. Should I just sit here? I wondered. Michael’s father and his friends were still deep in a conversation about some long ago coup d’état. I decided to go and find his mother and sister. They must have gone to the kitchen I decided, to supervise the cleaning up.

  The kitchen was next to the dining room, I got there in a few moments. I was about to open the door and go in when I heard their voices.

  “I don’t know why she’s coming or why he still he hasn’t done anything about her.” It was Cecilia’s voice. She sounded exasperated. “Everybody knows what she’s up to!”

  “But he doesn’t.” It was her mother.

  “He suspects.” Cecilia said. “Nobody has actually told him in so many words, I mean who would want to tell someone something like that about their fiancée.”

  I realized they were talking about Folake. I should have gone, walked away and pretended I hadn’t heard any part of their conversation, but something kept me there. I wanted to hear, I wanted to know.

  “She’s bad for him, and he knows it” Mrs Ade-Cole said. I heard her sigh. “He will make the right decision in the end, especially now that.., you know”

  Now that what? I wondered.

  I heard Cecilia laugh. “He’s crazy about her and its mutual. They should have hooked up all those years ago and saved everybody a lot of trouble”

  “She was too young.” Her mother laughed. “They were both too young, and you know not everyone was born with your supernatural ability to handle men and relationships Ceecee.”

  “And who did I inherit it from?”

  They were laughing softly. I realised that I had been standing there by the door for some time. It was getting strange. Should I knock and enter or should I go back to the living room? I decided to join them, I didn’t want to go to the living room and wait for Folake to come and poison me with her accusing eyes.

  I fiddled with the handle a little to let them know someone was coming in before I opened the door. They both turned to me at the same time. I thought I may have seen a flicker of guilt in both their eyes but I wasn’t so sure.

  “Sophie!” Mrs Ade-Cole said. “Hope I haven’t left you alone too long with the old people”

  I smiled and shook my head. “No” I said. “I just wanted to check to see if there was something I could help with”

  “No, we were just talking.” Cecilia said. “Has Folake arrived?”

  I shook my head. “I haven’t seen her.”

  Mrs Ade-Cole came forward and put a reassuring hand on my arm, “Let�
��s go back to the parlour and finish looking at our pictures.” She said.

  We hadn’t spent up to five minutes on the couch when I heard voices coming from the reception, obviously Folake was here and she was angry. I heard her voice, high and accusing and Michael’s voice low and impassive.

  Mrs Ade-Cole got up. “I’d better go and see what I can do.” She murmured heading towards the reception.

  I’d never been so confused in my life. What was I supposed to do now? Go home? How? I still needed Michael to drop me at home. Or was the requirement of going out with him, that I always take my own car?

  The last two guests were leaving and Chief Ade-Cole got up to see them to the door, along with his son in-law. I couldn’t hear what was being said in the reception as they left.

  Cecilia came to sit with me. “Sorry.” She said lightly. “The party has gotten boring.”

  “We’re missing the interesting part” I quipped, nodding towards the door.

  Cecilia laughed. “You’re right” she said. “Folake can’t make a scene though. She’s too scared of my mother.”

  “She has no reason to make a scene” I whispered. “There’s nothing going on between Michael and me”

  Cecilia looked at me and smiled. Then she gestured to her stomach. “Sophie I didn’t get this way without learning a thing or two about men.” My eyes widened and she laughed. “Believe me Folake has every reason to be jealous.” She paused as her parents and her husband walked back into the parlour without either Michael or Folake. She exchanged a look with her mother, who shrugged. She looked at me. “You must be tired. Let’s go and remind my little brother that he still has to take you home.”

  I followed her outside, Aware that we were going to look for trouble. Michael and Folake were standing on the porch, not talking. She looked exceptional in pencil jeans and a cream silk blouse which hugged her figure very closely. Paired with the costume jewellery she was also wearing, she looked cool and trendy, more like she had been at a party than at work. She didn’t look happy though, her arms were folded across her chest and she was frowning hard and tapping her foot on the tiles. Michael’s face, in contrast, was inscrutable.

  “Hello Folake.” Cecilia said. “We weren’t expecting you.”

  Folake glared at Cecilia. “I know” she replied pointedly.

  Hmmn, I thought.

  “Ah!” Cecilia smiled. “Have you met Sophie?” She asked Folake, not very nicely. “She came as Michael’s guest. They’ve been friends for years” she looked at Michael as if for confirmation while Folake gave me a glare that could have shrivelled every living thing in its path.

  “Cecilia?” Michael’s voice was low.

  Cecilia chuckled. “I just came to remind you that your guest has been waiting for you” Michael turned to me and the concern I could see in his eyes filled me with sympathy for him. “You should take her home you know, if you’re not going to make the party interesting for her.”

  “I and Michael are leaving together.” Folake said. “Right now.”

  Michael looked both surprised and exasperated. “Really?” He asked. “I thought you just took a few moments to dash out of your meeting with the chief and you had to go right back”

  Cecilia rolled her eyes. “What a busy career girl you are, Folake.” She said sweetly. “I hear Chief Adeleke is very appreciative.”

  “I think I’ll take a cab.” I said, interrupting all the drama. I didn’t want it to turn into a full scale fight on my account.

  “You’ll do no such thing” Michael said. “Folake, you should go back to your meeting. There was no reason for you to come here in the first place after you’d said you weren’t coming.”

