Revolt

15. Two Ghosts

“People like to say that the conflict is between good and evil. The real conflict is between truth and lies.” – Don Miguel Ruiz.

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Anjola found herself stuck in a time loop, in a thought rehashing context—as she arranged the ingredients of the soup on her copper grove, celosia white distressed kitchen island. She was counting the quantity, and taking stock of them to ensure they were in the appropriate proportion, but her mind kept drifting back to the nagging, irking foreboding of the evening.

Lekan was going to arrive any moment from now, and they were going to spend the evening together, in her house—alone, within the confinements of an apartment, out of public eye. She couldn’t help but feel she was making a reckless decision, despite the logical origins the meeting stemmed from. If someone had told her a month ago, that she would be hosting Lekan Keye in her house, for a date, she’d have labeled them as insane and mentally inept, but here she was anyway.

She was changing. The price for this beta relationship, was a lot higher than she had thought and she was worried she might lose herself in the process, of trying to unravel the mystifying mystery behind her feelings for Lekan. But was it worth it? For years, she had deceived herself into thinking that she was the full master of her own emotions, and that her hormones didn’t dictate or rule over her actions, but yet, she hadn’t been able to debug her system free of feelings that were rather acrid, and hazardous as regards to the type of person, Lekan was. So of what use was keeping her defense systems engaged, when they had failed her already? Might as well run recon, and try to grasp the full extent of her feelings before strategizing on the way forward.

Sighing, she forced her mind to snap out of the bubble of onerous thoughts and back to the task at hand. Before her on the counter was a kilogram of beef, smoked fish, stockfish, a pitcher of fresh ground tomatoes, and ground bell pepper. There was also a medium bunch of Ugu vegetables, in a container alongside onions, locust beans and Egusi. She was going to prepare Efo Elegusi with Semovita for their lunch. She had originally opted for something light, but then realized she wasn’t fully maximizing the benefit and comfort of being at home. Besides, she knew her guest was every bit a fan of native meals, like she was.

The doorbell rang, indicating the fact that her visitor had arrived. It had been quite a sunny Saturday, such that the sun rays still streaked into her house and blinded her somewhat, when she opened the door to let Lekan in—despite the fact that it was well into the evening. She wasn’t the only one who found the sun’s intensity to be rapacious, as Lekan’s haste to get into the house, was an indicator that her discomfort of being in the sun’s glare, was mutual. She couldn’t help but laugh, at the sight of a tall, masculine man cowering under the grin of the sun like a helpless, drenched child in the rain—trying to find his bearings.

After she closed the door, and he pulled her in for a hug—Anjola reveled in the fact that he didn’t use cologne. She had an aversion to perfumes, and body sprays as she usually found them intoxicating. A lot of people thought that she applied perfume, but they didn’t know it was as a result of the lavender scented bathing soup, she used. She always clarified, whenever the situation arose.

Lekan’s scent like hers was natural, earthy and mint-spiced in a subtle way, that emphasized that its roots were ingrained in a scented soap also. The hug lasted for a minute or thereabout, and then he loosened his grip on her waist to stare deep into her eyes. The pace of her heart rate kicked up a notch, as if it were in a drumming contest to reach a certain frenzied threshold. She could see the longing in his eyes, and could also see hers—reflecting in his. Putting them out of their misery, she cradled his face and drew his lips down to hers.