“When I met Folake, I wasn’t interested in love or in a relationship.” He said. “I knew who I wanted” He gave me a look. “But she didn’t want me.” He paused and thought for a second.
“She was a challenge, she had all these guys hanging around her, twisted around her little finger, she acted like she didn’t care about any of them, but she needed their attention, it gave her some sort of validation”
You don’t have to tell me all this, I wanted to say. But I couldn’t. Why was he telling me? I wondered. Was he trying to validate his love for Folake? And when he said the person he loved didn’t want him, did he mean me? I remembered all the calls I had ignored and the texts I had deleted without reading, and I felt foolish, how could I have made him feel that I wanted nothing to do with him, when all the time I had been longing for him.
But it was he who had made love to me, and afterwards apologized, filled with regret, regret that he had taken my innocence, regret because he had nothing to offer me, apart from apologies. I sighed. I hadn’t taken his calls because I didn’t want to hear apologies; I had wanted his love and nothing less….. And yet now he was saying…. What was he saying?
“Maybe I was bored.” Michael continued, his voice only slightly higher than the hum of the AC. I sighed and continued listening “She added some colour to my life.” He said. “The constant challenge of being her boyfriend was the distraction I needed from studying all the time. At the time, it was interesting, it was even fun, to walk up to her in restaurants where she’d be on a date with some other guy, give her a kiss, and then introduce myself to her date as her boyfriend.” He shook his head. “I didn’t mind that she was like that.” He said. “I knew she wasn’t interested in all those people, but she wasn’t very interested in me either, or I in her, but we were both lonely and I was more interesting to her than all the others for whatever reason.”
I nodded. The rain had started again and was hitting the car in torrents. The wind was also moving powerfully, shrieking like a banshee. I could see a broken down truck blocking the road ahead of us, causing the traffic hold up. All the cars were trying to squeeze past it into V.I.
“Then she got the job and came back home, and I stayed behind. By this time we had been together for a while, we decided to cool it but we remained friends. I found out she was dating Adeleke, but I didn’t mind, we were no longer together.” He shrugged. “We saw each other occasionally, you know, but just because it was easy to be together, after such a long time.” He sighed. “I’m afraid I sound like a terrible person.”
I shook my head. “No you don’t.” I said softly.
“When she found out I was planning to come back home, she called me and asked if I was seeing anyone. When I said no, she said she wasn’t seeing anyone either, and maybe we could give it another try. She said she’s stopped seeing Adeleke. At this point she was the only thing close to a girlfriend I had had I a long time. We were both a certain age, and I had lost my illusions that love would always end perfectly. So things progressed naturally, and we got engaged.”
“And Adeleke?” I asked. I had finally squeezed through beside the broken down truck, and gotten into Victoria Island and though there was a little traffic, it wasn’t much.
“Adeleke?” He let out a small laugh. “Everybody knows how that story ended… or didn’t end, if you catch my drift.” He almost seemed amused. “This is classic Folake, even though we’re no longer in an environment where there are countless guys with enough time and energy to vie for her attentions, she still wants the satisfaction of being the belle of the ball. She wants to play one man off against another to massage her ego. But I’m not that bored student anymore. I don’t need to entertain myself with a continuous bout of ‘two can play that game’ with her. It lost its appeal a long time ago.”
“So why didn’t you do something?” I asked. In that moment a blinding flash of lightening illuminated the whole road, the other cars, Michael’s face, and the electric pole it hit. It disappeared in an instant, leaving the electric pole on fire and all the streetlights off.
“Wow!” We both exclaimed. As we watched the pole start to burn, the road cleared up in front of me and I sped forward, slightly shaken. It was still raining heavily, and the road had flooded. The flashes of lightning and the rumble of thunder were becoming more frequent and the wind was still blowing strongly. “I don’t think we can make it to Lekki tonight” I said, there was no way my tiny Yaris would survive Lekki in a rainstorm. I looked over at him, he was looking at my face. “You can sleep over at my flat?” I suggested. “You don’t mind, do you?”
