HEAVEN TO YOU |A Nigerian Romance|

Chapter 36.

UWA

"So, let me get this straight. What's your take on the guy?" Nimi's voice reverberates around the room because the phone is on speaker.

"Now that he is not mean, he is cool." I say, shrugging even though she could not see me.

"And?" She asks, dragging the word.

"I don't know. I am at a cross road. Let's see how today plays out." I say as I apply edges control to the sides of my hair.

"Seriously, these back and forth things you keep doing with your emotions recently. Isn't it exhausting? There's no such thing as a cross road, Uwa. It is either you are in or out. You need to be definite." She says with a stern voice. Lord, she has started with the scolding and as much as I hate to admit it, she is damn right.

"Yes, mummy." I choose to say.

"People meet and take months in getting to know themselves and end up being in amazing relationships while for others, they go straight into it and it still works out. It is just about the two people involved. If you know you don't want a relationship, tell him a No straight up and if you want to have a relationship, go ahead. At the end the choice is all yours." She presses on, stubbornly.

"Bottom line is, put an end to this emotional roller coaster once and for all." Her high pitched scolding tone softens at she comcludes her sentence, ending almost in a whisper.

"Yes, mummy." I say again. On days like this, she wears the pants in the friendship. The bigger person role fits her in such situations.

"I care about you, Uwa, so much which is why I hate to see you hurt." I care about you too, babes. More reason why I love her is the fact that she corrects with love.

"Thanks, mummy." She lets out a chuckle, obviously at the persistent mummy thing I had going on since she started scolding me.

"Babe." A male's voice says at the other end of the phone.

"What are you not telling me, ehn Nimi?" She chuckles before breaking into laughter.

"Uwa." She says.

"Don't Uwa me. So you are hiding man from me and coming here to preach for me? Welldone." I say, hissing loudly for her to hear.

"No, I am not. I promise to tell you when next we see." She says, laughing.

"Okay o. I hear you." If the cases were reversed, Nimi would have killed me for not telling her about it from the onset.

"Love you. Enjoy the outing." She says, making kiss sounds with her mouth. On a second thought, I wonder if it is just sounds or she is doing it for real.

"Hate you too, bestfriend." I say, making her giggle before ending the call.

•••••

Of all the places, I never expected that he will bring me here. It is cool and I love it.

"You look nice." Deji whispers in my ears, making my breath hitch. I quickly clear my throat not to give away my momentary weakness but I guess it was too late, he already noticed. Judging by the smirk on his lips, I figured it out.

I cast my gaze down, counting the sand grains with my eyes as we patiently wait for our company; his sister and Timi.

"You have to relax." I hear him say.

"They are here." I lift my head up to see the both of them walking towards us. Shalewa was beaming with the bright smile sitting on her face. From the way she walked, one could notice how she tries to maintain her excitement by the bounce in her steps. Timi on the other hand, is rather calm and hid his emotions perfectly behind sun shades.

"Hello, Uwa." Shalewa calls out and immediately lunges for me the moment they get here, engulfing me in a bear hug. Her action totally took me by surprise not due to the fact that she is a bubbly person but because the both of us have not really had enough time to interract. Regardless, I hug her back. I like her. She seems cool.

"Hello, Sir." She greets Deji with a mock salute, resulting into laughter from everyone as she imitated a bass voice. He just hisses lowly before answering her.

I say hi to Timi who returns it with a smirk before doing a handshake thing with Deji. It's not so much of a big deal. It involves them shaking hands and snapping their fingers left, right and left. Men are the weird things they do for 'bonding' purposes.

"I booked the tickets already. It is us against you both." Deji says, grinning.

Tickets are exchanged and with our protective gear in custody, each team automically splits ways to go change and prepare for the action to follow.

I tried so hard to dodge the capsules that moved with so much speed but occassionally, it hit me and it stings.

"Ouch!" I yelp in pain. Deji immediately drops his gun and runs towards me.

"Are you okay?" He asks, worry laces his voice as he speaks.

"Yeah, just a little itch." I say, pretending to be fine.

"Didn't seem like that earlier." He looks at me as if studying me.

"When you want, we could quit." I just nod my head and we resume our 'war' like we prefer to call it.

"So, how was the experience?" He asks me outside the changing room.

"It was great and thrilling." I recount the memories and giggle like a child. Kayode and I came here once when we were a thing but I dare not say that out to him. This man would not take it well and I don't want to spoil this moment.

His eyes capture mine in a haze, making it difficult for me to look away. It feels just like how a magnet gets attracted to a metal.

"So, will you go out with me?" He asks, hopefully.

Without wasting much time, I stand on the tip of my feet to stretch my height to fit his but seeing I still had some inches to go, I use my hand to bend his head a little and give him a fast kiss on his lips.

His hands immediately reaches out to my waist, holding me in place.

"Is that a Yes?" He asks me, still locking gazes with me.

"What did it seem like?" I reply his question by asking another one and raising my eyebrows with a small frown etched on my lips.

To be honest, I was shy when I leaned in but that was the most expressive way I could muster to say yes to him.

He dips his head and takes my lips in for some proper kiss, and like the previous time, toying with all my senses and reasoning.

"Thank you. I promise not to mess it up." As we faced each other, steadying our breaths from the intense kiss we just had, his hands pick mine and he delicately drops feathery kisses on my knuckles. It was ticklish, so I laughed uncontrollably.

"You look beautiful when you laugh." He says, tracing his hands on my face.

"You too. You look cute." I say to him, smiling.

"Please, not cute. Handsome. Cute is for dogs." I laugh at how he looks, correcting me.

He then holds my hands and we make our way back to the meet up spot. Timi and Shalewa were talking in hushed tones but stopped immediately they see us approaching them.

"What were you both gossiping about?" Deji asks them.

"It's not for you to have knowledge of  and it is not gossiping." The one lady who has always had the guts to talk him down replies him. Who else? Shalewa, of course.

I chuckle lightly at the siblings banter. They do look cute and funny at the same time. The scowl on his face knowing he can do nothing to her is priceless and I would say, Shalewa does a pretty good job at annoying her big brother.

"You too?" Deji asks, looking at me before ruffling my hair. This man's character is like an onion, slowly unraveling every day. I hope that it's  effect does not mirror that of onions too. It cannot end in tears. For my mental sanity, I pray and hope so.