Shout-Out to my Ex [✓]

Four

Knowing fully well all that Tilewa had faced because she was the only single person among her mother's children, Maria had taken it upon herself to regularly update their mother on happenings and occurrences in Tilewa's love life. Her mother had called early on the morning of the day after the unfortunate occurrence and had started quizzing her, it was not until she broke down on the phone for a full hour that her mother had backed off her case and instead asked her to come home so she could be well taken care of. She had spent an entire week in her mother's house treated like a fragile egg and spoken to in soft tones. She had always been a very emotional person, always quick to shed a tear and never able to contain her emotions. She cursed herself for that weakness and had struggled to overcome it over the years, but nothing ever seemed to help keep the dam in her eyes from overflowing. So she opted for emotional intelligence instead. She couldn't do anything about her tears but there were different ways to incapacitate the enemy besides killing them. She ruled out every situation that had the power to make her cry and managed to avoid them completely.

Unfortunately, there was no other way to react to being dumped by the man she had envisioned spending the rest of her life with for someone else. She had been replaced in the blink of an eye like she was a piece of cutlery or an article of clothing. No introduction, no preamble, he just up and left and put another in her place.
Tilewa put her hands to her head as she caught herself heading down that dark tunnel that held nothing but pain and regret. She heaved a tired sigh and raised her head to the ceiling, she was not going to cave.

Not today.

Desperate to get her mind away from the abyss that threatened to engulf her, Tilewa tossed her phone on the couch and headed to the kitchen to do what she loved to do best; cooking had this way of calming her mind and helping her process her thoughts. Whenever she was feeling out of sorts or in a bad mood, the best thing to do at such a time was to try a new recipe or cook a new dish. It just had this way of making a bad situation seem not so bad.

As she washed and sliced and rinsed and chopped and blended and ground, all her problems and worries just seemed to become irrelevant and her mind received a new-found clarity. She placed the pot on the fire and began to fry the sauce for the vegetable soup.

She had just put in her vegetables and reduced the heat underneath the pot when her phone went off again. On checking the caller ID, she found out it was Ekene.

"Hello," she said wedging the device between her chin and shoulder as she headed back to what she was cooking. The vegetable wasn't staying on fire for too long, she only wanted it to simmer for a bit.

"Hey, it's me," Ekene said from the other end of the line.

"I know" she replied playfully.

They had exchanged numbers after dinner on the second most embarrassing night of her life and had been chatting since then.

"Okay," Ekene laughed into the phone.

"Are you free to hang out this afternoon?"

"Uhm..." she trailed off biting her lip.

"Yes or no, don't stress it," he said coolly.

"Well, I have to cook some orders this morning and will deliver them early in the evening."

"I don't follow."

"Oh sorry, I guess I haven't told you. I cook"

"Uhm... Okay..."

"As in, I love to cook so people pay me to make soup for them and the only time I have to do this is on the weekends and I'm working on my orders at the moment."