He shook his head. “No.” He said finally. “I don’t mind at all.”
12. Dinner for Two
It was still raining heavily when I pulled into the parking lot at my building, I had driven a little bit faster than usual, after the lightning struck an electric pole, right beside my car. I was still shaken and as I stopped the engine I let out a sigh of relief. I turned to Michael, surprised by the amusement I could see on his face, his eyes were dancing with suppressed laughter.
“What’s so funny?” I asked him, suddenly embarrassed by my show of panic.
“I didn’t know you were so scared of lightning” He said, smiling. “It was interesting to watch, especially when you started driving like we were escaping a gang of assassins”
I pursed my lips. “I should have stayed there and waited for the cables to fall on the car” I said. “I’m sure you would have found that very funny”
“Well it couldn’t have killed us.” He said smugly. “There’s no power.”
He was right, of course. Even through the noise of the rain I could hear the sounds of a thousand generators. The soundtrack of Lagos, I thought, of the whole country even, the unending music of power generators.
In front of me on the windscreen huge drops of rain met their deaths, I watched as each drop shattered on the glass, leaving a watery carcass that ran down to ultimately join the puddles pooling on the concrete paving. I sighed. Even though it was less than fifteen meters to the main entrance door, we would be drenched before we made it that far.
Michael seemed to be following my train of thought. “I don’t mind getting wet” His voice broke into my thoughts. “I’d wade through a river right now just to get to a bed.”
“If we had gone to your place in Lekki, you might have had to” I said. “But I think I have an umbrella at the back, so we may not have to get wet at all”
I waited as Michael reached past the back seats to pick up the new ultra large umbrella that I kept in my car. I’d bought it from a roadside hawker a few weeks after I got the car because for some reason I felt that an umbrella was a very important accessory to keep in a car.
“I don’t think this umbrella is in a very good condition” Michael said as he pulled off the plastic wrap.
“It’s brand new” I replied. “Of course it’s in good condition.”
“Will you bet” Michael asked. There was a teasing glint in his eyes.
I seized the umbrella from him and pointing towards the back seat, tried to open it. I failed. The inside was a mess of rusted spokes which couldn’t hold up themselves not to talk of the fabric of the umbrella.
“It was brand new!” I exclaimed.
“You thought it was brand new.” Michael corrected. “The person who sold it to you knew it wasn’t.” He laughed. “Who did you buy it from? The legendary Lagos traffic salesmen?”
I looked up from the rusted spokes, and though I was trying very hard to be annoyed we both burst into laughter.
“Legendary Lagos Traffic Salesmen indeed!” I repeated, still laughing. “They are not so bad, I buy good stuff from them sometimes. It’s my fault for not testing this one.” I threw the carcass of the umbrella on the back seat. “So we’re going to have to make a run for it.”
He grabbed his suitcase and opened the car door. The wail of the wind intensified into a scream and huge drops of rain fell into the car. The
next moment he had slammed the door. I took off my shoes, bracing myself to run out of the car, then I heard the taps on my window I stared at him for a moment, open mouthed, instead of running out of the rain, he was waiting to fetch me!
I grabbed my bag as he opened the door. The rain was merciless as the drops fell on me with punishing force. I didn’t have time to think about it as he grabbed hold of my hand and pulled me into a run, I locked the car as we ran to the door of the building, him already soaking wet, and me barefoot. We didn’t stop until we had run up the stairs to my door. My hands shook as I opened the door. In those few seconds I had been soaked through to my underwear. As we stumbled into the apartment I tried to laugh at our predicament but I found that I couldn’t, I was shaking uncontrollably.
Michael took my bag from me and set it on the floor. “Are you okay? He asked.
I tried to nod but my teeth started to chatter. Luckily he decided not to wait for a reply but quickly shrugged off his jacket and wrapped me in a hug that was very warm and very comfortable, despite the fact that he was as drenched as I was.