  I couldn’t bear to look at Folake’s face, she looked so angry I thought she might explode. How she must hate me now, I thought. And yet surely she deserved this. She was the one who was spending all her quality time with her boss, in questionable circumstances. I had my suspicions about that relationship and I could see that everybody else did too.

  She paused for a while, I realized she was weighing whether she should stay and stake her claim to her man, or go back to the man who was waiting for her somewhere. In the end she decided to leave. “We’ll talk about this.” She spat venomously at Michael before turning on her heel and striding to her car.

  We watched as she zoomed out of the compound.

  “Whew.” Cecilia breathed. “and I was just going to ask her in to have some of the dinner she missed.”

  Michael sighed. “You don’t always have to be such a trouble maker Cecilia.”

  She flounced inside the house without saying a word.

  “Sorry.” Michael said to me.

  “For what?” I asked, studying his face. He still looked annoyed, and also confused.

  He shrugged. “You want to leave now?”

  I nodded. He led me inside to say goodnight to his parents, Cecilia and her husband were staying over. They all walked with me and Michael to the car, where Mrs Ade-Cole hugged me and told me how glad she was that I came, Folake’s spectacular entrance and exit, conveniently forgotten.

  We drove silently back to my flat. It only took a couple of minutes for us to get there.

  “I’m sorry.” Michael said again as he parked in the quiet parking lot.

  “I had a nice time” I said.

  “Until I put you in an awkward situation”

  I studied his face. Some of the brightness of the security lights had gotten onto the car, emphasizing the planes and angles of his face, how handsome he was and yet how sad he looked. I sighed. If only he knew, I thought, that every day with him was an awkward situation. “It’s okay.” I reassured him. “It’s not like I didn’t know you had a fiancée.”

  He nodded. He didn’t say anything for a long time. I started to open the door. Then he put his hand on my arm “I’ll make everything all right.” He said quietly. I promise.”

  I didn’t know what he was talking about and I didn’t dare to hope. So I just nodded.

  He patted my cheek. “I’ll see you.” He said.

  “I’ll see you” I replied. “Goodnight”

  “Goodnight”

  He waited till I had walked to the front door before driving away. I watched the car drive out of the compound until I couldn’t see his tail lights anymore, before I turned to go upstairs to my flat.

  10. Faithless Fiancée’s

  “Why have you been avoiding me, young lady?” Michael asked, his voice teasing and playful through the phone.

  I was at Park ‘n’ Shop on Adeola Odeku, trying to rush through the shopping I should have done the weekend before. I had spent the whole weekend hard at work, so now I had to spend Monday evening buying necessities.

  “I’m not avoiding you” I protested, narrowly missing a portly Indian with my trolley. I was lying of course, I had been avoiding him. It was more than two weeks since the party at his parents’ house and we had only seen each other once, through his persistence, when the Saturday after the party I went to a wedding at Ajah without my car, when I mentioned to him on the phone that I was going to take a cab home, he had insisted on coming to pick me up.

  Of course he didn’t take me straight home. He decided it was time I found out where he lived so we’d gone to his apartment in Lekki, which was nice and spacious and tastefully, if lightly furnished. He bought some Sharwarma on the way, which we ate while we watched TV.

  It was a very innocent sort of date, at least it looked innocent, the thoughts that were raging through my mind as I sat on his rug watching him eat were far from innocent. I knew he was making an effort too, to keep himself in check. In fact we were both trying our best to keep ourselves from doing something that might affect the current dynamics in our ‘platonic’ relationship.

  So I had been avoiding him, but it wasn’t because I didn’t want to see him. I knew he was still having issues with Folake and the truth was I had figured it was better for me to give him some space to decide what he wanted
to do with that relationship. I didn’t want it to be my continued presence in his life that would push him to make a decision regarding Folake that he would regret later. After all, for them to have become engaged, she must have meant something to him. Who was I to him after all? Only a girl from his past, Folake was the one he had chosen to spend the rest of his life with.

  “Then why haven’t I been able to see you for close to two weeks” Michael said now, jolting me out of my thoughts. ‘You’re always busy, working, at a function, going somewhere?” He paused. “Hope you’re not planning to dump me for some new guy?”

  I laughed. As if, I thought wryly. “I’m not dumping you yet” I replied playfully. “Though who knows what could happen in the future”

  He chuckled. “Okay” he said. “But seriously, hope I haven’t done something wrong?”

  Where do I start? I thought, rolling my eyes. “I’ve really been busy” I said. “You haven’t done anything wrong.” Apart from break my heart again and again, I added silently.

  “I was beginning to wonder.” He stated. “What are you up to anyway?”

  “Shopping.” I told him, as I pushed the trolley through the supermarket to the freshly baked goods area. I sighed as the delicious aroma of pastries and other foods assailed my nose.

  “Really?” I could almost hear him smile on the phone. “I hope you’re buying lingerie.” He said. “You can describe them to me and I’ll help you choose.”

  “Lingerie indeed” I scoffed. “They don’t even sell lingerie here.”

  “Don’t they?” He sighed. “But I’m sure there’s a lingerie shop around there somewhere”

  “See me, see wahala” I laughed. “I’m buying provisions please, I’m not even buying lingerie”

  “Why not?” He asked laughing. “There’s nothing wrong with lingerie”

  I ignored him. “I can see you are in a very happy mood this evening” I said snottily.

  “Maybe.” He replied. “Are you almost done?”

  “Kind of” I said, wondering if he was going to offer to come and pick me up, or help me carry my groceries to my flat or one of those other charming sorts of things he did to spoil me sometimes. “Where are you?” I asked.