CLUELESS HATE

XXIII

Gini got up before Juwon. She shook him awake after she was dressed and packed. It was still so early in the morning but she needed to go home to pack everything she brought with her into town.

Juwon rubbed his eyes as he got up from the bed. "You're dressed. Are you leaving this early?" He asked after he looked at the clock on the bedside drawer.

"Going to get my things from the house first."

"I'll go with you." Juwon grabbed a shirt from the bench at the end on the bed and shrugged it on. "I'll be right back," he said as he rushed to the bathroom.

Gini sat on the bed waiting. He came out of the bathroom grinning and in a lighter mood, then dragged Gini closer and kissed her deeply.

"Why do you have to leave?"

"Can't stay here forever."

"At least you're saying goodbye this time around."

Gini didn't respond and Juwon got her overnight case. He held her hand and they walked out of the bedroom. The house was silent as a grave yard as they went down the stairs, and his friends were obviously still asleep. When they got to the living room, there were bottles of alcohol on the center table with Muna's handbag laying carelessly on the floor.

"Looks like they had fun last night," Juwon said as he observed the state of disarray of the room.

He led her out of the house and opened the door to the black SUV, Gini got in and shut it.

"How are you leaving?"

"Will get a cab at the bus stop."

"I could take you to the city."

Gini gave a humorless laughter. "You don't have to."

"Oh, I need to write you a cheque for the things my resort workers got."

Gini really wasn't concerned about that. She was several millions richer than she had been when she arrived into town. What did a little sum of money matter to her? She shrugged in reply to Juwon.

"You aren't talking much. Are you okay, birdie?" Juwon turned to look at her.

"I'm fine." She was having some sort of withdrawal symptoms from leaving Juwon, yet she wanted to be home with her boys.

"I'm not."

He stopped the car in front of her house and they both got out. She went into the house and Juwon followed closely behind. She opened the blinds before running up the stairs to her room. She was stuffing clothes carelessly into her luggage when Juwon strolled in. She looked up and saw him with his hands folded, he leaned against the wall and watched her.

"I don't even have your address," he stated.

"Just let me know when you're in town, we'll set something up then," she said hastily.

She wasn't giving him her house address because she didn't want a surprise visit. If he was going to meet the boys in the nearest future, it had to be planned with him knowing about them before hand. Gini resumed packing and zipped the luggage when she was done. Juwon picked it up and they went down the stairs.

"Let's just spend like thirty minutes together before you leave, okay?"

"Okay." Gini preferred short goodbyes but Juwon was dragging it out and she couldn't voice her frustration without offending him.

He took her hand and she went along with him to the sofa. He wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on her head.

"Are you sure you aren't forgetting anything?"

"I didn't bring much to begin with."

"Okay. What are you going to do with the store when you leave?"

"My dad's lawyer will take care of that and any other issue that comes up."

The lawyer had adviced her to sell all the properties in town since she told him she didn't plan on coming back anytime soon. She could get a house in the city for herself, her kids and her sister with whatever money they got from the sales.

"You can ask for my help also."

"I know that."

Juwon shifted and she looked away as he stared deeply into her eyes. "I love you," he said.

"I love you too. This isn't our last goodbye, why are you making it feel like it?"

"With you one never knows. I didn't know I was going to see you ever again after you left town unannounced."

"For a reason..."

"A reason you still can't talk about," he pointed out.

"You hounding me for an answer doesn't mean I'm going to just say something. I thought you wanted me to tell you the reason when I'm comfortable."

"Are you trying to say you're still not comfortable with me?"

"That's not it."

"Then say it."

Gini stood from the sofa and got her luggage. "I'm not doing this with you."

"Gini?"

"I'm leaving," she said and waited for him to stand up from the sofa. Juwon got up and went to the door.

"Have a nice life," he said and left.

"J?" she called after him but he got into his car and drove off.