I buried my face in his chest, breathing in his closeness, he held me until my teeth had stopped chattering, until I had stopped shaking.
“Are you okay?” he whispered after a while.
I nodded, my head still on his chest, I was too unwilling to move.
He took a step back and took my hands. “Your hands are cold.” He said.
I nodded, watching as he rubbed my hands back to life with his own. I sighed inwardly, trying to understand why he had moved back when he did, I could have stood in his arms forever, was holding me so unbearable to him?
I looked up at him, our eyes met and his eyes told me why he had moved away. I started to tremble again, until my hands were shaking so violently he could feel it. Yet I didn’t look away from his eyes and he didn’t look away from mine. He was going to kiss me. I thought, my heart racing wildly. He had to kiss me now, I thought desperately. I wouldn’t be able to bear it if he didn’t.
He didn’t though. “You should change out of your wet clothes.” I heard him say.
He could have just poured a bucket of cold water on my body and it would have had the same effect. I abruptly pulled my hands out of his, Annoyance clouding my head. I searched my brain for something mean to say to him, but I couldn’t find anything. I didn’t even want to look at him and see that apologetic look that would no doubt be in his eyes. I flounced into my room without a word and slammed the door behind me.
I hurriedly pulled off my wet clothes, silently berating him, and myself, especially myself. Why was I persisting in this foolish attraction? How many times would he have to reject me before I learned my lesson? I threw on a thick towelling robe and went back into the living room. He had switched on the lights and even the AC and was now was trying to get the TV on.
“Hey.” He said looking up at me. “Are you all right?”
I was tempted to say something rude, like ‘Why wouldn’t I be?” But I just smiled. “I’m fine” I said.
“Why don’t you leave all that” I said, gesturing to the TV, “Take a warm shower and change”, I looked at where his suitcase was still lying by the door. “There’s something dry for you to wear in your suitcase isn’t there?”
“There is.” He said, as the TV came to life. “And thanks, I could really use a warm shower”
“I’ll quickly make you something to eat” I said, going into the kitchen.
In the kitchen, I quickly stuck some soup in the microwave and put water to boil. I heard the sound of my room door closing. As I waited for the water to boil, I imagined him in my tiny shower, with the steam surrounding him like a warm mist. I shook the thoughts out of my head and proceeded to finish the meal.
By the time he came out of my room, wearing striped pyjama bottoms and a white T-shirt. I had laid out a hot meal in front of the couch. He took one look at the meal and his stomach responded by rumbling very loudly. We both burst out laughing.
“I’m sorry” He said.” But this smells wonderful.” “And I’m desperately hungry.”
I watched as he walked towards me, I tried not to admire him as he came to sit on the couch, in formal clothes he looked handsome and attractive, but in this state of casual undress he was ten times more attractive and extremely sensual. He looked dangerous.
I waited for him to sit before I got up. “Where are you going?” He asked.
“I’m going to take a shower” I said.
“Aren’t you going to eat?” He asked.
I shrugged. “I’m not really hungry.” I replied. Actually I just wanted to get away from him, from the tension that had seized hold of my stomach, I was afraid that if I didn’t escape from him, all the many emotions he brought to life within me would just tear me to pieces.”
“Sophie.” He said. “Stay and eat a little, you don’t want to lose all those...” he gestured at my body and gave me a look... “...curves, do you?”
I snickered. “That’s your best argument?” I asked. “Curves are no longer in vogue.” But I sat on the rug opposite him and did as he requested. As we ate I remembered something my mother had told me once when I asked her why she and my father always ate from the same dishes. She had said that eating together was like professing your love for someone, over and over again. I peeked at Michael and wondered what we were professing for each other, but he was fully engrossed in eating, he must be really hungry I thought.
After a while he slowed down and sighed. “I was ravenous” He said.
“Obviously” I laughed. “I was afraid you would eat the plates!”
