Revolt

24. Eye Of The Needle

Tiolu snorted, before striding across his living room to perch on the two-seater by his left. “I think we understand each other to the extent that we don’t duel anymore. Now, don’t get me wrong, I still hate your guts for hurting Anjola and doing the one thing that I suspected would happen, but at the end of the day you’re still my brother. Even though you’re a crappy one, you’re still the only sibling I got. Might as well manage you like that.”

“What does that mean?” His brows creased, as he locked gazes with her brooding one. “I get a free pass now and the next time I date a friend of yours, and hurt them? Because I’m family? How delightful and very generous of you, Tiolu.”

“No, smartass it means I’m going to try and talk to you first before I rain down hell on you.” She clarified, and placed her handbag by her side on the chair before crossing her legs. “So go on and tell me why exactly it happened and let’s see if we can make sense of the story. Not that anything justifies cheating, but I need to see the angle you’re coming from anyway because I know you did care for Anjola, and weren’t just playing her.”

Lekan sat up, grabbed the remote off the stool and switched off the TV before facing his sister. Her words and her recourse to handling the situation at hand, was quite uncharacteristic of her and the relationship they had. Something had undeniably changed between them, since they had converged last month, with Dayo and Anjola for the retreat and he found himself gladdened by the fact, that she was trying to see things from his perspective and didn’t do the usual judging and derisive admonishing.

“Naade put the moves on you, didn’t she?” Tiolu pressed on, when his silent lapsed on. “She had better not, because I dropped in by your office before coming here and it took all the control and discipline I had in this world, not to descend on her. But I decided not to because I would cause a scene, and you weren’t even there in the first place.”

“It was my fault,” He sipped from his glass, before setting it aside. “I kissed her, not the other way round.”

“That’s all?” Tiolu squinted her eyes, as if taken aback by the fact that what transpired was a mere kiss. Anjola hadn’t relayed the full gist to her, it would seem and she had automatically assumed that he had slept with Naade. He didn’t know whether to be insulted or flattered by her assumption. “I mean, you still cheated on her and that’s very sucky of you, but I just sort off…you know, assumed you guys slept together.”

“Nope, I stopped the kiss before it could get anywhere.” He shook his head, and clasped his hands. “I don’t know how to interpret you assuming automatically that I had sex with her. I can assure you that I’m not that heartless.”

“And it’d be weird if I say I’m impressed, but if you only kissed her and realized the error in your ways then perhaps, you aren’t as hopeless as I thought. Go on, I’m still waiting for the full gist.”

“There is really nothing much to tell. After the wake keep, we went to Anjola’s house and we talked and talked, and one thing led to another and we were making out. I tried to undress her, and she flared up that I did try take advantage of her grieving vulnerability despite knowing she’d never agree to that on a normal day. While that was true—”

“Okay, maybe you are indeed as hopeless as I thought.” Tiolu said, as her shoulders puffed and she shook her head. “That’s just wrong, Lekan. Very wrong.”

“Yeah, she made it quite clear when she flared up, trust me. I’ve come about to knowing how wrong that is on many grounds.” He agreed, and didn’t bother protesting or defending himself as he had nothing worthy to say anyway. “As I was saying, while that was true, I didn’t see it from that angle. I admit I was being selfish at that moment, I still thought that she allowed it get to that stage because she wanted to have a good time. Then she went into this rage of how I’m not any different from regular playboys out there, that I differentiate myself from on the guise that I’m a charmer, who doesn’t break hearts and who informs people of what they’re getting into before they get entangled with me. And I’m worse because I prey on innocence and not ignorance, which makes me more evil.”