TICKING

6

Hey guys! It's a sad day for us in Nigeria considering all the news we've been hearing for the past 3 days. I urge us to please 🙏🏾 try and play a part in the campaign to seek justice for the oppressed and pray for their families for God to grant them the fortitude to move forward. Together, we can get better.
#JusticeforUwa #JusticeforJennifer #JusticeforTina.

The week went by quickly. We finally met Efe's fiance, he's a cool guy; calm and collected. It's obvious why Efe loves him so much, he fits her personality; like they say, in every relationship there is always a calm and crazy one. In this relationship, Jamie is the calm one while Efe is crazy.

It was easy for him to flow with us, we talked about basic things; our lives, relationships, music and all. We even got to find out that he is behind some of the popular hits we jam to in Naija.

Efe said she had informed her mother about her engagement and Jamie would visit her when she returns from the state. Since her father died, her elder brother who resides in a small town in the US always invited their mom over to spend half of the year so she practically spends six months in Nigeria and six months in Connecticut.

The day Jamie left, I went with Efe to the airport. She would have cried if I hadn't been there to strengthen her.

"You're going to see him again" I told her calmly.

"I'm just going to miss him so much" she said with sad eyes. "I didn't expect the one week to end so soon."

She really loves him, I just hope he feels the same or even more towards her. Efe is a sweet soul and she deserves the best.

We had stopped at the security check point because only those with boarding pass would be allowed to pass that point. Jamie was wearing a black hoodie on blue jeans and sneakers with his backpack hung firmly on his shoulders. He also put on a face cap and dark shades to prevent people from recognizing him. I almost forgot he was a public figure.

The time he hung out with us, he had told us that he liked his life private kept away from the media and that aside from anything related to his job, he didn't want the blogs to make his gist as an headline. He even said he heard that some news thirsty bloggers are out for him since they haven't gotten any personal gist about him before. We all laughed because his fiancee is a blogger.

He hugged her lightly and said something into her ears then shook hands with me before he went passed the security check point.

"This one week felt like we were married already" Efe mentioned before we turned to leave the airport.

"You would definitely see him again, besides you guys would always communicate." I told her as I patted her back. "Ice cream or Chocolate?" I asked her.

"You're buying for me?" She asked me back, trying to suppress a smile.

"Yes naw, it's the only thing I can do to console you now."

"Ice cream it is, let's go to Nibbles." She said already smiling. I love Efe, she doesn't let her sad side overwhelm her.

******

Efe had promised to recommend my business on the aproko blog for Rivers People so I could get more customers the day we went to Nibbles. It's been over a month and I haven't seen anything relating to it on the blog.

I understood that she was busy and her profession as a lifestyle blogger made her travel a lot. She came back to town a few days ago and I went to give her food because I knew that she would be too tired to prepare anything and she needed good food and rest. I spent the night in her house gisting and catching up with her.

I decided to call her, to remind her of her promise in case she had forgotten. I needed more customers to patronize me, business is not always rosy.

She picked on the second ring and spoke in a dull voice. "Hello."

"Babe what's up?"

"I'm fine." She sniffles. "I'm okay, how bout you?" She asks then sniffles again.

"I'm good. Are you ok? Are you fine? I mean are you sick? Or do you have a runny nose?" I asked in one breath. Her reply and sniffles got me worried.

"I think Jamie is cheating on me." She answered then broke into tears. "Nosa, I need a friend right now." I think she had been crying even before I called but tried to hold back during the call.

"Oh my God Efe, I'm so sorry. I'm coming over right now." I stood up immediately from my sofa, grabbed my car key from the centre table and made way for the door. I didn't even care to change into more appropriate clothing.

When I got to her apartment, she opened the door for me, walked slowly to the sofa and slouched down.

"What happened?" I asked her.

"Last week was Kizzy's Birthday." She said then paused to blow her nose. Used tissues were scattered on the floor. "You know Kizzy naw, the new artist who sang whine baby."

"Yes dear, I saw pictures on Instagram, I think that Birthday party was even the headline on blogs for the weekend, you talked about it too on your blog."

"Yes I did. Jamie produced that song"

Jamie produced the song? Nice. I couldn't say it out loud considering the situation but Jamie did justice to the beat on that song, most people got attracted to the beat before the song.

"And he was there in the party with another woman."

"Efe, are you sure about this? You might be assuming you know." I told her quickly. I hope her emotions weren't clouding her judgement.

"In the pictures he uploaded on Instagram, I saw her in one of them, they took pictures together." She argued. "Even the ones Shizzi uploaded, the one he snapped with Jamie, she was standing next to him." She cut another piece of tissue from the roll and blew into it. If she continues like this, she would have a headache. Her eyes were already red from too much crying.

"I confronted him you know, I asked him who she is, he said he didn't know her before the party and he fucking uploaded her picture on his Instagram."

"Efe, you know the kind of person your man is, if really he had anything to do with her, he wouldn't upload it on social media. You know he likes his private life private." I explained. Most times, when we are in a situation, we loose our ability to think straight.

I consoled her for the rest of the day, told her to call Jamie so he would clear things up. The next day morning I went straight to the market after borrowing proper clothes from Efe to get foodstuffs to prepare food a customer had ordered.

Glossary;

Jam - Groove.

Naija - Nickname for Nigeria.

Naw - used to lay emphasis.

Do you think Jamie is indeed cheating?

How do you feel about their relationship?

Let's not forget that Nosa is still without a man 😋😋😋

What do you think about this chapter?

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