He smiled, “I could have.” He took in my position, sitting on the rug, across from him and laughed.
“Why are you laughing” I asked, curious.
“You know, in those days, good wives would kneel when they served their husband’s food, and they would remain kneeling at his feet till he finished eating.” He gestured towards me and laughed again. “What a good wife you are darling, next thing you will be calling me ‘My lord’.”
“I don’t blame you” I said, scowling at him as hard as I could as I watched him finish the last of the food. “It’s not your fault. I should have left you at the airport, you would still be there waiting for your driver”
He laughed at my scowl. “Okay sorry nowwww.” He cajoled. “Stop vexing.”
I ignored him and started clearing the dishes. He carried everything to the kitchen and offered to wash the dishes while I took my shower. I left him pretending he wasn’t too tired to clean up in the kitchen, and went to my room.
I took my time in the shower, enjoying the warm water on my body, afterwards, as I dried my hair I searched for something suitable to wear. I didn’t have many male-overnight-visitor friendly nightdresses. I was more of a flimsy nightwear kind of girl. I searched deep in my wardrobe and finally came up with a pair of matching cotton shorts and T-shirt my mother had given me a very long time ago. In the mirror it looked fairly decent. Though it left most of my legs bare, it was very unlikely that Michael would take one look at me in it and pounce on me in uncontrollable lust.
Not that I would mind so much, I thought. I tried to imagine him in uncontrollable lust and started to giggle.
I shouldn’t have bothered so much about what to wear though, by the time I got back into the living room, Michael was sleeping. He was splayed across the couch in a position that would give him many aches in the morning. He was much too long for my couch.
I shook my head and went back to my room, I made sure the bed was ready and put on the AC, and then I went back to the living room to wake him up.
He must have been very tired; I thought as I looked at him, he was already in a deep sleep. I studied his sleeping face; He looked so innocent, like a small boy. I shook him gently, he made a sound like a moan and tried to turn to make himself more comfortable. I shook him again and he opened his eyes and smiled at me, he wrapped an arm around my waist and tried to pull me unto the co
uch with him.
“Michael!” I exclaimed my voice rising and snapping him out of sleep. “Get up”
“Okay.” He sighed, then stood up and followed me as I led him to my room. It was like putting a child to bed, he just followed my directions and soon I had him under the covers, looking sleepily at me, about to drift off again.
“Goodnight” I told him.
He smiled sleepily. “I love you, Sophie.” He said. And the next moment he was sleeping.
13. Dessert......and more
I sat there watching him for a few moments, he had gone right back to sleep and was breathing deeply and steadily. I watched as his chest rose and fell with each breath and sighed softly. Why was I sitting watching him sleep, I asked myself, was I waiting for him to say something else, to back up what he had just said with further declarations? I got up. What did it matter what he said in the grip of sleep, I thought, as I switched off the lights and left the room, He would probably not remember any of those words in the morning.
I spent some time working in the living room, curled up on the couch, with my computer on my lap, and the sound of the TV as background noise to keep me company. After a while the sounds of the rain outside stopped, and then the power generators went silent as the PHCN power came back on. I worked until long after midnight, finishing the rough draft of an article based on the interviews I had done during the day. Finally I fell asleep, or I think I did, the last thing I remember was deciding to close my eyes for a moment
I don’t know what woke me. It may have been the flash of lightning or the sound of the rain starting again, a sound from the TV I hadn’t bothered to switch off or it may have been Michael, standing at the end of the couch, watching me sleep. I sat up, my brain still very fuzzy as I wondered groggily why morning had come so quickly. Michael watched me as I stretched and yawned. “Hey” I said, mid yawn. “Good morning”
“It’s not morning yet.” He said. I turned to the window and saw that it was still very dark outside. “No wonder I’m still so sleepy.” I said, trying to stifle another yawn. I watched as he switched off the TV. “Why are you up then?” I asked
Always Yours (Lagos Romance Series) Page 9
