The Wall Between Us

Chapter 13 - Reflection

I didn't want to kiss you goodbye - that was the trouble - I wanted to kiss you good night - and there's a lot of difference.
- Ernest Hemingway

NATHAN

My head throbbed as I pulled over- beside a pavement. The young couple who were staring from their balcony were my best guess as to who could have made the video. I groaned just thinking about how hard their thirst for social media popularity would make my life- and Enitan's. My memory revisited a fight we had the summer of last year, over something similar.

***Flashback

"This is stunning, you look like a model on the cover of Vogue." I smiled showing her the picture I'd taken of her in front of the Notre-Dame Cathédral.

"Babe, stop!" She laughed heartily. "You're one for flattery." She tugged the edge of my brown leather jacket and peered into the camera in my hand. Her wide contagious smile triggering a smile from me.

"I like this one better, I'm posting it on my Instagram, like ASAP," I said, as I'd stopped scrolling sideways and was admiring a particular picture.

She suddenly let go of my jacket. "No. Why would you do that?" I'd never seen her so edgy.

"Because you're my girlfriend?" I turned to her and gestured my confusion with my hands.

"No Nathan. I don't want my face out there."

"What do you mean you don't want your face out there?" I yelled. "Your face is all over your Instagram page!"

She bit her lips and shifted from one foot to the other.

"Enitan, We've been dating for a year and we still don't have any picture of us on social media. Are you seeing someone else? Is that why you don't want us to go public?"

"What? No!" It's just- the narratives won't favour someone like me. The daughter of a man nobody knows, dating a self-made billionaire and son of Africa's richest man. Do you know how that would turn out for me? The press would hound me, 'Gold digger' they'd say." She face palmed and paced the little concrete bench beside us. "They may even say I used Voodoo on you. God! And let's not even talk about your family."

"But you know I don't care about all of that!"

"Because it's not your life that'll become shitty! My life is complicated enough, Nathan. Please. Don't do anything."

The ride back home was a silent one. We never talked about the subject again, partly because I knew she was right.

***flashback ends

Now her worst fears had come true, and in the most controversial circumstance. It was only a matter of time before her real identify and Instagram handle was found and her page flooded with mean comments. To the public, she was the home wrecker, an obstacle to their dream romance story- and celebrity couple crush. I just had to accept it, Enitan would hate me even more and maybe forever this time.

"You can't take her to a hospital." My mother's voice jolted me out of my reverie. I'd zoned out and forgotten she was still on the other end of the phone.

"She needs proper medical attention," I replied weakly.

"Natty. The last thing we need, is people taking more videos of you two. The press will maul you both. Not to mention your father, he already made calls to 'take care of things'. I don't even know what that means, but I'm sure it's not welcoming you back with open arms." She heaved a deep breath.

Just great. The devil is involved now.

"I'm leaving the house now, I'll text you a House address, I want you to bring her there. I'll have a doctor waiting."