Gini couldn't fathom what exactly was wrong with him. Yes, he could possibly be having PTSD or something similar from her leaving him behind again but he could have acted better. He was so hell bent on knowing why she left town as if it was easy telling him that she left because her dad wanted her to accuse him of rape. Didn't he even think that it was something not worth telling?

Gini got her luggage and locked the doors. She was going home to see her boys and that was the most important thing on her mind at the moment. She'd deal with Juwon and his sensitivity later.

Gini got out of the cab she'd gotten and walked into the lawyer's office. She saw his receptionist and didn't bother to crack a smile. She dropped the store and house keys with him when he told her Mr George was out of the office. The cab took her to the bus stop and she joined a bus going into the city. She took a seat at the back seat and as the bus started moving, she saw an old school mate sitting in the seat beside hers.

"Ginika?"

"Tomi?" Gini hugged her and they both laughed.

"Are you serious? My mom said you were in town and I didn't believe her."

They had been paired together during science class in secondary school. That wasn't Gini's strength and Tomi had done the bulk of their assignments. "You look well."

"So do you. How is everything?"

"Fine," Gini said blandly. Tomi looked rich and comfortable. The sunglasses that rested atop her curly hair had a designer logo inscribed on the side and the bag resting on her lap carried the same logo. "How have you been?" she asked because it was expected of her.

"Great. I went to med school after secondary school and I recently just got a job."

"Hmm," Gini said because she knew what was next.

"What about you?"

"I-I-I." She tucked the hair she didn't have anymore behind her ears due to nervousness.

"Did you ever go to a dance school? You were so good back then and that was all you talked about."

"No, I didn't." Her eyes stung as she replied.

"So what career path did you follow?"

Gini cleared her throat then smiled. "I teach," she lied.

"Wow, that's so brave. I know it's dancing, and I can just tell by your body."

"You're right." Gini felt terrible lying but she was too ashamed to say she worked at a grocery store.

"I was so surprised when you suddenly left town. No one knew the real reason, there were rumors but they seemed too far fetched."

Tomi was a fast talker and Gini strained her ears to pick out the meaning behind her speeches. "Yea."

"I heard Juwon is also in town. Weren't you crushing on him back then? Wait, you guys actually dated."

"We were just kids. It can't be called dating."

"You're right. Some of our mates were having sex back then though, can you imagine?"

Gini shifted in her seat.

"I wasn't cute enough to have a boyfriend anyway so I was spared all that."

"That's not true."

"My chest was still flat and we were almost fifteen. No guy wanted that and I was also too dark skin for them, they were fetishizing light skin girls like you."

"That was society conditioning them to view some above others but I'm sure they know better now."

"They do. Especially since I'm prettier than all those girls now, let's not even talk about my boobs."

Gini felt indirectly insulted. Tomi truly looked prettier, her skin was glossy and spot free and she had huge breasts now. She on the other hand had hyper pigmentation all over her body from walking under the sun and her cropped hair made her look more like a boy than a woman.

"Do they pay you enough where you teach?"

"They try. It's not about the salary really, more like the satisfaction that's gotten from impacting knowledge."

"But can you take that to the bank or any store?"

Gini laughed and Tomi joined in. "That's funny."

Gini felt like Tomi was overcompensating. She was highlighting the differences in their lives just to show that she made it despite the colour discrimination she faced in school. Gini understood the need to soothe her ego but it was sad that she was used as the target.

"Thank God my silly driver couldn't make it. I wouldn't have met you if he'd brought my Mercedes as I requested."

"You're right."

"Do you know we had a reunion party last year?"

"No. Never heard of it."

"We found our old class mates on Facebook and created a group chat then later planned a party."

"How was it?"

"It was fun," she paused. "I heard about your dad, my mom told me he was having financial troubles."

"He was?"

"He was selling his properties before he died. Didn't you know?"

"He must have hidden it from me. I can't really tell though since my inheritance is worth more than fifty million." She almost rolled her eyes. She felt like she was back in secondary school.

"You're so lucky!"

"Yea. I need to nap for few minutes, do you mind?"

"Go ahead."

Gini smiled as she closed her eyes.